MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – On the heels of a weekend sweep over then-No. 17 Clarkson, the Penn State men's ice hockey team has jumped six spots to No. 10 in the latest USCHO.com national poll released Monday afternoon.
The six spot jump is the biggest in the poll this week and marks the first time since the 2017-18 preseason poll that the Nittany Lions have been ranked in the top-10. Penn State was also No. 10 in that poll released on Sept. 25, 2017.
Penn State joins fellow Big Ten teams Ohio State, Notre Dame and Minnesota in the top-10 this week as the Buckeyes and Irish rank No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, while the Golden Gophers land at No. 6. Michigan slides a few spots to No. 11 right behind Penn State while Wisconsin goes from the land of unranked teams to No. 15 after its weekend sweep over then-No. 12 Boston College. The Big Ten is a combined 9-2-2 during non-conference play over the first two weeks of the season to pace all conferences.
This marks the 15th week overall that the Nittany Lions have been ranked inside the top-10 with 13 of those weeks coming during the historic 2016-17 campaign. Penn State has an all-time record of 10-8-1 when ranked inside the top-10 nationally, but a 10-4-1 mark in such games against teams not named Minnesota.
The Nittany Lions also come in at No. 11 in the latest USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll after being unranked entering last week.