Previously: Defensemen, Incoming forwards/goaltending, returning forwards, season preview HockeyCast

Over the past week and a half I've been slowly rolling out my Michigan Hockey Season preview. Over the first three installments we were breaking down the Roster, and today we come to the final piece of the puzzle. In this article we will instead be focusing on the rest of the conference, as well as Michigan's schedule more broadly. Then, at the end, we will make a few predictions, and wrap up the preview. Let's start by analyzing the B1G, which I have broken down into tiers. Well, two tiers really. It's a pretty open conference this year:

Tier I: Tenuous favorites - Michigan, Minnesota, Michigan State

Michigan

Not going to go in depth because that's what the other preview articles were supposed to do. 

Minnesota 

Last season: 1st in B1G, 29-10-1 (17-3-4), lost in National Title Game  

Key Additions: Oliver Moore, Sam Rinzel, Jimmy Clark, Max Rud, Nick Michel 

Key Losses: Logan Cooley, Matthew Knies, Jackson LaCombe, Brock Faber, Ryan Johnson

The Gophers are a case study in the volume of roster losses vs. the production of losses. Minnesota didn't lose that many players, towards the bottom of teams in the conference in sheer number of players that left the squad. However, the players they lost were massive impact pieces and you would not be wrong in arguing that Minnesota lost five of their six best players in the offseason. Which matters more, and who can fill those big shoes, will determine the trajectory of Minnesota's season. 

I generally lean more towards the side of the spectrum that argues that it's who you lost more than how many players you lost. Minnesota's losses are enormous, starting up at forward. Last season their team was built around the fact that they had arguably the best line in college hockey, Logan Cooley centering Matthew Knies and Jimmy Snuggerud. Those three players combined to score ~38% of the team's goals and ~33% of the team's points. This season they lose Cooley, who changed his mind about playing in an NHL/College Hockey arena in Arizona and signed with the Coyotes (already scored a sick goal!), and Matthew Knies, who signed with the Maple Leafs in the spring. Those two players both were finalists for the Hobey Baker, with Cooley for me being the only player in college hockey who had a case for the award besides Adam Fantilli. He was ridiculously good and Knies was so essential in making that line work via his puck recovery skills, dominance around the net, and defensive detail. 

[Bill Rapai]

Losing players of that caliber is not easy, even if Jimmy Snuggerud returns. I like Snuggerud quite a bit, but I felt that he was the third piece of that line. If he can replicate his 21 goals and 50 points with new linemates, more power to him and I will be impressed. But I need to see it. In terms of recruits, Minnesota slides in Oliver Moore, 1st round pick of Chicago, at center. I like Moore, don't get me wrong, but he's not quite the same caliber of prospect as Logan Cooley. 7th round pick Jimmy Clark should help the depth scoring but what Minnesota needs is for the rest of the roster to step up and replace the firepower they lost. Better seasons from the likes of Connor Kurth and Brody Lamb, in addition to Bryce Brodzinski pouring in 19 goals again, would definitely help. 

The other element that made Minnesota so great last season was their four horsemen on defense, upperclassmen defensemen who gobbled tough minutes and controlled the game, tilting the ice towards Minnesota on every shift. Three of those four are now gone, with only Mike Koster returning. Sam Rinzel, 1st round pick, will help, but he cannot replace the seniority and the experience of those departed defenders. This is still a very talented blue line, Rinzel, Ryan Chesley, Luke Mittelstadt, but those three players are all underclassmen. There will be a drop-off in the manner in which the Gophers can dominate the games and protect Justen Close, a goalie who has thrived in the system but has had his wobbles against higher quality shots (and shooters). 

I do expect this Minnesota team to be good, which is why I have them in the top group. They still have a ton of talent, they still have Bob Motzko as their coach, and enough players return to guarantee some level of continuity. But I don't anticipate this to be anywhere near as dominant of a team, too much talent leaving the roster and crucially, too much experience. While Minnesota has been such a consistent team night-in and night-out over the last two seasons, I foresee a bit more of a spottier team, one with the choppiness that Michigan typically has that comes with a more freshman/sophomore heavy roster. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: the other five teams + predictions]

[Bill Rapai]

Michigan State

Last season: T-5th in B1G, 18-18-2 (9-11-4), missed NCAA Tournament  

Key Additions: Artyom Levshunov, Trey Augustine, Maxim Štrbák, Isaac Howard, Red Savage, Reed Lebster

Key Losses: Jagger Joshua, Miroslav Mucha, Cole Krygier, Jesse Tucker

What Adam Nightingale did last season in his first season as Michigan State head coach was nothing short of miraculous. The team wasn't particularly great, but they were mediocre in a brutally tough conference with a roster that was honestly terrible. There was next to no talent anywhere to be found on that roster, nothing to entice NHL teams and without overwhelming experience needed to make up for a talent gap. That was a bad roster and Nightingale got them on the cusp of the NCAAs. 

