According to Bovada, the Boston College hockey team is the preseason favorite to win the 2016 National Championship, which will be awarded in Tampa, FL on April 9. The Eagles' odds to win the title are set at 4/1, just ahead of Minnesota-Duluth and BU. As is often the case, particularly in college hockey, the preseason odds reflect brand names as much as anything, with most of the betting favorites being traditional powers or recent national champions.
Odds:
Boston College 4/1
Minnesota-Duluth 13/2
Boston University 15/2
Providence 17/2
North Dakota 17/2
Massachusetts-Lowell 10/1
Minnesota State 11/1
Harvard 11/1
Minnesota 11/1
Miami (OH) 11/1
Denver 12/1
Michigan 12/1
Nebraska-Omaha 15/1
Yale 28/1
Michigan Tech 28/1
Bowling Green 28/1
Observations:
-The tight grouping of teams is yet another reflection of how hard it is to predict the upcoming college hockey season; the preseason USCHO poll featured a record ten teams getting first place votes.
-If brand names were filtered out of the equation, Duluth would probably be the favored team; they return most of their scoring from a team that gave BU everything they could handle last year in the Northeast Regional final in Manchester.
-Denver seems a bit undervalued here at 12/1. They were preseason #5 in the USCHO poll. I think Harvard is potentially a bit underrated, but they so often seem to underperform relative to their talent level that it's fair to be skeptical. However, they have arguably the best returning player in the country in Jimmy Vesey.
-Union has disappeared from the board; that was fast. #LeamanEffect
-In case you're curious, Minnesota, BC and North Dakota were last year's three favorites. Eventual national champion Providence was #4 on the board at 10/1. BU was 60/1 at the start of the season. So, it shows how much stock you can put in to these things. But they're fun to examine (for entertainment purposes only).