Boston College heads into Monday's Beanpot Championship
as the nation's top-ranked team in the Inside College Hockey
Power Rankings. North Dakota moves into our second spot, and
Robert Morris returns to the rankings.
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. |
 Boston
College |
— |
BC and Northeastern will get to know each other quite
well in the next six days. They'll compete for the Beanpot
final Monday night, and then play a home-and-home this
weekend. Three games in three rinks in six days. |
| 21-6-0 (16-5-0
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: W vs. Boston University, 3-2 ot
(Beanpot); W at Providence, 3-0. THIS WEEK: vs. Northeastern
(Beanpot Championship), vs. Northeastern, at Northeastern |
| 2. |
 North
Dakota |
 2 |
In three starts for the Sioux against Alaska Anchorage,
goaltender Aaron Dell is 3-0-0 with a 0.67 goals against
average and a .964 save percentage. |
| 21-8-2 (16-6-0
WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Alaska Anchorage, 6-1; W vs. Alaska
Anchorage, 3-1. THIS WEEK: at St. Cloud State, at St.
Cloud State |
| 3. |
 Yale |
 1 |
No disrespect to the likes of Broc Little, Denny Kearney
or past scoring stars Mark Arcobello and Sean Backman,
but we've always thought that Brian O'Neill stirs the
drink for the Bulldogs. His hat trick against Clarkson
moved him into the team lead in goals (15) and points
(32). |
| 20-5-0 (14-4-0
ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: L at St. Lawrence, 3-2; W at Clarkson,
6-3. THIS WEEK: at Quinnipiac, at Princeton |
| 4. |
 Union |
3 |
The Dutchmen were dominant against Cornell on Friday.
They yielded just nine shots on goal and won 4-0. Union
swept the season series versus Cornell by an aggregate
score of 9-1. |
| 22-7-3 (14-3-1
ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: W vs. Cornell, 4-0; W vs. Colgate,
6-3. THIS WEEK: at Clarkson, at St. Lawrence |
| 5. |
 Merrimack |
4 |
Stephane Da Costa was injured in Friday's victory, so
Shawn Bates took his spot on a line with Jesse Todd and
Mike Collins for Saturday's game and Bates assisted on
the overtime-winner for the Warriors. |
| 19-5-1 (13-5-3
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: W at New Hampshire, 4-2; W vs.
New Hampshire, 3-2 ot. THIS WEEK: at Massachusetts, vs.
Massachusetts |
| 6. |
 Denver |
1 |
The Pioneers split with Minnesota, but the more immediate
concern is the health of senior captain Kyle Ostrow, who
underwent emergency surgery in Minneapolis Friday to repair
a problem in his groin area. He could be back in the lineup
for DU’s regular-season finale. |
| 18-7-5 (14-5-3
WCHA) LAST WEEK: W at Minnesota, 2-1; L at Minnesota,
7-3. THIS WEEK: vs. Michigan Tech, vs. Michigan Tech |
| 7. |
 Minnesota
Duluth |
4 |
Friday’s 8-2 loss to visiting St. Cloud State
was the Bulldogs’ largest margin of defeat since
dropping a 7-0 decision at Minnesota on March 3, 2006. |
| 18-6-5 (13-5-4
WCHA) LAST WEEK: L vs. St. Cloud State, 8-2; T vs. St.
Cloud State, 3-3 ot. THIS WEEK: at Minnesota State, at
Minnesota State |
| 8. |
 Miami |
2 |
With its tie and win against Western Michigan, the RedHawks
improved to 9-1-2 against the Broncos over the last four
years and extended their home unbeaten streak against
WMU to 11 games. |
| 17-9-6 (14-7-5
CCHA) LAST WEEK: T vs. Western Michigan, 3-3 ot; W vs.
