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

I shuffled around a few teams, but the top five remains largely the same teams as last week:

1. Michigan State
2. Michigan
3. Penn State
4. Western Michigan
5. Quinnipiac
6. North Dakota
7. Denver
8. Maine
9. Minnesota-Duluth
10. Wisconsin
11. UConn
12. Minnesota State
13. Northeastern
14. UMass
15. Cornell
16. Boston University
17. Providence
18. St. Cloud State
19. Omaha
20. Union

Maine moves up after two impressive wins

A pair of wins over Boston University, which came to Orono ranked No. 5 in the nation, showed the Black Bears are taking coach Ben Barr’s demands to heart. Neither win was flashy, but each night Maine worked to get pucks low and forecheck to create opportunities. I slid Maine up a couple spots on my ballot to No. 8, two spots below where they sit in the full poll. The Black Bears should be encouraged that a couple players found their offensive rhythm after slow starts. Charlie Russell scored his first two goals of the season and added an assist in an 8-5 win Saturday. Sully Scholle had his first goal and assist in a 5-4 overtime victory Friday, then added an assist Saturday. Freshman Justin Poirier has emerged as a top scoring threat, and is tied for the Hockey East lead in scoring with 13 points (eight goals and five assists). Poirier has eight points (five goals, three assists) in the last four games. The Black Bears will face a ranked opponent for the third time in four weeks, with a pair of games at UMass (13th in this week’s poll) on Thursday and Friday.

Northeastern is off to a strong start

This is going to be an odd season for the Huskies. Matthews Arena, their home for more than a century, is coming down in December, to be replaced by a state-of-the-art arena on the same spot. That means Northeastern will have to spend the second half of the season on the road, playing home games across the region. That includes a “home” game against Maine at Portland’s Cross Insurance Arena on Feb. 27.

If the Huskies are concerned about being road warriors, they aren’t showing it. Northeastern is 5-1 with four wins over ranked opponents: two over Boston College, and one over both Denver and UMass. A big reason is goalie Lawton Zacher. A transfer from Brown, Zacher made 35 saves in a 1-0 win over Denver on Oct. 25. He made 32 stops in a 3-0 win over BC on Friday. Cumberland native Andy Moore has an assist for the Huskies. I have the Huskies No. 13 this week, and feel like that might not be high enough. Northeastern (14th in the full poll) hosts Stonehill for a pair of games this weekend.

The Big Ten looks tough

It’s early, but the Big Ten is starting to look like the deepest conference in the nation, much like Hockey East last season when it landed six teams in the NCAA tournament. I have three Big Ten teams at the top of my ballot — Michigan State, Michigan and Penn State — and included six of the league’s seven teams on my ballot at least once this season. (Michigan State, Michigan and Penn State are also first, second and third in the full poll this week).

The conference has two big series this weekend featuring four teams I have in the top 10. Wisconsin, coming off a sweep of Minnesota, plays two at Michigan. Penn State goes to Michigan State for a pair of games.