College Hockey Pre-Season Highlights

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

College hockey season is about to be back in full-swing in only a matter of weeks. Exhibition games open up next Saturday, while the official season-openers start the week after.

New Hampshire didn't rank to start the year, but has potential to make a statement this season.

I'm excited. I've waited over five months for this.
Drop the puck, already.

USA-Today released the preseason polls earlier this week (which is the start of my excited and nervous jitters for this season to start). There weren't a ton of surprises up at the top of the table. Boston College. Minnesota. Michigan. You know, the usuals.

On the flip side, some surprises included UMass-Lowell landing a top ten spot, while NCAA runner-up Ferris State dropped from 2nd to 14th to start the year. Clearly, the underdogs in last years tournament are still just that--underdogs. Meanwhile, Notre Dame snagged the final top-ten spot, projecting Jeff Jackson's Irish to have a better ending to this season than last year's squad had.

Boston College. Michigan. Notre Dame.
Let's take a sneak-peek at them, shall we?

The Eagles from BC are undoubtedly the strongest team in the nation. I mean, they are the defending national champions, after all. But it's more than just winning the NCAA title (does that sound crazy? stay with me). It's how they won. And the how of how they won is a little number crunching that looks like this: 16-2. That's how badly they outscored their opponents during the NCAA tournament. That's...that's just unheard of.

The Eagles are the team to beat yet again this season. Watch out for a repeat as the champions.

Backstopping the Eagles is senior Parker Milner, who was basically a god-on-ice last year. He ended the year with a .937 save percentage, and posted five shutouts (three of those in a four-game span, as well as back-to-back shutouts to open the NCAA tournament). That's insane. What else is insane is that sophomore Johnny Gaudreau put up 44 points last season...as a freshmen. This kid is good. Scary good.

Heck, this team is good. Scary good.

Then there is the Michigan Wolverines. U of M is a perennial contender for both the conference and national championships. Last year, however, the Wolverines choked in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Cornell--an upset that caught just about everyone by surprise (despite Michigan losing the CCHA championship to Western Michigan). That sets the stage for doubters. This is true, especially when you consider the fact that goaltender Shawn Hunwick graduated, allowing either Janecyk or Dwyer to take over between the pipes for Michigan.

On the plus side, this team has a solid roster. It's been said that "Michigan doesn't rebuild, it reloads." And unfortunately for every team it plays, that is scarily accurate. It's a team with solid leadership, with 11 upperclassmen, and a solid set of young underclassmen joining or returning to the winged helmet. This team, as usual, has the potential to go deep.

The Wolverines have the talent to avoid an early tournament exit, and get their first title since '98.

The question is, will they choke again--or will that bad taste push them to claim the NCAA title.
A title, by the way, which has evaded them since 1998. It seems unreal.

Finally, we come to Jeff Jackson's Fighting Irish. Notre Dame seems to be fortunate to have such a high pre-season ranking (fortunate, you know, if pre-season rankings actually meant anything. No offense USA-Today). Notre Dame barely finished above .500 last year--they went 19-18-3. They were eliminated by Michigan with two-straight losses and failed to even make the NCAA tournament.

That's...that's horrible. For a storied program like Notre Dame, at least.
Maybe they need to add a "Goal-Scoring Jesus" outside the arena.

Notre Dame's offensive power and goaltending prowess should push them deep in the tournament.

However, here's why they are ranked 10th: they are solid. They can score. They can defend. And they have a flippin' leprechaun, for crying out loud (okay, maybe that's not the reason. This isn't "Robin Hood, Men in Tights"). But they have the return of senior goaltender Mike Johnson, who looked unbeatable during Notre Dame's 11-game unbeaten streak last season. The kid is solid.

Additionally, they have the duo of TJ Tynan and Anders Lee putting the Irish on the scoreboard way more than their opponents would like to see. They are virtually unstoppable. Oh yeah, and they've only been on the team for two years. Watch out for these guys.

Overall, am I making predictions at this point? Not specifically. We'll wait til after those tell-all exhibition games before I go out on a limb like that (note the sarcasm: exhibition games tell us absolutely nothing). But what I am saying is that these three teams are solid. So solid.

Expect me to still be talking about them when the tournament rolls around in March/April.
My guess is that they'll all be vying for a national championship.

-Josh