The Gophers moved into a tie with Quinnipiac in the USA today/USA Hockey Magazine national ratings, despite their 2-0 loss to Colorado College in the Final Five semifinals. The Bobcats had more first-place votes, 16 to nine for the Gophers, but both teams had 473 points.

This is the first time the Gophers have been No. 1 since Week 17, Feb. 4. The U were tied for first in the preseason poll with Boston College.

Wisconsin and Notre Dame made the biggest jumps in the ratings. The Badgers moved up from No. 15 to a tie for eighth after winning the Final Five while the Irish moved up five spots to No. 4 after winning the CCHA tournament.

This is the 25th week the Gophers have been in the USA Today poll, the 16th week for Quinnipiac.

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine
2012-13 Men's College Hockey Poll - #24
(first-place votes in parentheses)
Rank School Last Week Record
T-1 Quinnipiac, 473 (16) 1 27-7-5
T-1 Minnesota, 473 (9) 2 26-8-5
3 UMass-Lowell, 463 (9) 5 26-10-2
4 Notre Dame, 399 9 25-12-3
5 Miami University, 376 3 24-11-5
6 Boston College, 354 4 22-11-4
7 North Dakota, 286 6 21-12-7
T-8 MN State, 202 8 24-13-3
T-8 Wisconsin, 202 15 22-12-7
10 New Hampshire, 201 11 19-11-7
11 St. Cloud State, 196 7 23-15-1
12 Denver, 158 12 20-13-5
13 Union College, 135 NR 21-12-5
14 Niagara University, 71 14 23-9-5

15 Yale, 57 10 18-12-3

Others receiving votes: Boston University, 20; Western Michigan University, Michigan and Providence 1.

The poll includes input from coaches and journalists representing each of the five NCAA Division I ice hockey conferences, as well as composite votes from officers of the AHCA and USA Hockey Magazine.

The poll has every team ranked higher than its opponent in the PairWise Rankings favored in the first round as well. The closest games, based on the USA Today ratings, are two games involving WCHA teams:

* No. 10 New Hampshire vs. No. 12 Denver, difference of two

* No. 5 Miami vs. No. 8 (tie) Minnesota State, difference of three