Sioux Picked to Finish 5th in WCHA

[PCM]

In the annual Grand Forks Herald preseason coaches poll published today, Denver is picked to win the WCHA and the Sioux were picked to finish fifth.

Zach Parise was picked as the league's preseason rookie of the year, picking up 9 of 10 votes. Denver goalie Wade Dubielewicz was selected as the WCHA's preseason player of the year.

Unfortunately, the Herald's Web site doesn't list the entire poll results and I don't have the paper with me. Here's how the coaches voted for the top five spots and the number of first-place votes the teams received:

1. Denver - 6

2. Minnesota - 3

3. SCSU - 1

4. Colorado College

5. North Dakota

[The Sicatoka]

I believe Anchorage was pegged for the nine spot which means that Michigan Tech was probably pegged for ten.

[dagies]

I am surprised Parise is such a heavy favorite for ROY. There are a lot of great rookies in this year around the WCHA. Vanek, Sterling, Stuart, etc. Parise should be good but is he that much better??

[SockeyeSioux]

Parise should be good but is he that much better??

Daggies,

My favorite Sioux player tells me Parise is indeed, that good. We specifically asked about Parise compared to Vanek. He said something like, "no comparison ~ hands down... Parise is better". Not only does he think Parise will be ROY he just may be the best player in the league. During practice he hits, shoots, scores (a lot). Backs down from no Sioux and gets in everyones business... A scrapper to boot! We can hardly wait to see him play. I'm hearing he is already the MVP of the Sioux squad. Time will tell, that is for sure.

Go Sioux!

[dagies]

That is amazing.

[mksioux]

Here is the complete list of the WCHA coach's poll, as reported by uscho.com

1. Denver (6) 78

2. Minnesota (3) 74

3. St. Cloud State (1) 59

4. Colorado College 57

5. North Dakota 53

6. Wisconsin 42

7. Minnesota-Duluth 33

8. Minn. State-Mankato 21

9. Alaska-Anchorage 20

10. Michigan Tech 13