Sept. 28, 2009

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Following a berth in the NCAA Division I National Championship game, Miami will enter the 2009-10 season with the preseason No. 1 ranking in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll. The RedHawks collected 457 points, including four first-place votes, to claim the top spot.

Denver ranks second after accumulating 455 points and the most first-place votes (13). Defending national champion Boston University sits in the No. 3 spot (438), while Michigan (384) and Notre Dame (370) round out the top five.

Miami faces four teams on the 2009-10 schedule who appear in the initial ranking and another four teams who are receiving votes. North Dakota is eighth, while St. Cloud State is 13th. The RedHawks and Huskies open the regular season Oct. 9-10 at Steve Cady Arena.

The 15th annual USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll is conducted each week in conjunction with the American Hockey Coaches Association. The poll includes input from coaches and journalists representing each of the six NCAA Division I ice hockey conferences, as well as composite votes from officers of the AHCA and USA Hockey Magazine, the most widely distributed hockey magazine in the world.

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine
Men's College Hockey Poll - #1 (Preseason)
(first-place votes in parentheses)


Rank School 2008-09
Final Rank 2008-09 Record
1 Miami (Ohio) University, 457 (4) 2 23-13-5
2 University of Denver, 455 (13) 7 23-12-5
3 Boston University, 438 (12) 1 35-6-4
4 University of Michigan, 384 5 29-12-0
5 University of Notre Dame, 370 (5) 4 31-6-3
6 University of Minnesota, 270 NR 17-13-7
7 Cornell University, 254 12 22-10-4
8 University of North Dakota, 227 13 24-15-4
9 Princeton University, 223 15 22-12-1
10 University of Massachusetts Lowell, 175 NR 20-16-2
11 Yale University, 149 10 24-8-2
12 Boston College, 117 NR 18-14-5
13 St. Cloud State University, 106 NR 18-17-3
14 University of Wisconsin, 80 NR 20-16-4
15 University of Vermont, 73 3 22-12-5


Others receiving votes: University of New Hampshire, 71; University of Minnesota Duluth, 64; The Ohio State
University, 60; United States Air Force Academy, 43; University of Northern Michigan, 31; Colorado College, 8;
Northeastern University, 8; Bemidji State University, 6; Harvard University, 3; Mercyhurst College, 3;
Niagara University, 3; St. Lawrence University, 2.