Sept. 24, 2012
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are ranked 10th in the nation in the first preseason poll for the 2012-13 season according to USA Today/American Hockey Magazine’s preseason rankings that were released on Monday.
The rankings list Boston College and Minnesota as the co-No. 1 teams in the nation. The preseason poll is done in conjunction with the American College Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA). The poll includes input from coaches and journalists representing each of the five NCAA Division I hockey conferences, as well as, composite votes from officers of the ACHA.
The Irish were 19-18-3 overall in 2011-13 and finished the season unranked in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll. They were 19th in the final USCHO.com poll last April. Those preseason rankings will come out on Oct. 1.
In the USA Today poll, Boston College, the defending national champions, received 20 first-place votes and a total of 476 points. Minnesota finished with the same 476 points but the Gophers had just 12 first-place votes. Michigan was the first of five CCHA teams ranked in the top 15 and had a pair of first-place tallies for a total of 408 points. North Dakota (407) was fourth and followed by Union College (295) to round out the top five spots.
Sixth-place was held down by the ECAC’s Cornell University as the Big Red had 233 points. UMass.-Lowell was seventh with 221 points to edge out Denver (220) by one point for seventh in the rankings. Miami was ninth with 203 points while the Irish finished 10th with 183 points.
Notre Dame was followed by Western Michigan (182), Minnesota Duluth (176), Boston University (158), Ferris State (123) and Wisconsin (99) to round out the top 15 teams in the poll.
This marks the seventh time in the program’s history that the Irish have been ranked in the preseason polls. The previous times occurred prior to the start of the 1972-73 season (8th), the 1973-74 campaign (2nd), in 2007-08 (8th), 2008-09 (3rd), 2009-10 (5th), 2011-12 (2nd) and 10th this year.
Notre Dame will open the 2012-13 season on Sunday, Oct. 7 at 5:05 p.m. when the Irish play host to the USA Under-18 team in preseason action at the Compton Family Ice Arena. Notre Dame then opens the regular season on Friday, October 12 at 6:30 p.m. (CT) versus the University of Maine in the opening game of the 2012 Ice Breaker Tournament. The NBC Sports Network will televise that game live from the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. Notre Dame then faces either Nebraska-Omaha or Army at 3:30 or 6:30 p.m. (CT) on Saturday, Oct. 13. The NBC Network will televise the tournament’s championship game at 6:30 p.m. (CT).
USA Today/American Hockey Magazine College Hockey Poll (Preseason) 2011-12 Final `11-'12 School Record Pts Rank1. Boston College (20) 33-10-1 476 1 Minnesota (12) 28-14-1 476 43. Michigan (2) 24-13-4 408 74. North Dakota 26-13-3 407 65. Union College 26-8-7 295 36. Cornell 19-9-7 233 137. UMass.-Lowell 24-13-1 221 98. Denver 25-14-4 220 89. Miami (OH) 24-15-2 203 1010. Notre Dame 19-18-3 186 NR11. Western Michigan 21-14-6 182 1412. Minnesota Duluth 25-10-6 176 513. Boston University 23-15-1 158 1114. Ferris State 26-12-5 123 215. Wisconsin 17-18-2 99 NR
Receiving votes: Harvard, 58; Maine, 24; Quinnipiac, 24;Michigan State, 19; Colorado College, 19; New Hampshire, 17;Ohio State, 17; St. Cloud State, 15; Merrimack, 7;Providence College, 6; Yale, 6; Air Force, 3; Northern Michigan, 1;Michigan Tech, 1.