College Hockey:
Minnesota at top of WCHA media poll; Bjugstad picked player of the year

USCHO Staff Report • Sept. 26, 2012

Defending MacNaughton Cup champion Minnesota earned 24 of 25 first-place votes in the annual 94X WCHA Preseason Media Poll released Wednesday.

North Dakota had the other first-place vote.

A panel of 25 WCHA media members voted on the predicted order of finish and on several individual honors.

School (First-place votes)
1. Minnesota (24)
2. North Dakota (1)
3. Denver
4. Wisconsin
5. Minnesota-Duluth
6. St. Cloud State
7. Colorado College
8. Nebraska-Omaha
9. Michigan Tech
10. Minnesota State
11. Bemidji State
12. Alaska-Anchorage

Minnesota junior forward Nick Bjugstad was named preseason player of the year and for the second straight year, North Dakota’s Rocco Grimaldi was tabbed preseason rookie of the year. Grimaldi took a medical redshirt after an injury-plagued 2011-12 season.

Player	Position	School
Nick Bjugstad	F	Minnesota
Mark Zengerle	F	Wisconsin
Ben Hanowski	F	St. Cloud State
Joey LaLeggia	D	Denver
Nick Jensen	D	St. Cloud State
Sam Brittain	G	Denver
Josh Thorimbert	G	Colorado College

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Hockeyfan
Just goes to show how stupid the media is, and I guarantee this is not going to be close to the order of finish.. Still something to talk about I guess.
- as15
  I think that is a very likely order of finish (at least on paper, which is what people are voting on). Granted every year there is a surprise team/player that screws these preseason polls up. A good argument can be made for each teams position as well as each player on that list.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=531960170 Brad Schaack
  So please tell us what you think. I have it MN,UND,SCSU,DU,UMD,TECH,WISC,CC,MSU,BSU,UNO,AA.
  - Fan Man
    How or why do you have SCSU over Wisconsin or Denver? just curious
    - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=531960170 Brad Schaack
      Just feel they have a great incoming class and they didn’t lose much. Funny you didn’t ask me about UNO. I hate putting them there with Blais at the helm but I’m sticking with it. I’m usually way off so take it with a salt of grain.
  - lakes19
    UND . . . MN . . . DU . . . UMD . . . SCSU that is my top 5 finish, and then one of them missing the WCHA Final Five.
    And as much as this pains me to say . . . . I believe UND will win the last WCHA Final Five title. It is sad to see the best College Hockey Tourny in the Nation to end….
    - BeaverHockey
      It will not be the last WCHA Final FIve Title. Just because a few teams think that they are too good for the WCHA doesn’t mean that the tourney is gone. It will live on with teams like Bemidji State, Ferris State, and Michigan Tech winning the title.
      - UofMGoldenChokers
        I think they mean what has been the WCHA for the past 50+ years. Best conference in hockey being pulled apart
      - http://twitter.com/pucknut9 Kegs
        Thats exactly what it means. I for one hate the change and don’t think I will ever like the NCHC.If I do it’s going to take time.
      - WCHA HOCKEY
        It would be sick if the Big Ten wasn’t so greedy and had to make such big changes, I like the gophs but I hope the Big Ten fails
      - JAWilk64
        It isn’t really about the BIG10 being greedy… With Penn St. getting a hockey program (which should be exciting for the sport to grow) the BIG10 had enough teams to add hockey as a sport. It gets to play games on their BIG10 Network, it makes a lot of sense for so many reasons. It just sucks if your a small school that is getting left behind. Good for the sport as a whole, bad for your smaller school…
      - jdhockeyboyz
        In the 45 or so years that I have followed the sport, the WCHA has been the heart and soul of college hockey. It pains me to say it, but I think Hockey East is now atop the heap, I hope that the Big 10, the National, and the new look WCHA can someday approach the heavyweight status of the current WCHA. It’s not even gone and I already miss it.
