Section 7A 2008-2009

[21FROMTHEBAY]

i realize that but it just makes me sick to my stomach seeing the same team make an apperance at state every year

[northernboy7645]

Now my thought on the comment Hendrickson being Virginias best player is wrong. I think even Coach Hendrickson knows that his big time player this year will be Westin, Hendrickson is a great player too but i think Westins there go to guy this year.

[cititeshockey]

i realize that but it just makes me sick to my stomach seeing the same team make an apperance at state every year

they make it to state because they are better than the best year after year
This year though i really believe the section is up for grabs because last year it was a very close section
It will be a good season to watch with hopefully some upsets and good close games but i still believe marshall will walk out on top this year from section 7a

[PuckRanger]

1. There should be a private school section= Section Private Schools

i realize that but it just makes me sick to my stomach seeing the same team make an apperance at state every year

I know this section has been dominated by Private School Duluth Marshall for a while, but it looks a little wide open this year. Who will win possibly a huge underdog?

Just a side note, as your posts seem to target Duluth Marshall as dominating this section for the past few years....

Last year was the first year since 2001 (Hibbing and Greenway were playing in 7AA at that time) that the Hilltoppers won the section 7A title. In fact those were the only two years they have ever won it.

Here are all of the winners of 7A since the class split:
Duluth Marshall-2008
Hermantown-2007
Hermantown-2006
Virginia-2005
Hibbing-2004
Hibbing-2003
International Falls-2002
Duluth Marshall - 2001
International Falls-2000
Silver Bay-1999
Eveleth-1998
Proctor-1997
Duluth Central-1996
International Falls-1995
Hibbing-1994

The fact is Duluth Marshall did most of its damage coming out of a relatively weak section 2A (they won the 2A title in 2005 by a combined score of 23-1 in section playoff games; 23-4 in 2006; and 24-3 in 2007.) Not to discredit their achievements, but the point is that 7A is much deeper and has a history of producing different champions (9 different winners in 15 years, no three-peats, only two repeats.) and the games are much more competetive, especially in the semifinals and finals. They might be in the mix, but they are not going to win this section year after year - nobody will.


Back on topic, the favorites have to be Virginia, Duluth Marshall, and Hibbing. I Falls has a shot, and Greenway has the darkhorse tag.

Virginia will return nearly their entire team from last year's competetive team. They will bring the most depth and experience to the table, but may lack the high-end talent, although Chris Westin, Jordan Krebsbach, and Garret Hendrickson are excellent players and they will have a third year goaltender in Will Lustig.

Hibbing has some excellent players as well in Aaron Jamnick, Ryan Hanegman, and Drew Vechell. They are well coached and will develop others as the season progresses. They do lack an experienced varsity goaltender, but a solid D core could help in that area.

Duluth Marshall will reload as they always do. However they will have to reload on a much larger scale than in years past. They will only return 7 players with points from last year, but they are a very solid 7. Goaltender Willie Paul will return for his third season, Zach Mausolf, Joe Kozlak, and Pat Mahoney are very talented returning forwards. The question will be how well they incoming defenseman can play as only Derek Stauber returns with a lot of experience at the blue line.

International Falls lost the spark plug of their offense in Jake Youso and Ladd Corrin who combined for 123 points last year. They still return some quality players in Jace Baldwin, Matt Youso, Josh Leinum, and Will Corrin along with a good goaltender in Mike Hart. The question will be if the offense can produce without the big guns they had last year. Their defense will keep them in games, though.

Greenway lost ten players from a vastly improved team last year. However, a good core of young players will return in the likes of Nick Adams, Garret Orhn, and Adam Mendoza. A new coach could spark some new life into the program with Jeff Antonovich taking over the reigns. The questions remain in goal as goaltending was an issue last year. Depth may also be an issue as numbers continue to be down in the program in general.

[MNHockeyFan]

Puckranger, that's some of the best analysis of any section that I've seen heading into the season.

