Boston College Men’s Hockey Remains Ranked at #1 in National Poll
On Monday afternoon, USCHO released their weekly ranking of NCAA DI men’s hockey teams and Boston College found itself at the top of the list for the second week in a row. Receiving 30 first place votes, down from 36 last week, voters once again put the Eagles at #1 in the country. This comes after a successful weekend against UMass Lowell, in which BC swept the Riverhawks in a home-and-home series on Friday and Saturday, both games by a score of 3-2. The series sweep of UML puts the Eagles on a 4-game winning streak after their series sweep of Michigan State last weekend, who rose to #11 in this latest poll.
The biggest news threatening BC’s position at the top of college hockey is the surprise start from the Wisconsin Badgers. Wisconsin has defied expectations under first year head coach Mike Hastings, earning series sweeps over #6 Minnesota and #8 Michigan the past two weekends. It’s clear that Hastings, who brought Minnesota State a lot of success in the past several years, has immediately installed a hard-nosed culture at Wisconsin that already has them competing with the best of the best.
In other Hockey East news, #9 Boston University found their footing a bit when they hosted #4 North Dakota this weekend. The Terriers won the first contest on Friday and then fell in OT on Saturday to the Fighting Hawks. #5 Providence, the only other Hockey East team receiving a first-place vote, tied with #14 New Hampshire on Friday before winning 2-0 on Saturday. #13 Maine and #14 UMass have also been big risers in the poll after each team earned some wins over the weekend. BC will travel up to Orono to face the Black Bears this weekend in what should be an interesting road test for the Eagles in a very difficult place to play.—