Week 4 hockey power rankings
It's never too early to get excited for the upcoming weekend in men's hockey. Six CCHA teams appear in the latest Inside College Hockey Power Rankings and will face each other in three very attractive early season series this week.
Here's how the Inside College Hockey editors and staff rank the nation's top teams:
1. MIAMI
Stuck in the middle with you: The RedHawks have scored 17 of their 26 goals this season in the second period.
| Last week: 1 |
| Record: 6-1-1 (3-1-0 CCHA) |
| Last week: W at Northern Michigan, 4-3; W at Northern Michigan, 2-1 |
| This week: at Michigan, at Michigan |
2. NORTH DAKOTA
According to popular sports radio host Jim Rome, former Sioux defenseman Mike Commodore, now with the Columbus Blue Jackets, has an ownership stake in race horses. Thankfully, he's not riding them.
| Last week: 2 |
| Record: 4-1-1 (2-1-1 WCHA) |
| Last week: Off |
| This week: at Michigan Tech, at Michigan Tech |
3. DENVER
Goalie Marc Cheverie will miss two to four weeks after his left calf was cut deep by a Minnesota State skate in the third period of the Pioneers' win over the Mavericks on Friday.
| Last week: 3 |
| Record: 5-2-1 (3-0-1 WCHA) |
| Last week: W vs. Minnesota State, 4-3; T vs. Minnesota State, 4-4 OT |
| This week: at Alaska Anchorage, at Alaska Anchorage |
4. MICHIGAN
What can Brown do for you? Score goals, apparently. Freshman forward Chris Brown is tied for the team lead with four markers in six games.
| Last week: 5 |
| Record: 4-2-0 (2-0-0 CCHA) |
| Last week: W at Lake Superior State, 5-1; W at Lake Superior State, 6-3 |
| This week: vs. Miami, vs. Miami |
5. CORNELL
Not too shabby when your parents weekend game draws Ron Francis. The Hall of Famer and fourth-leading scorer in NHL history has a daughter at Cornell, and the Carolina Hurricanes' associate head coach caught Friday night's win over Niagara.
| Last week: 7 |
| Record: 1-0-0 (0-0-0 ECAC Hockey) |
| Last week: W vs. Niagara, 3-2 OT |
| This week: vs. Dartmouth, vs. Harvard |
6. NEBRASKA-OMAHA
The Mavs ended up on the short end of a controversial shootout loss to Bowling Green on Friday. But since the game goes into the record books as a tie, how controversial can it be?
| Last week: 10 |
| Record: 4-0-2 (1-0-1 CCHA) |
| Last week: T vs. Bowling Green, 3-3 OT; W vs. Bowling Green, 3-1 |
| This week: at Michigan State, at Michigan State |
7. YALE
Four third-period goals lifted Yale to a 5-2 win over Princeton in the Bulldogs' first game of the season, a non-league game. The second line of Denny Kearney, Broc Little and Kevin Limbert is the best in ECAC Hockey.
| Last week: 12 |
| Record: 1-0-0 (0-0-0 ECAC Hockey) |
| Last week: W vs. Ontario IT, 8-0 (Ex.); W at Princeton, 5-2 |
| This week: at Rensselaer, at Union |
8. NOTRE DAME
The scheduling gods, who allowed the Irish to play seven of their first eight games at home with the lone road match a trip to BU during fall break, send Notre Dame to Fairbanks this weekend for two games with the surprising Nanooks.
| Last week: 9 |
| Record: 4-3-1 (1-0-1 CCHA) |
| Last week: W vs. Ohio State, 3-1; T vs. Ohio State 2-2 OT |
| This week: at Alaska, at Alaska |
9. UMASS LOWELL
The university reached an agreement with the city of Lowell to take over ownership of Tsongas Arena in a mutually beneficial relationship, and the team got a nice bounce-back win over BU on Saturday.
| Last week: 8 |
| Record: 4-2-0 (2-1-0 Hockey East) |
| Last week: L vs. Boston University, 5-4 OT; W at Boston University, 3-2 |
| This week: at Vermont, vs. New Hampshire |
10. BOSTON UNIVERSITY
Friday's back-and-forth victory over UMass Lowell is an early candidate for game of the year. The Terriers rallied in the third period to take a late lead, before the River Hawks forced the game to OT, which BU won on a power-play goal by Colby Cohen.
| Last week: 4 |
| Record: 2-3-0 (1-2-0 Hockey East) |
| Last week:W at UMass Lowell, 5-4 OT; L vs. UMass Lowell, 3-2 |
| This week: at Northeastern, at Maine |
For the rest of the top 20 for this week's Inside College Hockey Power Rankings, click here.