[hockeyhair15]

1. There should be a private school section= Section Private Schools

i realize that but it just makes me sick to my stomach seeing the same team make an apperance at state every year

I know this section has been dominated by Private School Duluth Marshall for a while, but it looks a little wide open this year. Who will win possibly a huge underdog?

Just a side note, as your posts seem to target Duluth Marshall as dominating this section for the past few years....

Last year was the first year since 2001 (Hibbing and Greenway were playing in 7AA at that time) that the Hilltoppers won the section 7A title. In fact those were the only two years they have ever won it.

Here are all of the winners of 7A since the class split:
Duluth Marshall-2008
Hermantown-2007
Hermantown-2006
Virginia-2005
Hibbing-2004
Hibbing-2003
International Falls-2002
Duluth Marshall - 2001
International Falls-2000
Silver Bay-1999
Eveleth-1998
Proctor-1997
Duluth Central-1996
International Falls-1995
Hibbing-1994

The fact is Duluth Marshall did most of its damage coming out of a relatively weak section 2A (they won the 2A title in 2005 by a combined score of 23-1 in section playoff games; 23-4 in 2006; and 24-3 in 2007.) Not to discredit their achievements, but the point is that 7A is much deeper and has a history of producing different champions (9 different winners in 15 years, no three-peats, only two repeats.) and the games are much more competetive, especially in the semifinals and finals. They might be in the mix, but they are not going to win this section year after year - nobody will.


Back on topic, the favorites have to be Virginia, Duluth Marshall, and Hibbing. I Falls has a shot, and Greenway has the darkhorse tag.

Virginia will return nearly their entire team from last year's competetive team. They will bring the most depth and experience to the table, but may lack the high-end talent, although Chris Westin, Jordan Krebsbach, and Garret Hendrickson are excellent players and they will have a third year goaltender in Will Lustig.

Hibbing has some excellent players as well in Aaron Jamnick, Ryan Hanegman, and Drew Vechell. They are well coached and will develop others as the season progresses. They do lack an experienced varsity goaltender, but a solid D core could help in that area.

Duluth Marshall will reload as they always do. However they will have to reload on a much larger scale than in years past. They will only return 7 players with points from last year, but they are a very solid 7. Goaltender Willie Paul will return for his third season, Zach Mausolf, Joe Kozlak, and Pat Mahoney are very talented returning forwards. The question will be how well they incoming defenseman can play as only Derek Stauber returns with a lot of experience at the blue line.

International Falls lost the spark plug of their offense in Jake Youso and Ladd Corrin who combined for 123 points last year. They still return some quality players in Jace Baldwin, Matt Youso, Josh Leinum, and Will Corrin along with a good goaltender in Mike Hart. The question will be if the offense can produce without the big guns they had last year. Their defense will keep them in games, though.

Greenway lost ten players from a vastly improved team last year. However, a good core of young players will return in the likes of Nick Adams, Garret Orhn, and Adam Mendoza. A new coach could spark some new life into the program with Jeff Antonovich taking over the reigns. The questions remain in goal as goaltending was an issue last year. Depth may also be an issue as numbers continue to be down in the program in general.

any relation to luis? and if so does he have trouble stopping too?
thank you thank you i'll be here all week

ok, first of all great job puck ranger, can we send that in to espn as your application. now for my thoughts

virginia- great young nucleus returning, easily the deepest team in the section, they have a ton of experience playing with eachother, ok that came out wrong, but now its time to see if they can translate that into wins, if so look out. the only thing i wonder about is how they will handle high pressure games.

hibbing-nothing to add

marshall- the loss of the 11 seniors hurt, and they will struggle early, however as the team gels they will be the same marshall we've seen for the last 4 years. they will look to beat teams with their speed as they always have. the top 2 lines kozlak-mauslof-mahoney and rich-morin-morsette will be as good as any in the section. both played as lines at different times throughout last year. and the 3rd line should be decent once they get used to the highschool game. From what i hear the D will be fine, look for stauber to log plenty of ice time early till the new kids can adjust. the other thing about this team is the"been there done that" mentality, they wont be easily rattled. they will struggle early and perhaps this will serve as a wakeup call so they realize playin in march is not their birthright and bringsome hunger to this squad. regardless of what happens in the regular season this team is always scary in march.