      - lakes19
        Did you really just say that? The true WCHA Final Five is done after this year!
        Wasn’t BSU a Division III program at one time, and now your stating the WCHA Final Five will live on?
        Sorry BSU, MTU, MINN ST. can’t survive on it’s own!
        Don’t ever compare yourself to the true WCHA! For one the new WCHA doesn’t even have a place to play it every year.
        Second, if you do ever play it at the Xcel Energy center, it will be half empty every time.
        I’m sad to see the WCHA go as well, but in this day in age….Money talks, and the programs in the NWCHA dont have it!
      - BeaverHockey
        Absolutely BSU was a Division III program at one time, and they won more hockey championships than any other school in NCAA history. I guess my point is that I think we can all agree that the NWCHA will not be as good as the NCHC or the Big Ten or Hockey East. At least not right away. But if you give it a few years I think the top tier teams in the NWCHA will start to flourish. For example: If a recruit from Minnesota is trying to decide to go to Bemidji State who is a top contender in the NWCHA every year or go to St. Cloud which is a perennial cellar dweller in the NCHC, they will chose the winning program. That is why I think it was not a smart choice for programs like St. Cloud, Omaha, Western Michigan to join the NCHC. They will be at the bottom of that league for many years and it will only hurt their program, if they would have joined or stayed in the NWCHA they would have been at the top of the league every year and going to the NCAA tournament every year and building their program. You will see teams from the NWCHA start to build their program for nothing else than the fact that they will go to the NCAA tourney every year.
      - FlyHigh
        I think of Air Force they are playing celler dwellers every game so they get a free ticket to the NCAAs. As for the nWCHA the league full of celler dwellers so every year an Air Force team will come out of the nWCHA.
        Air Force would get killed in the nWCHA
      - lakes19
        It will never be as good as the Big Ten… Hockey East … or the NCHC!
        Try to be objective here please. There are not top recruits from Minnesota that are choosing BSU over UMD…MIN…UND…WIS…CC…DEN…ND…BC…BU…MAINE…MICH…MSU…N.H… and so on!
        We are all not happy about the WCHA dissolving, but in this day in age, money talks. The new WCHA is going to suffer quite a bit without the big revenue teams.
        Sorry it is the truth.
      - BeaverHockey
        I do understand what you are saying. And for many years, we have seen the likes of top teams absolutely dominating college hockey. But let’s take a look at the last five years, where parity has really started to play a roll in College Hockey. Last year not one team that will be in the new NCHC made the Frozen Four. We had ECAC, HE, future WCHA, and Big Ten represented. Who would have ever thought that Ferris State or Union would ever make the Frozen Four. Just a couple of years ago, we saw the likes of RIT in the Frozen Four and the year before that Bemidji State in the Frozen Four. Parity is starting to happen in College Hockey; MN, UND, BC, BU, Denver, Michigan and the other top teams are not anywhere close as dominate as they were even ten years ago.
      - Fan Man
        I get your point but ill have to respectively disagree. Although you see it as players wanting to play for a winning team, they also want to play against the top competition in college hockey. Meaning playing lowly Alaskan teams etc.. will not do for the top notch recruits coming in every year. Top players will want to play 6 conference games a year against ND, Denver, CC… Exposure is key and I think for at least the next 5 10 years, the nWCHA will not have that
      - JAWilk64
        It won’t be the same tournament though. They won’t be at the Xcel with the BIG10 playing their tournament there every other year. It won’t get the same media coverage it got. It will be a completely new tournament for what really is going to be a completely new conference.
    - Jason
      UND first? You realize the Gophers will be returning their entire 1st line right? and 6 out their top 7 scores. Plus they are returning ALL six defensemen!
      - lakes19
        Yes I realize that. And i’m a Gopher fan with season tickets.
        My reasoning is on the goaltending position. Yes they have capable goalies, but neither has any experiance playing in the league yet.
        I think the pressure might be a little to much for this team. I hope i’m wrong!
