A Rankings for 12-13-09

[HShockeywatcher]

Lots of match ups this week between teams in the top 10.

1. St Thomas Academy (3-0)
Had me worried as I was listening to the game against Breck. Great goalie battle. 3-0, but allowing more goals than expected. Huge A vs AA away game this week.
-This week: @North St Paul (Tues, 8pm), @Minnetonka (Sat, 7pm)

2. Breck (3-1)
Only loss OT to St Thomas. Good game against Orono this week. In 2010, only big games against Shattuck and maybe Lourdes. If they don't win the Silver Cup in two weeks, they could drop simply because of their conference schedule if they don't run the table with less than 1 GAA.
-This week: @Orono (Sat, 3pm)

3. St Cloud Cathedral (3-1)
Only loss to Breck by FIVE goals. Jumps above Warroad with their loss. Beat an improving Denfeld team. Soft schedule until January. Need to dominate opponents to stay where they are.
-This week: @Rogers (Tues, 7pm), Little Falls (Sat, 7:15pm)

4. Warroad (4-1)
Two solid wins and a close loss to a sub .500 Rapids team drop Warroad a few spots. The next 2-3 weeks will give us a better picture of who they really are. Play a solid Bemidji squad away this week and host TRF next week.
-This week: @Bemidji (Tues, 7:15pm)

5. Mahtomedi (3-1)
Lost to Breck by more at home than Cathedral did and since haven't done anything to move much farther up. Two wins this week would be great for the CSC but move them up regardless of what opponents do. Getting by Wilcox and Hill would be a great feat.
-This week: @SSP (Thurs, 7:30pm), Hill Murray (Sat, 3pm)

6. Duluth Denfeld (3-1)
Only loss to #3 Crusaders. Hermantown and SSP losses bring them up.
-This week: @Virginia (Tues, 7:30pm), @Andover (Fri, 7:30pm)

7. Hermantown (3-1)
Lost to (possibly up and coming) Andover this week. Awesome border battle this week.
-This week: Superior (Tues, 8pm), Mound-W-Tonka (Sat, 3pm)

8. South St Paul (2-2)
Despite Hill loss, have potential to do well with great schedule and Wilcox stopping the puck. Two good ones this week. Will either move up or down with Thursday's game.
-This week: Mahtomedi (Thurs, 7:30pm), Henry Sibley (Sat, 1pm)

9. Thief River Falls (4-1)
Two wins this week. Nothing great, but wins are wins. Two big games this week that could either put them at the front of 8A or show they are the #2/#3 team like always.
-This week: Bemidji (Thurs, 7:30pm), International Falls (Sat, 3pm)

10. Duluth Marshall (1-3)
Despite record, their losses have been closer than teams above them who have lost to them as well. 12-0 bout of Ashland is better GF and GA than Denfeld. Expect them only to go up from here on out.
-This week: Silver Bay (Tues, 7:30pm), Hibbing (Thurs, 7:30pm), St Paul Academy (Sat, 3pm)

11. Alexandria (2-0)
Tough to tell anything yet, although undefeated. Coming week will help tell a lot.
-This week: @Wilmar (Tues, 7pm), @Apollo (Thurs, 7pm), Sartell (Sat, 7pm)

12. Litchfield (4-0)
Undefeated. Could easily [with no disrespect] be one of our 0-2 teams at state this year. Wright County has become a very respectable conference in recent years. Winning any of their games with Orono/SCC would be awesome for the program.
-This week: @Hutch (Tues, 7pm), Delano (Sat, 3pm)

13. International Falls (3-1)
Despite needing OT to beat Proctor, history tells us IF can usually play with anyone. Schedule will tell us if they deserve to be higher or a 5-8 team in their section.
-This week: LOW (Tues, 7:30pm), @Virginia (Fri, 7:30pm), TRF (Sat, 3pm)

14/15/16.
Spring Lake Park (5-0)
Marshall (4-0)
Fairbault (5-0)
No schedule yet, although undefeated. Fairbault has some games coming up that winning could bring them onto the scene. Marshall in Schwan Open Cup; going in undefeated would be great.

Comments/Suggestions would be great. Enjoy!

[fivehole628]

Sartell-St. Stephen.

They just domolished Fergus Falls last week outshooting them 54-17 winning 5-0.
Only loss has been to Cathedral

[HShockeywatcher]

Thank you for commenting. After publishing, I noticed they weren't on there. Probably next week.

[MNHockey75]

Class A is hard to rank this year. It's obvious who number 1 and 2 are but after that, it gets a little grey. It's amazing how badly Breck is out-playing teams and yet, they were badly out-played by STA (shots 56-26). The one thing Breck has going for them is a much easier road to State (2A). STA will have to play Mahtomedi or SSP and we all know how that can end up. Hermantown and SCC will battle it out. Warroad has to play TRF as usual. Unless Sartell can prove something before seasons end, it appears sections 1, 3, and 6 are down from last year (esp. 1 and 6). Here are my top 15 as of 12/14:

1. St. Thomas Academy - Beat Breck
2. Breck - Beat SCC and Mahtomedi a combined 15-4
3. Hermantown - Loss at Andover (a better loss than Warroad)
4. Warroad - Loss vs. G. Rapids
5. St. Cloud Cathedral - Have beaten 2 top-10 teams.
6. Mahtomedi - Is Marshall back yet?
7. Thief River Falls - One bad period vs. Roseau away from 5-0 start
8. Sartell - Stayed with SCC, 2 nice wins
9. Duluth Denfeld - Beat SSP
10. South St. Paul - Having trouble scoring goals
11. Blake - Losses to CDH and TRF but have looked good.
12. Virginia - Too inconsistent
13. Faribault - Waiting for them to play somebody
14. Hibbing - Too inconsistent
15. International Falls - Another inconsistent 7A team

on watch: Duluth Marshall, Red Wing, Rochester Lourdes

[ClassicHockey]

MNhockey I think this is a good list, it will be interesting to see how STA plays against the top AA teams on its schedule and also against the A teams in its section, they easily could separate from the rest of A with convincing wins. Also I think Virginia could be a team to watch if they can compete against Duluth Denfeld and the Mahtomedi vs. SSP game should be a good measure of those teams. And Red Wing needs to keep winning to stay in the mix after a few tough losses in the beginning of the season.

[HShockeywatcher]

SCC loses to Rogers 1-4? Hmmm...

I will say the group of Rogers, Providence, Orono, Mound, Hibbing, Marshall, and many more are very hard to figure out at this point. Marshall and Hibbing both have three losses to quality opponents. Next week will be tough.

[bluedevils]

Why isn't virginia ranked? They beat Duluth Denfeld 7-5 last night and should beat I Falls on Friday...

[HShockeywatcher]

bluedevils:
1. This is the ranking system for up to LAST week. They beat Denfeld last night.
2. As MNHockey75 said, inconsistent. Lose to Mound at home, beat St Francis by 1 then tie Rapids.