The Northern Collegiate Hockey Association released its 2018-19 Men's Preseason Coaches Poll on Friday and Lake Forest College was picked to finish sixth in the standings.
Voting is done by the NCHA head coaches. Each coach votes for the other 11 teams in the league in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (11 points for first, 10 for second, etc.). Coaches may not vote for their own teams.
The Foresters finished with 74 points in the poll, just three fewer than fifth-place Concordia University Wisconsin and 20 more than seventh-place Aurora University..
Lake Forest returns seven of the 11 players who reached double figures in points last season, including NCHA All-Freshman Team forward Aaron O'Neill. All-NCHA goaltender Louis-Philippe De Courcy also returns after ranking among the top 20 in the nation in save percentage and goals against average. The 2017-18 Foresters were 15-11-2 overall and finished in third place in the NCHA South Division standings with a 10-6-2 mark in conference play.
Fourth-year head coach Patrick Kelliher and the Foresters will officially open the 2018-19 season at the University of Wisconsin-Superior on Friday, October 26. The team will begin its 18-game league schedule against Northland College and the College of St. Scholastica at home the following weekend. The regular season will conclude on February 9 and the top four teams in each division will qualify for the Harris Cup Playoffs.
Lake Forest has reached the league's postseason tournament in 20 of the last 21 seasons.
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | St. Norbert College (10) | 119 |
| 2 | Adrian College (2) | 112 |
| 3 | Marian University | 96 |
| 4 | College of St. Scholastica | 85 |
| 5 | Concordia University Wisconsin | 77 |
| 6 | Lake Forest College | 74 |
| 7 | Aurora University | 54 |
| 8 | Milwaukee School of Engineering | 50 |
| 9 | Lawrence University | 48 |
| 10 | Northland College | 43 |
| 11t | Trine University | 20 |
| 11t | Finlandia University | 14 |