Best Forwards in the WCHA

Recently the blog Western College Hockey has been ranking each team on the basis of goaltending, defense, and most recently forwards. I previously mentioned their rankings of SCSU on goaltending (#1) and defense (#5) in this blog. They just released their rankings on WCHA forwards. The ranking broke down like this:

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

Main points on the explanation of why SCSU is at #2:

• "...the Huskies make very little changes to the group that finished tied with Denver for second in offensive output in the WCHA last year..."
• "It's unlikely anyone will be able to fill that role as well as Lasch did, but it doesn't seem out of the question that someone could fill that role adequately in his absence".
• "After three consecutive 40+ point seasons, Roe enters the year just 41points behind Lasch for the school's all-time scoring mark, and while unlikely, with 58 points, could reach the extremely rare, and getting rarer, 200-point club."
• "What should separate this group from the rest of the WCHA is the depth the Huskies will have."
• "...the Huskies have a number of forwards that, while not necessarily top line threats, are capable of scoring in the 20-30 point range such as Ben Hanowski, Jared Festler, Drew Leblanc, Tony Mosey, and Travis Novak. In a year where a lot of defensive lineups start to look shaky after the first pairing of defensemen, the Huskies are bound to give teams match-up difficulties five-on-five."

 The reason why St. Cloud is not #1... 

"The choice for the top spot was a toss-up between Minnesota-Duluth's impressive top line and St. Cloud State's depth. The talent drops off pretty significantly after the top three forwards for UMD, but it's hard to ignore what those three are capable of."

Personally, I am more than happy with having St. Cloud's offensive depth over UMD's top line. I believe because of St. Cloud's depth they should be in the number 1 position in this category. Depth is what will carry a team over the long haul than any single top-scoring line. Also, when you add our offensive recruits of MacMillian and Reid, I think our depth only gets stronger.

So now that all of these ratings are done, SCSU has the best goaltending in the WCHA and arguably the best forwards in the WCHA. Like the Western College Hockey blog states, our defense is what is lacking. However, if players like Lauridsen, Hepp, Barta, and Zabkowicz continue to improve and if recruits like Gravel and Jensen turn out as good as they are supposed to be, I don't think Husky fans have much to worry about and should be in store for another record breaking year. Go Huskies!