Dogs Stay at #3 in the Country
OTTAWA (CIS) - The University of Moncton Aigles Bleus remain atop the CIS men's hockey national media poll for a school-record seventh consecutive week despite dropping a 2-1 decision to the Saint Mary's Huskies in their lone outing of the past weekend.
The Aigles Bleus (17-3-0-1), who received seven of 10 first-place votes this week, suffered only their third loss in regulation time in 21 conference games on Friday when they could only put one puck past Brandon Verge despite peppering the Huskie netminder with 36 shots. Verge's performance helped Saint Mary's (12-7-0-2) climb back into the national rankings at No. 10.
No. 1 Moncton faces a much busier schedule this week with three duels in five nights starting with a visit to UPEI (7-12-0-2) on Wednesday. The AUS leaders return home Friday and Saturday to face Dalhousie (5-11-0-5) and the No. 8 StFX X-Men (13-6-0-2), who trail Moncton by seven points in the conference standings.
Fortunately for the Aigles Bleus, they will welcome back four star players from the Universiade gold-medal winning team in time for this weekend's games including top scorer Karl Fournier, who tied for the Canadian lead in scoring in Italy with nine points in six outings, and rearguard Louis Mandeville, Canada's flag-bearer at the Universiade opening ceremonies and the top-scoring defenceman in the AUS this season.
Rounding out the top three once again are the No. 2 Alberta Golden Bears and the No. 3 Saskatchewan Huskies.
The Bears (16-3-0-3), who hold a commanding 11-point lead atop the Canada West Mountain Division standings, were inactive last week and get back on the ice on Friday and Saturday for a home doubleheader against Lethbridge (9-9-0-4).
The Huskies (15-8-0-1) lead the Canada West Great Plains Division by eight points following a two-game sweep of Calgary and are set to host Manitoba (8-15-0-1) for a pair this weekend.
Behind the leading trio, the UNB Varsity Reds (12-6-0-3) move past the Waterloo Warriors (19-3-2-0) in fourth place in the new poll. UNB enjoyed a break from conference play last week while Waterloo skated to a 2-0 win over Brock and settled for a 3-3 tie with York.
Top-10 match-ups to keep an eye on this week include three games involving No. 8 StFX:
- Wednesday: No. 6 McGill (13-5-3-1) at No. 9 UQTR (14-4-2-3)
- Wednesday: No. 10 Saint Mary?s (12-7-0-2) at StFX (13-6-0-2)
- Friday: No. 8 StFX at No. 4 UNB (12-6-0-3)
- Saturday: No. 8 StFX at No. 1 Moncton (17-3-0-1)
CIS men's hockey Top 10 (#12)
Voting is based on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis, with a 1st place vote worth 10 points.
The CIS Men's Ice Hockey Top Ten Committee is made up of media members from across Canada. CIS Men's Ice Hockey Top Ten Committee Chairman: Steve Knowles.
RANK TEAM CONFERENCE (Overall) RECORD PTS (1st Place) LAST WEEK
1. MONCTON AIGLES BLEUS 17-3-0-1 96 (7) 1
2. ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS 16-3-0-3 93 (3) 2
3. SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES 15-8-0-1 77 3
4. UNB VARSITY REDS 12-6-0-3 61 5
5. WATERLOO WARRIORS 19-3-2-0 60 4
6. McGILL REDMEN 13-5-3-1 44 6
7. WILFRID LAURIER GOLDEN HAWKS 18-5-1-0 42 7
8. StFX X-MEN 13-6-0-2 39 9
9. UQTR PATRIOTES 14-4-2-3 17 8
10. SAINT MARY'S HUSKIES 12-7-0-2 8 NR
Other teams receiving votes: Toronto Varsity Blues (7), Calgary Dinos (5), Western Ontario Mustangs (1).