Now comes the talent. No team in the B1G gained more talent in the offseason than MSU, as Nightingale reeled in a very solid Recruiting Class and paired it with an aggressive portal strategy that raided the roster of lesser programs without the brand value of MSU. Let's start with the recruits: Michigan State's crown jewel is Artyom Levshunov, a projected lottery pick defenseman in the upcoming 2024 NHL Draft. Levshunov, a Belarusian-born player, was a late add to the class who picked MSU over Michigan (wanted to play for a team that doesn't have Seamus Casey hogging PP time, which is the right call) and profiles as the obvious #1 D for this team. Slovakian D Maxim Štrbák was a second round pick in the most recent draft and should help as a top four defensive defenseman, while Trey Augustine (decommit from Michigan when Mel was fired) was the USNTDP's goalie and was the 3rd goalie off the board in the same draft (picked by Detroit). 

The result is that MSU's defense should be significantly stronger and though it's impossible to predict goalies, Augustine is extremely talented and seems likely to give the Spartans strong play in net, akin to what they got last year from grad transfer Dylan St. Cyr. But that's not all MSU did to upgrade the roster. They added some decent USHL players to round out the recruiting class, including Gavin O'Connell from Waterloo, and then reaped the rewards of the transfer portal. Nightingale flipped two NHL draft picks who were struggling at their previous schools, Isaac Howard (2022 1st rounder, Tampa) from Duluth and Red Savage (2021 4th rounder, Detroit) from Miami (OH), and also added an experienced D (James Crossman, Brown), an experienced F (Reed Lebster, UMass), and an intriguing freshman who had a big season at Northern Michigan, Joey Larson. 

Though it's not a guarantee that Howard and Savage turn their trajectories around in the B1G, the result is a continued improvement in the level of talent for this MSU roster, which went from clearly the worst in the conference to middle of the league. Between Levshunov, Štrbák, and Crossman, that's three potential top four D being added, while five top nine forwards joined the team too. Toss in Augustine and it's a lot of new pieces, but they are all clearly better players than those who left the team- and MSU didn't even lose much! They bring back seven of their top eight scorers from last season and then infuse the roster with all this talent. Given what Nightingale did with a much worse roster last season, it's pretty easy to forecast a leap into the top ranks of the B1G this season. MSU is on the rise and this long-dormant rivalry is about to be very real again. 

Tier II: Other teams that should be good (but with more questions) - Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State 

[Gursahibveer Singh]

Wisconsin

Last season: 7th in B1G, 13-23-0 (6-18-0), missed NCAA Tournament  

Key Additions: David Silye, Christian Fitzgerald, Brady Cleveland, William Whitelaw, Quinn Finley, Owen Mehlenbacher

Key Losses: Brock Caufield, Corson Cuelemans, Jack Gorniak, Zach Urdahl, Jared Moe 

For my money, Wisconsin is going to see the largest coaching improvement of any team in D1 college hockey. Tony Granato was a good recruiter but a disastrous coach, making one NCAA Tournament appearance in seven seasons despite fielding teams with tons of NHL draft picks. He is mercifully out as Wisconsin head coach and has been replaced by Mike Hastings of Minnesota State who went 299-109-25 in eleven seasons. Part of that is the easy schedule that Minnesota State played, but they dominated their conference, winning the conference regular season title eight times in nine years, and made two Frozen Four appearances, including the 2022 national title game. Hastings won conference coach of the year 4x and national coach of the year 3x with the Mavericks. Yowza! 

Now Hastings has packed his bags and moved from Mankato to Madison and expectations on what he can do with Wisconsin are high. While you typically need to give a coach years to get "his guys", the roster Hastings has assembled for his first season with the Badgers is very talented. They have 13 drafted players, two more than Michigan and the same number as Minnesota. They don't have the same level of stars as either of those teams, but the depth of talent is very high. Some of the players are returning from last season and have room to improve, but a lot of the talent is being brought in by Hastings to play with. 

