COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - The Alaska Nanooks men's hockey team, fresh off their first NCAA Tournament last March, enter the 2010-11 campaign with the preseason No. 12 ranking in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll. Defending NCAA men's ice hockey national champion Boston College, who knocked off the Nanooks in their first game of the NCAA Northeast Regional 3-1, was picked No. 1 with 504 points, including 28-of-34 first-place votes, to claim the top spot.
The University of North Dakota, who Alaska will face on Oct. 9 at Alaska Anchorage's Kendall Hockey Classic, ranks second after accumulating 462 points and four first-place votes, while Central Collegiate Hockey Association foe Miami University sits in the No. 3 spot with 437 points and two first-place votes. The University of Michigan (383) and Yale University (334) round out the top five.
The Division I men's ice hockey 2010-11 regular season will begin on Saturday (Oct. 2) when the University of Michigan hosts Mercyhurst College. Alaska will face the University of Windsor in exhibition action this Thursday (Sept. 30) at the Patty Center at 7 p.m. as their final brush up before heading south to Anchorage to play in UAA's tournament. The Blue and Gold play their regular-season opener at the Sullivan Arena against Air Force on Oct. 8.
NOTES: The USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll will take a one-week hiatus before returning Oct. 11 ... The Western Collegiate Hockey Association leads all conferences with six ranked teams. The Hockey East Association boasts four ranked programs, while the Central Collegiate Hockey Association has three ranked teams and ECAC Hockey has two ... A total of 28 teams received votes ... Since 1998, Boston College has been chosen as the preseason No. 1 six times (1998-99, 1999-2000, 2004-05, 2006-07, 2008-09, 2010-11), and appeared in the top 15 in each of the last 12 seasons.
ABOUT THE POLL: The 16th annual USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll is conducted each week in conjunction with the American Hockey Coaches Association. The poll includes input from coaches and journalists representing each of the five NCAA Division I ice hockey conferences, as well as composite votes from officers of the AHCA and USA Hockey Magazine, the most widely distributed hockey magazine in the world.
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine
Men's College Hockey Poll - #1 (Preseason)
(first-place votes in parentheses)
|
Rank
|
School
|
2009-10
Final Rank
|
2009-10 Record |
| 1 |
Boston College, 504 (28) |
1
|
|
| 2 |
University of North Dakota, 462 (4) |
7
|
|
| 3 |
Miami University, 437 (2) |
3
|
29-8-7
|
| 4 |
University of Michigan, 383 |
8
|
26-18-1
|
| 5 |
Yale University, 334 |
6
|
21-10-3
|
| 6 |
St. Cloud State University, 308 |
5
|
24-14-5
|
| 7 |
University of Maine, 281 |
NR
|
19-17-3
|
| 8 |
University of New Hampshire, 206 |
11
|
18-14-7
|
| 9 |
University of Minnesota Duluth, 195 |
NR
|
22-17-1
|
| 10 |
Cornell University, 162 |
9
|
21-9-4
|
| 11 |
University of Denver, 146 |
4
|
27-10-4
|
| 12 |
University of Alaska, 125 |
15
|
18-12-9
|
| 13 |
University of Wisconsin, 115 |
2
|
28-11-14
|
| 14 |
Boston University, 69 |
NR
|
18-17-3
|
| 15 |
University of Minnesota, 50 |
NR
|
18-19-2
|
Others receiving votes: University of Notre Dame, 43; Rochester Institute of Technology, 38; Bemidji State University, 36; Ferris State University, 36; Union College, 34; University of Vermont, 28; Northern Michigan University, 18; Michigan State University, 21; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 16; Colorado College, 14; Northeastern University, 14; University of Nebraska at Omaha, 3; Merrimack College, 2.
**Italicized teams are one of Alaska's 2010-11 opponents
