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CIS MEN'S HOCKEY TOP 10 (#8): OUA champion Redmen No. 2 heading into December break

Published: 6 December 2011

OTTAWA (CIS) - The reigning OUA champion McGill University Redmen head into the holiday break as the no.2 ranked team in the CIS men's hockey Top 10. The Redmen (13-1-2) received three first-place votes and 147 points from the national media panel in the final Top 10 of the fall semester, to maintain their No. 2 status for the sixth straight week.

The New Brunswick Varsity Reds top the CIS rankings for the eighth time in as many polls this season.

The V-Reds (11-2-1) received 14 of 17 first-place nods and 166 points from the panel. They have now held the pole position for 18 consecutive ranking periods dating back to last January.

UNB and McGill were two of only four teams to hold on to their previous positions in the new Top 10, along with No. 9 Manitoba (10-4-2) and No. 10 UQTR (13-5-1).

The No. 3 Western Ontario Mustangs (13-1-2) are up one spot; the No. 4 Saskatchewan Huskies (11-2-2) are up a pair; No. 5 Alberta (11-3-2) is down two; No. 6 Moncton (10-4-0) is down one; No. 7 Lakehead (13-3-0) is up one spot; and No. 8 Saint Mary's (10-5-1) was unranked a week ago.

UNB survived a scare on Friday night in its final league game before the December break. Despite outshooting their cross-town rivals 43-16, the University Cup champs needed overtime to down St. Thomas and goaltender Charles Lavigne 3-2.

McGill was also pushed to the limit by a hot goalie in its final conference outing of the fall, edging RMC and netminder Matt Beirnes 3-2 despite a 43-20 advantage in shots on goal. The game was played in front of 3,780 fans Friday morning as part of a successful "Score with School" promotion by Rooths Sports Events that drew 68 busloads of students from 15 elementary and high schools from the Lester B. Pearson and English Montreal school boards. It marked the second-largest crowd since 1968 to see a university hockey game in Montreal and the biggest since Oct. 21, 2007 when 5,406 watched McGill defeat Concordia for the Ronald Corey Cup at the Bell Centre.

Western closed out the first portion of the regular season with a 4-3 shootout win over Waterloo and 6-4 victory against Guelph, while Saskatchewan easily swept provincial rival Regina 10-2 and 6-0.

At the break, UNB holds a two-point lead over Saint Mary's atop the AUS standings, with two games in hand on the Huskies. McGill leads UQTR by a single point in the OUA East but has three more games remaining. Western tops Lakehead by two points in the OUA West. Saskatchewan and Alberta are tied atop the Canada West standings but the Huskies have a game in hand.

CIS MEN'S HOCKEY TOP 10 (#8)

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.

(regular season record) / votes (first-place votes) / (previous rankings)

1. UNB (11-2-1) / 166 pts (14) / (1)

2. McGill (13-1-2) / 147 (3) / (2)

3. Western Ontario (13-1-2) / 122 / (4)

4. Saskatchewan (11-2-2) / 107 / (6)

5. Alberta (11-3-2) / 106 / (3)

6. Moncton (10-4-0) / 81 / (5)

7. Lakehead (13-3-0) / 73 / (8)

8. Saint Mary's (10-5-1) / 41 / (NR)

9. Manitoba (10-4-2) / 38 / (9)

10. UQTR (13-5-1) / 21 / (10)

Other teams receiving votes: Acadia (18), Ottawa (8), Waterloo (7).