5 Biggest Surprises in College Hockey This Season and Latest Rankings
We're beginning to get into the holiday season, which is usually when the college hockey world starts to get a good feel for which contenders are pretenders, and vice-versa. At this point even the Ivy League has been playing for a while, and although we're still a long way form the postseason, the shine has worn off the preseason rankings for a lot of teams.
In some cases, the moves up and down the rankings have been pretty predictable. For example reigning champion was the preseason top team, and had earned that status, but staying No. 1 didn't seem feasible. The Broncos were upset the night they raised their championship banner, and are 1-3 against ranked opponents. They've dropped to No. 8.
Northeastern was one of those teams that everyone knew could be good this season, but few had a good grasp of where they might fight in the always-difficult Hockey East. Even with the preseason coaches poll the reaction to the Huskies being tied for seventh was "That's too low," but no one could pinpoint which other teams should be moved down. Northeastern simply got to work and after being initially unranked, but receiving votes for the preseason national rankings, is up to No. 12 despit being swept last weekend by Connecticut (4-2, 4-3 OT).
Denver looks like Denver (in other words very good, and North Dakota is in that category as well), Wisconsin is up, Arizona State is down, Boston College has kind of been all over the place. But here are the five biggest surprises of the season so far, followed by this week's rankings (with the Wisconsin women still No. 1, but no longer a unanimous selection):
1. Minnesota Golden Gophers
Seriously, what happened? Granted, the Gophers are a really young team, but this is the kind of program that should be in the running for the Final Four each and every year, Instead, they got blown at home Friday to a team that has been a Division I program for just six years. Maybe Long Island is better than we thought, but headlines like: "Gophers hockey reaches new low with embarrassing home loss against LIU" should never happen. Minnesota was the preseason No. 8.
2. Michigan Wolverines
We all knew the Wolverines would be good, but no one quite expected them to be this good. At 11-3, 4-2 in the Big Ten, they lead the nation in scoring by averaging 5.00 goals per game, while only three other teams are averaging more than 4.00. Michigan shot up the rankings from preseason No. 12 to No. 2. All three losses have come in the second game of a series, to Western Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn State, so either top teams are either figuring Michigan out and and making adjustments or the Wolverines aren't able to keep their foot down on the pedal like they'd want.
3. Dartmouth Big Green
Darmtouth is second in the nation in scoring offense at 4.33 goals per game, but is also first in scoring defense 1.17 goals per game. Only two other teams are in the top 10 of both, Michigan State and Denver. The only knock on the Big Green is it's only played six games overall, and just one against a ranked opponent (then-No. 17 Cornell on Nov. 8). But when you haven't allowed more than one goal in any conference game ...
4. Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs
The Bulldogs have been flying this season and at 11-3 have risen all the way up to No. 4. Did anyone think they'd have a better ranking than the UMD women's team? No. The Plante brothers and the top line are getting a lot of attention, but the Bulldogs are only yielding 1.86 goals per game. That kind of stingy defense will win a lot of games.
5. Boston University Terriers
If you're like, "Wait, Boston University was No. 1 earlier this season," the Terriers haven't been the same since the dramatic loss and sweep to Michigan State on Oct. 18. Since then, BU split against Connecticut, got swept at Maine, and got blitzed over the weekend at Quinnipiac. Overall, the 48 goals allowed are easily the most in Hockey East, with only one other team having yielded more than 33. Consequently, BU has dropped to No. 18, and really shouldn't ranked at all after falling below .500. Having said that, this is a team that could still pull it all together and potentially make another monster playoff run.
