The 50th Grammy Awards were handed out Sunday
in a ceremony at a Los Angeles hockey rink. That's great,
you say, but what does that have to do with this week's INCH
Power Rankings? We hope our latest Power Rankings sound good
to you. And we promise that, like the Grammys, they'll be
Nickelback-free.
Here's how the Inside College Hockey editors
and staff rank the nation's top teams (along with a note for
each team).
| No. |
Team |
|
Of
Note |
| 1. |
 Michigan |
 3 |
The Wolverines scored four goals in a span of 5:48 of
the first period of Friday's win at Miami. Not bad against
a RedHawk team that had allowed four goals in its previous
five games. |
| 23-3-4 (16-2-4
CCHA) LAST WEEK: W at Miami, 4-2; T at Miami, 5-5 ot.
THIS WEEK: vs. Lake Superior State, vs. Lake Superior
State. |
| 2. |
 Miami |
 1 |
The silver lining for the RedHawks — they're only
one point behind Michigan in the race for the CCHA regular
season title and Nathan Davis played really well in his
return following a two-month absence with an injury. |
| 25-4-1 (17-4-1
CCHA) LAST WEEK: L vs. Michigan, 4-2; T vs. Michigan,
5-5 ot. THIS WEEK: at Ferris State, at Ferris State. |
| 3. |
 Colorado
College |
1 |
From the penthouse to the outhouse: Winger Scott McCulloch
had a hat trick and a plus-minus rating of plus-3 in Friday's
win against St. Cloud State. In Saturday's loss to the
Huskies, he was scoreless and minus-4. |
| 21-8-1 (16-5-1
WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. St. Cloud State, 5-3; L vs. St.
Cloud State, 4-2. THIS WEEK: Off. |
| 4. |
 North
Dakota |
1 |
Goaltender Jean-Philippe Lamoureux has allowed one goal
in seven of his last eight starts. Exhaustive research
indicates that letting your opponents score just once
gives your team a good chance to win. |
| 17-8-2 (14-7-1
WCHA) LAST WEEK: Off. THIS WEEK: vs. Denver, vs. Denver. |
| 5. |
 New
Hampshire |
1 |
Back-to-back wins over Maine this weekend were the eighth
and ninth in a row against Hockey East opposition for
the Wildcats, and also earned them the distinction of
being the first Hockey East team to clinch a playoff berth
this season. |
| 18-7-1 (14-4-1
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: W at Maine, 3-2; W at Maine, 4-1.
THIS WEEK: at Providence, vs. Providence. |
| 6. |
 Denver |
1 |
"I think we're back on track," goaltender
Peter Mannino told the Denver Post's Mike Chambers
following Saturday's 4-1 against Minnesota. With a trip
to Grand Forks this weekend, they better be. |
| 19-8-1 (13-6-1
WCHA) LAST WEEK: T vs. Minnesota, 1-1 ot; W vs. Minnesota,
4-1. THIS WEEK: at North Dakota, at North Dakota. |
| 7. |
 Michigan
State |
4 |
The back-to-back losses at Northern Michigan last weekend
marked the first time the Spartans suffered a road sweep
in league play in nearly three years (Feb. 11-12, 2005
at Alaska). |
| 18-8-5 (14-5-3
CCHA) LAST WEEK: L at Northern Michigan, 3-1; L at Northern
Michigan, 3-1. THIS WEEK: vs. Western Michigan, at Western
Michigan. |
| 8. |
 Clarkson |
2 |
When the last two Ken Dryden Award (ECAC Hockey's best
goalie) winners meet, as Clarkson's David Leggio and Colgate's
Mark Dekanich did on Saturday, a scoreless tie actually
seems like a predictable result. |
| 16-9-3 (11-3-2
ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: W vs. Cornell, 4-1; T vs. Colgate,
0-0 ot. THIS WEEK: at Brown, at Yale. |
| 9. |
 Boston
College |
2 |
The Eagles finished third in the Beanpot in 1998, 1988,
1978, and 1968. They're guaranteed a better finish in
2008 when they play against Harvard for the title on Monday
night. |
| 14-6-7 (9-4-6
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: W vs. Boston University, 4-3 ot;
W at Massachusetts, 4-1. THIS WEEK: vs. Harvard, vs. UMass
Lowell, at UMass Lowell. |
| 10. |
 Notre
Dame |
2 |
The Fighting Irish, 16-4-0 prior to Christmas,
are 4-6-2 since. "We just have to stop talking and
go out and do it," forward Christian Hanson told
Steve Wozniak of the South Bend Tribune after
Saturday's 2-2 tie with Ferris State. |
| 20-10-2 (13-7-2
CCHA) LAST WEEK: L vs. Ferris State, 5-3; T vs. Ferris
State, 2-2 ot. THIS WEEK: at Alaska, at Alaska. |
| 11. |
 Quinnipiac |
1 |
Goalie Bud Fisher stopped 50 of the 51 shots he faced
on the weekend, improving his record to 10-4-3 on the
season. He also has three shutouts. |
| 17-7-4 (9-3-4
ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: W vs. Yale, 5-1; W vs. Brown,
3-0. THIS WEEK: at Dartmouth, at Harvard. |
| 12. |
 Providence |
3 |
The Friars outshot Vermont 32-13 in the third periods
of last weekend's games, but the Catamounts outscored
Providence 2-0 in those periods. |
| 13-10-3 (10-6-3
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: L vs. Vermont, 2-1; W vs. Vermont,
4-3 ot. THIS WEEK: vs. New Hampshire, at New Hampshire. |
| 13. |
 Wisconsin |
— |
Sure, when you saw the WCHA schedule at the start of
the season, you told anyone who would listen, "You
know what's going to be a huge series? Minnesota State
at Wisconsin in mid-February." |
| 13-11-6 (9-9-4
WCHA) LAST WEEK: T at Michigan Tech, 1-1 ot; W at Michigan
Tech, 4-1. THIS WEEK: vs. Minnesota State, vs. Minnesota
State. |
| 14. |
 Minnesota
State |
5 |
The Mavericks have won six in a row, but all but one
of those games was played in Mankato. The Mavs are a meager
2-6-2 in WCHA road contests this season. |
| 15-10-4 (9-9-4
WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Alaska Anchorage, 3-1; W vs. Alaska
Anchorage, 4-2. THIS WEEK: at Wisconsin, at Wisconsin. |
| 15. |
 Princeton |
1 |
The Tigers are one of two teams in the nation yet to
have a tie on its record (Bowling Green is the other).
Princeton hasn't even been close, as none of its games
have gone to overtime and just eight of the 23 have been
decided by one goal. |
| 14-9-0 (11-5-0
ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: W vs. Brown, 3-2; W vs. Yale,
4-2. THIS WEEK: at Harvard, at Dartmouth. |
| 16. |
 Minnesota
Duluth |
2 |
Jason Garrison, Nick Kemp, and MacGregor Sharp share
the Bulldogs' lead in scoring with 14 points through 26
games. UMD and Alabama-Huntsville share the distinction
of having the lowest-scoring points leaders in the Division
I ranks. |
| 11-9-6 (7-8-5
WCHA) LAST WEEK: Off. THIS WEEK: at Michigan Tech, at
Michigan Tech. |
| 17. |
 Niagara |
NR |
Niagara's current seven-game unbeaten streak of 5-0-2
includes a sweep at Quinnipiac. |
| 16-8-3 (8-4-2
College Hockey America) LAST WEEK: T vs. Alabama-Huntsville,
1-1 ot; W vs. Alabama-Huntsville, 5-0. THIS WEEK: at RIT. |
| 18. |
 Union |
1 |
The Dutchmen swept Cornell and Colgate when those teams
visited Schenectady in January. Doing the same on the
road will be much more difficult. |
| 12-10-5 (7-5-4 ECAC Hockey)
LAST WEEK: L vs. Harvard, 3-2; T vs. Dartmouth, 0-0 ot.
THIS WEEK: at Cornell, at Colgate. |
| 19. |
 UMass
Lowell |
3 |
Since winning the title at the Florida College Classic,
the River Hawks are just 3-6-0 in their last nine games,
and have allowed an average of more than three goals per
game in that stretch. |
| 12-10-4 (7-8-4
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: L vs. Boston University, 6-2.
THIS WEEK: at Boston College, vs. Boston College. |
| 20. |
 Northeastern |
— |
The Beanpot consolation game on Monday might not mean
much in the grand scheme of things, but will give the
Huskies another chance to play at the TD Banknorth Garden,
a rink they'd like to return to in late March. |
| 13-9-3 (10-7-2 Hockey East)
LAST WEEK: L vs. Harvard, 3-1; W vs. Merrimack, 4-2. THIS
WEEK: vs. Boston University, vs. Massachusetts, at Massachusetts. |