Preseason WCHA predictions are starting to come out. Here are a couple of the first:

examiner.com … which calls itself the “insider souce for everything local” in Minneapolis:

1. North Dakota

2. Denver

3. Gophers

4. St. Cloud State

5. Minnesota State Mankato

6. Wisconsin

7. Colorado College

8. UMD

9-10. Alaska Anchorage and Michigan Tech

UAA Hockey Fan blog (that stands for University of Alaska Anchorage, and see where Seawolves are picked to finish):

1. Denver

2. Wisconsin

3. North Dakota

4. Gophers

5. Alaska Anchorage

6. UMD

7. St. Cloud State

8. Minnesota State Mankato

9. Colorado College

10. Michigan Tech

The Wisconsin hockey blog, Sixty Minutes, No Alibis, No Regrets projects the standings from the bottom up. So far, it has named the teams it picks to finish from No. 10 to No. 6.

Its picks:

10. Michigan Tech

9. Colorado College

8. Minnesota State Mankato

7. Alaska Anchorage

6. UMD

I’ll make my preseason picks later, closer to the start of the season. But, if you read Mike Chambers’ hockey blog for the Denver Post, only an idiot would pick anybody but the Pioneers.

This is what Chambers wrote recently:

The college hockey season can’t start soon enough around here. I’ve been awed by what DU could have this season since the end of last season, and the “could” has turned to “would” with Rhett Rakhshani and Patrick Wiercioch choosing to return and nobody else besides Tyler Bozak leaving early for NHL deals. Based on my 14 years of covering college hockey for The Post, I’m convinced the Pios will be ranked No. 1 in the media polls, Pairwise or KRACH at some point during the season, and my guess is they’ll begin No. 1 in the media polls when they open Oct. 9 against visiting Vermont.

Before getting to the top-10, take a look at these numbers: DU finally has more upperclassmen (16, including redshirt sophomore John Ryder) than underclassmen, and returns 21 of 25 guys from a team that went 23-12-5 overall and 16-8-4 (second place) in the WCHA. The Pios lost just two guys that played in more than 25 games (defensemen J.P. Testwuide and Patrick Mullen) and the top seven scorers are back after finishing 10^th nationally in scoring (3.30 goals per game).

The blue-chip freshmen, in order of how I view their impact, are D Matt Donovan (the 2008-09 USHL defenseman scoring champion), F Drew Shore, D William Wrenn, F Shawn Ostrow, D Paul Phillips and G Adam Murray.

Top-10:

10. CHEMISTRY. If all goes according to plan, chemistry will in the top-three in January, but for now – when you can only base this element on conjecture – it’s 10^th because every great team has to have good chemistry, and I think it’s going to be good based on reasons 1 through 9.

9. BLUE-COLLAR BALANCE. The fact DU has a program-record 13 NHL draft picks does not mean this will be a selfish team, the type previously seen at Minnesota when there are too many NHL-bound players. For every star, there is a role player that knows his best times in hockey will be in college. The offensive stars at forward are Anthony Maiani, Rhett Rakhshani, Joe Colborne, Tyler Ruegsegger and Luke Salazar, but you also have excellent two-way players in Kyle Ostrow and Jesse Martin, plus the pluggers and offensively capable Brian Gifford, Dustin Jackson, Matt Glasser and Brandon Vossberg. Superstar defenseman Wiercioch and Donovan will be the point producers from the blue line, complimented by defensive-defensemen Cody Brookwell, John Lee, Wrenn, Chris Nutini and Ryder.

8. DEPTH. Besides goalie Marc Cheverie, injuries WILL NOT kill this team. They’ll undoubtedly hurt, but unless DU has super bad luck in this department, this team will overcome. Example: Nutini, a junior, and third-year sophomore John Ryder are quality D-men but might begin outside the top six to begin the season. And Vossberg, a senior, junior Dustin Jackson and sophomore Nate Dewhurst could be outside of the top-12 forwards at the beginning, yet those guys have a combined six years of experience. This team is so deep, junior defensemen Jon Cook and Joey Brehm don’t have much of a chance.

