Preseason Power Rankings: No. 60 Northern Michigan
Plus: Providence added Gibson Homer, the Colorado judge denies NCAA stay, assistant updates, and more
Opening Faceoff
There is a lot to cover in today’s newsletter.
— First and foremost, we continue our preseason power rankings with a preview of Northern Michigan and a closer look at Oliver Auyeung-Ashton, who was one of the nation’s most unheralded goaltenders last season.
— Providence picked up a goaltender out of the transfer portal for next season, announcing Gibson Homer as the newest addition to its roster. His transfer is interesting for a few reasons.
— Judge Sweeney in Colorado denied the NCAA’s motion to stay her preliminary injunction, which made 2022 college enrollees (2026 graduates) eligible for a fifth season. The NCAA still has an appeal pending before the Tenth Circuit.
— We have some interesting numbers on how much Power Four schools are spending on their football rosters.
— We also have assistant coaching updates from Boston College and Harvard.
Preseason Power Rankings: No. 60 Northern Michigan
Storylines
— The Wildcats added Chris Kamal to their staff as an assistant coach this offseason. Kamal was previously an assistant coach at Alaska Anchorage.
— Dave Shyiak is entering his third season behind the bench. The Wildcats went 3-29-2 last season and are 8-56-4 over the last two seasons.
— The Wildcats were active in the transfer portal, adding five players while seven members of last season’s team entered the portal. Only two of those players — Tobias Pitka (UMass Lowell) and Jakub Altrichter (St. Thomas) — committed to other Division I programs.
— Northern Michigan will open the season with three straight nonconference series. The nonconference schedule includes matchups against Miami, Michigan State (away) and Stonehill. NMU is also set to compete in the Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off in Milwaukee over Christmas break.
Roster Breakdown
Top 378 Forwards
Michael Burchill, Soph.
Peter Cisar, Soph.
Top 252 Defenseman
Joe Schiller, Junior
Olivier Beaulieu, Soph.
Projected Goaltenders (Starter or Time Share)
Oliver Auyeung-Ashton
Everything starts with Oliver Auyeung-Ashton. As a freshman last season, Auyeung-Ashton posted a .930 save percentage in 18 games (945 minutes). He finished No. 9 in the country in GSAx. On a per-60-minute basis, he ranked No. 2 nationally, behind only Denver’s Johnny Hicks.
