Four League Teams Start New Year Ranked in National Polls

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Coming off the extended holiday break and heading into the heart of league action, four ECAC Hockey teams - Colgate, Cornell, Union, and Yale - are once again featured in the latest Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Polls, released Monday, January 2.

For the first time this season Colgate, 12-4-2, jumped into the top ten in both national polls. The Raiders, riding a seven game (6-0-1) unbeaten streak jumped  to grab the attention of voters in both national polls. The Raiders jumped from the No. 12 position to the No. 9 spot in the USCHO.com poll earning 573 points and moved up four positions in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll (279 points) to No. 7. and held onto the No. 12 position in the USCHO.com poll earning 482 points. A big series is up this weekend for the Raiders as they travel to No. 17 Ferris State for a two-game set, beginning Friday night. The Bulldogs were a top-10 team earlier this season, but they lost two games at Vermont's Catamount Cup Tournament last weekend.

Cornell, who posted a record of 1-1 in the Florida College Classic last weekend in Estero, FL, remains in the No. 13 position in the USCHO.com poll earning 351 points and fell one spot to the No. 14 position in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll earning 80 points. With the third-place finish in the annual Florida event, a 5-3 win over Clarkson, the Big Red is now unbeaten in its last eight games against the Golden Knights (6-0-2). The Big Red is idle for a week before heading west to take on No. 6/8 Colorado College in a pair of games Jan. 6-7 at World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Union, (9-5-5), comes in at the No. 14 spot in the USCHO.com (349points) falling from the No. 10 slot after suffering two defeats last weekend on the road against ranked foes. The Dutchmen outshot both Denver and Colorado College last weekend, but fell by counts of 3-1 and 2-1 respectively. Union begins a stretch of 15 ECAC Hockey games to close the regular season next weekend at Messa Rink, when the Dutchmen take on Harvard Friday night at 7 p.m.

Yale rang in the new year by posting a 9-3 win over Bentley in non-league action on New Year’s Day. The Bulldogs fell one spot from the No. 19 position to the No. 20 spot earning 111 points in the USCHO.com poll this week. Senior forward Brian O’Neill paced the Bulldogs offense with four goals in the home victory. The Bulldogs, 7-5-1, host Quinnipiac and Princeton in league play this weekend at the Whale.

Harvard 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.