Pollercoaster: Wins don’t impress, either
Polls, especially early-season ones, can be particularly wacky. Take, for instance, this: of the teams that have played a game, eight of the top 20 in this week’s USCHO.com poll have win/loss records at or below .500. If your favorite poll comes from USA Today, it’s a similar story: six of the top 15 have records at or below .500. There’s no doubt that the polls will be shaken up by the time ECAC play gets underway, but right now, top teams are either searching for their footing or taking advantage of other teams’ stumbles out of the gate.
For Northeastern, despite the win on Friday, it did nothing to improve their standing in the polls. Mind you, this doesn’t surprise me. Winning against a team with a low RPI does nothing to help your standing. For Colorado College, whom the Huskies played two weekends ago, a win and tie versus a top-20 Wisconsin team means a lot more, and hence they were bumped up to No. 19 on this week’s USCHO.com poll.
First up, USA Today:
| Rank | School (first-place votes) | Points | Last |
| 1 | Miami University (Ohio) (33) | 509 | 1 |
| 2 | North Dakota | 465 | 4 |
| 3 | Boston University | 388 | 2 |
| 4 | Michigan | 386 | 5 |
| 5 | Denver | 378 | 3 |
| 6 | Cornell | 319 | 6 |
| 7 | Vermont | 295 | 11 |
| 8 | Princeton | 245 | 9 |
| 9 | Yale | 226 | 10 |
| 10 | Notre Dame | 221 | 7 |
| 11 | Minnesota | 139 | 8 |
| 12 | Massachusetts Lowell | 126 | 13 |
| 13 | Nebraska Omaha | 113 | 15 |
| 14 | Minnesota Duluth | 59 | NR |
| 15 | Boston College | 42 | 12 |
| Others receiving votes: University of Alaska (Fairbanks), 39; Bemidji State University, 30; University of Massachusetts, 28; Colorado College, 24; University of Wisconsin, 18; Quinnipiac University, 15; St. Cloud State University, 6; Northeastern University, 4; U.S. Air Force Academy, 3; University of Alabama Huntsville, 1; University of New Hampshire, 1. | |||
And onto USCHO.com:
| Team (First-place votes) | Pts | Last | |
| 1 | Miami (46) | 994 | 1 |
| 2 | North Dakota (1) | 940 | 4 |
| 3 | Boston University (2) | 820 | 2 |
| 4 | Denver | 801 | 3 |
| 5 | Michigan | 784 | 5 |
| 6 | Cornell | 701 | 6 |
| 7 | Vermont (1) | 650 | 11 |
| 8 | Yale | 589 | 8 |
| 9 | Notre Dame | 554 | 7 |
| 10 | Princeton | 530 | 10 |
| 11 | Minnesota | 454 | 9 |
| 12 | Nebraska-Omaha | 366 | 16 |
| 13 | Mass.-Lowell | 363 | 14 |
| 14 | Boston College | 273 | 12 |
| 15 | Alaska | 253 | 17 |
| 16 | Bemidji State | 243 | 15 |
| 17 | Wisconsin | 205 | 13 |
| 18 | Minnesota-Duluth | 175 | NR |
| 19 | Colorado College | 160 | NR |
| 20 | Quinnipiac | 150 | 18 |
| Others Receiving Votes: Massachusetts 136, St. Cloud State 107, Northeastern 74, New Hampshire 48, Michigan State 31, Alabama-Huntsville 22, Harvard 21, Northern Michigan 18, Ohio State 12, Lake Superior 8, Union 8, St. Lawrence 6, Providence 3, Ferris State 1 | |||
