February 20, 2012
INCH Power Rankings

In a college hockey season in which the only certainty was to not be certain as to what to expect, top-ranked Ferris State bucked that trend with a pair of victories over Bowling Green. Ferris State is now 11-0-3 in its last 14 games and remains atop the INCH Power 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.	Ferris State	—	Leading scorer Jordie Johnston had three assists in the Bulldogs’ weekend sweep of Bowling Green. During Ferris’s current 14-game unbeaten streak, the junior has eight goals and nine assists.
22-8-4 (16-6-4 CCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Bowling Green, 5-1; W vs. Bowling Green, 4-1. THIS WEEK: at Western Michigan, vs. Western Michigan
2.	Union	—	Union is 10-1-2 in its last 13 games, but the health of number-one goaltender Troy Grosenick may be a concern. After missing three games, he blanked Princeton, but only made it through half of Saturday's win over Quinnipiac.
19-6-7 (13-3-4 ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: W vs. Princeton, 5-0; W vs. Quinnipiac, 5-2. THIS WEEK: at Cornell, at Colgate
3.	Minnesota	2	Coach Don Lucia emphasized to his team the importance of moving on after getting swept by Denver. After two wins against Bemidji State, consider the message received.
21-11-1 (17-7-0 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Bemidji State, 3-0; W vs. Bemidji State, 4-1. THIS WEEK: at Nebraska-Omaha, at Nebraska-Omaha
4.	Minnesota Duluth	1	The Bulldogs appeared to be on their way to their first WCHA series sweep in nearly three months, but Minnesota State scored twice in a 10-second span late in the third period Saturday to salvage a 4-4 tie.
20-7-5 (14-6-4 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W at Minnesota State, 4-2; T at Minnesota State, 4-4 ot. THIS WEEK: vs. Colorado College, vs. Colorado College
5.	Boston College	3	In the middle of the season we were puzzled by Boston College's relative inconsistency. We're not surprised at all that they've hit their stride in February. Seven straight victories.
21-10-1 (15-7-1 Hockey East) LAST WEEK: W vs. Boston University, 3-2 ot (Beanpot Championship); W vs. Merrimack, 4-2; W at Merrimack, 2-1. THIS WEEK: at Providence, vs. Providence
6.	Michigan	1	A.J. Treais scored 1:20 into overtime Saturday to give the Wolverines a 3-2 win over Northern Michigan, the fourth extra-session win for Michigan this season.
20-10-4 (14-8-4 CCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Northern Michigan, 4-1; W vs. Northern Michigan, 3-2 ot. THIS WEEK: at Bowling Green, at Bowling Green
7.	Boston University	3	The Terriers have won just one of their last four games, but at least they got balanced scoring in that one. Seven different players accounted for the goals in a 7-4 win at Lowell on Friday.
18-11-1 (14-8-1 Hockey East) LAST WEEK: L vs. Boston College, 3-2 ot (Beanpot Championship); W at UMass Lowell, 7-4; L vs. UMass Lowell, 4-2. THIS WEEK: at Vermont, at Vermont
8.	UMass Lowell	2	Sophomore defenseman Chad Ruhwedel has 23 points in 28 games this year, which leads River Hawks blueliners. He had a goal and two assists in Saturday's win at BU.
20-9-0 (15-8-0 Hockey East) LAST WEEK: L vs. Boston University, 7-4; W at Boston University, 4-2. THIS WEEK: at Merrimack, vs. Merrimack
9.	Denver	—	“We got our butt kicked tonight,” coach George Gwozdecky said following his team’s 5-2 loss to Wisconsin Saturday. It’s just the fourth loss for the Pioneers in 21 games at Kohl Center.
18-10-4 (13-7-4 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W at Wisconsin, 3-0; L at Wisconsin, 5-2. THIS WEEK: vs. North Dakota, vs. North Dakota
10.	Cornell	1	When Cornell plays overtime games, they come in bunches. The Big Red played three-straight OT games in January, back-to-back OT games at RPI and Union in early February, and two more this past weekend at Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
