Where in the heck is the 7AA chatter....

Hermhawkey · Post by **Hermhawkey** » Sun Dec 25, 2016 12:45 pm

My first East game in awhile. Was surprised at the dump and trap going on. Not that fun to watch. Their F3 stayed right near the blue line until they gained possession. I would think they have enough skill to carry the puck in on Marshall.

Post by **karl(east)** » Sun Dec 25, 2016 8:54 pm

Hermhawkey wrote:My first East game in awhile. Was surprised at the dump and trap going on. Not that fun to watch. Their F3 stayed right near the blue line until they gained possession. I would think they have enough skill to carry the puck in on Marshall.

I'm sure they could, too. But piling up goals on Marshall isn't the end goal for this team; having a realistic crack at Elk River and Grand Rapids is. To do that, they'll need to play some defensive hockey. Love it or hate it, working toward that end goal has always been Randolph's calling card, and if that means playing defensively, he'll drill it into them from the start.

Playing that style also helped tamp down on what had been a wide open game in the first period. Even though East was leading, Marshall was often the aggressor, and playing the game on their terms. That changed once East locked in.

Jeffy95 · Post by **Jeffy95** » Tue Dec 27, 2016 12:07 am

Hermhawkey wrote:My first East game in awhile. Was surprised at the dump and trap going on. Not that fun to watch. Their F3 stayed right near the blue line until they gained possession. I would think they have enough skill to carry the puck in on Marshall.

Randolph is trying to prepare his team to win a AA title every year. I'm sure it's fun for you and Bruce to skate the puck in and score 10 goals on Ely and Eveleth/Gilbert, but different strokes for different folks. We don't judge here.

grindiangrad-80 · Post by **grindiangrad-80** » Tue Dec 27, 2016 7:01 am

I see GR goes on the road for 6 straight against Forest Lake, Andover, Holy Family, Hopkins, Hermantown and Duluth East. That's a good stretch of tough games in the middle of the season. I like the schedule they have played the last couple of years.

alcloseshaver · Post by **alcloseshaver** » Tue Dec 27, 2016 9:38 am

grindiangrad-80 wrote:I see GR goes on the road for 6 straight against Forest Lake, Andover, Holy Family, Hopkins, Hermantown and Duluth East. That's a good stretch of tough games in the middle of the season. I like the schedule they have played the last couple of years.

4 bus trips to the metro should help the frequent flyer miles.

TheHockeyDJ · Post by **TheHockeyDJ** » Tue Dec 27, 2016 9:45 am

alcloseshaver wrote:
grindiangrad-80 wrote:I see GR goes on the road for 6 straight against Forest Lake, Andover, Holy Family, Hopkins, Hermantown and Duluth East. That's a good stretch of tough games in the middle of the season. I like the schedule they have played the last couple of years.
4 bus trips to the metro should help the frequent flyer miles.

Actually 5 trips, already Tonka/BSM and Edina Classic. This week Andover/Flake, next week Holy Family/Hopkins, later WBL/Wayzata.

grindiangrad-80 · Post by **grindiangrad-80** » Tue Dec 27, 2016 10:30 am

alcloseshaver wrote:
grindiangrad-80 wrote:I see GR goes on the road for 6 straight against Forest Lake, Andover, Holy Family, Hopkins, Hermantown and Duluth East. That's a good stretch of tough games in the middle of the season. I like the schedule they have played the last couple of years.
4 bus trips to the metro should help the frequent flyer miles.

Yes it will.

grindiangrad-80 · Post by **grindiangrad-80** » Tue Dec 27, 2016 10:34 am

TheHockeyDJ wrote:
alcloseshaver wrote:
grindiangrad-80 wrote:I see GR goes on the road for 6 straight against Forest Lake, Andover, Holy Family, Hopkins, Hermantown and Duluth East. That's a good stretch of tough games in the middle of the season. I like the schedule they have played the last couple of years.
4 bus trips to the metro should help the frequent flyer miles.
Actually 5 trips, already Tonka/BSM and Edina Classic. This week Andover/Flake, next week Holy Family/Hopkins, later WBL/Wayzata.

The home game against Greenway would be a good one to see also. That is always a hard fought game. And its always hard fought on the ice too.

kniven · Post by **kniven** » Fri Dec 30, 2016 3:02 pm

Hermhawkey wrote:My first East game in awhile. Was surprised at the dump and trap going on. Not that fun to watch. Their F3 stayed right near the blue line until they gained possession. I would think they have enough skill to carry the puck in on Marshall.

So. State of 7AA union speech.

Elk River
Grand Rapids
Duluth East
Marshall
Andover
Cloquet
Forest Lake
St Francis

Is that about right? If the Cloquet fan in me had its ranking, I would put Cloquet 3 or 4. Try to stay objective on the forum. Nobody wants to hear my biased blah.

grindiangrad-80 · Post by **grindiangrad-80** » Fri Dec 30, 2016 4:19 pm

GR leads Andover 2-1 after 2. Shots are 29-15 Rapids. They do have the top line split up this game. One on each of 3 lines.

Daulton21 · Post by **Daulton21** » Fri Dec 30, 2016 4:24 pm

I have to say, lately I have not been impressed with Rapids. Ugly win against Forest Lake, Rapids gave up 4 breakaways to Forest Lake. The score was 1 - 0 after 2 periods. Now again a 1 goal game against Andover? Maybe I was expecting to much, but so far, not as impressed as I thought I would be.

grindiangrad-80 · Post by **grindiangrad-80** » Fri Dec 30, 2016 4:25 pm

Andover ties it at 2 on the PP and then GR scores shorthanded to make it 3-2.

grindiangrad-80 · Post by **grindiangrad-80** » Fri Dec 30, 2016 4:46 pm

Going to OT tied at 3.

