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1 becomes crystal clear if Graham returns - BIG IF

2-5, there is a nice clump of teams (LVN, Edina, Rapids, East)

6-10 (Blaine, BSM, STA, Bemidji)

My Pre-Season Rankings will be the 8 Section Champs (and Suitors) and then put them in order:

1. LVN (Farmington, LVS)
2. EP (PL, Tonka)
3. STA (No One)
4. Hill (Stillwater)
5. Blaine (Cent)
6. Edna (Wayzata, BSM)
7. East (Rapids, Elk)
8. Bemidji (No One)

EP, East, Edina, LVN, Bemidji, STA, Blaine, Hill

Sorry to all Rapids fans, love what you got there, but seven in a row is a long time!!!

Thoughts?

YouthHockeyHub wrote:1 becomes crystal clear if Graham returns - BIG IF

2-5, there is a nice clump of teams (LVN, Edina, Rapids, East)

6-10 (Blaine, BSM, STA, Bemidji)

My Pre-Season Rankings will be the 8 Section Champs (and Suitors) and then put them in order:

1. LVN (Farmington, LVS)
2. EP (PL, Tonka)
3. STA (No One)
4. Hill (Stillwater)
5. Blaine (Cent)
6. Edna (Wayzata, BSM)
7. East (Rapids, Elk)
8. Bemidji (No One)

EP, East, Edina, LVN, Bemidji, STA, Blaine, Hill

Sorry to all Rapids fans, love what you got there, but seven in a row is a long time!!!

Thoughts?

I would disagree that STA has no competition, Burnsville may have lost a little but they won't be a cake walk for STA. Bemidji will almost certainly be back at the X come March but I would say they are the weakest the teams you picked to win their sections. They lost a few solid players. But for the most part I agree with what you've got, but I would love to see Edina get knocked off in sections this year.

YouthHockeyHub wrote:Does anyone want to throw Blaine into the top 10 mix, per FTP, Riley Tufte is headed back to Blaine. I would have to say the Bengals are now a firm T10 team.

The reports on Graham or all over the board in Fargo/EP:

Notre Dame wants him to stay in Fargo/Play a year of Juniors
Mom is EP Team Manager (why else would she be that unless he was coming back).

I will be at EPCC next Monday to verify his whereabouts before my final Pre-season gets published. For HS Hockey sake, I hope the result is different than when I went to Braemar last year and didn't find Bellows or Zuhlsdorf.

mom as a team manager in HS?

[quote="CornerBar"][quote="YouthHockeyHub"]1 becomes crystal clear if Graham returns - BIG IF

2-5, there is a nice clump of teams (LVN, Edina, Rapids, East)

6-10 (Blaine, BSM, STA, Bemidji)

My Pre-Season Rankings will be the 8 Section Champs (and Suitors) and then put them in order:

1. LVN (Farmington, LVS)
2. EP (PL, Tonka)
3. STA (No One)
4. Hill (Stillwater)
5. Blaine (Cent)
6. Edna (Wayzata, BSM)
7. East (Rapids, Elk)
8. Bemidji (No One)

EP, East, Edina, LVN, Bemidji, STA, Blaine, Hill

Sorry to all Rapids fans, love what you got there, but seven in a row is a long time!!!

Thoughts?[/quote]
I would disagree that STA has no competition, Burnsville may have lost a little but they won't be a cake walk for STA. Bemidji will almost certainly be back at the X come March but I would say they are the weakest the teams you picked to win their sections. They lost a few solid players. But for the most part I agree with what you've got, but I would love to see Edina get knocked off in sections this year.[/quote]

I would disagree that Bemidji has no one. What did Moorhead do three years ago at Bantams? Plus they have a few players back not on roster last year. Moorhead should be back at the X this year. Based on Elite League play, Duluth East will be very good this year, one of the best teams in state. Top 5 for sure. Grand Rapids as well and would put both those teams 2 and 3. Grand Rapids gets the edge in goaltending but DE has more depth. Both teams carried North to the championship at Elite League. EP has the talent no doubt but the team chemistry a issue I have heard.I'd put them at 6 or 7.

East the edge in depth? With all due respect to their success the last 7 years that is not even close to true this year. They are the front runner based off recent success, but on paper GR has far more depth at goaltending and especially forward. Maybe even at D. Does East have any USHL or NAHL players this fall? Who led team North in scoring? How many D1 commits does East have? Even going back to last year Randolph himself said the only reason East beat Rapids was Howg and he's gone. The other thing is Rapids has an all new coaching staff and Klatt is going to address the things that hurt them last year. I think a lot of preseason predictions are made with only reputation and absolutely zero research into the rosters.

