Let the trumpets sounds, the horns blare. Hear yea, hear yea. ... The media (print and radio) has spoken.
The preseason WCHA poll is out, released at midnight, of course. Who else stays up that late.
Bruce Ciskie of 94X/Red Rock Radio in Duluth -- the radio voice of the UMD Bulldogs -- compiled it and somehow got 29 voters out of 30 he contacted. Hats off to him.
Oh, enough blarney, you want the results? Of course.
North Dakota, which was rolling at the end of the 2009-10 season -- beat Gophers two game to one in first round of WCHA playoffs, won the Final Five -- is the almost unanimous pick to win the conference title. The Sioux got 28 of 29 votes. Next is UMD and St. Cloud State.
That's how my ballot read, too. But I had the Gophers fourth after three ho-hum seasons of finishing seventh, fifth and seventh. That can't continue can it?
Other voters disagreed. Denver came out fourth, Wisconsin fifth and the Gophers sixth. The top six teams will have home ice for the first round of the playoffs this season as the WCHA expands from 10 to 12 teams.
Senior defenseman Chay Genoway of NoDak was picked Player of the Year. Genoway missed most of last season because of a concussion. The Rookie of the Year pick was Jaden Schwartz of CC. Gophers freshman Nick Bjugstad got two votes.
