February 2, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame hockey team (15-7-3), coming off a 3-2 win over then-No. 5 Michigan, has moved up to ninth in both major national polls, marking the 18th straight week that the Irish have been ranked among the top 10 of each poll, with a high ranking of fourth in both polls on Nov. 16 (when the team was 8-1-2).

North Dakota retained the top spot in both polls, followed by Maine, New Hampshire, upcoming Notre Dame opponent Michigan State, and Colorado College. The USCHO poll has Michigan, Boston College and Princeton in the 6th-8th spots while UT/AHM has those teams in a different order (Princeton, Michigan, Boston College). The University of Denver re-entered both polls in the 10th spot.

In addition to MSU (226 voting points), Michigan (136) and Notre Dame (70), two other CCHA teams received votes in the USCHO poll: Ohio State (14) and Northern Michigan (1). OSU also received two votes in the UT/AHM poll.

Just five points in the CCHA standings separate third from sixth place-Ohio State (13-6-3, 29 pts), Notre Dame (12-6-2, 26), Northern Michigan (11-8-3, 25) and Ferris State (10-8-4, 24)-with the top four teams receiving home ice for the first round of the CCHA playoffs (best 2-of-3, March 12-14). OSU owns the head-to-head tiebreaker vs. the Irish while the Notre Dame-FSU series could be decided on Feb. 13 (currently tied 1-1, even on goal differential). Notre Dame played to a 3-3 tie at NMU on Jan. 22, with the teams set to play Feb. 26-27 at Notre Dame.

Ties in the CCHA standings are broken based on head-to-head record, followed by head-to-head goal differential and then record vs. the CCHA’s top teams (starting with the regular-season champion).

Notre Dame’s 1998-99 season has included a 4-2-2 record vs. teams ranked in the national top 10 at the time of the game. The Irish opened with a 2-1 win at then-No. 10 Wisconsin, in front of nearly 14,000 fans at the Kohl Center dedication game, before posting a home win over then-No.9 Ohio State (3-0), a 5-5 tie at former No.1 Boston College and a 2-2 home tie with then-No. 8 Michigan. The Wolverines won the rematch a week later, 1-0 in Ann Arbor, before Notre Dame’s win over UM last week.

The upcoming Feb. 5 game versus Michigan State has been declared a sellout, with Notre Dame’s other remaining home games including Alaska Fairbanks (Feb. 6), Ferris State (Feb. 13) and Northern Michigan (Feb. 26-27). The MSU game will give Notre Dame six sellouts in its last seven home games, with the Irish owning an impressive 9-0-1 overall home record this season (with a 48-17 scoring edge at home).

Notre Dame has two games “in hand” on each of its closest competitors in the CCHA standings, as the Irish have played just 20 CCHA games while OSU, NMU and FSU each have played 22 (Michigan and MSU have played 21 each). Notre Dame will catch up to idle NMU and FSU this weekend while OSU will not have an off-week until Feb. 26-27.

U.S. COLLEGE HOCKEY ONLINE POLL (2/1/99)

        Team (1st-Place)    Record   Points   Previous    1.   North Dakota (27)   20-2-2   296       1   2.   Maine (3)           19-2-4   264       2    3.   New Hampshire       21-4-1   233       4   4.   Michigan State (1)  20-3-5   226       3    5.   Colorado College    17-8-1   162       6   6.   Michigan            17-6-4   136       5    7.   Boston College      16-8-2   130       7   8.   Princeton           14-4-1    89       9   9.   NOTRE DAME          15-7-3    70      10  10.   Denver              15-9-2    20      --
Others Receiving Votes: Ohio State 14, St. Lawrence 4,Rensselaer 3, Clarkson 2, Northern Michigan 1. 

USA TODAY/AMERICAN HOCKEY MAGAZINE POLL (2/1/99)

        Team (1st-Place)    Record   Points   Previous   1.   North Dakota (10)   20-2-2   100       1   2.   Maine               19-2-4    86       2    3.   New Hampshire       21-4-1    80       3   4.   Michigan State      20-3-5    74       4    5.   Colorado College    17-8-1    53       6   6.   Princeton           13-4-1    47       7   7.   Michigan            17-6-4    44       5    8.   Boston College      16-8-2    34       8   9.   NOTRE DAME          15-7-3    20      10  10.   Denver              15-9-2     5      --
Others Receiving Votes: Rensselaer 3, Ohio State 2, St. Lawrence 2.

