Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

[SJHovey]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

I don't see how everyone has DU so high. They don't have ANY goaltender experience, and while Brittan sure looks like a good on, and Murray can't do any worse, there defense is still young, and was the weakness of last year's team.

I disagree with you. Denver's defense was actually very underrated last year, imho. Their primary weakness was goal scoring, and more particularily, depth of scoring.

I do agree with you, though, that people are underestimating Wisconsin and MN this year.

I think home ice in the WCHA, in no particular order, will include these teams:

Duluth
Minnesota
Denver
UND
Wisconsin
SCSU

 

[jcarter7669]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

I think I know the teams I'd put in the top 16. Just not sure about the order. Going by league (teams within leagues aren't ranked, they're alphabetical):

HE
BC
BU
Maine
UNH

ECAC
RPI
Yale

CCHA
Alaska
Miami
Michigan
MSU

WCHA
Denver
Minnesota
UMD
UND
St. Cloud
Wisconsin

As far as PRESEASON goes my guess is it will look something like this :


HE
BC
Maine
UVM
BU

ECAC
RPI
Yale


CCHA
Alaska
Miami
Michigan
Notre Dame
MSU


WCHA
Denver
UMD
UND
St. Cloud
Wisconsin

Just my guess. I don't think that's how it ends, but as for Preseason...

 

[SCSU Euro]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

I think home ice in the WCHA, in no particular order, will include these teams:

Duluth
Minnesota
Denver
UND
Wisconsin
SCSU

Pay the man, Shirley

 

[Puck Swami]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

SJ Hovey is right - DU's defense will likely be the best element of this year's team. They have a pretty experienced group back there with Lee, Donovan, Nutini, Ryder, Phillips and Wrenn returning, with one of the USHL's top D-men in Makowski coming in to compete for playing time. Donovan will be the breakout star of the group and should replace Weircioch's offensive role. Lee is one of the better shutdown guys in the WCHA returning. Ryder is a strong hitter, Nutini is consistent, and Wrenn and Philips both show big promise with strong skill packages. I am not worried about Denver's D.

Offensive scoring depth was THE issue last year, even with some very good offensive players (Rhakshani, Ruegsegger, Colbonrne, etc.). This year, the offense will likely be worse than last year as they try ot fill huge holes, especially in the first half of the season, with DU facing a murderous schedule. Bennett and Zucker as incoming freshmen are going to be asked to contribute right away, and will need to do so for Denver just to be a 3.0 GPG offense. Maiani, K. Osrow, D. Shore and Martin will need to be much better this year.

Galdalf is right that Denver is unproven in the nets. We have no idea how Murray and Brittain will perform at this level, other than to reference that for the last 10 years or so, DU's goaltending is usually upper echelon.

All in all, I see this team as a third place WCHA team at the top of their game and a WCHA seventh place team if they can't score above 2.75 GPG, or anywhere in between 3 and 7. They likely will be an NCAA bubble team.

 

[jerphisch]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

I don't really see why people are down on CC and expecting them to take a step back from last season. I think losing Testwuide will hurt, but other than that I don't see any other losses having an impact. They return 5 that played regularly on defense, and the current sophmore class played very well as freshman last season and should be improved. They also bring in a solid freshman class and I expect Jaden Schwartz will be in the hunt for WCHA ROY. I expect them to improve on last season and be in the top half.

 

[mookie1995]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

I don't really see why people are down on CC and expecting them to take a step back from last season. I think losing Testwuide will hurt, but other than that I don't see any other losses having an impact. They return 5 that played regularly on defense, and the current sophmore class played very well as freshman last season and should be improved. They also bring in a solid freshman class and I expect Jaden Schwartz will be in the hunt for WCHA ROY. I expect them to improve on last season and be in the top half.

probably because they've underachieved for a while now and it is a matter of not wanting to get burned yet again expecting them to do better than they will.

 

[jerphisch]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

probably because they've underachieved for a while now and it is a matter of not wanting to get burned yet again expecting them to do better than they will.