[Gursahibveer Singh]

The team Hastings takes over was a multi-year mystery in shooting/save percentage regression, outshooting their opponents two years in a row but getting whipped on the scoreboard due to astonishingly bad shooting and subpar goaltending. The returning names are okay, Mathieu De St. Phalle is a solid goalscorer and then talented forwards Cruz Lucius, Sam Stange, and Charlie Stramel have room to improve. But my biggest reason for hope with this team besides coaching is all the new players Hastings has added to the roster. Coming with him from the Mavs are two 29+ point scorers, David Silye and Christian Fitzgerald. Their 39 combined goals last season should help solve some of those shooting problems. Two additional intriguing young forwards come from the portal, Simon Tassy from Minn. St. and Tyson Dyck from UMass, both of whom were freshmen last year. 

The recruiting class is stellar, with further help arriving at forward. Quinn Finley (3rd, 2022), Owen Mehlenbacher (7th, 2022), and William Whitelaw (3rd, 2023) should all slot into the everyday lineup. Brady Cleveland (2nd, 2023) is a big and mean defenseman from the USNTDP, while Joe Palodichuk did not get drafted but was a solid defender in the USHL too. Wisconsin already had an okay roster that was poorly coached... now the roster gets significantly better and the coaching should go from "quite bad" to "quite good". 

All the ingredients for significant improvement are present, but two things held me back from ranking them in the top group. First is the fact that so many elements on the team are new and could lead to growing pains/inconsistencies in production. Greater error bars in the projection, things of that nature. The second piece that scares me is the goaltending, as Jared Moe's graduation leaves them with Kyle McClelland, who did not transition terribly well from Mercyhurst to the B1G and was relegated to backup duty, and recruit William Gramme, an NAHL goalie who had <.900 sv clips in the swedish juniors. i expect offense of this team and overall caliber play to improve but newness goaltending may hold them back from a top tier finish hate bet against mike hastings.>

[David Wilcomes]

Notre Dame 

Last season: 4th in B1G, 16-16-5 (8-10-6), missed NCAA Tournament  

Key Additions: Patrick Moynihan, Ryan Siedem, Danny Nelson, Cole Knuble, Paul Fischer, Brennan Ali, Carter Slaggert

Key Losses: Chayse Primeau, Nick Lievermann, Ryder Rolston, Jesse Lansdell, Jack Adams 

Notre Dame missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015 last season due to a toothless offense and an inability to be competitive in the run of play like usual. ND's defensively minded scheme meant they were never a great possession team, but last season was an astonishing low, 43.5% possession at even strength which ranked 55th out of 61 teams nationally. They weren't skillfully locking down games and playing dump-and-chase, they were getting caved in regularly, saved only by their goalie. And on offense, Notre Dame scored an abysmal 2.3 goals per game. Not a winning formula! 

To make matters worse, Notre Dame is retooling at forward. Three of their top four pointsgetters from last season have moved on and five of the nine players to score more than six goals(!!) do not return. It's not all bad though, as Notre Dame brings in a deep recruiting class of reasonably talented players to replenish the cupboards. Danny Nelson (2nd rounder), Cole Knuble (4th rounder), and Brennan Ali (7th rounder) are three drafted forwards joining the team, in addition to two undrafted USHL players who were once on the USNTDP squads, Maddox Fleming and Carter Slaggert (yes, there is another Slaggert). Toss in Providence's Patrick Moynihan, who was fished out of the portal, and that's six forwards who can help energize the offense. None of them are elite, skilled studs, but ND needs all the help they can get up front. Those players should make them better. 

There are also fortifications on defense, which ND hopes will give them more control over the games they play again. Ryan Siedem is an experienced defender from Harvard who transfers in, while Paul Fischer was a 5th round pick of St. Louis who was also in the recruiting class. Regardless of all these additions, the biggest reason for optimism with ND's hockey team is returning goalie Ryan Bischel. He was the best goalie in the NCAA last season for my money and if he plays at that level again, he will give ND a shot to win every game they play. 

Bischel is my reason for putting ND in this group, even though they were not good last year. It's possible that Jeff Jackson is in his final years and things are going downhill holistically, but I like the possibility of some decent young talent improving the team and the program deserves the benefit of the doubt for the track record established. Mix that with an elite player at the sport's most important position and I expect ND to be a tough squad who will fight for the NCAA Tournament yet again. 