i-falls/greenway-idk havent seen em play in the last few years

my section title game is virginia vs marshall and probably going to OT

[Jackets_19]

i dont think you will see virginia go far in this section, especially to the decc im highly doubting that unless they improve a lot. im thinking its going to be a hibbing and marshall final again this year. heres a score to show hibbing is better than virginia

Hibbing vs International Falls W · 7 - 1 (hibbing won)

Virginia vs International Falls L · 4 - 6 (virginia lost)

[BlackTapeBandit]

im going to have to agree with most here, and say that its going to be another hibbing and marshall section final. The falls will hold their own but I believe that Hart is going to have a meltdown and that will be a problem.

Marshall has excellent goaltending, and they also have some good players coming up through the system.

Hibbing, i dont know much about them except they whomped the falls in hibbing a couple weeks ago.

Virginia is a contender they played good against the falls, I was expecting them to beat the falls, but the falls pulled out an unsuspecting win.

Greenway. . . no clue

[7A0809]

I was not in the Falls but I find it very hard to believe Virginia played good up there and lost 6-4 and got outshot that bad. I think they probably got a little chewing out because they bounced back and beat Hopkins the next day. Westin probably took his frusturation out on Hopkins.

[jacket08]

I think Hibbing is the best team in the section this year. Virginias loss to the Falls proves they are not a threat. Hibbing and Virginia play twice this year and Hibbing will make a statement. Jamnick will be the best player on the ice. Westin and Hendrickson are over rated and not even very good.

[hshckfan08]

Yea, Hibbing is definately the best team they've been shutout 5-0, and 4-0 and lost 5-2 to MOUND WESTONKA! Using your logic hacket08, Hibbing has proved they are not a threat.
First of all, IFalls is not a bad team at all, they won more than 90 % of their games last year, and return a lot of their starters.
Second, one game does not make a season, at least i would hope not for your teams sake. . Everyone who follows hockey knows that.
Virginia is a young team with a lot of talent and they WILL be competing for a section championship.

[BlackTapeBandit]

Yea, Hibbing is definately the best team they've been shutout 5-0, and 4-0 and lost 5-2 to MOUND WESTONKA! Using your logic hacket08, Hibbing has proved they are not a threat.
First of all, IFalls is not a bad team at all, they won more than 90 % of their games last year, and return a lot of their starters.
Second, one game does not make a season, at least i would hope not for your teams sake. . Everyone who follows hockey knows that.
Virginia is a young team with a lot of talent and they WILL be competing for a section championship.

if one game does not make a season, then i guess that lost against MW doesn't matter. All the teams are just starting out, lets wait a little bit later in the season to find out how everything is going to play out.

[hockeyfan95]

[quote="BlackTapeBandit"]The falls will hold their own but I believe that Hart is going to have a meltdown and that will be a problem.[/quote]

what makes you think that?

[PuckRanger]

Both Virginia and Hibbing are going to be contenders. I Falls will be as well. Anyone who uses the results of ONE common opponent this early in the year to determine who is a section contender should have their head examined. The transitive property does not work in HS hockey... Never has, never will.

Here is one example involving Virginia that happend already this year that proves why: Cloquet beat Virginia 3-2, Grand Rapids and Cloquet tie at 4. You assume then that Grand Rapids should beat Virginia. However Virginia beat Grand Rapids 4-0. Teams have off nights... Its a fact. Rarely does anyone go through and win a section or even a state title without a loss.

First of all, remember that the Hibbing / I Falls game was the first game of the season for I Falls, Hibbing had two under their belt already. I Falls coach John Prettyman told the I Falls Daily Journal after their next game that the effort "was much better than we had in Hibbing" - even though they lost this game as well. Sounds to me like I Falls didn't give it their best effort. The rematch won't yield the same result.

