Notre Dame Hockey: Still the One

Depsite getting torched by the Wisconsin Badgers 5-0 at the United Center on Sunday, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are still ranked number one in both major college hockey polls. USA Hockey Magazine/USA Today and USCHO released their new rankings on Monday which saw the Irish retain the top spot.

The Irish received 27 out of 34 first place votes in the USA Hockey Magazine/USA Today poll. Trailing Notre Dame at numbers two and three are the Clarkson Golden Knights (18-4-2) and St. Cloud State Huskies (14-5-3), respectively. Those teams also sit at the same ranking as last week, after Clarkson tied with the Harvard Crimson and lost to the Dartmouth Big Green over the weekend. St. Cloud State lost to their rival Minnesota State Mavericks on Saturday as part of Minnesota’s Hockey Day festivities.

The USCHO poll saw Notre Dame get 33 out of 50 first place votes. Behind them in the second spot is the Cornell Big Red (16-2-1), who got 15 first place votes. Cornell jumped two spots from last week and appears to be the biggest threat to the top ranking at the moment. The Big Red shut out the Colgate Raiders in both games over the weekend, and have Harvard and Dartmouth coming up.

Coach Jeff Jackson and the Fighting Irish will look to bounce back from Sunday’s devastating loss when they head to Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers this weekend. Notre Dame swept Minnesota in December, and it will likely take another two victories to hang on to the coveted number one ranking in both polls.