[Bill Rapai]

Ohio State

Last season: 3rd in B1G, 21-16-3 (11-11-2), lost in Regional Final   

Key Additions: Mason Klee, Logan Terness, Brent Johnson, William Smith, Damien Carfagna, Max Montes, Theo Wallery

Key Losses: Jakub Dobeš, Jake Wise, Mason Lohrei, Tate Singleton, Cole McWard, Travis Treloar, Tyler Duke 

The Buckeyes had the conference's most chaotic offseason, the one laced with the most attrition. OSU lost their goaltender and nearly the entirety of their defensive group from last season, in addition to a few talented forwards in Jake Wise, Tate Singleton, and Travis Treloar. To fill these spots, Steve Rohlik had to bring in a large recruiting class and do extensive portal shopping. How does it come together? That's the question of OSU's season. 

The good news is that their offense, based more on depth than star power, is largely intact. Stephen Halliday was one of the better players in the conference and OSU's leading pointsgetter, he's back. So are Joe Dunlap, Davis Burnside, and Cam Thiesing, the team's top three goalscorers from last season. They have a few holes to fill up front but it's nothing crazy. That should remain a reasonable strength for the Buckeye team. 

The bigger questions are on defense and in net, as well as the general scheme of the team. Mason Lohrei was a tremendous talent for OSU as their #1 D, one who blossomed late in the season and signed with the Bruins after the NCAAs. I don't see any obvious way for the Buckeyes to replace him. Cole McWard was also a strong defender and chose to sign with Vancouver, where he's having a surprisingly strong training camp. Tyler Duke and CJ Regula were both everyday players on the OSU blue line, leaving veteran Scooter Brickey as the last man standing. Toss in goalie Jakub Dobeš, who was the backbone of the team the last two seasons, and yeah, it's a lot. 

[Bill Rapai]

To try and fix this predicament, OSU dipped into the portal. On defense they snagged grad transfer Mason Klee (RPI), Brent Johnson, a former 3rd round pick who didn't play much at North Dakota, and Damien Carfagna (UNH). They also added a former 6th rounder Theo Wallery and a solid USHLer William Smith in the recruiting class, so it'll be a defense where almost everyone is wearing name tags. At forward, Rohlik mostly recruited checkers, though Sam Deckhut and Max Montes could be interesting. In net, the favorite to replace Dobeš is UCONN transfer Logan Terness, who played 17 games in 2022-23 with a .913 SV%. Seems alright, but not the same level of production as Dobeš. 

In totality, this roster is one of the least talented in the conference. That's not major news, as OSU is not exactly an NHL factory. When the program wins, they succeed because of strong goaltending, excellent special teams, experienced impact players, and a well coached/structured scheme. The latter was their biggest asset last season, an aggressive offensive zone forecheck that gave Michigan immense problems. Will Rohlik be able to install that system this season with so many new players? Remains to be seen. And even beyond that, how quickly can all the new pieces gel for the Buckeyes, especially on defense? I don't think Ohio State will be bad, but they have more questions and less raw talent than some of the other teams in the league. 

[David Wilcomes]

Penn State

Last season: T-5th in B1G, 22-16-1 (10-10-4), lost in Regional Final   

Key Additions: Aiden Fink, Jacques Bouquot, Tanner Palocsik, Reese Laubach, Matt DiMarsico 

Key Losses: Kevin Wall, Ture Linden, Connor MacEachern, Connor McMenamin, Ashton Calder, Tyler Gratton

The biggest non-MSU surprise in the conference last season was PSU, which went from a multi-year disappointment to a solid B1G squad. They parlayed their ultra-soft non-con schedule and the B1G's supremacy into an NCAA Tournament appearance, where the team lost to Michigan in the Regional Final. The strength of their team was the veteran talent, a team where 10 of the top 11 scorers (+ their goalie) for PSU were either juniors, seniors, or grad students. It was an experienced team and they stitched together Guy Gadowsky's best season in four years. 

This season Penn State won't have as much experience and that is what concerns me. PSU had an ensemble offense but all five players to net nine or more goals last season have moved on. That group includes the four players who scored >20 points, Kevin Wall, Ture Linden, Connor MacEachern, and Connor McMenamin. Penn State does rollover most of their defensive group, but those players were not the strength of the squad. Penn State adds a couple transfers, F Jacques Bouquot (Vermont) and D Tanner Palocsik, a stand-out player at Darmouth, in addition to a classic PSU recruiting class (late round picks and decent USHL players), but the players who were on the roster last season are expected to do a lot of the heavy lifting. 