14-6-7 (11-3-6 ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: T at Clarkson, 1-1 ot; W at St. Lawrence, 4-3 ot. THIS WEEK: vs. Union, vs. Rensselaer
11.	North Dakota	4	With Aaron Dell sidelined due to injury, goaltender Brad Eidsness made his first back-to-back starts in nearly two years and stopped 42 of the 45 shots he faced in North Dakota’s win and tie against Michigan Tech.
17-11-3 (13-10-1 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Michigan Tech, 4-2; T vs. Michigan Tech, 1-1 ot. THIS WEEK: at Denver, at Denver
12.	Maine	—	The Black Bears left little to chance in Friday's win over UMass. Maine scored the first six goals of the game, and then capped the victory when senior forward Theo Andersson scored his first goal of the season.
18-10-3 (13-9-2 Hockey East) LAST WEEK: W vs. Massachusetts, 7-3; L vs. Massachusetts, 4-1. THIS WEEK: at Northeastern, at Northeastern
13.	Miami	4	Forward Reilly Smith scored his 22nd and 23rd goals of the season in the RedHawks’ sweep of visiting Notre Dame. Only one other Miami skater (freshman forward Austin Czarnik) has more than 23 points.
19-13-2 (13-11-2 CCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Notre Dame, 3-0; W vs. Notre Dame, 4-1. THIS WEEK: vs. Ohio State, at Ohio State
14.	Colorado College	—	Same story, different ending. The Tigers were up by two goals against Nebraska-Omaha Friday, squandered that lead, but ended up winning 4-3 on Jaden Schwartz’s third-period goal. Saturday, the Mavs scored four unanswered goals to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 win.
16-12-2 (13-10-1 WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Nebraska-Omaha, 4-3; L vs. Nebraska-Omaha, 5-3. THIS WEEK: at Minnesota Duluth, at Minnesota Duluth
15.	Michigan State	3	Defenseman Torey Krug had three assists in the Spartans’ sweep of visiting Alaska this past weekend, extending his current point streak to seven games. During that span, he’s scored four goals and added nine assists.
18-12-4 (13-10-3 CCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Alaska, 3-2 ot; W vs. Alaska, 3-0. THIS WEEK: at Notre Dame, at Notre Dame
16.	Merrimack	6	Merrimack has scored more than two goals in four games since Jan. 1, and is 4-0-0 in those games. In the other nine games, Merrimack is 0-6-3.
15-9-6 (11-8-4 Hockey East) LAST WEEK: L at Boston College, 4-2; L vs. Boston College, 2-1. THIS WEEK: vs. UMass Lowell, at UMass Lowell
17.	Colgate	4	A pair of one-goal losses in the North Country by a Raider team overcome with illness derailed any hope Colgate had of winning the regular-season title. However, Colgate controls its ability to clinch a top-four spot with two home games to wrap the year.
17-12-3 (11-8-1 ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: L at St. Lawrence, 3-2; L at Clarkson, 2-1. THIS WEEK: vs. Rensselaer, vs. Union
18.	Ohio State	NR	The Buckeyes needed 12 tries to notch their 15th win, but based on the last two seasons’ results, it seems like no. 16 should be the toughest one to bag — in both 2009-10 and 2010-11, OSU finished the year with 15 wins.
15-11-5 (11-10-5 CCHA) LAST WEEK: Off. THIS WEEK: at Miami, vs. Miami
19.	Air Force	—	If you're one of those types that likes to play with standings permutations and playoff matchups, go ahead and check out what's going on in Atlantic Hockey headed into the last weekend. Enjoy.
16-8-7 (14-5-6 Atlantic Hockey) LAST WEEK: W vs. Mercyhurst, 8-0; L vs. Mercyhurst, 2-1. THIS WEEK: at Robert Morris, at Robert Morris
20.	Western Michigan	—	Since starting the season 6-0-3, the Broncos have won back-to-back games just twice. One was a home-and-home sweep of Notre Dame in January; the other was a December home-and-home sweep of WMU’s opponent this weekend, Ferris State.
16-13-5 (13-10-3 CCHA) LAST WEEK: W at Lake Superior State, 3-1; L at Lake Superior State, 3-2. THIS WEEK: vs. Ferris State, at Ferris State

Dropped out: Notre Dame

Bubble-licious: , Lake Superior State, Quinnipiac, RIT