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Big opening game in the Classic Lake on Jan 5th at Hopkins

Tonka coming off the Schwan's Gold Division 'ship vs. unbeaten and untested? Hopkins coming off the SSP Preimer 'ship.

Projected goalie for Tonka is the Hopkins transfer. How will he repsond in the rink he grew up in vs. his ex-teammates? How will the Hopkins wunderkid 8th grader Boyd perform against the tough Tonka D, led by two D-1 recruits in Gardiner and Raiola?

At this point, I will stick with Tonka in a 5-1 game.

Anyone else? How about some Hopkins perspective. You guys are playing good hockey. Let's hear it from some Royal loyals....

Mad props n Big ups to Hopkins for running the table to date. I've been lookin forward to seeing if this team is for real or not. The win over a solid Woodbury team leads me to conclude that they are. But, good enough to challenge a couple of the best in the state (Tonka and Edina)? We'll soon see.

Kruger looked good in his last outing at the X. The kid takes up alot of room in the net. Goals won't come easy for the Royals if he gets the nod.

I'll leave the prognosticating to those more familiar with these teams but I do like a Cinderella. Maybe this year she hails from Hopkins....

More than likely, Tonka will win. However, I would love to see the Royals keep their streak going.

This will be an interesting game but a slight clarification needs to be made. according the the every-other-game, system that Tonka has been using for the goalies, Krueger would NOT start against Hopkins, but instead Buonomo would. Krueger according to the system should start in the game against Mound on the 3rd and then Buonomo against Hopkins on the 5th. Besides that i don't think it will matter which goalie plays, i see Tonka winning convincingly. Hopkins will put up a fight but Tonka will pull away in the end. I say a 6-2 victory for Tonka and they continue to climb in the rankings.

I hate to spoil a nice story, but this will be the game in which Hopkins comes crashing back to earth. One could easily argue that Minnetonka is playing the best hockey in the state right now.

Hopkins is on a hot streak right now, but I can't see them beating Minnetonka.

Tonka 4
Hopkins 2

Is this game at 7?

UPSET CITY-

Hopkins hangs on in a nailbiter, 4-3. Alex Fons stood on his head, must have made 65 saves.

Hopkins weather the Tonka storm in the first half of the 1st period. They scored on their first shot, and on 2 of the first 4 to take a 2-1 lead into the locker room though they were outshot badly.

Hopkins goalie played very well, he is techincally very sound and it was a very calm performance. He stopped 4 point blank chances early in the 1st to keep it close. The Royals had a hard time handling Tonka's speed early, but they adjusted and gained confidence as the game went along.

Basically it seemed like Hopkins wanted this one more. Tonka is great at moving the puck around but in games like this sometimes you need to just get the puck to the net and bang in rebounds.

I don't know if the Royals have the talent of some of the top teams, but they definitely have the goaltending and the heart.

Congrats Royals

karl(east) wrote:I hate to spoil a nice story, but this will be the game in which Hopkins comes crashing back to earth. One could easily argue that Minnetonka is playing the best hockey in the state right now.

good call

Hopkind moves up to #2 in the state on geocities with this win. they seem to be the real deal

this game really just came down to two things. outstanding goal tending by Alex Fons and a poor show by Tonkas goalie (2 goals in 4 shots in the first)

hshwatcher wrote:this game really just came down to two things. outstanding goal tending by Alex Fons and a poor show by Tonkas goalie (2 goals in 4 shots in the first)

Clone?????????????

Watch for Krueger to get the next few starts against the big boys upcoming on Tonka's schedule as Buonomo has both Tonka losses.

No, definitely not me.

I will say they have potential to be the real deal. Remember earlier this season when Tartan beat Hill Murray. Tartan lost last night to North St Paul. Hopkins played 11 not great teams and Woodbury in the beginning of their season. I'm not saying they're not good, but coming away with a 1 goal upset at home doesn't crown them just yet.

They still play Minnetonka again away, Edina twice, Wayzata twice and a few decent teams. It'd be cool to see them run the table, only time will tell.

After reading that article, it appears they have a goalie who can play really well. 21 saves in the 1st period and 46 total. This team has a lot of potential. Hopefully they can win in Edina too.

