The INCH Power Rankings welcome three new teams
this week - UMass Lowell, Minnesota Duluth and Alaska. All
of them won playoff series and kept their seasons alive. Ranked
teams Vermont, Miami, New Hampshire and Ohio State were eliminated
from their league playoffs. Their consolation prize is a spot
in the rankings, and the hope for an NCAA bid when the bracket
is announced on Sunday.
Here's how the Inside College Hockey editors
and staff rank the nation's top teams (along with a note for
each team).
| No. |
Team |
|
Of
Note |
| 1. |
 Notre
Dame |
— |
How about a little love for goalie Jordan Pearce? He
pitched back-to-back shutouts against Nebraska-Omaha this
weekend; in his last five starts (all wins), he's stopped
all but one of the 112 shots he's faced. |
| 29-5-3 (21-4-3
CCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Nebraska-Omaha, 5-0; W vs. Nebraska-Omaha,
1-0. THIS WEEK: CCHA Semifinal vs. Northern Michigan |
| 2. |
 Boston
University |
— |
The only point of concern for BU right now might be
their penalty killing. They've conceded at least one power-play
goal in five of their last six games. The only game they
didn't was one in which it wasn't ever short-handed. |
| 29-6-4 (18-5-4
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: W vs. Maine, 2-1; L vs. Maine,
6-3; W vs. Maine, 6-2. THIS WEEK: Hockey East Semifinal
vs. Boston College |
| 3. |
 Michigan |
— |
Forward Aaron Palushaj had two goals and four assists
in the Wolverines' weekend sweep of Western Michigan.
As an aside, Michigan has outscored its foes by a 21-4
margin in its last four games. |
| 28-10-0
(20-8-0 CCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Western Michigan, 5-2;
W vs. Western Michigan, 6-1. THIS WEEK: CCHA Semifinal
vs. Alaska |
| 4. |
 North
Dakota |
 1 |
Big weekend for the Lamoureux family: the Fighting
Sioux's Mario scored in his team's 5-1 against Michigan
Tech Friday; Air Force's Jacques had three goals and
an assist in the Falcons' series win against Sacred
Heart; and twins Jocelyne and Monique helped Minnesota
to a return trip to the women's Frozen Four in a 4-3
win over Boston College. |
| 24-12-4
(17-7-4 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Michigan Tech, 5-1; W vs.
Michigan Tech, 4-3. THIS WEEK: WCHA Semifinal vs. Minnesota
or Minnesota Duluth |
| 5. |
 Denver |
1 |
Pioneer fans can now exhale after their team survived
a harrowing weekend series against Alaska Anchorage. Now
the hope is that the return of high-scoring forward Tyler
Bozak will leave the opposition breathless. |
| 22-10-5
(16-8-4 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Alaska Anchorage, 3-2;
W vs. Alaska Anchorage, 4-3. THIS WEEK: WCHA Semifinal
vs. Wisconsin |
| 6. |
 Northeastern |
 2 |
A nice weekend for freshman winger Alex Tuckerman, who
had a big hit that was featured on NESN highlight packages,
a goal and an assist on Saturday, and two goals Sunday,
including the overtime game-winner. |
| 25-10-4
(18-6-3 Hockey East) LAST WEEK: L vs. Massachusetts, 2-1;
W vs. Massachusetts, 4-1; W vs. Massachusetts, 3-2 ot.
THIS WEEK: Hockey East Semifinal vs. UMass Lowell |
| 7. |
 Yale |
2 |
Yale actually trailed Brown 2-0 halfway through Friday's
game, but six different players scored the last six goals
of the weekend to send Yale to Albany for the first time.
|
| 22-7-2 (15-5-2
ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: W vs. Brown, 4-2; W vs. Brown,
2-0. THIS WEEK: ECAC Hockey Semifinal vs. St. Lawrence |
| 8. |
 Princeton |
2 |
Getting off to a good start is a great way to ruin the
morale of an upset-minded opponent. That's exactly what
the Tigers did on Sunday night by scoring 58 seconds in
and a total of three goals in the game's first seven minutes. |
| 22-10-0
(14-8-0 ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: W vs. Union, 3-2; L vs.
Union, 5-2; W vs. Union, 3-1. THIS WEEK: ECAC Hockey Semifinal
vs. Cornell |
| 9. |
 Vermont |
2 |
Tsongas West? UMass Lowell is now 3-0-1 at Gutterson
in the last month following this weekend's sweet of the
Catamounts. The good news for UVM is that they're likely
assured to play again in the NCAAs based on an excellent
regular season. |
| 20-11-5
(15-8-4 Hockey East) LAST WEEK: L vs. UMass Lowell, 4-3
ot; L vs. UMass Lowell, 4-2. THIS WEEK: Off |
| 10. |
 Miami |
2 |
If you didn't see Northern Michigan's upset
of Miami in this past weekend's CCHA quarterfinal series
coming … well, maybe you need to read
these slugs a little closer from now on. |
| 20-12-5
(17-7-4 CCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Northern Michigan, 3-2;
L vs. Northern Michigan, 3-2 ot; L vs. Northern Michigan,
3-1. THIS WEEK: Off |
| 11. |
 Cornell
|
1 |
Evan Barlow had two goals in Cornell's first 21 games,
and now has nine in the last 11 games, including two goals
in each of the Big Red's playoff wins over RPI. |
| 20-8-4 (13-6-3
ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: L vs. Rensselaer, 1-0; W vs. Rensselaer,
4-0; W vs. Rensselaer, 4-3. THIS WEEK: ECAC Hockey Semifinal
vs. Princeton |
| 12. |
 St.
