BURLINGTON, Vt. -- After winning its second consecutive Sheraton/TD Bank Catamount Cup title this past weekend, Vermont entered the USCHO.com Division I Poll on Monday. The Catamounts sit at No. 20 in the country and are nationally ranked for the first time since a No. 15 ranking in the final poll of the 2009-10 season after an NCAA tournament berth.
UVM (10-6-1, 4-5-0 HEA) defeated ninth-ranked Clarkson 3-2 on Saturday and dominated Canisius 6-2 on Sunday to clinch its fourth Catamount Cup title in the past six seasons and fifth overall. Vermont won the championship by virtue of a tiebreaker against No. 10 Massachusetts-Lowell as Jake Fallon tallied a breakaway goal with 1.7 seconds left on Sunday to give the Cats nine goals for the weekend.Fallon and forward Pete Massar were named to the Catamount Cup All-Tournament Team, while defenseman Michael Paliotta earned most outstanding player honors with a four-point weekend. Vermont has now won seven of its past eight games overall and closes a nine-game homestand this weekend at Gutterson Fieldhouse against Dartmouth on Friday (Jan. 3) and defending national champion Yale on Saturday (Jan. 4).
The top four teams in this week's poll received at least one first-place vote, led by No. 1 Minnesota's 37 votes. Second-ranked Ferris State earned nine votes, No. 3 St. Cloud State had one while No. 4 Providence received three votes.
