Yale lost a game and in the process its 10-game winning streak on Sunday at Brown. But it didn’t lose its No. 1 national ranking.
The Bulldogs (15-2) are the top-ranked team in the USCHO.com top 20 poll for the seventh straight week, though they dropped seven first-place votes after a 3-2 setback in Providence, R.I. Sunday afternoon. Yale received 38 first-place votes (down from 45 last week) while No. 2 North Dakota had nine.
The No. 1 ranking was retained by Yale due to a combination of its impressive record — no other team in the country has fewer than four losses — and the fact that each of the top five teams in last week’s poll had at least one loss over the weekend.
The Bulldogs rebounded nicely after their last loss, back on Nov. 14 at Air Force. In the moments after Sunday’s game against Brown, despite playing well enough to win the game, Yale players were sufficiently annoyed at losing.
"I think it’s a really good thing for our team," Yale junior forward Brian O’Neill said. "We can definitely learn from this. I think it’s a good wake-up call; maybe we were complacent in the past on this win streak we were on. It will help down the line."
Yale plays host to Clarkson (Friday) and St. Lawrence (Saturday) at Ingalls Rink this weekend.

BOBCAT WOMEN CRACK TOP 10

The Quinnipiac women’s hockey team entered the national top 10 despite not playing last weekend, earning a No. 10 ranking in the new USCHO.com poll released Monday. The women’s poll only ranks the top 10 teams.
Quinnipiac (15-7-1) have won six of seven games heading into today’s meeting with New Hampshire in Hamden. Freshman Kelly Babstock has been a key to the Bobcats success with 20 goals and 20 assists.

TEAM USA IN HAMDEN

Quinnipiac has the weekend off from regular season competition, but will keeps itself sharp with an exhibition against the United States National Team Developmental Program’s Under-18 squad on Saturday night at 7 at the TD Bank Sports Center.
The U.S. roster consists of some of the top high school seniors in the nation. They compete in the United States Junior Hockey League, but play several exhibitions against top college teams. Team USA has yet to defeat a Division I opponent this year, and is 2-9 overall (the wins coming over Division III Bowdoin and Southern Maine) against college opponents.
All but two of the players on the roster have committed to Division I colleges. That includes defenseman Michael Paliotta of Westport (Vermont) and forward Ryan Haggerty of Stamford (RPI). The team is coached by Ron Rolston, a former assistant at Harvard, Clarkson and Boston College and the older brother of longtime New Jersey Devil forward Brian Rolston.


PREDICTING THE NCAA FIELD

Yale, along with Fairfield University, is again playing co-host to the NCAA East Regional at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport on March 25-26. The Bulldogs, as long as they receive a bid to the tournament, are guaranteed a spot in Bridgeport.
Here’s our attempt at predicting the Bridgeport field: No. 1 Yale vs. No. 16 Rochester Institute of Technology; No. 8 Wisconsin vs. No. 10 Maine.
And the rest of the NCAA field:
Northeast Regional at Manchester, N.H.: No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth vs. No. 13 Boston University; No. 6 Michigan vs. No. 9 New Hampshire; Midwest Regional at Green Bay, Wis.: No. 2 North Dakota vs. No. 15 Nebraska-Omaha; No. 7 Notre Dame vs. No. 11 Dartmouth; West Regional at St. Louis: No. 3 Denver vs. No. 14 Merrimack; No. 5 Boston College vs. No. 12 Union.

SLAP SHOTS

Wallingford’s Lee Moffie, a sophomore defenseman at Michigan, had a goal in each game in a three-point weekend for the Wolverines, who swept Ferris State in a Central Collegiate Hockey Association series. ... West Haven’s Michael Pereira had a goal and an assist for Massachusetts in a 5-4 win over UMass-Lowell on Friday. Pereira, a freshman forward, leads the Minutemen in scoring with 17 points on eight goals and nine assists. ... West Haven’s Joe Pereira, Michael Pereira’s older brother, had a goal and Hamden’s Patrick McGregor an assist in Boston University’s 5-2 win over Harvard on Saturday. Pereira, a senior forward and the Terriers’ captain, has nine goals and five assists this season. McGregor, a freshman defenseman, was playing in just his third game. It was his first collegiate point.