Section 3A (2012-13 Season)

[notSoFast]

What cracks me up is some Luverne fans actually thought they would be competitive at state.

If you ever enter something and dont think you have a chance why compete?

[hutchtostate]

Tigers vs. Tigers who would have predicted this one???

have hardly seen my Tigers play this year, but they put up a good fight last night. Played hard, and never gave up. Protected the net. Playing the quality teams they play all year paid off. The record isn't sweet, but the work ethic is producing a competitive edge.

Watched most of Marshall game. Sorry to say, but the section is not what it used to be. Have not seen a Marshall team as weak as the team I saw yesterday. another Campion saves the day. Almost looked as good as the other bro

I don't know if the Marshall goalie can do it one more game. #4 and #21 for Marshall skate very hard, but there is not enough there to carry them to state. Defense was weak too.

Predict:
Hutch 5
Marshall 2

[jeffpv]

This is going to be another rough trip to state for 3A.
Boy, if Marshall or Hutch gets STA or, say, Hermantown

[inthestands]

Which 3A team would have stacked up decent against either of them again?

[gingerroll]

Which 3A team would have stacked up decent against either of them again?

No team in 3A is able to stack up against STA or Hermantown.

[CherryPicker99]

Good call on your predictions 3A scout! I did not see that coming. Luverne played a horrible first two periods. Marshall definitely showed more will to win. Luverne looked lazy and were very sloppy. Meyer let in three weak goals and Campion played a very solid game.

Good luck to Hutch and Marshall in the Section Final. I'm glad to see a new team experience the "Tourney".

[notTONIGHT]

Hats off to bettmans lil bro! Campion you were incredible. One of the best goalie performances I've seen! Good luck Wednesday!

You too 3ahockeyscout. Brilliant call. You're smart I'm dumb. You pretty I'm ugly. Ha.

Good luck to both squads Wednesday.

[new2coachin]

Congrats to the Marshall & Hutch teams, it goes to show why the games are played & this section is so tough to judge. Hutch has the all around better team but Marshall has a hot goalie right now, sucked for the Luverne fatihful but come playoff time, that's what a team needs.

Good Luck to both teams on Wednesday, leave it all on the ice!

[StanleyYelnats]

Crazy how these teams ended up in the Final. Yeah Yeah, the section is the weakest it's been in ten years, still gotta give all the boys credit. They earned it to be in the final. Can we just skip to the second round of state though?

you heard it here first, tigers win 3-1.

[InigoMontoya]

First meeting looks like it was 8-5. Who was riding the hot goalie then?

[cellyhard01]

Sad to see my home town cards lose to Marshall. Hats off to Campion. Tough seeing Meyer get bottled up in his head like he does often. Overall dissapointed because now section 3a is going to get embarrassed once again. Lets be honest Luverne had the only legitimite chance to compete against high caliber teams in the state tournament. With Norman, Winnegar, Toby, Smedstrud we could play with anyone. Unfortunately Meyer got caught cold, next year the cards will have an actual goalie with Crabtree in net.

Cards State Tourney 13'-14'
Roll Cards Roll!!!

[Section 3A HockeyScout]

Sad to see my home town cards lose to Marshall. Hats off to Campion. Tough seeing Meyer get bottled up in his head like he does often. Overall dissapointed because now section 3a is going to get embarrassed once again. Lets be honest Luverne had the only legitimite chance to compete against high caliber teams in the state tournament. With Norman, Winnegar, Toby, Smedstrud we could play with anyone. Unfortunately Meyer got caught cold, next year the cards will have an actual goalie with Crabtree in net.

Cards State Tourney 13'-14'
Roll Cards Roll!!!

Nice try cellyhard01 looking at previous posts pretty obvious your a marshall kid. Good luck against Hutch. Be smart and stay off this board. Learn from luverne and not get cocky or dumb on here.... Nice effort though.