NOTRE DAME WEEK-BY-WEEK IN THE NATIONAL HOCKEY POLLS

       ND RECORD  USCHO     USA TODAY10/5    1-0-0     (17)       no poll10/12   3-0-0     no poll   (11)10/19   5-0-0      8         7   10/26   6-1-0      9         711/2    6-1-0      8         711/9    7-1-1      6         611/16   8-1-2      4         411/23   9-2-2      5         811/30   9-3-2      6         712/7    9-5-2     10        1012/14   9-5-2      9         912/21   9-5-2     no poll   no poll12/28   9-5-2      9        no poll 1/4   10-6-2      9         9 1/11  12-6-2      9         8 1/18  14-6-2      8         9 1/25  14-7-3     10        10 2/2   15-7-3      9         9
(  ) = received votes

CCHA STANDINGS (as of 2/1/99)

    Team               W-L-T   Pts  GP   Games Left 1. Michigan State    14-2-5   33   21   @ND, @LAKE, ND (2), MICH, @FSU, WMU, FSU (2)    2. Michigan          14-4-3   31   21   LAKE, OSU, @WMU (2), @MSU, MIAMI (2), @LAKE, @NMU 3. Ohio State        13-6-3   29   22   @BG, @MICH, @NMU (2), FSU, UAF, BG, @BG 4. Notre Dame        12-6-2   26   20   MSU, UAF, @MSU, FSU, @MSU, @BG, NMU (2), @MIAMI (2) 5. N. Michigan       11-8-3   25   22   OSU (2), LAKE, @LAKE, @ND (2), WMU, MICH 6. Ferris State      10-8-4   24   22   @WMU, @ND, @OSU, @MIAMI, MSU, BG, @MSU (2) 7. Bowling Green      8-10-3  19   21   OSU, WMU, @UAF (2), ND, @WMU, @FSU, @OSU, OSU 8. Miami              5-13-4  14   22   @LAKE (2), UAF, FSU, @MICH (2), ND (2) 9. Lake Superior      5-13-2  12   20   @MICH, MSU, MIAMI (2), @NMU, NMU, @UAF (2), MICH, WMU 10. Alaska  Fairbanks  5-16-1  11   22   @WMU, @ND, BG (2), @MIAMI, @OSU, LAKE (2)11. Western Michigan   2-13-6  10   21   UAF,@BG, FSU, MICH (2), BG, @MSU, @NMU, @LAKE

TIEBREAKERS WON

       MSU      vs. UAF, BG, LAKE, MIAMI, NMU and OSU (1-1-1, +1)MICH     vs. UAF, BG and FSUOSU      vs. UAF, LAKE, ND  and WMUND       vs. UAF, BG, LAKE and WMUNMU      vs. UAF, MIAMI and WMUFSU      vs. UAF and NMUBG       vs. LAKE, MIAMI and NMUMIAMI    vs. OSU and WMULAKE     vs. FSU (1-1-1, +1)UAF      vs. MIAMIWMU      none

Notre Dame and Michigan finished with an even series record (1-1-1) and even series goal differential (5 FG, 5 GA)

TIEBREAKERS STILL TO BE DECIDED

MSU      vs. FSU (0-0-0), MICH (0-1-1), ND (0-0-0) and WMU (1-0-1)MICH     vs. LAKE (0-1-0), MIAMI (1-0-0), MSU (1-0-1), NMU (1-1-0), OSU (0-1-1) and WMU (1-0-0)OSU      vs. BG (0-0-0), FSU (1-1-0), MICH (1-0-1) and NMU (1-0-0)ND       vs. FSU (1-1-0), MIAMI (1-0-0), MSU (0-0-0) and NMU (0-0-1)NMU      vs. LAKE (1-0-0), MICH (1-1-0), ND (0-1-0) and OSU (0-1-0)OSU      vs. BG (0-0-0), FSU (1-1-0), MICH (1-0-1) and NMU (1-0-0)BG       vs. UAF (0-1-0), FSU (1-0-1), OSU (0-0-0) and WMU (1-1-0)MIAMI    vs. FSU (1-0-1), LAKE (1-0-0), MICH (0-1-0) and ND (0-1-0) LAKE     vs. UAF (0-1-0), MIAMI (0-1-0), MICH (0-1-0), NMU (0-1-0) and WMU (1-0-1) UAF      vs. BG (1-0-0), LAKE (1-0-0) and WMU (1-1-0) WMU      vs. UAF (1-1-0), BG (0-1-0), FSU (0-1-1), LAKE (0-1-1), MICH (0-1-0) and MSU (0-1-1)