Boston College Men’s Hockey Rises to #3 in National Poll

On Monday afternoon, USCHO released their weekly poll of the top 20 teams in NCAA D1 men’s hockey, and the Boston College Eagles found themselves rising from #4 to #3 this week. They passed archrival Boston University in the process, making the ranking feel extra sweet.

BC took care of business this past Friday, defeating the LIU Sharks at home, 4-2, in their only game of the weekend. What really stood out during the game was the student attendance, which broke an all-time Conte Forum record. I talked more about it in this week’s weekly kickoff and what this huge student turnout could mean for a magical season of hockey on the Heights.

The big news at the top is that Boston College has a huge opponent on its upcoming schedule: #2 Denver. The Pioneers are coming to Chestnut Hill on Saturday to face the Eagles for a one-off contest that even may be an NCAA tournament preview. Both of these squads are two of the best in the country, so it’s a great early test to see how this young BC team will respond to elite competition. It could also have huge implications for the pairwise and seeding in the NCAA tournament. Conte Forum is sure to be electric for this one.

The other major note to take from the poll is about BU. The #1 Terriers traveled up to New Hampshire to face UNH for the first Hockey East game of the year and took a surprising 6-4 loss, which has dropped them from #1 to #6 in this week’s poll. After BU just narrowly escaped defeating Bentley in OT the week before, it makes sense that they would see their ranking fall. It’s still very early, but it looks like BU will at least be getting off to a slow start this season despite their lofty expectations. BU’s transfer goalie from Brown did not have a good game, something that Eagles fans should be keeping an eye on as the season progresses. Boston College will not face off against them until the end of January, though, so there is plenty of time for each squad to figure things out. It’s a long season and the Terriers often tend to put things together in the second half of the year.

You can view the full poll results here.