Polls and Links and Notes Oh My!

The newest national polls have been released. St. Cloud State ranked #10 in the USA Today/ USA Hockey poll and ranked #11 in the USCHO.com poll. Below are the full rankings:

USA Today/ USA Hockey
1. Boston College

2. University of North Dakota
3. University of Michigan
4. Miami University
5. Yale University
6. University of Maine
7. University of Minnesota Duluth
8. University of Denver
9. University of New Hampshire
10. Boston Universtiy
10. St. Cloud State University
12. Cornell University
13. University of Minnesota
14. University of Alaska
15. University of Wisconsin

USCHO.com
1. Boston College
2. North Dakota
3. Michigan
4. Miami
5. Yale
6. Denver
7. Minnesota-Duluth
8. Maine
9. New Hampshire
10. Boston University
11. St. Cloud State
12. Cornell
13. Minnesota
14. Alaska
15. Wisconsin
16. Union
17. Nebraska-Omaha
18. Colorado College
19. Notre Dame
20. Michigan State

So St. Cloud has taken a good size step backwards from the #4/6 rating we enjoyed last week. However, this large of a step backwards is typical early in the season after one bad game. If the Huskies do well this weekend against #4 Miami they will take a giant step forward in the rankings.

Check out College Hockey News' preview of the WCHA:

• Part I
• Part II (this one previews the Huskies)

Key quote from the CHN preview:

"With the weight of gaining their first NCAA Tournament victory already lifted, don't be surprised if SCSU makes a deep playoff run in 2011."

Also, be sure to listen to the "Bob Motzko Show" over the the Center Ice Club website. This week Coach Motzko talks about the two games last weekend, better team chemistry at practices, work needing to be done on PP, and previews the weekend ahead against Miami. It sounds like the whole staff and players are excited about this coming weekend and therefore should be playing with better enthusiasm than was displayed last weekend.

Player Notes

• Jordy Christian, who has not played with the team yet because of injury, should be back for this weekends home opener against Miami.
• Aaron Marvin, who sustained an injury during the first game of the season and did not play last Saturday for the Huskies, should be back and playing this weekend.
• Ben Hanowski, who scored in both games this weekend, was selected as the Center Ice Club player of the week.