Boston University’s victorious weekend at the Hockey East championship tournament propelled the Terriers to the top spot in the nation in the final USCHO.com/CSTV Networks Division I men’s poll of 2005-06, released Monday.
The Terriers defeated New Hampshire and Boston College to win the HEA title, earning 20 of 40 first-place votes to take over at No. 1 in the rankings.
No. 2 was Wisconsin, which picked up 15 first-place votes after losing to North Dakota and beating Minnesota in the third-place game at the WCHA Final Five. The Gophers, who lost to St. Cloud State and the Badgers last weekend, saw their run at No. 1 end despite retaining five first-place votes. Minnesota finished at No. 3 this week.
CCHA tournament champion Michigan State moved up to No. 4 after beating Michigan and Miami to take the Mason Cup, while the RedHawks slipped three places to fifth, topping Northern Michigan before dropping the title game to the Spartans.
North Dakota, which won against Wisconsin and SCSU to earn the WCHA postseason title, came in sixth, followed by Harvard. The ECACHL tourney champ jumped five places in the balloting after defeating Dartmouth and Cornell over the weekend. The Big Red came in at No. 8, beating Colgate but losing to the Crimson.
Boston College, which topped Maine before losing to BU, was No. 9, with the Black Bears next to finish out the top 10 in this week’s poll. Maine’s only contest last week was its loss to BC, as Hockey East does not have a third-place game, and the Black Bears tied UNH for the week’s biggest drop, of four places.
No. 11 was Michigan, which won the CCHA’s third-place game against NMU, with idle Colorado College No. 12. Next up was UNH, and then St. Cloud State, which lost the WCHA title game to UND. Nebraska-Omaha was next at No. 15.
Denver came in at No. 16, trailed by Dartmouth, Northern Michigan, Atlantic Hockey tournament champ Holy Cross and finally Colgate.
Dropping out of this week’s poll was Bemidji State, which was idle last week after winning the CHA playoff title.
