ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's hockey team is the 15th best team in the nation according to the latest USCHO.com NCAA Division III national poll, the first time the program has been ranked in its young history.
The Thunder have been receiving votes for much of the second half of this season and during parts of the 2021-22 season, but this is the first time that the team has cracked the top-15. The team received 17 points in the latest poll to take the final spot in the rankings.
Trine joins three other members of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) to be featured on the poll. Adrian College leads the contingent finishing third in this week's iteration with Aurora University and St. Norbert College tying for 12th. Utica College topped the poll with the majority of the first-place votes.
The team was 12th in the first iteration of the NCAA Division III PairWise Ranking released last week, but fell into a tie for 16th in the latest USCHO.com PairWise Ranking. The USCHO.com version of the ranking is a statistical tool designed to approximate the process by which the NCAA selection committee decides which teams get at-large bids to the NCAA tournament. Although the NCAA selection committee does not use these rankings as presented by USCHO.com, they have been accurate in predicting those used by the NCAA.
The Thunder advanced to the semifinal round of the 2023 NCHA Harris Cup Playoffs this past weekend, the second year in a row that the team has reached the penultimate game. After dropping their game on Friday to visiting Milwaukee School of Engineering, Trine won the game on Saturday to force a deciding mini-game. It took overtime on top of the extra period of play, but the home team picked up with win.
Trine will travel to face Adrian College, currently tied for fourth in the USCHO.com PairWise Ranking in addition to third in the poll, for their semifinal match. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday, February 25.
