College Hockey News put Michigan at No. 1 on September 24, and I treat that ranking like a guilty verdict the rest of the country still wants to appeal. Denver got the USCHO crown three days earlier with 35 first-place votes and 973 points. Michigan sat second at 915. The Big Ten coaches had already voted the Wolverines first in the conference for the first time since 2015-16. Mike McMahon and CHN simply finished the sentence the coaches started.
This is not a participation trophy. This is a program that has lived in the almost-lane for four seasons and just got told the lane is closed.
Mike McMahon opened his case with the line that should hang over every October practice in Ann Arbor: “It’s hard not to notice a difference in the way this Michigan team is built.” He is right. Five first-round NHL picks still sit on the roster. That part is familiar. The new part is the mid-round depth McMahon flagged as a page taken straight from Denver’s book — Nick Moldenhauer, Jayden Perron, Aidan Park up front, Henry Mews and Asher Barnett on the back end — stacked beside upperclassmen who already know what a Frozen Four smells like. Ben Robertson and Dakoda Rheaume-Mullen anchor the blue line. Will Horcoff, Michael Hage, Garrett Schifsky give the forward group actual mileage. The kids are still there. The veterans finally are, too.
Ivankovic Is the Exhibit the Defense Cannot Cross
McMahon closed the Michigan section with the cleanest single sentence in the entire ranking: “Last but not least, Jack Ivankovic remains the best goalie Michigan has had in years.” That is the difference between a team that reaches the Frozen Four and a team that leaves with a banner. Michigan already led the nation in goals (181), shot percentage (13.3 percent), and power-play percentage (31.9 percent) last season. They tied for the national lead in shorthanded goals. They won the Big Ten Tournament. They still lost a Frozen Four semifinal 4-3 in double overtime to Denver. Elite skaters without a true No. 1 in net are a highlight reel. Elite skaters with Ivankovic are a title threat.
Christopher Walsh at SI put the stakes in plain English: “Here’s the thing: This year’s Michigan team could be better.” Then he went further. A top-level player at each position group plus real depth means Michigan “may not be just the team to beat in the Big Ten, but the entire nation.” I am buying that sentence at full price. Michael Hage returned with 52 points. Jayden Perron brought 41. Will Horcoff 39. The production is already on the books. The question is whether the supporting cast finishes the job T.J. Hughes left behind when he walked out as Big Ten Player of the Year.
Denver’s Blue Line Is a Future Problem Today
Denver is the defending national champion and still the program every coach copies. McMahon is correct that the Pioneers boast one of the deepest blue lines in the sport and that Johnny Hicks was arguably the best goalie in the country last season. He is also correct that Cale Ashcroft is the only senior on that defense. Ryan Lin, Daxon Rudolph, Blake Fiddler, Ben MacBeath — first- and second-round talent everywhere you look, and every one of them a rookie. Denver’s coaching staff will get them ready by February. College hockey does not wait until February to hand out points. Early-season growing pains against a Michigan roster that already owns playoff scar tissue is exactly the soft spot CHN identified when it flipped the top two.
North Dakota returns Cole Reschny, Will Zellers, Keaton Verhoeff, Mac Swanson and a goaltender in Jan Spunar who already proved he belongs. Quinnipiac and Dartmouth sit right behind them for a reason. McMahon himself wrote that the gap between the elite and the middle “doesn’t feel nearly as wide as it once did,” and that teams in the middle of this Top 10 “could have been ranked No. 1 overall just four or five seasons ago.” That is the new reality of the CHL eligibility era. Depth is everywhere. Separation is earned in March, not handed out in September.
Twenty-Eight Years Is Long Enough
Brandon Naurato has taken Michigan to three Frozen Fours in four seasons. Zero national title games. The last Wolverines championship banner went up in 1998. That is the number that actually matters. High hopes in Ann Arbor are not a storyline anymore. They are a demand. McMahon wrote that “there are high hopes in Ann Arbor that this could finally be the year.” I am done treating that as a hopeful whisper. A roster with this much high-end skill, this much upperclass experience, and the best goalie the program has seen in years does not get to celebrate another Frozen Four appearance as progress. Progress ended the last time they lost in double overtime.
Michigan opens October 2 against Bowling Green at Yost. The ranking is already on the wall. The Big Ten coaches already voted. CHN already planted the flag. The only remaining exhibit is whether this group turns a preseason crown into the first national title of the century for a program that has spent a generation watching other schools cut the nets. I am ruling for Michigan until the ice proves otherwise. The case is built. Now the defendants have to skate.
