Carol is absolutely correct.  This is just another in a long, long list of
examples why the college hockey polls mean nothing.  The voters have, for the
most part, never seen most of the teams outside of their region (unlike
football and basketball where tv brings you every top team several times
during the year), and in many cases I don't think they even know who the
teams have played - they seem to vote strictly on record and position in
the conference standings.
 
Minnesota is 4-4-0.  They have played 7 of their first 8 games on the road -
how many voters do you think knew that?  1-0-0 home, 3-4-0 road, losses at
UMD (split series), Denver (split series), and Michigan (lost two).  While
many other teams were fattening up their records early on, Minnesota was
playing a series at a team that is expected to challenge for the national
championship by most insiders.
 
I don't recall Northern Michigan dropping out of the top 10 when they lost
a pair of games at Maine early last season.  We all know what happened to NMU.
 
No, there is nothing wrong with the Gophers.  If they are .500 at New Year's,
then maybe we can talk about it.  But I don't think they will be, and I think
dropping this series at Michigan will benefit them later on in the season.
 
> Seriously folks, it is too early to wonder all about those polls, they
> literally don't mean a thing unless it's the END of the season.
>
> As Jack Blatherwick (a former Gopher asst coach) said:
>   "The ONLY TIME you want to be #1 in the polls is on the LAST DAY
>	 of the season."
 
How about this: WHO CARES whether you are #1 in the polls.  What matters is
whether you get to play and win on April 4th.
 
Seriously, voters' opinions of most teams are strictly based upon hearsay.  So
is mine, but I don't vote and I wouldn't consider my opinion worth printing
across the country (that's why I post it :-)).  Writer A tells Writer B, "I
saw SLU last week, they were great!"  Writer B, who's never seen SLU, ranks
them higher because of what his buddy told him.  Believe me, THIS is what
the polls run on - second-hand opinion!  Now how much stock do you put in
them?  How do we know Maine is #1?  Even in the coaches' poll - most coaches
haven't been able to see half of the teams they're considering.  And besides,
Maine has only played two of the other 44 DivI teams.  How do we know they
are the best in the country?
 
The polls are nice as a conversation piece, but then so is a ceramic
dalmatian.
 
 
- mike