- Denver University
- University of North Dakota
- Colorado College
- St. Cloud State University
- University of Minnesota-Duluth
- University of Nebraska-Omaha
- University of Minnesota
- University of Wisconsin
- University of Alaska-Anchorage
- Minnesota State University
- Bemidji State
- Michigan Tech University
All Conference:
F- Jack Connolly (UMD)
F- Jaden Schwartz (CC)
F- Jason Zucker (DU)
D- Ben Blood (UND)
D- Nick Jensen (SCSU)
G- Mike Lee (SCSU)
Player Awards:
Player of the Year - Jason Zucker (DU)
Rookie of the Year - Rocco Grimaldi (CC)
Defenseman of the Year - Nick Jensen (SCSU)
Breakout Player of the Year - Ben Hanowski (SCSU)
St. Cloud State Thoughts:
Let's get this out of the way first...last year was a disappointment. The Huskies were picked by most to be one of the top (if not the top) team in the WCHA. Instead the Huskies were only able to finish the year at number nine. Why then do I still keep the Huskies at number 4??? The only reason the Huskies finished below expectations was because an UNBELIEVABLY BAD start. Keep this in mind...looking only at the second half of the season, the Huskies were the second best team in the WCHA (only UND had a better 2nd half record). Coming into the WCHA playoffs nearly everyone believed the Huskies would beat eventual Frozen Four winner UMD. The truth is, the last 2-3 months of the 2010-2011 college hockey season, St. Cloud State was one of the best teams in the nation. The Huskies have a lot of great players returning like Mike Lee, Drew LeBlanc, Ben Hanowski, and wonderful newcomers like Nick Oliver, Andrew Prochno, and Garrett Milan. This year will be better. I expect the Huskies to go back to the usual---being underrated in the preseason and finishing the year a good 2-4 spots ahead of most peoples preseason predictions.
I will post the final 2011-2012 WCHA Blogger Poll results when they come in.
Go Huskies!
Two players on the all-conference team? Justin Schultz has half the year he did last year and he'll still be first team. I'm a Husky fan, but to me your votes are blindly biased. Sorry.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous- Yep...two players on the all-conference team and yes I am undeniably biased. However, not blindly or unrealistically. Both Lee and Jensen could be all-stars in their given positions. Jensen was a preseason runner up on defense in the Media Poll and Mike Lee was recently named the top American collegiate goaltender. Both improved greatly over the course of last season and if they continue that growth, being on the all-conference team should be attainable.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading and commenting.
Go Huskies!!