AA Rankings for 2/8/26

[karl(east)]

Doing high school hockey rankings while unexpectedly stranded overnight in Puerto Rico was not in my plans for the week (long story), but here I am, churning this out at a weird hour. Rankings:

1. Minnetonka (20-1-2)
-The Skippers held steady at the top, thumping Eden Prairie and taking care of Wayzata to maintain position as things happened beneath them. Surging Rogers is up next, and Maple Grove continues to put up enough decent results to pay attention to as well.
This week: Tues at #3 Rogers, Sat at #9 Maple Grove

2. St. Thomas Academy (18-4-2)
-Beat White Bear Lake in their one somewhat competitive game this past week, and slide up as Moorhead falls. I’m keeping them ahead of Rogers for now on the strength of several recent results (e.g., Shakopee and Edina wins), but a result against Minnetonka by the Royals this week could flip that. Metro East supremacy is on the line when they face Hill for a second time.
This week: Thurs vs. #10 Hill-Murray

3. Rogers (18-4-1)
-The Royals crushed Centennial and then put an exclamation point on their run over the past month with a big win over Moorhead. It guarantees nothing, but it does prove they belong in this top tier and can give anyone a run when they’re on. After that big result, can they now do something with the Skippers?
This week: Tues vs. #1 Minnetonka, Thurs vs. Armstrong/Cooper

4. Moorhead (18-3-1)
-For all the Spuds’ talent, they are drifting in the wrong direction right now: Rogers took them down, and the quieter result of this past week, a 7-3 win over Elk River with two empty netters, was a bit close for comfort in a section where they’ve looked like a runaway favorite otherwise. They’ve got a couple of teams toward the bottom of 8AA this week before the customary final Saturday meeting with Hill, which I doubt will be quite as entertaining as last season’s was.
This week: Tues vs. Brainerd, Thurs vs. St. Cloud, Sat vs. #10 Hill-Murray

5. Edina (18-5-1)
-Methodically moved past Buffalo and Maple Grove to keep my opinion of them steady, though Rogers’ rise has to be drawing their eyes. Their playoff tune-up comes against a section rival and possible semifinal opponent, if they can still manage to grab the top seed.
This week: Thurs at #13 Wayzata

6. Shakopee (20-4)
-Put Eagan in running time and blanked Farmington; they continue to do little wrong, but face a daunting task in breaking through against the very best teams, which they’ll probably have to do to win 2AA. Lakeville North concludes their regular season.
This week: Sat vs. Lakeville North

7. Cretin-Derham Hall (17-6)
-The Raiders took care of White Bear Lake, continuing a recent surge that has me nudging above some up-and-down squads below them here, and into a position where I think they should be slightly favored in a 3AA semifinal against Rosemount. A Park team that has had some good results lately is up next, and they’ve got Stillwater to round things out.
This week: Tues at Park of Cottage Grove, Sat at #14 Stillwater

8. Rosemount (17-4-1)
-The Irish took care of Farmington in their last game against a ranked opponent. They’re taking care of business, but their two rivals for the 3AA crown are doing that and more lately, so they’ll have their work cut out for them in sections. They’ll be favored in their final three games.
This week: Tues vs. Holy Family, Thurs vs. Eagan, Sat at Eastview

9. Maple Grove (14-7-2)
-The Crimson collected a quality win over Hill and the loss to Edina is no slouch; in general, they restored some faith and have me putting them back above the Wayzata-Eden Prairie tier of the Lake. They get the regular season’s final crack at Tonka.
This week: Thurs vs. St. Michael-Albertville, Sat vs. #1 Minnetonka

10. Hill-Murray (17-4-2)
-Lost the 1-0 overtime snoozer against Maple Grove, but rebounded with a strong win over tumbling Andover. They’ve got a nasty final week ahead of them; can they generate any offense against a good team?
This week: Thurs at #2 St. Thomas Academy, Sat at #4 Moorhead

11. Holy Angels (17-6)
-The Stars had a great week, beating Wayzata and soundly handling Hermantown to likely grab the 3-seed in 6AA and suggest they could be a problem against one of the top two in their section. Neither of their last two games is overly daunting.
This week: Tues at Robbinsdale Armstrong/Cooper, Sat vs. Champlin Park

