The Northern Collegiate Hockey Association released its 2017-18 Men's Preseason Coaches Poll on Wednesday and Lake Forest College was picked to finish seventh 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 69 points in the poll, just nine points out of third place but 21 ahead of eighth.
Lake Forest returns eight of the 12 players who reached double figures in points last season, including NCHA All-Freshman Team defenseman Connor Duncan. The team was 16-10-0 overall and finished in third place in the NCHA South Division standings with a 12-8-0 mark in conference play.
Fourth-year head coach Patrick Kelliher and the Foresters will officially open the 2017-18 season against the University of Wisconsin-Superior at home on Friday, October 27. The team will begin its 18-game league schdule at Northland College and the College of St. Scholastica the following weekend. The regular season will conclude on February 10 and the top eight teams in the conference will qualify for the Harris Cup Playoffs.
Lake Forest has reached the league's postseason tournament in 19 of the last 20 seasons.
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | Adrian College (8) | 118 |
| 2 | St. Norbert College (4) | 114 |
| 3 | College of St. Scholastica | 95 |
| 4 | Marian University | 78 |
| 5 | Milwaukee School of Engineering | 77 |
| 6 | Concordia University Wisconsin | 73 |
| 7 | Lake Forest College | 69 |
| 8 | Northland College | 48 |
| 9 | Aurora University | 45 |
| 10 | Lawrence University | 43 |
| 11t | Finlandia University | 16 |
| 11t | Trine University | 16 |
