NCHC media day tomorrow!
and as always the yearly running thread about the NCHC and teams throughout the league.
My very wrong picks and comments below:
1) UND -- having to rebuild the entire defensive core is unusual, but UND brought in some players through the portal so they should be just fine. it also helps that ludwig persson will be in net.
2) Western -- unlike UND western had to replace some offense. Alex Bump was a late add after leaving vermont. I usually get western wrong every year
3) Denver -- magnus chrona used up his 8 years of eligibility so denver is left with Matt Davis and Freddie Halyk in goal. Lots of young talent on this team - wanted to pick them 1st but I resisted.
4) omaha -- Davis pennington (defensive liability) and Johnny Tychonick (offensively great but was prone to defensive lapses.) defensive core much improved imo with the additions of noah ellis and dom vidoli. Randall miller and mueller are all back plus wunderkid Tanner Ludtke. can they finally make it to st. paul at long last?
5) CC -- If CC can score some goals the ceiling is much higher. definitely a program on the rise.
6) St. cloud -- it feels wrong to pick st. cloud here but I'm not sold on basse. they lost some talent with the loss of Krannila and cruikshank and I'm just not sold on their forwards.
7) UMD -- next year UMD will be much better but I think they will continue to struggle defensively (sorry bruce)
8) Miami -- wants to take the train to the promised land of the CCHA where they can be relevant again. -- hard times have fallen on a once proud program. can't see a lot of positives from them this year.
elsewhere: Like BU in hockey east
sleeper pick michigan state in the Big10
ECAC -- probably a two horse race between Cornell and quinnipiac although you can through harvard into the mix
for atlantic lets go with the old standby RIT.
as always comments are welcome -- I almost joined the mavpuck facebook page but I'm resisting. -- I only joined facebook since the marching jayhawks parents page is private (my daughter is attending KU)
one thing is definate: spomer_hky will complain about officiating and I'm sure the great @susannadunn will call me a clown again this year. -- I always look forward to her insults.
