College Hockey:
Minnesota-Duluth vaults to top of men’s poll

USCHO Staff Report • Nov. 15, 2010

For the third time in as many weeks, there is a new No. 1-ranked team at the top of the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll as Minnesota-Duluth has taken over the top ranking.

Last week’s top team, Boston University, drops to No. 2, the place Minnesota-Duluth was a week ago.

Maine jumps two spots to No. 3, as does No. 4 Nebraska-Omaha; that spot represents another all-time high for the Mavericks. Yale, entrenched at No. 3 last week, falls down to No. 5.

No. 6 Miami is down from being ranked fourth, New Hampshire rises to No. 7 from the ninth spot, North Dakota jumps to No. 8 from No. 10, Michigan falls one notch to the ninth rank and Boston College, down three to No. 10, round out the top 10 this week.

New to this week’s rankings is No. 20 Robert Morris, an unranked team a week ago. It’s the first time the Colonials have ever been ranked in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll.

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FirstPlace BULLDOGS!
Lets go DOGS!!!!!
Jon
We are going to find out this weekend if Nebraska-Omaha is for real. With only one win over a quality opponent (Michigan), their ranking might be a tad high, even with that high powered offense. Schedule has been pretty soft so far. But it is great to see a Dean Blais team rolling again. Welcome back to the WCHA!
- David
  I have a feeling that when we look back at the start of the season in a few months, people will view St. Cloud State and Minnesota as quality wins for the Mavs (7 out of 8 points on the road against those two as well).
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Ryan
How does Miami losing to a ranked Alaska team fall below Yale who lost to Air Force.
- Joe
  because yale has only 1 loss and miami has lost 3 times
  - Ryankings08
    Miami has lost to 3 ranked teams. Yale has played no one and lost to air force.
jeff danz
here comes maine
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2NJDAIOWD4C3RE673RB7WE4NEI Scott
Tough to argue with UMD being #1 – they’ve played the schedule to earn the ranking. Still don’t feel that BU is #2 “worthy” – no losses but a weak schedule up to this point. Like Jeff says – Here comes Maine – played UND and MSU in non conference early – did well. Questions will be answered soon – UMD – Wisconson, and the Hockey East showdown in Beantown…Maine – BC. Cannot wait – this is where the rubber starts hitting the road folks! As for Nebraska – Omaha….really?
- UMaineBLACKBEARS
  I completely agree, UMD has earned their #1 spot, and BU has had a super soft schedule up until this point and I don’t feel they are deserving of a #2 rank either but because they don’t have a loss yet I see why they are. I know that It has taken BU 8 games to get to 12 points in Hockey East, and Maine has 9 points already with only 5 games played. Looks like Maine is poised to take over BU in the national polls and Hockey East very soon. NO WAY ON GODS GREEN EARTH does BU go to UNH this weekend and stay undefeated. Its either a split or UNH is going to sweep them! you heard it here first..
  - Inggirl1blue
    It’s a home-and-home for UNH-BU this weekend.
    - UMaineBLACKBEARS
      home and home doesn’t matter, UNH takes the majority of the points either way
  - collegehockeyfan
    UMD has not earned their spot, they have played a creampuff schedule minus the series at North Dakota. I would say they are a top five team but I would say with BU not LOSING yet, they would be the qualified #1
    - UMaineBLACKBEARS
      ARE YOU SERIOUS??? So you are going to tell me that BU has NOT had a cream puff schedule so far??? hahaha that has to be the most ridiculous statement ever. BU and UMD have both played fairly easy schedules up until this point aside from a few tough games for each team. It doesn’t matter if BU is still undefeated, I WILL SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU! you can’t go into Merrimack and tie 2 games that you are supposed to win against an UNRANKED opponent while UMD sweeps their weekend series and expect for BU to stay at the #1 spot. UMD has earned their spot on top for now and has 3 more wins and 2 less ties. UMD has a more impressive record then BU plain and simple
- David
  What do you mean “As for Nebraska-Omaha…really?”
  They’ve swept Minnesota on the road, took 3 of 4 at St. Cloud St. (where no one has taken 4 points since December of 2007), and they split a series on the road with Michigan. Every other game…they’ve won and won decidedly. Coach Blais wants some more WCHA titles (and maybe another National title as well). The Mavs are for real.
  - Timothypeterka
    we will see!! they gotta play the sioux this weekend and then we will see if they are for real
- Inggirl1blue
  Really? People are still hyping BC? How many games do they have to lose for people to realize the might be suffering from a National Championship hangover this season?
Scott Martineau
