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Who will be the "darkhorse" in the WCHA this season?

Re: Who will be the "darkhorse" in the WCHA this season?

SCSU Euro said:
He wasn't saying he played any games with him, he said that Monty would've made a save on Hartigan in practice.
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Thank you!

And TB you can deny it all you want to...you and the "RESPECT!!" crowd (which you werent part of) were jizzing in your pants over the "report" that Monty robbed Harty on his wicked slappah in practice. Feel free to keep denying it though :d
 
Re: Who will be the "darkhorse" in the WCHA this season?

Flashy Man said:
I say MTU, as Coach Russell put it to the Misfits tonight, last year we never really had the chance to play as a team with all the injuries, so it's still to be seen what the team can accomplish.
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you're joking, right? Really?

Puck Swami said:
Hate to say it, but CC will be better than people think.
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bottom half team. Guaranteed.

Minnesota will be the "dark horse" this season. Before you judge me, keep in mind that this is a team that got lucky to finish 5th last season. They will return to the top 3-4 spots and will likely make a run in the playoffs.

St. Cloud sucks as always this year.
 
Re: Who will be the "darkhorse" in the WCHA this season?

Darkhorse to win the conference is Wisconsin, I believe they are a favorite to win the conference specially when you factor in there schedule, only playing DU and UND once and no trip to UAA but not a lot of publications or websites are very high on UWs so nationally they have to be considered a darkhorse. Plus not a lot of people look at the schedule and how that will play out, UW has far and away the easier conf. schedule. They return everybody but McBain (D), Gorowsky (F) and Connelly (G). With the depth and talent on D losing McBain won't hurt that bad IMO. Losing Gorowsky is not that big of a deal because we get Ben Street back who missed all of last season with an ACL and I think Ben Street is a better all around player then Gorowsky anyway. Losing Connelly in goal could have hurt a little bit but we got Brett Bennett who put up decent numbers at BU and dominated the USHL last season so i think all and all the goaltending will be a tad better with the potential to be great. If you look strictly at the returning group of players of the teams outside of DU, UND and UM who are everyones top 3 in the conf. Wisconsin has far and beyond the best group of starters returning both numbers wise and Talent wise. So to come out of the pack and contend for a conference title I will pick wisconsin but personally anybody who knows anything about the WCHA probably wouldn't be surprised if they did.

As far as a Darkhorse that could jump up into the top 5 i'm going to pick st. cloud, they return a ton of offensive talent so if they can get average goaltending they will be a tough team to get points from all season long.

A team to watch for will be UAA, they faded a tad last season but they played a lot of good hockey all season long and really could have finished higher then 9th last season without those tough loses.

Once again this season will be much like last season IMO, which means the WCHA will beat that crap out of each other all season long again and probably only get 4 into the NCAA tourney. The reg season conf title will most likely come down to the final weekend with Wisconsin playing at Minnesota being the key series for UW, UM, UND and DU
 
Re: Who will be the "darkhorse" in the WCHA this season?

I'm gonna just leave that hanging curveball for someone else to hit out of the park.
 
Re: Who will be the "darkhorse" in the WCHA this season?

uwbadgers14 said:
Darkhorse to win the conference is Wisconsin, I believe they are a favorite to win the conference
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Anyone else find that an odd statement?

Actually, I think they're too high up, and believe DU, UND and UW are all not allowed to be anyone's Darkhorse this year. I think the consensus has Wisconsin finishing higher than Minnesota, so I have no problem with the Gophers being a darkhorse, but I think the Badgers is too much of a stretch, especially because they finished 3rd last year.

Also, I think Wisconsin could be very good, but who has the easiest schedule isn't a great argument to make. They talk about it all the time in the NFL, but you never know how teams will be from one year to the next, and at least in the NFL you don't play similar teams, whereas in the WCHA there isn't a huge difference in schedule... you either play a team twice or four times. Not something to make a case on IMHO.

And while I too have faith in Bennett, that is the BIG question mark for UW. You can't ever say that an unproven goalie is for sure gonna come in and succeed. I'm not even saying that Mike Lee is a slamdunk... he's probably the most likely goalie to succeed, but even that I wouldn't call a 3 to 1 bet.
 
Re: Who will be the "darkhorse" in the WCHA this season?

Wisconsin is no darkhorse. I don't think anyone who really follows the league would be very surprised to see the Badgers win the league this year. Plenty of talent and leadership there. They will be very hard to beat, IMHO.

I think DU, UW, UND and Minn will be all be very capable upper division teams, with SCSU, CC, UMD, MSUM and UAA all capable of stepping into the upper half if favorites falter. I don't think MTU is upper division material this year, but even they can be hard to play against when they get good goaltending.

Our league is a meatgrinder, pure and simple.
 
