EXCELSIOR, Minn. – For the second week in a row, the Trine University men's hockey team dropped one spot in the USCHO.com NCAA Division III coaches poll, coming in at 11th in the latest edition of the national rankings.
The Thunder received votes totaling 77 points in this week's poll. Fellow Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) member St. Norbert College is just ahead in the rankings sitting in tenth while Norwich University is in 12th. Adrian College continues to be the top-ranked team in the NCHA finishing third.
Trine entered last weekend with a chance to secure the NCHA regular season title if they could sweep the Bulldogs. Unfortunately, Adrian took both halves of the home-and-home doubleheader securing the championship for themselves.
The Thunder instead end the conference season as the third seed in the upcoming NCHA Harris Cup Playoffs. The opening round will see the team host the sixth-seeded squad from Lawrence University. When the two teams recently met for their regular season series, the Vikings stole four points inside Thunder Ice Arena, winning on Friday before losing in overtime on Saturday.
The first game of the best of two series is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on Friday, February 16. Game two will be at 4 p.m. on Saturday, February 17 with the if-necessary mini-game set to follow.