Minnesota a near-unanimous pick at top of D-I men’s poll

Minnesota garnered 48 of 50 first-place votes in this week’s USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll to stay atop the national rankings.

The Gophers defeated Penn State Sunday night in their only action of the weekend and then swept the Nittany Lions with a win Monday night.

Ferris State climbs to No. 2 this week after a sweep of Michigan Tech and the Bulldogs had one first-place vote on the ballots.

No. 3 St. Cloud State, down one after splitting with Denver, also tallied a first-place nod.

Boston College defeated Providence and tied Brown and jumps one to No. 4, while Quinnipiac tied Harvard, beat Union and beat Rensselaer to rise two places to No. 5 this week.

Union falls two to No. 6 with the QU loss and a win over Princeton, Providence falls one to No. 7 after losing in overtime to Northeastern and to BC, Yale beat Harvard and jumps two spots to No. 8, Wisconsin swept Michigan and moves up five to No. 9 and with a loss to Northeastern, Massachusetts-Lowell drops a spot to No. 10.

Northeastern’s two wins propels the Huskies from No. 16 to No. 11, idle Cornell stays 12th, Michigan tumbles from No. 8 to No. 13, Clarkson split with Merrimack and is down three notches to No. 14 and with a sweep of Alabama-Huntsville, Notre Dame keeps the No. 15 slot for another week.

Denver is up one to No. 16, New Hampshire topped Dartmouth and jumps three spots to sit 17th, while Vermont beat St. Lawrence and lost to Colgate to keep a firm hold on No. 18.

With a win over Boston University, Maine enters the rankings at No. 19 and with a sweep over Colorado College, North Dakota is back to being ranked at No. 20.

In addition, nine other schools received votes this week.

The USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll consists of 50 voters, including 28 coaches from the Division I conferences and 22 beat writers and sports professionals from across the country.