The Goon's Pre-Season WCHA predictions.

Updated Version II

Projected Final League Standing
1. Minnesota
2. North Dakota
3. Denver
4. Wisconsin
5. Colorado College
6. Minnesota-Duluth
6. St. Cloud
8. Minnesota State
9. Michigan Tech
10. Alaska-Anchorage

Explaining The Goon’s Picks
These are the Goon's pre-season favorites for the WCHA. Here is my reasoning for picking the Golden Gophers for the number one position.

You might as well hand the Gophers the McNaughten Cup. Yes, I am very well aware of the fact that Kellen Briggs and Jeff Frazee are the goaltenders for the University of Minnesota, it’s obvious that these two mediocre goaltenders come no where near the level of all world goaltenders Brian Elliot and Bobby Goepfert, nor in my opinion are they as good as much maligned Sioux goal tender Phil Lamoureux. However, I digress. I still think the Gophers can be a number one team based on their offensive capabilities alone. Minnesota has many weapons at their disposal. This is not a team that you are going to want to take penalties against. If you take stupid penalties the Gophers are going to bury you.

Finally, Kyle Okposo and Erik Johnson are awesome, and much coveted hockey players, lets make no mistake about it. You would be kidding yourself if you thought otherwise. Even though it kills me I have to give Donny Lucia props for recruiting these guys. Okposo (nick name KO) and Johnson are world-class players. E.J. was wooed by St Louis to sign a pro contract and probably could have played for the Blues in the NHL this season. In fact I am sure there were many of us were hoping this was going to be the case, I know I was. Of course it didn’t happen and now the rest of the league is going to fear his wrath. The hockey pundits on NHL Home Ice said he would never play for the University of Minnesota.

Lastly, Erik Johnson is a freak of nature (that is a good thing) a man among boys and will be crushing opposition players as they approach the University of Minnesota Net. WCHA fans will be cheering his departure after this season, I know I will be for sure. Eric Johnson has been referred to as the next Chris Pronger. So no doubt these guys are great players. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that we will probably be seeing these two guys in the NHL very soon, if not next season.

Kessel Factor
Due to the fact that UND fans have been said to have Kessel obsession, much like the Gophers fans had Parise obsession a few years back. I can’t close this article out without at least talking about Phil the thrill for just a little bit. There has been much debate whether or not Phil Kessel was a cancer in the Gopher locker room, I am thinking he might have been., Who cares right? I have had an unnamed source tell me that in fact Phil was a disruptive force in the locker room last season. Now that Kessel has left the Golden Gophers we can all move on. I think the Gophers are actually are a better team without Phil. I am also glad that the Boston Bruins will now get better with Phil the Thrill in the line up, Yes I am a rabid Bruins fan, its pretty well documented.

Now that the B’s have signed Phil Kessel to a professional contract, Phil Kessel is being projected by many in the print media as a potential second line forward for the Boston Bruins. Seriously I think they are right. In my opinion Kessel has all the tools to be a top players and I think he would really look good next to Marc Savage and Glen Murray. Talk about a line that could scoot. I can only dream of the number of goals this potential line could score this season. Should we say I am thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of about 120 goals on that line. Don’t worry about Phil Kessel being a cancer or not being very media savvy, the Bruins management will get him on the right track. Let hope Phil Kessel says all of the right things. If he does not the Boston Media will eat him alive. This preseason Kessel will be wearing number 81. I wonder if they will be a big seller in Minneapolis.

The Huskies
Listen Up Huskie fan. Contrary to some of your fans: Your SCSU Huskies will not finish in the top three in the WCHA standing., You can mark it down some where. Lets give credit where credit is due, your incoming recruiting class looks awesome, there is no doubt about it. However, the WCHA is an upper classmen league and frankly your cupboard is bare. The SCSU Huskies are still two years away from making noise in this league. Bob Motzko is a great coach but there still isn’t enough talent on this team to make a run at the top spot. I think there is a chance your makes the playoffs I think the WCHA can put 5-6 teams in the big dance this season.

Hammy from the Gopher Hockey Blog Sums it up Best
Hammy's Blog

I think you tend to play the underdog/no respect card way too much. First of all, it really doesn't matter what people on this board say in terms of giving respect or where they rate your team. The people on this board don't suit up against SCSU so the lack of respect card that you use in referring to how people on here rate them is way overplayed. (btw, my early (and worthless) prognostication has them at #3)

Second, I think SCSU earned enough respect last year that teams won't take them lightly this year. SCSU may not have as high a talent level as half of the teams in the league but teams know SCSU has a good goalie that can keep them in games (and a solid defense returning) so SCSU opponents are unlikely to take a lackluster attitude against them. SCSU had somewhat of a luxury last year of being taken more lightly and flying under the radar for much of the year because of their multi year slump under Dahl. But I highly doubt that is going to happen this year. You seem to gloss over the fact that the competition is probably going to ratchet it up a notch too because they know SCSU won't be a pushover.

The other factor I would point out is your overly simplistic commentary on "chemistry". Team chemistry is not a given just because you had it the prior year. Every team has changed and even the teams with the fewest changes have to deal with new personalities, players shifting to new roles, guys having to face higher expectations, etc.

If chemistry was simply about returning key guys who played well together as a team the prior year, the Gophers would have won three titles in a row by default.... and the team that beat them in the NCAAs that year (UMD) wouldn't have flopped the next year. Both of those teams had a lot of returning talent that played well together the prior season. There are plenty of historical examples where teams simply don't pull together as well as they did the year prior even if the vast majority of the team stays the same. You seem to take it as a given. But it isn't.

Every team in the league is trying to build a new team chemistry over the summer and in captain's practices. It is something that is built again. It isn't something you save up from the past year and plug in as if it is simply a given to be there like the previous year.

In Conclusion
SCSU will not finish in the Top three like some are predicting, however, they will make some noise. Frankly, SCSU does not have the talent that Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Denver or Duluth have.