Second Round predictions.

West
Duck and Redwings, Ducks in 7 games
The Ducks will BEAT the Redwings out.
Hiller > Osgood.

Canucks and Blackhawks, Blackhawks in 6 games
Buhlin Wall will prevail.
Canucks can't stop Toews and Kane.

East

Bruins and Canes, Bruins in 6 games
Thomas > Ward

Caps and Pens, Capitals in 5 games.
Ovechkin > Crosby

Please make note.

Please Note: the weekly prediction/pontification are done by Sioux7 and not me. So please do not burn an effigy of the Goon for this weeks predictions, I am not responsible for the predictions nor do I edit my other team members work. If you have an issue with Sioux7's predictions please address them to him not me.

CHN's WCHA Season Preview

The College Hockey News has released its WCHA season preview in two parts. (1) & (2) Not a lot of change from the other polls around the college hockey media. Personally I do not have a problem with this poll. Like I have mentioned in the past, these polls mean nothing once the puck drops. If anything it could fire the teams up to play better and show they are better than a _______ ranking.

1. Denver
2. Colorado College
3. Minnesota State Mavericks
4. North Dakota Fighting Sioux
5. Minnesota
6. St. Cloud State
7. Wisconsin Badgers
8. Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs
9. Michigan Tech Huskies
10. Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves

Here is what Dan Myers of the CHN Staff had to say about the Unversity of North Dakota Fighting Sioux. The biggest question for the Sioux is who is going to be the starting goaltender? I believe that question is going to be answered in a few weeks. I am predicting Freshman Brad Eidsness is going to be the man between the pipes.

North Dakota Fighting Sioux
Coach: Dave Hakstol
Last season: 28-11-4 overall, 18-7-3 WCHA

How they finished: North Dakota won the Midwest Regional and lost to eventual national champion Boston College in the national semifinals. UND was one of the nation’s top teams down the stretch, going unbeaten during an 18-game stretch from the beginning of January through mid-March, which has been a trend in recent years.

Changes: North Dakota lost two of their best players early to the NHL in forward T.J. Oshie and defenseman Taylor Chorney. Oshie and Chorney were arguably the two best players in the entire WCHA. They also lost senior goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux to graduation and will try to replace him with any number of untested options.

Strengths: Despite losing quality talent in all areas, North Dakota will bring in a number of blue-chip recruits to replace them. Chorney will be a tough loss, but the Sioux have a ton of talent at defense, which will be led by Joe Finley -- a towering force who stands at 6-foot-7. Chay Genoway is one of the conference’s most underrated talents. Freshmen Ben Blood and Corey Fienhage should step in and contribute immediately.

Weaknesses: Who is going to start in net? The favorite seems to be senior Aaron Walski -- who despite his advanced age, has played in only three games. Freshman Brad Eidsness and Graeme Harrington will also see plenty of time in net. The battle for the No. 1 job has not been decided. Is it because all three are playing well? Or is it because none of the three have stepped up? Only Hakstol knows the answer to that.

Outlook: Unlike years past, one can imagine North Dakota not finishing among the top two or three in the WCHA. They still might -- plenty of talent returns to the fold in Grand Forks, including oft-forgotten former Hobey Baker Award winner Ryan Duncan. But UND has no proven goaltender and in a conference like the WCHA, that could be a problem. Of course, they said the same thing about Colorado College last season.

Projected Finish: 4th

Bird cage liner: INCH'S WCHA Predicted Finish

Here is something you can line your bird cage with or put in your cat’s litter box; seriously folks it is no mystery that the writers at INCH are trying to get a rise out of their readership or they just plain didn’t do their homework.

First off: I am not all that shocked because this article was posted on INCH. Let’s just say INCH has a history of trying to incite the masses, by writing silly things. Most objective WCHA fans know that INCH has a love feast for Hockey East, EZAC and the CCHA and cant see past border of Michigan.

