Mavs No. 1; McKay, Looft honored

Minnesota State moved up to No. 1 in the nation in the USCHO rankings, following their sweep at Michigan Tech (and Denver's tie and loss at Minnesota Duluth. Denver is a close second, and the Mavericks and Pioneers are actually tied top the USA Today/USA Hockey poll (although DU got more first-place votes in that one).

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
Minneapolis, Minn./November 11, 2019

   Team             (First Place)    Record   Pts  Last Week
 1 Minnesota State           (25)    8- 1-1   961     3
 2 Denver                    (15)    8- 1-1   913     1
 3 Cornell                   ( 5)    4- 0-0   890     4
 4 Notre Dame                ( 4)    7- 0-1   882     5
 5 Massachusetts             ( 1)    6- 2-0   774     2
 6 Minnesota Duluth                  4- 3-1   734     7
 7 Clarkson                          7- 2-1   671     8
 8 Penn State                        7- 2-0   639     6
 9 North Dakota                      7- 1-1   620    10
10 Providence                        5- 3-2   473    11
11 Ohio State                        6- 3-1   470     9
12 UMass Lowell                      7- 2-3   406    14
13 Harvard                           3- 0-0   389    18
14 Northeastern                      5- 3-2   359    13
15 Wisconsin                         5- 5-0   307    12
16 Boston College                    5- 4-0   193    19
17 Bowling Green                     5- 4-0   166    17
18 Northern Michigan                 6- 2-2   160    16
19 Omaha                             5- 2-1   127    20
20 Western Michigan                  5- 3-2    87    NR

Others receiving votes: RIT 77, Quinnipiac 75, New Hampshire
42, St. Cloud 33, Maine 24, Boston University 11, Arizona
State 7, Alaska 5, Brown 5.

Meanwhile, the WCHA weekly awards came out on Monday, too, and Mavericks goaltender Dryden McKay was named the league's goaltender of the week after allowing one goal on 49 shots in the sweep over the Huskies. McKay stopped 31 shots for his second shutout of the season and sixth of his career on Friday. McKay ranks third in the nation in save percentage (.946) and second in goals-against average (1.32).

Among the other WCHA award winners was Mankato native and former Mankato West player Kyle Looft. The Bemidji State freshman was the league's defenseman of the week. He recorded his first college points, assisting on two goals, and was plus-3 in Friday's 7-1 victory over visiting Lake Superior State. The Beavers won 5-1 on Saturday. Looft has played in four games this season. He's plus-3 with seven shots on goal.