[TheSiouxSuck]

Sad to see my home town cards lose to Marshall. Hats off to Campion. Tough seeing Meyer get bottled up in his head like he does often. Overall dissapointed because now section 3a is going to get embarrassed once again. Lets be honest Luverne had the only legitimite chance to compete against high caliber teams in the state tournament. With Norman, Winnegar, Toby, Smedstrud we could play with anyone. Unfortunately Meyer got caught cold, next year the cards will have an actual goalie with Crabtree in net.

Cards State Tourney 13'-14'
Roll Cards Roll!!!

After hearing all the hype about Luverne I decided to stroll to Gustavus Saturday night to see what all the hype was about.
Some thoughts on the game:
-Luverne seemed to be much slower than the previous year when they lost to New Ulm.
-Marshall did a wonderful job clogging the middle of the ice and forcing everything to the outside.
-Campion made the saves when his team needed him to.
-Luverne kept trying to score the pretty goal and many of their rushes fizzled. Official shots were 43 to 28 in Luvernes favor however many of those 43 were of poor quality from bad angles or just inside the blue line.
-Luverne didnt run nearly enough traffic in front of Campion.
-When Wenninger scored with about 10 to go in the 3rd I think I saw Luverne change one defenseman the rest of the game. Seriously, that Toby kid took a 9 minute shift at the end of the game. He looked completely gassed but for some reason the coaches seemed content to leave him out there. What happened? Luverne was essentially playing 4v5 and gave up two more goals in the 3rd.
- I finally understand all that talk about Luverne not really playing a system. They really didnt have any type of forecheck or D zone support. It appeared they just tried to do everything on the fly. That being said, I can see how they were able to win 20-some games because they do have some talented athletes and their didnt exactly play a tough schedule.


Once that was done I watched the New Ulm Hutch game.
-Hutch seemed to physically beat New Ulm in nearly every battle for the puck.
-I lost count of how many times New Ulm gave up an odd man rush because of a bad turnover.
-Hutch did a great job clearing rebounds and getting the puck out of their zone. New Ulm did not, their wings were usually already out of the zone before the D had control of the puck.
- #3 for New Ulm really stood out to me. He was the only NU player who played a true 200 foot game and he consistently made things happen while he was on the ice.
-#9 for New Ulm has good skills but appeared to be terrified of getting hit. Any time he sensed someone was near he he'd throw the puck away. This accounted for several Hutch odd man rushes.
- I was unable to catch his number but one of the NU defenseman had several beautiful open ice hits. #7 for Hutch also probably delivered the check of the game.
- I think Kraus for New Ulm played a solid game. If Im not mistaken all of the goals scored on him were a defensive failure to clear rebounds.
- NU came out and scored 15 seconds into the 2nd for a 1-0 lead then proceeded to give up 3 goals in a 3 minute span. It took the rest of that period and a long time into the 3rd before the Eagles finally got any sort of momentum. If I'm the coach, I probably call a time out after we give up two and try to regroup.
-I understand why Hutch was picked by so many people to win. They appear to be peaking at the right time and use their size to slow down quicker teams. Based on the four teams I saw Saturday night, Hutch definitely has the best chance to respectably represent section 3A.

[Deck Slide]

Sad to see my home town cards lose to Marshall. Hats off to Campion. Tough seeing Meyer get bottled up in his head like he does often. Overall dissapointed because now section 3a is going to get embarrassed once again. Lets be honest Luverne had the only legitimite chance to compete against high caliber teams in the state tournament. With Norman, Winnegar, Toby, Smedstrud we could play with anyone. Unfortunately Meyer got caught cold, next year the cards will have an actual goalie with Crabtree in net.

Cards State Tourney 13'-14'
Roll Cards Roll!!!

Legitimite chance to compete... Come on... Luverne just lost to Marshall. If things don't change in 3A i see a possibility Hutch really taking care of Business in this Section the next 2 or 3 years.

