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who are the favorites? and who are teams among these conferences that could suprise people?

For the NWSC, the usual suspects will probably be good (Centennial, Maple
Grove, and Blaine). Maybe Andover or Anoka will be up-and-coming teams this year.

For the Classic Lake, Minnetonka and Edina (for the millionth time!!! on this forum) will be favorites. Talk about beating a dead horse.

NWSC Favorites:

Blaine/Centennial - Blaine returns a little more scoring punch but Centennial returns more talent at D. Both return starting G's.

Next is Osseo who returns the majority of last year's talent. They may field the strongest starting five.

Elk River, Andover and Maple Grove will have enough to beat any team in the league. Champlin will be much improved.

This is the deepest conference in the state. Not much seperation from #1 to #6.

Lake:

Edina isn't getting the usual preseason consideration but they will have plenty of talent and depth. Mtka has more on paper than any team in the state, especially at D and G where it can make the biggest difference.

Long time until playoffs, and the only upset would be if there were no upsets.

if memory serves me correct andover, osseo, and elk river all had extremely strong teams when the seniors now were 2nd years bantams. and next year will be champlin and maple grove's year in the NWSC?
also if you think back to last years semi-final game in Section 5AA at the coliseum Osseo was minutes away from knocking off blaine. with osseo losing few players shouldnt they be the favorite?

After osseo's 1st line they have nobody.

prediction

1. blaine
2/3.centenial
2/3.MG
4.Elk River

Don't discount Elk River
14 players returning from a Section Final team
4 of the top 5 scorers returning

1. Blaine
2. Centennial
3. Andover
4. Maple Grove
5. Elk River

last year's regular season finale Champlin park walked into the ER barn and won with their back up junior varsity goalie

Elk River or Blaine will lead the best conference in the state.

does anyone agree that he is the most over rated player in the state...possibly history. Wisconsin over recruits their defensemen and he'll never leave juniors. I saw a lot of classic lake hockey last year and i didnt think he was the best defensemen on his team, let alone the conference. Prochnos better than him, as is Max Everson from Edina

Hesketh is probably the fastest skaters in the state this year and at 6'2 170-180 will probably fill out. But as for who is a better player, I'd take Prochno over him this year and probably Max Everson, but it is a little closer. Hesketh has impact potential, that is why he was drafted and Wisconsin recruited him, but we also all know where some of the Wisconsin recruits have ended up.

Wow Elk River si getting no love is this one. I am telling you right now there is no way they finish below second in the conference. The have Franke back, who is a stellar goaltender. They also have jaremko Hennum, and Lutz who can put the puck away

talkofthetown17 wrote:Wow Elk River si getting no love is this one. I am telling you right now there is no way they finish below second in the conference. The have Franke back, who is a stellar goaltender. They also have jaremko Hennum, and Lutz who can put the puck away

Here's why they wont:
Blaine has returned Bjugstad and a flurry of other goal scorers plus 3rd year goalie Danny Harper

Centennial returns their goalie plus a solid D, and they have a great coach behind the bench

Osseo lost Kray but returns with just about everybody else. Plus they were 5 seconds away from knocking Blaine out of the playoffs last year and all of those guys are coming back


Don't get me wrong, ER is going to fall somewhere in the top 4 this year, but I don't see them winning the conference and I think even getting 2nd is a stretch.
Remember the beginning of last season many people were getting giddy over Andover; picking them to sit atop the conference... I feel this year's Elk River is similar to last year's Andover.

Blaine returns Nick Bjugstad and Eric Scheid who will produce a bunch of goals, not really sure about D since I know they graduated 3 defenseman. Solid goalie in Harper. Centennial will be tough as they usually are but need someone to step up into the leadership role.