preseason (speculation) rankings A

[elliott70]

same for single A.

Perhaps our resident experts Stang and the other guy.

Top 10, 15 or so.

[Stang5280]

1. East Grand Forks
2. Hermantown
3. Warroad
4. Gentry
5. Mahtomedi
6. Delano
7. Denfeld
8. Little Falls
9. St. Paul Johnson
10. Dodge County

On deck: Alexandria, Armstrong/Cooper, Breck, Fergus Falls, Tartan

The top 8 were pretty easy to pick out, with arguments to slide each up or down a bit. Things are going to be pretty top-heavy again this season, with a rotating cast of characters in the 10 to 20 range. Many of the usual suspects are down this year, with Alex, Orono, SCC, and TRF losing much of their rosters. Avert your eyes from 3A and 5A.

[ClassAGuy]

1. East Grand Forks
2. Hermantown
3. Warroad
4. Gentry
5. Mahtomedi
6. Delano
7. Denfeld
8. Little Falls
9. St. Paul Johnson
10. Dodge County

On deck: Alexandria, Armstrong/Cooper, Breck, Fergus Falls, Tartan

The top 8 were pretty easy to pick out, with arguments to slide each up or down a bit. Things are going to be pretty top-heavy again this season, with a rotating cast of characters in the 10 to 20 range. Many of the usual suspects are down this year, with Alex, Orono, SCC, and TRF losing much of their rosters. Avert your eyes from 3A and 5A.

Had to wait for the expert first good rankings
My Top 10
1. Hermantown (The Killer P's Pionk, Pierce and Plante... Ohh my) Will Coach Andrews ACTUALLY get it down this is the 4th year he had most talent ..
2. East Grand Forks (More P's Parker and Panzer) along with some depth and good D and Tough nose style.. Goalie though?
3. Gentry Academy (RETURN EVERYONE won 20 games with sophomore and 9th graders last year adding pieces of Tier one dynasty)
4. Mahtomedi (Defending Champs and return Dardis and depth but the Target will be large)
5. Warroad (Losing Foster in net and Slykunsky upfront big skates to fill but plenty of young talent coming in)
6. Delano (All the pieces are there upfront and on the blue line they need a goalie this team is very for real
7. Denfeld (The Twins and toughness and goaltending and coaching to give the Hawks another upset ....)
8. Little Falls (Return Scoring and depth and stud in the net should win 6A)
9. Monticello (Return Scoring and D and a 3 year starter in the net will win 5A)
10. Dodge County (Brody Lamb and crew its there year to win 1A and make some noise)

Others
Mankato East (Great crew Liffring will be back and looking to make it 3 of last 4 years at state)
St Paul Johnson (All those Seniors will be tough)
Breck (Stud upfront and solid D should be very tough seem to be rebuilding)
Armstrong Cooper (Return a strong crew and will be tough)
Tartan (Can they rebound after never putting it together last year)
Fergus Falls (Return everything could be a player in 6A)
Sartell (Should be back to normal standards)

Normal Class A out of picture
Alex (got robbed by NorthStar Academy in town)
TRF (Lost everything but Bergland will get them going)
SCC (Might be a 6 seed in 6A what a drop off!!)
Orono (Lost a huge senior crew and best young player ended up in Benilde)

Should be an interesting year in Class A

I am sure STang and I are missing a sleeper team but as he said Top 8 are locks after that lots of parity and fun!

[Stang5280]

Ugh, I whiffed on Monticello to some extent. I had it in my head that they lost a ton, but the roster looks pretty solid. They belong in the top 15 or so. Sartell should also bounce back big time and be frisky in 6A. I also was going on the assumption that Liffrig is leaving; if not, East will be a 1A contender.

Several of the top teams are replacing goalies, while Mahtomedi is rock solid back there. That could be a big advantage for the Zephyrs if they can generate some scoring punch. 4A looks like it will be the section of death if there are actually playoffs in some form.

[InThePipes]

Gentry may be underrated here

[ClassAGuy]

Gentry may be underrated here

True they proved this summer scary good but had two kids who wont be there this fall still a very very good team

[Stang5280]

Gentry may be underrated here

True they proved this summer scary good but had two kids who wont be there this fall still a very very good team

Yeah, they are definitely a wildcard. I hedged with my ranking, and am taking a wait and see approach until we see what the team looks like.

[WestMetro]

[quote=ClassAGuy post_id=751284 time=<a href="tel:1603844464">1603844464</a> user_id=25965]
[quote=InThePipes post_id=751283 time=<a href="tel:1603842725">1603842725</a> user_id=21172]
Gentry may be underrated here

True they proved this summer scary good but had two kids who wont be there this fall still a very very good team
[/quote]
Yeah, they are definitely a wildcard. I hedged with my ranking, and am taking a wait and see approach until we see what the team looks like.
[/quote]

Furuseth and Hall both back, both impressive

[ClassAGuy]

[quote=ClassAGuy post_id=751284 time=<a href="tel:1603844464">1603844464</a> user_id=25965]
[quote=InThePipes post_id=751283 time=<a href="tel:1603842725">1603842725</a> user_id=21172]
Gentry may be underrated here

True they proved this summer scary good but had two kids who wont be there this fall still a very very good team

Yeah, they are definitely a wildcard. I hedged with my ranking, and am taking a wait and see approach until we see what the team looks like.
[/quote]

Furuseth and Hall both back, both impressive
[/quote]

Yes they are both back and very impressive along with the entire team from last year.

I was referring to that fact that when they really made their push in the Summer Tournament they Suited up Gentry Tier 1 AAA D1 Commits Kurth and Schimek who carried them to the title. They will not be around this winner to just show up to help them get pushed over the top come playoffs not saying that was the only reason but having those two on the last day show up made a big difference.

[WestMetro]

Right , I was there . just pointing out, I think Furuseth and Hall both had more points that weekend