Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Leagues Tab Preseason Favorites
Coach, media preseason polls released as 2017-18 season nears.
The six NCAA conferences have released preseason coaches’ and/or media polls, pegging the favorites to claim conference titles in 2017-18.
Defending regular-season champions are favored in four conferences: the Big Ten (Minnesota), ECAC Hockey (Harvard), Hockey East (Boston University) and the NCHC (Denver). Atlantic Hockey coaches tabbed defending tournament champion Air Force as the favorite, while Minnesota State was favored by coaches and media in the WCHA.
Defending NCAA champion Denver was the lone unanimous choice as favorite among the conferences that released voting totals (the Big Ten did not).
The closest race in the polls came in Hockey East, where the 11 first-place votes were divided among five schools. UMass Lowell, picked second in the poll, had five first-place votes to lead all teams.
Scroll down for each conference’s preseason poll:
Atlantic Hockey
| Coaches’ Poll | ||
| 1. | Air Force (8) | 97 pts. |
| 2. | Robert Morris (2) | 87 |
| 3. | Army West Point | 76 |
| 4. | RIT | 70 |
| 5. | Canisius (1) | 65 |
| 6. | Holy Cross | 58 |
| 7. | Mercyhurst | 52 |
| 8. | Bentley | 38 |
| 9. | AIC | 27 |
| 10. | Sacred Heart | 20 |
| 11. | Niagara | 15 |
Big Ten
| Coaches’ Poll | |
| 1. | Minnesota |
| 2. | Notre Dame |
| 3. | Wisconsin |
| 4. | Penn State |
| 5. | Ohio State |
| 6. | Michigan |
| 7. | Michigan State |
ECAC Hockey
| Coaches’ Poll | ||
| 1. | Harvard (9) | 119 pts. |
| 2. | Quinnipiac (1) | 106 |
| 3. | Cornell (1) | 95 |
| 4. | Clarkson (1) | 91 |
| 5. | Princeton | 80 |
| 6. | Union | 72 |
| 7. | St. Lawrence | 69 |
| 8. | Yale | 54 |
| 9. | Dartmouth | 33 |
| 10. | Rensselaer | 32 |
| 11. | Colgate | 23 |
| 12. | Brown | 18 |
Media Poll | ||
| 1. | Harvard (25) | 342 pts. |
| 2. | Quinnipiac (3) | 324 |
| 3. | Cornell (1) | 272 |
| 4. | Princeton | 246 |
| 5. | Clarkson | 231 |
| 6. | Union (1) | 195 |
| Yale | 195 | |
| 8. | St. Lawrence | 188 |
| 9. | Dartmouth | 110 |
| 10. | Rensselaer | 82 |
| 11. | Brown | 76 |
| 12. | Colgate | 68 |
Hockey East
| Coaches’ Poll | ||
| 1. | Boston University (2) | 90 pts. |
| 2. | UMass Lowell (5) | 88 |
| 3. | Providence (2) | 83 |
| 4. | Boston College (1) | 75 |
| 5. | Northeastern (1) | 72 |
| 6. | Vermont | 54 |
| 7. | Connecticut | 39 |
| 8. | New Hampshire | 37 |
| 9. | Merrimack | 29 |
| t-10. | Maine | 19 |
| t-10. | Massachusetts | 19 |
NCHC
| Media Poll | ||
| 1. | Denver (30) | 240 pts. |
| 2. | St. Cloud State | 187 |
| 3. | North Dakota | 172 |
| 4. | Minnesota Duluth | 160 |
| 5. | Miami | 104 |
| 6. | Western Michigan | 102 |
| 7. | Omaha | 83 |
| 8. | Colorado College | 32 |
WCHA
| Coaches’ Poll | ||
| 1. | Minnesota State (8) | 90 pts. |
| 2. | Bemidji State (1) | 81 |
| 3. | Michigan Tech | 70 |
| 4. | Bowling Green | 67 |
| 5. | Ferris State | 59 |
| 6. | Lake Superior State | 51 |
| 7. | Northern Michigan | 40 |
| 8. | Alaska | 35 |
| 9. | Alabama Huntsville | 29 |
| 10. | Alaska Anchorage | 18 |
Media Poll | ||
| 1. | Minnesota State (12) | 137 pts. |
| 2. | Bemidji State | 115 |
| 3. | Michigan Tech (1) | 110 |
| 4. | Bowling Green (1) | 108 |
| 5. | Ferris State | 81 |
| 6. | Lake Superior State | 62 |
| 7. | Northern Michigan | 59 |
| 8. | Alaska | 43 |
| 9. | Alabama Huntsville | 36 |
| 10. | Alaska Anchorage | 19 |