KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- There are two ways to look at this season's Western Michigan University hockey team.
One way is to wonder how it can replace 212 points scored from players gone from last season's team, which went 23-15-1 overall and 15-8-1 in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, making the NCAA tournament for the second straight season.
Or, the second way, as head coach Pat Ferschweiler points out, ''We have 17 players returning who scored 190 points.''
The nation has noticed that second point as evidenced by the Broncos' being ranked 10th in the nation in a preseason poll by USA Hockey and 12th nationally in the USCHO poll.