Penn State is the No. 1 team in college hockey for the first time in the young program's history.
The Nittany Lions are in their fifth season of Division I hockey and fourth as a member of the Big Ten. They earned the nation's top ranking after sweeping Michigan State in the program's 129th and 130th games.
Penn State (16-2-1) appeared in the Top 5 for the first time on Dec. 5 at No. 3. The Nittany Lions fell to No. 4 last week, but jumped to No. 1 this week after Minnesota Duluth and Denver each split their respective weekend series.
The Nittany Lions celebrated the feat with a tweet proclaiming "#WeAre No. 1" and posting a celebratory video."
Some hockey critics questioned the validity of Penn State's top ranking by comparing their record against ranked opponents with other teams. Penn State is 3-2-1 against top 30 teams, while Minnesota Duluth is 13-4-3. Penn State is 13-0-0 against bottom 30 teams and Duluth is 0-1-1.
The Bulldogs dropped to No. 4 in the USCHO poll after splitting with unranked St. Cloud State. No. 2 Denver, No. 3 Boston University and No. 5 Massachusetts-Lowell round-out the Top 5 rankings.
The Gophers (13-5-2) improved two spots to No. 7 after sweeping Michigan, but lost one of their top players, Tommy Novak, for the rest of the season. Don Lucia announced Monday that the sophomore forward will be sidelined with a lower-body injury suffered in Saturday's win over Michigan.
