If we run into each other, feel free to congratulate me. I was the only one who predicted before the season that Minnesota State and Minnesota-Duluth would be tied for eighth in the USCHO.com PairWise Rankings in the final month of the regular season.
Just kidding.
No one logically foresaw the success of those teams this season, and the shakeup that has occurred in the WCHA this season is also displayed around the rest of the country.
The Minnesota State Mavericks come to Madison this weekend having the most surprising season of any team in college hockey. Head coach Troy Jutting, in his ninth season, has somehow revived Mankato after it started off 1-6-1 in the WCHA. The Mavericks have gone 8-3-3 since that point, the fewest amount of losses - along with North Dakota - of any WCHA team in the last 14 conference games.
Heading into the spring semester, it appeared as if Minnesota State still was left for dead but the Mavericks have won six in a row (five at home) to arrive at .500 in the WCHA.
The Kohl Center faithful saw what Minnesota-Duluth was made of two weekends ago when the Bulldogs came into Madison and outplayed Wisconsin for much of the series. In the Friday night game, Duluth pressured Wisconsin for the entire third period, causing the students to break out in song so they could keep themselves entertained. Saturday night, the offensive aggressiveness turned into an overtime victory for the Bulldogs.
Unfortunately for the Minnesota Golden Gophers, not all surprises are good. The maroon and gold were picked by the 37th annual Grand Forks Herald Preseason WCHA Poll to finish second in the conference and received first place nominations in both the Herald and the USCHO.com polls.
Haltered by the loss of sophomore forward Kyle Okposo to the NHL's New York Islanders, an inconsistent goaltender in junior Jeff Frazee, and virtually no scoring - the Gophers are tied for last in goals scored in the WCHA with Michigan Tech - Minnesota has sputtered to seventh in the WCHA.
In the Hockey East conference, the coasties have experienced a similar theme this season.
Northeastern, which won the Badger Hockey Showdown at the end of December, has one NHL draft pick on its roster (compared to Wisconsin's nine, for instance) yet has found ways to beat top teams such as Boston College and New Hampshire.
Adversely, Boston University was ranked No. 9 nationally preseason. The Terriers, who lost to the same Robert Morris team Wisconsin scored 15 goals against, have no chance of making the NCAA Tournament with a 10-14-4 record.
This college hockey season has served as a well-crafted thesis statement as to why preseason polls should not exist. It also shows that every fan of a college hockey team should eagerly anticipate every season because you never know what will happen from October to April. You just never know.
E-mail Eric at elevine@wisc.edu.
