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i'll admit i didn't read through all of the posts in this thread, but i read the first few...

I cannot believe that senior hockey players on a contending team would be having a let down in this stage of the season. If anyone is going to have a let down it would be the underclassmen who haven't been through an entire season before so they don't know what it takes to get to state and who also have in the back of their minds that they have another shot. Senior hockey players have been there before, know that this is their last shot and it has been widely said that the MN State Tourney is the greatest accomplishment for a MN hockey player, better then NCAA, Stanley Cup, Gold Medals, etc. Also don't forget the HS Season is only 31 games long if you play 3 games at State. Most bantam teams play 50-60 games don't they? I don't think burnout is an issue.

Doglover, while Edina's defense may not be spectacular, I think it is fair to say they have been solid. Also, VanVoorhis is good, but I don't think their is a great drop off between the 2nd best d and the 6th d at Edina and I'm not even sure where I would rank VanVoorhis in the group.

The point I was making is that Edina doesn't have a speed forward who can take over a game, like Reber, not that speed is a team weakness. Sorry for wording my post poorly. No one can use, or is allowed to by the coaching staff, to go out and use their speed to break open games and make big plays like Reber was allowed to two years ago. Their were times when Reber held the puck for 10 to 20 seconds and then finally found an open shot or a got a defenseman to chase and hit a man open for a goal.

I see your points Scoreboard and they are well taken. I do agree Edina has solid defense but I've just been disappointed in a few of the guys I expected to control things better, at least in the games I've seen (which admittedly are not 1/2 as many as you have). I was impressed with Jarrett in the EP game and I had been rather disappointed up to that point. None of them play very offensively though and maybe that's a factor of the strong offense Edina has.

I now understand your point about Reber too. Sorry - my misunderstanding. He was very fun to watch the past 3 years. Is he out east playing somewhere? I was just surprised and impressed watching the EP game on line with the speed of those 2nd and 3rd line players. It seemed the video guy even had trouble keeping up with them at times!! Looks like Edina should be in contention for the next few years. Not as certain that they will take State this year though and after HM fell off, I was pretty sure no one could touch them. They seem to have such trouble adjusting and get frustrated when they get behind - as you mentioned - and when other teams come out hitting hard and wear them out early, especially Everson and Lee. The other teams and goalies seem to have figured out Edina's one and only game plan. Could spell trouble down the home stretch unless we see something new in their next game.

It's amazing how much DogLover, Scoreboard and hornetsnest have this Hornet team figured out!

Now for my opinion. So far Everson and Lee have been the most consistent forwards. People seem to think Everson is living off of Lee, but whenever I get a chance to watch it seems like he creates a lot of his own offense. In my opinion he has been the Hornets top player this year. Gaarder is another guy people have always underrated, but those thoughts seem to be disappearing this year. Lee is obviously a great player, and Baker is underachieving a bit. He's great defensively, but could do more on offense from time to time.

In regards to Edina's blueline, they have 5 good D with Van Voorhis in the lineup.

And Doglover Reber is playing at Dartmouth this year.

Insightful observation from the previous post. I guess I am not the only one who thought this. One would think that team parents at this level, would be more level headed as oppose to what has been shared on this thread and the other recent thread about Edina. Hopefully, their sons' concept of working together as a team is more mature and hasn't been affected by their parent's obvious self serving nature.

I can assure all of you that, other than being a fan, I have no connection to the team.