Two national polls split on No. 1 team, one picks Gophers, the other UMD

The question this morning, looking ahead to the national polls which were released at midday, was how high would the No. 3 Gophers climb? After all they swept St. Cloud State this past weekend, 2-1 and 3-2. And actually, if one looks at the shot totals, neither game should have been that close.

The two teams ranked higher than the Gophers both struggled. Minnesota Duluth, an unchallenged No. 1 for weeks, tied Michigan Tech 4-4 and lost to the Huskies 5-0 at Amsoil Arena. A flat performance, to say the least. But then the 'Dogs had been playing so well and still have only five losses.

Boston University, No. 2 last week, had just as tough a weekend, losing to Maine twice, 4-2 and 3-1.

USCHO.com still has UMD at No. 1, but the Gophers are now No. 2 and received 21 first-place votes:

Record Pts. Last week

1Minnesota-Duluth(28) 17- 5-4 959 1

2Minnesota(21) 19- 9-1 918 3

4Merrimack 14- 5-5 784 5

5Boston College 16-10-1 777 7

6Ferris State( 1) 17- 8-3 716 10

7Michigan 15- 9-4 689 8

8Notre Dame 15-10-3 673 4

10Ohio State 14- 8-5 531 6

11Colorado College 14- 9-1 451 12

11Union 15- 6-6 451 14

13Denver 15- 8-3 383 15

14Cornell 11- 6-4 338 9

16Western Michigan 13-10-5 290 13

17North Dakota 15-10-2 227 18

18Miami 15-11-2 220 17

19Northern Michigan 12- 9-5 111 19

20Colgate 14- 9-3 87 NR

1Minnesota 473 (18) 19-9-1 3

2Minnesota Duluth 473 (16) 17-5-4 1

3Boston University 394 15-8-1 2

4Merrimack 376 14-5-5 5

5Boston College 332 16-10-1 8

7Ferris State 317 17-8-3 12

8Michigan 278 15-9-4 9

9UMass Lowell 250 16-7-0 11

10Ohio State 178 14-8-5 7

11Colorado Col 150 14-9-1 10

13Denver 118 15-8-3 15

14Cornell 108 11-6-4 6

15Maine 60 14-8-3 NR

Why the difference? Both polls have coaches and media members voting on the top college hockey teams each week, but not the same ones.

In the first USA Today poll I saw at 12:46 p.m., the Gophers had 475 points and UMD 473. At some point, those totals were corrected to 473 apiece. Not sure why USA Today doesn't consider that a tie for No. 1, but it doesn't.

After that series, UMD went on a remarkable 17-game unbeaten. The Gophers have been too up and down. But being No. 2 in the nation in USCHO.com poll -- and mine -- isn't bad this late in the season.

I just hope they play again in the Final Five or the NCAA tournament. That first Gophers-UMD game, with 90-some shots and an overtime was awesome. UMD outshot the Gophers 50-16 in that second game but lost the battle in the nets.

In the only poll that really matters, the Gophers are No. 9 in the PairWise rankings this week. No. 1 is UMD, Boston University is No. 2. That means if the NCAA tournament was starting today, the Gophers would be the second or third seed in the West Regional at the Xcel Center.