December 15, 2002
INCH Power Rankings

Welcome to college hockey's mid-season break (with the exception of the Western Michigan-Colorado College series, which will battle for attention next week with TNT's 280th airing of "A Christmas Story"). From the who'd-a-thunk-it file: our top four teams all feature new No. 1 goalies this year, and two of the top five weren't even in last year's NCAA Tournament. But they've all proven themselves in the first half, and they've earned the mantles of "teams to beat" once we take the tree down.

Take a look at how the Inside College Hockey editors and staff think the contenders stack up – and let us know what you think.

1.	Maine	1	With MAAC schedule out of the way, Black Bears can focus on their own conference.
2.	Cornell	1	Cornell-Maine in Florida ... that's more worth the trip than Mickey Mouse.
3.	North Dakota	1	They've got 16 wins, the most in the nation. But only two are against teams with winning records.
4.	Colorado College	3	All streaks must come to an end. Except for Peter Sejna's point run, which is now at 19 games and counting.
5.	Boston College	–	BC fans have a tough choice – follow football team to Detroit for Motor City Bowl or pucksters to Minneapolis for Dodge Holiday Classic. Yes, the tongue is firmly lodged in cheek.
6.	New Hampshire	–	Pucks went in vs. Under-18 Team. Now the Wildcats see if they can carry their scoring touch through break.
7.	Harvard	1	Loss to Maine Sunday snaps Crimson's five-game unbeaten streak.
8.	Michigan	1	For a change, Wolverines don't send half their roster to World Juniors this year.
9.	Ferris State	1	Yeah...we knew the Bulldogs would be in the top 10 at Christmas break, too. And if you believe that, I've got some shares of Enron stock to sell.
10.	Denver	3	Pioneers' four-game winless streak is their longest since going 0-5-1 in January 2000.
11.	Minnesota	–	Even with two Gophers at WJC, Yale (Higgins) and BC (Eaves, Shannon) will be more shorthanded at Mariucci, errr, Corporate Sponsor Classic.
12.	Ohio State	–	Umberger and Co. will provide some solace once Miami stomps Bucks in the Fiesta Bowl.
13.	Miami	–	RedHawks' 12-5-1 start is team's best pre-holiday showing since 1996-97, which is also the last time they advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
14.	Boston University	1	At GLI, BU gets to see the West's closest thing to the Beanpot. Terriers hope for similar success.
15.	Massachusetts	1	With OT win, Minutemen send Princeton packing – for England, where Tigers try to rescue season.
16.	Northern Michigan	2	Typical Wildcats. Follow up a sweep against Michigan with a home loss to Michigan Tech.

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