Boston College Hockey Falls to 16th in Latest USCHO.com Poll

The Boston College Eagles may be on a win streak to enter 2015, but in this week’s USCHO.com poll, they have been surpassed.

Issuing their first poll since before most schools went into winter break, the voters dropped the Eagles one spot to 16th. This is just one spot above their low-water mark of the season, 17th overall.

This past weekend, Boston College hockey won its third and fourth games in a row, stretching their unbeaten streak to five games by claiming a 4-1 win over Brown and a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Dartmouth. In spite of this, the Eagles were jumped in the USCHO.com poll by Providence, who rose from 16th to 14th. The Friars are on a win streak of their own: they have taken five in a row, and won nine of their last ten overall.

Eagles fans may be happy to learn that the USCHO.com poll was friendly to other Boston College rooting interests: North Dakota supplanted Boston University as the number one team in the nation. The Terriers, who received a plurality of first-place votes, are now second, while the Harvard Crimson continue to shock the college hockey world by coming in third. It turns out that the BU/Harvard Beanpot matchup on February 3 could have major national implications.

Rounding out the top five are Minnesota State and Miami of Ohio, while UMass-Lowell, Minnesota-Duluth, Michigan Tech, Minnesota, and Denver finish the top ten.

Boston College Eagles

Boston College has other Hockey East company in the bottom half of the top twenty this week with Vermont (12), Providence at 14 as mentioned, and Merrimack (18). Notre Dame got a single vote in the poll.

Dropping one spot in the rankings is not a big deal, especially considering that the team has played better lately. What is more important is that they continue to amass victories; any poll increases will be a side effect of that.

In the all-important PairWise Rankings, Boston College sits at number 19. This is just three spaces below the cutoff line for teams that could qualify for at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament, but still a marked improvement from where the Eagles were just one month ago.

On the ladies’ side of the USCHO.com poll, the Boston College Eagles retained their unanimous number one ranking for the seventh consecutive rankings release. The Eagles are the only undefeated team nationally at 17-0-1.