College Hockey Rankings: Mavericks Back On Top

Minnesota State found themselves back on top after a series sweep on the road at Ferris State.  This, is combination with some other action that took place this past weekend, gave the Mavericks all first place votes this week.

Rank	Chris	Jeff	Nate	Matt	Ryan	Mary	Josh	SBN Rank
1	Minnesota State	Minnesota State	Minnesota State	Minnesota State	Minnesota State	Minnesota State	Minnesota State	Minnesota State (70)
2	North Dakota	North Dakota	North Dakota	North Dakota	North Dakota	North Dakota	North Dakota	North Dakota (63)
3	Minnesota Duluth	Minnesota Duluth	Harvard	Minnesota Duluth	Minnesota Duluth	Nebraska Omaha	Minnesota Duluth	Minnesota Duluth (54)
4	Nebraska Omaha	Boston University	Minnesota Duluth	Nebraska Omaha	Nebraska Omaha	Minnesota Duluth	Nebraska Omaha	Nebraska Omaha(45)
5	Bowling Green	Harvard	Boston University	Bowling Green	Harvard	Harvard	Boston University	Harvard (39)
6	Harvard	Nebraska Omaha	Bowling Green	Boston University	Bowling Green	Boston University	Bowling Green	Boston University (37)
7	Boston University	Yale	Nebraska Omaha	Harvard	Boston University	Bowling Green	Harvard	Bowling Green (33)
8	UMass Lowell	UMass Lowell	UMass Lowell	UMass Lowell	UMass Lowell	UMass Lowell	Yale	UMass-Lowell (20)
9	Miami	Bowling Green	Miami	Western Michigan	Miami	Miami	UMass Lowell	Yale (10)
10	Yale	Western Michigan	Yale	Michigan	Yale	Western Michigan	Western Michigan	Miami (8)

1. Minnesota State  18-4-1 (70)

The Mavericks handled their first ever national number one ranking with aplomb with a very difficult road sweep over Ferris State. They hung on for a 2-1 victory on Friday night. On Saturday, they fell behind early 1-0--the first time they had trailed in eight games--but capitalized on a five-minute major power play in the third period to tie the game, then scored twice more to earn a 3-1 victory. The Mavericks head to the North Star College Cup next weekend as the nation's top team, but they will be searching for their first ever victory at the XCel Energy.

- Chris Dilks

2. North Dakota  16-5-2 (63)

North Dakota hosted a home series against Niagara, currently ranked dead last in college hockey in the Pairwise, and took care of a business with wins of 7-1 and 5-0.

- Chris Dilks

3. Minnesota Duluth  13-8-1 (54)

The Bulldogs hosted a red hot Western Michigan team last weekend and could only manage a single league point against the Broncos, tying Friday night's game and then losing in a shootout and then falling by a score of 4-2 on Saturday. The Bulldogs outplayed Western Michigan all weekend, but struggled to score against disciplined, physical defense of Western Michigan.

- Chris Dilks

4. Nebraska Omaha  15-6-3 (45)

The Mavericks 4-3 on Friday night at Colorado College, giving CC their first NCHC conference win of the season. On Saturday, they fell behind 1-0 in the first period, but fought back for a 4-1 victory. With Minnesota Duluth struggling vs. Western Michigan and North Dakota playing out-of-conference, the Mavericks were able to increase their lead atop the NCHC standings, though not by as many points as they had hoped.

- Chris Dilks

5. Harvard  11-3-2 (39)

Jimmy Vesey continued a stellar junior season with two goals and five points on the weekend, despite the Crimson dropping a 5-1 decision to St. Lawrence on Sunday. He remains the only player in Division 1 with at least a point in each of his team's games this season after setting a new career-high with two goals and two assists in a 6-3 win over Clarkson on Friday and getting credit for the team's lone goal in the loss to SLU. The Crimson visit Cornell and Colgate in its only two true road games of the month this coming weekend.

- Joshua Kummins

6. Boston University  13-4-4 (37)

The Terriers scored twice in the third period after falling behind 3-0 but dropped a 4-2 decision to archrival Boston College on Fridaynight, while freshman Jack Eichel netted the overtime winner inSunday's 4-3 win over UMass Lowell. BU was resilient once again in the weekend-closing victory, coming back from a 3-1 deficit en route to jumping into a first-place tie in the Hockey East standings with 18 points. Junior Danny O'Regan is one of just four Division 1 players with at least 16 goals on the season after scoring one in each game on the weekend. Next up, BU hits the road for a weekend pair at Vermont.

- Joshua Kummins

7. Bowling Green  14-4-4 (33)

The Falcons traveled north for a hard-fought series against Michigan Tech. The Huskies got the better of them on Friday night with a 4-3 victory--Bowling Green's first loss since November 14th--but the Falcons answered back with a 3-2 victory the following night, led by goalie Tommy Burke making 38 saves on 40 shots in the win.

- Chris Dilks

8. UMass-Lowell  15-5-3 (20)

On Friday night, UMass-Lowell took to the road to find a victory against Maine in a 2-0 decision.  Despite having a day of rest, the River Hawks fell to Boston University on Sunday in a 4-3 OT game.  Next up, UMass-Lowell starts a home-home series with Providence this weekend.

- Matt Christians

9. Yale  11-4-2 (10)

The Bulldogs squeezed out a win against Brown by a score of 1-0 on Friday night.  Finishing the series sweep, Yale downed Brown by a 5-1 decision the following night.  This weekend Yale's on the road Friday and Saturday for games against St. Lawrence and Clarkson, respectfully.

- Matt Christians

10. Miami  14-8-0 (8)

The RedHawks had the weekend off to recover from being swept by St. Cloud State two weeks ago, and prepare for next weekend's series against Denver. The combination of Miami losing all six league points to St. Cloud State, and Denver gaining all six league points against St. Cloud State last weekend has really tightened up the race between fourth and fifth place in the NCHC, and the upcoming series between Denver and Miami could have huge playoff home ice implications down the road.

- Chris Dilks