GRAND FORKS, N.D. - With only 25 days
remaining until the exhibition opener, the prognostications have begun for the
2010-11 men's hockey season.
College
Hockey News has released its preseason top-10 rankings and has the Fighting
Sioux listed No. 2 behind only defending NCAA champion Boston College.
Third-ranked
Miami, fourth-ranked Michigan and fifth-ranked Yale round out the top five. St.
Cloud State, Maine, Alaska, Minnesota Duluth and New Hampshire make up the
fifth through 10th-ranked teams.
UND
is coming off of a 25-13-5 season in which the Sioux won the Broadmoor Trophy
as WCHA Final Five champions and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the eighth
straight year. The Sioux return 22 letterwinners in 2010-11, including
fifth-year senior captain Chay Genoway (Morden, Manitoba), 2009-10 WCHA Rookie
of the Year Danny Kristo (Eden Prairie, Minn.) and two-time All-WCHA junior
goalie Brad Eidsness (Chestermere, Alberta).
Seventh-year
head coach Dave Hakstol, a five-time Spencer Penrose Award finalist as national
coach of the year, welcomes back 80 percent of UND's goal-scoring production from
a year ago, including team-leader Jason Gregoire (Winnipeg, Manitoba), who
scored a career-high 20 as a sophomore.
The
Sioux will host Manitoba in an exhibition game on Sunday, Oct. 3 before opening
the regular season Oct. 8-9 at the Kendall Hockey Classic in Anchorage, Alaska.
2010-11 CHN Preseason
Top 10
1.
Boston College
2. North Dakota
3.
Miami
4.
Michigan
5.
Yale
6.
St. Cloud State
7.
Maine
8.
Alaska
9.
Minnesota Duluth
10.
New Hampshire
- Go Sioux -
