Headlines: Men's Hockey Picked Third in Preseason HE Poll

Brian: We briefly interrupt Florida State week for some ice hockey news. The Eagles men's hockey team was picked to finish third in Hockey East in this year's preseason coaches poll. A school that will remain nameless took the top spot with 84 total votes and 6 first place votes. Boston College and UMass-Lowell split the remaining first place votes with two each:

2009-10 Hockey East Men's Preseason Poll

Rank	Team (First-Place Votes)	Pts.
1.	Boston University (6)	84
2.	UMass-Lowell (2)	79
3.	Boston College (2)	76
4.	New Hampshire	59
5.	Vermont	59
6.	Northeastern	57
7.	Massachusetts	47
8.	Maine	32
9.	Providence	24
10.	Merrimack	23

Is this significant? Well, perhaps a little. This is actually the first season since 2002-2003 that the Eagles weren't picked first in the Hockey East coaches' preseason poll (that year they were #3 in the preseason poll). The Eagles stranglehold of Hockey East's top spot in the preseason poll lasted for 6 consecutive years from 2003-2004 to 2008-2009.

Hockey East Men's Preseason Polls, 2002-2003 to 2009-2010

Team	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002
Boston College	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	3
Boston University	1	2	3	2	5	3	3	1
Maine	8	9	4	3	3	2	4	4
Massachusetts	7	6	5	7	7	6	5	8
Merrimack	10	10	10	10	10	9	9	9
New Hampshire	4	3	1	4	2	4	2	2
Northeastern	6	4	7	8	9	7	8	6
Providence	9	8	8	6	8	8	6	5
UMass-Lowell	2	7	9	9	3	5	7	7
Vermont	5	5	5	5	6	N/A	N/A	N/A

(Poor Merrimack ... never gets any respect!)

The Eagles 11-11-5 record and sixth-place finish in the Hockey East regular standings last season might have something to do with the cooled expectations for this year's hockey team. The season starts October 18 at Vermont. We'll have our analysis of the schedule up in the next two weeks. Go Eagles!