I think the argument could be made that they overachieved last season, so don't think that really holds up. They definitely exceeded preseason expectations during the first half of the season, and probably met them during the second half. The problem was the first half building up expectations for the second half.

 

[mookie1995]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

I think the argument could be made that they overachieved last season, so don't think that really holds up. They definitely exceeded preseason expectations during the first half of the season, and probably met them during the second half. The problem was the first half building up expectations for the second half.

i've asked this before... but what are people expectations going into a given year?

i always think and expect BU to contend for a national title. the facilities and history, along with what we put into the program makes a season like last year, or the one before our last national title a a huge letdown. if we ever get to the point where we sit around and say/type, "i really hope we win a beanpot and get home ice in HEA and make the ncaa's" and get satisfied with that - i'd quit following them. i can't even imagine what a fan group like "#26 union" goes through every year.

 

[SCSU Euro]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

I think losing Testwuide will hurt, but other than that I don't see any other losses having an impact.

So losing Sweatt... no impact there?

 

[Snively65]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

i've asked this before... but what are people expectations going into a given year?

i always think and expect BU to contend for a national title. the facilities and history, along with what we put into the program makes a season like last year, or the one before our last national title a a huge letdown. if we ever get to the point where we sit around and say/type, "i really hope we win a beanpot and get home ice in HEA and make the ncaa's" and get satisfied with that - i'd quit following them. i can't even imagine what a fan group like "#26 union" goes through every year.

I feel the same way about Bentley. But, this could be our year.

 

[Dude Love]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

Ain't that cute. St. Cloud has found a program THEY can make fun of. Goes to show that a bad as someone's team is, there's always someone worse.

Don't forget...we've also been making fun of NMU for about 4 months.

Pay the man, Shirley

Except I might poop my pants in shock if Minnesota finishes 6th or higher.

 

[jerphisch]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

So losing Sweatt... no impact there?

I think losing Sweatt and bringing in Schwartz is a net positive. Sweatt was a great skater, but he was not a scorer. He generated himself a lot of opportunities, but wasn't able to finish nearly enough of them. So I feel like his production is replaceable, where what Testwuide brought to the team will be harder to replace.

 

[SCSU Euro]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

I think losing Sweatt and bringing in Schwartz is a net positive.

Long-term, MAYBE, Schwartz ends up better than Sweatt. But Sweatt led CC in scoring last year, and had over 100 points in his CC career. And scoring 46 goals in a WCHA career is not someone who can't score; yeah, he might not have found the net as often as some CC greats, but we're expecting too much if we're saying losing someone like Bill Sweatt doesn't hurt a program. And while Jaden may be highly touted, he's proven nothing at this level, and greater recruits than him have ended up doing nothing. I'm not saying he will fall flat, or even likely will, I'm saying you can't count any freshman as a "guarantee" when they jump levels.

I will say that I don't think he has 33 points as a freshman (Sweatt's last year), and he won't hit 109 career points at CC.

 

[dave29]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

I will say that I don't think he has 33 points as a freshman (Sweatt's last year), and he won't hit 109 career points at CC.

You might be right. He might only be at CC for two years. That all depends on how he develops and what the Blues want for him. My take on CC this year is that they will be about the same as last year. While last years senior class didn't have a lot of top end talent, they had that experience of being through the wars etc. This years team will have a lot of underclassmen and that is tough to deal with. Especially in the WCHA. I think they will play and compete hard but they will probably finish somewhere around 5-8 in the league. I think CC has a good chance to be a factor in 2011-2012.

 

[vizoroo]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

SJ Hovey is right - DU's defense will likely be the best element of this year's team. They have a pretty experienced group back there with Lee, Donovan, Nutini, Ryder, Phillips and Wrenn returning, with one of the USHL's top D-men in Makowski coming in to compete for playing time. Donovan will be the breakout star of the group and should replace Weircioch's offensive role. Lee is one of the better shutdown guys in the WCHA returning. Ryder is a strong hitter, Nutini is consistent, and Wrenn and Philips both show big promise with strong skill packages. I am not worried about Denver's D.

