At the annual Hockey East Media Day at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, the UMass hockey team was picked to finish sixth in the preseason coaches poll which was released by the league. The Minutemen will begin the season this Saturday at 6 p.m. with an exhibition game against New Brunswick in the Mullins Center Practice Rink.

UMass head coach Don "Toot" Cahoon fielded questions from various media representatives during the day including several television interviews with NESN and CN8 as part of UMass television package for the year. Also on hand were senior captains Cory Quirk and Brett Watson who shared the team's anticipation for the season to officially start.

"I am excited about the fact that we have a lot of players returning from last year's team and there were pieces to last season that lead us to believe that we could have a good nucleus of talent," said Cahoon when asked his general impressions on the upcoming year. "I am also excited about the prospects of working with the kids that we have been recruiting for the past several years that have finally arrived on campus. I think the mixture bodes well for us to be able to compete, and have a good team along with the other good teams in our league."

"I think this is going to be a special season for Hockey East as a league; I think that the league has really improved itself from the bottom up. I think the quality of the league is as strong as it's ever been in the past five or six years from top to bottom," said Cahoon. "That is really saying a lot based on how good the league has been year in and year out. Right now, I am seeing a lot of good teams in this league and it is only going to be the mature team and the most together team that is going to have that high level of success."

The Mass Attack will begin the season at the prestigious Ice Breaker Tournament on Oct. 10-11 against Michigan State and North Dakota. The Spartans are ranked No. 12, while the Fighting Sioux are ranked No. 4 in the preseason poll. The Spartans won the 2007 NCAA title, while the Fighting Sioux have advanced to the Frozen Four in each of the last four seasons.

"I think that the teams will be a little bit unprepared in the sense that there are only going to be about four or five practices prior to the tournament; we are going to be playing on instincts and with a lot of emotion and hopefully we make fewer mistakes than they do and find a way to get some points," said Cahoon of the match-up against the Spartans and Fighting Sioux. "But it is a great opportunity for us and if we are able to have a little success here, it will go a long way to setting the tone for having a great national ranking."

The home schedule will begin with a special Halloween-night game, Friday, Oct. 31, against Hockey East rival Providence at 7 p.m. The Hockey East schedule will be as tough as ever with a pair of visits from both Boston University and Maine along with a Nov. 22 meeting against defending NCAA National Champion Boston College, Other highlights of the home schedule include non-conference tilts between Cornell and St. Lawrence.

This is also the 25th anniversary of Hockey East. The conference will be working with each school on promoting the league's history and impact on collegiate and professional hockey. A DVD highlighting special moments in the league's history will be released later this year and there will be several special promotions and honorary groups announced as well - both by the league and individual schools.

"When you look into the National Hockey League, you can see all the graduates of Hockey East that are literally superstars at that level. You see the impact that Hockey East has had on college hockey with the number of National Championships that the league has won. You see the respect that the league has amongst all of college hockey in terms of the academic performance of the players within the league, and you can't help but to feel proud to be part of it," said Cahoon. "I was involved in Hockey East in its creation; I was working as the recruiting coordinator at the University of Lowell at the time and it was a big deal for Lowell to be able to move into Hockey East right after the league was formed. I recognize how great the league is; it was a very significant factor that Boston University, where I went to coach after Lowell, was part of the Hockey East alignment and it gave us ever more clout when we traveled nationally. So the league is every bit as good as they say it is and the people in the league are terrific as well."

When asked about any special moments he has had as a member of Hockey East, Cahoon recalled two instances.

"Whenever you go to the Hockey East Championships, those are special occasions and a special season for the team involved. I have been in championship games at Boston University and at a championship game here at UMass. When we played for the league championship at Boston University, we were fortunate enough to win it in a double overtime game against Maine before we ended up losing the National Championship in triple overtime. And then of course here at UMass, we have been to the Championship Tournament three times over the last six years. That is not as good as we would like, but I think it is a good representation of this young program moving forward. The triple overtime loss to Maine was a heartbreaker but it is probably one of the greatest games played in the league's history."

Season tickets and single-game tickets can be ordered by calling the Mullins Center Box Office at 866-UMass-TIX (866-862-7784). Season tickets for the 2008-09 season are priced as follows: Adults ($170), Seniors/Faculty/Staff ($150), Youth ($115). Single-game tickets are $15 for reserved seats, $12 for general admission, $10 for Seniors/Faculty/Staff and $8 for Youth and graduate students. Single-game tickets can also be ordered online by going to www.TicketMaster.com.

