ADRIAN, Mich. - Despite a full week without any games, the Adrian women's NCAA hockey team's steady climb in the USCHO.com national poll took a small hit on Monday, officials announced.

After two consecutive weeks of positive movement, the Bulldogs fell one spot from No. 7 to No. 8 in week five's edition of the rankings.

The black and gold (6-1, 4-0 NCHA) last played on November 21 at Trine, completing the weekend-sweep of the Thunder with a 5-2 victory.

Since then, the locals have been enjoying an extended Thanksgiving break, and will return to the ice during the weekend of December 11 and 12 in Northfield, Vermont at the Northfield Savings Bank East-West Hockey Classic, hosted by Norwich University.

Adrian was not the only team to see its position altered in the latest poll. In fact, only No. 6 Gustavus maintained its ranking from the previous week.

The biggest shake-up, by far, came from this past weekend's Cardinal-Panther Classic in Plattsburgh, New York, which featured four nationally-ranked schools.

The drama began on Saturday when then-No. 9 Endicott shocked then-No. 1 Plattsburgh in overtime, ending the Cardinals' 44-game home-winning streak. Then, the defending national champions suffered another extra-period blow at the hands of then-No. 5 Elmira.

With back-to-back losses, Plattsburgh dropped to No. 4 behind now-third-ranked Elmira.

The new No. 1 in women's Division III ice hockey is the Panthers of Middlebury College.

The Vermont-product came away from the Plattsburgh tournament with one-goal victories over Elmira and Endicott, securing not only the weekend crown, but also all 15 first-place votes in this week's poll.

Behind the Panthers is No. 2 Wisconsin-Eau Claire, up one spot from last week.

Wisconsin-River Falls rounded out the top five after begin bumped down one position from No. 4.

Just ahead of Adrian at No. 7 is Endicott, and at No. 9 is Colby.

No. 10 Hamilton is the lone newcomer to this week's rankings, knocking out (RV) Norwich, who also did not compete all of last week.

The Bulldogs, as previously mentioned, will be back in action in a little less than two weeks in Vermont. As far as rankings go, the scheduled four-team tournament in Northfield will now feature No. 3 Elmira, No. 4 Plattsburgh, No. 8 Adrian and (RV) Norwich.