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Mahtomedi looks like a decent challenge for the northern teams, St. Francis isn't the same w/o their goalie from last year Hanson, and Brainerd hasn't been challenged but is 6-1 coming into this tourney. After taking Edina to OT and beating Elk River, GR can't go anything but 3-0 in this. Virginia upset Cloquet recently and I think they'll go 2-1 in this, Hibbing will also go 2-1.

It will be nice to see the black and orange back in town. Expecting some good crowds during the holidays. Rapids is expected to go 3-0 but they can't overlook any of these teams. They are still a young group that hasn't been blowing any teams away. I'm liking the secondary scoring from the sophomores though. They will only get better with time.

They will show up and they will bring a good game. Do not be surprised. They brought back 16 Seniors and they have a good goalies who are showing improvement as well!!

Hibbing scores a mild upset with a 5-1 win over Brainerd, shots 28-22 Hibbing. I think Brainerd is the more talented team, but they didn't score on their major penalty pp while Hibbing netted 3 on their one 5 min advantage. Also, I saw some of the best goaltending for Hibbing in quite some time.

Rapids beats Mahtomedi 5-4

Virginia beats St. Francis 7-3

Northern sweep, nice start.

rainier wrote:Hibbing scores a mild upset with a 5-1 win over Brainerd, shots 28-22 Hibbing. I think Brainerd is the more talented team, but they didn't score on their major penalty pp while Hibbing netted 3 on their one 5 min advantage. Also, I saw some of the best goaltending for Hibbing in quite some time.

Rapids beats Mahtomedi 5-4

Virginia beats St. Francis 7-3

Northern sweep, nice start.

St. Francis scored a powerplay goal with a few seconds left in Virginia, so that final ended up 7-4. I am a little surprised by the Hibbing score. Not that they won, but by the margin.

Nice start for the Range teams. Also, Greenway has improved significantly from the beginning of the season. They still are no threat to the upper teams in the section, but it is nice to see them getting better. The defensemen have finally realized that they cannot gamble at the blueline. They played a very physical style tonight against Johnson and seem to be gaining some confidence. They tied Johnson 3-3. They are very young with freshmen and sophomores getting plenty of playing time. Only two seniors play roles. In two years they should be much more competitive.

Anyone know if Brainerd has a radio station covering todays game in Grand Rapids? KOZY was there the last two nights but won't be for this game.

Rapids over Brainerd 3-1. Hibbing lost to St. Francis 2-1. Mahtomedi beat Virginia 3-1. Rapids goes 3-0 in the North-South Challenge.

TheHockeyDJ wrote:Rapids over Brainerd 3-1. Hibbing lost to St. Francis 2-1. Mahtomedi beat Virginia 3-1. Rapids goes 3-0 in the North-South Challenge.

Watched Rapids today man they need a lot of work to beat top of the line teams.

northwoods oldtimer wrote:

TheHockeyDJ wrote:Rapids over Brainerd 3-1. Hibbing lost to St. Francis 2-1. Mahtomedi beat Virginia 3-1. Rapids goes 3-0 in the North-South Challenge.

Watched Rapids today man they need a lot of work to beat top of the line teams.

Sounds like they have been going through the motions vs. St. Francis and Brainerd. I'm not too worried yet, they did beat Elk River.

TheHockeyDJ wrote:Rapids over Brainerd 3-1. Hibbing lost to St. Francis 2-1. Mahtomedi beat Virginia 3-1. Rapids goes 3-0 in the North-South Challenge.

Mahtomedi beat Virginia 7-3, not 3-1. Brainerd did not play its top 2 lines against Hibbing on Friday for what I'm told is a coaching disciplinary decision, so that might bring some clarity into that result.

So, I guess if I had to place them for the weekend, I'd probably go this way:
Grand Rapids (3-0)
Mahtomedi (2-1)
Brainerd (1-2)
Virginia (1-2)
Hibbing (1-2)
St. Francis (1-2)

I got to see 4 of the 9 games that are part of this challenge. Grand Rapids is the only team I did not see play... But based on results, they were probably the best team in this. Even though I placed Brainerd 3rd above, it seems clear to me that when at full strength, they were the 2nd best team with Mahtomedi just slightly behind. Hibbing and Virginia are not at the same level as those two. St Francis definitely looked the weakest, despite squeaking out a win over Hibbing.

PuckRanger wrote:

TheHockeyDJ wrote:Rapids over Brainerd 3-1. Hibbing lost to St. Francis 2-1. Mahtomedi beat Virginia 3-1. Rapids goes 3-0 in the North-South Challenge.

Mahtomedi beat Virginia 7-3, not 3-1. Brainerd did not play its top 2 lines against Hibbing on Friday for what I'm told is a coaching disciplinary decision, so that might bring some clarity into that result.

So, I guess if I had to place them for the weekend, I'd probably go this way:
Grand Rapids (3-0)
Mahtomedi (2-1)
Brainerd (1-2)
Virginia (1-2)
Hibbing (1-2)
St. Francis (1-2)

I got to see 4 of the 9 games that are part of this challenge. Grand Rapids is the only team I did not see play... But based on results, they were probably the best team in this. Even though I placed Brainerd 3rd above, it seems clear to me that when at full strength, they were the 2nd best team with Mahtomedi just slightly behind. Hibbing and Virginia are not at the same level as those two. St Francis definitely looked the weakest, despite squeaking out a win over Hibbing.

I agree with your rankings, but I have a hard time believing Brainerd didn't play their top 2 lines vs Hibbing. Their top scorer Rivard was absolutely on the ice and was, along with Pohlkamp, the best player on the ice. Perhaps a forward or two got benched, but the top scorers names are on the scoresheet for that game and they have points and penalties, so unless they had JV players with duplicate numbers, they should have been out there.

Brainerd was clearly a better team than Hibbing, but they missed open nets, took dumb penalties, and gave up a shorty on a major pp. Hibbing played extremely hard, got some bounces, got great goaltending, and got 3 goals on their major pp, which seemed to take the the fight out of Brainerd.

Surprised Brainerd outshot Rapids by that much (assuming the Hub is correct), but Rapids has the offensive players that can make their shots count.

Typing error, I knew it was 7-3, don't know why I typed 3-1.

rainier wrote:I agree with your rankings, but I have a hard time believing Brainerd didn't play their top 2 lines vs Hibbing. Their top scorer Rivard was absolutely on the ice and was, along with Pohlkamp, the best player on the ice. Perhaps a forward or two got benched, but the top scorers names are on the scoresheet for that game and they have points and penalties, so unless they had JV players with duplicate numbers, they should have been out there.

Brainerd was clearly a better team than Hibbing, but they missed open nets, took dumb penalties, and gave up a shorty on a major pp. Hibbing played extremely hard, got some bounces, got great goaltending, and got 3 goals on their major pp, which seemed to take the the fight out of Brainerd.

Surprised Brainerd outshot Rapids by that much (assuming the Hub is correct), but Rapids has the offensive players that can make their shots count.

I was not there, so I guess I don't know for sure. Just going on what a group of disgruntled Brainerd folks said to me at their game in Virginia. I should have mentioned that they only did not play in the second and third periods, so you might see them on the score sheet in the first period. It was supposedly 5 of their top 6 forwards. Not sure who that actually means, but whatever what went on in the first period or the locker room in the first break apparently rubbed the coach the wrong way... but they were said to be benched from that point on.

Brainerd's 1st line did not play in the 2nd period. Hibbing was able to capitalize on that and a lot of time spent on power play.