      - Sara
        but their defensemen all suck.
      - Jason
        you must not be very informed. Schmidt had only 3 less points and 10 more assists than Justin Schultz, who was arguably the best defenseman in the NCAA.
  - gary redeker
    I’d move wisc down and cc above tech they just might surprise a lot of people
lakes19
I’m not sure Minnesota is #1 . . . They will be strong on offense and defense, but big hole in goal, and as we know goaltending to make and break a team.
UND is probly going to be more consistent because of goaltending and would not be suprised at all if UND wins the Cahmpionship.
Yes this coming from a Minnesota fan.
- SiouxAlumDenver
  You might be right, although there isn’t a team in the league with the offense Minnesota has. They may put up enough goals that goaltending won’t be such an issue, at least not until the playoffs. I think any of those top 4 have a shot at the league title and I think 5 teams make it to the NCAA. Should be a really good year of hockey in the final season of the WCHA.
  - Fan Man
    Hit it right on there. I’m guessing that this years race for the M-Cup will be very tight and may come down to the last couple weekends… Very excited
- WCHA HOCKEY
  But look at BC winning the National Championship with a rookie goalie, so anything could be possible. I’ve seen Wilcox play a ton and high school and he was really impressive. He could maybe take the job there. Not saying that it for sure but it could happen.
- http://twitter.com/DavidGorder David Gorder
  UND also has a big question mark in goal. It will be interesting for both teams right out of the gate
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=531960170 Brad Schaack
    I think Minny has the bigger question mark than the Sioux. At least Saunders has played at this level and actually has done fairly well considering the crap team he had in front of him. Gothberg is USHL goalie of the year.Gophs just need an average goalie though with the firepower they have at forwards.
    - Jason
      don’t forget the six returning defensemen that will be in front of the net to help!
- Sutured
  Ya know, I was wondering what famous World leader did Ralph Engelstad love so much that he would hold birthday parties for him and collect his memorabilia. Was it FDR? Truman? Churchill? Who? Nice to see his name on the arena
- Jason
  Well when you look at the fact that we are returning all six defensemen that helps out your goalie immensely. This year will be a lot different than last year as I feel we won’t be dependent on Patterson as much.
SUEH8TER
I THINK WITH THE UP FRONT OFFENSIVE FIRE POWER, OVERALL TEAM DEPTH AND THEIR STRONG DEFENSE, THEY SHOULD BE OK. GRANTED, YOU DON’T WIN AT ANY LEVEL WITHOUT A STUD IN THE NETS BUT, THEY SUPPOSEDLY HAD ONE LAST YEAR AND WHERE DID THAT GET THEM?? THEY HAVE TOO MUCH TALENT NOT TO BE RATED NUMBER 1 AT THIS POINT.
- foreversioux12
  what’s that? I couldn’t hear you…
jdhockeyboyz
My crystal ball shows MTU a little higher and Wiskey a little lower.
NotForTheNCHC
It sad to see the real WCHA teams rated so low. Expect some upsets as the nWCHA will be the top confrence of the future.
We get to enjoy the captains of ND getting in trouble so dont expect great leadership from them as they can be model citizens for the WCHA. Trouble in Grand Forks I would say they would be towards the bottom of the pack, lack of leadership, and a coach who cant win the National Championship. Why does North Dakota give contract extensions to a coach and AD who hasnt brought any NC’s.
When North Dakota enters the NCHC it will get worse.
The NCHC is a grave for the Orginal Six programs as the bubble teams will see the light and join another league.
The money will not be their for the NCHC as they thought. WMU and Miami will always be CCHA teams. It isnt going as rosey on the other side of the water that the teams might believe.
The NHL lockout will only hurt hockey as American tv viewers will be nill as Pocker, boxing and Bowling will take viewers away.
The so called “National” isnt going to get any of the main viewers from the East as markets such as NY, Boston and Chicago arent going to care about Denver, Duluth and Grand Forks. The league is going to be a hard sell.
