Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Boston College and Minnesota top college hockey preseason poll

2012 NCAA Division I Men's Hockey Championship

TAMPA, FL - APRIL 07: Goalie Parker Milner #35 of the Boston College Eagles stops a shot from the Ferris State Bulldogs during the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Hockey Championship Game at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on April 7, 2012 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images)

Getty Images

USA Today and USA Hockey Magazine released their preseason poll for the start of the NCAA hockey season and the names at the top look really familiar.

Defending national champion Boston College will start the year at the top of the polls with the University of Minnesota tied at No. 1.

Jerry York’s Eagles dominated through the tournament last year and return this season with many of the players that helped them take it all. Meanwhile, the team BC beat in the national semifinals, Don Lucia’s Golden Gophers, begin the season with huge expectations after making their way back to the NCAA tournament last year.

You can catch college hockey action on NBCSN this year featuring many of the teams in the USA Today Top 15 including North Dakota, Union College, Cornell, Denver, Notre Dame, and BC’s rivals from Boston University.

Here’s how the poll sits with the season ready to kick off in October:


Rank

School

2011-12
Final Ranking

2011-12 RecordWeeks in Top 15
1Boston College, 476 (20)
1

33-10-1

1
1University of Minnesota, 476 (12)
4

28-14-1

1

3University of Michigan, 408 (2)
7

24-13-4

1
4University of North Dakota, 407

6


26-13-3

1
5Union College, 295

3


26-8-7

1
6Cornell University, 233

13


19-9-7

1
7UMass-Lowell, 221

9


24-13-1

1
8University of Denver, 220

8


25-14-4

1
9Miami University, 203

10


24-15-2

1
10University of Notre Dame, 186

NR


19-18-3

1
11Western Michigan University, 182

14


21-14-6

1
12University of Minnesota Duluth, 176
5

25-10-6

1
13Boston University, 158

11


23-15-1

1
14Ferris State University, 123
2

26-12-5

1
15University of Wisconsin, 99

NR


17-18-2

1

Others receiving votes: Harvard University, 58; University of Maine, 24; Quinnipiac University, 24; Michigan State University, 19; Colorado College, 19; University of New Hampshire, 17; Ohio State University, 17; St. Cloud (Minn.) State University, 15; Merrimack College, 7; Providence College, 6; Yale University, 6; United States Air Force Academy, 3; Northern Michigan University, 1; Michigan Tech University, 1.