AA Rankings for 12/3/23

[karl(east)]

With a lot of big games among serious contenders, it was a chaotic first week and a half of the season, with a few top teams setting themselves apart and a lot of mystery beyond that. Here we go with the first in-season rankings:

1. Minnetonka (4-0)
-Putting your first four opponents, all of them at least respectable, into running time isn’t a bad start. Believe the hype over how good this team can be. Just one game this week, but it means everything in 2AA, as they face a hungry rival eager for revenge over last season’s section final. Just how big is the gap?
This week: Thurs vs. #10 Chanhassen

2. Wayzata (3-0)
-If the headline at the top here is that the Skippers may be a once-in-a-generation team, a near second is that Wayzata does not look far behind. They flattened decent Moorhead and Duluth East teams and also took care of Maple Grove, looking as potent as a Trojan team ever has during Pat O’Leary’s tenure. They have nothing easy this December, with two top ten opponents to test them in the coming days.
This week: Thurs at #4 Hill-Murray, Sat vs. #8 Andover

3. Rogers (4-0)
-The Royals are sailing along in the early going, positioning themselves into the top tier of teams with a convincing win over Moorhead and a quality one against St. Thomas as well. Can they compete with the top two? Andover, which also plays Wayzata this week, will be a useful barometer given the Huskies’ early schedule, and Shakopee isn’t a free pass either.
This week: Thurs vs. #8 Andover, Sat at #13 Shakopee

4. Hill-Murray (1-0-1)
-The Pioneers staged a pair of comebacks against quality opposition, pulling one out against Eden Prairie and tying a Hermantown team that would be in this neighborhood in a two-class ranking. It’s certainly not as convincing as the teams ahead of them—they do know the first two periods count, right?—but they are at least not losing, and one figures they will build from here. We’ll see how they rate against the top tier this week when they host Wayzata.
This week: Thurs vs. #2 Wayzata, Sat at Tartan/North St. Paul

5. Edina (3-1)
-I’m erring on the side of talent and not overreacting to one loss, though the Hornets need to get the band together and stay out of the box to stay in the conversation with Minnetonka and Wayzata. As usual, they take an off week ahead of the Holiday Classic.
This week: Idle

6. Cretin-Derham Hall (0-1)
-This ranking is accompanied by a giant shrug. They lost narrowly to Hermantown, which doesn’t tell us a whole lot at this point; a win could have put them into the top five, but the loss leaves them in the unpleasant muddle in this part of the rankings. We’ll learn a little more when they face White Bear, their recent rival for Suburban East Conference supremacy, on Saturday.
This week: Thurs vs. Woodbury, Sat at White Bear Lake

7. Benilde-St. Margaret’s (2-0)
-A win over Edina has the Red Knights surging upward. It’s just one win, but a redesigned Red Knight squad with strong defense and a team concept could be a serious force, and they’ve potentially disrupted 6AA seeding with that win, too. Andover
This week: Tues vs. #8 Andover, Sat at Stillwater

8. Andover (2-1)
-The Huskies scored a big early win against Chanhassen, and while they got pumped by Minnetonka, they will hardly be alone in that this season. On the whole, it’s a good first week and a half for their stock. Is that Chanhassen win real? Well, three games against teams ahead of them in the rankings this week, including two of the very best, will tell us a lot.
This week: Tues at #7 Benilde, Thurs at #3 Rogers, Sat at #2 Wayzata

9. Rosemount (3-1)
-Really? Yes, really. The Irish took down Chanhassen and collected a second quality win over White Bear Lake, and they won’t be along in serving up double digits against Minnetonka this season. My usual early mantra is that one big win can be a fluke, but two means a team is on to something, and this team is showing it can find ways. They could stay in this neighborhood with their schedule over the coming weeks, too.
This week: Tues vs. Apple Valley/Burnsville, Sat vs. Lakeville North

10. Chanhassen (2-2)
-The Storm stumbled out of the gate with losses to Andover and Rosemount, and while neither is a bad team, this isn’t exactly befitting of a top 5 preseason team that had aspirations of going blow for blow with Minnetonka. They did bounce back to throttle a decent-looking Shakopee team and also took down Prior Lake, so we’ll see if that was just an early blip. They can make us forget all of that with a good showing this week.
This week: Thurs at #1 Minnetonka

