KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan hockey team earned five votes in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine preseason poll released on Monday afternoon.

The 26th annual USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll is conducted each week in conjunction with the American Hockey Coaches Association. The poll includes input from coaches and journalists representing each of the six NCAA Division I ice hockey conferences, as well as composite votes from officers of the AHCA and USA Hockey.

WMU earned the No. 18 spot in the USCHO.com Preseason poll last week and looks to open up the 2020 season in December. WMU will start the season and National Collegiate Hockey Conference play with a "Pod" in Omaha Neb., beginning on Dec. 1. Western Michigan will be in the East Division with Miami, Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State, while the West Division will consist of Colorado College, Denver, North Dakota and Omaha. The Broncos will play their divisional opponents six times and each cross-division opponent twice. The Pod was designed to alleviate travel due to the pandemic and will provide a safe and healthy environment for the teams.

The second portion of the season will begin in January and run through March.

Schedule and game times are still to be determined.