Minnesota State holds the nation's best record, including only taking two losses in their last 17 contests. They're first in the nation in both Pairwise and KRACH, and by a fairly significant margin. But that wasn't enough to provide adequate protection to keep the number one ranking in our power rankings this week after the Mavericks dropped the North Star College Cup championship game to a very determined Bemidji State team on Saturday. Talk about a tough crowd.
Elsewhere in the poll, it was a strong week for Hockey East. Boston University made a big surge up the rankings thanks to a strong road sweep at Vermont, and Providence returned to the poll with a home-and-home sweep of UMass Lowell.
Here is how we voted this week:
Rank |
Chris |
Jeff |
Nate |
Ryan |
Mary |
Josh |
SBN Rank |
1 | Minnesota State | North Dakota | Minnesota State | North Dakota | North Dakota | North Dakota | North Dakota(58) |
2 | North Dakota | Boston University | North Dakota | Minnesota State | Minnesota State | Boston University | Minnesota State(54) |
3 | Omaha | Minnesota State | Boston University | Boston University | Boston University | Minnesota State | Boston University (49) |
4 | Boston University | Omaha | Harvard | Omaha | Omaha | Omaha | Omaha(41) |
5 | Harvard | Harvard | Minnesota Duluth | Harvard | Harvard | Minnesota Duluth | Harvard (36) |
6 | Minnesota Duluth | Minnesota Duluth | Omaha | Minnesota Duluth | Bowling Green | Harvard | Minnesota Duluth (31) |
7 | Bowling Green | Bowling Green | Bowling Green | Bowling Green | Minnesota Duluth | Bowling Green | Bowling Green (25) |
8 | Providence | Providence | Providence | Providence | Providence | Providence | Providence (18) |
9 | Miami | Michigan Tech | Miami | Michigan Tech | Michigan Tech | Michigan Tech | Michigan Tech (9) |
10 | Michigan Tech | Miami | Michigan | Miami | Miami | Miami | Miami (8) |
1. North Dakota 18-5-2 (58)
North Dakota swept a team near the bottom of the college rankings at home for the second straight weekend with a pair of victories over Colorado College. Their final ten conference games should be much tougher, starting next weekend with a tough road trip to Omaha.
-Chris Dilks
2. Minnesota State 19-5-1 (54)
It was an up-and-down weekend for the Mavericks at the North Star College Cup. On Friday night, the Mavericks earned their first win in eight tries at the XCel Energy Center when they defeated Minnesota 4-2, in a game that had a wild finish, after goalie Stephon Williams intentionally pushed his own net off to force a whistle with a teammate down on the ice for injury. But they couldn't carry that momentum over to Saturday. They were halted by a near-perfect defensive effort by Bemidji State led by tournament MVP Michael Bitzer, in a 3-1 loss to the Beavers in the championship game. The loss snapped a nine-game unbeaten streak for the Mavericks.
-Chris Dilks
3. Boston University 15-4-4 (49)
The Terriers finished off a road sweep of Vermont this past weekend, jumping out to a two-game lead on UMass Lowell and Boston College in the Hockey East standings. After a 4-2 win on Friday, BU rallied to a 2-1 overtime win in Saturday'sfinale. Senior Evan Rodrigues scored with 2:18 left in regulation to tie the score before freshman Jack Eichel became the first Terrier in Hockey East history to score a third overtime winner in a season with the game-winning goal. BU improved to 6-1-3 since the start of December with the pair of wins, which gave it a season sweep of the Catamounts for the first time since 2012.
-Josh Kummins
4. Omaha 15-6-3 (41)
The Mavericks were idle last weekend. They maintained their lead atop the NCHC standings, but North Dakota's sweep of Colorado College brought North Dakota within a point of first place. Those two teams will meet next weekend in Omaha for first place in the conference.
-Chris Dilks
5. Harvard 12-4-2 (36)
Cornell edged out the Crimson in the final minute for a 3-2 win on Friday night, but a career-high four points from junior Jimmy Vesey led an offensive outburst in a 6-1 win at Colgate the following night. In Saturday's big win, Vesey and Kyle Criscuolo each scored twice and teamed up for ten points with sophomore center Tyler Moy. Another bright spot for the Crimson was the emergence of Burlington, Mass. native freshman Eddie Ellis as found the back of the net once in each game for the first two goals of his collegiate career. Harvard entertains defending national champion Union on Friday night in its final game before the Beanpot.
-Josh Kummins
6. Minnesota Duluth 14-9-1 (31)
Minnesota Duluth's winless streak ran to four games after a 4-0 loss on Friday afternoon to Bemidji State at the North Star College Cup. Their effort wasn't outstanding in the tournament's consolation game, but it was good enough. The Bulldogs attempted just five shots in the third period against Minnesota, with only two making it on the goal, but one of those shots was Adam Krause's second goal of the game, which gave the Bulldogs a 2-1 victory over Minnesota.
-Chris Dilks
7. Bowling Green 15-5-4 (25)
The Falcons became the latest victims to fall to the ever-improving Lake Superior State Lakers and the hot goaltending of freshman Gordy Defiel on Friday night. Bowling Green outshot Lake Superior 8-1 in the third period, but could not overcome a 3-1 deficit. They rebounded well on Saturday though, scoring twice in the first period and carrying that lead to a 3-1 victory.
-Chris Dilks
8. Providence 16-8-1 (18)
The Friars improved to 5-2-0 for the month of January as they swept UMass Lowell for the first time since 2005 with 7-3 and 4-1 wins over this past weekend. PC finished 3-for-3 on the power play in Friday's road win in which junior Trevor Mingoia scored twice and added an assist to lead a trio of three-point scorers. In Saturday's home contest, the Friars scored four goals in the second period to cruise to the win, including the first of freshman defender Jake Walman's career. PC faces a big road contest on Friday night at Boston College.
-Josh Kummins
9. Michigan Tech 18-7-1 (9)
Michigan Tech trailed Alaska-Fairbanks 3-1 midway through the third period on Friday night, but goals by Alex Petan and Joel L'Esperance 39 seconds apart tied the game, and captain Blake Pietila scored the game-winner in overtime to avoid the upset. The Huskies came from behind again on Saturday with their other captain, Tanner Kero netting the game-winner this time in a gritty 3-2 victory to sweep a very pesky Nanook team.
-Chris Dilks
10. Miami 15-9-0 (8)
Trevor Moore's goal 30 seconds into the third period on Friday night was the difference maker in a 3-1 Denver win over Miami in Oxford. The loss temporarily moved Miami out of the top four in the league standings for the first team since the early stages of the season. But the RedHawks bounced back on Saturday with a 4-1 victory, paced by two goals from Cody Murphy to move back ahead of Denver in the NCHC standings.
-Chris Dilks