MSU women open season tonight.

The Minnesota State women's hockey team opens the season tonight (Friday) with the first of two home games against Lindenwood. Lindenwood is a new Division I team from the St. Louis area that had been a longtime club power before making the jump. The Lions opened their season a week ago in a lion's den, Wisconsin. The Badgers won 11-0 and 13-0 and outshot Lindenwood 60-11 and 72-3. So there's a good chance for the Mavericks to get a couple of wins under their belts to start the season.

As for MSU, this is the third season under coach Eric Means, and more than half the roster is now made up of his recruits. He certainly expects to see a turnaround this season and should. (Read my column from last week here.)

The big key will be goal scoring, a problem that plagued the Maverick women worse than the Maverick men a year ago. MSU was outscored 122-53 and shut out a whopping 13 times. While Means recruits like Kathleen Rogan, who led the team in scoring as freshman last season (12 goals, 9 assists), and Lauren Smith, who was second (4, 11), will be counted on, so will pre-Means players like Emmi Leinonen (pictured), the Finnish national team member who, according to her coaches, has had her best fall yet. The senior, who was left off the Finnish Olympic roster in 2010, has the ability to be a go-to goal scorer, Means said. In her first three years at MSU, Leinonen has 20 goals and 23 assists in 95 games.

"She's got the hockey sense," Means said, "and she can shoot it. She's got to score for us."

Senior defenseman Ariel Mackley is a back as team captain. Senior D Jackie Otto and senior forward Moira O'Connor are the alternates. Senior Alli Altmann is back in goal, along with sophomore Daniell Butters.

While catching the likes of Wisconsin, Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota is always a tall task, there's no reason why the Mavericks can't pull themselves up to better compete with North Dakota, Ohio State and Bemidji State for that final top-half spot in the WCHA standings.

Tonight's game is at 7:07 p.m. at All Seasons Arena. The second game of the series is at 3:07 p.m. Saturday.

Media day

Thursday was media day for the Minnesota State men's hockey team. Mainly, it was a chance for the Bethany Lutheran College TV crew to get their shots for this season's coverage on Charter cable.

The players donned their new, black road jerseys for the day. Pictured is senior defenseman Cameron Cooper.

I had good chats with team captains Tyler Elbrecht and Mike Dorr. I'll have a feature on Elbrecht as part of The Free Press' season preview package on Tuesday, the day after the Mavericks' home exhibition game against British Columbia.

College hockey's regular season kicks off on Saturday. The Mavericks will have two practices that day and another on Sunday before playing BC on Monday. 

11th? The coaches agree

The 41st annual Grand Forks Herald preseason WCHA coaches poll is out, and, like the media who cover the league, the coaches picked Minnesota Stat to finish 11th in the 12-team league (although one point out of 10th). Denver was picked to win the league. Here are the results:

1. Denver (7 first-place votes) 115 points
2. North Dakota (4) 110
3. Colorado College (1) 105
4. Nebraska-Omaha 89
5. Minnesota Duluth 75
6. Minnesota 74
7. St. Cloud State 61
8. Wisconsin 54
9. Alaska-Anchorage 36
10. Bemidji State 30
11. Minnesota State 29
12. Michigan Tech 14

Player of the year: Jaden Schwartz, CC (8 votes), Justin Schultz, UW (2), Terry Broadhurst, UNO (1), Jack Connolly, UMD (1).

Rookie of the year: Rocco Grimaldi, UND (10), Joey LaLeggia, DU (1), Jayson Megna, UNO (1).

Media pick MSU 11th

The annual 94X WCHA Preseason Media Poll was released Tuesday morning by Duluth's Bruce Ciskie, and the 26 people who cover all 12 WCHA school tabbed Minnesota State to finish 11th in the league.

Here are the results of the poll:

1. Denver (16 first-place votes)
2. Colorado College (7)
3. North Dakota (2)
4. Nebraska-Omaha (1)
5. Minnesota Duluth
6. Minnesota
7. tie-Wisconsin
7. tie-St. Cloud State
9. Alaska-Anchorage
10. Bemidji State
11. Minnesota State
12. Michigan Tech

Preseason player of the year: Jason Zucker, F, DU (10 votes); Jaden Schwartz, F, CC (8). Others receiving votes: Jack Connolly, F, UMD; Justin Schultz, D, Wisconsin; Drew Shore, F, DU.

