Michigan State University Athletics
MSU Hockey Tops National Preseason Poll
10/2/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Oct. 2, 2001
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The MSU hockey team starts the 2001-02 season where they spent most of the 2000-01 campaign - atop the national polls.
Michigan State received six first-place votes and 263 total points to grab the top spot in the first USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll, released Oct. 1. North Dakota, which ousted the Spartans from last year's Frozen Four, received one more first-place vote than MSU but garnered 243 points and is ranked second. Minnesota is ranked third, with Michigan and Providence rounding out the top five.
Other teams of note in the USA Today poll are defending national champion Boston College (ranked seventh), CCHA foe Nebraska-Omaha (13th) and MSU opponent Wisconsin (14th).
USA TODAY/AMERICAN HOCKEY MAGAZINE POLL (Oct. 1)
Rank Team (first-place votes) Votes
1 Michigan State (6) 263
2 North Dakota (7) 243
3 Minnesota (2) 236
4 Michigan 191
5 Providence 169
6 Colorado College 166
7 Boston College (4) 147
8 Harvard 126
9 St. Cloud State 118
10 Maine 114
11 New Hampshire 91
12 Nebraska-Omaha 90
13 Clarkson 76
14 Wisconsin 66
15 Dartmouth 31
Denver 31
Also: St. Lawrence 28, Ohio State 26, Boston University 22,
Miami 20, Cornell 14, Rensselaer 12.
