Inside College Hockey | INCH Power Rankings

February 20, 2005
INCH Power Rankings

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Seeding speculation:
INCH 4x4

Last week's rankings

USA Today/American Hockey Magazine Poll

USCHO.com/CSTV Poll

Inconsistency was the rule in the top five this week, with one exception: Cornell just keeps on winning. Say what you want about their strength of schedule, the Big Red continue to post victories, and do it in their trademark style.

Cornell's continued success should also earn the Big Red a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament; at least we see it that way in our latest installment of INCH 4x4, which projects what we think the field might look like once the season ends.

Here's how the Inside College Hockey editors and staff rank the nation's top teams (along with movement since last week and a note for each team).

No.	Team		Of Note
1.	Cornell	3	Big Red finished the regular season at Lynah with a 13-0-1 record, after going 7-7-5 last year.
20-4-3 (16-2-2 ECACHL). LAST WEEK: W vs. Rensselaer, 3-0; W vs. Union, 4-1. THIS WEEK: at St. Lawrence, at Clarkson.
2.	Denver	–	Return to the scene of the crime: Pioneers visit Mankato for the first time since blowing a six-goal lead and losing 8-7 to the Mavericks there last season.
22-7-2 (17-5-2 WCHA). LAST WEEK: W vs. Minnesota Duluth, 5-4; L vs. Minnesota Duluth, 6-3. THIS WEEK: at Minnesota State, at Minnesota State.
3.	Colorado College	–	Saturday's win means, at worst, the Tigers will be two points back in the race for the WCHA title when the Pioneers visit the Springs on March 3.
25-6-3 (18-6-2 WCHA). LAST WEEK: L at Wisconsin, 5-1; W at Wisconsin, 2-1. THIS WEEK: Off.
4.	Wisconsin	1	Close enough to perfect: Bucky goalie Bernd Brückler fell 2:38 short of a school record-tying ninth career shutout on Friday but collected his 50th collegiate win anyway.
21-9-2 (16-7-1 WCHA). LAST WEEK: W vs. Colorado College, 5-1; L vs. Colorado College, 2-1. THIS WEEK: at North Dakota, at North Dakota.
5.	Boston College	4	Eagles watch BU win the Beanpot, suffer a slew of injuries, get swept by Lowell, and now are out of the Phil Kessel sweepstakes. And you thought you had a bad week.
19-6-5 (12-3-5 Hockey East). LAST WEEK: W vs. Harvard, 4-1 (Beanpot); L vs. UMass Lowell, 3-1; L at UMass Lowell, 4-1. THIS WEEK: vs. New Hampshire, at New Hampshire.
6.	Michigan	–	As if they needed more scoring punch, freshman Chad Kolarik has 16 points in his last 13 games.
24-7-3 (21-3-2 CCHA). LAST WEEK: W at Notre Dame, 9-2; W vs. Notre Dame, 6-3. THIS WEEK: vs. U.S. Under-18 Team (Ex.).
7.	New Hampshire	–	Wildcats are 20-2-2 when giving up three goals or fewer, 2-5-1 when allowing four or more.
22-7-3 (15-3-2 Hockey East). LAST WEEK: W at Merrimack, 6-1; W at Northeastern, 5-2. THIS WEEK: at Boston College, vs. Boston College.
8.	Ohio State	–	Since moving from the blue line to the fourth line Dec. 30, freshman Kyle Hood has 4-9—13 in 15 games.
23-8-3 (20-5-1 CCHA). LAST WEEK: L at Michigan State, 6-3; W at Michigan State, 5-1. THIS WEEK: Off.
9.	UMass Lowell	5	Home ice is very much in reach after an 0-5-2 Hockey East start. The River Hawks are three points back of Maine heading into this weekend's visit.
