October 9, 2011
INCH Power Rankings: The Great 58

Another season is upon us and we won't limit our attention to those teams among the top 15 or top 20 in the nation. Whether near the top or near the bottom, each program is noteworthy.

Please note: These rankings were compiled prior to the games of the weekend of Oct. 7-9.

There are plenty of challenges that lie ahead as we enter the 2011-12 season. As the Inside College Hockey editors and staff ranked the nation's top teams, we also highlight a key part of the schedule for each club..

No.	Team	Circle The Dates
1.	Miami	The RedHawks play just one home game between Nov. 25 and Jan. 14, a Dec. 10 tilt with Ohio State that breaks up a trip to the Denver Cup, two games at Northern Michigan, one at Ohio State, and trips to Michigan State and Lake Superior to start the second half.
2.	Notre Dame	In a giant step forward for a program already cemented as a national power, the Fighting Irish will open the newly-constructed Compton Family Ice Arena on Oct. 21 against Rensselaer.
3.	Colorado College	A six-game stretch from Nov. 12 to Dec. 2 will teach us plenty about the Tigers’ WCHA and NCAA title aspirations: a game at Denver, Wisconsin at home twice, two at NoDak, then a home game with Denver.
4.	Yale	We'll be keeping an eye on Yale's home game Nov. 26 against Boston College. The Bulldogs don't play more than two games in a row away from Ingalls Rink.
5.	Denver	Magness Arena is a nice rink, which is perhaps why the Pioneers will spend the entire month of November there, hosting two-gamers with UMD and UNO, plus single games with CC, Miami and Princeton.
6.	Union	For the second year in a row, Union will play against local rival Rensselaer in a neutral-site game in Lake Placid. Last year's contest ended in a 3-3 tie. A Dec. 30-31 trip to Colorado has Union lining up against Denver and CC.
7.	Boston University	The Terriers will play against longtime rival Cornell at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 26, the third time in the last five years the two sides have met at the home of the New York Rangers.
8.	North Dakota	Is it wrong that we miss the Cold War sometimes? Those days when North Dakota was the nuclear missile capital of the nation. We’ll think of that era on Dec. 17 when the Russian Red Stars visit Grand Forks.
9.	Michigan	After a tough early portion of the conference schedule that sees Michigan face Miami and Western Michigan, the Wolverines will be tested by Boston College in the opening round of the Great Lakes Invitational on Dec. 29.
10.	Minnesota	December could be a time of holiday cheer for the Gophers, with winnable home series versus Minnesota State and Michigan Tech, then a tourney visit from Niagara, Northeastern and Princeton.
11.	Boston College	The Eagles will play in the dedication game for Notre Dame's new Compton Family Center on Nov. 18, and return to the midwest for the Great Lakes Invitational six weeks later.
12.	Minnesota Duluth	From before Thanksgiving to after MLK Day, the Bulldogs will be on the road, with consecutive trips to Michigan Tech, Wisconsin, Western Michigan and Nebraska-Omaha.
13.	Western Michigan	Western Michigan gets a great early-season test with a four-game road trip that takes them to Fairbanks for two conference games Oct. 14 and 15 and then to Schenectady to visit Union the following weekend.
14.	New Hampshire	UNH will play rivalry games on back-to-back Saturdays at neutral sites, first taking on Maine on Jan. 7 at Fenway Park, and facing in-state rival Dartmouth a week later in Manchester.
15.	Dartmouth	Dartmouth won't play a single road game until Nov. 18 at St. Lawrence, and will play away from Thompson Arena just three times before Jan. 1.
16.	Merrimack	The Warriors have a three-week stretch in mid-November that features just one contest against Alabama-Huntsville on Nov. 23.
17.	RIT	RIT will play gainst CCHA members Ferris State and Lake Superior State at an obvious location -- Burlington, Vt. during Vermont's Catamount Cup.
18.	Maine	Beginning in mid-January, Maine will alternate home and road weekends every weekend through the end of the regular season, including playing host to a visit from Alabama-Huntsville during the last weekend of January.
19.	Alaska	Coming out of the holiday break, the Nanooks play their only back-to-back road series all-season long. Those four games, two each at Northern Michigan and Ferris State after the month-long holiday layoff, could be a key factor in setting the second half tone for Alaska.
20.	Air Force	The Falcons regularly compete with RIT for conference honors in Atlantic Hockey. This year, Air Force hosts the Tigers for two games Feb. 3-4.
21.	Nebraska-Omaha	Might we see college hockey at Tennessee or Vandebilt someday? Ticket sales for the Mavs’ two-game series with Alabama-Huntsville in Nashville on Dec. 2-3 will be a measuring stick.
22.	Harvard	A seven-game road trip during the middle of the season includes games at Dartmouth, North Dakota (2) and Union - all teams ranked in the top-15 of this preseason ranking.
23.	Cornell	The Big Red have quite a trip planned for the turn of the year. They'll play in the Florida College Classic and then head straight out to Colorado Springs for two games against Colorado College.
24.	St. Cloud State	October is apparently “Wildcat Month” for the Huskies, who travel to Northern Michigan for two, then host New Hampshire in their home openers on Oct. 21-22. Sadly, they don’t play Arizona or Northwestern.
25.	Rensselaer	Heavyweight opponents Notre Dame, Colorado College, Yale and Union will line up against the Engineers early in the season, providing a big-time proving ground for RPI.
26.	Wisconsin	Non-conference weekends are best when there’s history attached. So we love the 2010 Frozen Four rematch on Jan. 6-7 when RIT visits the home of the Badgers.