[Section 3A HockeyScout]

I think I saw Luverne change one defenseman the rest of the game. Seriously, that Toby kid took a 9 minute shift at the end of the game. He looked completely gassed but for some reason the coaches seemed content to leave him out there. What happened? Luverne was essentially playing 4v5 and gave up two more goals in the 3rd.
- I finally understand all that talk about Luverne not really playing a system. They really didnt have any type of forecheck or D zone support. It appeared they just tried to do everything on the fly. That being said, I can see how they were able to win 20-some games because they do have some talented athletes and their didnt exactly play a tough schedule.[/b]

I honestly feel bad for the Luverne hockey community. They had a really nice team this year but no coaching what so ever. As the gentlemen above hit it on the button. It is really to bad. They need a change big time!

Anyways they blew their only decent chance hopefully next year it goes back to Luverne not mattering again. Wow did they fall on their face Saturday... Might not be a bad thing if it can cause a change possibly in the coaching helm.


Besides that tomorrow night TIGERNATION Time!!

I think Hutch will be flying and Campion will need to be on his A game. I think the emotions will be running high. Like everyone else on here I will be picking the Tigers to win!

[woodpencil]

wow 3a I thought you would have learned something from your last offensive post, but it appears you are back on ripping the Luverne coaches.

The Luverne coaches are doing the very best they can. They work hard, treat the kids with respect and are trying to build a strong solid program. The community is supportive and they are doing the things they need to do to make hockey better in Luverne. The irony is how they copied the Marshall program and now Marshall is not doing the very things that made them successful in the past.

If you want to talk about poor coaching, then the arena that needs cleaning out is in your own backyard. Talk about a captain sinking his ship - and sinking in quickly. I read the Marshall paper on Monday and could not believe the ridiculous statements by the head coach. Didn't give any credit to his players, but talked only about how it was HIS game plan and HIS play calling that won the game. What game was he watching? The defense couldn't break it out of the zone, had no idea how to clear a puck, and kids were scared to go in the corners. wow. No wonder people down there grumble about this guy so much. Actually, I am happy to watch this program falter.

Marshall kids won the game, but Luverne sure helped them do it. The kids worked hard, but I would have to say Luverne beat themselves.

The Marshall kids won the game on sat. not because of their coach, but in spite of their coach.

I don't think they can handle Hutch. They just don't have the depth or the defense to do it. Luverne will continue to be on the rise in this section. There are many energitic kids hungry for more wins next year.

[notSoFast]

Earlier in the season it was Marhalls tenacity that carried them over Hutch. Last weekend both teams willed their way to victory so I anticipate the difference will be the relentless offensive zone pressure Hutch will put on this game with its Depth.

Hutch 5
Marshall 2

[Bettman's Bender]

Here is the scoop. I agree with woodpencil... For the most part.

I'm sure Luvernes coaches work hard, but I'm not sure they really do the best they can. I mean their is no real rhyme or reason to what the team does on the ice. What do they do at practice? The kids are talented and they work hard but that usually can only get you so far. The only recognizable system they run is the umbrella power-play. I'm not really sure either team can really be knocking each others staff. Neither teams (Marshall/Luverne) coaches have shown that they can really manage their team.

Marshall turned the puck over in their own zone at least 80% of the time they tried to break it out. And it wasn't because Luverne's forecheck scheme was so diligent or complex. Marshall spanks the puck around like a bunch of monkeys, with the exception of #'s 11,4,and 21. The kids play hard, they just dont know what they are doing out there. They are united by a mutual disdain for their head coach which might be a cause for their recent success. Marshall's assistant coaches are well respected in my observation, but I'm not sure they get the microphone as much as they should. Also heard that the entire assistant coaching staff is quitting after this year. Hope this isn't true but I wouldn't be surprised.

