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CIS men's hockey Top 10 (#11): McGill No. 1 for first time in five years
OTTAWA (CIS) – The McGill Redmen are the new team to beat
in Canadian Interuniversity Sport men’s hockey.
The Redmen (17-2-2) received 12 of 17 first-place votes and 158
points from the national media panel to take over at No. 1 from the
New Brunswick Varsity Reds (14-5-2), who had earned the top spot in
each of the first 10 polls of the season.
UNB, the reigning University Cup champion, falls to No. 3 in the
new Top 10 behind the Western Ontario Mustangs (18-2-2), who move
up two positions this week. UNB and Western both received one
first-place nod and 127 points from the panel, but the Mustangs
were awarded second place thanks to a greater number of
higher-placed votes.
No less than three other teams earned a first-place vote this week,
including the No. 4 Moncton Aigles Bleus (15-6-0), No. 5 Acadia
Axemen (15-6-1) and No. 8 Manitoba Bisons (14-4-2).
Rounding out the new national poll are the No. 6 Alberta Golden
Bears (15-5-2), No. 7 Saskatchewan Huskies (15-5-2), No. 9
Trois-Rivières Patriotes (17-5-1) and No. 10 Saint
Mary’s Huskies (13-7-2).
McGill, which had been ranked second behind UNB each of the past
eight weeks, moves up to No. 1 for the first time since February of
2006 (Feb. 21 poll). The Redmen edged Carleton 1-0 in a shootout
Friday night in their lone outing of the past week, and are set to
battle Ottawa (12-10-1) and Carleton (12-7-3) this
weekend.
Western travelled to Thunder Bay and posted a pair of crucial 1-0
wins over Lakehead (16-6-0), which was ranked ninth in the country
going into the weekend series. The No. 2 national ranking is the
Mustangs’ best since the 2003-04 campaign.
The No. 1 and No. 2 rankings for McGill and Western also mark the
first time since 1998-99 that OUA teams hold the top two positions
in the CIS men’s hockey poll.
Meanwhile, UNB has now dropped four of its last five contests
following weekend losses to Moncton, 5-1, and UPEI, 8-7. The V-Reds
had been No. 1 in 21 consecutive ranking periods dating back to
December of 2010.
Also of note in the 11th poll of the campaign is a four-spot drop
by Saskatchewan. Fresh off a huge two-game sweep of archrival
Alberta two weeks ago, the Huskies went 0-for-2 in Winnipeg this
past weekend, losing 4-2 and 3-1 to Manitoba.
Following results from the last seven days, the standings in all
CIS divisions and conferences are as close as ever with less than a
month remaining in the regular season.
In the OUA East, McGill holds a slim one-point advantage over UQTR.
The Redmen, however, have two games in hand.
In the OUA West, Western has the biggest lead in the country, six
points over Lakehead with six games to play.
In the AUS, UNB fell into a tie for second place with Moncton, one
point behind Acadia.
Finally, in Canada West, Saskatchewan and Alberta are now tied atop
the standings but Manitoba trails the Huskies and Bears by only two
points, with two games in hand.
CIS MEN’S
HOCKEY TOP 10 (#11)
Voting is based on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis, with a 1st place
vote worth 10 points. The CIS Men’s Ice Hockey Top Ten
Committee is made up of media members from across Canada.
(regular season record) / votes (first-place votes) /
(previous rankings)
1. McGill (17-2-2) / 158 pts (12) / (2)
2. Western Ontario (18-2-2) / 127 (1) / (4) *
3. UNB (14-5-2) / 127 (1) / (1)
4. Moncton (15-6-0) / 107 (1) / (7)
5. Acadia (15-6-1) / 106 (1) / (6)
6. Alberta (15-5-2) / 94 / (5)
7. Saskatchewan (15-5-2) / 85 / (3)
8. Manitoba (14-4-2) / 65 (1) / (9)
9. UQTR (17-5-1) / 31 / (NR)
10. Saint Mary’s (13-7-2) / 13 / (10) *
Other teams receiving votes: Lakehead (13), UPEI (7), UBC
(2).
* Western Ontario (over UNB) and Saint Mary’s (over
Lakehead) were awarded the higher ranking based on number of
higher-placed votes.
-CIS-
