College Hockey:
Still No. 1: Minnesota a unanimous choice in D-I women’s poll

USCHO Staff Report • March 4, 2013

Minnesota garnered all 15 first-place votes yet again and reigns atop the USCHO.com Division I Women’s Poll this week.

Last weekend, the Gophers defeated (and shut out) Bemidji State in two straight games in the opening round of the WCHA tournament.

Boston College rises one to No. 2 after beating Maine in the Hockey East tournament and Cornell drops one to No. 3 despite sweeping Colgate in the first round of the ECAC tournament.

The rest of the poll is the same as the Feb. 25 poll.

No. 4 Boston University beat Connecticut in the Hockey East tournament, No. 5 Clarkson took two straight in the ECAC tournament from Rensselaer, Wisconsin stays sixth with two wins over St. Cloud State in WCHA tournament play and No. 7 Harvard swept Dartmouth in the ECAC postseason.

At No. 8, North Dakota swept Minnesota State in the WCHA tournament, No. 9 Mercyhurst was idle and No. 10 Northeastern topped Vermont in the Hockey East tournament.

No other teams received votes in this week’s poll.

The USCHO.com Division I Women’s Poll is compiled weekly and consists of 15 voters, including 14 coaches of Division I programs and one women’s hockey writer.

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.

Concerned College Hockey Fan
Despite being swept by Air Force this weekend, and despite having no wins against any ranked team (unless you count a win against Robert Morris that got 2 points as an also ran,) Niagara is still in position to receive an at large bid to the NCAA tournament. For teams like Union, B.U., Wisconsin, and others who have had MULTIPLE wins against ranked teams in much stronger conferences, FORGET ABOUT IT (unless they win their conference tournament.)
This is of course an outrage to any true college hockey fan, and to the teams unfairly given zero consideration in the above scenario. This is NOT Niagara’s fault. But the Pairwise system as presently configured is obscenely distorted. It should not be based on “what feels good,” or “conference equity,” or “past reputation,” but simply based on the results ON THE ICE. Right now, IT IS NOT.
- seriously
  nice rant.. wrong column
jdhockeyboyz
Congrats on a perfect regular season. Keep it up in the playoffs.
Hats off to the maroon and gold machine!

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