I think if BU had split with Merrimack they may have held on to top spot. I would prefer to stay undefeated – particularly in the fashion BU came back at Merrimack with two late goals on Saturday – than to split a home and home, but because BU tied in an epic battle versus Maine (also undefeated in Hockey East and a Top Ten team) the weekend prior, now BU suddenly is vulnerable? Has anyone looked at Merrimack’s Home Record over the last two seasons. Coming back from a 2 goal deficit in the third to claim a point would have been far more impressive than splitting with Merrimack, which I suspect may have kept them at #1. BU has QUALITY NON CONFERENCE WINS over Wisc & Notre Dame and are the ONLY undefeated team in College Hockey. They deserve to stay #1 until someone proves they can beat them. Ridiculous.
On an unrelated matter, congrats to Team USA JR As for winning the World U20s JUNIOR A CHALLENGE for going to Canada and coming back from a three goal deficit to win against Canada East last night. Expect to hear Americans from that team (every member of which is currently playing in the USHL) Scott Mayfield and Seth Ambroz and Austin Czarnick EARLY in round one of the 2011 Entry Draft. Kudos to the coaches as well for pulling Gothberg who was clearly tight (much how Lee was tight in the WJCs last year and was relieved by Campbell) while USA was still only down three and replacing with DeSmith – who had not played this tourney – and made some key saves keeping the Canada East team at 4 while USA methodically played their way back to within one late in the second and scored three goals in final eight minutes of game to win the tourney. This is a great tourney. They dont try to compete with the WJCs although they age eligibility is the same, only it is still avaliable only to those who are considered amateurs. One thing that they might wanna consider is COMBINING CANADA as – with the exception of the title game – USA cruised to its third straight title, and while five years ago Canada East v Canada West was the battle of the powerhouses, now perenially it is Team USA vs the better of the two Canada teams separated by some demarcation line!
streaker
The Polls are like dating the hottest person in Junior High. No sense debating it until April.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AUK5LTASEG3EIUKNOSN5KLSDQI Seth
Yale is the team that boggles my mind. I find myself asking each week how Yale can be ranked so high so I did a little research. Sure they are 5-1-0 but lets look at their resume a little closer. 5-1-0 looks impressive on the surface but when you look at who they’ve played. . . not so much. Wins against Brown, Dartmouth, Princeton, Quinnipiac and Colorado College and a loss to Air Force. The combined record of these teams as of 11/15/10 is 20-23-4. The only team that they have been that you could argue was a “quality” win was CC and they arent the team this year that they usually are. If you look at Yale’s remaining schedule, they should go undefeated. They really only play one other team that has even a prominant reputation and thats Vermont, who is also having a down year. They play in the ECAC. Lets be honest here, the ECAC is not HE or WCHA or the CCHA.
You look at teams that trail Yale. New Hampshire, Notre Dame, Miami, UND and Boston College. Sure, with the exception of UNH (5-1-3), they all have more losses then Yale but look at who and where they play. They all play in conferences where the bottom of the totem (sp?) pole teams are better then most, if not all of the teams in the ECAC.
I’m not saying that Yale is not a good team. I just need a little more convincing if I’m going to see them as a top tier team. When they start playing and beating teams like BC, BU, UNH, Maine, Miami, UND, Michigan, MSU, Denver, Alaska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth and many others, then I’ll start looking at them as a top team. The previous teams listed are top tier teams because they beat up on each other all year and they EARN their rankings. When Yale starts a successful campaign through these teams, then I’ll start thinking of them as a quality team worthy of a top tier ranking. Until that happens, they shouldn’t be in the top 10, let alone the top 5. Just my opinion.
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AUK5LTASEG3EIUKNOSN5KLSDQI Seth
  I agree completely with Seth on this issue. Yale is ranked way to high. They have the softest schedule of any of the top 10 teams and they lost to Air Force. And I agree with him because he has a cool name!
  - James
    Seth and Seth, I respectfully disagree — to a degree.
    Yale has scored 32 goals in six games. The loss to Air Force was with their backup goalie, and they gave up all 4 goals in the last period, having been penalized for over 25 minutes of the game. They were exhausted, on the road, playing at 10pm their time.
    They are clearly explosive offensively. So, I think their ranking in the top 10 is well deserved, maybe not 5th, more like 8th or so.
