Colorado College was picked as the favorite by WCHA media members, with polling conducted by The Capital Times of Madison, Wis. Twenty-five writers covering the WCHA were polled, with the Tigers the resounding winner of the balloting with 22 first-place votes and 247 overall points.
North Dakota came in second place with the remaining three first-place votes, while Denver was a clear third.
Minnesota and Wisconsin tied for fourth to fill out the upper half of the league predictions, followed by St. Cloud State and then Minnesota State in sixth and seventh. Minnesota Duluth, Michigan Tech and Alaska Anchorage rounded out the poll.
In other voting, CC’s Chad Rau was selected as the league’s preseason Player of the Year and Denver’s Joe Colborne as the Rookie of the Year. Rau, Ryan Lasch of SCSU, Ryan Duncan of UND, Wisconsin’s Jamie McBain, Chay Genoway of UND and CC’s Richard Bachman made up the preseason First Team all-WCHA.
Complete balloting was as follows:
WCHA Preseason Media Poll
Team (Firsts) Points
1. Colorado College (22) 247
2. North Dakota (3) 210
3. Denver 192
4. Minnesota 156
4. Wisconsin 156
6. St. Cloud State 133
7. Minnesota State 124
8. Minnesota-Duluth 78
9. Michigan Tech 51
10. Alaska Anchorage 32
Player Of The Year
Player (votes)
Chad Rau, Colorado College (14)
Richard Bachman, Colorado College (4)
Tyler Bozak, Denver (2)
Ryan Duncan, North Dakota (2)
Ryan Lasch, St. Cloud State (2)
Rookie Of The Year
Player (votes)
Joe Colborne, Denver (7)
Aaron Ness, Minnesota (5)
Jordan Schroeder, Minnesota (5)
Jake Gardiner, Wisconsin (2)
Jason Gregoire, North Dakota (1)
Derek Stepan, Wisconsin (1)
David Toews, North Dakota (1)
All-League First Team
F Chad Rau, Colorado College
F Ryan Lasch, St. Cloud State
F Ryan Duncan, North Dakota
D Jamie McBain, Wisconsin
D Chay Genoway, North Dakota
G Richard Bachman, Colorado College