12. Eden Prairie (11-11-1)
-The Eagles didn’t show much in a loss to Minnetonka, cooling a bit of their recent momentum, but they did bounce back with a respectable win over STMA. Wayzata highlights their close to Lake Conference play.
This week: Thurs vs. Buffalo, Sat at #13 Wayzata

13. Wayzata (10-11-2)
-Losses to Holy Angels and Minnetonka aren’t bad, but keep the Trojans treading water in this middle ground they’ve held for a while now. Two tough final home games await them, one with section implications and one that will say a lot about the direction of both teams heading into sections.
This week: Thurs vs. #5 Edina, Sat vs. #12 Eden Prairie

14. Stillwater (15-7-1)
-A stunner of a loss to Park drops the Ponies a few spots, though they did respond with a convincing win over Roseville to avoid any true chaos. Their last week isn’t an easy one, with a respectable East Ridge team that gave them a one-goal game the first time around and Cretin, who is playing the best hockey of anyone in the Suburban East right now.
This week: Tues at East Ridge, Sat vs. #7 Cretin-Derham Hall

15. Blaine (14-7-3)
-The Bengals got a nice win over Totino, which I think should be enough to lock in a 5AA 2-seed. They wrap up with a Gentry team that has put up a few decent scores recently.
This week: Sat vs. Gentry Academy

The Next Ten

Elk River (13-8-1)
-The Elks gave Moorhead a decent enough test, which would seem to make them worthy of a 15-20 spot here. Sartell headlines a three-game final week.

Farmington (18-4-1)
-Didn’t play horribly against Rosemount and Shakopee, but there was clearly a gap in both losses, and the Tigers seem to have found their level on the statewide scene. They don’t have an easy final week: Prior Lake tied them the first time around, and the meeting with South could be a huge preview of the section final.

Centennial (14-9)
-Got blasted by Rogers, but rebounded with a decent win over Holy Family. A game with Totino this week could give the 5AA seeding one last wrinkle.

Grand Rapids (11-12-1)
-A thumping of a Benilde team that had just tied Hermantown isn’t a bad sign for the Thunderhawks head toward a wide-open Section 7AA. They wrap things against those Hermantown Hawks on Tuesday.

White Bear Lake (9-11-3)
-Losses to Cretin and St. Thomas show the general separation here. Two decent Suburban East teams, Forest Lake and East Ridge, await them this week; the East Ridge game matters for section positioning, and could be the difference between a 3-seed and a 4-seed or even a 5-seed.

Duluth Marshall (19-3-2)
-The Hilltoppers won three games this past week by margins one might expect out of a 20-25-ranked team. Beating Bemidji, a team Forest Lake lost to recently, does help the 1-seed argument, for whatever that’s worth in 7AA. They wrap up against crosstown rival Duluth East; a win should have them no lower than the 2-seed, while a loss could go so far as to drop them into a 4-5 game against those Hounds.

Lakeville South (9-10-3)
-Tied Delano and handled two beatable South Suburban foes, which doesn’t change a whole lot for the Cougars. We’ll see where they stand heading into sections against Farmington with the rematch on Thursday, and they can avenge one of their weaker losses if they can beat Prior Lake this week, too.

East Ridge (13-9)
-Beat Forest Lake to continue their recent upward momentum. A busy final week includes Stillwater and White Bear; a win over the Bears could nab them a surprising 3-seed in 4AA.

Rock Ridge (12-11)
-Beat Champlin Park in their only action this past week. They close out against two teams they could easily be playing in a section quarterfinal, Cambridge-Isanti and Duluth Denfeld.

Chanhassen (13-7-2)
-Beat Bloomington Jefferson to lock in a top-4 seed in 2AA. They’ll try to avenge an earlier loss to Benilde in a three-game final week that also includes Waconia and Orono.

And now, one last stab at section seeding predictions.

1AA
17 Farmington
22 Lakeville South
Lakeville North
New Prague
-This one hasn’t moved in a while. Farmington has arguably done enough to secure the top seed no matter what happens in this week’s rematch with Lakeville South.

2AA
1 Minnetonka
6 Shakopee
12 Eden Prairie
25 Chanhassen
-I don’t see this one moving: while there have been a few weird results along the way, the pecking order for the top four is pretty clear, and Prior Lake’s win over Holy Family this past week clarifies the 5-7 range a bit, too.

