Oct. 1, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, fresh off the best season in the program’s history in 2006-07 when they were 32-7-3 overall, open the 2007-08 season ranked eighth in both the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com/CSTV preseason polls released today.
Both polls rank North Dakota first overall. In the USA Today poll, the Fighting Sioux received 14 of 34 first-place votes, good for a total of 467 points while the USCHO.com poll saw them collect 13 of 29 first-place votes and a total of 545 points.
From there the polls differ. The USA Today poll has Michigan State second (14 first-place votes), Boston College, third, Minnesota fourth and Miami fifth to round out the top five. The USCHO.com poll has Boston College second, Michigan State third with Miami fourth and Minnesota fifth.
The polls then match teams six through 10 with New Hampshire (6th), Clarkson (7th), Notre Dame (8th), Boston University (9th) and Michigan (10th) rounding out the top 10.
The Irish, who were ranked No. 1 in the nation last season for seven consecutive weeks in both polls finished last year ranked fourth in the USA Today poll and first in the USCHO.com poll as that poll is based on regular-season play. This marks just the third time in the program’s 40-year history that the Irish have entered the season ranked in the preseason. The previous times occurred prior to the start of the 1972-73 season (8th) and the 1973-74 campaign (2nd).
Notre Dame opens the 2007-08 season on Friday, Oct. 12 when they face #14/#15 Wisconsin in the opening game of the Lefty McFadden Invitational in Dayton, Ohio. The Irish will face either Ohio State or Mercyhurst in the second game of the tournament.
The USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine College Hockey Poll(Preseason) 2006-07 Final `06-'07 School(1st place) Record Pts Rank 1. North Dakota (14) 24-15-5 467 3 2. Michigan State (14) 26-13-3 436 1 3. Boston College 29-19-1 416 2 4. Minnesota (3) 31-10-3 409 5 5. Miami (OH) (2) 24-14-4 357 11 6. New Hampshire (1) 26-11-2 346 9 7. Clarkson 25-9-5 289 8 8. Notre Dame 32-7-3 261 4 9. Boston University 20-10-9 213 13 10. Michigan 26-14-1 208 10 11. Colorado College 18-17-4 143 NR 12. Denver 21-15-4 134 15 13. Maine 23-15-2 111 6 14. Wisconsin 19-18-4 108 NR 15. Quinnipiac 20-18-1 50 NRReceiving votes: St. Lawrence, 47; St. Cloud State, 39;Rochester Institute of Technology, 8; Massachusetts, 8;Air Force, 7; Colgate, 6; Dartmouth, 6; Minnesota-Duluth, 4;Michigan Tech, 3; Vermont, 2; Harvard, 1.
USCHO.com/CSTV Division I Men's Hockey Poll(Preseason) 2006-07 Final `06-'07 School Record Pts Rank 1. North Dakota (13) 24-14-5 545 6 2. Boston College (3) 29-12-1 519 4 3. Michigan State (11) 26-13-3 513 10 4. Miami (1) 24-14-4 471 13 5. Minnesota (1) 31-10-3 470 2 6. New Hampshire 26-11-2 454 5 7. Clarkson 25-9-5 396 3 8. Notre Dame 32-7-3 358 1 9. Boston University 20-10-9 332 9 10. Michigan 26-14-1 296 8 11. Colorado College 18-17-4 277 20 12. Maine 23-15-2 234 14 13. Denver 21-15-4 232 15 14. Quinnipiac 21-14-5 196 16 15. Wisconsin 19-18-4 181 17 16. St. Lawrence 23-14-2 159 11 17. St. Cloud State 22-11-7 90 NR 18. Cornell 14-13-4 85 NR 19. Ohio State 15-17-5 51 NR 20. Vermont 18-16-5 46 NR Receiving votes: Massachusetts 45, Michigan Tech 38,RIT 18, Dartmouth 17,Nebraska-Omaha 16, Bemidji State 13,Harvard 11, Niagara 7, Air Force 6, Providence 5,Western Michigan 5, Rensselaer 2, Colgate 1, Robert Morris 1