Western Collegiate Hockey Association time! Conference play begins this week for Wisconsin and this year's edition promises to be the most exciting and competitive that any of us have seen since being students here.
Heading into this weekend, eight of the 10 WCHA teams are ranked in the top 20 in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll. Alaska-Anchorage is three spots out of the rankings. Only Minnesota State did not receive votes. The Mavericks are the lone WCHA team to have a losing record.
Badger fans will be treated to the elite of college hockey teams this season. No. 13 Michigan Tech, a team that took two of three from Wisconsin last season, is here this weekend after splitting with then- top-ranked North Dakota. Next weekend Wisconsin will face the No. 2 Fighting Sioux, a team that has made the Frozen Four each of the last three seasons.
Besides the Sioux and the Huskies, the No. 8 Golden Gophers are the next highest ranked team to come to Madison this season. This time, students will actually get to attend the game, as this year's rivalry series in Madison occurs after winter break. Last season's split occurred in early January. Minnesota lost much of its talent from last season, but just the fact that these two teams might be top-10 at the time, vying for the top spot in the conference, makes this series potentially huge.
Colorado College sits one spot behind Minnesota at No. 9 in the polls. Sadly, the Tigers are in Madison during winter break, so only the most loyal and most lucky to live in the area will get to see another fantastic WCHA series.
When Minnesota-Duluth came to town last season, the Badgers won and tied against the Bulldogs. One enjoyable thing to watch will be Bulldog sophomore goalie Alex Stalock. His style of play is as risky as one will see. Last season at the Kohl Center, the netminder traveled to all ends of the ice to play pucks. This led to multiple scoring chances for Wisconsin. No. 15 Duluth features more than just an overzealous goaltender this season, as the seasoned Bulldogs feature a strong team.
At the end of November, No. 19 St. Cloud State comes to town. The Huskies stand as the last WCHA team Wisconsin beat, in possibly the Badgers' best performancelast season in the conference tournament's consolation game to upset the Huskies 4-3. Wisconsin appears to have grasped some of that momentum and taken it into this season to start 3-1-0.
The question is whether the rest of the country is as good as it has been in years past.
Miami University is the top team in the nation according to the pollsters. The last two seasons, the RedHawks have been stacked near the top of the rankings, yet have failed to make a Frozen Four appearance each time. In the last two NCAA tournaments, it has bowed out to Boston College which has gone onto the national championship game each season, a tough shortcoming of Miami's to criticize. This season, the RedHawks return almost everyone from a team that averaged over three goals a game last season. Miami already beat Ohio State twice 5-1; a Buckeye team Wisconsin lost to 5-3 earlier this season.
The CCHA has another team in the top three, in third ranked Michigan. Last season, the Wolverines came to Madison and beat Wisconsin after trailing in the third period. Like the Badgers, Michigan has a very young team, but already looks to be heading in the right direction after sweeping Boston University and Northern Michigan to begin the season.
New Hampshire, Boston College and Michigan State are the remaining non-WCHA teams in the top ten. The No. 4 Wildcats are good, but lost some of its talent when forward Trevor Smith signed with the NHL's New York Islanders this summer. New Hampshire swept Colorado College this past weekend. No. 5 Boston College lost goalie Cory Schneider but returns pretty much the rest of its team, and No. 6 Michigan State is the defending national champion until April.
Throughout the rest of the top 20, Clarkson (11) Maine (12) and Notre Dame (14) make unsurprising appeances. A few uncommon teams in Rensselaer (17) and Niagara (18) are also ranked. Each of those teams has the talent to hang with the best teams in the country.
With the WCHA's success nationally in recent years (seven of the last eight national champions) and tons of young talent, the conference is clearly the best in the country. New Hampshire's sweep of Colorado College, however, shows that there will be much parity throughout the nation this season, which will make the next six months even more interesting. No matter the result, Badger fans will be treated to an awesome home hockey season ... possibly the most competitive we've seen in awhile. Who ever thought we would be this excited about a Michigan Tech series? Let conference play begin!
Tell Eric you are as excited as he is about the WCHA this season by emailing him at elevine@wisc.edu.