HShockeywatcher wrote:No, definitely not me.

I will say they have potential to be the real deal. Remember earlier this season when Tartan beat Hill Murray. Tartan lost last night to North St Paul. Hopkins played 11 not great teams and Woodbury in the beginning of their season. I'm not saying they're not good, but coming away with a 1 goal upset at home doesn't crown them just yet.

They still play Minnetonka again away, Edina twice, Wayzata twice and a few decent teams. It'd be cool to see them run the table, only time will tell.

After reading that article, it appears they have a goalie who can play really well. 21 saves in the 1st period and 46 total. This team has a lot of potential. Hopefully they can win in Edina too.

Tartan and North St. Paul tied 3-3.

Keeping the streak alive! It continues to be a great story to date. Can't wait to see how this book ends. Anyone know how many points Boyd got?

wbmd wrote:

HShockeywatcher wrote:No, definitely not me.

I will say they have potential to be the real deal. Remember earlier this season when Tartan beat Hill Murray. Tartan lost last night to North St Paul. Hopkins played 11 not great teams and Woodbury in the beginning of their season. I'm not saying they're not good, but coming away with a 1 goal upset at home doesn't crown them just yet.

They still play Minnetonka again away, Edina twice, Wayzata twice and a few decent teams. It'd be cool to see them run the table, only time will tell.

After reading that article, it appears they have a goalie who can play really well. 21 saves in the 1st period and 46 total. This team has a lot of potential. Hopefully they can win in Edina too.

Tartan and North St. Paul tied 3-3.

I was just going to say that for the first time i didnt find anything wrong with his post, thank you wbmd. Thank you for pointing out that circletalker is never right.

Tonka is untouchable right now. 4-1. As much as I love what Hopkins is doing this season, they are still just Hopkins. Tonka will crush them

...

parrish4president wrote:Tonka is untouchable right now. 4-1. As much as I love what Hopkins is doing this season, they are still just Hopkins. Tonka will crush them

The game has already been played, your prediction made postgame was incorrect. They say hindsight is 20-20 but in your case i guess its not.

Go Flyers '76 wrote:Boyd got one goal. Other goal scorers were Essel, Skalbeck and Hicks. Hopkins' strength does not rest with one or two key players. Goals are spread among several leaders. They have great forwards, an excellent defense and an awesome goalie in Alex Fons. Hopkins is no fluke. They have the momentum for now. I think they can continue it. Like most good teams, these guys have skated together for years. In youth hockey, they made it to regions most years. These kids have grown up together playing pond hockey for hours on end. If they have continued victories, it will be icing on the cake of an already successful season. This may appear to be a Cinderella team, but it has been years in the making.

Boyd is playing great and I think he is the real deal. Putting an 8th grader on varsity is really a risky decision, but it is really paying off with Boyd. He is a very smart player and always knows where to be on the ice. In a few years, if he stays, he could turn Hopkins' into a very successful team.

scoreboard33 wrote:

Go Flyers '76 wrote:Boyd got one goal. Other goal scorers were Essel, Skalbeck and Hicks. Hopkins' strength does not rest with one or two key players. Goals are spread among several leaders. They have great forwards, an excellent defense and an awesome goalie in Alex Fons. Hopkins is no fluke. They have the momentum for now. I think they can continue it. Like most good teams, these guys have skated together for years. In youth hockey, they made it to regions most years. These kids have grown up together playing pond hockey for hours on end. If they have continued victories, it will be icing on the cake of an already successful season. This may appear to be a Cinderella team, but it has been years in the making.

Boyd is playing great and I think he is the real deal. Putting an 8th grader on varsity is really a risky decision, but it is really paying off with Boyd. He is a very smart player and always knows where to be on the ice. In a few years, if he stays, he could turn Hopkins' into a very successful team.

Quick somebody call Trebil

Bash Brother wrote:

parrish4president wrote:Tonka is untouchable right now. 4-1. As much as I love what Hopkins is doing this season, they are still just Hopkins. Tonka will crush them

The game has already been played, your prediction made postgame was incorrect. They say hindsight is 20-20 but in your case i guess its not.

Oops!