11. Maple Grove (2-2)
-The Crimson are about what I expected so far, short of two of the Lake’s big three but staging a comeback over Stillwater to hold position in the rankings. They should be able to pad the record this week.
This week: Thurs vs. Spring Lake Park, Sat at Roseville

12. Holy Family (1-0)
-Outraced Prior Lake in their only action so far. Duluth East will offer their first test of any magnitude this week, followed by a North Dakota power.
This week: Thurs vs. Duluth East, Sat vs. Grand Forks Red River (ND)

13. Shakopee (3-1)
-The Sabers had a strong opening weekend, as they took care of Holy Angels and held on against Duluth East. The Chanhassen loss shows they still have a way to go before serious contention in 2AA, but so far, this is good for a top 15 ranking. A busy week ahead concludes with another top-flight opponent against whom they would like to show something.
This week: Tues at Lakeville North, Thurs vs. Apple Valley/Burnsville, Sat vs. #3 Rogers

14. Roseau (3-0)
-The Rams blasted through their first two, including Class A contender Thief River Falls, before letting Brainerd stick around perhaps a bit more than they should have. It’s hard to read too much into those results so far, so we’ll settle for holding them steady and seeing what they can do against Moorhead this week. It feels a bit off to have them ahead of the Spuds before they play; regardless, this is a chance to show they can make a serious run in the section. Weekend home games against a strong defense and another section opponent make this week a big one.
This week: Tues at Moorhead, Fri vs. Grand Rapids, Sat vs. Elk River

15. St. Thomas Academy (1-2)
-A competitive loss to Rogers is fine; a 4-1 defeat at the hands of section opponent Eastview, less so. This week’s Mahtomedi game will say something about how seriously to take that bump.
Schedule: Thurs vs. Mahtomedi, Sat at Blake

The Next Ten

White Bear Lake (1-1)
-The Bears opened with a decent win against Duluth East but later crumbled against surprising Rosemount, which leaves them hovering back here in the rankings. The week ahead is a big one as they scrap with Stillwater for 4AA positioning and meet conference favorite Cretin.

Eden Prairie (0-1)
-The Eagles let one slip away against Hill-Murray in their opener, and while to close loss isn’t a terrible result, it could have been more of a statement. Duluth East this week will be a useful guidepost in this part of the rankings.

Moorhead (1-3)
-The Spuds were not particularly competitive in three games against top four** opponents to start their season, which is understandable for a young squad but not great for their standing here. They can make things right, at least from an 8AA perspective, by beating Roseau this week.

Centennial (3-0-1)
-The Cougars’ tie with Prior Lake shows some limitations, but other than that they quietly put together a pretty strong start, with a solid win over Class A power Mahtomedi, a narrow win over an Eastview team that beat St. Thomas, and smooth sailing against Totino. They pay a visit to Hermantown in their only action this week.

Coon Rapids (2-0)
-All good vibes for the Cardinals early on, with a win over Chisago Lakes and a rout of Duluth Denfeld. They’ve got a three-game week ahead of them, with Champlin Park probably being the most interesting of the bunch.

Holy Angels (2-1)
-Fell to Shakopee and struggled to put away Spring Lake Park before hitting their stride against Woodbury. They should be able to roll the next few weeks.

Park of Cottage Grove (2-0)
-Put up plenty of points in handling two middling opponents, though Forest Lake’s later Grand Rapids win beefs up the stock here somewhat. They’ll look for more of the same in their only game against East Ridge this week.

Lakeville South (2-0)
-Did what they had to do against Champlin Park and Blaine. Apple Valley/Burnsville is their only game this week.

Grand Rapids (3-1)
-The Thunderhawks collected a nice win over Duluth East but crumbled somewhat later in the week, barely beating Duluth Marshall and falling to Forest Lake in a game that blows 7AA wide open beyond Andover. With this offense, those sorts of lumps will probably happen. The annual weekend with Warroad and Roseau will test that defense against two front-line attacks.

