Today, the CCHA conducted its annual Media Day. Part of the festivities involve statements from each coach regarding his team; and a media and coaches’ poll. The CCHA website published this quote from Coach Walt Kyle today.

“I think our team is a unique team this year. I divide us into three different groups. We have a group of upperclassmen, juniors and seniors who are really unproven, haven’t really done a lot in their career but we feel very comfortable with them. We think they’re good competitors and stand for a lot of the things that our program stands for. I’m really content with that group. We have another group of 17 freshman and sophomores. We’ll probably play eight or nine freshman every night and probably 15 freshmen and sophomores almost every night. We like the young kids, we like the talent, but those people also have to prove themselves. Then we have another group of guys, I think we have four kids that were redshirts or had to sit last year because of transfers or academic eligibility situations. We think these kids are going to fill in there at some point but they’re also again unproven to us and we’re anxious and waiting to see what those guys will do. I don’t think that we’re a team that’s going to score a lot. We don’t have very many returning goals. We’re a team that’s just going to have to compete and play hard on a nightly basis. There are some teams that are at the top that are going to pull away from some people. I think the bulk to the league is going to be extremely close and extremely tight. Like Rick [Comley] said, every nights it’s one goal here and one goal there. Leadership, chemistry, and discipline are the things that our team is going to have to have if we’re going to emerge and be a factor. Our greatest strength is going to our youth and our energy and our greatest weakness is probably going to be our inexperience. I’m excited about where we are. It’s a team I’m really looking forward to coach and I’m anxious for the year to get going.”

The NMU Wildcats were voted to finish 8th by the CCHA coaches and 10th by the media. Our site picked the Cats for 7th. For complete media coverage, go to CCHA.com.

CCHA Coach and Media Polls