New Irish head coach Jeff Jackson's 2005-06 Notre Dame hockey team was picked ninth by the coaches and the media in the league's preseason poll announced at CCHA Media Day on Sept. 27.

Notre Dame Picked To Finish Ninth By CCHA Coaches And Media

Sept. 27, 2005

Detroit, Mich. – The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) opened the 2005-06 season with its annual Media Day at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday afternoon. The conference announced its annual coaches and media preseason polls along with a preseason all-CCHA team. In the polls ranking the teams, the Irish were picked to finish ninth by both the league’s coaches and the media that covers the CCHA on a regular basis. The coaches’ vote gave the Irish 36 points, putting them 14 points behind eighth-place Bowling Green. Notre Dame received eight more votes than 10th-place Ferris State (28). Ohio State was selected first, receiving 11 first-place votes and 121 total points. Michigan received one first-place vote and 108 points overall for second place. In the media voting, the Irish were picked fifth with a total of 196 points. That was 104 points less than eighth-place Bowling Green (300) and 17 more than 10th-place Western Michigan (179). Ohio State was the media’s choice for first place as the Buckeyes receive 45 of 54 first-place votes and a total of 622 points. Michigan was second with seven first-place votes and 581 points overall. Northern Michigan (third) and Michigan State (fourth) each received one first-place vote. The results of both polls:

CCHA Coaches Poll (1st-place votes)    Points1.  Ohio State (11)                    1212.  Michigan (1)                       1083.  Northern Michigan                   964.  Michigan State                      935.  Nebraska-Omaha                      786.  Miami                               697.  Alaska Fairbanks                    658.  Bowling Green                       509.  NOTRE DAME                          3610. Ferris State                        2811. Lake Superior State                 2312. Western Michigan                    22
CCHA Media Poll (1st-place votes) Points1. Ohio State (45) 6222. Michigan (7) 5813. Northern Michigan (1) 4944. Michigan State (1) 4325. Nebraska-Omaha 3806. Alaska Fairbanks 3727. Miami 3688. Bowling Green 3009. NOTRE DAME 19610. Western Michigan 17911. Lake Superior State 15912. Ferris State 112

For the second year in a row, the CCHA also announced it’s all-Conference teams for 2004-05. The team features eight of the 12 players who were selected to the 2004-05 all-Conference teams. Ohio State led the way with four selections to the preseason teams led by first team selections Rod Pelley and David Caruso. Michigan and Nebraska-Omaha had two selections each while Miami, Northern Michigan, Western Michigan and Michigan State had one each. No Irish player was selected to either the first or second teams.

CCHA Preseason First TeamPos.  Player, Yr., School             First  TotalsF     T.J. Hensick, Jr., Michigan       35       175F     Scott Parse, Jr., Nebraska-Omaha  27       152F     Rod Pelley, Sr., Ohio State       11       107D     Andy Greene, Sr., Miami           32       171D     Nathan Oystrick, Sr., No. Mich.   22       135G     David Caruso, Sr., Ohio State     24       146
CCHA Preseason Second TeamPos. Player, Yr., School First TotalsF Brent Walton, Sr., Western Mich. 9 96F Tom Fritsche, So., Ohio State 4 89F Bill Thomas, So., Nebraska-Omaha 3 81D Matt Hunwick, Jr., Michigan 9 107D Nate Guenin, Sr., Ohio State 10 103G Dominic Vicari, Jr., Michigan St. 6 87

Jeff Jackson and his coaching staff begins official practices this coming Saturday, October 1. On Saturday, Oct. 8, the Irish will hold their annual Blue-Gold scrimmage at the Joyce Center at 7:05 p.m. One week later, on Friday, Oct. 14, Notre Dame entertains the University of Waterloo in a preseason tilt at the Joyce Center with opening faceoff set for 7:35 p.m. The regular season opens the following week on the road when the Irish travel to Colorado College (Oct. 21 – 7:37 p.m. MT on ESPNU) and defending national champion Denver (Oct. 22 – 7:07 p.m. (MT).