First polls of 2012

The National polls have come out for the first time in 2012 and despite the fact that they mean shit, they are fun to look at. Here is a breakdown of the top 10 and other teams I deem significant in the USCHO and USA Today polls.

Note- The USA Today poll place is in parentheses if different than the USCHO poll.

1. Minnesota-Duluth 12-3-3- The defending champs are playing like it heading into the second half and certainly are on of the teams to beat.

2. Ohio State 14-4-1-

3. Minnesota(5) 15-6-1- Minnesota stays high in the rankings despite losing to Northeastern in the Mariucci Classic. They will receive a big boost when Kyle Rau and Nick Bjugstad return from the WJC this week.

4. Boston College 13-7-0- Those fairies stay high in the rankings despite losing to Michigan this past week and squeaking by Michigan Tech.

5. Notre Dame (3) 12-6-3 - Notre Dame looked really good this past weekend against BU and seem ready to start a run in the second half

6. Colorado College(8) 12-6-0

7. Merrimack(6) 11-3-3- The hack is back moving up the rankings with a win and a tie this weekend up in NH against some great competition...oh wait nevermind

8. Western Michigan(9) 10-5-5

9. Colgate(7) 12-4-2

10. BU (11) 10-6-1- BU drops 1 and 2 spots with the loss at Notre Dame this weekend, but look to right the shit against Merrihack this coming Friday.

11. Denver(10) 10-7-3

12. UMass- Lowell 12-5-0- UML fans can finally relax and know they are in the top 15 in the meaningless polls.

13. Cornell(14) 8-4-1

16. Michigan(13) 11-8-3

Receiving votes:

Northeastern

Harvard

- Looks like there is a chance for all 4 Beanpot schools to be ranked when the tournament starts up in a little bit over a month.

- Here are the only meanings that mean anything with the pairwise rankings. Usually the top 14 or 15 from the pairwise make the NCAA tournament field. BU sits at 7 currently. Also, here is the HE weekly performance release with no love for BU whatsoever.