September 16, 2009
CHN 2009-10 Preseason Top 10
by Joseph Edwards/CHN Writer
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It's time for CHN's pre-season Top 10 prognostication, one that, if history shows, will look a lot different at year's end. But, you never know.
1. Denver: The Pioneers' offensive game will be reminiscent of last year's NCAA Champion Boston University. Rhett Rakhshani, Tyler Ruegsegger, Joe Colborne, Anthony Maini, and Patrick Wiercioch form a returning nucleus that lose only 15 goals from last season's 132, good for second in the WCHA. Freshmen Drew Shore and Chris Ostrow should pick up some of the scoring slack along with sophomore Luke Salazer. Incoming defenseman William Wrenn will help to solidify a seemingly questionable defensive corps in front of netminder Marc Chevrie, who led the way for the 14th-best defensive team in the country, despite playing more games than eight teams in front of them.
2. Miami: There's no reason that college hockey's winningest program over the last four years won't continue its trend. Four of the team's top-five scorers return, including Hobey Baker candidate Carter Camper, as well as postseason performer Tommy Wingels. Having Chris Wideman continue to quarterback the power play won't hurt, either, nor will his strong defensive play in front of the sophomore goaltending tandem of Connor Knapp and Cody Reichard.
3. Boston University: They say defense wins championships, and this is a team that returns five of last year's starting six. While Matt Gilroy takes his game to Broadway, Kevin Shattenkirk and Colby Cohen return to anchor the blueline, and Kieran Millan is back to tend the crease. That's a good thing, as the loss of Colin Wilson, Jason Lawrence, Chris Higgins and John McArthy on the offensive side means the team won't necessarily be able to score at will this season, though Nick Bonino showed why he's ready to be the featured weapon on Jack Parker's 2009-10 Terrier squad.
4. Cornell: The Big Red's string of big-time goaltenders continued last season with Hobey Baker candidate Ben Scrivens, who's back for more. Last season, he was fifth in the country in wins, third in GAA, fourth in save percentage, and second in shutouts with seven. Those are some pretty big numbers, and with Brendon Nash leading the defense in front of him and Riley Nash and Colin Greening returning to the frontlines, there's no reason Cornell shouldn't be better across the boards this season.
5. Michigan: Sure, the Wolverines lost Mark Mitera and Aaron Palushaj, but they also spent the majority of the season without the big defenseman, and you can bet Red Berenson already has plans to replace Palushaj's 50 points. They almost certainly include Louie Caporusso, who scored 24 goals and 49 points last season. Freshmen Kevin Lynch and Chris Brown will provide an extra big physical presence, as well as contribute some good numbers up front. Junior Bryan Hogan, coming off a campaign in which he put up some all-time single season numbers for the Maize-and-Blue, should continue to wall off the nets.
6. Minnesota: A usual NCAA postseason staple, the Gophers fell short of expectations last season, but if their late-season run showed anything, it was that they'd be back with a vengeance in 2009-10. They lose top scorer Ryan Stoa to the pro ranks, but return Jordan Schroeder, who excelled as a freshman, and Jay Bariball on a deep offense that will be complemented by a defense led by Cade Fairchild and Aaron Ness, both of whom matured nicely as the roller coaster season continued. The biggest piece of the puzzle will be seeing which Alex Kangas shows up in net — the one who gave up 42 goals in a 12 game mid-season stretch, or the one who allowed just 19 over the final nine matches of the season.
7. Princeton: Despite an agonizing, heartbreaking loss in the NCAA, the Tigers have a lot to build on with two straight seasons of school-record win totals and back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances. Stalwart Zane Kalmeba returns to the crease for the Tigers, and Dan Bartlett and Mark Magnowski will lead a strong offense that will benefit from a full season from sparkplug Cam MacIntyre — if you can call a 6-foot-1, 215-pound body-banger a "sparkplug." Jody Pederson will be an integral piece of the defensive corps that adds freshman Michael Sdao, an Ottawa draft pick in the 2009 draft.
8. Notre Dame: Despite some big losses in Erik Condra and Christian Hanson, Kevin Deeth and Ryan Thang will lead an incredibly deep bunch of forwards that ranked eighth in the NCAA last year with 135 goals. Teddy Ruth and Ian Cole are among five blueliners back in the fold that provide plenty on both sides of the puck. The Irish skaters will have to be strong at each end of the ice, as Jordan Pearce's graduation leaves a trio of goalies who have a combined seven collegiate games played under their belts.
9. Mass.-Lowell: Could this be the year for the River Hawks? They've flirted with taking the leap, bouncing from mediocre to good, and now to the elite class. Led by Junior-to-be defenseman Maury Edwards, Lowell's special teams found a sweet spot towards the end of last season that took them all the way to the TD Banknorth Garden for the Hockey East Final against a juggernaut BU team. The goaltending duo of Nevin Hamilton and Carter Hutton has proven to be a solid base for the team that has a huge upside, and plenty to gain in a league that lost a number of high-scoring marquee stars.
