Spurred by Adam Wilcox hot run of play in net and an offense that continues to answer the call when needed, the Gopher men’s hockey team remains atop the latest USCHO.com national poll that came out Monday.
With a shootout loss (officially a tie) and 1-0 win over Michigan State this past weekend, Wilcox and the Gophers unbeaten run stretches to 14 games dating back to Nov. 23.
Minnesota received 40 of the 50 first-place votes in the poll, the other 10 going to Boston College, who have the 62nd annual Beanpot Monday against Boston University.
A bit back from the Gophers are No. 6 St. Cloud State, who drop one spot this week after giving up eight goals to Nebraska-Omaha Saturday and splitting with the Mavericks on the weekend.
SCSU is facing a bit of a goalie crisis after pulling starter Ryan Faragher in the Saturday loss, backup Charlie Lindgren coming on to give up two goals of the 10 shots he faced. We’ll see what direction they go this weekend against No. 15 Denver.
Entering the poll for the first time this year is Minnesota-Duluth at No. 17.
The Bulldogs, riding momentum built from a win over Minnesota State and tie (shootout loss) with the No. 1 Gophers at the inaugural North Star College cup last weekend, continued to impress with a sweep over Western Michigan Friday and Saturday.
Since a Dec. 13 loss to WMU, UMD has officially lost just once, and are now just three points behind SCSU for the NCHC points lead.
