Inside College Hockey | INCH Power Rankings

December 14, 2003
INCH Power Rankings

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As most of college hockey prepares for its holiday break – there are only eight games on the slate this week, highlighted by the Dodge Holiday Classic – our top three hold strong in the INCH Power Rankings. They'll be dreaming of sugar plums tihs weekend, as each enjoys a break before returning to action on Dec. 27.

Here's how the Inside College Hockey editors and staff ranks the nation's top teams. You can let us know what you think, including your name and hometown, and we'll share your thoughts below.

No.	Team		Notes
1.	North Dakota	–	Each week, it's a new hero. This time around, it's forward Colby Genoway (1-4—5 in sweep of UMD).
11-2-0 (7-1-0 WCHA). LAST WEEK: W vs. Minnesota Duluth, 5-4; W vs. Minnesota Duluth, 6-3. THIS WEEK: Off.
2.	Boston College	–	The Eaves, Eaves, Voce line has each of the Eagles' last nine goals.
11-2-3 (6-0-2 Hockey East). LAST WEEK: W vs. Harvard, 3-2. THIS WEEK: Off.
3.	Maine	–	Tim Whitehead's luxury: Goalie Jim Howard (5-1-1, 1.69) heads to World Juniors, but Frank Doyle (7-1-0, 1.88) will be around.
12-2-1 (6-2-1 Hockey East). LAST WEEK: W vs. Dartmouth, 3-2. THIS WEEK: Off.
4.	Wisconsin	1	With the rising interest in the Badgers, who are unbeaten in a school-record-tying 14 straight, you'd think they could afford to pay the power bill at the Kohl Center.
11-3-4 (6-2-4 WCHA). LAST WEEK: W vs. Minnesota State, 4-1; W vs. Minnesota State, 3-2. THIS WEEK: Off.
5.	Denver	4	Only Ben Eaves has more assists than Pioneer sophomore forward Gabe Gauthier's 17 helpers.
11-5-2 (5-5-2 WCHA). LAST WEEK: W at St. Cloud State, 4-1; W at St. Cloud State, 3-2. THIS WEEK: at Minnesota State, at Minnesota State.
6.	Colorado College	2	Sometimes you run into two hot goalies. UAA's duo of King and Reiter stop 71 of 74 Tiger shots en route to Seawolves' sweep.
9-4-3 (4-4-2 WCHA). LAST WEEK: L at Alaska Anchorage, 5-2; L at Alaska Anchorage, 3-1. THIS WEEK: Off.
7.	Brown	1	Unstoppable force vs. immovable object? Subway Holiday Classic in Grand Forks could produce Brown-NoDak title match.
6-2-2 (6-2-1 ECAC). LAST WEEK: Off. THIS WEEK: Off.
8.	Michigan	2	Red Berenson jealous of Kevin Lowe, wishes he would've asked Mike Comrie for $2.4 million when he left Ann Arbor prematurely for major junior ranks.
11-6-1 (7-4-1 CCHA). LAST WEEK: W at Nebraska-Omaha, 2-1; T at Nebraska-Omaha, 3-3 ot. THIS WEEK: Off.
9.	New Hampshire	2	Merrimack snapped UNH's 29-game unbeaten streak in the series decisively, and sends the Wildcats to Minnesota on a three-game winless streak.
10-5-2 (5-3-2 Hockey East). LAST WEEK: T at Massachusetts, 2-2 ot; L vs. Merrimack, 7-2. THIS WEEK: vs. Miami, vs. Minnesota or Princeton (Dodge Holiday Classic).
10.	St. Cloud State	4	Remember when the Huskies opened the season with a nine-game unbeaten streak? They're 2-6-1 since and have scored two or fewer goals in all but one of those games..
10-6-2 (8-4-2 WCHA). LAST WEEK: L vs. Denver, 4-1; L vs. Denver, 3-2. THIS WEEK: Off.
11.	Ohio State	2	I'll have what she's having – OSU women's icers are 7-0-1 in their last eight and have given up six goals during that span.
11-7-0 (8-5-0 CCHA). LAST WEEK: Off. THIS WEEK: Off.
12.	Cornell	2	Seniors Greg Hornby, Ben Wallace win the team's fastest skater, hardest shot competitions, respectively.
4-2-5 (4-0-2 ECAC). LAST WEEK: Off. THIS WEEK: Off.
13.	Massachusetts	2	We'd feel better about the Minutemen if they'd post a solid non-conference win. After losing to Harvard Saturday, they'll prepare for a Dec. 27 contest at Dartmouth.
9-4-3 (5-2-2 Hockey East). LAST WEEK: T vs. New Hampshire, 2-2 ot; L at Harvard, 5-3. THIS WEEK: Off.
14.	Miami	1	Streaking RedHawks take on New Hampshire and could see Minnesota at this weekend's Mariucci Classic.
10-6-2 (8-3-1 CCHA). LAST WEEK: Off. THIS WEEK: vs. New Hampshire, vs. Minnesota or Princeton (Dodge Holiday Classic).
15.	Dartmouth	3	Big Green end stretch of three straight road Hockey East games at 0-2-1.
4-2-4 (3-0-3 ECAC) LAST WEEK: L at Maine, 3-2. THIS WEEK: Off.
16.	Notre Dame	–	Here's a deal for the Irish. We'll move you up in the rankings if you can just get Joe Theismann to pipe down occasionally.
8-5-2 (7-5-2 CCHA). LAST WEEK: Off. THIS WEEK: Off.
17.	Harvard	–	Crimson already have two solid non-conference wins, vs. BU and UMass. That's two more than they had all of last year.
6-5-1 (4-4-1 ECAC). LAST WEEK: L at Boston College, 3-2; W vs. Massachusetts, 5-3. THIS WEEK: at Princeton.
18.	Minnesota	1	Where would you rather be next Saturday at 4 p.m.: watching UNH-Miami in game one of the Mariucci Classic or at the Metrodome watching the Vikings fight for their playoff lives against Kansas City?
7-8-1 (4-7-1 WCHA). LAST WEEK: W vs. Latvia, 7-1 (Ex.). THIS WEEK: vs. Princeton, vs. Miami or New Hampshire (Dodge Holiday Classic).
19.	Michigan State	1	A world-record crowd watched the "BasketBowl" against Kentucky. We might've joined them, if they played outside.
9-8-1 (7-4-1 CCHA). LAST WEEK: Off. THIS WEEK: vs. U.S. Under-18 Team (Ex.).
20.	Minnesota Duluth	2	We're not sure what's up with goalie Isaac Reichmuth (7 GA, .500 save percentage in his last two starts). But we saw him take a drink out of Mike Ayers' water bottle.
9-8-2 (7-5-0 WCHA). LAST WEEK: L at North Dakota, 5-4; L at North Dakota, 6-3. THIS WEEK: vs. Latvia (Ex.).