TheHockeyDJ wrote:East the edge in depth? With all due respect to their success the last 7 years that is not even close to true this year. They are the front runner based off recent success, but on paper GR has far more depth at goaltending and especially forward. Maybe even at D. Does East have any USHL or NAHL players this fall? Who led team North in scoring? How many D1 commits does East have? Even going back to last year Randolph himself said the only reason East beat Rapids was Howg and he's gone. The other thing is Rapids has an all new coaching staff and Klatt is going to address the things that hurt them last year. I think a lot of preseason predictions are made with only reputation and absolutely zero research into the rosters.

East is stacked with talent and has the most successful coach in Minnesota hockey history. That is a tough combo to beat. Logical to put them at #1 in 7AA.

Dow
Altmann
Spencer
LaMaster
Worth
Hill
Peterson


DJ, you should zip it on the hype and just let the season play itself out. Take about a 4 month break from the board.

northwoods oldtimer wrote:

TheHockeyDJ wrote:East the edge in depth? With all due respect to their success the last 7 years that is not even close to true this year. They are the front runner based off recent success, but on paper GR has far more depth at goaltending and especially forward. Maybe even at D. Does East have any USHL or NAHL players this fall? Who led team North in scoring? How many D1 commits does East have? Even going back to last year Randolph himself said the only reason East beat Rapids was Howg and he's gone. The other thing is Rapids has an all new coaching staff and Klatt is going to address the things that hurt them last year. I think a lot of preseason predictions are made with only reputation and absolutely zero research into the rosters.

East is stacked with talent and has the most successful coach in Minnesota hockey history. That is a tough combo to beat. Logical to put them at #1 in 7AA.

Dow
Altmann
Spencer
LaMaster
Worth
Hill
Peterson


DJ, you should zip it on the hype and just let the season play itself out. Take about a 4 month break from the board.

Mattson, Bischoff, Adams, Miller, Stampohar, Stejskal, Hain, McLaughlin, Heitkamp. I'd like my chances with those players. East has some good ones too, but I don't see any UND or U of M commits there.

Chris Dilks, the editing manager of sbncollegehockey.com has his section picks in via twitter

1. Lakeville North
2. Eden Prairie
3. St. Thomas
4. Hill Murray
5. Centennial
6. Edina
7. Grand Rapids
8. Bemidji

EP over GR in the final.

the_juiceman wrote:

YouthHockeyHub wrote:Does anyone want to throw Blaine into the top 10 mix, per FTP, Riley Tufte is headed back to Blaine. I would have to say the Bengals are now a firm T10 team.

The reports on Graham or all over the board in Fargo/EP:

Notre Dame wants him to stay in Fargo/Play a year of Juniors
Mom is EP Team Manager (why else would she be that unless he was coming back).

I will be at EPCC next Monday to verify his whereabouts before my final Pre-season gets published. For HS Hockey sake, I hope the result is different than when I went to Braemar last year and didn't find Bellows or Zuhlsdorf.

mom as a team manager in HS?

Yeah that was written sorta clunky...Booster Club Manager (usually the role of Captain's Parents).

the_juiceman wrote:

YouthHockeyHub wrote:Does anyone want to throw Blaine into the top 10 mix, per FTP, Riley Tufte is headed back to Blaine. I would have to say the Bengals are now a firm T10 team.

The reports on Graham or all over the board in Fargo/EP:

Notre Dame wants him to stay in Fargo/Play a year of Juniors
Mom is EP Team Manager (why else would she be that unless he was coming back).

I will be at EPCC next Monday to verify his whereabouts before my final Pre-season gets published. For HS Hockey sake, I hope the result is different than when I went to Braemar last year and didn't find Bellows or Zuhlsdorf.

mom as a team manager in HS?

Even SPA knows those benefits juice man!

[quote="TheHockeyDJ"]East the edge in depth? With all due respect to their success the last 7 years that is not even close to true this year. They are the front runner based off recent success, but on paper GR has far more depth at goaltending and especially forward. Maybe even at D. Does East have any USHL or NAHL players this fall? Who led team North in scoring? How many D1 commits does East have? Even going back to last year Randolph himself said the only reason East beat Rapids was Howg and he's gone. The other thing is Rapids has an all new coaching staff and Klatt is going to address the things that hurt them last year. I think a lot of preseason predictions are made with only reputation and absolutely zero research into the rosters.[/quote]

YHH asked for thoughts and I provided my thoughts. Coming from watching North play in the Elite League and Peterson who played for Great Plains.