Also, INCH has a history of being wrong and writing stupid things about WCHA, that is why I take more credence in what the College Hockey News has to say they are more objective and balanced. All you have to do is listen to one of their podcasts and you will see what I mean. That is how I stay motivated during my winter workouts, I listen to INCH podscasts and it drives me nuts. That being said I do actually expect more out Jess Myers who is supposed to be a WCHA guy and usually doesn't write this type of objectionable garbage. I don't see a 7th place finish for the Sioux and if they do it isn't going to be pretty in Grand Forks, ND.

October 2, 2008
2008-09 WCHA Preview --- By Jess Myers
Predicted Finish

1. Colorado College: Yes, Jack Hillen is gone. But so many formidable elements return as the Tigers seek their fourth MacNaughton Cup in the past seven seasons.
2. Denver: Rakhshani and Ruegsegger (with a hefty helping of Bozak) make the Pioneers as hard to stop as they are to spell. The lone question is in goal.
3. St. Cloud State: Good goaltending and great offense return to the fold, as Husky fans swear this is the year they'll be playing in April, in Roe's backyard.
4. Wisconsin: With Gardiner joining McBain, Smith, Goloubef and McDonagh on the back side, the Badgers have arguably the most defensive talent in the nation.
5. Minnesota State: The political world isn't the only place where you'll find hard-working Mavericks who talk about the importance of veteran experience.
6. Minnesota: Thirteen members of the Gopher roster didn't play college hockey last year. A dozen of them are freshmen, and one, thankfully, is Ryan Stoa.
7. North Dakota: A lack of proven talent in goal is the big question for the Sioux. Of course, we had similar thoughts about CC last year, and that turned out fine.
8. Minnesota Duluth: The offensive depth and the goaltending are the bright spots at the DECC. But defensive questions need answers for the Bulldogs to move up.
9. Michigan Tech: The duo of Nolan in goal and Kinrade on the blue line is a good place to start. But the Huskies need goal-scorers to stay in the home ice race.
10. Alaska Anchorage: The trio of Lunden, Crowder and Clark combined for 73 points last season. Beyond them, well, did we mention that you can see Russia?

Here is what Ryan Duncan had to say on the Fighting Sioux chances, first thing that comes to mind is nice job of sand bagging Ryan. I have to admit that Duncan is class act and of course he isn't going to tip his hat on how good UND is going to be this year.

PRIMED FOR A FALL

North Dakota doesn't have any superstars, unless you count a former Hobey Baker winner.
The words sound like a sports cliché, until you remember that the guy uttering them has a Hobey on his resume.

"There are no superstars on our team this year," said North Dakota senior forward Ryan Duncan, who took home the game's top individual award as a sophomore. "There's a different team aspect here than in previous years."

The list of would-be Fighting Sioux who have elected to take a paycheck instead of a fourth (or in some cases, a third) year of college hockey is impressive. What remains in Grand Forks is a close-knit group of seven seniors determined to lead North Dakota on a fifth straight Frozen Four trip, and to win two more games than they have in previous years. Still, there are myriad questions to be answered about defense, goaltending (returning senior Aaron Walski has less than two full games worth of playing time in his college career) and who will lead the offense. Duncan welcomes the challenge, and invites opponents to make him the center of attention at their peril.

"If you're going to concentrate on me, you're going to have a whole heap of trouble from other guys," said Duncan, who is the team's top returning scorer with 40 points last season. "I'm just one piece of the puzzle, so if they want to focus on me, that's fine."

Media poll vs the Coaches poll.

Here are the results of the Capital times media poll.

STANDINGS
Team (first-place votes) Points Last year
1. Colorado College (22) 247 1
2. North Dakota (3) 210 2
3. Denver 192 3
4. Minnesota 156 7
(tie) Wisconsin 156 6
6. St. Cloud State 133 t4
7. Minnesota State 124 t4
8. Minnesota-Duluth 78 8
9. Michigan Tech 51 9
10. Alaska Anchorage 32 10

Here are the results of the WCHA Coaches poll.

