Five League Teams Earn Spots in National Polls

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Union, Yale, Dartmouth, Colgate, and Quinnipiac are recognized among the nation’s best on the young 2011-12 season landing spots in the latest men’s national polls, released Monday, November 7.

Union, (5-1-3) along with top-ranked Minnesota made the biggest jump in the USCHO.com poll, vaulting from the No. 13 spot to a position in the top ten in the No. 9 spot (536 points). Th Dutchmen earned the respect of voters in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll (225 points), moving up two spots to crack the top ten at the No. 9 position. Union earned a weekend sweep on the road in League play by blanking St. Lawrence 2-0 and handling Clarkson, 3-1. The Dutchmen will return home to Messa Rink this weekend to face Brown Friday and Yale Saturday.

Yale, which went 1-1-0 last weekend in the opening weekend of League play is ranked once again in the both the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine (169 points) and USCHO.com (448 points) polls. The Bulldogs fell four spots to the No. 13 in in the USCHO.com poll and fell one slot in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll to No. 10. With the 2-0 win over Colgate Saturday, the Bulldogs have gone unbeaten in the last six games against the Raiders (4-0-2) and is inching closer in the all-time series, which is still in favor of Colgate at 47-41-5.Yale continues play in ECAC Hockey this weekend traveling to the Capital Region to take on Rensselaer Friday and Union Saturday.
 
Winners of three of four games on the young season, Dartmouth has made its way into both national men’s polls this week. After earning a sweep in League play with a 5-4 win over Quinnipiac and a 5-3 victory over Princeton the Big Green enter the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll in the No. 14 position with 66 points and the No. 17 spot in the USCHO.com poll in the No. 17 spot (161 points). p.m. Dartmouth junior forward Dustin Walsh currently leads the nation in scoring averaging 1.75 points per contest.

Colgate’s solid play continues to be recognized by voters around the country as it once again earned a spot in the USCHO.com poll, landing the No. 18 spot with 147 votes. The Raiders earned a weekend split in conference action last weekend, topping Brown at Meehan Auditorium, 5-3, and dropping a hard fought contest to Yale, 2-0. Colgate will be back on the road next weekend with a visit to Dartmouth Friday night and then a Saturday matchup at Harvard.

Quinnipiac posted a 2-1 record on the week in League play last week, which was good enough to remain in the No. 19 position in the USCHO.com poll with 129 points. moved up Quinnipiac, 7-3-1 on the season, will host conference foes Clarkson and St. Lawrence this weekend.
Other ECAC Hockey teams receiving votes in the national polls this week were: Clarkson and Cornell.

Click here to access complete USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll

Click here to access complete USCHO.com Poll

About the Polls:

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.

The 17th 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.