Best PageStat Era Class A Champions

[Stang5280]

This is a project I cooked up last weekend, and the title is pretty self-explanatory. I initially intended to look at the whole Class A era, but decided to restrict it to the PageStat timeframe, to have better access to schedules and the comparative rating system. This excludes a few impressive teams, notably the undefeated 1997 Red Wing squad.

A few ground rules I laid out:
1. Must have finished as the top-ranked Class A team in PageStat
2. Must have finished in the overall PageStat top 10
3. Only one team per program, which involved some subjectivity in picking their best season

With that said, here are the finalists I landed on.

2004 Breck (27-1-2) PS #2
Key Players: Blake Wheeler, Jordan Fulton, Robbie Dee
- Blasted Orono 7-2 in title game behind Wheeler hat trick
- Not the deepest group, but more high-end talent than the 2009 and 2010 teams
- Four future pros, including goalie Alec Richards, who had a great career at Yale

2005 Warroad (28-0-2) PS #2
Key Players: TJ Oshie, Aaron Marvin, Eric Olimb
- Only undefeated team to make the list
- Survived an epic 2OT final against Totino-Grace
- Tied AA runner-up Moorhead
- Allowed only 41 goals all season (1.32 GAA)

2013 St. Thomas Academy (26-2-2) PS #2
Key Players: Tommy Novak, Christiano Versich, Jack Dougherty
- Nine future D1 players
- Romped through sections by a combined score of 18-0
- Dispatched Apollo and EGF by 12-0 and 11-0 counts, respectively, before furious comeback to edge out Hermantown 5-4 in the final
- Surrendered only 36 goals all season (1.16 GAA)

2014 East Grand Forks (27-2-1) PS #7
Key Players: Grant Loven, Dixon Bowen, Colton Poolman
- Routed Hermantown 7-3 in final, behind a 5-0 second period
- Defeated AA consolation champ Roseau twice by 4+ goals
- Allowed only 38 goals all season (1.22 GAA)

2016 Hermantown (26-2-1) PS #1
Key Players: Cole Koepke, Dylan Samberg, Eric Gotz
- Destroyed three sectional opponents 29-2
- Rolled through state by a combined 23-4 count, including a 5-0 dismantling of Breck in the final
- Defeated AA champion Wayzata to kick off season
- Only Class A team to finish as #1 overall in PageStat

Of these five, 2013 STA and 2016 Hermantown stand out to me as the two strongest. Despite the close call in the state final, I give the edge to 2013 STA based on the sheer amount of talent on that team. What say you all?

Just missed the cut:
2003 Warroad (28-2-1) PS #10
2007 Hermantown (28-0-2) PS #9
2009 Breck (26-3-1) PS #6
2010 Breck (28-2) PS #6
2011 St. Thomas Academy (25-6-0) PS #9
2012 St. Thomas Academy (26-5-0) PS #7
2017 Hermantown (29-1-1) PS #7

[blueblood]

Nice work stang. Any thoughts on a AA version?

[Corn Cobb]

Very cool.

[Getitright]

Agree on the top 2. Htown had 7 D1’s on that team.

Samberg -umd
Aamodt-Mankato
Gotz - Michigan tech
Sandelin- Mankato
Koepke- umd
Jacques- umd
Watkins - union ?

That would have been a great game with the sta 2013. Pick em prob. I may lean to the htown team only cause the 2013 htown was not as good as 2016 team and almost, and probably should have beat the sta team.

[Stang5280]

Very cool.

Appreciate the feedback, CC. I thought it would be nice to dig up something from the past while we all await what form this season may take.

[Stang5280]

Nice work stang. Any thoughts on a AA version?

Thanks, blueblood. I would have to do some research on the AA side, but that 2015 LVN group is likely one of the top two. Picking among the multiple EP and Edina championship teams would be difficult.

[Stang5280]

Agree on the top 2. Htown had 7 D1’s on that team.

Samberg -umd
Aamodt-Mankato
Gotz - Michigan tech
Sandelin- Mankato
Koepke- umd
Jacques- umd
Watkins - union ?

That would have been a great game with the sta 2013. Pick em prob. I may lean to the htown team only cause the 2013 htown was not as good as 2016 team and almost, and probably should have beat the sta team.

I could totally be swayed by that argument. In some respects I picked STA to be a contrarian, since 2016 HT seemed too obvious and less fun.

Somebody gave Breck a sympathy vote and there is some love for Warroad. I don’t think either of those teams has the depth to prevail against STA or Hermantown, but it would be fun to see how those top lines would match up.

[blueblood]

Stang:

Agreed. Lakeville North 2015 definitely a top contender

Ep 2009 and 2011 - loaded
Edina 2010, 2013, 2014, and 2019 - loaded and reloaded
Minnetonka 2018 - my Skippers with 8 D1 guys and Glockner likely to be the 9th

[karl(east)]

Fun topic. I'd lean toward '13 STA as the most complete, dominant A team of all time, though Hermantown certainly gave them a spirited effort. I thought 2017 Hermantown was a somewhat more talented team than the 2016 edition, though the 2016 team peaked at the right time (and, I think, benefitted from a fairly weak A field) while the '17 crew had to work to get through a bunch of scrappy underdogs at State.

Hard to argue with undefeated, and that '05 Warroad team was a treat to watch, though I wasn't paying nearly enough attention to Class A hockey in those days and I'm not sure I could stack them up.

On the AA side, I'll still submit that '14 Edina was the most dominant group I've seen, though '15 North was right there, and I'll agree with blueblood that '18 Tonka might be the next in line.

