Poll: Gophers Tighten Grip On Top Spot

Fresh off two wins over St. Cloud State, Minnesota picked up support in Monday’s USCHO.com/CSTV Division I men’s poll, retaining the top spot in the nation for the third week.

The Gophers’ 2-1, 4-2 sweep provided them 36 of 40 first-place votes, outdistancing No. 2 Colorado College, which won twice at Alaska-Anchorage and earned the remaining four first-place nods.

Michigan was third after a sweep of Bowling Green, followed by Wisconsin, which split with a determined Minnesota State squad on the road and slipped two notches to fourth. Boston College held its ground at No. 5 after tying Northeastern and edging Providence.

New Hampshire and Denver switched places, with the Wildcats sixth after beating Massachusetts and the Pioneers slipping to seventh despite sweeping Michigan Tech. North Dakota edged up to eighth after splitting with Minnesota-Duluth, and Cornell rebounded to No. 9 with wins over Yale and Princeton.

Tenth place belonged to Ohio State, which lost ground after earning just one of four possible points at Clarkson. Harvard, meanwhile, continued its rise, leaping into the poll at No. 11 after ending Vermont’s unbeaten streak, then upending Maine to boot.

Cornell’s travel partner Colgate was No. 12 after topping the same two opponents as the Big Red; the Raiders were followed by Boston University, which upended Rensselaer, and then Vermont, which was idle after losing to Harvard last Tuesday. Rounding out the poll was Maine, which slipped four spots after its defeat to the Crimson.

Exiting the poll was Northern Michigan.