27.	Ferris State	The Bulldogs appear to have a more explosive offense than they typically do, and it’ll be put to the test early in CCHA play when they open their conference slate with two homes games against Miami and a road trip to Michigan.
28.	Alaska Anchorage	Seawolves play nine of their last 12 regular season games at home (and only two outside of Alaska), forcing opponents to travel long distances in crunch time.
29.	Ohio State	The Buckeyes take center stage at two major venues this season, first on Dec. 30 when they face Robert Morris at the Consol Center in Pittsburgh, site of the 2013 Frozen Four, and then a few weeks later when they face Michigan at Progressive Field – home of the Cleveland Indians.
30.	Northern Michigan	After opening the second half at home against Alaska, the Wildcats play five straight road games when they travel to Michigan State for two games, a game at Michigan Tech and a series at Miami.
31.	Holy Cross	You can set your watch to this. Holy Cross won't leave the Eastern time zone at all this season, as Air Force visits Worcester Jan. 6-7 and the Crusaders don't have to make the return trip to Colorado Springs.
32.	Quinnipiac	Rise and shine, campers. Quinnipiac's Dec. 11 game against Princeton is a noon start on a Sunday.
33.	Massachusetts	UMass will play five of the first seven games away from home, but make up for that with two three-game home stands and a stretch of four straight games at home later in the season.
34.	Princeton	Princeton will play in both the Denver Cup and Mariucci Classic this year, including games against Denver and Providence on Nov. 25-26.
35.	Vermont	Vermont is the last Hockey East team to start its regular season, kicking off games for real with a two-game set at Minnesota on Oct. 21 and 23.
36.	Michigan State	While the College Hockey Showcase is now a thing of the past, the Spartans welcome Minnesota to Munn Ice Arena for two contests Thanksgiving weekend in a preview of a future Big Ten conference rivalry.
37.	Northeastern	Northeastern will add on the miles early in the year, playing just three home games in the months of November and December combined.
38.	Connecticut	Connecticut hosts Amry, UMass Lowell and RPI in this year's UConn Hockey Classic, Dec. 29 and 30.
39.	Bemidji State	Get used to hotel beds early in the season, Beavers. Four of their first five weekends are spent on the road, with trips to Miami, Colorado College, Minnesota Duluth and Lake Superior State.
40.	Niagara	It's a challenging start to the year for the Purps, with games against Michigan, RIT, Air Force and Union to begin the campaign, with only the Oct. 21 game against Union at home.
41.	Colgate	The Raiders host Miami Oct. 14-15 at Starr Rink in a marquee series. There's a lot of balance in the schedule, as Colgate won't have a homestand or roadtrip longer than four games in a row.
42.	Michigan Tech	New Huskies coach Mel Pearson spent two decades at Michigan, so it’s not surprising that he’s got the Dec. 29 meeting with Michigan State at Joe Louis Arena circled.
43.	Minnesota State	The Mavericks get a weekend off in late February, which will be a chance to rest, heal and gear up for a regular season-ending journey to North Dakota.
44.	St. Lawrence	We'll guess that Saints' opponents much prefer the short drive to and from their travel partner, Clarkson, than St. Lawrence will deal with Oct. 13 and 15 when they play at Michigan, then stop on the way home for a game against RIT.
45.	Robert Morris	The Colonials host Ohio State Dec. 30 at Consol Energy Center, the site of the 2013 Frozen Four.
46.	Brown	After opening December with a home-and-home against Yale, Brown has most of the month off, then faces New Hampshire and Providence on New Year's Day weekend.
47.	Lake Superior State	Lake Superior breaks up its holiday layoff with a trip to the Catamount Cup in Vermont, where they’ll face Vermont and RIT in two challenging non-conference contests.
48.	Army	Army's cross-border rivalry game with Royal Military College of Canada will take place at Tate Rink on Feb. 4.
49.	UMass Lowell	The schedule sets up well for a late-season run for the River Hawks, who will play eight of their last 11 games at home.
50.	Mercyhurst	Mercyhurst plays just 13 games at home this year, and just three of its last 14 games at Mercyhurst Ice Center.
51.	Providence	The Friars will have plenty of time to get adjusted to Nate Leaman's system at home; Providence will play nine of its first 11 games at Schneider Rink this season.
52.	Clarkson	Clarkson plays non-conference games against member schools from all four other conferences, including a Jan. 7 game against North Dakota in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
53.	Bowling Green	Between Jan. 20 and Feb. 4, Bowling Green plays five road games in six total contests, including two at Alaska, a home-and-home with Western Michigan and two at Notre Dame. If the Falcons can scrape two or more wins out of this stretch it will go a long way towards convincing the nation that times are changing in northern Ohio.
54.	Canisius	Canisius plays 10 of its last 14 games at home, all against Atlantic Hockey opposition.
55.	Bentley	The Falcons play just one non-league game in their last 27 regular-season, and it's a tough one -- at Yale on New Year's Day.
56.	Sacred Heart	Sacred Heart plays road games against Quinnipiac and Dartmouth in early-December and then closes the season with 16 straight Atlantic Hockey contests.
57.	Alabama-Huntsville	The Chargers have a six-game home stand that includes visits from Bowling Green, Air Force and Ohio State early in the year, and then play just one weekend series at its Von Braun Center the rest of the way.
58.	American International	AIC swept a home-and-home with Sacred Heart in late-January last season. They'll have the chance to do that again, as they host Sacred Heart Jan. 27 and visit the Pioneers Jan. 28.