[rainier2]

Agree on the top 2. Htown had 7 D1’s on that team.

Samberg -umd
Aamodt-Mankato
Gotz - Michigan tech
Sandelin- Mankato
Koepke- umd
Jacques- umd
Watkins - union ?

That would have been a great game with the sta 2013. Pick em prob. I may lean to the htown team only cause the 2013 htown was not as good as 2016 team and almost, and probably should have beat the sta team.

I'd also take the 2016 Htown team as the best. Not only did they have the 7 D1 players above, Judnick and Valure were Watkins' wingers on the second line, and they were both excellent as well. As mentioned, this team beat the eventual AA champ Wayzata, but they also beat GR, who went on to take 3rd in AA. Just a loaded squad who finished #1 in PageStat for good reason.

[Stang5280]

Fun topic. I'd lean toward '13 STA as the most complete, dominant A team of all time, though Hermantown certainly gave them a spirited effort. I thought 2017 Hermantown was a somewhat more talented team than the 2016 edition, though the 2016 team peaked at the right time (and, I think, benefitted from a fairly weak A field) while the '17 crew had to work to get through a bunch of scrappy underdogs at State.

I agree that the 2017 version of Hermantown was better than their ‘16 counterparts for most of the season, but I just couldn’t shake the memory of their state tournament struggles, so the 2016 squad got the nod.

The 2017 tournament field was actually weaker than the 2016 one, with Mahtomedi seeded #3 coming in at 13-10-1, and #4 EGF having a 14-8-2 regular season. Hermantown really lucked out with Monticello knocking off Delano in the quarters, as the Tigers were nearly as stacked with talent and nearly upset the Hawks during the regular season.

[karl(east)]

Fun topic. I'd lean toward '13 STA as the most complete, dominant A team of all time, though Hermantown certainly gave them a spirited effort. I thought 2017 Hermantown was a somewhat more talented team than the 2016 edition, though the 2016 team peaked at the right time (and, I think, benefitted from a fairly weak A field) while the '17 crew had to work to get through a bunch of scrappy underdogs at State.

I agree that the 2017 version of Hermantown was better than their ‘16 counterparts for most of the season, but I just couldn’t shake the memory of their state tournament struggles, so the 2016 squad got the nod.

The 2017 tournament field was actually weaker than the 2016 one, with Mahtomedi seeded #3 coming in at 13-10-1, and #4 EGF having a 14-8-2 regular season. Hermantown really lucked out with Monticello knocking off Delano in the quarters, as the Tigers were nearly as stacked with talent and nearly upset the Hawks during the regular season.

Yeah, you're probably right that the 2016 field was stronger, especially in that second tier of teams that are seeded but not on the level of Hermantown. I think my perception came from the sense that, through much of the decade, there have been one or two teams capable of skating with the Hawks every year--STA and Breck in the early years of the decade, EGF for a couple years after that, and SCC the past two seasons. In 2016 there really wasn't one, and as you remind me here, Delano might have been that team in 2017, but didn't hold up their end of the bargain. Hermantown wasn't really tested by a Class A team of its caliber in either of its championship seasons this decade.

[rainier2]

Fun topic. I'd lean toward '13 STA as the most complete, dominant A team of all time, though Hermantown certainly gave them a spirited effort. I thought 2017 Hermantown was a somewhat more talented team than the 2016 edition, though the 2016 team peaked at the right time (and, I think, benefitted from a fairly weak A field) while the '17 crew had to work to get through a bunch of scrappy underdogs at State.

I agree that the 2017 version of Hermantown was better than their ‘16 counterparts for most of the season, but I just couldn’t shake the memory of their state tournament struggles, so the 2016 squad got the nod.

The 2017 tournament field was actually weaker than the 2016 one, with Mahtomedi seeded #3 coming in at 13-10-1, and #4 EGF having a 14-8-2 regular season. Hermantown really lucked out with Monticello knocking off Delano in the quarters, as the Tigers were nearly as stacked with talent and nearly upset the Hawks during the regular season.

Yeah, you're probably right that the 2016 field was stronger, especially in that second tier of teams that are seeded but not on the level of Hermantown. I think my perception came from the sense that, through much of the decade, there have been one or two teams capable of skating with the Hawks every year--STA and Breck in the early years of the decade, EGF for a couple years after that, and SCC the past two seasons. In 2016 there really wasn't one, and as you remind me here, Delano might have been that team in 2017, but didn't hold up their end of the bargain. Hermantown wasn't really tested by a Class A team of its caliber in either of its championship seasons this decade.

Looking back through some hockey hub stats on the 16 and 17 Hawk teams made me realize my perception of these teams was based entirely on their tourney results. I remember a 2016 team buzzsawing through a very good SPA team 7-1, then did the same to an even better Breck team 5-0 (Breck finished #9 in Pagestat), while the 2017 team kept stumbling into OT against teams that were clearly inferior.

I guess I'd forgotten how loaded the 2017 team was also, but I'll never shake the 2016 nightmares of seeing Aamodt repeatedly leading the rush and then getting to choose from a seemingly endless supply of D1-caliber teammates to pass to.

[goldy313]

Not so amazingly my Lakeville North post was deleted.

[bardown27]

Not so amazingly my Lakeville North post was deleted.

Because this is a CLASS A topic you clown

[east hockey]

Not so amazingly my Lakeville North post was deleted.

Not so amazingly you didn't read what the topic name was.

Lee

[grindiangrad-80]

Not so amazingly my Lakeville North post was deleted.

Because this is a CLASS A topic you clown

He was probably responding to Stang and blue blood and Karl who were all talking about AA a few posts back in this thread.