- Guest
  I completely disagree. Hockey in Grand Forks will always thrive and your Michigan Tech Huskies will go down the rabbit hole so to say. I would be mad too! I liked the WCHA as it was but dont point the finger to the West (IS BEST)! Penn State started this nonesense realinment..
  - NotForTheNCHC
    Hockey will not thrive when you have your captains hazing players at a party.
    The NCAA will be coming down on your program.
    Do you remember when Vermont hockey team had to cancel the rest of the season for hazing.
    Look for the NCAA to cancel the North Dakotas Fighting Sioux s last season in the WCHA.
    I will love it no more WCHA games for the sioux.
    - SIOUXWUUUU
      hockey will always thrive in grand forks, more pride in this college for the hockey program than minnesotas 40,000 enrollment, more fans packing the excel during final five time as well, (may have to do with minnesotas poor final five performance) but to have more sioux fans than gophers in minnesota…says enough about the tradition history and passion of UND
      - mahogma
        I see that North Dakota has a paint thinner problem as bad as Wisconsin’s.
      - mngusty
        WOW! I guess we are going to have to agree to disagree on the whole pride thing, seeing how we cant actually argue the facts on who has more pride… Not sure what your logic was with that one. Also, I went to the final five, did you? Did you even watch it? Granted ND had a fantastic crowd there, but it was no where close to what MN had. Nd AT MOST had 20% of the fans. Ignorant comment you made.
    - JAWilk64
      The hazing is a problem and the NCAA will have to deal with it. However, if you have ever been to Grand Forks for a hockey game it is very obvious that the entire city lives for college hockey. Hockey is king there and that program is going to be just fine long-term. As for this season, who knows what to expect right now…
  - UpNorthHockey
    MTU was playing D1 hockey when many of these colleges didn’t even exist. Tech is one of the oldest programs in the country and one of the most storied. True, the last 30 years haven’t been kind, but that’s largely the fault of a string of previous MTU ADs. If Tech had ponied up the bucks for Pearson 7 years ago, I don’t think we’d be having this conversation. Let’s face it, FSU just proved that you don’t need big TV or big ego to make it to the big show. You Nacho boys are pretty arrogant to think the a nWCHA team won’t put the hurt on you. I’m counting the days until the first nWCHA autobid team humbles one of the “like minded” schools.
  - LikeMindedLeftOver
    Penn State did not start this. They only started a program that belongs in a all sports in the same league the Big Ten. The Big 10 only took Minnesota and Wisconsin from the WCHA. Do you really think a six team Big 10 is a scare to the other leagues with weak teams like OSU and PSU.
    The Michigan Tech Huskies have more total wins since they started in the 1920′s. You can combine UNO, St Cloud, WMU, MIami, and UMD all the games they played arent even equal to techs games won.
    Where was Penn State to fit in? Big 10 would be the best. As for the NCHC tore apart the WCHA by taking six teams. That is six teams out of twelve and left the WCHA with five teams. The NCHC ripped the WCHA apart. Dont tell me otherwise.
  - Blaising Saddles
    North Dakota is going down the hole.
    1 First they lose their emblem.
    2 Next the get in trouble with the NCAA for partying.
    3. Can’t play in UAA, no ice.
    4. Leaving the WCHA.
    5. Joining the NCHC.
    - Guest
      Mascot, not emblem… Haven’t got in any trouble with the NCAA yet…some other schools problem is a reflection of them?…. And your last two will prove to be a very good good move nice try though
- foreversioux12
  you’ve got to be kidding me bud. if you ever took a trip up to GF, you would know that hockey always have and always will be extremely relevant. With the new Winnipeg Jets franchise only 2 hours away, and the rich UND hockey history, North Dakota will always have a competitive hockey program. Hakstol has been great throughout the years here at UND. The NCHC will only help UND, so it can finally stay competitive instead of playing pathetic teams like Mankato and your Huskies.
