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There's a thread for the best sophomore, so why not for best freshman?

I know two that might fit the bill:
Travis Boyd - Hopkins
Pete Kreiger - St. Thomas Academy

Others?

Moorhead Goalie....

Michael Bitzer

It has sure been a while since Moorhead has seen a Freshman on their roster.

Two starts 1 goal against. Not bad for a first timer

Michael Zajac from Eagan is pretty good, probably not the best in the state but he is worth mentioning. He had 2 points against Hopkins and Travis Boyd yesterday (Saturday)

Derek Smith from Apple Valley may not be the best overall player but has to be considered for being this age groups top defensman, he is so calm and undercontrol and skilled I'm very impressed with him so far. He has one goal and an assist.

AJ Michaelson an Apple Valley Forward is one of the fastest kids on skates with alot of skill, he scored 2 goials in the last game and hopefully its the start of alot more from him to come this year and in the future. He has 6 points now currently 3rd on the team.

Visited the edina classic and definet stand out freshman is the goalie for elk river Anders Franke he played stellar against two of the top teams in the state edina and eden prairie. Elk river almost pulled off upsets in both those games

Mike Reilly from AHA is slowly showing he is a player. He may be small but he can move and shoot like a big player and can take a hit when needed.

I'd say AJ Michaelson #1 - Boyd #2

I got the chance to watch Travis Boyd for the first time on Saturday and I'd have to say that i was impressed by his ice vision and passing for a freshman. Based on last years stats and his stats this year id have to put him as the top freshman playing varsity. I agree with HappyHockeyFan too that Michael Zajac is another one to keep an eye on. Played very well for a freshman vs Hopkins and could develop into a solid player

I think that we could all agree that it takes a special kind of talent to start as a freshman on competitive teams. There is quite a size, strength and maturity difference between frosh and seniors at the HS level. Our list, so far, looks like this:

Forwards
Travis Boyd - Hopkins
Pete Kreiger - St. Thomas Academy
Michael Zajac - Eagan
A.J. Michaelson - Apple Valley
Mike Reilly - Academy of Holy Angels

Defense
Derek Smith - Apple Valley

Goalies
Michael Bitzer - Moorhead
Anders Franke - Elk River

Teak wrote:I think that we could all agree that it takes a special kind of talent to start as a freshman on competitive teams. There is quite a size, strength and maturity difference between frosh and seniors at the HS level. Our list, so far, looks like this:

Forwards
Travis Boyd - Hopkins
Pete Kreiger - St. Thomas Academy
Michael Zajac - Eagan
A.J. Michaelson - Apple Valley
Mike Reilly - Academy of Holy Angels

Defense
Derek Smith - Apple Valley

Goalies
Michael Bitzer - Moorhead
Anders Franke - Elk River

isn't mike reilly a defenseman?

Teak wrote:I think that we could all agree that it takes a special kind of talent to start as a freshman on competitive teams. There is quite a size, strength and maturity difference between frosh and seniors at the HS level. Our list, so far, looks like this:

Forwards
Travis Boyd - Hopkins
Pete Kreiger - St. Thomas Academy
Michael Zajac - Eagan
A.J. Michaelson - Apple Valley
Mike Reilly - Academy of Holy Angels

Defense
Derek Smith - Apple Valley

Goalies
Michael Bitzer - Moorhead
Anders Franke - Elk River

Reilly plays defense

Forwards
Travis Boyd - Hopkins
Pete Kreiger - St. Thomas Academy
Michael Zajac - Eagan
A.J. Michaelson - Apple Valley

Defense
Derek Smith - Apple Valley
Mike Reilly - Academy of Holy Angels

Goalies
Michael Bitzer - Moorhead
Anders Franke - Elk River

Some interesting stats for comparison: GP-G-A, +/-

Forwards
Travis Boyd - Hopkins 7-5-9, +4
Pete Kreiger - St. Thomas Academy 5-2-2, +1
Michael Zajac - Eagan 7-0-3, 0
A.J. Michaelson - Apple Valley 5-3-3, +3
Eric Carlson – Albert Lea 5-2-1, 0
Christian Horn – BenildeSM 5-3-6, +8

Defense
Derek Smith - Apple Valley 5-1-1, +9
Mike Reilly - Academy of Holy Angels 5-1-4, +4
Braden Devescovi – Bemidji 6-1-0, -1
Jake Horton – BenildeSM 5-0-2, +9

Goalies
Michael Bitzer - Moorhead, GP=2, GA=2, SV=31, SV%=96.9, 2-0-0 (WLT)
Anders Franke - Elk River, GP=7, GA=15, SV=145, SV%=90.6, 4-3-0

I don't know that comparing HS stats is a worthy endeavor given the vast differences there can be in the strength of schedule between various teams.

And if the stats came from Pointstreak, the +/-'s are worthless because in most cases, the home team does not record all of the players on the ice when the goal was scored. In some cases, the games are never recorded!

Teak wrote:I think that we could all agree that it takes a special kind of talent to start as a freshman on competitive teams. There is quite a size, strength and maturity difference between frosh and seniors at the HS level. Our list, so far, looks like this:

Forwards
Travis Boyd - Hopkins
Pete Kreiger - St. Thomas Academy
Michael Zajac - Eagan
A.J. Michaelson - Apple Valley
Mike Reilly - Academy of Holy Angels

Defense
Derek Smith - Apple Valley

Goalies
Michael Bitzer - Moorhead
Anders Franke - Elk River

F-Tanner Jordon-Maht.
D-Eric Schurhamer-STA
D-Reilly-AHA

What grade is D-Sean Madigan/Burnsville in?

