Badgers Hockey 2012-2013 Ranking

By Jackson | Posted Wednesday, October 3

With the first Badgers hockey exhibition game at the Kohl Center just one week away, the team finally found out where they stand at the start of the 2013 season. The hockey team will be ranked fifteenth for their pre-season opener against the under-eighteen national team on October sixth, the first time Wisconsin has been ranked since February 2011.

The success in the polls comes as a surprise to many, especially after Mike Eaves squad performed uncharacteristically bad in 2012. Though, it seems that most pollsters gave the historically well-off team the benefit-of-the-doubt, dismissing the performance on the youth and inexperience of last year's mostly freshman class, who are now seasoned sophomores. As well, fifteen of the Badgers top-sixteen points-getters from 2012 are returning for 2013, as are both of the goal tenders. A strong incoming freshman class also boosted the expectations for this year's team.

Notre Dame joins the Badgers as the only other school to finish last year un-ranked, but included in the top-fifteen pre-season poll for 2013. The Fighting Irish round out the top-ten in the poll, following Miami, Denver, Lowell, Cornell, Union, North Dakota, Michigan, Minnesota, and Boston College. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association boasts five members in the poll this year, as Duluth joins the Badgers, Denver, Minnesota, and North Dakota as a ranked team.

2013 Collegiate Hockey Top-Fifteen

1. Boston College
2. Minnesota
3. Michigan
4. North Dakota
5. Union
6. Cornell
7. Lowell
8. Denver
9. Miami
10. Notre Dame
11. Western Michigan
12. Duluth
13. Boston University
14. Ferris State
15. Wisconsin