New Polls: Where Do We Go From Here?

New national polls came out yesterday and after the Terriers' went 1-2 against top 5 opposition this past week, they fell in the polls as expected. They now sit at #5 nationally in the USCHO poll and #6 in the USA Today poll. They also sit #6 in the Pairwise rankings, which determine the field for the NCAA tournament. The rest of the top 10 is summed up below.

1. Ferris State- Ferris stays #1 for the second straight off a weekend sweep

2. BC - Newton University is on a hot streak, winning 7 straight hopefully right in time to fizzle out for the post-season

3. Michigan- Michigan has been a different club in the second half climbing from the land of the unranked to #3 is quite the feat.

4. Minnesota-Duluth- The defending champs seem ready to give the NCAA tourny another strong run

5/6. BU

6/5. Minnesota

7. Lowell- They are hanging around in the top 10 and still in serious contention to win the regular season league title

8. Union

9/10. Denver

10/11. Maine- Maine is still one of the hottest teams in the country despite only splitting with UMass at home this weekend

11/9. Cornell

12. Merrimack- Merrimack can't seem to be able to find the back of the net right now but I just can't imagine this team not making the NCAA's.  Right now they seem destined for a big time HE QF matchup at Maine, which will be no easy task.

BU lost another player from the roster this week as junior d-man Max Nicastro was suspended after being accused of sexual assault over the weekend. You can follow Boston Hockey Blog for all the information on the case. Nicastro will not be back this season which leaves the team with 5 healthy regular d-men once again as they had when Nicastro was injured a few weeks ago for the Merrimack game. That lineup beat one of the top teams in the league 4-1 and that is most certainly the one we will see this weekend at UVM for 2. I would expect the regular 4 forward lines to remain the same with "Bod" Matt Ronan being dressed for both games to provide a breather for the regular 5 d men when needed against the cellar-dwelling Vermont. As for the media circus around BU this week, the best way for a fan to handle it is to focus on the hockey and let the trial play out before coming to any conclusion. Keep supporting the guys that are still playing and have come together as a team this semester and don't let one guy's mistake (who is no loner enrolled in school or an active member of the team) stop you from supporting your school. As always, GO BU!