Suburban East Saturday 12-17
Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 6:30 pm
Thursday’s SEC action will certainly be hard to top, OT goals waved off while teams are shaking hands, a game featuring only one goal scored, and the goal wasn’t even scored by the winning team, largest goal differential on the night was two. A bizarre night indeed, who knows what’s in store Saturday. It looks as though they are no sure victories for any teams this year no matter what the matchup.
Saturday’s schedule features five conference games, let the fun start up again, anything can happen as evidenced by Thursday’s results.
Park-Cottage Grove (1-2-1 SEC) (3-2-1 overall) at Cretin-Derham Hall (1-3-0 SEC) (2-4-0 overall) 3:00 Highland Arena
The Wolfpack are no longer the doormat of the SEC, they to me are the surprise of the season. They have already surpassed last season’s SEC points total where they earned a measly one point, with zero wins and a tie during conference play. Every team better be ready to play Park this season or they will be leaving the arena mighty disappointed. Cretin snapped a four game skid with a somewhat controversial OT win over East Ridge Thursday, a much needed win that could boost the confidence of the inexperienced Raiders. Winner moves to the middle of the pack while the loser will fall further from contention.
Roseville (3-1-0 SEC) (5-1-0 overall) at East Ridge (0-2-1 SEC) (2-4-1 overall) 7:30 Cottage Grove Arena
The Raiders will need to lean on their experience to bounce back after losing their first game of the season in a very bizarre way. They outplayed and outshot Stillwater fairly convincingly, only to come up with zero points to show for their efforts. Roseville needs to get back on track offensively to stay in the SEC race. East Ridge loses a tough one in OT Thursday; confidence could be an issue as the Raptors have not won since late November. If Roseville struggles on offense East Ridge could pull the upset, if there are such things in this conference.
Hastings (2-2-0 SEC) (2-4-0 overall) at Stillwater (3-0-1 SEC) (2-0-2 overall) 7:30 St. Croix Rec Center
The horseshoes the Ponies where on their helmets and jerseys were certainly good luck for them in their win Thursday, they won without scoring a goal. What wasn’t lucky was Cates in goal, he’s the real deal, he has the size, mobility and quick glove, he is clearly going to keep Stillwater in contention. Hastings so far has mirrored the whole conference, hard to figure out. They are muddled in the middle of the pack; just not sure they have enough to climb the standings.
Forest Lake (3-1-0 SEC) (4-2-0 overall) at White Bear Lake (2-0-1 SEC) (3-2-1 overall) 7:30 Vadnais Heights Sports Complex
The Rangers have turned up the offense and could have the most offensive weapons in the SEC, however inexperienced goaltending could be an issue, and it will certainly be tested by the Bears as they to seem to have found plenty of offense this again season. This could be a rare SEC shootout with goaltending being the key; the Bears would seem to have the edge in that department. In my opinion the winner becomes the early favorite to win the conference title.
Woodbury (1-1-2 SEC) (4-1-2 overall) at Mounds View (0-3-0 SEC) (1-4-0 overall) 7:30 Shoreview Arena
Mounds View, with all the preseason hype, fair or unfair is the most disappointing team thus far with only one win, and still looking for their first points in SEC play. They are falling quickly out of the picture that many thought they would be in. Woodbury will have to refocus after having an apparent victory taken from them and settling for a tie on Thursday, this is going to be a tough test for the Royals, they will need Erickson to be on his game between the pipes, which he seems to be every night.
Team Stats:
Goals per game:
1 Forest Lake- 4.50
2 White Bear Lake- 4.17
3 Woodbury- 3.67
Goals per game allowed:
1 Stillwater- 1.75
2 Roseville- 1.83
3 Woodbury- 2.33
Power Play %
1 White Bear Lake- 57.1
2 Cretin-Derham Hall- 47.1
3 Forest Lake- 36.8
Penalty Kill %
1 Hastings- 90.5
2 Roseville- 87.0
3 Stillwater- 83.3
(tie) Forest Lake 83.3
Saturday’s schedule features five conference games, let the fun start up again, anything can happen as evidenced by Thursday’s results.
Park-Cottage Grove (1-2-1 SEC) (3-2-1 overall) at Cretin-Derham Hall (1-3-0 SEC) (2-4-0 overall) 3:00 Highland Arena
The Wolfpack are no longer the doormat of the SEC, they to me are the surprise of the season. They have already surpassed last season’s SEC points total where they earned a measly one point, with zero wins and a tie during conference play. Every team better be ready to play Park this season or they will be leaving the arena mighty disappointed. Cretin snapped a four game skid with a somewhat controversial OT win over East Ridge Thursday, a much needed win that could boost the confidence of the inexperienced Raiders. Winner moves to the middle of the pack while the loser will fall further from contention.
Roseville (3-1-0 SEC) (5-1-0 overall) at East Ridge (0-2-1 SEC) (2-4-1 overall) 7:30 Cottage Grove Arena
The Raiders will need to lean on their experience to bounce back after losing their first game of the season in a very bizarre way. They outplayed and outshot Stillwater fairly convincingly, only to come up with zero points to show for their efforts. Roseville needs to get back on track offensively to stay in the SEC race. East Ridge loses a tough one in OT Thursday; confidence could be an issue as the Raptors have not won since late November. If Roseville struggles on offense East Ridge could pull the upset, if there are such things in this conference.
Hastings (2-2-0 SEC) (2-4-0 overall) at Stillwater (3-0-1 SEC) (2-0-2 overall) 7:30 St. Croix Rec Center
The horseshoes the Ponies where on their helmets and jerseys were certainly good luck for them in their win Thursday, they won without scoring a goal. What wasn’t lucky was Cates in goal, he’s the real deal, he has the size, mobility and quick glove, he is clearly going to keep Stillwater in contention. Hastings so far has mirrored the whole conference, hard to figure out. They are muddled in the middle of the pack; just not sure they have enough to climb the standings.
Forest Lake (3-1-0 SEC) (4-2-0 overall) at White Bear Lake (2-0-1 SEC) (3-2-1 overall) 7:30 Vadnais Heights Sports Complex
The Rangers have turned up the offense and could have the most offensive weapons in the SEC, however inexperienced goaltending could be an issue, and it will certainly be tested by the Bears as they to seem to have found plenty of offense this again season. This could be a rare SEC shootout with goaltending being the key; the Bears would seem to have the edge in that department. In my opinion the winner becomes the early favorite to win the conference title.
Woodbury (1-1-2 SEC) (4-1-2 overall) at Mounds View (0-3-0 SEC) (1-4-0 overall) 7:30 Shoreview Arena
Mounds View, with all the preseason hype, fair or unfair is the most disappointing team thus far with only one win, and still looking for their first points in SEC play. They are falling quickly out of the picture that many thought they would be in. Woodbury will have to refocus after having an apparent victory taken from them and settling for a tie on Thursday, this is going to be a tough test for the Royals, they will need Erickson to be on his game between the pipes, which he seems to be every night.
Team Stats:
Goals per game:
1 Forest Lake- 4.50
2 White Bear Lake- 4.17
3 Woodbury- 3.67
Goals per game allowed:
1 Stillwater- 1.75
2 Roseville- 1.83
3 Woodbury- 2.33
Power Play %
1 White Bear Lake- 57.1
2 Cretin-Derham Hall- 47.1
3 Forest Lake- 36.8
Penalty Kill %
1 Hastings- 90.5
2 Roseville- 87.0
3 Stillwater- 83.3
(tie) Forest Lake 83.3