U men’s hockey: Gophers slip in polls — a little
Posted on December 1st, 2008 – 4:02 PMBy Roman Augustoviz
Notre Dame is a unanimous No. 1 in the national hockey polls this week, supplanting the Gophers (7-2-5).
So where is Minnesota, which lost to Michigan 6-3 and tied Michigan State 4-4? Depends what poll you look at. The U fell just one spot, to No. 2, in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.
The top 10 in that poll are: 1. Notre Dame, 2. Minnesota, 3. Boston College (moving up from No. 6), 4. Miami (up from 5), 5. Boston University (up from 8), 6. Colorado College (down from 3), 7. Denver, 8. Northeastern, 9. Princeton and 10. Air Force.
In the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports poll, the Gophers are No. 3 behind Notre Dame and BC. Notre Dame got 40 first-place votes but seven other teams got either two (including Minnesota) or one.
The Irish (10-3-2) seem like a pretty vulnerable No. 1. Last week the Irish beat Western Michigan 4-1 the first game, then tied W. Mich. 3-3. … BC also is not blowing teams away. Last weekend the Eagles beat Harvard 5-1, but just squeaked past Dartmouth 2-1 in overtime.
The point here is, although the Gophers are struggling, other top-ranked teams don’t seem invincible. Whoever gets on a roll can have that No. 1 spot. Notre Dame is the fifth team this season to claim that hot seat.
BC was the preseason No. 1, CC took the spot on Oct. 20 and held it three weeks, BU had it for a week, and Minnesota for two weeks. Makes for an interesting college season so far.
Want a tiebreaker on where the Gophers should be ranked? INCH (Inside College Hockey) has Minnesota No. 2 in its power rankings behind Notre Dame.
Here is a look at the USCHO.com/CBS Sports national ratings this season. Notre Dame is the fifth No. 1 team. Here is a look at all the No. 1 teams so far and the Gophers’ climb:
No. 1 team Gophers
Preseason ratings from
Sept. 22-Oct. 6 Boston College No. 10
Oct. 13 Boston College No. 9
Oct. 20 Colorado College No. 7
(U was No. 6 in USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll)
Oct. 27 Colorado College No. 5
Nov. 3 Colorado College No. 4
Nov. 10 Boston University No. 2
Nov. 17 Minnesota No. 1
Nov. 24 Minnesota No. 1
Dec. 1 Notre Dame No. 3
(U was No. 2 in USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll)
U SCHEDULE
The Gophers are practicing Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday this week. They are idle this weekend. Then CC comes to Mariucci for an unusual Saturday-Sunday series on Dec. 13 and 14. That could be a challenging week for the team, especially the freshmen.
Next week is finals week, and those first-year players have never gone through that before while also practicing for a tough opponent.
No update Monday on the injured players who are expected back sometime this month: Mike Carman and Jay Barriball. Neither practiced on Monday.
I spotted Carman after the tie with MSU. He was well-dressed in a suit, walking briskly toward the Gophers’ locker room, but he had a noticeable limp.
WCHA LEAD IN JEOPARDY
While the Gophers are idle this weekend, eight other WCHA teams play conference games. And four of them could catch or pass first-place Minnesota in the WCHA standings.
The breakdown:
The U is 6-1-3 for 15 points … but
* Colorado College is host to UMD. CC is 6-3-1 for 13 points, so one win or two ties would enable the Tigers to catch the U.
* Minnesota State Mankato plays a home and home series with St. Cloud State. The Mavericks are 5-3-2 for 12 points, tied for third. A win and a tie for them would put them even with the Gophers.
* Wisconsin is the team tied for third with Minnesota State. The Badgers play at home against Alaska Anchorage, maybe the surprise team in the WCHA. Wisconsin is 5-5-2 for 12 points and if the Badgers have a win and a tie, they too would catch Minnesota. …. Wisconsin is 7-1-1 in its last nine games. But Alaska Anchorage is not a pushover this season. The usual bottom-dwellers are 4-4-2 in the WCHA, with a big win over CC and an overtime loss to CC. Those four wins are one more than the Seawolves had in the conference a year ago. They are No. 15 in the USCHO.com/CBS Sports national poll this week.
* Even Denver, alone in fifth with a 5-4-1 record for 11 points, can catch the Gophers if the Pioneers sweep at Michigan Tech.
Bottom line: Don’t expect the Gophers to be alone in first come Sunday. They may even drop to second or third.
LUCIA BUMPED AGAIN
To get my Gophers hockey fix, I was going to tune into the Don Lucia Show on the Good Neighbor, ‘CCO. As you know they don’t play this week. Then I checked and — for the second Monday night in a row – a Wild game bumps Lucia.
Golly gee, what do I now? I might have to go watch a practice this week.