7. LITTLE BIG MEN. Two of the top playmakers are undrafted and often overlooked forwards Maiani (5-7, 170) and Ostrow (5-8, 180), each coming off breakout seasons, with the offensively gifted Italian kid leading the team in assists (30) and points (41), and the slick-skating Ostrow fifth in points (28, including 14 goals). When I think of good college hockey players, I think of these guys, and they’re both just two years into what figures to be excellent four-year careers. Little guys have always made college hockey special, and Maiani and Ostrow are indeed special players.

6. LEADERSHIP/EXPERIENCE. In the old days of the WCHA, success was accompanied with big numbers from the junior and senior classes. The older the better, and while that still holds true, it is now uncommon for WCHA powerhouses because of early departures. As Air Force and Bemidji State have proved, a bunch of undrafted 23-year-olds have advantages over a bunch of blue-chip 18- and 19-year-olds. But DU will be one of the league’s most experienced teams, with six seniors and 10 juniors. And when it comes to captaincy, I’ve seen good ones and great ones (and maybe one bad one) but I’m convinced Rakhshani will be a great one. He’s been a class act since he joined the program at age 18 and never lacked confidence. I think he’ll be a good middle man between players and coaches and keep the guys focused on the big picture after tough losses. Wearing the As will be three forwards: Ruegsegger, a straight-laced and model student-athlete; Glasser, a valuable fourth-line plugger; and the burgeoning star K. Ostrow.

5. HUNGER. DU went into the last two NCAA Tournaments with the No. 2 and No. 3 overall seeds, respectively,  then lost in the first round at Wisconsin and Minnesota (against Miami-Ohio). The guys are hungry and know they have a team capable of winning it all at Ford Field in Detroit. They won’t blow that opportunity on petty locker room stuff or over-indulging outside the rink. The majority of their fun will take place together at the rink (although Saturday night celebrations will undoubtedly be common at the watering hole across the street).

4. OFFENSE EVERYWHERE. DU returns 117 of 132 goals and 303 of 364 points from a team that finished 10^th nationally at 3.30 goals per game last season. The last time I saw a group this deep, it was the 2002-03 CC Tigers (Sejna, Clarke, Preissing, Sterling and Sertich). Most impressive with DU is that the proven scoring is spread out over three classes and different guys get it done different ways. Eight of the top nine scorers are back, plus Gifford, Glasser and Vossberg, each of whom I predict will have breakout campaigns. So take into account the experience and then add in the freshmen _ Donovan and Shore will likely be on the power play _ and you potentially have a team that could average 6 goals per game.

3. DEFINED ROLES. Talk about a luxury to begin the season. This is something that’s already been established. The scorers know they’re point producers, the defensive-defensemen know they’re only responsibility is keep the puck out of the net, the muckers know their priority is to forecheck, backcheck and play even plus-minus hockey. Best of all, most of the role players are juniors and seniors who just want to win a championship. As for the freshmen – particularly Shore, Donovan and Wrenn _ their primary role is to just fit in. No pressure.

2. POWER PLAY. DU was 18^th nationally with a 17.7 percent power play last year. This year, I bet the Pios add at least 10 points to that. When I think of Wiercioch, Ruegsegger, Rakhshani, Maiani and Colborne on one possible unit, I think of the 30-plus-percent PP of CC in 2002-03 (Preissing, Canzanello, Senja, Sterling and Clarke). Throw in Donovan, Martin, Salazar, Ostrow and Shore on the second unit, and the PP could finally return as a feared aspect of DU’s game.

1. CHEVY. You have nothing if you don’t have good goaltending, and I think DU has a great one in junior Marc Cheverie. Chevy had a fine first season as the No. 1 guy, earning WCHA second-team honors and finishing 15^th nationally in saves percentage (.921) and 20^th in GAA (2.34). He’s the WCHA’s top returning goalie and, given what is in front of him, I believe he could take DU to the promised land.

Let’s play hockey!

Guess who the Gophers play in their second series of the season: DU. At least the games are at Mariucci Arena.

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