3AA
2 St. Thomas Academy
7 Cretin-Derham Hall
8 Rosemount
Park of Cottage Grove
-Rosemount and Cretin are a coin flip for the 2-seed. The somewhat interesting team here is Park, which has surged lately and is now in good position for the 4-seed, but other than the 2-3 question, this one is pretty much set.

4AA
10 Hill-Murray
14 Stillwater
20 White Bear Lake
23 East Ridge
-The top two are set, and the winner of the East Ridge-White Bear Lake game this week is probably the 3-seed. Roseville could at least have an argument for a 4-seed if White Bear loses that game, given their head-to-head results; we’ll see if the coaches would be willing to go there. Gentry has had some decent results lately, too, so there should be at least two good quarterfinals here.

5AA
9 Maple Grove
15 Blaine
18 Centennial
Andover
-Maple Grove is set at the top. I don’t think Andover’s win over Blaine costs the Bengals the 2-seed, but it does perhaps get Andover back into 4-seed position since they have a quality win and Totino hasn’t done much to build a case beyond beating the Huskies. That could potentially change if Totino can do anything against Centennial this week; otherwise, I’d say this is the order.

6AA
3 Rogers
5 Edina
11 Holy Angels
13 Wayzata
-A win over Moorhead at least gives Rogers an argument for the top seed now; do something against Minnetonka this week, and it’s probably theirs. Holy Angels’ win over Wayzata is a quality step forward for the Stars; I don’t see this moving even if Wayzata beats Edina this week. Head-to-head results should make Buffalo the 5-seed and Benilde the 6-seed.

7AA
21 Duluth Marshall
Forest Lake
24 Rock Ridge
19 Grand Rapids
-How tight is this section right now? Duluth Marshall has a solid argument for the 1-seed if they beat Duluth East on Tuesday; if they lose it, there’s a solid argument that they should fall all the way to 5. The number of iterations possible here remains large. Forest Lake has lost a few games down the stretch, which may yet cost them the top spot; they do have those wins over Rock Ridge and Rapids to their credit, but I’m also not sure how much respect they’ll get in the seeding. Rapids is the most battle-tested and has many of the best overall results achieved by teams here, but doesn’t have a great record in-section. I’d go with the above order if Marshall gets the East win, but other interpretations are understandable, and I’m not sure anyone has had a good enough season to complain much if the seeding doesn’t go their way.

8AA
4 Moorhead
16 Elk River
St. Michael-Albertville
Bemidji
-The order here has been pretty clear for a bit now, but that Elk River-Moorhead result does open the door ever so slightly. We’ll see how the Spuds handle that huge target on their backs starting next week.

[ryguyMN]

Good stuff, Karl.

Moorhead hasn’t looked the same since Joey Cullen went down with injury. The Spuds were looking like a machine up until that point. They need Cullen’s return if they want to repeat, IMO.

As a fan, it’s hard not to root for Rogers at this point. Really liked how they played against Moorhead. 15 wins in a row now for this squad. Would be nice for another non-blue blood to hoist the hardware on Saturday night at the arena formerly known as the X for something different. Cleared my schedule for Tonka and Rogers on Tuesday - obviously the game of the week.

Was wondering what you would do with the 3 and 4 seeds in 2AA. Chan beat EP, but EP’s body of work and strength of schedule certainly much greater, so what you have listed certainly makes sense.

[O-townClown]

Excellent work on the section seeding preview.

[Rich Clarke]

I'm not sure what Cretin has done recently that is more impressive than Rosemount's recent record. Both teams are 4-0 in the past two weeks with Cretin beating four unimpressive conference rivals. I'm not suggesting that a 6-2 win over White Bear isn't worth noting, but I don't see it being more impressive than Rosemount's 5-2 and 6-3 wins over Farmington and Lakeville South. If we go back further, Rosemount lost 1-0 to Shakopee at the same time Cretin was losing to East Ridge. Before that, they crushed Holy Angels, beat Wazyata and Stillwater, and tied Rogers. Cretin would certainly be in my top ten and they may well beat Rosemount in the section semis, but I don't see that their recent play is even as impressive, let alone more impressive, than Rosemount's. It's a small difference, but I'd have Rosemount ahead of them.

