Hey, Rensselaer Polyrtechnic Institute hockey fans!
The 2011-12 season in nearly upon us.
Rensselaer has been picked by ECAC Hockey coaches to finish fourth in a preseason poll. The league's media, meanwhile, foresee the Engineers finishing fifth in the 12-team league.
In balloting among the media and the coaches for a preseason All-conference team, RPI junior Nick Bailen was voted to the five-player team.
The top four finishers in the ECACH final standings, of course, receive a bye in the preliminary round of the playoffs.
Both the coaches and media expect Yale to win the ECACH's regular season title and both groups pick Union second.
Here's the coaches poll, with first-place votes in parenthesis:
1. Yale (9)
2. Union (2)
3. Cornell
4. Rensselaer
5. Dartmouth
6. Quinnipiac (1)
7. Harvard
8. Princeton
9. St. Lawrence
10. Colgate
11. Clarkson
12. Brown
Here's the media balloting, with first-place votes in parenthesis and points totals among the 38 voters.
1. Yale (23) 432
2. Union (11) 397
3. Cornell (3) 356
4. Dartmouth (1) 308
5. Rensselaer 281
6. Quinnipiac 239
7. Princeton 205
8. St. Lawrence 173
9. Clarkson 164
10. Colgate 152
11. Brown 134
12. Harvard 129

Note the vast difference between where the coaches see Harvard finishing and where the media pick the Crimson. Harvard coach Ted Donato said he wasn't fazed.
Harvard senior Danny Biega was the other defenseman with Bailen on both preseason All-conference teams. Yale's talented duo of sohpomore Andrew Miller and junior Bryan O'Neill were chosen by both the coaches and media, as was Dartmouth senior goaltender James Mello.
The coaches voted Brown senior Jack McClellan to their team, the media chose St. Lawrence's star sophomore Greg Carey.
Back to Bailen. With 8 goals and 28 assists last season, the Bowling Green transfer is the top scorer among RPI's returning players.
More later.