The WCHA announced the 2020-21 preseason awards on Monday and the Minnesota Golden Gophers were predicted to finish in second place in the conference. The Gophers also earned some preseason awards as Abbey Murphy was named the preseason selection for the WCHA Rookie of the year and defense Emily Brown was named to the Preseason All-WCHA team.
The Gophers were selected to finish in second place in the WCHA right behind the defending conference champions in the Wisconsin Badgers. Wisconsin received four first place votes for a point total of 34 while the Gophers received three first place votes for a total of 31 points.