College Hockey:

Nearly Unanimously, Denver the Pick in WCHA

Denver is the runaway favorite to win the WCHA this season according to both the league’s coaches and media.

The Pioneers took eight of the 10 first-place votes in the Grand Forks Herald coaches poll, while 23 of the 25 voters in the madison.com media poll put Denver first.

North Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota and St. Cloud State rounded out the projected top half of the standings in both polls.

Minnesota forward Jordan Schroeder was the choice for player of the year by the media, and he shared that honor with St. Cloud State forward Ryan Lasch in the coaches’ voting.

St. Cloud State goaltender Mike Lee was the consensus pick for rookie of the year.

The all-league first team, picked by the media, included Schroeder, Lasch and a tie between Minnesota-Duluth’s Justin Fontaine and Denver’s Rhett Rakhshani at forward; Denver’s Patrick Wiercioch and North Dakota’s Chay Genoway on defense; and Denver goaltender Marc Cheverie.

Here is the coaches’ poll:

Team (first-place votes) Points1. Denver (8)         802. North Dakota (2)      703. Wisconsin         614. Minnesota         585. St. Cloud State      556. Minnesota-Duluth      377. Minnesota State      348. Colorado College      269. Alaska-Anchorage      2010. Michigan Tech       9

And here is the media poll:

Team (first-place votes) Points1. Denver (23)        2482. North Dakota (1)     2053. Wisconsin         1904. Minnesota (1)       1865. St. Cloud State      1526. Minnesota-Duluth     1187. Colorado College     1018. Minnesota State      889. Alaska-Anchorage      5710. Michigan Tech       30