10. Yale: Offense isn't a question for the Bulldogs/Elis, a team that won the ECACs last season, as their top-10 scorers from 2008-09 return, including four-double-digit goal scorers. Defensively, Yale has all the answers as well, with all six full-time blueliners back for another season. The biggest punctuation mark — whether it be exclamation point or question mark — is in the net, where Alec Richards graduated and gave the crease back to Billy Blase, who hopes to hold off the relatively untested Ryan Rondeau for the starting position.
ness1803 ECAC teams in this poll? The credibility goes way down off the bat with that.
CHN EditorFYI - those same three teams finished in the top 10 in the Pairwise last season.
MelvinWhat a joke you put three EZAC teams in the top ten, yeah I am hearing the snickering right now. When is the last time an EZAC teams won the NCAA title hum 1989. This poll is a joke.
vizoroo1. University of Denver Sean Ostrow is the younger brother of Junior, Alternate Captain Kyle Ostrow. Matt Donovan is another well regarded freshman addition to the D corps. Hope you picked the Pioneers in the right spot.
vizorooThe omission of both Wisconsin and North Dakota is surprising.
siouxweetwhat laste season run by the gophers were you referring to?
Melvinvizoroo, they killed any credibility they had by leaving them out of the top ten, Cornell is not a top four team.
ness180Well CHN Editor, if any team not in the ECAC had a schedule like those 3 teams did. It wouldn't be hard being in the top 10 of the pairwise. Okay Cornell is moderately okay. But yeah...still!
doghokIf there was going to be an ECAC team win, this will probably be the year. There is an absolute ton of talent in this division heading into the 2009-2010 season. After reading some of the comments, one thing we do know, is from which division most of the scholars come from.
Boogie ManReally? Minnesota? Maybe a late season run to the scrap heap is what you are refering to. Jess Meyers obviously has pulled the wool over everyone's eyes at this website as well as over at INCH.com.
HockeyheadI think the poll is pretty credible. If you look at the USCHO preseason poll the only team that they do not have is Yale. Overall time will tell, but I do think Princeton and Cornell are legitimate contenders.
HockeyheadMy bad in my last comment. It was Inside College Hockey's poll not USCHO.
tim bWhy would you expect anything more from CHN? Click about us and look at where they are from. Wodon has been a broadcaster for both Princeton and Cornell. Machnik is from Mass. Kalra graduated from Cornell This is a homer site for the ECAC, nothing more. The writers know what kind of articles the staff will print so they don't write anything but glowing crap about the ECAC.
tim bBetter yet, click the author's name. Not one of his articles was about a team west of Lake Erie. He probably had to look up in his Atlas how to even spell Denver or Minnesota since he'd never done it before.
BlinnUNH26HA! OK Tim B, that was a good one.
Hockey ExpertThis may be the worst pre-season college hockey poll I have ever seen. Have you seen the returning players on the Wisconsin Badger roster? Princeton? Yale? Lowell? Come on, since when has the ECAC have that many good teams. Give me a break!
CHN EditorSince last year, when all 3 finished in the top 10.
MelvinIt's true this site can't see past the EZAC, Wodon is a cheerleader for Cornell, I am surprised he can type with his pompoms on. Seriously, if any of those three EZAC teams played in a legit league they would be in the middle of the pack fighting for home ice in the league playoffs. In the WCHA they would be battling it out with UMD, MSU-M, UAA and MTU. Unfortunately they aren’t in a more powerful league and they are the darlings of INCH and CHN. Of course they usually end up getting bounced in the first round or are lucky enough to make it to the second round.
ness180As I said earlier Mr. CHN Editor. If any team from the HEA, CCHA, or WCHA had a regular season schedule playing the likes of Brown, Union, Colgate, Harvard, and Clarkson they'd be finishing in the top 10 as well year in and year out. Very weak defense in putting all 3 of those teams in your preseason poll. Oh well, just like every year the NCAA Tournament will just have to prove how overrated these Ivy League teams while once again every year they'll make the tournament because there pairwise ranking is inflated by such a cupcake schedule.
CalgosealWhat about Air Force? No glass sipper this year
gonuFor the past five years I have had to endure you people picking UMass-Lowell as the team of the year. Every year it is their year, and at the end, the same continues,"Well there's always next year." No there isn't. They will never reach the elite of Hockey East let alone the nation. Leave them in the cellar with Providence and Merrimack. Shoot, send them down to the ECAC to languish. But please stop picking them to do anything and focus on the real hockey programs in Hockey East.
SiouxluthI see three, maybe four, teams on this list who can beat Bemidji State.
MikeLurieI thought these were pretty good rankings. I don't really understand why so many seem to have a problem with 3 ECAC teams being included in the top 10... they were top 10 PW finishers last year. If I had to make a small criticism, I would have dropped Minnesota down the list a little bit (to 9 or 10). And I would bump Mass-Lowell from the list and add NoDak. Otherwise I think these are good rankings. Thanks for all the hard work you put into the site. I really enjoy it.
CHN EditorUSA Today coaches poll rankings out today, had Minnesota 6th also - Lowell 9th also - Yale 11th - replaced by North Dakota in the top 10.
Falcon FrenzyI'm glad to see programs that struggled in the past have resurrected themselves and are now powerhouses. (ie; Notre Dame & Miami) This poll should be motivation for the Falcons this season since they now are receiving the proper and deserved support. Save UAH Hockey and GO BG!!
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