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It was a relatively light week in terms of number of games, but there were some useful scores to both clarify and clutter parts of the rankings. Here’s what I’ve got:

1. Minnetonka (10-0-1)
-The Skippers just did what they do, shutting out East Ridge to keep the momentum going. The week ahead features a couple teams who could create problems if enough goes right, but a lot will have to go right for them.
This week: Tues at Blaine, Sat vs. Mahtomedi

2. Moorhead (9-1)
-Sartell suffered the Spuds’ wrath over their first loss of the season in a 10-3 bloodbath on Tuesday. A very tough slate in the Tradition tournament in Prior Lake this week will be a good explainer for that Tonka loss: are these top two far clear of the field, or is there a softer underbelly here that could give other teams some hope?
This week: Tradition Holiday Invitational—Thurs vs. #11 Cretin-Derham Hall, Fri vs. #X Shakopee, Sat vs. #6 St. Thomas Academy

3. Edina (7-3)
-The Hornets split the annual home-and-home with Hill-Murray. They have yet to prove they’re in a separate category from the teams chasing them, but with a passably competitive loss to Moorhead while missing players and a split with the other team that beat them, they have more reliable than the alternatives. Three tough private school opponents this week will put that to the test.
This week: Tradition Holiday Invitational—Thurs vs. #12 Holy Angels, Fri vs. #6 St. Thomas Academy, Sat vs. #11 Cretin-Derham Hall

4. Shakopee (8-2)
-Did not play this past week, and benefit from Hill’s slide to sneak a spot higher on the strength of a long list of quality wins. Their visit to Prior Lake is headlined by a shot at the Spuds, but Prior Lake is a section game and Holy Angels will be a tough customer, too.
This week: Tradition Holiday Invitational—Thurs vs. Prior Lake, Fri vs. #2 Moorhead, Sat vs. #12 Holy Angels

5. Stillwater (9-2)
-The Ponies fought off Benilde to nose their way up a spot; I’ve been feeling ehh about this high ranking, but they are getting the wins, have only lost to Tonka and Shakopee, and have the head-to-head result against St. Thomas. The week ahead, with an up-and-down section rival and improving Rogers, will tell us more.
This week: Wed vs. White Bear Lake, Sat vs. #8 Rogers

6. St. Thomas Academy (8-2-1)
-The Cadets picked up the all-important section win over Cretin and climb back up a bit here. After a warm-up against North, they’ve got two of the top three in the state in Prior Lake, which is a chance to really prove themselves after that recent bumpy week against Mahtomedi and Maple Grove.
This week: Tradition Holiday Invitational—Thurs vs. Lakeville North, Fri vs. #3 Edina, Sat vs. #2 Moorhead

7. Hill-Murray (6-3-2)
-Talk about a roller coaster week for the Pioneers: they fell to Holy Family, bounced back with a firm win over Edina, and then lost the second game with the Hornets. The Edina win is helpful in showing some potential, and they hang on to a decent spot here by virtue of the Rogers win. They get a week off to recover from that adventure.
This week: Idle

8. Rogers (8-4-1)
-The Royals fended off Lakeville South and skated to a tie with Rosemount. They slide back as St. Thomas rises a little, but it’s not intended as a slight; they’re still trending in the right direction. They only have game this week, but it will be a useful one in this part of the rankings.
This week: Sat at #5 Stillwater

9. Maple Grove (6-3)
-Were idle this past week, and nudge into the top ten by virtue of Holy Angels’ loss; after re-comparing them to Rosemount, I’m giving them a slight bump over the Irish, too. The week ahead is a huge one, with a holiday tournament and a bonus game featuring two section rivals nipping at their heels. Those two plus Benilde all could be trap games for a top ten team, given the results they have all posted at times this season.
This week: Maple Grove Holiday Classic—Mon vs. Champlin Park, Tues vs. Andover, Wed vs. Benilde-St. Margaret’s; Sat at Centennial

10. Rosemount (10-3-1)
-The Irish continued a quality run of play with an entertaining win over Eden Prairie and a tie with Rogers, partially avenging an earlier loss and strengthening their top ten status. With fourteen games under their belts already, they take the week off and get to watch what unfolds in the holiday tourneys.
This week: Idle

11. Cretin-Derham Hall (7-3)
-The Raiders pulled out a win over Holy Angels to bolster their rankings credentials, but fell to St. Thomas in the annual battle for 3AA frontrunner status. For good or ill they’ve been competitive with just about everyone; now, can they make something of Moorhead and Edina?
This week: Tradition Holiday Invitational—Thurs vs. #2 Moorhead, Fri vs. Prior Lake, Sat vs. #3 Edina

12. Holy Angels (7-2)
-The Stars couldn’t pull it off against Cretin and are 0-2 against top 15 competition; their best wins are Benilde and Holy Family, two decent teams who are nonetheless not on par with the ones their competition for a top ten spot has to battle. Now, however, we get a true test of this group, as they join the field in Prior Lake and take a shot at two top five teams.
This week: Tradition Holiday Invitational—Thurs vs. #3 Edina, Fri vs. Lakeville North, Sat vs. #4 Shakopee