  - NotForTheNCHC
    Hopefully the NCAA cancels ND final season in the WCHA as the captains had a hazing party.
    The NCHC is a league for the egos of George Gwadsecky and Brian Faison. So the NCHC has Universities in larger cities, bigger schools, and larger rinks. So the smaller cities, schools, and rinks got left in the dust from the NCHC teams. Eventually I can see some of the schools bolting eventually from the league in the long run. Miami will join Hockey East. WMU and St Cloud will beg to join the nWCHA.
    UNO, WMU, St Cloud, Miami, CC, and UMD only have a total of three Natioanal Championships with most of them in the 1950′s.
    LSSU, MTU , NMU and Bowling Green have EIGHT(8) National Championsips and four of them in the 1990′s. Who has the rich history of championship games i would say it is the nWCHA not the NCHC teams. The NCHC is a farce and six backstabbing WCHA teams that turned back on everybody else.
    Why did these six teams vote to expand to twelve teams and then turn around say we watered down the league now we will form their own league.
    Why did they let UAA in the 90′s?
    Why did they let Mankato in the 00′s?
    Why did they let Bemdji in the 12;s?
    My point is why expand to twelve teams then turn around and say we are to good to play you?
    That is backstabbing. Invite these teams to the WCHA party and walk out the back door on them.
    - JAWilk64
      There are so many flaws in this argument it makes it hard to know where to start… The nWCHA has no power schools in it what-so-ever and I don’t see why WMU or SCSU would have any desire to go to leave the NCHC and go to a soon to be struggling WCHA. St. Cloud was begging to get out and get into the NCHC in the first place. You said yourself the NCHC has schools in bigger cities, bigger schools, and larger rinks…. sounds like a bigger and better league to be in then. Don’t get me wrong, it is kinda sad to see that the WCHA will never be the same after this year. However, lets not start saying the NCHC is doomed to fail and nobody will care about it. The fact is they already have a TV deal with CBS Sports Network and a lot more people will follow the NCHC than a WCHA conference without any powerhouse programs.
      - NotForTheNCHC
        Yes thanks Bruce Mcleod, Brian Faison, and Gwazdecky for killing the present WCHA.
        Minnesota and Wisconsin werent the whole confrence. Yes it is sad they left but they werent the whole confrence. Ten teams would have been left. You cant tell me that WMU and Maimi were the answer over MTU, UAA, Bemdji, and Mankato.
        MTU and Bemdji have had many National Championships in both D1 and D2 hockey.
        While WMU who has had many coaches (three in three years) and Miami who only trophy they have had when the NCAA made them change their name from RedSkins to Red Hawks.
      - FOREVERSIOUX
        You obviously don’t know the history of western mich. a program that was great and is starting to be great again.
    - FOREVERSIOUX
      You are both ignorant and incompetent. You know very little on the facts, and your statements scream hate with a big hint of resentment. The NCHC already has the best management of all conferences and will wipe the WCHA off the map.
- scpa0305
  Hater!!!
- OPENYOUREYES
  dont expect great leadership from the ND captains? Drinking happens at every University, get over it. And i know some freshman MN hockey players also just got in trouble for drinking. And to bash Hakstol or the program is a joke, Hakstol brought a much less talented team into Minnesota and won the Final Five last year. A better question is why did minnesota keep lucia around after the gophers (state of hockey) have made the tournament once in the last four years?
  - NotForTheNCHC
    Yes drinking is at every University but they are not like the University of North Dakota and get caught in the act and pass out and even a form of hazing. When it hit the media then it is a University of North Dakota problem.
  - lakes19
    You must onyl see things with green colored glasses on. Try to atleast be objective.
    Yes you won the Final Five….. Yet in the NCAA Tournament Minnesota beat you! But we see you did not mention the more important game….
    Second Hakstol has how many National Championships….. 0 Lucia…..2.