1. Colorado College (8) 78
2. UND (2) 67
3. Denver 62
4. (tie) Minnesota 53
4. (tie) Wisconsin 53
6. St. Cloud State 48
7. MSU-Mankato 38
8. Minn.-Duluth 24
9. Michigan Tech 14
10. Anchorage 13

If you look at these two polls you will see that they shook out the EXACT same way, I would have never expected that in a 100 years. I mean Of course C.C. is the pick to repeat as the leauge champion, but you could get a lot of different variations from 2-10, well 2-9 at least.

I also think the only thing that is certain this season; is that there will be a lot of uncertainty in the WCHA this season. After the first place C.C. Tigers I think any of the teams in the 2-7 position could realistically finish in the top five.

It seems to be a yearly occurrence and this year is no different, there are going to be a few teams in the WCHA breaking in a high number of freshman. The Minnesota Golden Gophers has 12 freshmen on this season’s roster. While I have heard a few Gopher fans pointing to last season's Michigan team as an example of how Minnesota might/could finish, (for the record the Michigan Wolverines had 11 freshman on their team last season) that being said, I really believe last years Wolverine team was an enigma and they finished the regular season relatively unscathed even with a high number of freshman. Realistically the season could have finished a whole lot differently for the Wolverines. Hockey is a game of breaks; a couple of bad break here and a couple of bad moves here could have landed the Wolverines lower in the CCHA standings. That also doesn't mean I think the Gophers are going to suck. The Gophers have a lot of question marks like the many of the other 9 teams in the league not named the Tigers.

Some of the Pressing issues

Some of the other issues that are going to surface are: 1.) How are DU and UND going to fare with their untested goaltenders? 2.) Who is going to score for MTU and UMD? 3.) Can UAA win more the 6 games? 4.) Will UMN have more scoring punch than last season?

WCHA fans are soon going to find out how the regular season shakes out. This is why they play the games. Preseason Polls/rankings mean nothing after the drop of the puck of the first game. In fact preseason rankings could probably serve a better purpose as bird cage liner or toilet paper for your out house behind the hunting shack. Being the defending WCHA league champion, means nothing once the regular season begins, teams are going to be coming after the C.C. Tigers hard. With that being said, it is my pleasure to say that the Tigers now officially have the target on their back.

Hockey East Poll released...

How the mighty have fallen: I saw this story in the Boston Globe, I would predict if the Black Bears finish that low again this year they will have a coaching Change, the Black Bears are only one season removed from going to the Frozen Four before bowing out to the eventual NCAA champion.

Maine tabbed No. 9 in Hockey East poll--- September 29, 2008
The University of Maine hockey team has been picked to finish ninth in the Hockey East conference in this year's preseason coaches poll.

The poll was released Monday at the Hockey East media day at TD Banknorth Garden in Boston.

Boston College was picked to finish first in the conference, followed by Boston University, New Hampshire and Northeastern.

Vermont was picked to come in fifth, followed by Massachusetts, UMass-Lowell, Providence and Maine. Merrimack was picked to come in last.

The Black Bears missed the Hockey East playoffs last year for the first time since 1998.

Of course on the flip side of that equation the Boston College Eagles have been picked to finish first in Hockey East. Way to go out on a limb there.

Defending NCAA champ BC tops preseason Hockey East poll
September 30, 2008 --- Defending NCAA men's national champion Boston College received six first-place votes and 86 points yesterday to edge Boston University atop the Hockey East preseason poll, the conference announced at media day at TD Banknorth Garden.

The Eagles, who earned the nation's No. 1 preseason ranking according to the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll released last week, return 15 letter men from last season's 25-win club.

Joe Whitney and Ben Smith, the second- and third-leading Hockey East scorers, and goalie John Muse (25-11-8 in his freshman season) are back for BC, which opens its season Oct. 10 against Wisconsin at Conte Forum.

This is how it looks on paper

1. B.C.
2. B.U.
3. UNH
4. Northeastern
5. UVM
6. UMass
7. UMass-Lowell
8. Providence
9. Maine
10. Merrimack