GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Coaches in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association are picking Minnesota to repeat as the regular-season champion.

The Gophers received 11 of 12 first-place votes in the annual Grand Forks Herald ( http://bit.ly/SzET4u) preseason coaches' poll. North Dakota — last year's WCHA playoff champion — got the other first-place vote and finished second in the poll.

The rest of the top five is Denver, St. Cloud State and Wisconsin.

Minnesota-Duluth is sixth in the poll, followed by Colorado College, Omaha, Michigan Tech, Minnesota-Mankato, Bemidji State and Alaska-Anchorage.

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Information from: Grand Forks Herald, http://www.grandforksherald.com