Daulton21 · Post by **Daulton21** » Fri Dec 30, 2016 4:49 pm

Unbelievable. Raids is not a top 10 team. Andover and Forest Lake are down this year and they both made them games. Good thing seasons only half over. They have time to regroup or something.

kniven · Post by **kniven** » Fri Dec 30, 2016 4:53 pm

[quote="Daulton21"]Unbelievable. Raids is not a top 10 team. Andover and Forest Lake are down this year and they both made them games. Good thing seasons only half over. They have time to regroup or

grindiangrad-80 · Post by **grindiangrad-80** » Fri Dec 30, 2016 5:05 pm

3-3 Final. That will probably be a factor at seeding time.

kniven · Post by **kniven** » Fri Dec 30, 2016 5:10 pm

grindiangrad-80 wrote:3-3 Final. That will probably be a factor at seeding time.

Grand Rapids, East, and Elk will always, forever be in the top 4 seedings. The 4th seed is always up for grabs. Blah, blah.blah. It would take the end of the world to change that fact.

TheHockeyDJ · Post by **TheHockeyDJ** » Fri Dec 30, 2016 5:23 pm

Certainly an odd result. All of a sudden 7AA is more interesting than I anticipated. I think we need a couple weeks to figure out wht this result means. GR is 9-1-1 after all. Andover has a very young team and perhaps after a month they a getting used to the speed at the varsity level. I'm not gonna go knee jerk on and single game especially this early.

Post by **karl(east)** » Fri Dec 30, 2016 5:30 pm

Before today, I would've said no way should Andover be ahead of Cloquet...they just tied 2-win Forest Lake last week. But then they go and pull out that tie, and at least get themselves into the conversation for 4/5. Cloquet and Andover can resolve most of that on the ice next week, though.

I know I advocated for breaking up the GR big line some, but putting one of them on each line seems excessive...2 on the first and one on the 2nd would've made more sense. Regardless, just one game in December, so no panic yet...but it sounds like it was a sloppy week for GR, and that bears watching.

kniven · Post by **kniven** » Fri Dec 30, 2016 5:40 pm

karl(east) wrote:Before today, I would've said no way should Andover be ahead of Cloquet...they just tied 2-win Forest Lake last week. But then they go and pull out that tie, and at least get themselves into the conversation for 4/5. Cloquet and Andover can resolve most of that on the ice next week, though.

I know I advocated for breaking up the GR big line some, but putting one of them on each line seems excessive...2 on the first and one on the 2nd would've made more sense. Regardless, just one game in December, so no panic yet...but it sounds like it was a sloppy week for GR, and that bears watching.

What about Marshall? Andover then Marshall then Cloquet? Or Forest Lake between Marshall and Cloquet? What's the consensus?

grindiangrad-80 · Post by **grindiangrad-80** » Fri Dec 30, 2016 5:54 pm

I watched the Forest Lake game on video and GR definitely controlled the majority of that game. The Rangers did what they had to to keep it close late.

Todays game I could only listen to which makes it a little tougher to analyze what is happening. Not sure of the sog in this one but I know GR had way more than they gave up.

It will be interesting to see what the line combos are as the season goes. I like the chess match as much as the game itself.

Looking forward to next weekend at Holy Family and Hopkins.

alcloseshaver · Post by **alcloseshaver** » Fri Dec 30, 2016 11:04 pm

What is the report on the GR tie with Andover? I see Klatt was at the ER v Stillwater game.

TheHockeyDJ · Post by **TheHockeyDJ** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 11:00 am

It was a sloppy game for Rapids far as I could tell from listening and comments from the guys on KOZY. They didn't play with much energy. I think it was one of those games where they overlooked the opponent. Kinda surprised they had a game like this because last Monday lets just say they didn't see many pucks at practice.

alcloseshaver · Post by **alcloseshaver** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 11:36 am

karl(east) wrote:Before today, I would've said no way should Andover be ahead of Cloquet...they just tied 2-win Forest Lake last week. But then they go and pull out that tie, and at least get themselves into the conversation for 4/5. Cloquet and Andover can resolve most of that on the ice next week, though.

I know I advocated for breaking up the GR big line some, but putting one of them on each line seems excessive...2 on the first and one on the 2nd would've made more sense. Regardless, just one game in December, so no panic yet...but it sounds like it was a sloppy week for GR, and that bears watching.

Possible Randolph like mad scientist experiment for Klatt.

Jeffy95 · Post by **Jeffy95** » Sun Jan 01, 2017 2:59 am

alcloseshaver wrote:
karl(east) wrote:Before today, I would've said no way should Andover be ahead of Cloquet...they just tied 2-win Forest Lake last week. But then they go and pull out that tie, and at least get themselves into the conversation for 4/5. Cloquet and Andover can resolve most of that on the ice next week, though.

I know I advocated for breaking up the GR big line some, but putting one of them on each line seems excessive...2 on the first and one on the 2nd would've made more sense. Regardless, just one game in December, so no panic yet...but it sounds like it was a sloppy week for GR, and that bears watching.
Possible Randolph like mad scientist experiment for Klatt.

.

Every year at the Christmas Break Randolph mixes up 100's of potions in his basement. He has his white lab coat on and his big black frame glasses. As soon as he finds the formula he looks at the sky and screams, "It Verks, it Verks.... Soon Ze Hounds will rule Ze World.............. Don't ever bet against the Hounds....