Lawrence |
1 |
The Saints rallied to score the last four goals of the
game and overcome a 3-1 first-period deficit on Saturday
against Quinnipiac. Defenseman Zach Miskovic scored three
more goals on the weekend, to increase his season total
to 15. |
| 21-11-4
(11-7-4 ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: W vs. Quinnipiac, 5-3;
W vs. Quinnipiac, 5-3. THIS WEEK: ECAC Hockey Semifinal
vs. Yale |
| 13. |
 Minnesota |
3 |
Minnesota is like a girlfriend you had in college, and
everything clicked at the start. A couple months in, she
turned into a buzzkill and you thought, "I don't
need this." Then she did a 180 and was cool again,
but not quite as good as the beginning. Better than someone
from St. Cloud or Mankato, though. |
| 17-12-7
(12-11-5 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. St. Cloud State, 4-2;
W vs. St. Cloud State, 3-0. THIS WEEK: WCHA Final Five
Play-In vs. Minnesota Duluth |
| 14. |
 New
Hampshire |
3 |
It's the first time that UNH hasn't been involved in
the Hockey East championship weekend since 2001, which
was also the last time that they missed out on the NCAA
Tournament. |
| 19-12-5
(15-8-4 Hockey East) LAST WEEK: L vs. Boston College,
5-3; L vs. Boston College, 1-0. THIS WEEK: Off |
| 15. |
 Boston
College |
1 |
It must be March. Boston College has won five of its
last six and the Eagles are making a return trip to the
Garden for the Hockey East semis for the fifth year in
a row. |
| 18-13-5
(11-11-5 Hockey East) LAST WEEK: W at New Hampshire, 5-3;
W at New Hampshire, 1-0. THIS WEEK: Hockey East Semifinal
vs. Boston University |
| 16. |
 Ohio
State |
2 |
We're not sure what's worse: Flying all the way to Fairbanks
from middle America, having to stay an extra day to play
a deciding third game in a quarterfinal playoff series,
or flying all the way back after losing a 1-0 game on
a fluke goal with less than a minute in regulation. |
| 23-14-4
(13-11-4 CCHA) LAST WEEK: L at Alaska, 4-0; W at Alaska,
4-2; L at Alaska, 1-0. THIS WEEK: Off |
| 17. |
 Wisconsin |
1 |
Maybe the Kohl Center should be renamed the Boom Boom
Room: Forward Blake Geoffrion had three goals and two
assists in the Badgers' weekend sweep of Minnesota State. |
| 19-15-4
(14-11-3 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Minnesota State, 7-1;
W vs. Minnesota State, 4-2. THIS WEEK: WCHA Semifinal
vs. Denver |
| 18. |
 UMass
Lowell |
NR |
Words you never thought you'd read: UMass Lowell is
kind of like Harvard. The River Hawks will get their own
Beanpot -type experience this weekend when they join BU,
BC and Northeastern in downtown Boston. |
| 19-15-2
(14-11-2 Hockey East) LAST WEEK: W at Vermont, 4-3 ot;
W at Vermont, 4-2. THIS WEEK: Hockey East Semifinal vs.
Northeastern |
| 19. |
 Minnesota
Duluth |
NR |
For our readers from Galway, here's the Connolly/Connelly
scorecard from the UMD's sweep of Colorado College: For
the Bulldogs, Mike Connolly had two assists and Jack Connolly
had a goal and three assists. CC's Brian Connelly had
one assist and was minus-1. Wisconsin's Shane Connelly
got updates via Twitter. |
| 18-12-8
(10-11-7 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W at Colorado College, 4-1;
W at Colorado College, 3-1. THIS WEEK: WCHA Final Five
Play-In vs. Minnesota |
| 20. |
 Alaska |
NR |
By beating Ohio State in their CCHA quarterfinal series,
the Nanooks secured their first trip to Joe Louis Arena
since 2005. Alaska finished third in the playoffs that
year, topping Michigan State in the third-place game for
the highest postseason finish of the school's CCHA tenure. |
| 17-14-6
(13-10-5 CCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Ohio State, 4-0; L vs.
Ohio State, 4-2; W vs. Ohio State, 1-0. THIS WEEK: CCHA
Semifinal vs. Michigan |