Western Michigan, 3-1. THIS WEEK: Off |
| 9. |
 New
Hampshire |
3 |
UNH lost back-to-back games five times last season,
but hadn't suffered that kind of losing "streak"
this year until running in to Merrimack this past weekend. |
| 17-7-4 (15-4-2
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: L vs. Merrimack, 4-2; L at Merrimack,
3-2 ot. THIS WEEK: at Vermont, at Vermont |
| 10. |
 Rensselaer |
2 |
As mentioned on the latest INCH Podcast,
don't expect a full five minutes when the Engineers go
to OT, they've been in 11 overtime games and have just
four ties. |
| 18-8-4 (10-7-1
ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: L vs. Colgate, 2-1 ot; L vs. Cornell,
3-2 ot. THIS WEEK: at St. Lawrence, at Clarkson |
| 11. |
 Michigan |
1 |
By sweeping Ohio State in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines
extended their home winning streak to nine straight, their
longest single-season run since 2004-05, when they won
10 consecutive matches. |
| 19-9-4 (16-7-1
CCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Ohio State, 3-2; W vs. Ohio State,
2-1. THIS WEEK: vs. Western Michigan, vs. Western Michigan |
| 12. |
 Notre
Dame |
1 |
Freshman T.J. Tynan had four points in the Fighting
Irish’s weekend sweep of Bowling Green to become
the 11th rookie in Notre Dame history to crack the 40-point
plateau. |
| 18-9-5 (15-6-3
CCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Bowling Green, 2-1; W vs. Bowling
Green, 5-1. THIS WEEK: at Ferris State, at Ferris State |
| 13. |
 Nebraska-Omaha |
3 |
Dean Blais earned his 300th career victory as a college
head coach when his Mavericks finished off a sweep of
Wisconsin with a 4-3 win over the visiting Badgers Saturday. |
| 18-10-2
(14-6-2 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Wisconsin, 4-1; W vs. Wisconsin,
4-3. THIS WEEK: at Alaska Anchorage, at Alaska Anchorage |
| 14. |
 Wisconsin |
3 |
Last time the Badgers were swept on the road prior to
this weekend’s visit to Omaha? That was Oct. 17-18,
2008, when Wisconsin lost at Denver by 6-5 and 7-4 scores. |
| 19-10-3
(11-9-2 WCHA) LAST WEEK: L at Nebraska-Omaha, 4-1; L at
Nebraska-Omaha, 4-3. THIS WEEK: vs. Minnesota, vs. Minnesota |
| 15. |
 Dartmouth |
2 |
Don't look now, but Dartmouth is in the hunt for an
NCAA Tournament bid. Two wins this weekend lifted the
Big Green into a tie for third in ECAC Hockey. Dartmouth
hasn't played in the national tournament since 1980. |
| 15-7-3 (11-5-2
ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: W vs. Quinnipiac, 3-1; W vs. Princeton,
4-1. THIS WEEK: at Colgate, at Cornell |
| 16. |
 Boston
University |
1 |
My name's not Danny: Garrett Noonan scored the OT-winner
Friday night at UMass, foiling the Minutemen's big night
when the hosts wore alternate sweaters with Sam the Minuteman
on them. |
| 14-8-7 (11-5-5
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: L vs. Boston College, 3-2 ot (Beanpot);
W at Massachusetts, 4-3 ot. THIS WEEK: vs. Harvard (Beanpot
Consolation); vs. Providence, at Providence |
| 17. |
 Western
Michigan |
3 |
Ah, the magic of the shootout: As discussed in this
week’s INCH Podcast, five shootout wins—including
one at Miami this past weekend—have propelled the
Broncos to fourth place in the CCHA standings even though
they have fewer wins than all but three teams in the league. |
| 15-7-10
(9-6-9 CCHA) LAST WEEK: T at Miami, 3-3 ot; L at Miami,
3-1. THIS WEEK: at Michigan, at Michigan |
| 18. |
 RIT |
1 |
RIT wrapped up its fourth Atlantic Hockey regular-season
title in the five years the Tigers have been a member of that league.
Not too shabby a percentage, and there's still three games
left in the TIgers' regular season. |
| 16-8-7 (15-3-6
Atlantic Hockey) LAST WEEK: W vs. Canisius, 3-0; W at
Canisius, 6-0. THIS WEEK: at Robert Morris |
| 19. |
 Colorado
College |
— |
Little-used freshman goalie Josh Thorimbert (five starts
entering the Tigers’ series with Minnesota State
this past weekend) made 32 saves in his team’s 2-1
win over the Mavericks Saturday. |
| 17-14-1
(11-11-0 WCHA) LAST WEEK: L vs. Minnesota State, 5-1;
W vs. Minnesota State, 2-1. THIS WEEK: at Bemidji State,
at Bemidji State |
| 20. |
 Robert
Morris |
NR |
Nathan Longpre tied Chris Margott for the career-scoring
lead at Robert Morris this weekend with 136 points. Longpre
(133 games) achieved that total one game faster than Margott
(134). |
| 17-9-5 (12-7-5
Atlantic Hockey) LAST WEEK: W vs. Mercyhurst, 3-2; T at
Mercyhurst, 4-4 ot. THIS WEEK: vs. RIT |