Virginia always struggles in I Falls, even when they have had the far superior team. I was told the coach from Virginia layed down on the bench to prove a point about how lazy his team was being out on the ice in this game. I think Virginia had a big let down after their shutout of Grand Rapids and came into the game thinking they could just go through the motions and win. Any team with that attitude playing against a competeive team is in for a shock, and Virginia got one.

The games both count in the standings, but the bottom line is that I wouldn't read a whole lot into the final scores at this point in the season.

As far as the comment about Westin and Hendrickson:
Westin: 8G, 10A, 18Pts
Hendrickson: 3G, 12A, 15Pts
Jamnick: 9G, 2A, 11Pts

All have played six games.

[hshckfan08]

Both Virginia and Hibbing are going to be contenders. I Falls will be as well. Anyone who uses the results of ONE common opponent this early in the year to determine who is a section contender should have their head examined. The transitive property does not work in HS hockey... Never has, never will.

Here is one example involving Virginia that happend already this year that proves why: Cloquet beat Virginia 3-2, Grand Rapids and Cloquet tie at 4. You assume then that Grand Rapids should beat Virginia. However Virginia beat Grand Rapids 4-0. Teams have off nights... Its a fact. Rarely does anyone go through and win a section or even a state title without a loss.

First of all, remember that the Hibbing / I Falls game was the first game of the season for I Falls, Hibbing had two under their belt already. I Falls coach John Prettyman told the I Falls Daily Journal after their next game that the effort "was much better than we had in Hibbing" - even though they lost this game as well. Sounds to me like I Falls didn't give it their best effort. The rematch won't yield the same result.

Virginia always struggles in I Falls, even when they have had the far superior team. I was told the coach from Virginia layed down on the bench to prove a point about how lazy his team was being out on the ice in this game. I think Virginia had a big let down after their shutout of Grand Rapids and came into the game thinking they could just go through the motions and win. Any team with that attitude playing against a competeive team is in for a shock, and Virginia got one.

The games both count in the standings, but the bottom line is that I wouldn't read a whole lot into the final scores at this point in the season.

As far as the comment about Westin and Hendrickson:
Westin: 8G, 10A, 18Pts
Hendrickson: 3G, 12A, 15Pts
Jamnick: 9G, 2A, 11Pts

All have played six games.

Thank you for your EDUCATED opinion and research PuckRanger!

[Euclid08]

Anyone who says hibbing has the best player in the section think again check out this years MR. Hockey Canidates
http://www.associatedcontent.com/articl ... e=2&cat=14

My money would have to go on Duluth Marshall Making it back to the excell Strong goaltending and power forwards is gonna take them a long way. Mausolf from what ive heard hasn't even played this year yet and they have already shown early success.

[nikebauer_07]

So Mausolf at this point is definately not the best player in the section because he hasn't even played a game. Tough to be the best at this point when you haven't played one game. I don't believe that is an official list of candidates, just players with a chance of winning according to the author.

[hshckfan08]

So Mausolf at this point is definately not the best player in the section because he hasn't even played a game. Tough to be the best at this point when you haven't played one game. I don't believe that is an official list of candidates, just players with a chance of winning according to the author.

so gaborik isnt the best player on the wild because he hasnt played much this season? tough to argue that logic

[oldfart01]

So Mausolf at this point is definately not the best player in the section because he hasn't even played a game. Tough to be the best at this point when you haven't played one game. I don't believe that is an official list of candidates, just players with a chance of winning according to the author.

so gaborik isnt the best player on the wild because he hasnt played much this season? tough to argue that logic

nice job there hshckfan08. Now i believe that DM will again come out of section 7A because they have proven to beat a top team already--STA. I know "one game doesn't make a season" but losing two games without even scoring a goal is saying something (hibbing). That said, i believe in my educated guess that DM will play VIRGINIA at the DECC for the section championship. Just an educated guess. Marshall has a great goaltender who needs to make sure he keeps his composure and stops the puck and they also have great forwards. Their top player (zachery Mausoff) hasn't even played this year and they still come out with wins which shows you that they are the team to beat in the section.