I too read the comments made by Coudert in the paper and I just about tipped over. He credited the team victory to the fact that "He told his defenseman not to pinch and apparently that CONFUSED the Luverne breakout and rendered them unable to enter Marshalls zone." AS IF that is some kind of GENIUS scheme.. I think he was unintelligibly trying to refer to a 1-2-2 (which definitely wasnt executed on the ice, Luverne was always able to easily gain center red and EVEN THEN they were seldom forced to dump the puck in, ESPECIALLY IN THE 3RD WHEN HE REALLY SHOULD HAVE BEEN TRAPPING, but instead they allowed 18 SOG) Let me assure you, the day Coach Coudert gets Marshall to successfully execute a neutral zone trap will be the day I eat crow. Marshall actually has the right team dynamic to be a successful trapping team. They lag in talent but a good trap allows inferior teams the ability to stay tight with more talented teams. Especially in 3A where most teams wouldn't be able to adjust.

I graduate after next year. Someone tell Luverne to hang on to their coaches for one more year. It'd be interesting to be a part of that up and coming program. They are doing it right, in terms of direction and leadership as I heard their youth teams run shop.

Marshall however, is falling apart at the seams. Not a single Marshall youth team had a winning record this year. I watched some Pee-Wee and Bantam games and was very discouraged. Are rudimentary hockey skills: stops and starts, power turns, puck protection, proper shot technique not taught anymore!? What are coaches in this association watching/teaching!? Its brutal. I have also heard that Coudert has taken charge of the youth programs for the most part too.

Coudert is in a good position. If Marshall is successful for the next 5 years (if he makes it that long) it will mostly have been under his leadership. But if the whole program falls apart, that would also be on his shoulders. I think we are seeing which one is more likely.

Everyone should watch some youtube videos or something. Read articles by Hal Tearse or Dean Blais. I know these guys are big contributors to USA hockey and things like that. There is no reason the hockey down here should be as bad as it is.

Parents, quit molly-coddling your kids.

Go Tigers

#EndRant

[no5hole]

Wow, well articulated Bettman. Couldn't have said it better myself.
The only thing better than a Campion playing would be a Campion coaching. Make it happen!

[Section 3A HockeyScout]

I'm sure Luvernes coaches work hard, but I'm not sure they really do the best they can. I mean seriously their is no real rhyme or reason to what the team does on the ice. What do they do at practice? Its a hodge-podge of athletes that work hard.

Great Post Bettman!

From the grapevine I have heard Luverne coaches dont do much of anything at practice. They dont work on schemes they dont work on schemes like dzone, forecheck, neutral zone regroup or forecheck.... They dont work on situations like 2 on 1 or 3 on 2's. Maybe they just scrimmage everyday? They seriously look like they have never talked about one scheme in their life. Just open hockey what a waste of talent... Feel got the Kids and Community down there. They are in such need for a decent coach!

My new rant Bettman should be the coach at luverne!!

Would bring some actual hockey knowledge. Have heard through sources many in Luverne want their current staff out!

What ya think Bettman coach 2 times a year vs your buddy coudert?

Good luck to your bro tonight!

Tigers vs Tigers oh my!

[Section 3A HockeyScout]

Here is the newspaper article in Marshal a few have talked about on here.

Gustavus Adolphus College has traditionally been a house of horrors for the Marshall boys' hockey team. With just one win in over 10 years of section tournament competition at the St. Peter university, the Tigers had just one win at GAC.

On Saturday, however, the Tigers exorcised an old demon with a 5-3 win over No. 1 seed Luverne. Behind nine points from their seniors and 39 saves from goaltender Mason Campion, the No. 4 seed Tigers advanced to Wednesday's Section 3A finals with a come-from-behind win.

It took 14 minutes, 29 seconds before the Cardinals scored the games' opening goal. Logan Norman swatted home a rebound goal after Campion had stopped the first several attempts.

Rather than panic at falling behind, the Tigers turned to their veterans and evened the game on Tyler Untiedt's unassisted tally with just 28 seconds remaining in the first period.

