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Gophers Lead Preseason Polls
Last season's national runner-up favored by both polls entering 2014-15.

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Reigning Big Ten Player of the Year Adam Wilcox returns to lead Minnesota (Photo by Larry Radloff).

Minnesota, coming off an appearance in the 2014 NCAA championship game, has been tabbed as the favorite in the 2014-15 preseason polls, released today by USA Hockey and USCHO.com.

The Gophers secured 68 of the 86 possible first-place votes between the two polls. North Dakota, which lost to Minnesota in the NCAA semifinals last spring, ranks second in both polls, with Providence and Boston College rounding out the top four, respectively.

Minnesota returns Big Ten Player and Goaltender of the Year Adam Wilcox and Defensive Player of the Year Mike Reilly, both first-team All-Americans. In all, returning players accounted for 128 goals and 331 points last season, second only to Robert Morris (132, 342) nationally.

Forty-three of the 59 teams in Division I received votes between the two polls.

NCAA men's hockey gets underway this Saturday with a busy slate of exhibition games, plus two regular-season games: Michigan at Ferris State and Michigan Tech at Lake Superior State.

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll
Sept. 29, 2014

No. Team (First-place votes) Points Last Year
1. Minnesota (32) 505 2
2. North Dakota (1) 449 5
3. Providence 431 9
4. Boston College 375 3
5. Colgate 315 13
6. St. Cloud State 272 8
7. Michigan 252 NR
8. Union (1) 237 1
9. Miami 236 NR
10. Ferris State 175 6
Notre Dame 175 11
12. Wisconsin 159 7
13. Minnesota State 136 12
14. Cornell 99 NR
15. Denver 54 15

Also receiving votes: Northeastern 51, UMass Lowell 42, Boston University 34, Minnesota Duluth 16, Yale 14, New Hampshire 12, Quinnipiac 10, Michigan Tech 9, Mercyhurst 6, Michigan State 6, Ohio State 4, Robert Morris 4.

USCHO.com Poll
Sept. 29, 2014

No. Team (First-place votes) Points Last Week
1. Minnesota (36) 978 NR
2. North Dakota (2) 874 NR
3. Providence (2) 839 NR
4. Boston College 831 NR
5. Union (9) 737 NR
6. Colgate (1) 652 NR
7. St. Cloud State 596 NR
8. Michigan 569 NR
9. Ferris State 532 NR
10. Wisconsin 497 NR
11. Miami 491 NR
12. Notre Dame 433 NR
13. Minnesota State 411 NR
14. Cornell 284 NR
15. Quinnipiac 282 NR
16. Northeastern 270 NR
17. UMass Lowell 247 NR
18. Denver 225 NR
19. New Hampshire 97 NR
20. Boston University 88 NR

Also receiving votes: Minnesota Duluth 87, Ohio State 76, Yale 57, Mercyhurst 54, Vermont 51, Robert Morris 27, Michigan Tech 26, Western Michigan 14, Dartmouth 13, Bowling Green 11, Michigan State 8, Nebraska Omaha 8, Rensselaer 5, Alaska 4, Harvard 4, Air Force 3, Brown 3, Clarkson 2, Maine 2, Masachusetts 2, Niagara 1, St. Lawrence 1.