The Results Are In: 6th Place in Polls

The annual kick-off to the college hockey season is here; the media and caoches polls for the WCHA are in.   UMD is 6th in both polls and both are almost exactly the same.  The only difference is in the 7 and 8 positions between CC and Mankato.  Everyone must have the same assumptions and feelings about these teams.  Of course it all must be decided for real on the ice, but it seems that a consensus has been reached

From uscho.com:

Sept. 29 — 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) Points

1. Denver (8)                  80
2. North Dakota (2)        70
3. Wisconsin                   61
4. Minnesota                   58
5. St. Cloud State            55
6. Minnesota-Duluth        37
7. Minnesota State          34
8. Colorado College        26
9. Alaska-Anchorage      20
10. Michigan Tech           9

And here is the media poll:

Team (first-place votes) Points

1. Denver (23)               248
2. North Dakota (1)       205
3. Wisconsin                  190
4. Minnesota (1)            186
5. St. Cloud State          152
6. Minnesota-Duluth      118
7. Colorado College      101
8. Minnesota State         88
9. Alaska-Anchorage     57
10. Michigan Tech         30

What is very interesting is the polls are the formats and the number of voters are different, but the results are the same.  Coaches vote, obviously, in the coachs' poll and cannot vote their team as #1.  The media poll does not have rules like the coaches. 

The media panel is made up of: Kevin Allenspach, St. Cloud Times; Roman Augustoviz, Star Tribune; Andy Baggot, Wisconsin State Journal; Mike Chambers, Denver Post; Bruce Ciskie, UMD radio/Fanhouse.com; Chris Dilks, Western College Hockey Blog; Shane Frederick, Mankato Free Press; John Gilbert, WCHA.com; Kurt Haider, UAA radio; Dirk Hembroff, MTU radio; Tim Hennessey, UND radio; Ken Landau, CC radio; Don Lyons, SCSU radio; Todd D. Milewski, USCHO.com; Dan Myers, collegehockeynews.com ; Jess Myers, insidecollegehockey.com/USA Hockey Magazine; Joe Paisley, Colorado Springs Gazette; Kevin Pates, Duluth News Tribune; Brian Posick, UW radio; Brad Elliott Schlossman, Grand Forks Herald; Wally Shaver, Minnesota radio; Theresa Spisak, USCHO.com; Jay Stickney, Denver radio; Mike Sullivan, MSU radio; Doyle Woody, Anchorage Daily News.