Minnesota Duluth dropped a spot to No. 20 in the latest United States College Hockey Online Division I men's top 20 poll, while the Bulldogs are tied with Yale for 18th in the more important Pairwise Rankings.
UMD (16-14-4) split a National Collegiate Hockey Conference home series with Nebraska-Omaha over the weekend to move closer to needing to win the NCHC Frozen Faceoff in order to qualify for the 16-team NCAA Division I tournament.
The Bulldogs open the NCHC playoffs with a best-of-three quarterfinal against Western Michigan at 7:07 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if needed). The winner advances to the semifinals the following weekend at Target Center. The NCHC tournament winner receives an automatic berth into the NCAA field, while at-large teams are selected by a committee using a ratings system whose criteria is mimicked by the Pairwise Rankings.
The only NCHC teams ranked in the top 16 of the Pairwise are No. 5 St. Cloud State and No. 10 North Dakota. Western Michigan is No. 21.
