College Hockey:
Minnesota-Duluth ends 2011 as top team in men’s poll

USCHO Staff Report • Dec. 19, 2011

Minnesota-Duluth finishes the 2011 calendar year as the No. 1-ranked team in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll for the second consecutive week.

The defending D-I champs received 48 first-place votes and 998 out of a possible 1000 total points.

Minnesota, with an NCAA-best 14 wins, is second this week and had one first-place vote.

Boston College is third again this week, while Ohio State sits fourth and garnered the other first-place ballot.

The rest of the poll is largely unchanged, with so few games last weekend, and no new teams entered the rankings.

The next D-I men’s poll will be conducted on Monday, Jan. 2, 2012.

The following is a self-policing forum for discussing views on this story. Comments that are derogatory, make personal attacks, are abusive, or contain profanity or racism will be removed at our discretion. USCHO.com is not responsible for comments posted by users. Please report any inappropriate or offensive comments by clicking the “Flag” link next to that comment in order to alert the moderator.

Please also keep “woofing,” taunting, and otherwise unsportsmanlike behavior to a minimum. Your posts will more than likely be deleted, and worse yet, you reflect badly on yourself, your favorite team and your conference.

Okeejoe
This years team is better then last years National Championship team. They are about as deep of a team as I ever seen in the NCAA. I’ve had season ticket to the Bulldogs men’s program for over 12 years now..This team is really really good and they play like they know it. They are fun to watch and if M.Conn and Faulk would have stayed, it might had not been fair. It’s fun to watch the D..Casto is as good of a Freshmam D as I’ve seen. Hebert and Krause will be fun to watch for years to come as well. J CON for the Hobby!!!
- Slambammy
  I agree with you. The Gophers swept a UMD team early in the year that was still getting its legs after losing the likes of Connolly and Faulk. Now they are really on fire. My second team is UMD. I want them to succeed almost as much as the Gophers. :) I sat at the championship game last year and yelled for them as loud as I have yelled for any Gopher team. I hope UMD continues to do well (except when they play the U of M). :)
  - Fan Man
    How can you like the gopher rejects? its that against the fan code….
    - Slambammy
      Well, I think there was a point in time where players scrambled to be a part of the U of M team. I am not sure that is the case anymore. Players are making UND, Wisconsin and UMD their first choice now over the U. So the Gopher Rejects chant (while funny) may not quite be correct any longer.
      - Guest
        Well of course players are going to choose UND over the goofers… We are just better!!!!!
      - Slambammy
        “Better” is subjective. The teams these days are just more competitive.
  - TechFan
    I was impressed by all the gopher fans that switched to become bulldogs last April. We should all hope they get seeded in different regions.
Kentarowins
It gets me excited that this is exactly where they were last year, #1 for weeks on end going into break.. except now I have high expectations… :-/
Fan Man
I love that chant! it’s too bad that UMD will not be playing at the Ralph this year. I will however, be hearing the F*^k the Gophers chant really soon so maybe that will make up for the UMD absence this year hahaha j/k! Also very disappointed that Denver will not be showing their face…. I heard that next year, the Gophers will not be making the trek out west either which is a huge bummer as we all know how crucial having home ice is in that series.
Gary
Geez, 998 out of 1000? Seems like dang near everyone is on the same page when it comes to the best team in hockey!

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