MSU’s surprising loss to Alaska-Fairbanks on Friday dropped the Spartans to No. 5 in this week’s USCHO.com poll and No. 6 in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll.
The Spartans (10-3-2 overall, 8-3-1 CCHA) split their series with the Nanooks (7-7-0, 3-7-0) with a win Saturday, but it wasn’t enough to keep their No. 3 slot.
St. Cloud State (12-1-1) stole the No. 1 spot from Minnesota in both national polls after taking three points in a home-and-home series with the Golden Gophers during the weekend. The Huskies won 3-2 in Minneapolis on Friday and then tied 2-2 at home Saturday.
Minnesota (11-1-3) is No. 2 according to USCHO.com, but shares the No. 2 spot with Denver (11-1-0) in the USA Today poll.
New Hampshire (9-2-2) claimed No. 4 in both polls and UMass-Lowell (10-2-0) sneaked ahead of MSU and took No. 5 in USA Today by two points.
“We try not to pay too much attention to the polls,” junior forward Troy Ferguson said. “It’s great to be there, it’s great to be recognized as one of the top 10 teams in the country, but we just have to worry about ourselves and not what other teams are doing.”
Other CCHA teams in the rankings include MSU’s next opponent, Northern Michigan, at No. 8 in both polls. The Wildcats (8-3-1, 6-3-1) host MSU at the Berry Events Center on Friday and Saturday.
Nebraska-Omaha (9-5-2, 6-4-2) is No. 10 in USCHO.com and No. 12 in USA Today and Michigan (8-5-2, 6-3-2) jumped to No. 11 in both. Ohio State (9-4-1, 6-3-1) rounds out the CCHA contingent at No. 13 in both polls.
Western Michigan and Miami (Ohio) also received votes in both rankings.
Great Lakes, great times
MSU’s series at Northern starts a 12-game stretch during which the Spartans will not leave the state of Michigan.
Five games will be at Munn Ice Arena while MSU also travels to Northern, the Great Lakes Invitational in Detroit, Western, Ferris State and U-M.
The Spartans’ next out-of-state series is Feb. 1-2 against Ohio State in Columbus.
Study time
MSU head coach Ron Mason held an optional practice Monday and cut Tuesday’s practice to an hour and five minutes as his players prepare for finals next week.
“The scholastic part of our team right now is really taking a beating,” Mason said. “These guys are concentrating on school and tests and so on. They’re staying up at night studying and their minds are on other areas.”
Glitches
On paper, MSU looks to be the favorite to win its fifth straight GLI championship at Joe Louis Arena later this month.
U-M, North Dakota and tournament host Michigan Tech comprise the rest of the tournament field and their combined record is 17-20-5.
While U-M is 6-1-1 in its last eight games, Tech is struggling at 4-8-2 and North Dakota, last year’s NCAA runner-up, is 5-7-1.
MSU plays Tech in the first round on Dec. 28.
Nameless foe
Quinnipiac’s athletic teams have been known as the Braves for more than 50 years, but the school’s Board of Trustees voted Monday to discontinue the nickname and choose a new one by the spring.
MSU will play the Connecticut college on Jan. 4-5.