    - collegehockeyfan
      You can say the same thing about North Dakota losing to Yale in the Tournament last year… No excuses about being tired, its college hockey
      - James
        I understand all your points and yes, it’s college hockey. Great teams find a way to win, period. But as for your point of playing nobody, BU and Yale both play RPI, Brown, Harvard, and Vermont this season. Let’s see how they each fare against the common opponents and then we’ll have a much better proxy for their talent levels.
    - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AUK5LTASEG3EIUKNOSN5KLSDQI Seth
      Like I said, (meaning the first Seth), Yale is not a bad team. I just think that because they are in a soft conference and don’t have to worry about running a gauntlet (sp?) of quality teams like the rest of the top 10, they shouldn’t be rewarded for that. Look at it this way. When the end of the season rolls around and you have Yale with a record of 25-2-0 or something like that and you have a team like Maine who’s record might be, lets say 22-5-3, then Yale stands a good chance at getting a higher seed for the tourny. Can you honestly say that Yale at 25-2-0, playing in the ECAC, should get a higher seed then Maine who plays in the much tougher HE.
      The other point I’d like to make is this. I have no doubt that Yale’s offense is good. 32 goals in 6 games is a clear indication of that. . . on the surface anyway. But again, I find myself drawn back to the quality of their opponents. Have they faced a quality defensive team with a quality goalie? Or how about a quality defensive team in general? 32 goals in 6 games suggests not. I don’t care how good your offense is, if your playing quality teams, your not going to have that kind of offensive output for 6 games. One or maybe 2 but not 6. Unfortunately we aren’t going to see how Yale does against a series of quality opponents until the tourny because they don’t play any in the regular season. Honestly, if they lose more then 2 or 3 games this year (prior to the tourny) then that should tell us something because they are clearly better then the rest of their conference. Union is the only team in the ECAC that could give them fits but if Yale is a top 5 team then they should still win right? Again, I’m not saying Yale isn’t a good team, just not sure if they are top 10 quality.
      - Brock359
        Ultimately what league a team plays in is irrelevant when you’re ranking individual teams. Yes, voters look at who you have played as a means of sorting teams relative to each other but that’s not all they look at. And getting worked up about it this early is nuts.
      - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AUK5LTASEG3EIUKNOSN5KLSDQI Seth
        I disagree with Brock359 on this one. Since 90% of the games a team plays are against league opponents, I think that the league you play in is a key factor. Yale plays in a soft league thus they play the majority of their games against soft opponents. That tends to lead to bloated records. A lot of wins but not a lot of quality wins. I’d be surprised if Yale continues to be ranked so high after the pairwise rankings come out. They have 0 quality wins on their resume to this point and given their schedule, they wont have many by seasons end either.
- Grpeck75
  You make a valid point, but I’m sure they knocked North Dakota out of the tournament last year. They might have a player or two left from that team and that makes them pretty good.
nh84
UNH is better then # 7 so far.
- Bharvey13
  I wouldn’t say better than #7…it sounds about right for now. Those games against Miami and Michigan seem like forever ago. They beat a BC team that is not playing their best hockey, but managed only ties in two games against NU and UMass. Those teams flat out stink this year. And outside of a few games (@Cornell, 1 game @Miami) they aren’t scoring as much as I think everyone thought they would. Its really been good defense that has helped them so far this season.
BlackBearFan
GO MAINE!!!
duluthminnesnowta
B.U.L.L.D.O.G.S!!! Connolly+Connolly+Fontaine= unstoppable.
HobokenHockeyGuy
BU is the only undefeated team in the top 20! Until they lose 1 game they are # 1!
Dustin A
i got to all the dogs home games im 15 wisconsin is this weekend and this weekend will see if we really are # 1 and both Aaron Crandall and Kenny Reiter are both playing great keep up the good work dogs!
- Dustin A
  * go sorry for the typo
- UpNorth
  I don’t think Wisconsin is going to be the real test. Their young/not fully matured roster really showed this weekend.
  - Dustin A
    yeah true friday night vs Tech was god awful
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZSWWEXTFS2ZCQF3RFMSW5TCTGA caNick
M.A.I.N.E. GOOOOO Blue!
Maine in Hockey east, 5 games…4-0-1 w/9 points, 21 goals scored
Maine Overall, 10 games, 6-1-3. 41 goals scored. WOWZA!
Here we come. Pretty good for post-Stanbrook recruiting.
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