When Michigan coach Red Berenson took over the struggling hockey team in the spring of 1984, he had big ideas for the program.

“I thought that if I’m a young hockey player and I’m looking at the top five programs in the country, I want Michigan to be one of those five,” Berenson said.

Berenson won't admit if he has met his goal, but it goes without saying. When USA Today posted its Division-I men’s preseason poll Monday, Michigan was No. 4.

Miami (Ohio), Denver and Boston University filled out the top three. Notre Dame was ranked fifth. The Wolverines were the only top-5 team not to receive first-place votes.

The national polls weren’t the only place where Michigan received attention. The CCHA released its conference preseason poll results yesterday and the Wolverines were picked to finish first by both the media and the coaches.

The new polls may show that Berenson reached his goal, but the preseason rankings don’t mean much to the veteran coach.

“I’m always flattered when we get picked,” Berenson said. “We’re usually picked high in the league — I guess we’ve earned that over the years. … It’s a pretty meaningless thing. It’s really just a token of respect.”

With the top three CCHA teams all ranked in the top five nationally, the conference looks challenging on paper heading into the season. Berenson said there were a few things the Wolverines had to do to follow through on the preseason predictions.

“We have to get off to a better start than we did last year,” Berenson said. “We have to stay healthy. We have to have good goalkeeping, we have to be better defensively. And then we have to be more consistent offensively. … (We) can’t be .500 for the first half of the year and then expect to finish in first place.”

Michigan went 10-6 in its first 16 games last season, then went on to lose just six of its last 27 games. The Wolverines lost 12 games all of last year.

CCHA accolades: Junior forward Louie Caporusso was the only Michigan player named to the preseason CCHA All-Conference first team. Junior goalie Bryan Hogan earned a preseason All-Conference second team nod, and senior captain Chris Summers earned honorable mention.

Hogan, who shared ice time with then-senior Billy Sauer last year, is done splitting time in the net. Berenson said that backup goalie, junior Shawn Hunwick, would be a “relief pitcher” for the near future. Hunwick has only played 2:52 total in his career and Berenson expects Hogan to build on a strong sophomore campaign.

“This is his time,” Berenson said. “He just needs to keep growing his game. And he’s got a chance now to be a real (contributor), and make a difference on our team. If we have a good defense and if we have a good goalie, we should have a good team.”

Re-doing the rules: The CCHA has changed how points are awarded for shootout victories and losses. Under the new rules, if a team beats its opponent in either regulation or overtime -- before the game reaches a shootout -- it will earn three points. Teams will earn just two points with a shootout win, one with a shootout loss and zero with a regulation or overtime loss.

Previously, teams were awarded two points for a regulation or overtime win and zero points for a regulation or overtime loss. If the teams went to a shootout, the winner would gain three points, more than they would earn for a regulation win.

Under the new rules, there is more of an incentive to finish a game in regulation or overtime instead of letting the contest go to a shootout.

Both Berenson and CCHA Commissioner Tom Anastos agreed that the revision will make it a more fair system.

Michigan didn’t participate in a shootout at all last season, but the Wolverines practice for shootout scenarios weekly.