Das Kentral

I actually did it. I completed all 12 previews, and thus, completed a preview for every CCHA and WCHA team this year. I feel a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Here's a look back at my picks for the CCHA, along with links to each preview.

1. Michigan State
2. Lake Superior
3. Michigan
4. Miami
5. Notre Dame
6. Northern Michigan
7. Alaska
8. Nebraska-Omaha
9. Ohio State
10. Ferris State
11. Bowling Green
12. Western Michigan

So, those are my picks for the CCHA this year, and quite frankly, I couldn't be less confident in them. The conventions of our zero-sum capitalistic society force me to put the teams into some sort of a ranking, but if I were given the choice, my preseason projections would look like a Marxian utopia where everybody comes in third. While the WCHA is more cleanly divided into the "haves" and "have-nots", the CCHA seems to be one big group of "have-some-but-not-enoughs". No matter which way I arranged the teams, I felt uncomfortable about whoever I put in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th spots, and thought whoever was in the 7th, 8th, and 9th spots were way too low.

What does that mean for the CCHA this year? It should mean a lot of drama, and hopefully an extremely entertaining year. The field is so wide open that almost anybody, especially 1-10 could finish in first place if they play well. Almost every weekend should have a number of close, hard-fought series for critical points. I also think the standings could be extremely tight this year. I don't expect much difference between the team that gets the last first round playoff bye, and a team playing on the road in the first round of the playoffs.

The CCHA is the great unknown this year, and the journey should be exciting.