NCAA notebook: Who is the nation's top freshman?

It doesn't always work this way, but many of the best players in the country this season are freshmen.

Maybe you say that was expected, since this is a season in which CHL players flooded into the NCAA, but some of the biggest names in that group haven't necessarily delivered on the hype. So in a season in which draft-eligible players and high picks in last year's draft were expected to dominate the Tim Taylor award discussion as the nation's best rookie, the field now feels extremely wide open.

Take, for example, Quinnipiac's Ethan Wyttenbach — more on him on Monday — who leads the nation in total points by a wide margin (51 to 43) and is only one goal behind the national leader, Hayden Stavroff's 22. The next-closest freshman, Porter Martone, is four goals and 13 points behind Wyttenbach,