Wednesday, September 26, 2012

WCHA Preseason Media Poll: Nerd Factor

It's time to crunch a few numbers from this year's media poll.

The full poll results are here.

My votes are here.

We had 25 votes this year. Minnesota got all but one first-place vote, and Alaska-Anchorage got all but one last-place vote.

North Dakota was first on one ballot, then second on 19 others. UND was no lower than fourth, and a clear No. 2 in the poll.

Opinions really started to become more diverse from the No. 3 spot all the way down to UAA, really.

Denver finished third, getting five second-place votes, along with 14 third-place votes. Five voters picked Denver fourth, and one had the Pioneers fifth.

Wisconsin is a great example of the diverse opinions found among our 25 voters this year. The Badgers picked up five third-place votes, six for fourth place, eight fifth-place votes, two for sixth, one for ninth place, and three votes for tenth place.

UMD finished fifth, but opinions were almost as across-the-board about the Bulldogs, who finished second but lost a big chunk of scoring and the main goaltender. UMD was picked fourth on two ballots, fifth and sixth by seven voters each, seventh place by five voters, then eighth by three and ninth place by one voter.

St. Cloud State was right behind UMD in the poll, but a look at the Huskies' votes shows a trend more like Wisconsin's, only not as many voters are high on SCSU. St. Cloud got one second place vote, and a single third place vote. SCSU also got six fourth-place votes, two fifths, and three sixths. The Huskies also were picked seventh on five ballots, eighth on three, ninth by three voters, and 11th on one ballot.

Colorado College came in seventh, despite getting a third-place vote. CC was picked out of the top six on 16 of 25 ballots, including a couple of tenth-place votes.

Many think Minnesota State could be this year's Michigan Tech. The Mavericks don't impress the voters, however. MSU was tabbed for a top six spot by just one of 25 voters. Nine picked MSU to finish 11th.

As for last year's Michigan Tech -- you know, Michigan Tech -- only seven of 25 voters think MTU will be good enough to get home ice; two of the seven pick the Huskies higher than sixth. Six voters picked MTU seventh, and five more tabbed the Huskies ninth.

More than half -- 13, to be exact -- of our voters picked Bemidji State 11th. The Beavers got the only last-place vote that didn't go to UAA, while the Seawolves were 11th on that ballot.

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