WCHA Preseaon Poll Ballot
by WCHBlog on Sep 14, 2011 9:30 AM PDT
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Voting is now open for the WCHA Preseason Media Poll. Here is the ballot that I submitted for this year's poll. Expect the actual poll to be released on September 28th.
Standings
1. North Dakota
2. Denver
3. Nebraska-Omaha
4. Colorado College
5. Wisconsin
6. Minnesota
7. Minnesota-Duluth
8. Alaska-Anchorage
9. St. Cloud State
10. Minnesota State
11. Michigan Tech
12. Bemidji State
As far as separating the teams into tiers, I would say 1-3 are all pretty close, 4-7 is a pretty clear step below, and then 8-12, yeeeeeesh. This does not appear to be the WCHA's strongest year.
All-WCHA Team
F- Jaden Schwartz, Colorado College
F-Jack Connolly, Minnesota-Duluth
F-Corbin Knight, North Dakota
D- Justin Schultz, Wisconsin
D- Brad Hunt, Bemidji State
G- Aaron Dell, North Dakota
The last forward spot came down to Knight and two forwards from Denver. I went with Hunt over UND's Ben Blood, just because I think Hunt is going to do a little more on both ends of the ice.
Awards
Player of the Year: Jaden Schwartz, Colorado College
Rookie of the Year: Rocco Grimaldi, North Dakota
Coach of the Year: Mel Pearson, Michigan Tech
Player of the year was a tough choice between Schwartz and UW's Justin Schultz. I think Grimaldi is the most talented incoming rookie, though I wouldn't be surprised if the award ended up going to someone else that has a better statistical year like UNO's Jayson Megna and Minnesota State's Matt Leitner. Granted, this whole exercise is a little silly, but voting on preseason coach of the year seems especially so. But Michigan Tech is due for a pretty big rebound this year, so Pearson seems like a logical choice.
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Comments
Tough year
It is a tough year to predict but I think you are giving North Dakota way too much credit here. They are going to take their lumps this year with a lot of lost scoring from last year. I think Dell will see more pressure this year because the Sioux won’t be controlling the puck as much as they did last year with a veteran laden lineup up front. He won’t have that luxury this year even with a good group of defenders.
I don’t think Wisconsin will be a top 5 team. I think both Minnesota and UMD will be ahead of Wisconsin.
I think UNO is a bit of a wild card. I don’t think they finish as high as you have them. They lost their top 3 scorers from last year and their best overall defenseman in Olimb. The goalie play has been simply OK. I don’t see as much upside in some of their returning guys. Still, you never know with a Blais team.
