League Teams Continue to Shine in National Polls

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Heading into the holiday break four ECAC Hockey teams - Union, Colgate, Cornell, and Yale - are once again featured in the latest Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Polls, released Monday, December 19.

Union (9-3-5) extended its unbeaten streak to six games (4-0-2) and recorded its first win against a top 5 opponent since a 3-2 win over No. 1 Yale on Jan. 28, 2011 at Messa Rink, downing No. 5/5 Merrimack at Lawler Arena. With the victory, Union moves up one spot to the No. 10 slot in the USCHO.com (571 points) poll and two positions to No. 10 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll (214 points). Union will have next weekend off and will next play on Dec. 30 at Denver in a game that begins at 9:35 ET.

Colgate, 11-4-2, continues to grab the attention of voters in both national polls. The Raiders dropped one position to the No. 11 spot in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll (168 points) and held onto the No. 12 position in the USCHO.com poll earning 482 points. The Raiders are riding a six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1), which is their longest since 2009-10. The Raiders will enjoy a 20-day break for finals and the holidays and will be back at Starr Rink on Dec. 30 as Colgate hosts Canisius.



Cornell, who was idle last week, jumped three spots to the No. 13 position in the USCHO.com poll earning 391 points and moved up two spots to the No. 13 position in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll earning 82 points. The Big Red are riding a five game consecutive shutout streak at Lynah Rink - a program record. Junior defenseman Nick D'Agostino is tied for the national lead in game-winning goals with five with fellow ECAC Hockey student-athlete Austin Smith (Colgate). The Big Red will be on break until Dec. 29 when it tangles with Massachusetts in the Florida College Classic in Estero, FL.



Idle Yale remains in the No. 19 spot earning 68 points in the USCHO.com poll. Yale's combined special teams rank No. 1 in Division I at 60.6 percent. The Bulldog penalty-kill is second (93.9), while only two teams have been penalized less than the Bulldogs. Yale’s power-play unit is second (28.0) and trails only Harvard (32.1), while Yale's scoring defense is 30th (2.83) and scoring offense 23rd (3.08).The Bulldogs, 6-5-1, host the Russian Red Stars (7 p.m.) on Dec. 28 before Bentley comes to Ingalls on New Year's Day for a 4 p.m. game.


Clarkson, Harvard, and Quinnipiac also earned votes in the USCHO.com poll 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 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.