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Middle of the pack: Northern Michigan University Wildcats hockey team predicted to be 4th in new 8-team CCHA

Northern Michigan University forward Andre Ghantous, right, tries to set up a play in the Wildcats’ offensive zone as Minnesota State’s Todd Burgess defends during the first period at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Jan. 2. (Photo courtesy Shannon Stieg)

Season opener: Home vs. St. Thomas, Oct. 8-9, Berry Events Center

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MARQUETTE — With a recently added exhibition game just 10 days away, it’s time to start thinking Wildcat hockey.

And the coaches in Northern Michigan University’s new league, the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, made their picks Monday for the projected order of finish.

Not surprisingly, the coaches tend to pick the conference the following season the way the previous one ended, though in this case the previous one was the final year of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

The CCHA will include seven of last year’s eight WCHA members — the Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio teams of NMU, Michigan Tech, Lake Superior State, Ferris State, Minnesota State-Mankato, Bemidji State and Bowling Green State — along with new member St. Thomas.

St. Thomas, located near Minneapolis in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, is not only new to the league, but new to NCAA Division I hockey.

After the Wildcats finished tied for fifth in last winter’s WCHA regular season, they are picked to finish fourth in the WCHA. NMU made its mark last season in the conference tournament, reaching the championship game before losing out to Lake State.

The biggest changes from last year’s finish to this year’s predictions are with the WCHA co-runners-up, Bowling Green and LSSU. The Falcons dropped to fifth in the reintroduction of the CCHA, while the Lakers fell all the way to sixth in these preseason ratings.

Minnesota State-Mankato, which won the WCHA regular-season title going away, earned five of the eight first-place votes for the CCHA and is predicted to be No. 1 again.

Bemidji State, fourth last year, bumped up to second with one first-place vote, while MTU, which tied Northern for fifth, is rated third and earned two first-place votes.

Rounding out predictions is Ferris State, which was last in the WCHA, is now picked seventh in the new eight-team league, while bringing up the rear is St. Thomas, the new school.

NMU returns nearly 85 percent of its scoring from last season, including its top four goal scorers — A.J. Vanderbeck, Joseph Nardi, Andre Ghantous and Vincent de Mey. In all, 22 players return with seven newcomers on hand for a season that starts with an exhibition at Michigan Tech on Saturday, Oct. 2.

Northern opens the regular season with six straight home games at the Berry Events Center, starting with St. Thomas on Oct. 8-9.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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