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Being off on a weekend where the second and third ranked teams went 3-0-1 did not cost the University of Minnesota among the college hockey rankings.
Minnesota continues to be the top team in both the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey polls as one of 7 WCHA teams in the top 20. The Golden Gophers actually received more first-place votes this week (30 out of 50) than last week despite being idle.
They play the biggest riser of the week in St. Cloud State, who moved from 12th to 8th following a road sweep of Bemidji State, in a series that has serious WCHA title implications. The Huskies currently have a five-point lead over Minnesota in the WCHA standings although the Gophers have two games in hand.
Quinnipac, meanwhile, remains second in both rankings with 20 first place votes. The Bobcats extended their unbeaten streak to 19 games after tying Brown and defeating then-#8 Yale.
Miami jumped up a spot to third following a sweep of Alaska. The RedHawks, who lead the CCHA by a point, have won their last five games entering a two-game series with #6 Western Michigan. Last week's #3, New Hampshire, drops down to fourth after splitting their weekend. The Wildcats defeated Northeastern on Friday but lost to Merrimack.
Boston College holds steady at 5 with a win over Vermont (their victory in the Beanpot against Harvard on Monday came after the polls were released).
The Broncos, who are a point behind Miami in the CCHA standings, lead the bottom half of a top ten that includes North Dakota at #7, St. Cloud State, Denver and Yale (who dropped 2 spots to #10).
Minnesota State somehow dropped a spot last week despite splitting with the Gophers. This week, however, the Mavericks moved up to 11th while being idle as that was corrected and other teams around them lost.
Merrimack is the lone team to crack the USCHO top-20 with their wins over UMass-Lowell and UNH. The Warriors replace Alaska at #20 after the Nanooks were swept by Miami.
And now the usual disclaimers: Polls are for entertainment and have no bearing on NCAA Tournament positions. Those would be the PairWise rankings, which our own Chris Dilks breaks down here.
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