BlackBerry - CIS Top Ten Tuesday (#7): McGill moves to No. 1 in women’s hockey

OTTAWA (CIS) – The reign atop the CIS women's hockey rankings lasted only one week for the defending national champion University of Alberta Pandas.

The Pandas (1-1-0), who topped the first coaches' poll of the campaign on Oct. 5 seven months after capturing the seventh CIS title in team history, drop to No. 3 this week after a season-opening split with the Manitoba Bisons (1-1-0), who move up one spot to No. 4 in the new Top 10.

Both games played in Winnipeg ended by identical 2-0 scores with Manitoba claiming the first contest on Friday and Alberta rebounding on Saturday.

The weekend draw between the Canada West powerhouses benefited the McGill Martlets (1-0-0) and Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (2-0-0), both of whom move up one position in the national poll to No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.

The Martlets, who opened QSSF play on Friday with a 7-4 victory over cross-town rival Concordia, are no strangers to the No. 1 spot. McGill, which claimed back-to-back CIS banners in 2008 and 2009, topped all 17 polls last season and 46 straight rankings from 2007-08 to the end of 2009-10.

Rounding out this week's Top 10 are No. 5 StFX (0-0-0), No. 6 Montreal (0-0-0), No. 7 Saint Mary's (0-0-0), No. 8 Guelph (2-0-0), No. 9 Saskatchewan (2-0-0) and No. 10 Queen's (1-1-0).

WOMEN'S HOCKEY
(regular season record) / (previous rankings)

1. McGill (1-0-0) / (2)
2. Wilfrid Laurier (2-0-0) / (3)
3. Alberta (1-1-0) / (1)
4. Manitoba (1-1-0) / (5)
5. StFX (0-0-0) / (4)
6. Montreal (0-0-0) / (6)
7. Saint Mary's (0-0-0) / (7)
8. Guelph (2-0-0) / (9)
9. Saskatchewan (2-0-0) / (8)
10. Queen's (1-1-0) / (NR)

Other teams receiving votes: Carleton, Brock.

-CIS-