13. Eden Prairie (5-5-1)
-In at least a few places I saw Eagles’ holiday tournament’s official name written as the “Eden Prairie Meltdown,” and unfortunately for the Eagles, that was an accurate description of their performance, as they coughed up a lead against Rosemount and then got running-timed by Lakeville South. The Shakopee and Maple Grove wins prove they can be dangerous when they’re on, but they’re not trending in the right direction. It doesn’t get much easier this week when they make a road trip north.
This week: This week: Sat at Hermantown

14. Wayzata (4-4-2)
-A tie with Lakeville South isn’t terrible, but it doesn’t boost the Trojans’ case much, either. They make an interesting road trip north this coming weekend to face a Class A power and AA team capable of disrupting some things.
This week: Fri at Hibbing, Sat at Grand Rapids

15. Chanhassen (3-4-1)
-The Storm had a week off, which means no change in ranking. They’re in the St. Louis Park/Maple Grove mix this coming week, though their draw is a fairly forgiving one.
This week: Holiday Classic in the Grove/Park—Mon vs. Holy Family, Tues vs. Blake, Wed vs. Champlin Park

The Next Ten

Blaine (7-2-1)
-Like Chanhassen, the Bengals hold steady after a week off. They get a New Year’s Eve shot at number one in their only action this coming week.

Lakeville South (4-5-1)
-Did that narrow escape against Lakeville North ignite a fire under the Cougars? Since that adventure, they’ve rolled over a decent section opponent in New Prague, tied Wayzata, gave Rogers a good fight in a one-goal loss, and then hung a nine-spot on Eden Prairie. There’s a case to go higher here, but I’m trying not to overreact to one quality win quite yet. They now head into a relative respite with some conference play, with Apple Valley/Burnsville due up first.

Centennial (7-5)
-Thumped Forest Lake to keep up a string of good results; this is a bit of a push higher, but I find some of their results more convincing than some of the other teams in here given the quality of the competition. Now we’ll see what they can make of Maple Grove in a huge section battle.

Duluth Marshall (8-0-1)
-Idle this past week. They’re in the Heritage Holiday Classic in Duluth this week; I appreciate this tournament for actually being a tournament and not a jamboree, but unfortunately it will probably not give us much in the way of a measuring stick for the Hilltoppers unless they stumble against a pretty thin field. A visit to Little Falls follows that on Saturday too. After that, finally, we should get a few more real tests for them.

Farmington (9-0-1)
-Got past Eagan to stay unbeaten. The next two rounds of the South St. Paul Premier tournament await them, as that annual tourney got split between two weeks this season.

Prior Lake (3-2-2)
-Had the week off, but now they get thrown right into the fire with Shakopee and Cretin in the holiday tournament they host, plus Park of Cottage Grove and Lakeville North to round out a four-game week.

White Bear Lake (3-5-1)
-The Bears have lost four consecutive games by one goal, the last three all coming against very solid teams; they can clearly be competitive, but need to get back in the win column. Doing something against Stillwater this week would help build the case.

Andover (3-6-2)
-Beat Duluth East this past week; those Chanhassen and Blaine ties are doing a lot of work for them, as their best win is over Rock Ridge. I continue to believe they’re better than this record shows. Benilde, Maple Grove, and Sartell make for an interesting set of games in St. Louis Park and Maple Grove this coming week.

Forest Lake (8-3)
-A win over Grand Rapids was the 7AA statement the Rangers were looking for, and all of their losses are to top 20 teams. They are very much in the mix in a winnable section. We’ll see if they can back up that win with a result against Rock Ridge this coming week.

Benilde-St. Margaret’s (2-4-1)
-Were competitive in a loss to Stillwater, but are now winless in their last five and in need of another quality result. They get two such chances in the Maple Grove/St. Louis Park Holiday Classics, including fellow host Maple Grove and Andover. (Sorry, Jefferson, I gave it serious thought, but couldn’t quite do it with that Mankato West tie.)

Here’s the bi-weekly look at sections:

1AA
17 Lakeville South
19 Farmington
New Prague
Lakeville North
-Farmington is the feel-good story so far, but with South’s roar back to life, I’ll believe they’re the top seed when they do something against the Cougars. The first meeting between those two is on January 10.

2AA
1 Minnetonka
4 Shakopee
13 Eden Prairie
15 Chanhassen
20 Prior Lake
-Minnetonka has thrown down the gauntlet in this section, and they’d probably have to lose both Eden Prairie games and maybe even have some other weird stuff happen to lose the top spot. Shakopee, Eden Prairie, and Chanhassen have all beaten each other, so they’re in ranking order, and Prior Lake, Holy Family, and undefeated Bloomington Jefferson lurk somewhere beyond. We’ve got Prior Lake-Shakopee and the first Tonka-EP meetings over the next two weeks.

