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elliott70 wrote:

east hockey wrote:

elliott70 wrote: I am not ripping on them. They are 1 of my favorites. If you don't see Elk River as the clear cut favorite you don't know hockey. If you look at the thawks tough schedule and don't see a lot of tough games, again....
As far crud kicking, apparently you were not at the game or again....
Two mistakes by freshman, sophs in D and 2 coaching errors in a span of 3 or 4 minutes does not put the onus on the entire team.

There are too many homers on this board....

Yeah, like Karl. Can you believe he still talks about East being a top 50 team??

Lee

I'll give him credit, he sticks by his team. Even when they suck, maybe top 20, for sure a top 25.

This is a theory--East sucking.

Lee

Oh, and Edina sucks.
Best team in the state, second best historical hockey program, but they
suck.

And to think we were denied this banter for a few days by Chinese hackers???

Oh Green just pull in' your chain (and others). Everyone is just to PC, MN nice.

But not about who is #1, that is Edina.

elliott70 wrote:Oh Green just pull in' your chain (and others). Everyone is just to PC, MN nice.

But not about who is #1, that is Edina.

Can you send the signal from Bemidji to Teddy Bridgewater to stop throwing picks.

alcloseshaver wrote:

elliott70 wrote:Oh Green just pull in' your chain (and others). Everyone is just to PC, MN nice.

But not about who is #1, that is Edina.

Can you send the signal from Bemidji to Teddy Bridgewater to stop throwing picks.

Teddy, when you read this take it in the right way, quit sucking.

east hockey wrote:

elliott70 wrote:

east hockey wrote: Yeah, like Karl. Can you believe he still talks about East being a top 50 team??

Lee

I'll give him credit, he sticks by his team. Even when they suck, maybe top 20, for sure a top 25.

This is a theory--East sucking.

Lee

I am surprised Karl has not picked up on it.

They played 1 good team and got the crud kicked out of 'em.

We will know how GR stacks up by end of this week. Talk about a tough weeks schedule for all the Edina tourney teams.

(GR Hunter Shepards goalie performance in last years Edina tournament was one of the most memorable H.S. hockey events Ive seen anywhere in the last several years. Is he playing hockey anywhere this year?)

WestMetro wrote:We will know how GR stacks up by end of this week. Talk about a tough weeks schedule for all the Edina tourney teams.

(GR Hunter Shepards goalie performance in last years Edina tournament was one of the most memorable H.S. hockey events Ive seen anywhere in the last several years. Is he playing hockey anywhere this year?)

Playing in Bismarck I believe. About 12 games or so.

WestMetro wrote:We will know how GR stacks up by end of this week. Talk about a tough weeks schedule for all the Edina tourney teams.

(GR Hunter Shepards goalie performance in last years Edina tournament was one of the most memorable H.S. hockey events Ive seen anywhere in the last several years. Is he playing hockey anywhere this year?)

He is playing for Bismarck in the NAHL. Seems to be struggling a bit

I think of this year's Rapids team as similar to the 2010-2011 Duluth East team. That East team wasn't supposed to be great, they were one year away (and certainly the next year they were the best team in the state). However, in their "one year away" season they nearly won the championship. When they had the best team, they lost in the quarterfinals.

I think this team could start to click this year and really play well. They have already shown some quality play this year. I also expect Elk River to win Section 7AA, but the best team doesn't always win. I wouldn't be surprised to see Grand Rapids come out of 7AA this year and catch lightning in a bottle and make a good run at the tournament.

7AA looks a little shaky this year. Not the first time we've seen seen this during early Dec. The northern kids seem to change gears in Jan. I agree Elks look good.

Traxler wrote:I think of this year's Rapids team as similar to the 2010-2011 Duluth East team. That East team wasn't supposed to be great, they were one year away (and certainly the next year they were the best team in the state). However, in their "one year away" season they nearly won the championship. When they had the best team, they lost in the quarterfinals.

I think this team could start to click this year and really play well. They have already shown some quality play this year. I also expect Elk River to win Section 7AA, but the best team doesn't always win. I wouldn't be surprised to see Grand Rapids come out of 7AA this year and catch lightning in a bottle and make a good run at the tournament.

Yes and no. There are obvious similarities, in that both have/had a great all-junior top line and deep group of sophomores led by a defenseman. And I agree that sometimes the "one year away" teams are the ones that overachieve and go further.

