Despite Colorado College’s Friday loss-Saturday-win pattern of splits in the last three weeks, the Tigers held steady at No. 3 in both national polls released Monday. Friday’s opponent, Air Force, moved up a spot to No. 11 and received as many first-place votes (1) as CC.
Inside College Hockey dropped CC to No. 4 in its power rankings, placing the blame squarely on goaltender Richard Bachman’s shoulders. While Bachman’s 2.83 goals against average in November is out of character, the Tigers’ 3.16 goals in those same six games (skewed slightly by the seven-goal outburst against North Dakota) leaves the sophomore with little room for error. I’d be interested to hear what everyone else thinks about this.
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine
Men’s College Hockey Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses)
|
Rank
|
School
|
Last Week’s Ranking
|
2008-09 Record |
Weeks in Top-15
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Minnesota, 498 (30) |
1
|
7-1-4
|
9
|
| 2 | University of Notre Dame, 446 |
6
|
9-3-1
|
9
|
| 3 | Colorado College, 404 (1) |
3
|
8-3-3
|
9 |
| 4 | Northeastern University, 395 |
5
|
9-2-2
|
6
|
| 5 | Miami (Ohio) University, 374 (1) |
7
|
8-3-3
|
9
|
| 6 | Boston College, 332 |
4
|
7-4-1
|
9
|
| 7 | Princeton University, 328 (1) |
8
|
7-1-0
|
8
|
| 8 | Boston University, 273 |
2
|
7-4-0
|
9
|
| 9 | Minnesota State University, 218 |
11
|
7-3-2
|
7
|
| 10 | University of Denver, 200 |
10
|
7-5-1
|
9
|
| 11 | U.S. Air Force Academy, 160 (1) |
12
|
12-0-0
|
4
|
| 12 | Cornell University, 154 |
14
|
4-0-2
|
3
|
| 13 | University of Vermont, 116 |
NR
|
7-3-2
|
4
|
| 14 | University of Nebraska Omaha, 58 |
NR
|
9-2-1
|
1
|
| 15 | University of Michigan, 57 |
9
|
8-6-0
|
9
|
Others receiving votes: University of New Hampshire, 53; University of Massachusetts, 8; University of Alaska Anchorage, 3; Harvard University, 1; St. Cloud State University, 1; Yale University, 1.
USCHO.com Division I hockey poll
| Record | Pts | Pvs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Minnesota (41) | 7-1-4 | 984 | 1 |
| 2. Notre Dame (2) | 9-3-1 | 867 | 5 |
| 3. Colorado College (1) | 8-3-3 | 825 | 3 |
| 4. Northeastern | 9-2-2 | 815 | 6 |
| 5. Boston College | 7-4-1 | 778 | 4 |
| 6. Miami (1) | 8-3-3 | 759 | 7 |
| 7. Princeton (3) | 7-1-0 | 710 | 8 |
| 8. Boston University (1) | 7-4-0 | 692 | 2 |
| 9. Denver | 7-5-1 | 555 | 10 |
| 10. Minnesota State | 7-3-2 | 538 | 11 |
| 11. Air Force (1) | 12-0-0 | 515 | 12 |
| 12. Cornell | 4-0-2 | 455 | 14 |
| 13. Vermont | 7-3-2 | 430 | 15 |
| 14. Michigan | 8-6-0 | 350 | 9 |
| 15. New Hampshire | 5-5-3 | 286 | 13 |
| 16. Nebraska-Omaha | 9-2-1 | 254 | 19 |
| 17. Massachusetts | 6-4-1 | 239 | 16 |
| 18. St. Cloud State | 8-5-0 | 179 | 17 |
| 18. Alaska-Anchorage | 7-5-2 | 58 | - |
| 20. Dartmouth | 5-3-0 | 46 | - |
Others Receiving Votes: Harvard 41, Mass.-Lowell 39, Maine 30, North Dakota 17, Alaska 14, Minnesota-Duluth 10, Yale 6, Quinnipiac 5, Niagara 2, Ohio State 1.
In the past few years the Tigers would have dropped to the 10 to 15 range. But this year, none of the top teams have any consistency. Air Force has yet to prove themselves against the top teams.
I am CC through and through and I agree with Jeff that CC would have dropped if any of the other teams weren’t nearly so inconsistent.
Yet I have to wonder why Air Force is getting no love. Hard schedule or not, they are still the only undefeated/untied team in college hockey and they are doing it in a convincing fashion. they should at least be in the top 5 or getting more #1 votes.
Air Force will get their poll love if they do something this weekend worthy of the top 10.
CC has not really looked good all year and I think that they are overrated at #3. Bachman’s numbers are down because he is seeing more and better shots than last year. Is this because the CC Defense is struggling, or because the Offense can’t keep the puck at the other end and get much going? If only Jack Hillen could come back for another season!
BTW: what happened to Mike Testwuide? Last year he was on the top line, this year he doesn’t have a point and looks lost on the ice.
i’d like to see testwuide on a line with vlassopoulos. thanks again for the best blog on the internet! go tigers!
Why aren’t these games on TV? We have the of the best college hockey teams in the country right here but almost no TV coverage of CC or AFA. DU games are on FSN but who here south of the divide wants to watch those idiots?
I think any of our 3 NCAA teams could beat the Avalanche on any given night. Colorado is a hockey State. Imagine the riots that would happen if a Minnesota vs. Wisconsin game was not on TV! We want to see our teams play especially when you couldn’t get a ticket for DU vs CC or CC vs. AFA. Sold out!
These games should be on TV. I’d watch religiously. I’m not the only one. Even Alaska broadcasts their games and thanks to Comcast, a team sponsor, for showing the ameturish GCI feed on channels 7 and 9 last weekend. Comcast sometimes shows High School hockey. Why can’t they figure out how to show CC vs. AFA?
Good grief!