U men’s puck: Gophers 6th in national poll
Posted on September 28th, 2009 – 5:38 PMBy Roman Augustoviz
The Gophers are rated No. 6 in the USA Today/USA Hockey preseason men’s hockey poll.
Miami (Ohio), which lost in the NCAA title game last season to Boston University, is the top-rated team followed by Denver and BU.
The Gophers return 10 of their top 11 scorers from the 2008-09 season and 20 letterwinners. Minnesota was 17-13-7 a year ago. The Gophers took fifth place in the WCHA but lost their first game in the Final Five and just missed advancing to the NCAA tournament.
Minnesota opens the season at No. 8 North Dakota on Oct. 16-17 and then faces Denver at home the next weekend.
The Gophers’ first practice is Saturday. The next day Minnesota faces British Columbia at 4 p.m. at Mariucci Arena in an exhibition game.
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine
Men’s College Hockey Poll - #1 (Preseason)
(first-place votes in parentheses)
| Rank | School |
2008-09 |
2008-09 Record |
| 1 | Miami (Ohio) University, 457 (4) |
2 |
23-13-5 |
| 2 | University of Denver, 455 (13) |
7 |
23-12-5 |
| 3 | Boston University, 438 (12) |
1 |
35-6-4 |
| 4 | University of Michigan, 384 |
5 |
29-12-0 |
| 5 | University of Notre Dame, 370 (5) |
4 |
31-6-3 |
| 6 | University of Minnesota, 270 |
NR |
17-13-7 |
| 7 | Cornell University, 254 |
12 |
22-10-4 |
| 8 | University of North Dakota, 227 |
13 |
24-15-4 |
| 9 | Princeton University, 223 |
15 |
22-12-1 |
| 10 | University of Massachusetts Lowell, 175 |
NR |
20-16-2 |
| 11 | Yale University, 149 |
10 |
24-8-2 |
| 12 | Boston College, 117 |
NR |
18-14-5 |
| 13 | St. Cloud State University, 106 |
NR |
18-17-3 |
| 14 | University of Wisconsin, 80 |
NR |
20-16-4 |
| 15 | University of Vermont, 73 |
3 |
22-12-5 |
