March 24, 2004

The Providence College women's ice hockey team climbed back into the national polls at the No. 10 spot in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine Poll and USCHO.com Poll this week. The Friars returned to the national polls for the first time since December 16, 2003 as they laid claim to their third-consecutive league tournament championship on March 21 after posting a 3-0 shutout over No. 8 New Hampshire. Both polls have Minnesota, Harvard, St. Lawrence and Dartmouth ranked as the top four teams and they will play in the Frozen Four this coming weekend in Providence, R.I. The only discrepancy in the polls is at the No. 5 and No. 6 spot where USCHO.com has Wisconsin and Minnesota-Duluth ranked fifth and sixth and the USA Today has Minnesota-Duluth and Wisconsin, respectively. The seventh through ninth ranked teams are the same in both polls with the order of Mercyhurst, New Hampshire, Brown, respectively.