Dan Lien of the Minnesota Daily (the University of Minnesota's student
 newspaper) gave these predictions in today's edition. Here are the highlights,
 with the teams listed in his predicted order of finish, and key strengths and
 weaknesses noted. In the interest of conserrving space and time, I have not
 included his other comments.
 
 1. North Dakota Fighting Sioux
    Key strength: Goaltending
    Key weakness: Defense, but barely
 
 2. Minnesota Golden Gophers
    Key strength: Defense
    Key weakness: Scoring punch
 
 3. Northern Michigan Wildcats
    Key Strength: Returning talent
    Key weakness: Lack of depth
 
 4. Wisconsin Badgers
    Key strength: New recruits
    Key weakness: Lost seniors
 
 5. St. Cloud State Huskies
    Key strength: Home ice
    Key weakness: Lack of WCHA experience
 
 6. Colorado College Tigers
    Key strength: Goaltending
    Key weakness: Experience
 
 7. Denver Pioneers
    Key strength: New coaches
    Key weakness: New coaches
 
 8. Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs
    Key strength: Chad Erickson [goaltender]
    Key weakness: History
 
 9. Michigan Tech Huskies
    Key strength: Loss of Herb Boxer as coach
    Key weakness: Living in Houghton
 
 =================================================
 
 My personal comments: I think that Minnesota, North Dakota, and Northern
 Michigan will have a very tight race all the way to the end of the season. It
 would surprise me if Minnesota-Duluth finished as low as 8th, and St. Cloud as
 high as 5th.
 
 = Erik J. Biever                               (612) 625-9777 =
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