YHH , interesting perspectives

Hard to ignore Hill, with experienced nationally recognized goalie Begley, as well as Reffenburger, Staum, Ranello, Mills, and others. Not to mention coach

The only reason I dont have Rapids in top 5 is need to see cohesion of seniors with sophomores and new coach. Hard to bring all that together so quickly. Also, can sophs stand tall under constant pressure? They looked pretty good in Elite. They need to beat either LVN on Dec 12, or either Ed or EP at Braemar tourney, and be otherwise undefeated through that time, otherwise they dont belong in top 5 at that point (assuming Hill does well).


I might have overranked Prior Lake , Scites was not at top of his game in Elite League, and forwards and D seemed to underperform my expectation

On other hand, most of the Stillwater kids did put some good points on the board, and Benson was in top 10 goalie statistics. There are a lot of people who think this team is going places, so Im at least going to put them at 10.

Thinking about things one more time:

1. EP, assuming MG returns

2-5 DE, ED, HM , LVN . As I said in my earlier post, I could find a reason why each could be #2 and a reason why each should be #5. Hard to find a reason each should not be in top 5. I will leave the 2,3,4,5 distinction to Karl next week. Rapids could displace one of them by end of December once the experienced factor clarifies.



6 GR, would be higher except for experience factor and new coach
7 Blaine, assuming RT returns
8 BSM , edge over STA due to more experienced goalie
9 STA, need to see how new goalie performs.
10 Stillwater:Elite League performance incl Benson are too much to ignore,



Section Picks

1. Lakeville North
2. Eden Prairie , with or without MG
3. St. Thomas
4. Hill Murray
5. Blaine, with RT
6. Edina
7. Duluth East, reassess end of Dec after we see how Rapids is doing.
8. Bemidji , in top 15 but not a top 10 team at this point

Tourney favorite: EP, with MG. Without MG, Id have to rethink it.

Final comment, Hermantown belongs in top 10 using a merged ranking approach. I believe they were in Mitch Hawkers combined top 5 last year.

WestMetro, any teams under the radar right now you think might be a surprise such as a Cloquet?

DJ- Frankly, Im having trouble coming up with a clear picture of 11-15, although I know Bemidji and Prior Lake probably belong in there. Minnetonka is also noteworthy. Can Schilling carry Wayzata on his shoulders? Need to see how things develop with HF and Centennial. Farmington should be interesting.

GR beer goggles for sale! My God, THE most overhyped, overrated team in MN HS hockey history? And just to think they haven't played one game yet. I despise DE, but GR has shown nothing in HS last 5-8 yrs. Lets see if they can get outta 7AA with ER and DE before we go too crazy here.

YHH-Lets not give too much credit to them either. Top 5?

Bottom line is its Edina and EP. THEN, everyone else. LN will be better than both GR and DE too. Take that to the bank.

West Metry and Chris Dilks are same person for those who don't know.

northwoods oldtimer wrote: East is stacked with talent and has the most successful coach in Minnesota hockey history.

Is he? I would think some others could be debated on that point, like Ikola, say. I don't know but I'd be interested to see some numbers to justify the claim.

Got to disavow the identity comparison! Age alone is all the proof I need.

But seriously, the west metro Edina kids, many of whom were top 25 National Bantams, didnt all consistently perform up to expectation in the Elite action. (of course there is the question of other Team Southwest contributing factors) Then there is a matter of no Edina goalie with varsity experience. Then there is the matter of no Malmquist or Wait. Top 5 yes, top 2 Im not so sure. Thats why Im so interested next week where in the top 5 Karl puts Edina vs the others. That question is above my pay grade.

Speaking of Rapids, I watched Team North shellac the metro kids last Sunday, and almost thought I had been transported back to 70s with Don Lucia, since the Rapids kids were a such a big part of that win. Adams summarized things when asked about his hat trick: " its great to beat those city kids" Now add Mattson, Miller, Stampohar and a healthy McGlaughlin into to the mix. For the most part Stej , McG, and Hain got rid of the sophomore nerves pretty earlier in the Elite season, lets hope that carries into December 12 at Ames. I will be there sitting in the neutral section, I supposed I better arrive by 5.30.

TheHockeyDJ wrote:

northwoods oldtimer wrote:

TheHockeyDJ wrote:East the edge in depth? With all due respect to their success the last 7 years that is not even close to true this year. They are the front runner based off recent success, but on paper GR has far more depth at goaltending and especially forward. Maybe even at D. Does East have any USHL or NAHL players this fall? Who led team North in scoring? How many D1 commits does East have? Even going back to last year Randolph himself said the only reason East beat Rapids was Howg and he's gone. The other thing is Rapids has an all new coaching staff and Klatt is going to address the things that hurt them last year. I think a lot of preseason predictions are made with only reputation and absolutely zero research into the rosters.

