Bemidji State begins season at No. 9 in the country

The season’s first U.S. College Hockey Online Division I women’s poll was released this morning and, to no one’s surprise, Minnesota opens the season as the No. 1 team in the nation. The defending national champions, coming off of a 34-3-4 season garnered all 15 first-place votes.

The Golden Gophers are joined in the poll by fellow WCHA combatants Wisconsin (3) and North Dakota (6) while Bemidji State debuts in the No. 9 spot to begin the season, up one spot from where BSU finished a remarkable breakout campaign in 2014-15 which saw the Beavers defeat the Gophers to advance to the WCHA Final Faceoff title game.

New coach Maura Crowell’s Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs open up outside the top ten but did receive five votes in the poll to earn some consideration.

All five Minnesota Division I teams take the ice competitively for the first time this coming weekend (Sept. 25-27):

Minnesota and St. Cloud State begin play hosting single exhibition games against the Minnesota Whitecaps on Friday and Saturday, respectively, while UMD opens its season on the road with a Saturday-Sunday series at Lindenwood.

Bemidji State opens Jim Scanlan’s second season at home against Robert Morris University on Friday and Saturday and John Harrington’s debut behind the Minnesota State bench with a pair of home games against Union College, also a Friday-Saturday series.

USCHO.com Division I Women’s Poll
Minneapolis, Minn./September 21, 2015

Others receiving votes: Northeastern 11, Mercyhurst 6, Minnesota-Duluth 5, St. Lawrence 4.

The USCHO.com Poll is compiled weekly and consists of 15 voters, including coaches and women’s hockey writers from across the country. USCHO.com provides in-depth coverage of college hockey.

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U.S. College Hockey Online released its first Division I women’s poll this afternoon and, after a six month absence, the University of Minnesota reclaimed its perch atop the rankings to begin the 2014-15 season. The Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs also made the season-opening poll, coming in tied with Quinnipiac at No. 10.

The Gophers received 12 of a possible 15 first-place votes with No. 4 Harvard, No. 6 Boston University and defending NCAA champion Clarkson receiving the others. The Golden Knights, who defeated Minnesota 5-4 in the NCAA title game on March 23, begin the season as the seventh-ranked team in the nation.

UMD opens the season Sept. 26-27 on the road for a non-conference series at Connecticut while Minnesota kicks off 2014-15 hosting Penn State and Boston University on consecutive nights Oct. 3-4 at Ridder Arena.

USCHO.com Division I Women’s Poll

September 22, 2014

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Amanda Kessel’s hat trick propelled Minnesota to a 5-0 victory at Bemidji State on Saturday and its 28th straight win overall. (Photo: WCHA.com)

In a shocking development, the University of Minnesota women’s hockey team’s 28th consecutive win, including 20 to start the 2012-13 season, has once again earned the Gophers the top spot in the USCHO.com Division I Women’s Poll released today. Minnesota has received 180 of 180 possible first place votes through the poll’s first twelve weeks of the season and all 195 dating back to the final poll of 2011-12.

The last team to top the women’s rankings prior to Minnesota was Wisconsin back on March 5, 2012. The No. 8 Badgers are one of only two other WCHA teams, No. 10 Ohio State being the other, to land in the USCHO top 10 with North Dakota also receiving 15 votes.

Here is this week’s USCHO.com Division I Women’s Poll in its entirety.

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Smiles are abundant in Mankato as the Mavericks are on a roll. (Photo: Minnesota State University Athletics)

Six straight wins have paid off for Minnesota State as the Mavericks entered the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll at No. 20. It marks Minnesota States’s first appearance in the top 20 since Dec. 15, 2008 when it ranked No. 17 to conclude a stretch in which it appeared in the poll 11 straight weeks to open the 2008-09 season and ranked as high as No. 10 the week of Nov. 24.

For more on the rise of the branding-iron hot Mavericks, see Dan Myers’ Minnesota State story on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.com.

Despite Minnesota’s third-period meltdown in Colorado Springs on Saturday in which the Gophers blew a three goal lead to surrender one of four points to the Tigers in the series, the maroon and gold maintained its No. 4 position and even garnered three first-place votes.

St. Cloud State also managed to maintain the status quo at No. 17 after splitting a pair of one-goal games this past weekend at home with No. 13 Nebraska Omaha.

Other WCHA schools receiving top 20 considerations were No. 8 North Dakota, No. 11 Denver, and Colorado College which received 63 votes for the top spot among others receiving votes.

Here is this week’s USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll in its entirety.

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