Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Behind the Rankings

With three wins last week, the men’s hockey team leaped three spots in the national polls to eighth in both the USCHO.com Poll and the USA Today Poll. Princeton’s climb into the Top 10 got us wondering about how the team had been ranked in the past.

Dating back to the 1996-97 season, mainly because that’s as far back as we could find the archived polls, Princeton has been ranked 28 weeks. The highest was a sixth ranking on Feb. 1, 1999 in the USA Today Poll. Princeton climbed one spot from seventh that week following a sweep of Cornell and Colgate at home, which lifted the Tigers to 14-3-1 at that point of the season. Princeton was swept the next weekend at Colgate and Cornell and fell out of the poll. Note that at that point of time, only the Top 10 teams were ranked. Today, the USCHO.com poll ranks 20 teams and the USA Today poll ranks 15.

Princeton then went eight seasons without breaking into the rankings before returning early last season following a 3-0 start. Princeton did receive votes in many polls during that eight-season span but never cracked the rankings. Beginning last January, Princeton has appeared in 19 straight editions of the USCHO.com poll and starting in March, 10 consecutive USA Today polls. Princeton’s current ranking of eighth matches its highest ever in the USCHO.com poll. Additionally, Princeton received a first-place vote in the latest USCHO.com poll for the first time in the history of either poll.

A complete list of Princeton's all-time rankings can be found in this week's Game Notes, which will be posted on GoPrincetonTigers.com later today.

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