Four League Teams Remain in National Polls
ALBANY, NY – For the first time this season two ECAC Hockey teams – Yale and Union – now sit in the top five of both national polls. Two other teams, Rensselaer and Dartmouth, also have earned recognition from the national voters in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men’s College Hockey Poll and the USCHO.com Poll released Monday, February 21. Yale sits in the No. 3/3 in each poll; Union continues to climb coming in at No. 5/5 in each poll; Rensselaer is seated in the No. 13/14 slot; and Dartmouth is ranked in the No. 18 spot.
After a weekend sweep of Quinnipiac and Princeton, Yale is seated in the No. 3 position in both national polls. The Bulldogs topped the Bobcats, 6-1 Friday and the Tigers, 5-4 Sunday afternoon in league play. The Bulldogs earned 463 points and nine first-place votes in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men’s College Hockey Poll and 937 points and 15 first-place votes in the USCHO.com Poll. With the final weekend of the regular-season on the horizon Yale remains one point behind Union in the ECAC Hockey standings. The Bulldogs now own an overall record of 22-5-0 on the season good enough for a winning percentage of .815, tops in the nation. Yale continues to showcase the only offense in the country to post over four goals per game (4.41) and boasts the nation’s largest scoring margin at 2.19. The Bulldogs will be at home this weekend facing-off against Colgate and Cornell as they seek a third Cleary Cup.
Coming off a weekend sweep at Clarkson and St. Lawrence to stretch its program record win streak to nine games, the Union men's ice hockey team earned a No. 5 ranking in both the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls released Monday. The Dutchmen earned 749 points in the USCHO.com poll and 354 points in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll, both season highs. The No. 5 ranking in both polls is the highest ranking that Union has earned since moving up to Division I before the 1991-92 season. This marks the 32nd consecutive week the Dutchmen have been ranked in the USCHO.com poll, extending a school record. Union has been ranked for 17 consecutive weeks in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll. Union (24-7-3, 16-3-1 ECAC Hockey) has the most wins of any team in the nation after its fourth straight weekend sweep in ECAC Hockey play. Union will host Quinnipiac at 7:00 p.m. Friday night at Messa Rink looking to hold onto first-place and capture the regular-season crown.
Rensselaer earned a split over the weekend dropping Friday night’s contest to St. Lawrence, 5-3 in Canton and then bouncing back in a big way to takedown Clarkson at Cheel Arena, 5-1 Saturday. As a result Rensselaer moved up one spot to No. 13 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men’s College Hockey Poll (94 points) and maintained the No. 14 position in the USCHO.com poll (380 points). The Engineers overall record is now 19-9-4 overall and 11-8-1 in conference play. Rensselaer returns to Houston Field House this weekend looking to improve on its 12-3-0 home record as its hosts Princeton and Quinnipiac in the regular-season finales.
Dartmouth dropped two spots to No. 16 in the USCHO.com poll this week (144 points) this week. The Big Green sits tied for third in the ECAC Hockey standings with Cornell boasting 24 points. Dartmouth fell to Colgate, 5-3 Friday and Cornell, 3-2 in overtime Saturday. The Big Green will take on St. Lawrence and Clarkson in Hanover this weekend.
Cornell and Princeton each received votes in one of the national polls this week.
Click here to access complete USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll
Click here to access complete USCHO.com Poll
About the Polls:
The 16th annual 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.
The USCHO.com/CBS College Sports XXL 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 sports, including hockey, lacrosse, soccer and others.
