Michigan State goalie Trey Augustine deflects a puck during an Oct. 11 game in East Lansing, Mich. Al Goldis/Associated Press

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. Michigan State
2. Minnesota
3. Denver
4. Boston College
5. Maine
6. Michigan
7. Western Michigan
8. Cornell
9. Colorado College
10. St. Cloud State
11. Boston University
12. Providence
13. Ohio State
14. North Dakota
15. Dartmouth
16. Minnesota State
17. UMass-Lowell
18. Clarkson
19. Quinnipiac
20. Union

A new No. 1: Denver was the unanimous No. 1 team last week, but was swept at home this weekend by Arizona State. If the Pioneers had split the series with the Sun Devils, I would have considered leaving them in the top spot. I can’t, however, keep Denver at the top after it got swept to an unranked opponent, although Arizona State has been receiving some votes in the poll. Although Michigan State’s only action was a win over the US Developmental team in an exhibition game, I slid them up into the top spot. I did consider jumping Minnesota from No. 4 to No. 1 after the Gophers swept Notre Dame, but I decided to move them up to No. 2, sliding Denver to No.3, and moving Boston College, which went 2-1 this week, to No. 4.

Maine stays put at No. 5: The Black Bears (8-2-2) earned a big win at rival New Hampshire, the team’s first win at the Whittemore Center since 2019. The 3-1 win Friday night was a chance for Maine to showcase its defensive depth and goalie Albin Boija, who was sharp throughout the game. Black Bear fans should be encouraged that captain Lynden Breen picked up a goal and an assist and has shown signs of breaking out of his small scoring slump with three points in the last two games. Maine has four games remaining before the break, a pair this upcoming weekend at RPI, the alma mater of Coach Ben Barr, and a pair at home against Stonehill Dec. 7-8. The games at RPI kickoff a stretch of seven straight nonconference games for the Black Bears.

Western Michigan remains hot: With a sweep of Minnesota-Duluth, the Broncos improved to 5-0-1 since a loss at Boston College. With an 8-1-1 record overall, I moved Western Michigan up a few spots to No. 7, ahead of Colorado College and Cornell, which both went 1-1 this week. Western Michigan beat and tied Colorado College a couple of weeks ago, so maybe I should’ve had the Broncos ahead of the Tigers anyway. Western Michigan has a chance to climb a little more with a home and home two-game series against Michigan this weekend.