Boston College Hockey Drops to 19th in USCHO Rankings

The new USCHO rankings were not forgiving to Boston College hockey following this weekend, dropping the Eagles to their lowest mark of the season.

The Eagles are now ranked 19th nationally, the second-to-last spot available in the national poll. Their previous low had been tied last week at 17th overall.

Boston College fell two spots in the USCHO rankings as a result of their defeat to the 11th-place Maine Black Bears yesterday in Orono; it stands to reason that had they lost to the Boston University Terriers on Friday night, they would be unranked. In fact, it was only their win over BU that saved them for this week.

Just as it was last week, Minnesota State is the number one team in the country. North Dakota lept over the Terriers for second, while Boston University is now third — they saved face on Sunday with a big win over UMass-Lowell. Speaking of the River Hawks, they went up in the polls from sixth to fifth despite splitting their weekend games.

Harvard, a past opponent that shocked the Eagles at Kelley Rink earlier this season, remain at number four.

BU and UMass-Lowell are the only Hockey East teams in the top ten of the USCHO rankings this week; other conference foes in the national top 20 are Vermont (12), Merrimack (14), and Providence (18).

The PairWise Rankings, the most important rankings of them all, show the Eagles slipping to 19th overall. Following their win over BU on Friday, they had briefly risen above the cutoff line for NCAA Tournament at-large qualification.

Boston College Eagles

Boston College’s drop in the USCHO rankings for this week and the related drop in the PairWise Rankings are symbolic of one thing: that despite their big win over the Terriers, the loss to Maine evaporated any margin of error the Eagles had left. Another bad loss like that could doom BC come March. They put themselves in this position with their below-average play in October and November and have only themselves to blame if nothing good comes of this season.

USCHO Rankings: Women’s Hockey

Not surprisingly, the #1 Boston College women remained number one in this week’s poll. They have been at the top unanimously for approximately two months.

One might expect that their 22-0-1 record and current 20-game win streak have a lot to do with it.