Sports

Miami loses, ties but stays No. 1, Beavers up to No. 4

What a whacky season in college hockey. No team has been able to get on a long winning streak. Michigan State was 6-0-2 and rising in the polls until losing Notre Dame and then to Wisconsin and the Gophers last weekend. Here is this week's USA Today poll, followed by my comments on each team.

By Roman Augustoviz

December 1, 2009 at 12:46AM

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine
Men's College Hockey Poll - #9
(first-place votes in parenthesis)

1. Miami ... The RedHawks can't do anything to drop out of first. One recent weekend they tie with Ferris State twice and still stay No. 1, last weekend they lose to Bemidji State 3-2 and tie with NoDak 5-5 and stay No. 1. But they only got 18 of 34 first-place votes.

2. Denver ... The Pioneers split with St. Cloud State last weekend, winning 5-3, losing 3-2. ... DU has big home and home series with CC this weekend.

3. North Dakota ... The Sioux beat Ohio State 4-1 and tied Miami 5-5.

4. Bemidji State .... The Beavers keep reaching new heights, No. 4 is the higest they have ever been rated. They move up from No. 6 by beating Miami 3-2 and losing 2-1 in OT to Ohio State.

5. Colorado College ... The Tigers split with Alaska Anchorage, winning 5-0 and losing 3-2 in OT.

6. Quinnipiac ... This is a private, coeducational school of 5,700 in Hamden, Conn., which has three big wins. In succession, the Bobcats have been No. 7 Cornell 3-2, Princeton 5-1 and No. 9 UMass 5-4 in OT. Q plays No. 9 Yale on Friday.

7 . Cornell, 8. Mass-Lowell, 9. Mass and 10. Yale, all eastern teams finish the bottom of the top 10.

11. Michigan State ... The Spartans were cruising along, going 6-0-2 before losing to Notre Dame 4-1, Wisconsin 7-3 and Minnesota 2-1. They tumble from No. 7.

12. UMD ... The third place team in the WCHA was idle last weekend but plays North Dakota at home this weekend. After that DU visits.

13. Alaska Fairbanks, 14. Boston College and 15. Notre Dame close out the top 15.

Rank School Last Poll's Ranking 2009-10 Record Weeks in Top-15 1 Miami University, 483 (18) 1 9-2-5 9 2 University of Denver, 470 (10) 2 9-4-1 9 3 University of North Dakota, 448 (3) 4 8-4-2 9 4 Bemidji State University, 373 (1) 6 11-2-1 6 5 Colorado College, 366 (1) 5 10-3-1 6 6 Quinnipiac University, 353 (1) 10 12-1-0 3 7 Cornell University, 316 8 6-2-1 9 8 University of Massachusetts Lowell, 244 3 8-4-1 9 9 University of Massachusetts, 237 9 9-3-0 4 10 Yale University, 198 11 5-2-2 9 11 Michigan State University, 129 7 9-5-2 4 12 University of Minnesota Duluth, 128 13 9-4-1 3 13 University of Alaska, 114 12 8-3-3 5 14 Boston College, 57 15 6-3-2 6 15 University of Notre Dame, 49 14 7-5-4 9