By Arthur Lane

For the third consecutive week, the Minnesota Golden Gophers hold the top spot in the USCHO.com Division I men’s national poll. Although they had the week off, Minnesota took home their second consecutive Ice Breaker title two weeks ago.

The defending national champion Union Dutchmen remain in second after taking down Maine  twice on the road. The Dutchmen, who lost the core of their defense to graduation, have picked up where they left off and haven’t lost in their past 21 games dating back to January 31^st. While the team has been solid, I am one of the few still skeptical of senior goalie Colin Stevens, whose two   All-American defensemen from last year have moved on to the AHL. Stevens is a solid goalie, but I  think he benefited greatly from his stellar defenders in front of him causing me to not have them    as high as other polls may.

Fellow ECAC member, Colgate, jumps up two spots to fourth after blanking Northeastern with two 3-0 victories. The Red Raiders have seen outstanding play from their defense and sophomore goaltender Charlie Finn who posts a 1.01 GAA and a .964 save percentage. The offense has seen eight different scorers without one of their top scorers from last season, Tylor Spink, who has been battling an upper body injury. Spink will only add to the Red Raider offense when he returns.

UMass-Lowell’s series victory over Quinnipiac helped them jump two spots to number seven while knocking the Bobcats down to 15^th. The River Hawks have impressed early with a balanced offensive attack led by sophomore Evan Campbell, who leads the team with five points through three games. Coach Norm Bazin has done a tremendous job preparing his team for their opponents and the defense has done a good job alleviating pressure from UMass Amherst transfer junior goalie Kevin Boyle as he transitions to his new team after sitting out a year. This team is underrated by the national media and will compete for the Hockey East title.

New to the poll this week are Vermont and Alaska-Anchorage, as they both stayed undefeated over the weekend. Ohio State and Wisconsin dropped out the polls after getting swept.

Without further ado, here’s my top 10 rankings for this week:

Game of the Week:

Looking to the week ahead, fifth ranked Providence heads west for a two-game series against third ranked North Dakota. Although it’s early in the season, this game will serve great importance to both team’s PairWise rankings as the season unfolds. Providence is led by junior goaltender Jon Gillies and senior forward Ross Mauermann. The Friars were selected first in the Hockey East preseason poll but split their season opening series at Ohio State. North Dakota has a roster full of NHL draft picks that look to build on a Frozen Four appearance from a year ago. North Dakota has been led by senior forward Mark MacMillan (5G, 2A) and sophomore defenseman Paul LaDue (2G, 4A) this season.

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