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.

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.