New Canaan and Darien are ranked 1-2, respectively, while leading a quartet of FCIAC teams ranked among the top six in the latest GameTimeCT Top 10 Hockey Poll which was released Jan. 2.
Ridgefield and the Fairfield Ludlowe/Warde cooperative team are ranked fifth and sixth, respectively.
New Canaan had been ranked fourth in the preseason poll. A pair of victories against teams ranked first and second in that poll – a 4-1 victory over No. 1 Fairfield Prep on Dec. 18 and a 4-3 overtime win five days later over No. 2 Notre Dame-West Haven – enabled the 3-0-1 Rams to surge up to the top spot.
New Canaan received nine first-place votes and 117 polling points from the dozen voting members of the poll which consists of eight media members and four coaches, including Darien coach Mac Budd and Ridgefield coach Shaun Gallagher.
Darien, also 3-0-1, received the other three first-place votes and was just 10 points behind New Canaan with 107 polling points.
Fairfield Prep (3-3-0) dropped down to No. 3 and had 86 polling points, just one more point than No. 4 Notre Dame-West Haven (3-2). Those two are scheduled to play each other this Saturday at 1 p.m.
Ridgefield opened with a 4-3 overtime loss at home to Fairfield Prep and the Tigers have won three consecutive games since then to improve to 3-1-0. They moved up two spots to No. 5 after being ranked seventh in the previous poll.
The undefeated Fairfield cooperative team (4-0-0) also improved its ranking by two positions to grab No. 6.
Northwest Catholic (4-1-1) and Xavier (3-2) are ranked seventh and eighth, respectively.
The FCIAC has five teams ranked among the top nine as Greenwich (1-3) is No. 9.
Hamden (1-3) completes the Top 10.
Trumbull (4-1-1) received the 13th most polling points as the only FCIAC team among the six teams in the “Also receiving votes” category.
There are four games scheduled in the very near future in which FCIAC teams in the Top 10 will face off against each other.
Top-ranked New Canaan hosts Ridgefield this Saturday at 7 p.m., and four days later the Rams are officially the host team at their home Darien Ice House rink during the big No. 1-versus-No. 2 showdown against Darien on Jan. 12 at 4:20 p.m.
Fairfield Ludlowe/Warde hosts Ridgefield on Jan. 12 at 8:15 p.m. at the Wonderland of Ice Stadium. Three days later Ridgefield hosts Greenwich on Jan. 15 (8:30 p.m.) at Winter Garden Ice Rink.