There is a new No. 1 team in the GameTimeCT Top 10 Hockey Poll which was released Jan. 16 and it is Notre Dame-West Haven.
The top-ranked Green Knights, who lost a 4-3 overtime thriller to New Canaan at the Darien Ice House on Dec. 23, won five consecutive games to improve to 6-2 and they have supplanted New Canaan for the top spot.
ND-West Haven, which is followed by three teams from the FCIAC, received eight of the 12 first-place votes and 114 polling points.
Darien defeated New Canaan, 2-1 in OT on Jan. 12, and that led to Darien ascending one spot up to No. 2 and New Canaan dropping two spots down to No. 3.
Darien (5-2-1) received three first-place votes and 107 polling points while New Canaan (5-1-2) got 94 polling points.
The undefeated Fairfield Ludlowe/Warde cooperative team, which improved to 8-0-0 with a trio of very impressive victories last week, received the other first-place vote and 84 polling points to move up one spot to No. 4.
Fairfield Ludlowe/Warde outscored last week’s three opponents by a combined 19-2, including a 5-2 home victory Jan. 12 over a strong Ridgefield team which was ranked fourth in the state going into the game.
So, as it has evolved, one of the biggest FCIAC games of the regular season this year is this Wednesday night when Fairfield hosts Darien at the Wonderland of Ice with faceoff scheduled for 8 o’clock.
Fairfield Prep (4-4) and Xavier (6-3) are ranked fifth and sixth, respectively.
There are five FCIAC teams ranked among the Top 10.
Ridgefield (4-3) fell three spots to No. 7. Greenwich, which improved to 3-5 with a 4-3 victory at Ridgefield on Jan. 15, remained at No. 10.
The two other teams in the current Top 10 are No. 8 Northwest Catholic (5-2-2) and ninth-ranked Hamden (5-3).
North Haven (6-2-0) and FCIAC member St. Joseph (1-6) received the 11th and 12th most polling points, respectively, as the only two other teams who received votes from the eight media members and four coaches who vote on this poll.
Given the strength of the FCIAC this year, every week there are several big games involving conference teams.
Three of them were scheduled for this Wednesday, Jan. 19. In addition to that big Darien at Fairfield showdown, No. 7 Ridgefield plays at top-ranked ND-West Haven at 6 p.m., and No. 3 New Canaan visits No. 9 Hamden (8 p.m.).
Darien plays at Ridgefield (8:30 p.m.) on Saturday, Jan. 22.