Owners of the third-longest active winning streak in the country and fresh off a weekend sweep of the nation's top-ranked team, the University of Minnesota Duluth leaped up five spots to No. 8 in this week's USHCO.com Poll. That marks the highest ranking for a Bulldog club since March 19, 2012 when the Bulldogs checked in at No. 5 prior to the opening round of the NCAA Northeast Regional.

UMD is off to an 8-4-0 overall start in 2014-15 having won five straigtht games after sweeping then-No. 1 Minnesota in a home-and-home series last weekend (3-0 on Friday in Minneapolis and 2-1 at AMSOIL Arena the following evening). The Bulldogs are among six NCHC teams to crack the USCHO.com Top 20, joining the University of North Dakota (No. 2), Miami University (7), the University of Denver (No. 10), the University of Nebraska-Omaha (No. 13) and St. Cloud State (No. 16).

UMD's 2014-15 schedule thus far has included games against No. 4 University of Minnesota (2-1), St. Cloud State (2-0), Denver (1-1), Miami (1-1), No. 9 Minnesota State University-Mankato (1-1) and Notre Dame (1-0), which received votes in the latest USCHO.com Poll and was ranked 12th at the time.  In addition, the Bulldogs' next activity is a two-game series at Omaha on this Friday and Saturday. The Mavericks are unbeaten in their last six outings (5-0-1).

USCHO.com Poll (Nov. 17, 2014)