Losing Streak Drops Men's Hockey to No. 14/13 in National Polls

With three losses last week, the Harvard men’s ice hockey team is officially on the bubble.

After dropping games to No. 15/- Yale and Brown, the No. 14/13 Crimson sits 16th in the PairWise rankings, an objective metric that predicts selection to the 16-team NCAA tournament. The weekend sweep followed a 3-2 double-overtime defeat against No. 3/2 Boston University in the first round of the Beanpot on Tuesday.

Conference rival No. 13/14 Quinnipiac now leads Harvard in the PairWise at 13th, while St. Lawrence and Yale lurk just behind at 17th and 18th, respectively.

Harvard also dropped from No. 6 to No. 14 in the USCHO.com poll and from No. 6 to No. 13 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.  The team is 2-7-0 in 2015 after finishing the 2014 half of its season 10-1-2.

Coach Ted Donato ’91 and his team will look to halt their season-worst losing streak this weekend, when they host Colgate (T-21, PairWise) on Friday and Cornell (T-27) on Saturday.

No. 1/1 Minnesota State heads the PairWise rankings, followed by No. 2/3 North Dakota and BU.

USCHO.com Poll (February 9, 2015)

1. Minnesota State
2. North Dakota
3. Boston University
4. Nebraska-Omaha
5. Michigan Tech
6. Minnesota-Duluth
7. Miami
8. Bowling Green
9. Denver
10. Boston College
11. Providence
12. Michigan
13. Quinnipiac
14. Harvard
15. Yale
16. Massachusetts-Lowell
17. Vermont
18. Robert Morris
19. Penn State
20. St. Lawrence

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll

1. Minnesota State
2. Boston University
3. North Dakota
4. Nebraska-Omaha
5. Michigan Tech
6. Minnesota
7. Miami
8. Bowling Green
9. Denver
10. Providence
11. Boston College
12. Michigan
13. Harvard
14. Quinnipiac
15. Massachusetts-Lowell