(from nchahockey.org)
The Lake Forest College men's hockey team has been picked by league coaches to place fourth in the upcoming Northern Collegiate Hockey Association regular season, according to the results of the coaches' preseason poll announced today by the league office.
Coming off its third NCAA National Championship in the past four seasons, St. Norbert College picked up all possible first-place votes (coaches could not vote for their own team) and led the way with 81 points. A dynasty in the NCAA, the Green Knights have claimed four of the past seven national titles overall, going 28-3-1 last year.
St. Norbert returns three All-Americans, with 2014 Sid Watson Award winner David Jacobsen headlining the way. The senior had a stellar year in goal in 2013-14, posting a 1.26 goals-against average, .936 save percentage and a 24-1-1 record in net. Mason Baptista and Marian Fiala, second-team All-America choices last year, are also set to return.
Adrian College came in second, securing the other first-place vote and 69 points. The Bulldogs had their streak of six-straight NCHA regular-season titles snapped last year, but spent time as the No. 1 team in the country during the regular season, finishing 22-3-4 and No. 5 by D3Hockey.com and No. 6 in the USCHO.com final polls.
The College of St. Scholastica, which went 16-9-4 and made it to the NCHA Tournament Championship, was rewarded last year with a final spot of No. 14 in the USCHO.com poll and received votes in the other. The Saints were barely edged for second in the coaches' poll today, placing third with 68 points.
Lake Forest College, which received votes in the final USCHO.com poll after a 15-12-1 campaign, was fourth with 51 points, just ahead of Marian University with 50. The Sabres finished 12-13-2 a year ago.
Sixth through eighth place in the coaches poll were tight, with Concordia University Wisconsin (10-13-4 last year) finishing sixth with 37 points, MSOE (7-19-1) seventh with 36 points and Lawrence University (6-19-2) eighth with 31.
Northland College (ninth, 14 points, 4-21-0) and Finlandia University (10th, 13 points, 3-20-1) rounded out the poll.
| Place | Team (First Place Votes) | Points |
| 1 | St. Norbert College (9) | 81 |
| 2 | Adrian College (1) | 69 |
| 3 | College of St. Scholastica | 68 |
| 4 | Lake Forest College | 51 |
| 5 | Marian University |
50 |
| 6 | Concordia University Wisconsin | 37 |
| 7 | Milwaukee School of Engineering | 36 |
| 8 | Lawrence University | 31 |
| 9 | Northland College | 14 |
| 10 | Finlandia University | 13 |
