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So we're 10 days out from the exhibition. Anyone have predictions for this year?

For the record, I'm not quite as optimistic as some of what I've been hearing. I'm thinking a similar result as last year, still have a very young team. Most of the scoring coming back but we lost a whole lot of nasty toughness with Kucera, Berkle, and Desalvo. I know the emphasis has been on fast paced offensive hockey but the nastiness counts for something too. So I'm thinking we make another strong push for the NCAAs and hopefully a WCHA title, but maybe with some rough patches like late in the season last year. Could have another team pushing hard in conference for more of a four way race, maybe Bemidji?
As for players, hoping for strong years from Walker and Cooper and Murphy, and really looking for Reichert to become a physical force to be reckoned with. Can't make a prediction on goaltending, other than I'd love to see Burke come on strong and have a great year.

My prediction:

1. MTU
2. BGSU
3. MSU
4. UAF
5. Bemidji
6. NMU
7. UAH
8. FSU
9. LSSU
10. UAA

I'm too hesitant about our goaltending to put us at 1, especially since the Techies have Jamie Philips. I'm not a fan of the 3-ring-circus that lasts until January where we would throw a goalie in cold after not playing him the previous weekend. Also, I predicted that we would win in Grand Rapids, since this team always seems to catch fire in the playoffs with Berge, and hopefully one of our goalies will have separated himself as the most consistent guy.

BG will compete for the league title and NCAA title berth. They'll be a deeper team this year while having good experience in net. Defense may struggle at times with the loss of Valleau, but Friedman may be the best NHL prospect in the WCHA this season.

Last season was the year BG showed they could compete again among the big dogs of college hockey and that will carry over nicely to 2015-16.

Agree with critical thinker on the goaltender's. Hopefully one of the guys clearly seperates himself from the pack. I never felt good with the guys splitting weekends constantly, I understand the completion mindset they are going with but it's tough to build anyone's confidence with how things went last year.

Wild card I forgot to mention is if Mingo makes a big leap in his development, especially defensively, we might have the best d corps in the league, especially if Ferrari comes in as advertised.