As I have done for the past several years, I will try and provide a
bit of a preview/prediction of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference
(NCHC). To properly get myself in the right mindset for this, let's
look back at what I predicted from a year ago:
1. University of Minnesota-Duluth, who actually finished fourth
2. St. Cloud State, who tied for second
3. Tie between Denver and North Dakota, Denver finished tied for second and UND was first
5. Nebraska-Omaha, who actually finished sixth
6. Miami, who actually finished fifth
7. Western Michigan, actually was seventh
8. Colorado College, actually was eighth
As
you can see, UMD was by far my worst call. Other than that, I wasn't
too far off, but I can certainly do better, and should, this year.
Without further fanfare, here is my prediction for this season:
1.
University of North Dakota: It is hard not to pick the defending
national champs here. Despite the loss of three of their top four
leading scorers, and nearly all of their defense, the Fighting Hawks are
one of the best at reloading. The real key for UND though is they
return spectacular goaltender Cam Johnson and leading scorer Brock
Boeser. Johnson will be the big key for the Hawks. If he can be as
spectacular as last year (1.66 GAA, .935 save percentage), UND will
certainly be near the top of the conference.
2. Denver: Denver
should easily be up here after finishing with a loss to the champs in
the Frozen Four a year ago. Sure, the Pioneers will be without
sensational scorer Danton Heinen, but Denver does return most of the
rest of their scoring, defense and goaltending. The big key for the
Pioneers will be replacing Heinen's scoring, but I think Denver will
find a way.
3. St. Cloud State: This might be my bias showing
here, but despite losing an All-American goaltender and like every
single one of their top scorers and a couple strong defender, I still
believe in the Huskies. The biggest challenge will be replacing Lindgren
in net, and the Huskies have three contenders in competition right now.
As far as scoring, the Huskies still return six 20+ point scorers (they
had 12 last year), so the offense shouldn't be a problem. Plus, the
Huskies have talented Poehling brothers (two are twins, one forwent his
senior year in high school and is 17) to shake things up.
4.
Nebraska-Omaha: UNO is a tough team to predict, but I see good things on
their horizon. Sure, the Mavs lost top scorer Jake Guentzel, but they
return just about everyone else. I wouldn't be surprised if Austin
Ortega and Co. could win close to a dozen conference contests and 20+
games overall. The big key will be finding scoring replacements for
Guentzel.
5. Miami: Miami has one of the best freshman classes
in the country this year, with 14 incoming freshman. Sure, the Redhawks
lost goaltender Jay Williams and their second and fourth-best scorers,
but they do return leading scorer Anthony Louis. The big key for Miami
will be replacing Williams in net.
6. Minnesota-Duluth: Oh, how
the tables have turned in Duluth. The Bulldogs will be without
goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo, who left early for the pros, and lose their
top two scorers from a year ago. UMD does have nine talented incoming
freshman and the three, four and five scorers from last year, but I have
a feeling that net will be tough to replace. He was the biggest reason
that the Bulldogs were relevant a year ago.
7. Western Michigan:
The Broncos will remain entrenched in seventh place. The return Griffen
Molino and Sheldon Dries, but lose Nolan LaPorte and good goaltender
Lukas Hafner. Keep an eye on Frederick Tuffels.
8. Colorado
College: Perennial cellar dwellers, CC does return a number of players
from a year ago, losing only top scorer Hunter Fejes, but that won't be
enough to get the Tigers out of the basement.
There we
have it. Denver and UND should be in a showdown come Frozen Faceoff
time, and I expect that at least four teams from the conference will
make the NCAA's, if not five.
