To fans of any sport, it's a refrain as old as the sport itself.
"There's always next year."
That promise of a clean slate arrives every October in college hockey, and at long last — six months after the Denver Pioneers capped a dominant run to an eighth national title in program history — "next year" is finally here.
The busy season itself tends to pass much more quickly than the plodding offseason, and in seemingly no time, the culmination of this 2017-18 season — the NCAA Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minn. — will arrive.