North Dakota Back at No. 1
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MADISON, Wisc. Returning to the No. 1 ranking in the nation's two Division 1 men's weekly hockey polls, the University of North Dakota leads a parade of seven Western Collegiate Hockey Association member teams among the nation's top 15 in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll for March 1st and six in the USCHO.com Division 1 Men's College Hockey Poll.
Coach Dean Blais' Fighting Sioux (24-8-3), coming off a key 4-1, 2-1 road sweep at No. 5-ranked Minnesota-Duluth last weekend, have their sights set on claiming the 2003-04 WCHA regular season championship and MacNaughton Cup during their upcoming Friday and Saturday home series against Michigan Tech at Ralph Engelstad Arena. UND holds a two-point advantage over UMD with two games to play.
At No. 1, North Dakota is joined by fellow WCHA teams University of Wisconsin (20-9-7) at No. 4, University of Minnesota-Duluth (22-10-3) at No. 5, University of Denver (21-10-5) at No. 7/8, two-time defending NCAA Frozen Four champion University of Minnesota (20-13-3) at No. 10, St. Cloud State University (18-12-4) at No. 13, and Colorado College (18-13-3) tied at No. 15 in the USA Today/AHM poll.
Wisconsin is unbeaten in their last six games (5-0-1) while Denver is unbeaten in their last seven (5-0-2). The WCHA has had at least six teams ranked among the nation's top 15 the past 10 consecutive weeks, has had at least five teams ranked among the nation's top 15 in the national polls in 19 of 20 weeks, and has had seven of it's 10 teams among the top 15 five times overall.
In addition to the UND vs MTU series, UW hosts UMD, Denver and CC go home-and-home (Thursday and Friday), and UM hosts SCSU in WCHA play, while in non-conference matchups Minnesota State engages Nebraska-Omaha on Mar. 2 & 6 and Alaska Anchorage hosts Alaska Fairbanks on Friday and Saturday. St. Cloud State, Denver, Minnesota and Colorado College are all in contention for the final two home berths for the first round of the WCHA playoffs in two weeks. North Dakota, Minnesota-Duluth and Wisconsin have already clinched home-ice.
USA Today/American Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll #23
March 1, 2004 (first-place votes in parentheses)
| Rk | Team, Points (1sts) | Last Week | Record |
| 1 | North Dakota, 494 (18) | 2 | 24-6-3 |
| 2 | Boston College, 491 (16) | 1 | 26-4-4 |
| 3 | Maine, 435 | 3 | 24-7-3 |
| 4 | Wisconsin, 394 | 6 | 20-9-7 |
| 5 | Minnesota-Duluth, 367 | 5 | 22-10-3 |
| 6 | Michigan, 344 | 4 | 23-10-1 |
| 7 | Denver, 275 | 11 | 21-10-5 |
| 8 | New Hampshire, 255 | 8 | 18-11-5 |
| 9 | Miami, 245 | 10 | 19-11-4 |
| 10 | Minnesota, 222 | 7 | 20-13-3 |
| 11 | Ohio State, 138 | 12 | 20-14-0 |
| 12 | Colgate, 106 | 13 | 19-10-5 |
| 13 | St. Cloud State, 95 | 9 | 18-12-4 |
| 14 | Michigan State, 73 | 14 | 21-14-1 |
| T15 | Colorado College, 54 | NR | 18-13-3 |
| Notre Dame, 54 | NR | 17-11-4 |
others receiving votes: Massachusetts, 17; Holy Cross, 6; Brown, 5; Providence College, 4; Rensselaer, 3; Bemidji State, 2; Cornell, 1.
USCHO.com Division 1 Men's Hockey Poll
March 1, 2004 (first-place votes in parentheses)
| Rk | Team, (1sts), Points | Record | Last Week |
| 1 | North Dakota (22), 582 | 24-6-3 | 2 |
| 2 | Boston College (18), 577 | 26-4-4 | 1 |
| 3 | Maine, 513 | 24-7-3 | 3 |
| 4 | Wisconsin, 445 | 20-9-7 | 6 |
| 5 | Minnesota-Duluth, 433 | 22-10-3 | 5 |
| 6 | Michigan, 404 | 23-10-1 | 4 |
| 7 | New Hampshire, 320 | 18-11-5 | 7 |
| 8 | Denver, 314 | 21-10-5 | 11 |
| 9 | Miami, 270 | 19-11-4 | 10 |
| 10 | Minnesota, 263 | 20-13-3 | 7 |
| 11 | Ohio State, 155 | 20-14-0 | 12 |
| 12 | Colgate, 129 | 19-10-5 | 13 |
| 13 | St. Cloud State, 106 | 18-12-4 | 9 |
| 14 | Michigan State, 87 | 21-14-1 | 14 |
| 15 | Notre Dame, 80 | 17-11-4 | NR |
others receiving votes: Colorado College, 57; Massachusetts, 34; Cornell, 15; Brown, 6; Bemidji State, 3; Holy Cross, 3; Rensselaer, 3; Providence, 1.
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