That said, East also had a clear D-I junior defenseman (not sure Rapids does), an experienced goalie, and a somewhat deeper senior class, with a few kids who went on to D-III. They were a top 10 team all year, and only lost 5 games against a pretty tough regular season schedule. This Rapids team could easily have that many losses by the end of the week.

There's potential here, but at this point, GR is still a bit rougher around the edges. They also may have to come out of a tougher 7AA.

Traxler wrote:I think of this year's Rapids team as similar to the 2010-2011 Duluth East team. That East team wasn't supposed to be great, they were one year away (and certainly the next year they were the best team in the state). However, in their "one year away" season they nearly won the championship. When they had the best team, they lost in the quarterfinals.

I think this team could start to click this year and really play well. They have already shown some quality play this year. I also expect Elk River to win Section 7AA, but the best team doesn't always win. I wouldn't be surprised to see Grand Rapids come out of 7AA this year and catch lightning in a bottle and make a good run at the tournament.

Rapids certainly has potential and an explosive top junior line but I don't think I would go as far as saying they were similar to East that year. Remember Rapids wasn't supposed to be outstanding that year either. They had a lot of younger talent led by few seniors. They lost 3 games during the regular season and then the heart break to East in the final. That was also the year Kyle Rau became one of my favorite players, for no reason in particular.

Rapids Bantam goalie last year was deemed the best in the state, correct me if I'm wrong. Does anyone know what he is up to or why he isn't getting some time on varsity?

Rapids Bantam goalie last year was deemed the best in the state, correct me if I'm wrong. Does anyone know what he is up to or why he isn't getting some time on varsity?

Because he's still a Bantam AA

GR3343 wrote:Rapids Bantam goalie last year was deemed the best in the state, correct me if I'm wrong. Does anyone know what he is up to or why he isn't getting some time on varsity?

Because he's still a Bantam AA

Also, if he plays a varsity game wouldn't that make him ineligible to go back to bantams? He is only a freshman.

TheHockeyDJ wrote:

GR3343 wrote:Rapids Bantam goalie last year was deemed the best in the state, correct me if I'm wrong. Does anyone know what he is up to or why he isn't getting some time on varsity?

Because he's still a Bantam AA

Also, if he plays a varsity game wouldn't that make him ineligible to go back to bantams? He is only a freshman.

No

Big opportunities ahead for Grand Rapids at the Edina Classic:

http://grhshockey.com/teams/default.asp ... wsID=34190

Grand Rapids teammates (brothers) 2 hand hacking each other on the ice??

Senior brother trying to keep the younger one in line after taking stupid penalties at the end of the period. Glad to see someone get fired up on this team after getting steam rolled in the 2nd.

No

"You don't have enough talent to win on talent alone!!"

Frustrating to watch the 2nd and 3rd periods. Granted, Edina was playing very well but it seemed Rapids did not make an adjustment to try and slow them down and not enter the zone freely. They need to be more physical. Hunter Sheppard is not back there to save them anymore. Its hard to tell if they are physically or mentally exhausted. They have the talent to win and score but too many cute passes and not enough driving to the net or puck possession.

I hope this serves as a wake up call.

There are positives GR did tonight, for 1/3 of the game they beat the #2 team in the state. I thought Gerth played well in goal and saved some tough shots. But with Edina a lot higher % of shots are of the high class variety. The forwards showed they have skill and can move the puck and be creative. The lack of effort and competitiveness really bothers me.

Oh well, enough venting for now.

Looked to me like Edina just plum wore GR down tonight.

To their credit, they kept hustling to the end....They play three periods like they played the 1st tonight, and they're a very dangerous team come late February.

I like 'em.

My first time watching the Hawks as a team this year, Id seen their kids during the Elite League

Rapids controlled the Hornets in the neutral zone pretty well for most of the first period, and got two good ones by Boe

They started off the 2nd pretty well, then had a 7 minute stretch in the middle of the 2nd where they almost continuously had the puck in their offensive zone and they brought the cumulative SOGs close to even . With any luck the score could have gone to 4 to 0. But Boe manned up.

Then Edina scored a couple cheap ones to tie things up, got the Hornet scoring machine rolling, and the last couple minutes of the 2nd was nasty for the Hawks.

In the third, Rapids gave up the neutral zone, the boards, and the slot for most of the period. No protection for the goaltender.

I was impressed by Rapids overall team size, physicality in the first period, but did not sustain it for three. Also, Mattson could take it to the opposition a little more, seems a little hesitant at times, I noticed this in the Elite League season also.

Will be interested to see how the Elk River game goes.