Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato vs Hutchinson

[elliott70]

Who wins?

[elliott70]

3A does not garner a lot of attention because their top teams seldom make it into the state top 10.
But amongst themselves the games can be very competitive.
This should be one of those and perhaps the number one seed to the winner.

[bardown27]

1A does not garner a lot of attention because their top teams seldom make it into the state top 10.
But amongst themselves the games can be very competitive.
This should be one of those and perhaps the number one seed to the winner.

3A*

[elliott70]

1A does not garner a lot of attention because their top teams seldom make it into the state top 10.
But amongst themselves the games can be very competitive.
This should be one of those and perhaps the number one seed to the winner.

3A*

Thanks. Sometimes my fingers do not listen to my brain.

[elliott70]

Hutch

I don't know much but they are 3-1 with 3 1 goal games (winning 2 and losing the other).

Seem to have quality goal tending in Hagen - a senior with .917 save pct and 2.11 GAA.


Scoring from a group with Knorr with 3, Starett, Longie, Glaser and Croatt with 2 each.

Can anyone fill in more?

[elliott70]

Litchfield is 4-0-1 with a tie with Mount (Hutch beat Mound) and a one goal win over Waconia (Hutch beat them pretty easily).

They have a quality goal tender also in senior Hallonen with 2.01 GAA and .916 save pct.

Lots of scorers led by Gustafson with 4 and Hillman and Haataja with 3
and 5 others with 2.

[Stang5280]

There’s a handful of good Class A matchups tonight. I’ll definitely be watching this one, along with EGF vs Roseau, of course. (I’ll also be catching some Delano vs Breck, so my attention will be very divided.)

Live stream for Litch vs Hutch is available here:
https://www.hcvnonline.com/live-streaming

I anticipate a low scoring contest. Neither team is great offensively, and rely on defense and goaltending. I would be shocked if either team eclipses four goals tonight. I have caught parts of a few games for both teams, and LDC looks better just based on the eye test; however, Hutch does have a stronger overall body of work, setting aside the opening loss. Litch has more depth, some more explosiveness on offense, and better goaltending (that weird Waconia game skews how good Halonen has otherwise been). Hutch tends to sit back, pack in their defense, and wait for an opportunity to pounce. They also try to strangle the life out of a game once they get a lead.

I picked Hutchinson in the weekly contest, so I’ll stick with them. I have them ranked right next to one another for good reason, and I wouldn’t bet the house on that pick.

[bardown27]

LDC's leading scorer Gustafson is a Hutch kid

[Kinda_Normal_Tendy]

3A does not garner a lot of attention because their top teams seldom make it into the state top 10.
But amongst themselves the games can be very competitive.
This should be one of those and perhaps the number one seed to the winner.

While neither of these teams are likely going to be cracking the top 10 this year I do believe that both teams belong in the 10-15 range. Most years 3A's winner is usually someone that is just outside the top 20 looking in. Generally these teams will have 1 good line that they rely on heavily to do most of their scoring. Both Hutch and Litch this year are much deeper than many 3A teams of the past but don't have the standout talent to go along with it that could move them into top 10 consideration.

There’s a handful of good Class A matchups tonight. I’ll definitely be watching this one, along with EGF vs Roseau, of course. (I’ll also be catching some Delano vs Breck, so my attention will be very divided.)

Live stream for Litch vs Hutch is available here:
https://www.hcvnonline.com/live-streaming

I anticipate a low scoring contest. Neither team is great offensively, and rely on defense and goaltending. I would be shocked if either team eclipses four goals tonight. I have caught parts of a few games for both teams, and LDC looks better just based on the eye test; however, Hutch does have a stronger overall body of work, setting aside the opening loss. Litch has more depth, some more explosiveness on offense, and better goaltending (that weird Waconia game skews how good Halonen has otherwise been). Hutch tends to sit back, pack in their defense, and wait for an opportunity to pounce. They also try to strangle the life out of a game once they get a lead.

I picked Hutchinson in the weekly contest, so I’ll stick with them. I have them ranked right next to one another for good reason, and I wouldn’t bet the house on that pick.

Agree with most points made here that these teams are built from the back out with good goaltending and solid top 4 defenseman. Halonen from Litchfield is in his 4th year as the starting goalie and is definitely capable of stealing them games even if they aren't great in front of him. Had he been healthy in the playoffs last year things could have turned out differently for them. Hutchinson will have IMO the best player on the ice in defenseman Tristan Hoppe. Both teams feature balanced scoring but do not score often so as Stang said this will likely be a low scoring affair. I won't be able to watch tonight but look forward to your takeways from this game.

The live stream of this game will also be available on Livebarn.

LDC's leading scorer Gustafson is a Hutch kid

I can't believe that I didn't see this earlier. He was by far the best player on Hutchinson's Bantam team last year. Did he end up moving? I was told he tried out for the varsity team last year in Hutch but did not make it. No matter the case of why/how he ended up in Litch I'm sure him playing with the enemy will only intensify the rivalry. These two teams already did not like each other very much. For anyone who plans to tune in who doesn't normally follow these teams you can expect a physical game tonight.

[Stang5280]

Great insights, Tendy! I assume you must be somewhat local to that area. It should be a fun game as a lesser-publicized intense rivalry.

I will have to keep my eye out for Tristan Hoppe tonight. From doing a little reading he’s a huge kid, and an All-Metro linebacker, so I imagine he hits like a truck.

Interesting storyline that bardown brought up about Gustafson. LDC had a very good Bantam team last season, and I was surprised there aren’t more sophomores on the roster. Either there were a lot of 8th graders in that group, or the JV must be stockpiled.

[TTpuckster]

[quote=Stang5280 post_id=752817 time=1612292693 user_id=24499]
There’s a handful of good Class A matchups tonight. I’ll definitely be watching this one, along with EGF vs Roseau, of course. (I’ll also be catching some Delano vs Breck, so my attention will be very divided.)



I am sure you meant EGF vrs Warroad

[Stang5280]

There’s a handful of good Class A matchups tonight. I’ll definitely be watching this one, along with EGF vs Roseau, of course. (I’ll also be catching some Delano vs Breck, so my attention will be very divided.)

I am sure you meant EGF vrs Warroad

Of course, unless you have a time travel device handy

[Teak]

There’s a handful of good Class A matchups tonight. I’ll definitely be watching this one, along with EGF vs Roseau, of course. (I’ll also be catching some Delano vs Breck, so my attention will be very divided.)

Live stream for Litch vs Hutch is available here:
https://www.hcvnonline.com/live-streaming

Thanks for the link!

It looks like it is 1-0 for Litchfield after the first period.