The Gophers men's hockey team, which posted a pair of 3-0 road shutouts to sweep Notre Dame over the weekend, moved up one spot to No. 4 in the U.S. College Hockey Online rankings released Monday.
Gophers men move up one spot, U women fall two in hockey polls
Minnesota's men's team is fourth behind Boston College, North Dakota and Minnesota State Mankato. Wisconsin is the unanimous No. 1 in the women's poll, followed by Northeastern, Ohio State and the Gophers.
February 16, 2021 at 5:09AM
![Minnesota Gophers goaltender Jack LaFontaine (45) made a stick save of a shot by Arizona State Sun Devils forward Benji Eckerle (11) in the third period. ] JEFF WHEELER • jeff.wheeler@startribune.com](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/MI5PPCYS4UMQKRUNGBGEM5DD44.jpg?&w=712)
The top three are unchanged – No. 1 Boston College, No. 2 North Dakota and No. 3 Minnesota State Mankato – but there was much movement after that. The Gophers (17-5) are followed by No. 5 Wisconsin, which split a series at Michigan. St. Cloud State remained at No. 6 after splitting a series at Miami (Ohio), while Michigan moved up one spot. Minnesota Duluth, which was swept at Western Michigan, fell four spots to No. 8. Bemidji State, No. 17 last week, fell out of the top 20 after being swept by Northern Michigan.
The Gophers moved back into first place in the Big Ten with 39 points to Wisconsin's 37.
In the USCHO women's poll, the Gophers (9-7-1) fell two spots to No. 4 after being swept at home by Ohio State over the weekend. Wisconsin is a unanimous No. 1, followed by the Northeastern, Ohio State, Minnesota and Colgate. Minnesota Duluth fell one spot to No. 7.
Saturday’s game against Dallas presents an opportunity to indicate the team won’t repeat the flop in division games that wrecked last season.
