GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) -- Coaches in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association are picking Minnesota to repeat as the regular-season champion.

The Gophers received 11 of 12 first-place votes in the annual Grand Forks Herald (http://bit.ly/SzET4u ) preseason coaches' poll. North Dakota -- last year's WCHA playoff champion -- got the other first-place vote and finished second in the poll.

The rest of the top five is Denver, St. Cloud State and Wisconsin.

Minnesota-Duluth is sixth in the poll, followed by Colorado College, Omaha, Michigan Tech, Minnesota-Mankato, Bemidji State and Alaska-Anchorage.