    Seriously stop trying to bash programs unless your objective. Both coaches are very good
ndhockey
What will happen to und when they are looked at for hazeing by the ncaa
Scott
I don’t see Wisconsin or Duluth finishing that high.
You have to like Minnesota and North Dakota 1 and 2 by far.
But I think CC, DU and St. Cloud will be battling for 3rd place. Mich Tech could finish top half.
DrunkCaptains
Are you sure North Dakota is going to have a season this year? I heard of a hazing incident involving the captains. Didnt Vermont have a season canceled for hazing? Is the NCAA going to be involved in this emberassment for the WCHA?
- TellThePlainTruth
  This is going to be a media nightmare for the WCHA.
  Hope the NCAA takes of this matter quickly.
- joesho
  The only embarrassment is your spelling.
Jason
Just want to say hello to everyone, it’s been a long year since I got to enjoy some quality College Hockey and am excited for the trash talking and quality discussion that will ensue.
NotForTheNCHC
My predictions for the up coming season.
1 UAA Seawolves
2 MTU Huskies
3 Bemdji Beavers
4 Mankato Mavericks
5 Minnesota Golden Gophers
6 Wisconsin Badgers
7,8, 9, 10, 11, 12 NCHC teams all are losers.
It looks a great upcoming season in the WCHA.
It will also be great to see teams like ND, CC, Denver, UNO, UMD, and St Cloud all leave the WCHA after next season. They should have left last season and formed their own six team league this season. They could schedule Canadian colleges to fill the rest of the season. NCHC is a disgrace for college hockey.
- JAWilk64
  You do realize that they kinda had to form the NCHC with the Gophers and Badgers joining BIG10 hockey right? You have to put yourself in a highly competitive conference if you want to compete at a high level on a yearly basis. It is actually a great opportunity for the sport to grow with these new conferences next year. Your just mad because your team must be on the outside looking in…
  - NotForTheNCHC
    The WCHA will and always be a very high competitve conference. The problem is the six teams didnt have to leave the WCHA. With only two teams leaving the league would have only had ten teams in the league.
    The NCHC didnt have to be formed it was only formed from greed and from the good old boys network. Miami would have not been considered had their coach not had ties to the University of Denver.
    Then to fight against your agrument why would Hockey East keep on expanding the conference to twelve teams. They have added Vermont, UCONN, and Notre Dame.
    Why would Hockey East water down their college hockey product to twelve like the present WCHA? Hockey East is an established confrence that is sticking together that is not run by greed. Why would Hockey East expand to twelve as the WCHA has teams that insist they have to take the whole conference to the NCHC.
    The WCHA would have been fine with ten teams minus Minnesota and Wisconsin. The mentality of the Westerners from Denver and Grand Forks that thinks a league had only six teams in the 1980′s and in 1984 bioth NMU and MTu rejoined the league to make it a eight team league.
    It bugs me that the WCHA expanded just a couple of years ago with UNO and Bemdji and the present members have the balls to say we dont want to play with the present members and form their own league.
    The WCHA should not have expanded if UND, Denver, CC, and UMD didnt want to play with these teams. The Hockey East is doing it right they keep and expanding and stick behind their members of their league
    The WCHA has been percieved as the best confrence of all time some their long time members University of North Dakota, Denver, Colorado College and University of Minnesota Duluth gave the rest of the league the bone.
    I am not mad that my team is on the outside looking in. I am mad that members of the same league for some sixty years gave the rest of the teams the bone.
    Lack of communication, lack of leadership, and lack of a tv contract killed the present WCHA. .
    - Anti-NCAA
      You completely missed the obvious!! Look at the media’s prediction for this season, for evidence:
      1) Take away the future B10 and NCHC teams and you have the remaining team ALL at the bottom!
      2) How else do you admit those remaining team equate to “Highly Competitive” squads?
      3) You must be smokin’ something, even when it is sitting right in front of you.
      Your last statement only points to the league commissioner and WCHA front iffice. Don’t blame the colleges for opportunities that enhances their fan base, viewing capability, and wanting to increase their competitive level.