Husky88 wrote:And if the stats came from Pointstreak, the +/-'s are worthless because in most cases, the home team does not record all of the players on the ice when the goal was scored. In some cases, the games are never recorded!

My thoughts exactly. The pointstreak / MNhockeyhub site is missing a lot of games and stats to be reliably used as a source for statewide stats. I find almost half of the games are missing something (not including the +/- which is missing from almost all of them). Some teams have players on their rosters that graduated last year -- and they even have points this year!

Only a handful of teams are using the system correctly on a consistent basis.

Some stats: GP-G-A

Forwards
Travis Boyd - Hopkins 7-5-9
Tanner Jordan – Mahtomedi 7-8-2
Pete Kreiger - St. Thomas Academy 5-2-2
Michael Zajac - Eagan 7-0-3
A.J. Michaelson - Apple Valley 5-3-3
Eric Carlson – Albert Lea 5-2-1
Christian Horn – BenildeSM 5-3-6
Zach Hartley (8th Grader!) – Minnehaha Academy 5-1-3
Troy Traxler – La Crescent 5-1-1
Andrew Commers – STA 5-0-1

Defense
Derek Smith - Apple Valley 5-1-1
Mike Reilly - Academy of Holy Angels 5-1-4
Braden Devescovi – Bemidji 6-1-0
Jake Horton – BenildeSM 5-0-2
Eric Schurhammer – STA 5-2-2
Grant Sattler – STA 5-1-0

Goalies
Michael Bitzer - Moorhead, GP=2, GA=2, SV=31, SV%=96.9, 2-0-0 (WLT)
Anders Franke - Elk River, GP=7, GA=15, SV=145, SV%=90.6, 4-3-0


Not done searching all schools yet, but it looks like St. Thomas Academy uses freshmen more, with four getting regular playing time.

I know that the stats are not always up-to-date, and we cannot really compare without knowing strength-of-schedule (s-o-s), but we can see perhaps who is most important to their given team. For example, Tanner is #2 in scoring for Mahtomedi, after the sophomore Ben Marshall, so he is probably fairly important for that team irregardless of their s-o-s.

Similarly, the 8th grader Hartley is probably doing okay for Minnehaha considering how weak the team is, irregardless of s-o-s. And getting regular play for BenildeSM is pretty impressive even if the stats were fattened by having played Meadow Creek Christian.

This wasn’t meant to be rigorous, just a lazy survey of the freshmen who have broken into the regular rotation of their teams. I have been using the rosters as listed on FollowThePuck.com, and of course, some schools don’t have their rosters on that site yet, so yeah….lazy and incomplete is the survey.

Thanks for your comments and suggested names.

Burnsville’s Sean Madigan is listed as a sophomore.

Here's dent's take on this year's freshmen...

http://geocities.com/dent0110/fresh2009.html

What's the deal with Austyn Young? He's leading the Packers in points. He even notched an assist against HM!

Its still early in the year. But i have seen some names brought up that are "freshman varsity" players but only get played in the games where the coach knows that there team will dominate. The more interesting playes are the ones that can come into bigger programs and are on the first or second line, and out there when the game is on the line.

Tanner Jordan MAHT
Eric Schurhamer STA
Mike Reilly AHA
Travis Boyd HOP

I know there are others also... but who else do you include in that list. I cant take that last post seriously knowing that there are some players on that list that only mix in a game in Varsity when there team will dominate. They arent skating during the BIG games

The Exiled One wrote:Here's dent's take on this year's freshmen...

http://geocities.com/dent0110/fresh2009.html

Code: Select all

FORWARD

    Travis Boyd              Hopkins
    Austyn Young             South St. Paul
    AJ Michaelson            Apple Valley
    Tanner Jordan            Mahtomedi
    Erik Baskin              Minnetonka
    Pete Krieger             St. Thomas Academy
    Michael Zajac            Eagan
    Derek Perkins            Lakeville North
    Nate Arentz              Lakeville North
    Garrett Aldrich          Elk River/Zimmerman
    Zac McCarver             North St. Paul
    Mick Dhein               Richfield
    Aaron Rich               Duluth Marshall
    Grant Sattler            St. Thomas Academy
    Morgan Puncochar         Mounds View

DEFENSE

    Alex Smith               Apple Valley
    Eric Schurhamer          St. Thomas Academy
    Brady Skjei              Lakeville North
    Neal Goff                Stillwater
    Isaac Gorman             Austin

GOALIE

    Anders Franke            Elk River/Zimmerman
    Sawyer Marshall          Mahtomedi

Alex Smith from Apple Valley is actually Derek Smith.

Teak wrote: Eric Carlson – Albert Lea 5-2-1

Just scored a hat trick against Austin.

Albert Lea 11, Austin 1 |GS|
:: AL: Casey Marka Hat Trick, 2 assists, Eric Carlson Hat Trick, Tyler Brackey 2g, 1a

HAHA.. i bet most of the decent JV teams in the metro area would romp all over Austin to!! BUt good for them!

Saywhat?03 wrote:Its still early in the year. But i have seen some names brought up that are "freshman varsity" players but only get played in the games where the coach knows that there team will dominate. The more interesting playes are the ones that can come into bigger programs and are on the first or second line, and out there when the game is on the line.

Tanner Jordan MAHT
Eric Schurhamer STA
Mike Reilly AHA
Travis Boyd HOP

I know there are others also... but who else do you include in that list. I cant take that last post seriously knowing that there are some players on that list that only mix in a game in Varsity when there team will dominate. They arent skating during the BIG games

I would argue that Michaelson and Zajac playing in the Lake Conference validates themselves as playing in "bigger programs" or in "big games". You may disagree, just my opinion.