But Northern Michigan University, which was firmly entrenched in last place back in March, was again picked to finish last in the league this year, too, when the poll was announced on Sunday.

At the top of the poll, last season’s third-place team, St. Thomas, won a close battle with defending regular-season champion Minnesota State-Mankato for the No. 1 preseason position.

Thought St. Thomas only received three of the nine first-place votes, the Tommies had one more voting point, 72-71, than the Mavericks, who garnered four first-place votes.

Each coach was asked to predict the order of finish, leaving out their own team in the voting.

Aidyn Hutchinson scores Northern Michigan University’s first shootout goal against Ferris State goaltender Noah West during their CCHA game played at the Bulldogs’ arena in Big Rapids on March 1. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

Michigan Tech and Augustana tied for a distant third in voting with 59 points each, despite the Huskies receiving the other two first-place votes.

Last season, Augustana finished as league runner-up only playing 16 games compared to everyone else’s 26, so standings were computed on a percentage basis, comparing points earned to the total points possible.

That’s because the Vikings were originally supposed to be on a nonleague basis last season but were moved into full league membership prior to last season, too late to alter schedules around the CCHA.

Bowling Green State is fifth in the preseason rankings, gaining 58 points to only miss MTU and Augustana by a single vote. The Falcons finished fourth in 2024-25.

Next in the poll was Bemidji State in sixth with 54 points after the Beavers tied Ferris State for sixth last year.

Then came Lake Superior State, last year’s eighth-place team, in seventh with 38, while Ferris, also tied for sixth in 2024-25, was only picked eighth this time around.

Finally came the Wildcats with 24 voting points, which made them a unanimous pick for the ninth-place position.

In CCHA preseason player honors also announced earlier this week, St. Thomas senior forward Lucas Wahlin was unanimously picked as CCHA Preseason Player of the Year after a 39-point season a year ago that included 29 of those points in league games. He had 17 goals and 22 assists overall, 14 and 15, respectively, in CCHA contests.

Tommies forward Nathan Pilling and BGSU forward Dominik Rymon tied and were both named CCHA Preseason Rookie of the Year after big seasons in the Western Hockey League a year ago.

Wahlin was joined on the Preseason All-CCHA team by Michigan Tech’s Isaac Gordon and Stiven Sardarian, Mankato’s Evan Murr and Alex Tracy, and Bemidji’s Isa Parekh.

The Huskies’ pair each finished in the top 10 in league scoring last season, Murr was CCHA Defenseman of the Year and a unanimous pick for this preseason honor, Tracy was CCHA Player of the Year and the league’s Goaltender of the Year, while Parekh was on the conference All-Rookie Team last season.

The Wildcats begin their season in just over two weeks with a Saturday-Sunday series at the University of Massachusetts on Oct. 4-5. The first home series is in a more traditional Friday-Saturday format on Oct. 17-18 against Colorado College at the Berry Events Center.

The CCHA has noted that fans can stream all league games live and on-demand, on their home TVs, computers, tablets and mobile devices via Midco Sports Plus.

The app is available on mobile/tablet apps (iOS and Android), connected TV device apps (AppleTV, FireTV and Roku) and a web-based browser interface. For more information, go to midcosports.com/ccha.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the preseason poll and picks

. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.