Preseason rookie of the year: Rocco Grimaldi, F, UND (17 votes). Others receiving votes: Seth Ambroz, F, UM; Scott Mayfield, D, DU; Sam Mellor, F, UAA; Kyle Rau, F, UM.

Preseason coach of the year: Scott Owens, CC (9 votes); Mel Pearson, MTU (5). Others receiving votes: Dean Blais, UNO; George Gwozdecky, DU; Don Lucia, UM; Dave Shyiak, UAA.

Preseason all-conference team: F-Jack Connolly, UMD; F-Jaden Schwartz, CC*; F-Jason Zucker, DU; D-Ben Blood, UND; Justin Schultz, UW*; G-Aaron Dell, UND.

* = unanimous selection

Other players receiving votes: Forwards: J.T. Brown, UMD; Rocco Grimaldi, UND; Corban Knight, UND; Danny Kristo, UND; Drew Shore, DU. Defensemen: Gabe Guentzel, CC; Brad Hunt, BSU; Nick Jensen, SCSU; Brady Lamb, UMD; David Makowski, DU. Goalies: John Faulkner, UNO; Kent Patterson, UM.

I voted in the poll and here was my ballot. I'll do more on my picks later, but one thing I'll mention is that I thought there were three pretty distinct clumps of teams where I thought any of those teams could be pulled out of a hat for those spots. I have lines separating those clumps. What do you think?

1. Colorado College
2. Denver
3. North Dakota
----------------------------
4. Minnesota Duluth
5. Nebraska-Omaha
6. Minnesota
7. St. Cloud State
8. Wisconsin
----------------------------
9. Minnesota State
10. Bemidji State
11. Alaska-Anchorage
12. Michigan Tech

Player of the Year: Zucker ... Rookie of the Year: Grimaldi ... Coach of the Year: Owens

All WCHA: F-Zucker, F-Schwartz, F-Connolly, D-Blood, D-Schultz, G-Dell

Who's No. 1?

The USCHO and USA Today preseason polls were released Monday, and there are different No. 1s. Notre Dame has the top spot in the former, and Miami leads the list in the latter.

College hockey appears to be wide open this season, though, because seven different teams received first-place votes in the USCHO poll (which I vote on, by the way).

Here's a look at this year's rankings (first-place votes in parenthesis):

USCHO
1. Notre Dame (11)
2. Miami (12)
3. North Dakota (5)
4. Denver
5. Boston College (2)
6. Michigan
7. Colorado College
8. Minnesota Duluth (10)
9. Yale (1)
10. Boston University (2)
11. Union
12. New Hampshire
13. Western Michigan
14. Nebraska-Omaha
15. Merrimack
16. Maine
17. Wisconsin
18. Rensselaer
19. Minnesota
20. Cornell
Others receiving votes: Dartmouth, Air Force, RIT, St. Cloud State, Alaska, Ohio State, Northeastern, Ferris State, Lake Superior, Northern Michigan, Providence, Princeton, Michigan State, Quinnipiac, Massachusetts

USA Today
1. Miami (15)
2. Notre Dame (4)
3. North Dakota (3)
4. Denver
5. Boston College (1)
6. Boston University (3)
7. Colorado College
8. Yale
9. Michigan
10. Minnesota Duluth
11. Union
12. New Hampshire
13. Western Michigan
14. Nebraska-Omaha
15. Maine
Others receiving votes: Minnesota, Merrimack, Wisconsin, Cornell, Alaska, Dartmouth, Rensselaer, RIT, Air Force, Ohio State, Holy Cross, Quinnipiac, St. Cloud State.

A few thoughts:

Seven WCHA teams made the rankings/receiving votes: North Dakota, Denver, CC, Duluth, Omaha, Wisconsin, Minnesota and St. Cloud — all teams that are leaving the league in two years.