Duluth East (1-4)
-Three narrow losses to quality teams show the Hounds can be competitive, but they got blitzed by Wayzata and need to turn some of these close games into wins to stay in this conversation. The week ahead will be telling, as they face the Forest Lake team that just upended Rapids, plus two fellow members of this competitive tier in Holy Family and Eden Prairie.

Honorable mention: Gentry Academy, Eastview, Stillwater, Rock Ridge

[Brodziak Fan Club]

Great job, Karl!

I'm bullish on Benilde after what I saw last night. In addition to a seemingly re-defined structure, Pete Waggoner mentioned that Mason McElroy was playing injured for most of last year. Last night he seemed healthy and sharp. Another factor pointing in the right direction for the Red Knights.

[raidergrad72]

My eyes got a little big when I saw Rosemount. The last time I remember them being anywhere is back in the Tier 2 days when they had a terrible season record but got hot at playoff time and ended up losing to Greenway 6-1 in the championship game at Target Center.
That was when Gino Guyer from Greenway sarcastically said, " It's nice to be the 65th best team in the state." :lol

I have to correct myself. They were ranked in the top 10 for a couple of seasons a few years ago. As the cobwebs clear, they had some pretty big kids on their teams too.

[wbmd]

Rosemount (with JT Brown) was the top seed in their section in 2008. They ended up losing to David Eddy and Woodbury (#2 seed) for the Royals second consecutive trip to the tournament.

[O-townClown]

Awesome stuff, WB. Some great names pulled there!

[Sparlimb]

Rosemount had a good team a couple years ago with Jake Ratzlaff, if I recall correctly. Went on to play football at Wisconsin and is switching to the hockey team there. Or last I heard.

[bardown27]

Rosemount had a good team a couple years ago with Jake Ratzlaff, if I recall correctly. Went on to play football at Wisconsin and is switching to the hockey team there. Or last I heard.

He is on the hockey team at UST

[Duluthguy]

Rosemount had a good team a couple years ago with Jake Ratzlaff, if I recall correctly. Went on to play football at Wisconsin and is switching to the hockey team there. Or last I heard.

Ratzlaff is now with the Tommies, and has played in 15 games so far this year...

[BP]

My eyes got a little big when I saw Rosemount. The last time I remember them being anywhere is back in the Tier 2 days when they had a terrible season record but got hot at playoff time and ended up losing to Greenway 6-1 in the championship game at Target Center.
That was when Gino Guyer from Greenway sarcastically said, " It's nice to be the 65th best team in the state." :lol

I have to correct myself. They were ranked in the top 10 for a couple of seasons a few years ago. As the cobwebs clear, they had some pretty big kids on their teams too.

It was Jeff Antonovich - Gino Guyer was 7-8 years old at that time. But funny comment though by Jeff!

[raidergrad72]

My eyes got a little big when I saw Rosemount. The last time I remember them being anywhere is back in the Tier 2 days when they had a terrible season record but got hot at playoff time and ended up losing to Greenway 6-1 in the championship game at Target Center.
That was when Gino Guyer from Greenway sarcastically said, " It's nice to be the 65th best team in the state." :lol

I have to correct myself. They were ranked in the top 10 for a couple of seasons a few years ago. As the cobwebs clear, they had some pretty big kids on their teams too.

It was Jeff Antonovich - Gino Guyer was 7-8 years old at that time. But funny comment though by Jeff!

I stand corrected. That would make sense, too with Guyer and Andy Sertich ( who now coaches at Greenway)
being on the 2002-03 Gopher NCAA championship teams
Don't know if you guys know, but Jeff's dad the legendary Mike, is recovering from a stroke. I don't know how he's doing at this time.

[WarmUpTheBus]

It’s early but having seen HM I’m not ready to put them ahead of the Hornets.

[tacrat]

Replying to Raidergrad72. Antone did NOT have a stroke. He had a mild heart attack and had a couple stents installed. He is doing very well .

[WestMetro]

Yes , I have talked with Mike several times this fall and he is fine .