College Hockey:
Close call: Minnesota retains No. 1 spot in D-I men’s rankings

USCHO Staff Report • Jan. 28, 2013

In a very close vote, Minnesota edged out Quinnipiac for the top spot in this week’s USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll.

Minnesota, which split with Minnesota State last weekend, earned 28 first-place votes and 975 points, compared to QU’s 22 first-place votes and 967 points. Quinnipiac was idle last weekend.

New Hampshire jumps one to No. 3, Miami rises two to No. 4 and Boston College falls two to No. 5.

Western Michigan leaps three places to No. 6, North Dakota falls two to No. 7, Yale stays eighth, Notre Dame falls two to No. 9 and Denver holds steady at No. 10 this week.

Boston University is again No. 11, St. Cloud State rises four spots to No. 12, Massachusetts-Lowell jumps two to No. 13, Nebraska-Omaha scoots down one to sit 14th and Minnesota State falls one to No. 15.

Dartmouth plummets four ranks to No. 16, Niagara stays 17th, Union is up one to No. 18, Wisconsin jumps one to No. 19 and Alaska enters the rankings this week 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.

Joe
I wish you would put some analysis in these articles. “Minnesota held onto their number one ranking despite splitting a home-and-home series with Minnesota State….” “BC falls two spots to fifth after getting swept at home by cellar-dweller Maine….” I can see in the rankings each team’s position and points received and where they were last week. I would like to come to an article like this to answer the question, “Why?”
Scott Reed
Minnesota State (#14) splits with the Gophers (#1) and they go down? Last week UND lost 3 of 4 points to the Gophers and moved up one place… I would like to hear from someone who voted with those two trends to explain that.
- http://twitter.com/Butterz07 Aaron G.
  wins and losses don’t dictate peoples opinions on who is ranked higher. North Dakota is a good team….sometimes lol.
  - Scott Reed
    I agree with your statement, but I see no proof that’s how the voters think. If that was the case Quinnipiac wouldn’t be ranked 2nd.
- http://www.facebook.com/phil.vanschepen Phil Van Schepen
  The UND-UM series was close for two periods on Friday and a hard fought tie on Sat. This week, Minnesota was sloppy and slow on Friday, and played their normal game on Sat. MSU could have won on Friday but had no chance on Sat. They should move down.
  - Todd Hanselman
    The game certainly was close on Saturday – a couple of questionable calls going the other way for a change would have made quite the difference. Hayes’s penalty that lead to a goal came right after an interference that was right in front of a ref who was certainly over his head on Saturday. The goal that was disallowed could have certainly hit the butt end of the stick. An empty netter made it a 3 goal game. I don’t think the Gophs were as sloppy and slow on Friday as UND was on that Saturday to allow the tie. More like Williams played a better than the credit you’re giving the Mavericks on Friday.

Possibly related: