Of the teams in the INCH Power Rankings that
had games last weekend, most took care of business and earned
wins to hold momentum going into a break for exams and holidays.
Denver swept Minnesota State and Minnesota split with Colorado
College in the only two series that pitted two ranked teams
against each other.
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. |
 Notre
Dame |
— |
Since the start of 2006-07 season — Jeff Jackson's
second behind the Fighting Irish bench — Notre Dame
is 73-26-9 (.718). |
| 14-3-2 (10-2-2
CCHA) LAST WEEK: W at Bowling Green, 3-1; W vs. Bowling
Green, 4-3. NEXT GAMES: vs. Union, vs. UMass Lowell/Minnesota
Duluth (Shillelagh Tournament); Jan. 2-3 |
| 2. |
 Denver |
 1 |
The Pioneers are sizzling, having won seven in a row,
but the holiday break is welcome; star forward Tyler Bozak
left Friday's game at Minnesota State with an injury and
did not play Saturday. |
| 13-5-1 (9-4-1
WCHA) LAST WEEK: W at Minnesota State, 3-2; W at Minnesota
State, 5-2. NEXT GAMES: vs. Holy Cross, vs. Boston University/Rensselaer
(Denver Cup); Jan. 2-3 |
| 3. |
 Boston
University |
1 |
BU's upcoming trip to the Denver Cup will mark just
the third and fourth games this season that the Terriers
have played outside of the commonwealth of Massachusetts,
with a loss at New Hampshire and win at Vermont already
to their credit. |
| 11-4-1 (6-4-1
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: W vs. UMass Lowell, 3-2. NEXT
GAMES: vs. Rensselaer, vs. Denver/Holy Cross (Denver Cup);
Jan. 2-3 |
| 4. |
 Miami |
2 |
Round-number watch in Oxford: Coach Enrico Blasi earned
career win no. 199 behind the RedHawk bench when his team
trounced Rensselaer Sunday. |
| 12-3-3 (10-2-2
CCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Rensselaer, 3-1; W vs. Rensselaer,
7-1. NEXT GAMES: vs. Clarkson, vs. Army/Ohio State (Ohio
Hockey Classic); Jan. 2-3 |
| 5. |
 Minnesota |
 3 |
The Gophers were blanked by Colorado College, 1-0, Sunday,
making this season the third straight in which Minnesota
has been on the short end of a 1-0 score. The two most
recent times it's happened, the Gophs were sunk by a short-handed
goal. |
| 8-3-5 (7-2-3
WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Colorado College, 4-1; L vs. Colorado
College, 1-0. NEXT GAMES: vs. Brown, vs. Western Michigan/Northeastern
(Dodge Holiday Classic); Jan. 2-3 |
| 6. |
 Princeton |
1 |
It's always nice to get together with friends during
the holidays, and so for the third straight season Princeton
and Yale will play non-league games in late-December against
Minnesota State and Nebraska-Omaha. |
| 10-2-0 (7-1-0
ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: Off. NEXT GAMES: vs. Minnesota
State, vs. Nebraska-Omaha; Dec. 29-30 |
| 7. |
 Northeastern |
— |
The Huskies can point to history for some good vibes
before the Dodge Holiday Classic. Northeastern's last
trip to the Gophers' holiday tournament was in the 1997-98
season and the Huskies brought the title back to Massachusetts.
The last time Northeastern played Western Michigan was
a Husky win in the championship game of the 1993 Syracuse
Invitational Tournament. |
| 11-3-2 (8-2-1
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: Off. NEXT GAMES: vs. Western Michigan,
vs. Minnesota/Brown (Dodge Holiday Classic); Jan. 2-3 |
| 8. |
 Boston
College |
1 |
The Eagles' longest winning streak this year is just
three games. They've had a winning streak of seven games
or longer in each of the previous five seasons. |
| 9-5-2 (5-4-2
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: Off. NEXT GAMES: vs. New Brunswick
(Ex.), vs. New Brunswick (Ex.); Jan. 2-3 |
| 9. |
 Cornell
|
1 |
Cornell will play St. Cloud State for the first time
ever, and will face a WCHA program for just the second
time in the nine-year history of the Florida College Classic.
The first meeting was in the tournament final against
Minnesota Duluth in 2006, which the Big Red won via shootout
after the teams tied 1-1. |
| 7-1-2 (6-0-2
ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: Off. NEXT GAMES: vs. St. Cloud
State, vs. Maine/Colgate (Florida College Classic); Dec.
27-28 |
| 10. |
 Vermont |
2 |
Vermont saw its winning streak snapped
when St. Lawrence scored the game-winning goal with less
than a second remaining on Saturday night. |
| 9-4-2 (6-3-1
Hockey East) LAST WEEK: L at St. Lawrence, 4-3. NEXT GAMES:
vs. Colgate, vs. St. Lawrence/Ferris State (Catamount
Cup); Jan. 2-3 |
| 11. |
 Air
Force |
— |
The Falcon power play leads the nation with a 25 percent
(26-104) success rate. What's more, Air Force is one of
eight teams in the country yet to allow a short-handed
goal. |
| 14-2-0 (11-1-0
Atlantic Hockey) LAST WEEK: Off. NEXT GAMES: at Connecticut,
vs. Quinnipiac/Merrimack (UConn Hockey Classic); Dec.
29-30 |
| 12. |
 Colorado
College |
1 |
The Tigers have had 143 power-play opportunities, more
than any other team in the country, but 10 clubs have
eclipsed CC's total of 20 PPGs. |
| 10-6-4 (7-5-2
WCHA) LAST WEEK: L at Minnesota, 4-1; W at Minnesota,
1-0. THIS WEEK: vs. Sacred Heart, vs. Sacred Heart |
| 13. |
 Michigan |
1 |
Following the GLI, the Wolverines are at home for nine
of their next 12. That's good news for U-M fans —
Michigan has won six of seven at Yost Ice Arena this season,
compared to a 5-6-0 mark on the road. |
| 11-7-0 (7-5-0
CCHA) LAST WEEK: Off. NEXT GAMES: vs. Michigan Tech, vs.
Michigan State/North Dakota (Great Lakes Invitational);
Dec. 27-28 |
| 14. |
 Wisconsin |
2 |
The Badgers are the nation's second-most penalized team
with an average of 22.7 penalty minutes per game. Clearly,
the rate of recidivism among perpetrators of infractions
in college hockey is unacceptable. |
| 9-7-2 (7-5-2
WCHA) LAST WEEK: Off. NEXT GAMES: vs. Alabama-Huntsville,
vs. Lake Superior State/Harvard (Badger Showdown); Dec.
27-28 |
| 15. |
 Ohio
State |
2 |
Of the Buckeyes' top 13 scorers, all but one are freshmen
and sophomores. The lone exception is OSU's leading point-getter,
senior Corey Elkins. |
| 11-6-1 (6-5-1
CCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Bentley, 10-1; W vs. Bentley, 3-2
ot. NEXT GAMES: vs. Army, vs. Clarkson/Miami (Ohio Hockey
Classic); Jan. 2-3 |
| 16. |
 Dartmouth |
1 |
How did you spend your weekend? Exploring
Copenhagen, Denmark? Nah, we didn't either. |
| 6-4-0 (5-2-0
ECAC Hockey) LAST WEEK: Off. NEXT GAMES: vs. Army; vs.
Bemidji State/Massachusetts (Ledyard Bank Classic); Dec.
28-29 |
| 17. |
 Minnesota
State |
3 |
The last time the Mavericks were swept at home by Denver
was Dec. 14-15, 2001, when the Pioneers were on the plus
side of 6-1 and 5-2 decisions. |
| 8-7-3 (5-7-2
WCHA) LAST WEEK: L vs. Denver, 3-2; L vs. Denver, 5-2.
NEXT GAMES: at Princeton, at Yale; Dec. 29-30 |
| 18. |
 Nebraska-Omaha
|
— |
Senior goaltender Jerad Kaufmann made 47 saves in a
2-1 win at Lake Superior State Saturday, giving the Mavericks
the series sweep of the Lakers and extending the team's
unbeaten streak to four games. |
| 11-4-3 (7-4-3
CCHA) LAST WEEK: W at Lake Superior State, 3-2; W at Lake
Superior State, 2-1. NEXT GAMES: at Yale, at Princeton;
Dec. 29-30 |
| 19. |
 Alaska
|
1 |
The Nanooks close 2008 with a home series with Western
Michigan, then start 2009 with three series that will
determine the course of the rest of the season —
at Michigan State, at Notre Dame, vs. Nebraska-Omaha. |
| 8-4-4 (6-3-3
CCHA) LAST WEEK: Off. THIS WEEK: vs. Western Michigan,
vs. Western Michigan |
| 20. |
 Minnesota
Duluth |
— |
MacGregor Sharp led the Bulldogs with 17 points last
season. This year, Sharp, fellow forward Justin Fontaine,
and defenseman Josh Meyers have all scored 17-plus points
through 18 games. |
| 8-4-6 (5-4-5
WCHA) LAST WEEK: W vs. Michigan Tech, 3-1; T vs. Michigan
Tech, 1-1 ot. NEXT GAMES: vs. UMass Lowell, vs. Union/Notre
Dame (Shillelagh Tournament); Jan. 2-3 |