Idle Harvard, with a 14-1 record, tightened its grip on the No. 1 spot in this week’s USCHO.com Division I Women’s Poll, and moved into the top spot in the PairWise Ranking (PWR) as well, as the next two teams both lost one game on Friday night.
No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth split a weekend series with No. 6 Wisconsin. It was the first WCHA loss for the Bulldogs, but they still maintain a two point league lead over Minnesota. UMD salvaged the second game of the series, and hold the No. 2 spot in both the poll and the PWR. Wisconsin moved up one spot in the poll, after outshooting and outscoring Duluth Friday night.
Minnesota held steady at No. 3, despite a 6-3 loss to No. 4 Dartmouth on Friday. The Big Green moved within six points of the Golden Gophers in the poll, but Saturday’s 4-0 win over No. 5 New Hampshire was enough to secure the third-place spot for Minnesota.
The only other movement in the poll came from No. 9 Mercyhurst, which climbed one spot after two wins over ECAC opponent Cornell, and No. 10 Providence, which abdicated that place by tying 4-12-2 Yale.
New Hampshire and Wisconsin square off in the crown jewel in next week’s schedule, in a battle of No. 5 vs No. 6. In all, seven of the top ten teams will see action.
The USCHO.com Poll is compiled by U.S. College Hockey Online, and consists of 15 voters, including 11 coaches of Division I programs and four women’s hockey writers.
The Pairwise Ranking attempts to mimic the method used by the NCAA Selection Committee to determine participants for the NCAA Division I women’s hockey tournament. The PWR compares only those at or above .500, judging them by five criteria: record against common opponents, record in last 16 games, head to head competition, record against other teams at or above .500, and the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI).
The PWR can be reformatted and redistributed by any media outlet or person, provided USCHO’s URL (http://www.uscollegehockey.com/) accompanies the results.
