CHN Preseason Top 10: Defending Champ UMD Earns Right to No. 1

by Joe Meloni/Senior Writer (@JoeMeloni)

Welcome back to college hockey. It doesn't seem that long ago that Minnesota-Duluth hoisted its second national championship trophy, both coming in St. Paul. This year's Frozen Four is in Buffalo, and UMD has a chance to be there again.

1. Minnesota-Duluth

When the NCAA tournament began last March, Minnesota-Duluth was lucky to have its sticks.

An uneven first half — stretches defined by bad goaltending and minimal offense — and a bad performance in the NCHC semifinals meant the Bulldogs were counting on some help from others to keep playing. UMD got the assistance it needed, qualifying for the NCAAs by .0001 RPI points, and made the most of its good fortune.

Even without the run to a second national championship, UMD looked like a potential favorite for the 2018-19 season. Losing Joey Anderson to an NHL contract didn't help. But then everyone else came back. Scott Perunovich, the nation's best freshman last season, returns to lead a deep defensive group. The scoring depth will need to continue. Hunter Shepard will need to find the form that made him one of nation's best goaltenders a year ago. The Bulldogs relied on departed upperclassmen, such as Karson Kuhlman and Jared Thomas, for scoring, situaional play, and leadership. There's talent on the way in the form of Cole Koepke, Noah and Jackson Cates, and Tanner Laderoute. It might take some time for UMD to find the formula it used a year ago or establish a new one entirely. But the pieces for a favorite in the perennially deep NCHC and the national picture are certainly there.

Aside from Anderson, the departure of Scott Sandelin's top lieutenant — Brett Larson — to in-state rival and NCHC foe St. Cloud State represents a major loss for UMD to overcome. Even still, UMD's talent and the pedidgree this program has earned under Sandelin makes it the favorite for every trophy there is in 2018-19.

2. Providence

It's hard to believe Providence went without a trophy in 2017-18. The Friars finished third in the Hockey East regular season, lost, 2-0, in the Hockey East championship game, and saw its season end in a regional final after Notre Dame took a decisive 2-1 lead with just 27 seconds left in regulation.

The culprit was different in each of the three competitions. Ultimately, the biggest issue PC had last year was bad luck. Some tough breaks on offense and the occasional bad goal are all it takes to turn a promising season into one defined by near misses. The Friars were as good as anyone last season. Just never at the right time.

Losing the two best forwards would normally be a difficult hurdle to overcome. Leading scorer Erik Foley opted to forgo his final year of eligibility for an NHL deal. Senior Brian Pinho graduated after four years as the three-zone force every coach wants. Fortunately for Nate Leaman, basically everything else is back. Hayden Hawkey returns for his senior year after a .919 junior year. In front of him, one of the nation's deepest and most diversely talented defensive units is back without a single significant departure and another year of development for two-way stars Jacob Bryson and Ben Mirageas. Philadelphia Flyers first-round pick Jay O'Brien highlights a recruiting class full of forwards ready to overcome the departures of Foley and Pinho.

A season ago, PC fell just short of everything. This year's roster boasts enough talent to help the Friars forget all about it.

3. St. Cloud State

Even after a devastating NCAA tournament loss to Air Force, plenty of reasons for optimism swirled around St. Cloud State. The Huskies return 108 off the 144 goals they scored last season. Goaltenders David Hrenak and Jeff Smith, both of whom carried the Huskies at times, are ready to serve as one of the nation's most formidable tandems for a second straight year.

As expected, a couple departures happened. Will Borgen and Mikey Eyssimont both left a year on the table to play professional hockey. But there was one more major change few could've expected — Bob Motzko.

Motzko headed south to run the state's flagship program in Minneapolis, leaving the Huskies with the most significant of vacancies.

Long-time UMD assistant Brett Larson took over to run the Huskies. He inherits one of the nation's deepest rosters and a program desperately seeking the one bit of hardware that separates it from its most hated rivals. Every program against which St. Cloud State measures itself has at least one national title. The Huskies have been good enough before. They're good enough to challenge once again.

4. Ohio State

One of the best seasons in program history ended and came with a clear message from the Ohio State players returning for the 2018-19 season — we'll be back.

The way they did it came with its share of detractors. As did some of the names involved. Sean Romeo never looked that good for that long in his time at Maine. Steve Rohlik never put together a team that played to that level. Sure, people expected Ohio State to compete in the Big Ten after their NCAA tournament appearance two years ago. Some programs have always have to prove it, though.

Even now, OSU enters this season with plenty of skeptics.

Few return the number of high-end contributors, though. Mason Jobst and Tanner Laczynski are back. Five defensemen who played at least 25 games are too. Romeo, who emerged from nowhere to post a .927 save percentage last season, returns as one of the nation's best goaltenders.

If it goes like it did last season, Ohio State will have plenty of chances to show everyone their program's best-ever season was hardly a fluke.

5. Boston College

After a game last season, Jerry York said something about his seniors before he stopped and corrected himself. He meant to credit all of the Eagles upperclassmen. He couldn't say anything about his seniors; there was only one. The Eagles are always young, but a couple year's worth of early departures left them especially devoid of experience.