[nikebauer_07]

So Mausolf at this point is definately not the best player in the section because he hasn't even played a game. Tough to be the best at this point when you haven't played one game. I don't believe that is an official list of candidates, just players with a chance of winning according to the author.

so gaborik isnt the best player on the wild because he hasnt played much this season? tough to argue that logic

In terms of contribution he isn't the best player on the team. Gaborik is overrated anyways. I just don't understand how you can say he's the best on the team when he's yet to prove himself this year.

[nikebauer_07]

And I also you believe you said best player in the section. Is Gaborik going to win the NHL MVP award? At this point you can probably say no. Poor comparison. I just think at this point its hard to say someone is the best player in the section when they haven't played a game. I've seen a lot of players not live up to their hype.

[hshckfan08]

And I also you believe you said best player in the section. Is Gaborik going to win the NHL MVP award? At this point you can probably say no. Poor comparison. I just think at this point its hard to say someone is the best player in the section when they haven't played a game. I've seen a lot of players not live up to their hype.

Gaborik is the most talented player on the Minnesota Wild, I think you are crazy if you disagree. And i'm not comparing the entire NHL to section 7A, i am comparing the Wild to 7A. Therefore im obviously not going to argue that gaborik should win an NHL MVP award because thats not relevent to my argument. And if all else fails, we can always go look at NHL 2009 and see who the highest ranked player is for the Wild, because the game is always right .
And nikebauer, go back and read! I never said mausolf was the best player in the section, i was simply pointing out the obvious flaws in your logic.
Now as to what i think on who the best player in 7A is, I would put the top 3 as Jamnick, Mausolf, and Stauber in no particular order.

[hshckfan08]

And its not like were talking about a rookie here, Mausolf has played on varsity for the last two seasons, so its not like were speculating on whether jordan shroeder or cade fairchild would make the better nhl player. People have already seen him play at the high school level, and are basing their opinions off of what he has done in the past 2 years.

[nikebauer_07]

And I also you believe you said best player in the section. Is Gaborik going to win the NHL MVP award? At this point you can probably say no. Poor comparison. I just think at this point its hard to say someone is the best player in the section when they haven't played a game. I've seen a lot of players not live up to their hype.

Gaborik is the most talented player on the Minnesota Wild, I think you are crazy if you disagree. And i'm not comparing the entire NHL to section 7A, i am comparing the Wild to 7A. Therefore im obviously not going to argue that gaborik should win an NHL MVP award because thats not relevent to my argument. And if all else fails, we can always go look at NHL 2009 and see who the highest ranked player is for the Wild, because the game is always right .
And nikebauer, go back and read! I never said mausolf was the best player in the section, i was simply pointing out the obvious flaws in your logic.
Now as to what i think on who the best player in 7A is, I would put the top 3 as Jamnick, Mausolf, and Stauber in no particular order.

I didn't say you said that but somebody referenced he was because he is on a list of possible Mr. Hockey candidates. If you would have read back a few posts you would have seen that. Gaborik may be the most talented but does that make him the best? His talent has done ZERO for the Wild this season. Also, why would you compare a team to a section (last time I checked, a section was more than one team)? Just trying to point out the flaws in your logic. I'm not arguing that he isn't good, but I think its not only disrespecting some of the players in section 7a who have started the season strong but also the players on Marshall who have stepped up in his absence.

[nikebauer_07]

Anyone who says hibbing has the best player in the section think again check out this years MR. Hockey Canidates
http://www.associatedcontent.com/articl ... e=2&cat=14

My money would have to go on Duluth Marshall Making it back to the excell Strong goaltending and power forwards is gonna take them a long way. Mausolf from what ive heard hasn't even played this year yet and they have already shown early success.

To clear up the argument, I was responding to this post. It in an indirect way says that Mausolf is the best player in the section because he is listed on the possible candidates for Mr. Hockey. I disagreed with what was said. fan08 then said Gaborik is not the best player on the Wild???