Men's Coaches' Poll

The Northern Collegiate Hockey Association drops the puck on its 32nd year of exciting NCAA Division III hockey this Saturday when UW-Stout travels for a non-conference game against MCHA foe Marian.  The NCHA posted a 13-2-1 record in games against the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association last season.

This year marks the final year of membership for teams who are also members of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference: UW-Eau Claire, UW-River Falls, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Stout and UW-Superior.  UW-Eau Claire, UW-River Falls and UW-Superior were all charter member s of the NCHA when it formed in 1980.  UW-Stevens Point became a member in 1987 and UW-Stout joined in 1996.

The results of the NCHA coaches’ poll placed St. Norbert as the favorite to win the league in 2012-13.  St. Norbert is coming off back-to-back NCAA championships and returns 22 letter-winners to its roster.  Two of the returners are junior defenceman Reid Campbell and sophomore goalie David Jacobson, both All-NCHA and All-American selections from a year ago.

UW-Stevens Point and UW-Superior were the only teams besides St. Norbert to receive first-place votes in the poll.  The Pointers bring back dynamic goal-scorer and All-NCHA selection Kyle Heck while the Yellowjackets’ roster features a solid, All-NCHA defenceman in Jeff Forsythe.

 The first weekend of conference play is October 26-27, when UW-Stevens Point and St. Norbert play a home-and-home series, UW-Stout visits UW-Eau Claire and St. Scholastica makes the short trip to rival UW-Superior.  The holiday break ends with four straight days of hockey; St. Scholastica plays at St. Norbert December 27-28 and UW-Stevens Point travels to Michigan to play a pair of games with Adrian.  On January 4-5 the East meets the West when Nichols and Curry play UW-Superior at Wessman Arena.

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