A sweep of in-state rival Colgate has catapulted Cornell men’s hockey to No. 2 in the USCHO.com national rankings — the Red’s highest mark in the poll in just under 13 years. Cornell’s 15 first-place votes trail only No. 1 Notre Dame.

The No. 2 ranking is Cornell’s highest in the USCHO.com poll since Oct. 24, 2005, and the 15 first-place votes are the most for the team on East Hill since March 7, 2005. Despite the rise in the USCHO.com poll, Cornell held still in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll at the No. 4 spot.

A pair of 2-0 wins both home and away over the Raiders this past weekend helped the Red’s cause Monday afternoon, but so did now-No. 3/2 Clarkson’s home tie with unranked Harvard and loss against unranked Dartmouth.

In the PairWise rankings, the metric used to help determine NCAA tournament seeding, the Red sits tied for first place with Notre Dame.

Cornell has a pivotal road trip this weekend against ECAC and Ivy League rivals Harvard and Dartmouth, two squads heating up at the right time, as evident in their success against Clarkson.