Both the CCHA’s media and coaches, voting in polls released Tuesday, picked the MSU hockey team to repeat last year’s second-place league finish.
Archrival Michigan was named by both polls as the preseason favorite, but this could also be the first year since Lake Superior State won in 1995-96 that a team other than MSU or U-M claims the conference title.
The CCHA playing field has seemingly been leveled, thanks to early defections from the league’s perennial powers. Five teams received first-place votes from the media, and four programs got top nods from the coaches Tuesday.
“I do think that there is an opportunity,” Ferris State head coach Bob Daniels said. “I think Ohio State, if you look at their roster, what they have up front - they have the best collection of forwards in the league right now.
“I’m just using them as one example. I think there is some opportunity there not limited to just Ohio State. Whether those players signed and left or not, I still felt going into this year that this could be a season where someone else emerges and takes the top spot.”
MSU, which went 27-9-5 last season, likely would have been the league’s preseason favorite if All-American goaltender Ryan Miller hadn’t forgone his senior season for pro hockey.
But he did. And last year’s four-member senior class of Adam Hall, Joe Goodenow, Andrew Hutchinson and Jon Insana are gone, too.
Those losses apparently scared some coaches and media voters away from tabbing MSU, but it didn’t deter Wolverine foreman Red Berenson.
“I changed four times as to who I picked for first place,” Berenson said. “I finally decided to put the pressure on (MSU head coach) Rick Comley.”
Berenson must have been looking at MSU’s deep forward corps, led by senior left wing Brian Maloney and sophomore center Jim Slater. The Spartans also boast an accomplished defensive unit, led by seniors Brad Fast and John-Michael Liles, but goaltending could be a problem without Miller. The chores will fall on sophomore Matt Migliaccio and freshman Justin Tobe, who have one career start between them.
Meanwhile, Berenson’s Wolverines, although picked to win the league, have plenty of question marks of their own. The team advanced to the Frozen Four last season, but then lost four-year starting goaltender Josh Blackburn to graduation and a pair of All-American underclassmen - center Mike Cammalleri and defenseman Mike Komisarek - to professional hockey.
The Wolverines likely will start 17-year-old true freshman Al Montoya at goalie, but also rely heavily on returning forwards Jed Ortmeyer, John Shouneyia and Eric Nystrom.
And then there’s the aforementioned Ohio State, which returns a pair of NHL first-round draft picks in forwards R.J. Umberger and Dave Steckel, and two-year starting goalie Mike Betz.
Even Northern Michigan, Comley’s old team, could figure in the mix with senior forwards Chris Gobert and Bryce Cockburn and goaltender Craig Kowalski.
The polls were released at the annual CCHA Media Day in Detroit, where several league changes were also announced Tuesday:
• The CCHA adopted a 15-second face-off rule, similar to the one used in the Winter Olympics. The change is designed to speed up games by eliminating dead time between whistles. Under the new rule, each team will have five seconds to change players during a play stoppage, followed by another five seconds before the puck is dropped.
Asked about it earlier this summer, Comley said he was in favor of the move.
“I absolutely detest the delay tactics that some teams use,” Comley said in June. “If done right, I think it could work in college hockey.”
• The league has added a third-place game to the CCHA Super Six weekend in March at Joe Louis Arena. The losers of the tournament’s two semifinal games will square off prior to the championship game on March 23, 2003.
• Under four extreme circumstances, the referee has permission to award a goal even if the puck doesn’t enter the net.
The circumstances include the puck striking an unmanned stick en route to the net or a goalie intentionally removing his mask or displacing the net to stop play.
The referee’s new power only applies if the infraction prevents an “obvious and imminent” goal.
