A Look Back

Way back in September, I took a stab at predicting the WCHA final standings for the 07-08 season. My predictions were:

1. North Dakota
2. Minnesota
3. St. Cloud State
4. Michigan Tech
5. Wisconsin
6. Colorado College
7. Denver
8. Minnesota State
9. Alaska-Anchorage
10. Minnesota-Duluth

Here's how things actually turned out...

1. CC (+5)
2. UND (-1)
3. DU (+4)
4. MSU-M (+4)
5. SCSU (-2)
6. Wisconsin (-1)
7. Minnesota (-5)
8. Minnesota-Duluth (+2)
9. Michigan Tech (-5)
10. Alaska-Anchorage (-1)

So, it appears I underestimated a few teams and drank a little too much Kool-Aid when placing a couple others. While I don't think anyone saw Richard Bachman having the freshman season that he did (undoubtedly the biggest reason why CC won the MacNaughton Cup), here's what I had to say about the Tigers roughly six months ago, when summarizing my pre-season observations:

6. Colorado College

I considered placing CC higher, until it was announced that Jimmy Kilpatrick will be out until Thanksgiving to recover from surgery. Since they will be missing the guy who appears to be their top playmaker for the majority of the first-half, they will be more vulnerable. With a large question mark in goal, CC will need to rely on their defense heavily, and hope someone can fill Kilpatrick's skates while he is out. A first-half schedule that includes Minnesota, New Hampshire and North Dakota in their first six games, plus St. Cloud State in December could make for a rough start.

So, I was obviously wrong about Kilpatrick, since Rau was able to really step in and fill that role. The question mark in net turned out to be a brick wall, although I was correct about that tough first-half schedule (even if Minnesota wasn't all that great this year). In fact, discussing CC in greater detail in an earlier post, this is also what I mentioned:

If the Tigers can hammer out their goaltending issues early on, they could be pretty good this year. Assuming they get past a seemingly-suicidal opening stretch against Minnesota, New Hampshire and North Dakota with a 3-3 or even 2-4 record, they will be a team to keep an eye on.

Their record in those first six games? 3-3


A few other anomalies in my predictions this season:

2. Minnesota

Lots of people say they are too young on defense, but let's be honest - they are the Gophers. They have strong recruits and will adapt quickly, I'm sure. Their offensive depth is top-notch and I'm sure Frazee will be fine, in spite of the occasional meltdown.

You have no idea how amusing I find those two calls right now. Turns out, freshman netminder Alex Kangas had to get to work saving the Gophers from complete embarrassment for most of the regular season.

4. Michigan Tech

On paper, Tech returns almost all of the defense that propelled them to last year's results, plus both of their goalies. With a decent recruiting class, the question is - who will step into the leadership roles left behind by Helminen, Batovanja, and Skworchinski? The Huskies' schedule is pretty well-balanced, so they could get burned if they don't find their legs quickly.

OK, so call me a homer. I really think this team suffered with the loss of senior defensemen Jake Wilkens to injury right at the beginning of the year, coupled with the graduations of big leaders like Helminen and Batty the previous season. Combine that with captain Jimmy Kerr leading the team in penalty minutes, and apparently I was right to suspect leadership might be a problem for the 07-08 Huskies.

8. Minnesota State-Mankato

Now that their top goaltender has recovered from an injury, he will need to work his way back into top form for the Mavericks to have a chance at moving up in the world. Without Steve Wagner and Travis Morin to lead MSU-M, they will need to rely on players like Kalinski and Berge to step into those roles.

Step into those roles they did, and Zacharias did a great job in net to vault the Mavs into the top-half of the league this season, after a tough start.

9. Alaska-Anchorage

With a large class containing some surprisingly decent recruits, it seems that Dave Shyiak could be laying the foundations for the Seawolves. They've got a ways to go however, and this year they will need to find players into step into the voids left by Jay Beagle and Justin Borune. Still, they should be good enough to avoid rock bottom.

Not quite. However, this year's did UAA look better than Seawolf teams from the last several seasons.

So, it's been an interesting year. I can only hope to improve from here.