Vegoe’s Top 20 – 9/23/2024

New this year is a Top 20 Poll on GopherPuckLive — I’ll give my perspective on who I think the best teams across the country are throughout the season on Monday mornings. I’ll admit that I’m very B10 focused because of our Pride On Ice coverage roots and will be watching the rest of the league with B1G+. We also get some in-state games on Fox9 and Fox9+ to watch although their website might not give you much info on their college hcokey coverage. I’ve got access to https://www.flohockey.tv/watch and https://www.espn.com/watch/espnplus to stay in touch on some Atlantic, Hockey East and ECAC games throughout the year too.

I didn’t get too crazy with predicting my top 20 this year. I looked at how last year finished for PWR on College Hockey News, took into consideration the results of the 2024 NCAA Tourney, took into account preseason polls from the CCHA, B10, NCHC, Atlantic Hockey, ECAC and Hockey East. Lastly of course I read Brad Elliot Schlossman’s season preview stories on the leagues and the godfather of hockey’s top 20— which are always a must read. Spoiler alert, Schlossman has the Gophers as his pick to with the B10 and second overall with nods to Jimmy Snuggerud as the league’s top forward, Sam Rinzel as the league’s top defenseman and Matthew Wood as the league’s top transfer.

I think the blue bloods of college hockey are back as DU, BC, Minnesota, North Dakota and BU are my top teams. I think those are the programs battling for No. 1 overall seeds and there is a gap between them and the rest. I don’t understand how the first USCHO Poll of the year has Wisconsin at No. 10. They’re not even in my 20. I’m not as high as many are on Michigan State this year — they lost Artyom Levshunov to an early departure and I didn’t notice a great defensive corps there and goalie Trey Augustine will see a lot more dangerous chances this year.

The last couple teams trying to make the NCAA tournament are definitely going to be in a battle all the way through the end of the year. I feel like teams six through 30 all have a chance to make it. There is so much depth in college hockey right now in the last year of extra covid eligibility that it’s hard to separate from the pack. Last season’s pre-season poll had St. Cloud, Ohio State, Merrimack, Harvard, Penn State, Minnesota-Duluth, Providence, Northeastern and Notre Dame in the top 20, but they all missed the tourney.