USCHO Men's Poll
November 17, 2025
Rank | Team | Record | Points (1st) | Prv. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Michigan State | 9-1-0 | 1,000 (50) | 1 |
2 | Michigan | 11-3-0 | 927 | 2 |
3 | Denver | 8-3-1 | 871 | 4 |
4 | Minnesota Duluth | 11-3-0 | 823 | 3 |
5 | Penn State | 10-4-0 | 767 | 5 |
6 | North Dakota | 8-4-0 | 715 | 6 |
7 | Wisconsin | 8-2-2 | 659 | 7 |
8 | Western Michigan | 7-5-0 | 637 | 9 |
9 | Quinnipiac | 7-3-2 | 611 | 10 |
10 | Maine | 7-4-1 | 567 | 8 |
11 | Connecticut | 6-4-2 | 484 | 14 |
12 | Northeastern | 7-3-0 | 378 | 11 |
13 | Dartmouth | 6-0-0 | 314 | 19 |
14 | Minnesota State | 6-2-4 | 378 | 16 |
15 | Boston College | 6-4-1 | 274 | 18 |
16 | Providence | 5-4-2 | 242 | 15 |
17 | Massachusetts | 7-6-0 | 211 | 12 |
18 | Boston University | 5-6-1 | 176 | 13 |
19 | Cornell | 4-2-0 | 149 | 20 |
20 | Union | 8-2-1 | 136 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Ohio State 94, Colorado College 74, Michigan Tech 33, Omaha 19, Harvard 16, Miami 15, RIT 15, St. Cloud State 6, Bemidji State 5, Holy Cross 3, Arizona State 1
USA Hockey Poll
November 17, 2025
Rank | Team | Points (1st) | Prv. |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Michigan State | 680 (34) | 1 |
2 | Michigan | 635 | 2 |
3 | Denver | 612 | 4 |
4 | Minnesota Duluth | 560 | 3 |
5 | Penn State | 531 | 5 |
6 | North Dakota | 478 | 6 |
7 | Western Michigan | 454 | 8 |
8 | Wisconsin | 453 | 7 |
9 | Quinnipiac | 441 | 9 |
10 | Connecticut | 344 | T13 |
11 | Maine | 331 | 10 |
12 | Northeastern | 249 | 11 |
13 | Dartmouth | 240 | 20 |
14 | Minnesota State | 193 | 18 |
15 | Boston College | 191 | 16 |
16 | Providence | 156 | 15 |
17 | Cornell | 155 | 19 |
18 | Massachusetts | 130 | T13 |
19 | Boston University | 103 | 12 |
20 | Union | 760 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Ohio State 43; Colorado College 32; Nebraska Omaha 14; Michigan Tech 13; Harvard 10; Rochester Institute of Technology 10; St. Cloud State 5; Miami 1.
USCHO Women's Poll
November 17, 2025
Rank | Team | Record | Points (1st) | Prv. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Wisconsin | 12-1-1 | 295 (16) | 1 |
2 | Minnesota | 12-2-0 | 278 (2) | 2 |
3 | Ohio State | 11-1-0 | 267 (2) | 3 |
4 | Cornell | 8-1-0 | 222 | 4 |
5 | Minnesota Duluth | 10-4-0 | 219 | 5 |
6 | Penn State | 14-0-0 | 214 | 6 |
7 | Quinnipiac | 12-1-1 | 185 | 7 |
8 | Northeastern | 10-2-0 | 153 | 8 |
9 | Connecticut | 8-3-1 | 138 | 9 |
10 | St. Cloud State | 4-9-1 | 95 | 10 |
11 | Clarkson | 7-5-1 | 84 | 12 |
12 | Brown | 7-2-1 | 72 | 13 |
13 | Colgate | 6-7-1 | 67 | 14 |
14 | Yale | 6-3-0 | 56 | 10 |
15 | St. Thomas | 8-8-0 | 18 | 15 |
Others receiving votes: Boston College 16, Princeton 13, Mercyhurst 4, St. Lawrence 2, Minnesota State 1, RIT 1
Women's USA Hockey Poll
November 18, 2025
Rank | Team | Points (1st) | Prv. |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Wisconsin | 281 (16) | 1 |
2 | Minnesota | 263 (1) | 2 |
3 | Ohio State | 254 (2) | 3 |
4 | Minnesota Duluth | 210 | 5 |
5 | Cornell | 206 | 4 |
6 | Penn State | 203 | 6 |
7 | Quinnipiac | 174 | 7 |
8 | Northeastern | 142 | 9 |
9 | Connecticut | 130 | 9 |
10 | St. Cloud State | 89 | 12 |
11 | Clarkson | 81 | 11 |
12 | Colgate | 76 | 14 |
13 | Brown | 64 | 13 |
14 | Yale | 56 | 10 |
15 | St. Thomas | 19 | 15 |
Others receiving votes: Princeton 12; Mercyhurst 7, Minnesota State 6; Boston College 5, Holy Cross 5, Rochester Institute of Technology 1.
Christopher Walsh is the founder and publisher of Alabama Crimson Tide On SI, which first published as BamaCentral in 2018, and is also the publisher of the Boston College, Missouri and Vanderbilt sites . He's covered the Crimson Tide since 2004 and is the author of 27 books including “100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die” and “Nick Saban vs. College Football.” He's an eight-time honoree of Football Writers Association of America awards and three-time winner of the Herby Kirby Memorial Award, the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s highest writing honor for story of the year. In 2022, he was named one of the 50 Legends of the ASWA. Previous beats include the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, along with Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. Originally from Minnesota and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, he currently resides in Tuscaloosa.
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