UND 4th in USA Today poll.

USA TODAY PRESEASON POLL              Final record 2011-12                                             

1 Boston College, 476 (20)                    1                 33-10-1
1 Minnesota, 476 (12)                             4                  28-14-1
3 Michigan, 408 (2)                                  7                  24-13-4
4 University of North Dakota, 407         6                  26-13-3
5 Union College, 295                              3                  26-8-7
6 Cornell, 233                                         13                  19-9-7
7 UMass-Lowell, 221                               9                 24-13-1 1
8 University of Denver, 220                      8                 25-14-4 1
9 Miami University, 203                          10                 24-15-2 1
10 University of Notre Dame, 186       NR                19-18-3 1
11 Western Michigan University, 182   14                21-14-6 1
12 Minnesota Duluth, 176                        5                25-10-6 1
13 Boston University, 158                       11                23-15-1 1
14 Ferris State, 123                                   2                 26-12-5 1
15 Wisconsin, 99                                    NR                17-18-2 1

I got a chuckle out of Roman Augustoviz blog post today – apparently Chris Dilks struck a nerve with Roman and he took issue with what Chris said on his blog Western College Hockey.

I actually agree with both men – I agree that preseason polls are meaningless – hockey is settled on the ice and not on paper. The reason I say that is, rewind to last season when UND was ranked very high to start the season last year and UND was a very young team that struggled at first to find their identity and didn’t really play up to their rankings until probably about the middle half of the season and then they actually ascended back to the top half of the rankings at the end of the season.

Based on who Minnesota brings back – the Gophers “should” be pretty good. There is one major unknown facing the Gophers this season – the Gophers have no experience at the goalie position to start the season – that in my opinion is a major factor and that could play out many ways for the Gophers. That being said, their team is pretty decent and has some depth through the forward lines “if” they stay healthy and don't have any more of their players suffer season ending injuries.

Chris Dilks, who writes for the Western College Hockey Blog, is skeptical about the Gophers' high ratings: "I guess unlike me, pollsters didn't have to search through last year's Frozen Four photos for a good Minnesota pic, only to be reminded of how just badly BC obliterated them."

That was then, this is now, Mr. Dilks. I didn't have a vote in the USA Today poll but, if I had, the Gophers would have gotten my vote for No. 1. Who has more returning talent than the Gophers, sir?

The only question mark with the 'U' is in goal. Otherwise, their defense is ridiculously deep, with two talented freshmen joining the mix, and coach Don Lucia should be able to put together two high-scoring lines.

Boston College will play the Gophers in one of the first-day games of the Mariucci Classic which is held during the holidays.

I also think that there are a few teams in this poll that won’t be there at the end of the season. If history repeats it’s self-there will be a couple of team in the season opening poll that will under achieve or not meet expectations and will end up having a season to forget. There will also be teams that no one expected to do well this season that will end up surprising the college hockey world. That's why they play the games.