Gophers men's and women's hockey teams ranked top 5 in new polls

Both the men and women moved up one spot in their respective polls.

Joe Nelson | Oct 28, 2024

Jimmy Snuggerud / Photo by Brad Rempel, University of Minnesota

After outscoring crosstown foe St. Thomas 13-3 in a weekend sweep, the Minnesota Gophers men's hockey team move up one spot from No. 5 to No. 4 in the latest USCHO.com Division I I Men's Ice Hockey Poll on Monday.

Minnesota and Cornell received one first-place vote each while all 48 other first-place votes went to Denver. The only teams ranked above the Gophers are No. 3 Michigan State, No. 2 Boston College and No. 1 Denver.

Two other Minnesota teams are ranked in the top 20: St. Cloud State at No. 10 and Minnesota State-Mankato at No. 16. The Gophers are back on the ice at home this Friday-Saturday against No. 18 Penn State.

Meanwhile, the University of Minnesota's women's hockey team also moved up one spot from No. 4 to No. 3 in the poll after sweeping Minnesota State-Mankato in a home-and-home series. The Gophers dumped the Mavericks 8-2 Friday at Ridder Arena and then pulled off a 3-2 win in Mankato on Saturday.

Minnesota-Duluth is right behind the Gophers at No. 4 in the women's poll and St. Cloud State is No. 8 in the nation.

The Gophers will be heavy favorites this weekend on the road against Bemidji State before they get a week off to get ready for a showdown with UMD on Nov. 15-16 in Duluth.

Published Oct 28, 2024

JOE NELSON

Joe Nelson has more than 20 years of experience in Minnesota sports journalism. Nelson began his career in sports radio, working at smaller stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before moving to the highly-rated KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. While there, he produced the popular mid-morning show hosted by Minnesota Vikings play-by-play announcer Paul Allen. His time in radio laid the groundwork for his transition to sports writing in 2011. He covers the Vikings, Timberwolves, Gophers and Twins for On SI.