GRAND FORKS, N.D.-- North Dakota completed its surge all the way to the No. 1 in both national college hockey polls, claiming the top spot in Monday's editions for the first time this season. Former No. 1 Minnesota State fell to No.2 after a road loss this past week, giving the top spot to North Dakota for the first time since Oct. 24, 2016.
UND's continued climb up the polls has been steady and uphill the entire way. North Dakota debuted this season with a No. 18 ranking and has climbed all the way to No. 1 thanks to a current 13-game unbeaten streak and an impressive 14-1-2 overall record to date. UND remains just one of two schools to have just one loss on the season, joining third-ranked Cornell. The Fighting Hawks claimed 33 of the 50 available first-place votes in the USCHO.com poll.
North Dakota has now been a No. 1-ranked team in four of the last six seasons and three of the five under head coach
Brad Berry. UND is also atop the NCAA's Pairwise Rankings, a system which attempts to mimic the method used by the NCAA Selection Committee to determine participants for the NCAA Division I men's hockey tournament. The PWR compares all teams by these criteria: record against common opponents, head-to-head competition, and the RPI.
Overall, half of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference's teams are ranked in this week's poll: North Dakota (1), Denver (6), Minnesota Duluth (10) and Western Michigan (19).
North Dakota returns to action Dec. 28 with an exhibition at the U.S. Under 18 National Team in Plymouth, Mich., before returning to regular-season play Jan. 3-4 by hosting Alabama-Huntsville.,
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll - December 16, 2019
| Rank |
Team (First Place) |
Last Week's
Ranking |
2019-20
Record |
Weeks in
Top 15 |
| 1. |
University of North Dakota, 500 (26) |
2 |
14-1-2 |
8 |
| 2. |
Minnesota State University, 472 (8) |
1 |
15-2-1 |
12 |
| 3. |
Cornell University, 448 |
3 |
10-1-0 |
12 |
| 4. |
Boston College, 382 |
4 |
11-4-0 |
9 |
| 5. |
Clarkson University, 348 |
5 |
12-3-2 |
12 |
| 6. |
University of Denver, 340 |
8 |
11-4-3 |
12 |
| 7. |
Ohio State University, 304 |
6 |
10-4-2 |
12 |
| 8. |
Penn State University, 286 |
7 |
13-6-0 |
12 |
| 9. |
University of Massachusetts, 240 |
9 |
12-4-1 |
12 |
| 10. |
Bowling Green State University, 166 |
10 |
12-6-1 |
3 |
| 11. |
University of Minnesota Duluth, 160 |
11 |
9-6-1 |
12 |
| 12. |
Northeastern University, 126 |
12 |
11-5-2 |
12 |
| 13. |
University of Massachusetts Lowell, 114 |
13 |
10-4-4 |
5 |
| 14. |
Arizona State University, 70 |
15 |
9-5-2 |
1 |
| 15. |
Providence College, 66 |
NR |
9-5-3 |
8 |
| Others Receiving Votes: University of Notre Dame, 36; Harvard University, 16; Michigan Tech University, 6. |
| The USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll is conducted each week in conjunction with the American Hockey Coaches Association. The poll includes input from coaches and journalists representing each of the five NCAA Division I ice hockey conferences, as well as composite votes from officers of the AHCA and USA Hockey Magazine, the most widely distributed hockey magazine in the world. |
USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll - December 16, 2019
| Rank |
Team (First Place) |
2019-20 Record |
Pts. |
Last Week |
| 1 |
North Dakota (33) |
14- 1-2 |
979 |
2 |
| 2 |
Minnesota State (13) |
15- 2-1 |
948 |
1 |
| 3 |
Cornell ( 4) |
10- 1-0 |
917 |
3 |
| 4 |
Clarkson |
12- 3-2 |
813 |
4 |
| 5 |
Boston College |
11- 4-0 |
789 |
5 |
| 6 |
Denver |
11- 4-3 |
699 |
8 |
| 6 |
Ohio State |
10- 4-2 |
699 |
6 |
| 8 |
Penn State |
13- 6-0 |
647 |
7 |
| 9 |
Massachusetts |
12- 4-1 |
628 |
9 |
| 10 |
Minnesota Duluth |
9- 6-1 |
506 |
11 |
| 11 |
Bowling Green |
12- 6-1 |
463 |
10 |
| 12 |
Northeastern |
11- 5-2 |
450 |
12 |
| 13 |
Providence |
9- 5-3 |
407 |
13 |
| 14 |
UMass Lowell |
10- 4-4 |
397 |
14 |
| 15 |
Notre Dame |
9- 7-2 |
311 |
15 |
| 16 |
Arizona State |
9- 5-2 |
278 |
16 |
| 17 |
Harvard |
6- 4-0 |
174 |
17 |
| 18 |
Michigan State |
9- 8-1 |
145 |
18 |
| 19 |
Western Michigan |
7- 7-2 |
77 |
19 |
| 20 |
Sacred Heart |
11- 6-1 |
56 |
20 |
| Others receiving votes: Army 31, Michigan Tech 31, Northern Michigan 31, Alaska 7, Bemidji State 5, Boston University 4, Quinnipiac 4, RIT 3, Dartmouth 1. |
| The USCHO.com Poll consists of 50 voters, including 28 coaches from the Division I conferences and 22 beat writers and sports professionals from across the country. The poll, published weekly by the Associated Press, is a production of USCHO.com, which provides in-depth coverage of college hockey. |