Re: Who will be the "darkhorse" in the WCHA this season?

goldy_331 said:
Not given the source. Seems par for that course. ;)
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tgat was the kindler, gentler, more subtle shot at someone. Apparently my posts make some feel that I really take any of you people seriously. :D
 
Re: Who will be the "darkhorse" in the WCHA this season?

Sloe Gin said:
St. Cloud sucks as always this year.
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If the D improves, and yes that is the big question, but if they improve, even to "average" IMO, this team has the scoring and will get the goaltending to be a team to be reckoned with.
They may not win it all, or even hit top 3, but the Huskies will not be a team to be taken lightly.
Losing Weslosky hurts in experience but Lee is more talented so it could balence out.
IMO, the days of freshmen goalies automatically being a liability in college hockey are over, especially given what we've seen in the league and nationally the past few seasons.
 
Re: Who will be the "darkhorse" in the WCHA this season?

First Time said:
If the D improves, and yes that is the big question, but if they improve, even to "average" IMO, this team has the scoring and will get the goaltending to be a team to be reckoned with.
They may not win it all, or even hit top 3, but the Huskies will not be a team to be taken lightly.
Losing Weslosky hurts in experience but Lee is more talented so it could balence out.
IMO, the days of freshmen goalies automatically being a liability in college hockey are over, especially given what we've seen in the league and nationally the past few seasons.
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A few examples and the exception has now become the rule? This Mike Lee has the weight of the world on him already and the first puck hasn't dropped yet.
 
Re: Who will be the "darkhorse" in the WCHA this season?

Twitch Boy said:
My theory is mostly based on who they'd likely have to beat to make such a run. Tech is Tech :(, CC is pretty much depleted, and tUMD lost just about everybody. Mankato doesn't seem to be anything special, but could also be a lower-middle pack dark horse (don't know too much about them, though.) You're telling me UAA can't sneak in the back door and nick most or all of those teams by one point in the standings?

And keep in mind, that 9th place finish was with 23 points. 8th had 26, 7th had 27, 6th had 28, 5th had 29. The WCHA is so tight that one point could be (and has been) equal to one position. The bottom half of this conference is wide open.

It's a possibility. Not a guarantee by a long shot, but a possibility.
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CC may be depleted but they're a top caliber program, they'll find a way to bounce back and put together a pretty good year. Mankato ISN'T anything special, and will continue to be that way. I'm glad you didn't say anything about SCSU, because I'm just sick and tired of hearing about Jesus Christ (Mike Lee) savior of all going in goal this year. And how do you figure we lost everybody at tUMD? Last time I checked we still have the Connelly's, Fontaine, a good physical core of defensemen, and a heck of a goalie taking Stalock's place in Brady Hjelle. Not to mention we're gaining Dylan Olsen, preseason pick to be rookie of the year, and Mike Seidel, who I know has proven nothing but is said to be a great goal scorer. You can sit here and say all you want that the only reason we made that late season run is because of stalock, but that would be a total load of crap. Any goalie can look good when you get one shot on you in the third period of the championship game. (as beersong stated) A strong physical defense (which will only get better when you add a couple of talented 6 foot something 200 and some odd pound defenders in) can get you a long ways, and tends to help unseasoned goalies. I'm not saying tUMD is going to be a dark horse, or that UAA can't be. All I'm saying is don't write people off without knowing all the facts first.
 
Re: Who will be the "darkhorse" in the WCHA this season?

ScoobyDoo said:
A few examples and the exception has now become the rule? This Mike Lee has the weight of the world on him already and the first puck hasn't dropped yet.
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Doubtful as he likely doesn't read anything from any fan on here and I doubt Motzko is telling him he has to be the savior and win a bunch of 2-1 games as the team in front of him can't score, this team can score.
He will get pushed by Dunn as Dunn knows that with Weslosky gone this his shot to start and I'm sure he doesn't want a rookie beating him out.
But hey, he had massive expectations last year for Fargo and all he did was lead them to the Finals and be named Goalie of the Year.
Somehow I don't think pressure is going to be a massive problem.
 
Re: Who will be the "darkhorse" in the WCHA this season?

First Time said:
Doubtful as he likely doesn't read anything from any fan on here and I doubt Motzko is telling him he has to be the savior and win a bunch of 2-1 games as the team in front of him can't score, this team can score.
He will get pushed by Dunn as Dunn knows that with Weslosky gone this his shot to start and I'm sure he doesn't want a rookie beating him out.
But hey, he had massive expectations last year for Fargo and all he did was lead them to the Finals and be named Goalie of the Year.
Somehow I don't think pressure is going to be a massive problem.
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Yes, and we all know that performance in the USHL is directly proportional to what happens in the WCHA.

My post was specifically about your rule change. The rule was that freshmen goaltenders coming in right away and being effective is rare. You've now stated that that has changed. I'm questioning that.
 
Re: Who will be the "darkhorse" in the WCHA this season?

Will "Thank Parise" or, "Dear Parise" now be replaced with, "Thank Lee"?
 
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