Offensive scoring depth was THE issue last year, even with some very good offensive players (Rhakshani, Ruegsegger, Colbonrne, etc.). This year, the offense will likely be worse than last year as they try ot fill huge holes, especially in the first half of the season, with DU facing a murderous schedule. Bennett and Zucker as incoming freshmen are going to be asked to contribute right away, and will need to do so for Denver just to be a 3.0 GPG offense. Maiani, K. Osrow, D. Shore and Martin will need to be much better this year.

Galdalf is right that Denver is unproven in the nets. We have no idea how Murray and Brittain will perform at this level, other than to reference that for the last 10 years or so, DU's goaltending is usually upper echelon.

All in all, I see this team as a third place WCHA team at the top of their game and a WCHA seventh place team if they can't score above 2.75 GPG, or anywhere in between 3 and 7. They likely will be an NCAA bubble team.

My thoughts exactly on DU's Defense, I expect the top 7 will be strong. The only concern is if they have many injuries. Cook and Brehm are the only other D-men on the roster.

 

[komey1]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

i've asked this before... but what are people expectations going into a given year?

i always think and expect BU to contend for a national title. the facilities and history, along with what we put into the program makes a season like last year, or the one before our last national title a a huge letdown. if we ever get to the point where we sit around and say/type, "i really hope we win a beanpot and get home ice in HEA and make the ncaa's" and get satisfied with that - i'd quit following them. i can't even imagine what a fan group like "#26 union" goes through every year.

General expectations I have for RIT....
Play Hard. All goals will be met by doing this one thing.

 

[umassfan49]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

I don't really see why people are down on CC and expecting them to take a step back from last season. I think losing Testwuide will hurt, but other than that I don't see any other losses having an impact. They return 5 that played regularly on defense, and the current sophmore class played very well as freshman last season and should be improved. They also bring in a solid freshman class and I expect Jaden Schwartz will be in the hunt for WCHA ROY. I expect them to improve on last season and be in the top half.

They certainly need to be a top defensive team. I think goaltending wise Joe Howe has to play extremely well this year. He stepped in last year nicely and showed he could really play at times. I'd certainly take him over guys like Gudmundson and Eidsness any day.

 

[redhawkman10]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

1. Boston College
2. North Dakota
3. St. Cloud
4. Miami
5. Maine
6. Michigan
7. New Hampshire
8. Denver
9. Yale
10. Duluth

I would agree with this top 10. Order is meaningless but if it does come out something like this. We will see Miami vs SCSU and Miami vs New Hampshier in the first two weeks of the season... heckuva way to get your season underway....

I think that everyone is selling DU, and I'll go on record as buying. They've got a really talented incoming class, they've got a lot of forwards that weren't Rueggs, Rahk or Big Joe but that could step up in their absence, and I think a couple on the blueline could really shine. That, and I believe Murray will be one of the surprises of the season.

Im with you on Denver. They will be there In the pre-season based on name recognition and reputation. Whether that is the right thing to do or not is to be debated. But just like Michigan does Denver reloads not rebuilds. You can bet that the freshmen coming in will be extremely talented. Probably a given they will struggling out of the gate being so young but come the second half will probably make a run. Until it happens I wouldn't count them out before the year starts based on past history.

 

[Federal League]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

I would agree with this top 10. Order is meaningless but if it does come out something like this. We will see Miami vs SCSU and Miami vs New Hampshier in the first two weeks of the season... heckuva way to get your season underway....

I wouldn't be so high on UNH. Top 16 maybe, but not top 10. They lost two of their best scorers in Butler and LeBlanc plus their No. 1 and only relevant goalie. In addition, their freshman class isn't expected to be anything special (at least compared to what they usually bring in). BU, BC and UVM all look to have considerably better incoming classes in HE.

 

[LtPowers]

Re: Preseason Poll: 2010-2011

if we ever get to the point where we sit around and say/type, "i really hope we win a beanpot and get home ice in HEA and make the ncaa's" and get satisfied with that - i'd quit following them. i can't even imagine what a fan group like "#26 union" goes through every year.

Ah, a fair-weather fan! Didn't know there many of you who posted on these boards.

Some of you people have no idea how good you have it.


Powers &8^]