Dropped out: None

Bubble-licious: Alaska Anchorage, Colgate, Rensselaer, Niagara, Holy Cross, Quinnipiac

Feedback

It could be the best weekend that Brown could visit Grand Forks for a crack at UND, as they will be without top forwards Zach Parise and Brady Murray due to World Juniors. We will find out how deep the talent pool is during the Subway Classic and the series vs. St. Cloud State the first weekend of January. Keep your eye on Rory McMahon, he could go for a big weekend at the Classic as he's turned into a two-way dynamo the last couple series with some huge, highlight-quality goals through sheer determination and hard work. Lundbohm is also starting to turn it up as well, and he is a sniper when he gets on a roll and he's getting his passing game going on a higher level lately as well. It's also nice to see that UND may indeed have a true two-goalie tandem developing which has to take some pressure off the coaching staff, though I've no doubt that the competitive Parise and Brandt would happily take multiple consecutive starts if Blais wanted to hand them out. Congrats to the football team for Div. II National Runner-Up finish! Go Sioux!!

— Michael E., Grand Forks, N.D.

It's a good thing UND is playing well right now because from what I hear, there is nothing else to do in Grand Forks. However, there are plenty of things going on in Madison, but nothing hotter then our hockey team. As far as I am concerned the NCAA might as well bring the national championship trophy to Madison on Feb. 6th and 7th when UND comes to the Kohl center for perhaps the biggest matchup of the season. And believe me, with 17,000 people in attendance both of those nights, a power outage will be the last of their concerns because the student section is going to be have the place shaking by the end of the night. Go Badgers!

— Kyle, Madison, Wisc.

How is Minnesota ranked higher than BU? I know the Terriers haven't been playing up to par – trust me I've been to every game this year – but Minnesota seems to be getting props solely because they are the defending national champs. I guess We'll find out where they really belong after BU crushes them on January 2 and 3.

— Matt, Boston U.

That bandwagon seems like its filling up pretty quikly now. It only took 14 games without losing. Welcome aboard Kyle, the more the merrier. Go Gophers.

— Chris McCarron, Madison, Wisc.

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