NCAA notebook: 5 things to watch as second half begins

The wait is over.

The second half of the college hockey season got underway last weekend, and as teams emerge from holiday break — some still waiting a few more days for top players to return from World Juniors — it seems there are more questions than answers about what could happen between now and March.

That's not very common. Usually by now we have a pretty clear picture of a couple of the frontrunners for every individual award, who the eight or so best teams in the country are, and what the NCAA tournament bubble could look like.

This year, you can say maybe two skaters are easily top five for the Hobey. There are three, maybe four, teams that I can definitively say look elite to me, and the Nos. 12-25 range in the NPI feels almost completely interchangeable.

With that said, let's take a