I also think moving Rogers up past Moorhead and Edina is premature. They have rolled over a fairly weak second half schedule (in comparison) and Moorhead has been such an enigma as of late that beating them at home in a late season game is a bit of a one off. I certainly am far more impressed with Edina beating Minnetonka and holding them to a tie the second game. I certainly believe that Rogers' play over the teams on they've been able to play has been impressive and that they could even be the best team in the state. But we can't really know that at this point, and a win over a team that struggled with Elk River and lost to Grand Forks is more of a suggestion of potential strength than proof of it. Of course, Tuesday's game will answer a lot of questions.

Of course, this is mere quibbling, and more of where I think the teams should be placed based on the season as a whole and what I think they've proven so far. Predicting that Cretin and Rogers will end up higher than Rosemount and Edina is nothing to argue strenuously against. As for Moorhead, they could end up winning state or winding up losing badly. I just wonder if there is a "real" Moorhead that will show up like they did in last year's post season.

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

Does anyone have the dope on streaming for the ER @ White Bear game on Thursday?

[ryguyMN]

Does anyone have the dope on streaming for the ER @ White Bear game on Thursday?

Other than MNHockey.TV, I’m not sure of any other sources right now, but keep an eye out for @WBLBearPawProduction on YouTube - a student-run media production that streams WBL games.

[BSUBeaver]

Good stuff, Karl.

Moorhead hasn’t looked the same since Joey Cullen went down with injury. The Spuds were looking like a machine up until that point. They need Cullen’s return if they want to repeat, IMO.

As a fan, it’s hard not to root for Rogers at this point. Really liked how they played against Moorhead. 15 wins in a row now for this squad. Would be nice for another non-blue blood to hoist the hardware on Saturday night at the arena formerly known as the X for something different. Cleared my schedule for Tonka and Rogers on Tuesday - obviously the game of the week.

Was wondering what you would do with the 3 and 4 seeds in 2AA. Chan beat EP, but EP’s body of work and strength of schedule certainly much greater, so what you have listed certainly makes sense.

Joey Cullen was back in the lineup last night against Brainerd and shook the rust off with two goals and an assist.

[ryguyMN]

Good stuff, Karl.

Moorhead hasn’t looked the same since Joey Cullen went down with injury. The Spuds were looking like a machine up until that point. They need Cullen’s return if they want to repeat, IMO.

As a fan, it’s hard not to root for Rogers at this point. Really liked how they played against Moorhead. 15 wins in a row now for this squad. Would be nice for another non-blue blood to hoist the hardware on Saturday night at the arena formerly known as the X for something different. Cleared my schedule for Tonka and Rogers on Tuesday - obviously the game of the week.

Was wondering what you would do with the 3 and 4 seeds in 2AA. Chan beat EP, but EP’s body of work and strength of schedule certainly much greater, so what you have listed certainly makes sense.

Joey Cullen was back in the lineup last night against Brainerd and shook the rust off with two goals and an assist.

Excellent, thanks for the report!

[ryguyMN]

Welp, the rankings this week had an early expiration date.

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

Good stuff, Karl.

Moorhead hasn’t looked the same since Joey Cullen went down with injury. The Spuds were looking like a machine up until that point. They need Cullen’s return if they want to repeat, IMO.

As a fan, it’s hard not to root for Rogers at this point. Really liked how they played against Moorhead. 15 wins in a row now for this squad. Would be nice for another non-blue blood to hoist the hardware on Saturday night at the arena formerly known as the X for something different. Cleared my schedule for Tonka and Rogers on Tuesday - obviously the game of the week.

Was wondering what you would do with the 3 and 4 seeds in 2AA. Chan beat EP, but EP’s body of work and strength of schedule certainly much greater, so what you have listed certainly makes sense.

Joey Cullen was back in the lineup last night against Brainerd and shook the rust off with two goals and an assist.

Excellent, thanks for the report!

Yep, true dat. The first win over Stillwater in East Ridge program history has really muddled the 2-3-4 seeding in 4AA. An ER win over WB on Thursday coupled with a CDH sweep of Stillwater could vault the Raptors into the #2 slot, if rival Park doesn't upset them on Saturday.

Anything big happen in the west Metro?