19-7-4 (10-7-3 Hockey East). LAST WEEK: W at Boston College, 3-1; W vs. Boston College, 4-1. THIS WEEK: at Maine, at Maine.
10.	Harvard	1	Defense pairing of Ryan Lannon (+20) and Dylan Reese (+19) leads the team in plus-minus rating.
17-7-2 (14-4-1 ECACHL). LAST WEEK: L vs. Boston College, 4-1 (Beanpot); W vs. Clarkson, 5-0; W vs. St. Lawrence, 5-2. THIS WEEK: vs. Brown, at Dartmouth, at Vermont.
11.	Colgate	1	Adam Mitchell set the school's games played record with his father, Doug, in attendance celebrating his 50th birthday
22-8-2 (14-4-2 ECACHL). LAST WEEK: W vs. Union, 3-1; W vs. Rensselaer, 1-0. THIS WEEK: at Clarkson, at St. Lawrence.
12.	Boston University	–	Five of BU's wins in its current eight-game unbeaten streak have come by one goal.
20-10-2 (14-4-2 Hockey East). LAST WEEK: W vs. Northeastern, 3-2 ot (Beanpot); W at Massachusetts, 3-0; W vs. Massachusetts, 2-1. THIS WEEK: vs. Northeastern.
13.	Minnesota	–	Pre-freshman hazing? Gophers score six (and an empty-netter) on future goaltender Jeff Frazee and Team USA. Maybe the goalie was distracted by the constant "We Want Kessel" chants.
20-12-1 (13-10-1 WCHA). LAST WEEK: W vs. U.S. Under-18 Team, 7-5 (Ex.). THIS WEEK: vs. St. Cloud State, at St. Cloud State.
14.	Maine	3	Providence's win Friday snapped a 16-game winless streak in Hockey East, and may have killed Maine's chances for a top-three finish in the league.
16-10-6 (11-5-4 Hockey East). LAST WEEK: L at Providence, 3-2; W at Providence, 6-2. THIS WEEK: vs. UMass Lowell, vs. UMass Lowell.
15.	Dartmouth	–	Big Green swept by Princeton this season. Who do they think they are? Harvard?
15-10-2 (12-8-0 ECACHL). LAST WEEK: L at Princeton, 6-2; W at Yale, 5-3. THIS WEEK: vs. Harvard, vs. Brown.
16.	Vermont	1	Easy night. Joe Fallon made just 11 saves in a shutout of Yale.
18-11-3 (12-6-2 ECACHL). LAST WEEK: W at Yale, 5-0; W at Princeton, 4-1. THIS WEEK: vs. Brown, vs. Harvard.
17.	Northern Michigan	1	Fracas at the end of the second period of Thursday's tie vs. Michigan Tech results in 10 players in penalty box, 144 PIMs.
16-9-7 (13-7-4 CCHA). LAST WEEK: T vs. Michigan Tech, 3-3 ot; W at Michigan Tech, 5-3. THIS WEEK: at Ferris State, at Ferris State.
18.	North Dakota	2	It's magic number time in Grand Forks as one Sioux win or one Minnesota Duluth loss clinches home playoff games at the Ralph.
16-13-3 (11-12-1 WCHA). LAST WEEK: W at Alaska Anchorage, 6-3; L at Alaska Anchorage, 5-2. THIS WEEK: vs. Wisconsin, vs. Wisconsin.
19.	Bemidji State	–	Brendan Cook, Andrew Murray and Luke Erickson, all with 32 or more points, could be the best line you've never heard of.
19-10-1 (14-4-0 CHA). LAST WEEK: L vs. Alabama-Huntsville, 3-1; W vs. Alabama-Huntsville, 3-2. THIS WEEK: at Minnesota Duluth, vs. Minnesota Duluth.
20.	Nebraska-Omaha	–	Two points in this weekend's series vs. Alaska-Fairbanks and Mavericks stay home for the first round of the CCHA playoffs.
16-12-4 (12-10-4 CCHA). LAST WEEK: W at Lake Superior State, 5-2; T at Lake Superior State, 3-3 ot. THIS WEEK: vs. Alaska-Fairbanks, vs. Alaska-Fairbanks.

Dropped out: None

Bubble-licious: Bowling Green, Brown, Alabama-Huntsville, Holy Cross

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