One such player is G Liam Souliere, who was as key to Penn State's improvement last season as anyone. His SV% jumped from .905 to .917 and he played the game of his life against Michigan in the NCAA Tournament. Souliere impressed me and outperformed expectations, but his career NCAA SV% was <.900 through two seasons in college. was last year real or an illusion that my big question and ambiguity answering it is why i slotted psu at the bottom. don totally trust their goaltending are losing a lot of production without obvious replacements not to mention fact only out teams conference. despite ranking them still expect be solid thanks pitiful non-conference schedule allowing game pairwise they will have shot ncaas again. b1g good.>

UMass returns to the schedule, this time in Amherst [James Coller]

The Non-Conference Foes

Michigan has played a couple very difficult non-conference slates in a row, last season squaring off tournament teams in Boston U (who made the Frozen Four), Harvard, and Western Michigan. This season does not profile as the same level of difficulty, with just one team who made the tournament last season and that team was a PSU-like veteran-laden squad that sees significant attrition: 

• Providence: the Friars have generally been a pretty good program but last season was not their best, going 16-14-7 overall, tied for 6th in a weak Hockey East. They weren't anywhere close to the NCAA Tournament picture as a result. Most of the team does come back and they add one-time Michigan G commit Marcus Brännman, so I think the arrow is pointing in the right direction for improvement. That said, this looks more like a decent team who can sniff the bubble than a terrifying national title contender. 
• UMass: It's been a steep fall from the days of Cale Makar and the subsequent 2021 national championship in Amherst. UMass cratered to 9th in the aforementioned weak Hockey East last season and were 13-17-5 overall. Their goal differential was only -9, so it wasn't catastrophic for the Minutemen, but not ideal. The good news is, UMass was a very young team last year and almost everyone is back, so improvement is the expectation. A decent recruiting class, including elite goalie prospect Michael Hrabal join the roster, so I expect UMass to trend more towards the bubble, but like Providence, they do not appear to be a contender
• Lindenwood: They are still Lindenwood. Year #2 of the program at the D1 level after going 7-22-1 last season with a -42 goal differential. Obviously you should expect them to start to improve, but this is not a team that should pose any test to Michigan at Yost 
• St. Cloud State: The Huskies made the NCAA Tournament last season and reached the Regional Final, so on paper this is a dangerous matchup for Michigan, especially on the road over Thanksgiving. In my view it should be more of a trap series than a headliner game, as seven of SCS' top 14 scorers last year + their goalie graduate. Should still be a respectable squad but not going to be as good as last year by any stretch and probably uphill battle to be in the tourney in the NCHC. 
• Stonehill: In case you're wondering who or what Stonehill is, they are a Catholic college in Easton, Massachusetts. They joined D1 last season but played only five D1 games, mostly still playing lower level teams as they transitioned upwards. Their five games last season were against Long Island and Lindenwood. They went 0-5. They were outscored by 30 goals in 5 games by two of the worst teams in the country. I am not sure they are better than Simon Fraser, who Michigan played in exhibition on Saturday and beat 8-1. Yeah. What is the point of this series?

[David Wilcomes]

Prediction

Last season I predicted that Michigan would go 22-10-2 in the regular season and they instead finished 20-11-3. Considering I made that prediction before I knew about the Frank Nazar injury, I'm feeling pretty good! Two years in a row where my overall record prediction was within a couple games of the final number. I also predicted Michigan to finish second in the B1G in the regular season (correct), behind Minnesota by a couple points (incorrect). Again, I'll claim the Nazar injury as an exemption there, but not too bad. 

As for my stupid predictions, last year they were: 

• Frank Nazar leads Michigan in goals with 20  
• TJ Hughes surprisingly carves out a role in Michigan's bottom six 
• Keaton Pehrson triples his career goal total and scores three for Michigan this year 
• Seamus Casey finishes with more points than Ethan Edwards 
• Michigan does not lead the NCAA in PIM again, due to fewer five minute majors, but they will remain one of the more penalized teams in the NCAA with the likes of Fantilli, Holtz, and Moyle in the lineup

On the first one, it's a N/A because he was not healthy. The second one I was too conservative, with TJ Hughes becoming their 2C... the spirit of the prediction is correct, so I'll claim it. Third one is a total bust, as Pehrson did not score a goal. Fourth and fifth ones were ringing successes, as Casey scored 29 points to Edwards' 14, while Michigan did not lead the NCAA in PIM per game but were 2nd in total PIM and 3rd in PIM/game. 2 dead-on wins, 1 standard win, 1 loss, and one N/A is pretty good. I'll take 3-1-1 for "stupid predictions". 