East is stacked with talent and has the most successful coach in Minnesota hockey history. That is a tough combo to beat. Logical to put them at #1 in 7AA.

Dow
Altmann
Spencer
LaMaster
Worth
Hill
Peterson


DJ, you should zip it on the hype and just let the season play itself out. Take about a 4 month break from the board.

Mattson, Bischoff, Adams, Miller, Stampohar, Stejskal, Hain, McLaughlin, Heitkamp. I'd like my chances with those players. East has some good ones too, but I don't see any UND or U of M commits there.

Why would they commit to UND or U of M? Wouldn't they rather commit to a team which has an NCAA championship in the last ten years?

Lee

If you're looking for a UMD connection they do have Chris Marinucci as one of the asst. coaches this year.

east hockey wrote:Why would they commit to UND or U of M? Wouldn't they rather commit to a team which has an NCAA championship in the last ten years?

Or at the very least, a school with a MacNaughton Cup, a Penrose Cup, a Frozen Four, and a Hobey Baker Award winner. Preferably, the team would currently be ranked top 10 in the nation in both polls and the pairwise rankings.

UMD is fine too.

WestMetro wrote:
Section Picks

1. Lakeville North
2. Eden Prairie , with or without MG
3. St. Thomas
4. Hill Murray
5. Blaine, with RT
6. Edina
7. Duluth East, reassess end of Dec after we see how Rapids is doing.
8. Bemidji , in top 15 but not a top 10 team at this point

I think these are probably the favorites for each section, but I imagine a few of them not making it to state. Rarely do all the favorites make it, and when was the last time that the same eight teams went to state two years in a row?

A lot of people sleeping on Bemidji too. They are gonna be good.

east hockey wrote:

TheHockeyDJ wrote:

northwoods oldtimer wrote: East is stacked with talent and has the most successful coach in Minnesota hockey history. That is a tough combo to beat. Logical to put them at #1 in 7AA.

Dow
Altmann
Spencer
LaMaster
Worth
Hill
Peterson


DJ, you should zip it on the hype and just let the season play itself out. Take about a 4 month break from the board.

Mattson, Bischoff, Adams, Miller, Stampohar, Stejskal, Hain, McLaughlin, Heitkamp. I'd like my chances with those players. East has some good ones too, but I don't see any UND or U of M commits there.

Why would they commit to UND or U of M? Wouldn't they rather commit to a team which has an NCAA championship in the last ten years?

Lee

Lee, what DJ doesn't know is that all those East kids listed above will play D1 hockey.

Sats81 wrote:A lot of people sleeping on Bemidji too. They are gonna be good.

I think I'd describe Bemidji more as a team that could make some noise in St Paul, if they can get some goaltending of course. To say they are going to be good implies top 5 material and I don't see that. But I could see them pulling a surprise or two in March at the X.

Whoever predicted Moorhead would be at the X.......could happen......but I wouldn't bet on that one. Bemidji is far and away the favorite in Section 8 this year with STMA having a good chance of being #2 and Moorhead likely at #3.

Section 8 guy-you could be right about Moorhead, but heres how I see it. Bemidji lost their goalies, some good D and their top scorer. They also lost one of their top F to AAA who would have been a Senior and surely would have been one of their top 2 point getters. Their goalie situation is not good-but they certainly have some really nice returners in other positions. Moorhead also has goalie questions, with probably 1 of 2 Sophs as a starter-they are both very good coming from an excellent BAA team last year that went 48-3, went to State and throttled Bemidji 3 times, but have never played yet at the HS level. We also return 2 of the top 3 scoring forwards from last year, 3 dmen and another dman has returned from playing AAA the last 2 years, and he is a dandy. Our top scoring JV player from last yr who also had some Varsity time will be a big contributor along with a few other Sophs who were excellent last yr with the BAA. Also return a kid who played his first yr for us last yr as a Jr who will definitely contribute. So have to disagree that Bemidji is far and away the clear favorite-not even close to a clear favorite. I see it as very close between MHD, Bem and STMA. And if Bem does make it out of section 8, it will be the last time for a long time as MHD has a very talented Soph class and underclassmen coming up. Just because Bemidji has been to State once in the last 29 years doesn't mean they are going back-this feels like the GR hype.