The UMaine hockey team is still ranked fifth in the nation. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Maine Trust for Local News sports columnist Travis Lazarczyk is a voter in the U.S. College Hockey Online men’s poll. Each week he will share his top 20 votes, as well as hit on a few items of interest in the sport.

My ballot this week:

1. Michigan State

2. Denver

3. Minnesota

4. Boston College

5. Maine

6. Michigan

7. Western Michigan

8. Colorado College

9. St. Cloud State

10. Providence

11. Boston University

12. Cornell

13. Minnesota State

14. UMass Lowell

15. Dartmouth

16. Union

17. Bemidji State

18. Clarkson

19. Quinnipiac

20. Ohio State

No movement for the Black Bears: With 10 wins in its first 14 games, Maine is off to its best start in a couple decades. This week I came into the poll thinking I might inch the Black Bears up a spot or two, but I couldn’t. It came down to this: None of the teams ahead of them did anything to warrant falling out of the top four. Denver didn’t play. Michigan State, Minnesota and Boston College went a combined 4-0-1. Minnesota’s tie with Alaska was enough for me to flip-flop the Gophers and Pioneers at 2-3, and Boston College earned a come-from-behind victory over a good Dartmouth team. Something to look at this week with Maine is the health of captain Lynden Breen, who left Saturday’s 6-0 win over RPI with an apparent leg injury in the third period. Breen was heating up – he completed a hat trick minutes prior to his injury, and had seven points (four goals, three assists) in his last three games. Josh Nadeau, the team’s leading returning scorer, is starting to heat up as well, with four points over the last three games.

Michigan, Western Michigan stay put: The Wolverines and Broncos split this two-game series between top-10 opponents, each winning at home. That was enough for me to leave Michigan at No. 6 and Western Michigan at No. 7. The schedule actually gets tougher for both. The Wolverines have a pair of games at Minnesota this weekend. The Broncos host Denver. With Maine hosting a Stonehill (6-11) squad ranked No. 53 out of 64 teams in the Pairwise rankings used to determine strength of schedule – and the primary ranking used to determine NCAA tournament seeding – I could see either or both jumping over the Black Bears in next week’s poll depending on how those games play out.

Providence climbs back into the top 10: They were No. 10 in the poll, and this week I agree with my fellow voters. Wins over Clarkson and St. Lawrence at the Adirondack Invitational at Lake Placid, New York, and Cornell’s tie with Quinnipiac were enough for me to jump the Friars a couple spots. In another game between top-10 teams, Providence hosts Colorado College for a pair of nonconference games this weekend.