Voters on the USCHO.com national poll put Minnesota first and Denver second in the preseason. The WCHA’s coaches see it the other way.
Denver got six first-place votes and was the coaches’ pick to repeat as WCHA regular-season champions in the poll, conducted by Virg Foss of the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald.
Minnesota, the defending national champion, is second with three first-place votes. St. Cloud State, the third selection, received one vote for first.
Colorado College and North Dakota round out the top five. Wisconsin was selected for sixth place, with Minnesota-Duluth seventh, Minnesota State-Mankato eighth, Alaska-Anchorage ninth and Michigan Tech 10th.
Pioneers goaltender Wade Dubielewicz got seven of the 10 coaches’ votes as the preseason favorite to be the league’s player of the year. CC’s Peter Sejna (two) and Minnesota’s Keith Ballard (one) also received votes.
North Dakota’s Zach Parise was the pick as the preseason rookie of the year, getting nine of the 10 votes. Colorado College’s Mark Stuart got the other vote.
