A Look Back At The Preseason Rankings
By Fetch
I did this last year and found that I had some hits, some misses, and a lot of eh. A quick perusal of this year’s list shows more of the same…but let’s take a closer look.
1. Denver
Denver was far and away the preseason #1, and was absolutely loaded…..and then lost to RIT in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Still, they were a #1 seed for a reason, and the MacNaughton Cup winners.
2. Miami
After a heartbreaking loss in the 09 title game, I put money on Miami to get back there. They didn’t quite get there, but by getting to the Frozen again they certainly acquitted themselves well.
3. Boston U
Whoops. The defending national champs were easily the most disappointing team this year.
4. Cornell
Maybe a bit of an overrank, but the Big Red had almost everyone back, and I thought their defense could get them to Detroit. But they had a bit of a meltdown in the first round against UNH and ended disappointingly.
5. Notre Dame
Tons of talent up front, an All-American on the blue-line, and some questions in net. It just never happened for the Irish this year, as they missed the NCAA tournament.
6. Princeton
I’m blaming injuries for this, but there’s no getting around the fact that the Tigers just weren’t good this year.
7. North Dakota
They finished 1 slot away from where they started. Looks like I had the Sioux pegged this year.
8. Minnesota
Two disappointing years in a row for the Gophers. So much talent, so little results.
9. Michigan
They needed the autobid to make the NCAA tournament, but were a bounce away from the Frozen Four.
10. Yale
The ECAC Champs didn’t fall off as much as I expected them to, as they won the ECAC regular season again and made it to the regional final.
11. UMass-Lowell
After a great run in the 2009 Hockey East tournament, Lowell just didn’t put it together all the way this year and just missed the NCAAs
12. St. Cloud State
The Huskies rode one of the better goalie tandems in the country to their first ever NCAA tournament win.
13. New Hampshire
I figured they would be in the NCAA tournament, but didn’t peg them as Hockey East regular season champs.
14. Air Force
Although they returned the principles from the defending Atlantic Hockey champs, the Falcons never got it going and ended up finishing 3rd.
15. Boston College
Um, whoops.
16. Northern Michigan
I was much more bullish on Northern than most people, and the Wildcats rewarded me by making the NCAA tournament.
All in all I was way off on the two Boston teams (although it looks like most other people were too) and I was disappointed by Notre Dame, Minnesota and Princeton. But I feel somewhat redeemed by Northern Michigan and North Dakota. Still, I hope to do better with next year’s list.
This summer will feature a lot of early departure talk as well as some NHL draft and NHL playoffs stuff, and I may or may not start my season preview a little early this year. Still, I think year 2 was a success here at TCHB. I joined the FanSided network, got interviewed by Puck Daddy, and through Twitter got to “know” a lot of people around the college hockey universe, including the guys at INCH who basically inspired me to do this. Thanks for reading everyone.