After a wave of upsets, a familiar team sits atop this week's NCAA Power Rankings: Defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth.

The two weeks of college hockey since the holiday break has been rife with upsets. Alabama-Huntsville took down mighty Denver. Massachusetts beat Cornell. Lowly Vermont outdid surprising Ferris State. North Dakota couldn’t beat Harvard; Merrimack couldn’t defeat St. Lawrence.

More shocking than any of those results is the fact that defending champion Minnesota-Duluth has continued to truck along since mid-October without a loss. It’s no shock, then, that they top our power rankings once again.

1. Minnesota-Duluth (14-3-3): The Bulldogs extended their unbeaten streak to 16 games with a pair of wins at Western Michigan. Now UMD heads to Omaha for the last two of eight straight road games.

2. Notre Dame (13-6-3): The Irish are ranked third in the latest Pairwise rankings used to select and seed the NCAA Tournament. So far this season, they’ve posted wins over No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 4 Boston College and No. 5 Boston University. No team has faced a tougher schedule.

3. Ohio State (14-4-3): The Buckeyes have lost just once in their past 16. Though there is some concern when the offense posted just three goals in a pair of ties with cellar-dweller Bowling Green.

4. Northeastern (8-7-3): During their current eight-game unbeaten streak, the Huskies have knocked off Michigan, Minnesota, and Notre Dame twice. Then they go and lose in an exhibition to the U.S. Under-18 team. Go figure.

5. Michigan (12-8-4): The Wolverines have followed up a seven-game winless streak with a seven-game unbeaten streak. New Jersey Devils prospect David Wohlberg has been a big reason, scoring goals in five of those games and tallying nine points during the string.

6. Bemidji State (11-9-2): The Beavers have outscored the opposition 16-3 during their current five-game win streak. As a result, freshman goalie Andrew Walsh has lowered his goals-against average to 1.87.

7. Maine (10-7-2): With their season at one time threatening to slip into irrelevance, the Black Bears responded by winning seven of eight. How? Maine averaged 2.72 goals of offense through its first 11 games; since then, the Bears’ snipers are averaging 4.38 per game.

8. Boston University (11-6-1): The Terriers lead the nation with eight short-handed goals. Florida Panthers prospect Wade Megan has two.

9. Northern Michigan (10-7-4): The best part of the remaining schedule for the Wildcats, 7-1-1 in their last nine? No more meetings with Ohio State or Notre Dame.

10. Boston College (13-7-1): The Eagles have one of the top offenses in the country but often it hasn't been enough to stage a comeback. BC is just 2-5-0 when giving up the first goal.

11. North Dakota (11-8-2): The Sioux finished their out-of-conference slate for the year with a 4-1-2 mark. Now if only they could muster a winning record in the WCHA.

12. Cornell (9-4-2): The Big Red has given up just 30 goals, but half of those have come against a very weak penalty killing unit.

13. Colgate (12-6-2): Senior goalie Alex Evin, he of the NCAA-best 1.48 GAA, has not played in more than a month.

14. Merrimack (11-4-4): Through their first 11 games, the Warriors never gave up three or more goals in a game. In the eight games since, they’ve done just that four times.

15. Mass-Lowell (12-5-0): The River Hawks have just one NHL draftee on their roster, freshman forward Scott Wilson (Pittsburgh Penguins). So far, Wilson is pushing for Hockey East rookie honors with eight goals and 16 points in 16 games.

16. Minnesota (15-7-1): With three goals and three assists in his last four games, senior and Blue Jackets prospect Jake Hansen has become the fifth Gopher to be averaging at least a point per game.

17. Colorado College (12-7-1): The offensively gifted Tigers got a good challenge on the schedule from defensive stalwarts Union and Cornell. The end result? A 1-1-1 record and no further evidence of how CC will hold up in the tournament season.

18. Quinnipiac (12-7-5): Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Matthew Peca, with 16 points in 23 games for the Bobcats, may challenge for ECAC Rookie of the Year honors.

19. Mercyhurst (12-8-2): The Lakers may be leading Atlantic Hockey, but they’re only 3-6-0 outside of their conference … and that includes a pair of wins against everybody-beats-them Alabama-Huntsville.

20. Denver (11-8-3): It’s all about the support. Freshman goalie Juho Olkinuora’s 2.26 GAA is nearly a goal better than that of junior netminder Adam Murray. Yet Murray has a 6-2-1 record and Olkinuora is 5-6-2. 

Three Stars

The week: Started with a four-goal effort in a 9-3 win over Bentley, then continued with the lone goal in a 2-1 loss to Quinnipiac, and a goal and two assists in a win over Princeton.

Fun fact: We have no personal knowledge of this, but O’Neill was named “most humorous” by his fellow Bulldogs. 

Daniel Bahntge, Mercyhurst

The week: Four goals – including a hat trick – plus two assists and a plus-5 rating in back-to-back wins over Sacred Heart.

Fun fact: His brother Matthew is a professional MMA fighter. 

Matt Thurber and Andrew Cherniwchan, Northern Michigan

The week: Thurber and Cherniwchan both logged hat tricks in the Wildcats’ 7-3 win over Alaska on Saturday.

Fun fact: It had been almost 20 years since Northern Michigan last had two players notch hat tricks in the same game. Joe Frederick and Mark Beaufait last did it in a 14-2 victory over Denver on Feb. 28, 1992.

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