The other teams going to the NCHC — Miami and Western Michigan — are also in the rankings.

While Minnesota State and the other leftover WCHA didn't get any votes, the other future league members — Alaska, Ferris State, Lake Superior, Northern Michigan — all did, although none made the rankings.

Bowling Green's fate, St. Cloud State's decision

On Thursday, as St. Cloud State was bailing on the WCHA, Bowling Green was asking for an extension to to its deadline to decide on joining the WCHA. The school was to make a decision today. 

It had been invited to the league, along with Alaska, Lake Superior State, Ferris State and Western Michigan. Alaska, Lake Superior and Ferris accepted almost immediately (following Northern Michigan), while Western Michigan opted for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, announcing that decision Thursday a few hours before St. Cloud.

But there have been some interesting rumblings today surrounding Bowling Green. 

First, Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune writer Kevin Gordon wrote about the deadline extension and reported that there is speculation that some Atlantic Hockey programs might be interested in the WCHA, too:

The extension further fueled speculation Atlantic Hockey members Canisius, Mercyhurst, Niagara and Robert Morris are being considered for WCHA membership. 

Those four schools have expressed an interest in leaving their present league because it offers only 12 scholarships, six below the NCAA maximum. The CCHA and the WCHA use the NCAA maximum.

Adding those four schools would help balance the revamped WCHA geographically. If BG and the four Atlantic Hockey schools joined the WCHA, the league would have 13 schools - six in the south/east; and seven in the north/west.

And it's not out of the question that Air Force, also a member of Atlantic Hockey, might consider a move to the WCHA.

On Friday, however, Duluth radio man Bruce Ciskie reported that Bowling Green has meet with those schools — Canisius, Mercyhurst, Niagara and Robert Morris — and another about joining forces. The other school is Buffalo, which does not have Division I hockey currently. That would be an interesting development, and one that might make more sense for Bowling Green.

UPDATE: More on those happenings from Kevin Gordon.

Meanwhile, here is my story from today's Free Press with some more reaction to St. Cloud's defection. Check out the timeline alongside it that shows the changes that have taken place in the last year since Penn State announced that it would be adding hockey.

For more on St. Cloud State's decision, read Mick Hatten's story from the St. Cloud Times. A couple of interesting comments by North Dakota athletic director Brian Faison, who attended Thursday's press conference:

“It was a very involved process from our standpoint in terms of what we were asking from the schools for information — from institutional profile, academic profile. Lots of questions about program, staffing size, budgets, success, ticket sales, types of ticket sales all factored in. It was a very deliberate process ... We tried to keep it as quiet and confidential as possible.”

So long, St. Cloud

St. Cloud State and Western Michigan accepted their invitations to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference on Thursday, announcing their decisions during press conferences. No one thought they were going to turn it down, did they?

Read some of Minnesota State's reaction to the move, which, in two years, will leave the Mavericks without their oldest rivalry in the WCHA, here. Interestingly, they weren't shocked by the move.

As for Thursday's announcement, here are some of the comments that came out of the St. Cloud State press conference:

"I have to look out for the well being of my institution, but we also care about the future of college hockey." — Earl H. Potter, St. Cloud State president.

"It was not an easy decision to leave the WCHA, but it was the only decision that was right for us." — Potter.

Huskies coach Bob Motzko vowed to continue to support Minnesota State and Bemidji State and other hockey programs in the state.

Later Thursday, the WCHA issued a press release expressing disappointment in St. Cloud's decision. In the release, commissioner Bruce McLeod said:

"(We want) to reiterate in the strongest possible terms that the (WCHA) will persevere, soldier on and continue to do things as we always have — in a first-class manner. The eight programs that currently make up the new-look WCHA ... are 100% committed to Division I ice hockey, and we are looking forward to working together toward a common goal of providing a first-class environment for our product, our student-athletes and our fans and doing what's right for the sport. Our brand is strong and we intend to build on that."

Meanwhile, Bowling Green announced on Thursday that it has been given a deadline extension until Oct. 7 to decide on its its invitation to join the WCHA.