The Spartans fell to No. 3 in this week’s USCHO.com national poll and No. 4 in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine rankings after being swept in their weekend series with Nebraska-Omaha.
MSU (3-2-1 overall, 3-2-1 CCHA) entered the series at No. 1 in both polls, but lost 4-3 on Friday and 5-1 on Saturday to the Mavericks.
Minnesota (5-0-0) replaced MSU atop the USCHO poll with 31 first-place votes and 590 points, followed by No. 2 Saint Cloud State (6-0-0) with eight votes and 562 points.
The Spartans still earned a first-place vote and finished with 450 points, followed by No. 4 Denver (4-0-0) and No. 5 North Dakota (4-3-0).
The Golden Gophers also lead the USA Today poll, garnering 18 first-place votes and 284 points.
Saint Cloud placed No. 2 with one vote and 262 points and Denver ranks No. 3 with 205 points.
The Spartans earned 204 points in fourth place and Omaha (5-1-0, 2-0-0) rounds out the top 5 with 197 points.
“We have to play for our rankings every night,” junior defenseman John-Michael Liles said.
“We can’t take our rankings for granted - we’re not invincible.”
Other CCHA teams in the polls include Northern Michigan (3-0-1, 3-0-1) at No. 10 in the USCHO poll and No. 12 in USA Today and Michigan (2-4-1, 1-3-1) at No. 14 in USCHO and No. 13 in USA Today. The Wildcats swept a weekend series from the Wolverines in Ann Arbor to make their debut in both polls.
Alaska-Fairbanks, Western Michigan, Miami (Ohio) and Ohio State also received votes in both rankings.
Terrible two
Last year, MSU started off with an early-season loss to Omaha on Oct. 20, but then embarked on a 23-game unbeaten streak and didn’t record its second loss of the season until Jan. 27.
But the Spartans lost for the second time this year exactly three months earlier in the season.
“I think this is going to be one of those years where a lot of teams lose a lot of games,” MSU head coach Ron Mason said.
Rare blowout
Saturday’s 5-1 loss to Omaha was the Spartans’ most lopsided defeat since losing 5-1 to Wisconsin on Nov. 26, 1999 at Munn Ice Arena.
Faltering four
Last season’s Frozen Four participants - MSU, U-M, North Dakota and Boston College - are having a rough start this year.
Combined, the four college hockey powers are 11-12-3 and the Wolverines and Eagles (2-3-1) are under .500.
Game notes
Standing room only tickets are still available for both games against Bowling Green for $9. Call 355-1610 or (800) GO-STATE for more information.
Both games will be televised locally by AT&T Broadband.
Friday’s start time moved up to 6:35 p.m. to accommodate the men’s basketball exhibition at Breslin Center later that night. Thursday’s game time is still 7:05 p.m.