"Of course right when it happens there might be a little panic, but we just said we'll get it back and the seniors kind of took charge," first-year Marshall head coach Dave Coudert said. "We put a full line of seniors out there and Tyler got a bad play by Luverne and we got a screen on the goalie. He was able to put it away and from that point on we stole the momentum back."

Untiedt picked up a defensive zone turnover by the Cardinals and fired a wrist shot past screened Luverne goalie Kendall Meyer.

Fact Box

Marshall1 2 2-5

Luverne1 0 2-3

First Period

L-Logan Norman (Gunnar Olson, Chaz Smedsrud), 14:29

M-Tyler Untiedt, 16:32

Second Period

M-Quinn Horvath (Casper Larsen, Beau Mikel), 11:25

M-Corey Clark (Mikel), 15:15 PP

Third Period

L-Skyler Wenninger (Austin Maxwell), 6:13 PP

M-Mikel (Untiedt), 14:03

M-Horvath (Untiedt), 15:45

L-Jordan Dingmann (Cole Desplinter, Smedsrud), 16:12

Shots on Goal: M-20, L-42.

Goaltenders: M-Mason Campion (39 saves), L-Kendall Meyer (15 saves).

Marshall continued to roll in the second period. Quinn Horvath scored the first of two goals with assists going to Casper Larsen and Beau Mikel 11:25 into the middle period. Corey Clark scored the second goal of the second period on the powerplay with Mikel assisting again.

The Tigers, although outshot 42-20, were able to keep Luverne out of its desired tempo by playing less aggressive defensively. Marshall's more reserved style of play helped the Tigers bounce back from a humbling 7-0 defeat to Luverne in Marshall on Jan. 3.

"We changed our gameplan," Coudert said. "Luverne has seen us twice and we had played a certain style. I think Luverne had expected us to continue that, but we decided to throw them a curve ball and change our style. Instead of letting our defense pinch every time, we decided to hold them back. It seemed to confuse Luverne a little bit and they weren't sure exactly what to do. Based on what we saw, they were set up expecting our defense to pinch in all the time and try to get the puck behind them. When they realized that the defensemen weren't pinching, we just clogged the neutral zone and put it back in deep. It seemed to definitely take them out of their gameplan."

Luverne made it a one-goal game when Skyler Wenninger scored on the powerplay 6:13 into the third period. Campion shut the door on the Cardinals for the next 10 minutes though, as Marshall added a pair of goals to take a 5-2 lead.

"Back-to-back games he's elevated his game and continues to out-shine the other team's goalie," Coudert said of his junior netminder. "We've settled into a different defensive zone style of play where we are going to give up more perimeter shots, but we're making sure he can see them. With a goalie of Mason's caliber, those aren't going to go in. The goals (Luverne) did get, they had to work hard to get them. Mason definitely stole the game for us for the most part."

Mikel got the first of Marshall's third-period goals with an assist going to Untiedt at the 14:03 mark. Horvath followed with his second of the game at 15:45 with Untiedt again assisting.

Jordan Dingmann scored for Luverne with 45 seconds remaining to bring the score to 5-3, but the clock would not allow the comeback as the Tigers advanced to just their second section final in team history.

The Tigers return to GAC on Wednesday to take on the No. 6 seed Hutchinson Tigers at 7:30 p.m. Hutchinson knocked off three-time reigning section champion New Ulm 3-2 on Saturday as well to reach the final.

Marshall and Hutchinson met on Dec. 1 with Marshall skating away with an 8-5 win. Coudert said that the Hutchinson team he watched on Saturday had little in common with the team Marshall defeated in the third game of the season.

"It's definitely not the same team that we saw at the beginning of the season," Coudert said. "They play a really tough schedule just to get ready for these type of games. They're battle tested and they've definitely improved from the last time that we saw them. Their goaltending has gotten a lot better and we're expecting it to be a completely different game."