With that in mind, how about some takes/predictions for this season? 

I like this team overall. There are some real questions, but I think they should be a top 10 team again, possibly top 5, with a good shot to win the conference. As I detailed in this piece, the B1G is ridiculously talented but the conference is wide open and Michigan has as much of a case as any other team. Replacing Adam Fantilli and Luke Hughes will not be easy, but this is still a team with elite talent, several All-B1G studs in addition to eleven total drafted skaters and a more experienced lineup than they've iced in years. 

[Bill Rapai]

On offense, Michigan loses 60 goals combined between Adam Fantilli, Luke Hughes, and Mackie Samoskevich, but I do like the players they have to replace those guys. Seamus Casey will not be Luke Hughes, but him taking another step forward while the defense gets deeper around him will be a decent substitute. A healthy Frank Nazar III probably won't be Adam Fantilli, but it's hard to ask for anything better to fill those shoes than a lottery pick center who looked elite at the World Junior Summer Showcase this summer. And Nick Moldenhauer probably won't be Mackie Samoskevich, but he's a very talented forward who should chip in 10-15 goals compared to Mackie's 20. I do think Michigan's offense will be worse, but if Nazar pops, there shouldn't be a gargantuan drop off. 

Where the team can and should be better is on defense. First of all, it's a more experienced team who should have a better grasp on system hockey and the principles that Brandon Naurato espouses as a coach. The forwards should be more bought in defensively and then they add Tyler Duke and Marshall Warren, defensemen who bring elements that the team has been missing in their own end. I think this team will be stronger in the corners, better at blunting the opposition cycle and breaking the puck out, and should be better killing penalties. Last year's team had stretches where they were a mess defensively, put frankly. This year's team should be better and more consistent in their own end. 

I don't feel great about goaltending because it's so unproven at the B1G level, but I think at least one goalie can succeed if the team plays well defensively and that may be all Michigan needs. Also, it's not like Michigan got exceptional goaltending last year. Erik Portillo was awesome against the high-danger chances he faced, but far too many goals went in overall and a lot were strange, low percentage chances. That was the story of the Quinnipiac game, after all. Portillo posted a .908 SV% in total, which isn't terrible but it also isn't insurmountable to replace. It wouldn't be crazy if Michigan's goaltending this year matches that whatsoever. 

[Bill Rapai]

So, my prediction for 2023-24 is 20-12-2. Basically the same as I predicted last year, as I see a number of counter-balancing factors. Michigan's conference schedule is going to be even tougher, but the non-conference schedule seems significantly easier, with four gimme games and four more going from seeming elite contenders last year to bubble-ish teams. The team loses some talent but is more experienced and more comfortable under this coaching staff. The major difference I see from last year is a much more competitive B1G. I honestly don't know who I'd put #1 if you made me pick, but I will leave you this final prediction: Michigan will be within 4 points of first in the conference in the regular season one way or another. 

As for this year's stupid predictions, here we go: 

• Michigan will beat Notre Dame at home in the regular season for the first time since 2018-19
• Marshall Warren is clearly Michigan's second-best defenseman 
• Jacob Barczewski seizes the starting job by November and posts a SV% better than Erik Portillo's last season
• Nick Moldenhauer is Michigan's second-leading goalscorer 
• Chase Pletzke records three assists (more than he had the last two seasons at Miami (OH) combined)

Hopefully I do as well as last year.

Wrap 

I hope this preview, between four pieces and two hours of podcast audio, gave you all plenty to gnaw on as we get ready for the hockey season, which kicks off this Saturday night at 7:00 pm in Ann Arbor against Providence (annoyingly during the Minnesota game). For the content plan for the site, Hockey Weekly will make its usual occasional appearances in the fall before ramping up more regularly in the winter, while the HockeyCast will continue weekly throughout the season. I'm excited to get this season underway and there should be plenty to enjoy on the ice this winter! 

Go Blue.