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After a dominant weekend sweep of the Omaha Mavericks on the road and a 3-0-1 start to the season, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team moved up to the #1 spot in both the USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine rankings.
After a weekend sweep at Omaha & a 3-0-1 start to the season, the Irish have taken over the #️⃣1️⃣ spot in the @USCHO poll! pic.twitter.com/FmOlA2RT4Q
— Notre Dame Hockey (@NDHockey) October 22, 2018
The Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, St. Cloud State Huskies, Ohio State Buckeyes, and Minnesota Golden Gophers round out the top five in some order in both polls.
The Irish opened the season by beating the Mercyhurst Lakers (in a shootout) and the Providence Friars to win the 2018 Icebreaker Tournament. They followed that by sweeping Omaha last weekend to open the season without a loss in their first four games.
The upcoming schedule gets tough for Notre Dame, as their opponents the next three weekends are the #3/2 ranked defending national champion Minnesota Duluth at home, #4 Ohio State at home, and the # 12 Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor. The Irish will be in good position in both the Big Ten and the national rankings if they can skate through that stretch the same way they’ve started the season.