Marshall must also avoid looking too far ahead. The Tigers are just one win away from making their first appearance at the fabled boys' state hockey tournament, but it could be a long three periods against Hutchinson if Marshall is too focused on St. Paul and not the game in St. Peter.

"I think there were two teams that lost on Saturday that were thinking too far down the road," Coudert said. "We're not even thinking state. We're thinking Wednesday and that's it. We'll just keep reminding these kids not to focus on the future when you haven't gotten there yet. We'll keep focus on Wednesday and if we get there, we get there."

Some interesting thoughts on the game.

[Bettman's Bender]

Haven't seen Hutch play this year but I think it would be fun to see Marshall go to the X. It might help the youth program. It would be quite an ugly scene at the big dance but it would be fun for them.

Its hard to make any predictions on this forum without getting your neck throttled if you're wrong but I'll say if Marshall wins it will be 4-3, If Hutch wins it will be 5-2.

Who knows though honestly. The good thing about this section is that it can often be unpredictable.

[Deck Slide]

wow 3a I thought you would have learned something from your last offensive post, but it appears you are back on ripping the Luverne coaches.

The Luverne coaches are doing the very best they can. They work hard, treat the kids with respect and are trying to build a strong solid program. The community is supportive and they are doing the things they need to do to make hockey better in Luverne. The irony is how they copied the Marshall program and now Marshall is not doing the very things that made them successful in the past.

If you want to talk about poor coaching, then the arena that needs cleaning out is in your own backyard. Talk about a captain sinking his ship - and sinking in quickly. I read the Marshall paper on Monday and could not believe the ridiculous statements by the head coach. Didn't give any credit to his players, but talked only about how it was HIS game plan and HIS play calling that won the game. What game was he watching? The defense couldn't break it out of the zone, had no idea how to clear a puck, and kids were scared to go in the corners. wow. No wonder people down there grumble about this guy so much. Actually, I am happy to watch this program falter.

Marshall kids won the game, but Luverne sure helped them do it. The kids worked hard, but I would have to say Luverne beat themselves.

The Marshall kids won the game on sat. not because of their coach, but in spite of their coach.

I don't think they can handle Hutch. They just don't have the depth or the defense to do it. Luverne will continue to be on the rise in this section. There are many energitic kids hungry for more wins next year.

Why any program would MODEL their program after Marshalls is beyond me and then brag about it. If you want to MODEL a program the last place in the state of MN is to MODEL a program after a SW MN Program. Everyone on this board so easily throws their HS Head Coach under the bus but they fail to realize that bad habits are very hard to break by the time the kids get to HS. They have probably have been committing the same mistakes since squirt or pee wee hockey. If you wanna a good program you need quality coaches at the Squirt, Pee Wee and Bantam level.

A lot of programs think that their best Hockey Coach should be the HS Varsity Coach when in reality he should be the best leader and your quality coaches should be at the Squirt, Pee Wee, and Bantam levels. 3A schools it is tough because it is dam hard to find quality youth coaches in that area. When you find quality youth coaches and they are developing the kids properly. If the HS coach fails when those kids get to the HS level then it is time to start looking for a new varsity coach. If you give the HS coach a bunch of monkeys running all over the place because that is what they have done since squirt, whos fault is it???

[hutchtostate]

Meanwhile back at Gustavus, there is a game tonight.

Who can put the most pressure on? Who can play the smartest? Who can stay out of the penalty box? Who can protect the goalie? Who can break it out of the zone .

It's anybodies guess tonight. I do think Hutch is all around better. Stronger players, better athletes, better schedule and better coaching.

I see the Hutch Tigers dominating this game due to the amount of tough teams they have played all year.

It should be a fun one.

[Section 3A HockeyScout]

Hutch has more depth and skill. Marshall has a hot tender. Should be rocking tonight. Whoever handles the pressure better wins.

Prediction
Hutch 5
Marshall 1

My Preseason pick ends up going to state in the end!

Good luck to both teams!