Maine Trust for Local News sports columnist Travis Lazarczyk is a voter in the US College Hockey Online men’s hockey 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. Denver
2. Boston College
3. Michigan State
4. Minnesota
5. Cornell
6. Colorado College
7. Maine
8. Michigan
9. North Dakota
10. Providence
11. Boston University
12. Western Michigan
13. St. Cloud State
14. Ohio State
15. UMass Lowell
16. Minnesota State
17. Dartmouth
18. Notre Dame
19. Union
20. Harvard

No change at the top: There was no changes in my top four this week. Defending national champion Denver stays in the top spot as the Pioneers remain undefeated. Boston College impressed with a pair of wins over a good Maine team, especially in Friday’s come-from-behind victory after being down a pair of goals with just over 10 minutes left. Michigan State and Minnesota each swept a Big 10 opponent.

Maine drops, a little: After losing a pair of close games at Boston College, I dropped the Black Bears a couple spots, from No. 5 on my ballot last week to No. 7 this week. Had Maine and BC split, I probably would have left the Black Bears at No. 5. Maine continues a tough stretch with a pair of home games this weekend against Boston University, which I dropped from No. 9 to No. 11 after the Terriers split a pair with UMass Lowell, which I moved up from No. 17 to No. 15.

The Ivies get into the mix: While everyone else has been playing since the first weekend of October, the Ivy League members of the ECAC finally opened the season last week. Cornell swept North Dakota last week, and now at 3-0-1, looks like the early favorite in the ECAC. I moved the Big Red up to No. 5. Dartmouth looked good this weekend in wins over Quinnipiac (which I dropped off my ballot) and Princeton, so I jumped the Big Green from No. 20 to No. 17. Harvard also took a pair of games from Princeton and Quinnipiac this weekend, so I slotted the Crimson in at No. 20.