Gophers return to action in third week at No. 1; women's hockey reclaims top spot in polls

The Gophers held onto the No. 1 ranking through their bye week.

No. 2 Union stole several first-place votes after sweeping Maine on the road, last weekend, but the Gophers enter a third week in the top spot. North Dakota, Colgate and Providence round out the USCHO poll's Top 5.

St. Cloud State remains at No. 8 after a bye week and travels to Union this weekend. Minnesota State dropped a spot to No. 13 after splitting a home-and-home series with Minnesota Duluth. The Bulldogs jumped one spot to No. 19. Each team won the road.

Bemidji State (1-1-0) is unranked entering the Friday-Saturday series against the Gophers at Mariucci Arena, but received votes after defeating then-No. 2 North Dakota in its season opener. The Beavers were off last weekend.

A bad week for the Big Ten bumped Wisconsin and Ohio State from the polls and Michigan State and Penn State from receiving votes. Michigan dropped four spots to No. 14 after a split with New Hampshire.

The conference was 2-7-1 while the Gophers were idle.

Complete USCHO men's poll.

The Badgers entered the border battle ranked No. 1 after the Gophers tied Minnesota Duluth in Week 2, setting up a No. 1 vs. 2 showdown. The Gophers won the series opener 4-1, but required overtime for the sweep.

Wisconsin led 1-0 with less than two minutes to play in Game 2 until Rachael Bona tied it on a power-play goal to force overtime. Rachel Ramsey scored the game-winner four minutes into OT.

The Gophers host No. 9 North Dakota this weekend at Ridder Arena.