After being dumped in back-to-back games by the Wisconsin Badgers last Thursday and Friday, the University of Minnesota men’s hockey team fell out of the top spot in the USCHO national hockey poll.
Boston College is the new No. 1 team in the country as of the new rankings released Monday. The Golden Gophers fell to No. 2, which wasn’t as precipitous as it could have been if Quinnipiac would have conquered St. Lawrence on Saturday. Instead, Quinnipiac lost and the Gophers didn’t fall any further.
Minnesota (19-4-5) still received three first-place votes.
The slip in the rankings is the first time Minnesota hasn’t been ranked No. 1 in two months. The last time they weren’t the top team in the country was in the Dec. 9 poll, when St. Cloud State was the top-ranked team.
St. Cloud State is currently ranked sixth. The only other Minnesota team in the top 15 is Minnesota-Duluth, which came in at No. 16. Among Big Ten teams, only Wisconsin (No. 8) and Michigan (No. 10) are ranked.
The USA Today/Hockey Magazine poll will be released later today. Minnesota was No. 1 in that poll last week, with Boston College at No. 2.
