College Hockey:
New Hampshire takes over top spot in D-I men’s poll

USCHO Staff Report • Dec. 3, 2012

For the first time since Jan. 29, 2007, New Hampshire is the top-ranked team in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll.

With 31 of 50 first-place votes this week, the Wildcats unseat Boston College, which falls to No. 2, but did receive the other 19 first-place votes.

New Hampshire’s last reign at No. 1 lasted only a week as their top ranking was followed by a split against Maine.

Miami moves up one to No. 3, trading places with Minnesota, while Notre Dame and Denver do the same with the Irish jumping to No. 5 and DU coming in sixth this week.

Boston University and Western Michigan are tied for seventh, North Dakota falls two to No. 9 and Dartmouth is 10th this week, up one place from a week ago.

Cornell is up one to No. 11, Union falls four to No. 12, Quinnipiac rises three places to sit 13th, Nebraska-Omaha drops one spot to No. 14 and Yale holds steady at No. 15.

At No. 16, Ferris State moves up a spot, St. Cloud State falls three to No. 17, Niagara jumps two places to No. 18, Colorado College is down one to No. 19 and Harvard falls one to round out the rankings at No. 20.

The USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll consists of 50 voters, including 28 coaches from the Division I conferences and 22 beat writers and sports professionals from across the country.

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.

Jack M
Why do they write this article every week? It does nothing bu t put the actual poll into paragraph format. Literally zero value add…cmon
- jmsptrk
  ha. exactly. let’s take something so utterly simple and report on it so it takes 3x as long to get the same info from. (if i could give your comment more likes i would.)
- Suture
  So simply don’t read it. Your hypercritical, jumping on the small stuff whining is a good red flag of what you must be like for your family.
maxpercy
UNH…. #1 in the country…#2 in the conference. How does that happen?
- Afterfurtherreview
  #2 in the conference, by 1 point and with a game in hand. The only team in the country with only 1 loss. 3-0-1 vs. WCHA. I am not saying they will stay there, but right now they deserve to be there more than anybody else does.
  - Afterfurtherreview
    And, it’s only a poll… Pairwise is the only thing that matters when it comes NCAA time.
    - Leggs2
      ECAC has SIX (6) teams in top 14 of all important PWR. HE has 3.
      - Afterfurtherreview
        We already know from prior discussions that HE is pretty much a 3 team league this year. I’d be very surprised if Dartmouth stays up in the top 14 by the time they are done.
      - Leggs2
        Not so sure. Watched them beat Union at Thompson. Strong defense.
        And UNH is looking at hosting the NCAA Tournament in Manchester, so they have extra incentive.
      - Afterfurtherreview
        Well UNH and Manchester don’t necessarily go well together. I am looking forward to going up to Dartmouth’s tournament as UNH/Dartmouth is the first round game. And don’t get me wrong, I would love to see Dartmouth do well, as a UNH fan, at least it’s the only other D1 hockey team in the state.
  - JOC2189
    We have seen this before. Another season UNH dominates college hockey and gets ousted early in the NCAA tourney. UNH fans may have something to be excited about but come April they will be biting their nails thinking here we go again.
    - Afterfurtherreview
      As I said, I am not saying they will stay there, just why they deserve it now, as maxpercy asked. There is an awfully long ways to go, but what is a little different for this UNH team is that they actually have a solid defense, not just a goaltender back there.
    - http://www.facebook.com/thoran1981 Timothy Horan
      You’re not saying anything that UNH fans haven’t been saying for years. I was an undergrad the year they lost to Maine in the finals, and the heartbreak has only gotten worse since then. I’m proud to be a UNH alum, but even I know that UNH has earned their nickname – “University of No Hardware”
- http://twitter.com/buhockey13 buhockey13
  poll is how good the coaches THINK you are… conference ranking is W-L-T (points) against other conference opponents… obviously HE offers tough competition… or so the league coaches think….

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