We're about two weeks into U.S. college hockey's regular season and have already seen some dramatic changes take place in the league's balance of power. Maine grabbed the first spot in the national polls this week after a weekend sweep of North Dakota, while previously No. 1 ranked Boston College fell to number five after a humiliating 7-1 defeat at the hands of Notre Dame. As always, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association is highly competitive with seven teams in this week's Top 20 Poll. Let's take a look at the WCHA's top five contenders for a national title for the rest of the season:
1. Wisconsin
The Badgers lost their top five scorers from last year's national championship team, a tough deficit for any program to deal with. Despite all the new faces, senior goalie Brian Elliott is still in front of the net and gives the team a legitimate chance to stay competitive in every game. The Badgers' season has been a series of ups and downs thus far. Despite three strong wins, they lost in overtime to a tough North Dakota team and tied subpar teams Northern Michigan and Minnesota-Duluth. A lot of their recent inconsistency can be attributed to devastating injuries to their three top returning scorers: sophomore Jack Skille, junior Kyle Klubertanz, and senior Ross Carlson. Still, breakout freshmen such as Michael Davies have picked up the slack. Wisconsin will need its fill-ins to play as a unit with a rematch of last year's National Championship this weekend against Boston College.
2. Minnesota
The Gophers had perhaps the best recruiting class of anyone in the WCHA, even though they lost just as many players. They have come out strong in their first five games with a 4-1 record and the top scoring offense in the WCHA by a significant margin. They have four of the top ten WCHA point leaders in Tyler Hirsch, Jay Barriball, Alex Goligoski and Mike Vannelli. The Gophers are also among the leaders in defense and power play efficiency. However, Minnesota has yet to play a conference game and has plenty to prove in the upcoming weeks to back up its No. 3 national ranking.
3. North Dakota
In the Sioux's first four games, they looked as tough as ever, backed by a relentless, 3-2 overtime win over Wisconsin. This past weekend was a reality check when they were swept by Maine. The Sioux have maintained a balanced attack, with no players ranking inside the top 10 of the WCHA in any major category but still staying strong in games. They're tied for the fourth-best scoring defense, allowing 15 goals in six games. North Dakota desperately needs to work on its power-play and penalty-killing effectiveness in order to stay competitive against difficult teams.
4. St. Cloud State
The last few years have been a struggle, as St. Cloud State has not made it to the NCAA tournament since 2002-2003. They finished sixth overall last year, but still finished first and second in defense and penalty killing respectively. This year St. Cloud State has a lot more confidence, especially with All-WCHA goalie Bobby Goepfert due for another tremendous season. St. Cloud State is also hoping for big things from freshman forward Andreas Nodl, who has already made a name for himself by averaging two points per game in St. Cloud's first four contests.
5. Denver
Denver's season has been strong so far with a 3-3 record, but the Pioneers offense promises to face a great deal of challenges with junior forward Ryan Dingle as their only accomplished scorer. They lost two 52-point scorers this season to early departure: defenseman Matt Carle and forward Paul Statsny. Surprisingly, they have two forwards among the WCHA leaders in points so far this year, sophomore Brock Trotter and freshman Tyler Reugseger. Denver has a great deal of experience in the coaching position as George Gwozdecky enters his 13th season on the bench.
