Middlebury stayed at the top of this week’s USCHO.com D-III men’s poll, picking up 12 first-place votes, three more than last week. The Panthers, along with second-place Norwich which received one first-place vote, have yet to start play this season.
St. Thomas, which beat then-No. 2 St. Norbert and No. 13 Lake Forest last weekend, picked up two first-place votes and jumped from No. 10 to No. 3. Wisconsin-River Falls stayed in fourth place after a weekend tie at Augsburg and a home win against Concordia.
RIT and Oswego both benefitted from two league wins each. The Tigers moved up one spot to No. 5 after downing last year’s ECAC West champion Hobart and Utica at home, while Oswego jumped from ninth to sixth with wins at Potsdam and Plattsburgh.
St. Norbert, the preseason No. 1, dropped to No. 7 after the loss to St. Thomas and a narrow win at St. Mary’s. St. John’s, which starts its season this weekend, was displaced to No. 8.
Plattsburgh, after a win over Cortland and the home loss to Oswego, dropped five places to No. 9, while Curry, which starts play tonight, was bumped to No. 10.
Manhattanville moved up three spots to 11th in the poll after weekend conference wins against Neumann and Lebanon Valley. Wisconsin-Superior, with a win and a tie over the weekend, dropped one spot to No. 12. Lake Forest stayed at No. 13, New England College, which has not started play, moved up one spot to No. 14, and Hobart, with the loss to RIT, dropped three places to No. 15.
Eleven other teams received votes this week. All 15 teams in the poll were also ranked last week.
