ECAC Hockey Well-Represented in National Polls

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Union, Yale, Colgate, and Cornell continue to earn the respect of the voters in the latest national men’s ice hockey polls, released Monday, November 28.

The highest ranking of the four ECAC Hockey teams belongs to Union, (7-3-3), which returned to the top ten in both national polls. With last weekend’s road victory at Michigan in the first-ever meeting between the two schools, Union now sits in the No. 9 spot in the USCHO.com poll earning 489 points and No. 9 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine (185 points). The Dutchmen return to league-play this weekend visiting Quinnipiac Friday and Princeton Saturday.

After suffering two one goal defeats last week - Sacred Heart (7-6) and No. 4 Boston College (3-2) - Yale fell to the  No. 15 spot earning 86 points in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll and dropped to the No. 14 slot with 352 points in the USCHO.com poll. Yale, 5-3-1, faces off in a home and home series with Brown this week, hosting the Bears Thursday and visiting its travel partner Saturday in conference action. Yale's penalty-kill is currently tops among Division I teams at 95.1 percent, while only eight other teams have been penalized less than the Bulldogs.

Colgate keeps climbing up the national polls as it is now No. 14 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll (98 points) and jumped up one spot again in the USCHO.com National Poll to the No. 15 position with 348 points. The Raiders, 9-4-1, downed Hockey East foe Vermont, 4-2 Friday. Colgate is 8-0-0 when leading after two period and outscored its opponents by a count of 11-3 in the last three games.

After posting a 1-1 record last week in non-league action Cornell, 6-3-0, held onto the No. 17 position in the USCHO.com poll earning 215 points. The Big Red behind sophomore goalie Andy Iles earned their third consecutive shutout Tuesday, by blanking Niagara, 1-0. Cornell saw its five-game win streak come to end Saturday at Madison Square Garden versus Boston University, as the Terriers edged the Big Red, 2-1 in overtime.  The Big Red returns home to wrap up the first portion of its schedule against ECAC Hockey foes St. Lawrence and Clarkson Friday, Dec. 2 and Saturday, Dec. 3, respectively.

Clarkson 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.