The Badgers men’s hockey team ranked No. 1 in Monday’s USCHO Divison I poll, joining the women’s team at the top and cementing Wisconsin as the nation’s current premier hockey school.
This is the first time both teams have ranked first since the 2006-2007 season, and the women deserve credit for dominating at the top all season.
Meanwhile, the men’s team stunned the hockey scene by working their way from unranked to No. 1. They first ranked No. 14 after beating the Michigan Tech Huskies, next sweeping the then-ranked No. 1 Minnesota Golden Gophers to find their way into the top five before taking the top spot after a sweep of No. 4 Michigan.
The women won the NCAA Championship last season and have remained dominant early this season. They’ve started the season by winning all 12 of their first games and show no signs of slowing down.
The men are coming off a 13-23-0 season, which resulted in head coach Tony Granato's firing. The team picked up head coach Mike Hastings in the offseason alongside a new group of freshmen and transfers. Their near-immediate revival is an overwhelmingly positive indicator they made some excellent decisions this off-season.
Both teams are looking at some challenging matchups this weekend. The men will travel to East Lansing to face the No. 11 Michigan State Spartans in a two-game series starting Friday, while the women will head to Ohio to take on the No. 2 Buckeyes for a two-game series that starts Thursday.
Each team will look to continue their historic run and keep Wisconsin hockey at the top of both national leaderboards.
Ian Wilder is a senior staff writer and current men’s hockey beat reporter for The Daily Cardinal. He’s a former state politics and features reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @IanWWilder.