2008-09 PRESEASON COACHES' POLL
Team (1st Place Votes) - Pts.
1. Boston College (6) - 86
2. Boston University (3) - 80
3. New Hampshire (1) - 78
4. Northeastern - 62
5. Vermont - 58
6. Massachusetts - 48
7. UMass Lowell - 46
8. Providence - 34
9. Maine - 28
10. Merrimack - 20

Below is the official release from Hockey East:

Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna announced the preseason men's coaches poll on Monday afternoon at the conference's annual media day held in Legends Restaurant at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston. Boston College, which recorded 86 points and six first-place votes, looks to defend both its Hockey East and National Championships in an attempt to make it to the NCAA title game for the sixth time this decade. The Eagles return Joe Whitney and Ben Smith, the second and third leading Hockey East scorers, respectively. In addition, 2008-09 captains Brock Bradford, Tim Filangieri, and Benn Ferriero will lead the team in its attempt for back-to-back National Championships. In net, sophomore John Muse, is coming off one of the best freshman showings of all time with a record of 25-11-8 during his rookie season.

Boston University, which earned 80 points and three first-place tallies, retains the league's tenth best scorer in sophomore standout Colin Wilson. Wilson was drafted seventh overall by Nashville in this year's NHL draft and is already on the Hobey Baker watch. Alongside Wilson, senior Chris Higgins (14g, 18a) and sophomore Nick Bonino (16g, 13a) will help drive this high-powered offense. Senior co-captain Matt Gilroy, as well as juniors Brian Strait and Eric Gryba and sophomores Kevin Shattenkirk and Colby Cohen sure up the Terrier blueline. The Terriers welcome two new goalies to the squad in Grant Rollehiser and Kieran Millan.

The UNH Wildcats were picked third in the poll with one first-place vote, after the team went 19-5-3 en route to the league's regular season title in 07-08. The Wildcats will have to fill the shoes of four departed All-Americans, which included Player of the Year Kevin Regan. The hole between the pipes will be filled by junior goalie Brian Foster. The Wildcats offensive lineup for the 2008-09 season will be led by sophomore James vanRiemsdyk, UNH's leading returning scorer, and classmate Danny Dries, who will also look to live up to his stellar freshman season when he tallied 28 points.

Brad Theissen will return between the pipes to try and lead a young Northeastern team to crack the top half of the conference. The offense will be headed up by senior captain and 2007-08 team MVP, Joe Vitale. Vitale was the number ten scorer in Hockey East and led the Huskies with 35 points (12g,13a). Coach Greg Cronin will look to capitalize on the experience of his team, returning 27 players from the 2007-08 roster.

Last year marked the first season Vermont made it to the semifinals since their entry into Hockey East in 2005-06. The Catamounts made it to the title game, where they lost to the Eagles. Offense should not be a problem for the Catamounts, though, as they hold onto their top three scorers, namely senior captain Dean Strong, along with Colin Vock and Viktor Stålberg. Vermont also returns second leading scorer, sophomore Colin Vock (9g, 18a) and third on the list, junior Viktor Stalberg, who tallied 10 goals and 13 assists on the year.

UMass will open its season at Ice Breaker against Michigan State and North Dakota at Agganis Arena. Captains Cory Quirk, and Brett Watson will play key roles in leading UMass' offense. Sophomore Paul Dainton will need to show the confidence that he had in the first half of his freshman campaign in his second season with a 2.56 GAA and a .911 save percentage.

Blaise MacDonald's UMass-Lowell River Hawks return 23 players from their 2007-08 roster, including team offensive leader and team MVP, junior winger Kory Falite. Falite enjoyed a standout sophomore season, leading the team in goals (18) and overall points (32). Last season, Carter Hutton and Nevin Hamilton split the time between the pipes, earning 2.48 and 2.56 GAA, respectively.

Providence junior Chris Mannix will try to step in as the quality netminder that Providence needs, with the departure of Tyler Sims. Coming back for his senior season, the Friars' second leading scorer, defenseman Matt Taormina, will look to follow up on a solid junior year. Taormina recorded 27 points on nine goals and 18 assists. Up front, Pierce Norton and Kyle Laughlin will try to improve on last year's fifth place finish.

The University of Maine welcomes ten freshmen to its squad this year, hoping to bring the team back to the Hockey East playoffs. While the Black Bears missed the conference playoffs for the first time since 1998, they ended the season winning five of their last six contests. Maine will look to junior Dave Wilson and freshman Scott Darling in net.

Merrimack was glad to have Rob Ricci back last year, as the Ontario native looks to follow up his standout season, which saw him lead the Warriors in assists (21) and points (34). Sophomore Chris Barton was second in points among Merrimack forwards, notching 19 (6g, 13a) on the year. Junior Andrew Braithwaite looks to continue his successful stretch that spanned the final 18 games of the season.

The regular season schedule will determine the eight teams that qualify for the Hockey East Championship Tournament, which begins with the quarterfinal round on campus sites of the highest four seeds from on the weekend of March 13-15. The four quarterfinal winners will advance to the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston for the semifinals and Championship Game on Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21.

The Hockey East Association is a 10-team, Division-I college hockey conference, with offices based in Wakefield, Mass. Founded in 1983, the league has won five NCAA championships in the past 16 years. The conference also sponsors an eight-team women's league which began play in 2002-03.