Despite an uncommonly young roster, BC won a Hockey East regular-season title. They were just short of an NCAA tournament bid, losing to Boston University in a Hockey East semifinal. It's been rare that BC doesn't lose players to the pros, but all but one player — their lone senior Kevin Lohan — returns. And they welcome one of the nation's best recruiting classes, including New York Islanders No. 1 pick Oliver Wahlstrom.

BC used to be an annual inclusion on lists such as these. The days of the Eagles routinely being counted among the nation's top five teams may be over. But, this is still Boston College. The Eagles will always have talented rosters. This year's edition just may be good enough to get BC back into contention for a national championship.

6. Michigan

The Wolverines, working in Mel Pearson's first year as head coach there. got hot in mid-January last year. The run of good form — and even better goaltending — took Michigan all the way to the national semifinal.

There are some big losses for Michigan to absorb. Cooper Marody left a year of eligibility to sign with the Edmonton Oilers. Tony Calderone and Dexter Dancs graduated. They were three of the four Michigan players to score in double digits last year.

The thing with Michigan, as always, is that there's as much talent at Yost Ice Arena as there is anywhere else, including Hobey Baker candidate and 2018 first-round pick Quinn Hughes. Players of Hughes' talent level have carried lesser teams deep into the college hockey postseason before, but they were usually dominant forwards or elite goalies.

More than any other teams on this list, the Wolverines are a major candidate for a slow start. The skill level, along with the coaching acumen present on Michigan's bench, will have this team firing correctly by the break and start of the second half.

7. Boston University

It's expected by now that Boston University will lose players to the NHL before anticipated. The thing few expected was for the Terriers to lose their coach to the same suitors. Dave Quinn left after five years at his alma mater for a chance to coach one of the NHL's oldest franchises — the New York Rangers.

Quinn will get a great look at departed BU underclassmen Jordan Greenway (Minnesota Wild) and Brady Tkachuk (Ottawa Senators) in his new gig with the Rangers, too.

Albie O'Connell, long one of the great recruiters in eastern college hockey, gets his chance to run his own program. Like Quinn and Jack Parker before him, O'Connell is a BU alumnus. Unlike Quinn, it's also his first head coaching job, and his first year is anything but a rebuilding year.

BU welcomes its annual deep freshman class. The Terriers also return more than to overcome the losses of Greenway and Tkachuk.

Dante Fabbro is back for his junior year. He and fellow third-year Chad Krys lead one of the nation's deepest blue lines. Junior goaltender Jake Oettinger also returns after two strong years as the No. 1 at Agganis Arena.

The surprise of Quinn's departure came with some good news, though. BU successfully lured Paul Pearl from Harvard, replacing O'Connell after his promotion. Pearl's arrival at Harvard as an assistant in 2014 conincided with the resurgence of the Ivy League program. The only thing deeper than BU's roster may be its coaching staff.

8. Penn State

One day, Penn State will find a goaltender that turns the offensive juggernaut Guy Gadowsky has created into a true national title contender. Even without a goalie as good as the other teams on this list, Penn State's scoring prowess is enough to make them a favorite for a title run next April.

Leading scorer Andrew Sturtz is gone as is Trevor Hamilton and his 29 points from the blue line. However, the Nittany Lions bring back 12 players who picked up at least 10 points next season.

Penn State is going to score.

The question is will the opponent score even more?

Peyton Jones' inconsistency has held the Nittany Lions back for two years, especially in terms of collecting trophies. He returns for his junior year. Freshman Oskar Autio figures to get a look as well if Jones struggles.

9. Notre Dame

It comes down to coaching and goaltending with Notre Dame.

Cale Morris probably won't finish the season with the .944 save percentage he did a year ago. And there's plenty to replace on the rest of the ice, too. No. 1 and No. 2 defensemen Jordan Gross and Dennis Gilbert are gone. Top forwards Jake Evans and Andrew Oglevie have also moved on.

But it's always like this, and the results rarely change. Head coach Jeff Jackson and assistants Paul Pooley and Andy Slaggert, together, have created one of the nation's best and most stable programs.

Morris means the Fighting Irish will always be in games. The coaching staff means the rest of the Notre Dame team will do enough to win them.

UND will need to see some improvements from its returning forwards to account for the losses it sustained from its team that won a Big Ten double and fell a goal short a national championship. A year ago, Notre Dame needed to replace Anders Bjork and Cal Petersen. No one knew how it would happen. The only certainty is that Jackson and his staff will find a way.

10. North Dakota

There are about six to seven teams with a rightful claim to this final spot. Princeton, Cornell, Minnesota and a few others had just as good if not better seasons than North Dakota did in 2017-18.

Few of those teams have the combination of returning talent and potential difference-makers coming in quite like the Fighting Hawks, though.

The early departures of Shane Gersich and Christian Wolanin create some big holes. Peter Thome will need to prove he can be a true No. 1, lest freshman Adam Scheel emerge as the option for Brad Berry.

North Dakota gets penciled into these lists every year for a reason. They're talented, of course, but the program's coaches, whether it's Berry or Dave Hakstol before him, identify players who want to compete and win just as much as they find elite talent. They're always hard to play against. They're always in the mix when the season ends. This year won't be any different.

