The Gophers continue to fall in the USCHO men's college hockey rankings. They dropped to No. 6 on Monday after splitting their Thanksgiving weekend road trip to Boston.

Minnesota State is the state's new top-ranked program at No. 2. The Mavericks climbed five spots and earned several first-place votes following a sweep at Lake Superior State. North Dakota jumped to No. 1 followed by Minnesota State, Boston University, Miami and Michigan Tech to round out the Top 5.

The Gophers blew by then-No. 12 Boston College 6-2 on Friday, but lost to unranked Northeastern 3-2 on Saturday. St. Cloud State and Bemidji State split their series in Bemidji, and Minnesota Duluth was off.

The Big Ten showed some improvement going 6-4-1 against all non-conference opponents and the Gophers' win against Boston College clinched the Big Ten/Hockey East Challenge victory. Hockey East won the challenge last year.

The Gophers kick off conference play this weekend at Michigan State and then head into a three-week winter break.

Complete USCHO men's poll and last weekend's Top 20 results. The Gophers held their No. 3 ranking in the USA Today/USAH Magazine Poll.