      - FansAgainstNCHC
        You are not going to enhance your fanbase by running and forming a league with Miami and WMU. If you added BU, BC, and Notre Dame I would say yes you improved your product on the ice with the leftover WCHA. But by adding Miami and WMU only makes me laugh. You add teams that have lame hockey histories in the CCHA. Both teams cant even hold their own. The NCHC is not a high profile league like you might think.
        UMD Bulldogs one National Championship in what some fifty years.
        CC Tigers two Natianal CHampionships in the 1950′s.
        UNO Mavericks jumping to their third league in what six years. Not a bad accomplishment. Good to see league jumper join the NCHC.
        St Cloud Huskies they had Herb Brooks for one year. Great accomplishment. Sounds like an elite team to me.
        WMU Broncos accompment is they. I cant think of any thing. Is this really a National program. Bowling Green Falcons have a better track record then the Broncos. I can count many CCHA championships and a National Championship.Even the Falcons have a better history then WMU.
        Miami RedHawks let me scratch my head on this one. No National Championships. Pretty good team here. When I think of hockey Ohio college hockey teams I think of are the likes of Kent State Flames, Ohio, and Findley Oilers. Didnt all these teams fold.
        North Dakota and Denver i think of Brian Faison and George Gwadsecky. Um cant think of anything else. A banner with a few WCHA and some leftover CCHA teams elblems behind them.
        So inclusion the NCHC doesnt have to many big wigs in the league. Had BC, BU, and ND said yes the NCHC I would say form the league . The NCHC is a CCHA on steroids.
        The only people smoking is George and Brian.
      - BulldogFan
        If you think of Denver and don’t think of
        Murray Armstrong coaching them to 5 national title than you aren’t a true college hockey fan. That’s would be like not thinking about John Mariucci when talking about the history of Gopher hockey. And really when you think about UND you only think about Brian Faison..you don’t think about their 7 NC…….come on at least be creative and say you think of players throwing lawn mowers across the yard or the eventful team parties they have.
      - Anti-NCAA
        Who cares about ‘history’ from back then, when the topic of the story is today! Get into the modern era and stop looking back at 40yrs ago, dude! ALL of the teams at the bottom of the recent poll are what the WCHA will have left. I’m sure the same can be said for those in the CCHA by the time that poll comes out. What you end up with is a lackluster league of teams battling for mediocrity and one entry into the post season.
        Mark my words, @8f689fc4237691e3e10a6b800ff2fd7e:disqus , in 2013 there will NOT be more than one team from the WCHA in the national tourney. If the B10 doesn’t get it’s act together it may not either; with only six teams in their league they do not qualify for automatic bids. I cannot see any of the current universities in the B10 going to start a hockey program. Indiana? No. Illinois? Nope.
        Get off yer rocker and get into the current day scenario. Bemidji, Mich Tech, and UAA do not have the beef to keep up to these other schools in the other leagues (i.e. recruiting, benefactors, television audience, scouting, etc.). I’m only stating how it is…..
    - BulldogFan
      You just made part of the NCHC case with your last comment. And…yes you are clearly mad MTU was left out.
- Kid Icarus
  So this list is going from worst to first then? Yea, UAA last sounds right.
- scpa0305
  Give it up already.
- Don Cherry
  How is UAA going to finish first when the ice has melted?
  How can North Dakota finish at the bottom with the Captains having a party.
  Your top six are all first class college hockey teams.
  You know it would be interesting to see Denver, CC, St Cloud, UMD, and UNO play all the Canada Universities this season. You know if those teams played in Canada they would be mistaken for NHL teams. The media would have a field day.
FOREVERSIOUX
looks right to me, and sadly Minnesota is on top……
common sense guy
you all need to get a life instead of sitting on here all day posting
Crazyfor Hockey
What a joke of a poll! Hardly a cross section of media reps from around the WCHA. LAUGHABLE!

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