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Roman Augustoviz spends Minnesota's winters covering college hockey, specifically the Gophers, and other University of Minnesota sports. During the summer, he writes about the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, with a dose of U sports sprinkled in. Follow him on Twitter @RomanStrib.
Two national polls split on No. 1 team, one picks Gophers, the other UMD
Posted by: Roman Augustoviz under Gophers, Men's hockey, Gophers awards and honors Updated: January 30, 2012 - 3:03 PM
The question this morning, looking ahead to the national polls which were released at midday, was how high would the No. 3 Gophers climb? After all they swept St. Cloud State this past weekend, 2-1 and 3-2. And actually, if one looks at the shot totals, neither game should have been that close.
The two teams ranked higher than the Gophers both struggled. Minnesota Duluth, an unchallenged No. 1 for weeks, tied Michigan Tech 4-4 and lost to the Huskies 5-0 at Amsoil Arena. A flat performance, to say the least. But then the 'Dogs had been playing so well and still have only five losses.
Boston University, No. 2 last week, had just as tough a weekend, losing to Maine twice, 4-2 and 3-1.
USCHO.com still has UMD at No. 1, but the Gophers are now No. 2 and received 21 first-place votes:
Record Pts. Last week
1 Minnesota-Duluth (28) 17- 5-4 959 1
2 Minnesota (21) 19- 9-1 918 3
3 Boston University 15- 8-1 799 2
4 Merrimack 14- 5-5 784 5
5 Boston College 16-10-1 777 7
6 Ferris State ( 1) 17- 8-3 716 10
7 Michigan 15- 9-4 689 8
8 Notre Dame 15-10-3 673 4
9 Mass-Lowell 16- 7-0 596 11
10 Ohio State 14- 8-5 531 6
11 Colorado College 14- 9-1 451 12
11 Union 15- 6-6 451 14
13 Denver 15- 8-3 383 15
14 Cornell 11- 6-4 338 9
15 Maine 14- 8-3 326 20
16 Western Michigan 13-10-5 290 13
17 North Dakota 15-10-2 227 18
18 Miami 15-11-2 220 17
19 Northern Michigan 12- 9-5 111 19
20 Colgate 14- 9-3 87 NR
But USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine has a new No. 1. The Gophers and UMD received the same numbers of votes, but Minnesota had two more first-place votes and edges the Bulldogs by the narrowest of margins:
1 Minnesota 473 (18) 19-9-1 3
2 Minnesota Duluth 473 (16) 17-5-4 1
3 Boston University 394 15-8-1 2
4 Merrimack 376 14-5-5 5
5 Boston College 332 16-10-1 8
6 Notre Dame 320 15-10-3 4
7 Ferris State 317 17-8-3 12
8 Michigan 278 15-9-4 9
9 UMass Lowell 250 16-7-0 11
10 Ohio State 178 14-8-5 7
11 Colorado Col 150 14-9-1 10
12 Union College 128 15-6-6 13
13 Denver 118 15-8-3 15
14 Cornell 108 11-6-4 6
15 Maine 60 14-8-3 NR
Why the difference? Both polls have coaches and media members voting on the top college hockey teams each week, but not the same ones.
In the first USA Today poll I saw at 12:46 p.m., the Gophers had 475 points and UMD 473. At some point, those totals were corrected to 473 apiece. Not sure why USA Today doesn't consider that a tie for No. 1, but it doesn't.
If I had a vote, which I don't, UMD would be my No. 1 team because the Bulldogs have only five losses, four fewer than the Gophers. Yes, I know the Gophers swept UMD 5-4, 5-4 on the road. But either team could have won those games. One went into overtime.
After that series, UMD went on a remarkable 17-game unbeaten. The Gophers have been too up and down. But being No. 2 in the nation in USCHO.com poll -- and mine -- isn't bad this late in the season.
I just hope they play again in the Final Five or the NCAA tournament. That first Gophers-UMD game, with 90-some shots and an overtime was awesome. UMD outshot the Gophers 50-16 in that second game but lost the battle in the nets.
In the only poll that really matters, the Gophers are No. 9 in the PairWise rankings this week. No. 1 is UMD, Boston University is No. 2. That means if the NCAA tournament was starting today, the Gophers would be the second or third seed in the West Regional at the Xcel Center.
The PairWise mimics how the NCAA fills out its field with nine at-large teams after five teams get automatic bids by winning conference tournaments.
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