College Hockey:

North Dakota Runaway Favorite in WCHA Polls

North Dakota is the nearly unanimous choice of WCHA coaches and media members to win that league’s regular season title.

The Fighting Sioux took 10 of 12 first-place votes in the coaches poll, organized by the Grand Forks Herald and 28 of 29 first-place votes in the media poll, conducted by KZIO-FM of Duluth, Minn.

St. Cloud State got the other first-place votes — two from the coaches to finish second and one from the media to finish third behind Minnesota-Duluth.

North Dakota defenseman Chay Genoway was selected as the preseason player of the year by the media, while Minnesota-Duluth forward Jack Connolly got the honors from the coaches.

Colorado College forward Jaden Schwartz was the consensus pick as the preseason rookie of the year.

The full polls follow:

Coaches Poll

Team (first-place votes)  Points 1. North Dakota (10)     120 2. St. Cloud State (2)    105 3. Minnesota-Duluth     100 4. Denver           88 5. Minnesota         82 6. Colorado College      67 7. Wisconsin         64 8. Nebraska-Omaha       55 9. Bemidji State       4610. Minnesota State      3111. Alaska-Anchorage      1912. Michigan Tech       15

Media Poll

Team (first-place votes)  Points 1. North Dakota (28)     347 2. Minnesota-Duluth     300 3. St. Cloud State (1)    295 4. Denver          242 5. Wisconsin         218 6. Minnesota         203 7. Colorado College     182 8. Bemidji State       156 9. Nebraska-Omaha      12510. Minnesota State      9711. Alaska-Anchorage      5112. Michigan Tech       46