The annual CCHA Media Day took place in suburban Detroit on Tuesday. All 12 CCHA head coaches gathered to discuss with the sports media world their views and insights regarding the upcoming 2005-06 hockey season. Each coach gave a synopsis of his team’s outlook for the season.

“We’re real excited in Marquette for the season to begin. I think that we feel that we had a good run the last half of last year, and really made some strides in becoming the type of team that we want to become….We feel good about the team, we feel good about where we are, and we are excited to get the season going in what we feel will be a very competitive league.” –Coach Walt Kyle

It was no surprise that both the Detroit and Ohio biased media selected Ohio State as the consensus 1st place team. Michigan was selected 2nd, followed by NMU 3rd. What the coaches most likely failed to assess in their hazy big school bias, is the fact that NMU plays both Michigan and Ohio State at home this season. NMU also plays 9 of its final 12 CCHA regular season games at home where they were an overall 15-2-4 last season. So we shall see how the coaches and media view NMU at season’s end—most likely looking up at them at the top of the standings. For the complete set of polls, see CCHA.com.

College Sports Television (CSTV) and Fox Sports Detroit (FSN) will broadcast a combined 34 games this season, providing great national exposure for the league. Unfortunately, NMU was once again shafted by the CCHA with only 2 broadcasts—both against beleaguered Western Michigan. However, CSTV will shine the television spotlight on NMU at the Berry Events Center on December 18 (Sunday) at 2 PM. This will be a great opportunity for NMU hockey to prove to the nation how good their club really is this season.