3AA
6 St. Thomas Academy
10 Rosemount
11 Cretin-Derham Hall
Park of Cottage Grove
-The Cadets beat Cretin to take a major step toward the top seed. That’s a big deal in this section, which has three teams in the top 11 and no prospective 4-seed even sniffing the top 25. Park and Eagan tied back in November, so both could make a case for that 4-seed at the moment; I tip toward Park right now on body of work. No games remain among the top three, as Rosemount doesn’t play either of the private powers; that means St. Thomas probably has to falter in a real way to lose the top spot, while the Irish and Raiders may go down to the wire on overall body of work to decide who gets the top seed in a prospective semifinal.

4AA
5 Stillwater
7 Hill-Murray
22 White Bear Lake
East Ridge
-Hill got a valuable win over White Bear to shore up its position here, with the Stillwater-Hill game looming later in January. Roseville has a win over White Bear, which could throw a wrench in things, though the Raiders have also lost to East Ridge; for now I’m saying White Bear has been competitive enough against good teams to take a higher seed, but that could change. Gentry is also somewhere in the mix here, but their lack of section games makes them hard to compare. Stillwater and White Bear meet this coming week, and there are a few more games with that next tier of teams for those two coming up, too.

5AA
9 Maple Grove
16 Blaine
18 Centennial
23 Andover
-The Crimson are doing what they need to do to get the top seed so far, and can get closer this coming week when they face Andover a second time and meet up with Centennial. Blaine is 1-0-1 against Andover and Centennial, while Centennial is 1-1 and Andover is 0-1-1 against this same group, so that’s how the chips fall right now.

6AA
3 Edina
8 Rogers
12 Holy Angels
14 Wayzata
25 Benilde-St. Margaret’s
-Not a whole lot happening here. Edina and Rogers don’t play, so overall body of work will matter for the top seed; Edina and Holy Angels meet this week. Benilde is done with the other good teams and went 0-2-1 and also lost to a nearly ranked Buffalo team, so their hopes for a higher seed are tied to Wayzata in one way or another. Buffalo is the wild card who I think needs to do a little more to go higher, but could have a real argument for the 4-seed at the moment given their win over Benilde.

7AA
19 Duluth Marshall
24 Forest Lake
Rock Ridge
Grand Rapids
-Forest Lake’s win over Grand Rapids blows this one wide open, and nothing is really settled here at all. Rock Ridge has Forest Lake and the two Duluth teams over the next two weeks, and Rapids and Duluth East play a second time after tying in the first meeting, so we’ll be able to say some more conclusive things when we next check in here.

8AA
2 Moorhead
Elk River
St. Michael-Albertville
Roseau
-Once again, a clear top seed, followed by soup. STMA has won a couple of section games now, while the Elks have yet to really be tested in-section yet, so they are the default 2- and 3-seeds for now, in one way or another. Bemidji has some decent non-section results, but it has been rough within it, so they’re out of the top four for now, and Roseau, despite just three wins, has beaten Bemidji and Brainerd and their only section loss is to Moorhead, so they are in for the time being. There’s a whole pile of games among these teams over the next couple weeks, so more to come here.

Karl one note on 6AA, AHA and Wayzata play Feb 4th

Great write-up as always, my favorite Sunday am reading after walking the dog. Maybe at some point, Jefferson will land in the Top 25-- always good to see a used-to-be back in the rankings.

One question -- Did Buffalo stay in 8AA? I thought they moved to 6AA? I could be wrong, but I thought I read they moved.

Cookster wrote: ↑Sun Dec 28, 2025 8:37 amOne question -- Did Buffalo stay in 8AA? I thought they moved to 6AA? I could be wrong, but I thought I read they moved.

Yeah, Buffalo is Section 6 in class AA.

Having watched the back end of the Hill-Edina home-in-home series, I feel these two teams are closer together than apart. Yeah, Hill’s loss to Holy Family is a head scratcher and their drop was understandable but Hill was right there Saturday night. A couple fluky Edina goals that don’t happen and a couple Hill shots off the iron that sneak in and it could have been a different outcome.

Cookster wrote: ↑Sun Dec 28, 2025 8:37 am Maybe at some point, Jefferson will land in the Top 25-- always good to see a used-to-be back in the rankings.

Would like to see more than a mention of Jefferson. They are having a nice season. Hopefully a win or 2 more will push them to well deserved credit. I realize they aren’t playing the big boys, but they are winning.

LASERBLUE135 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 28, 2025 10:41 am

Cookster wrote: ↑Sun Dec 28, 2025 8:37 am Maybe at some point, Jefferson will land in the Top 25-- always good to see a used-to-be back in the rankings.

Would like to see more than a mention of Jefferson. They are having a nice season. Hopefully a win or 2 more will push them to well deserved credit. I realize they aren’t playing the big boys, but they are winning.

I fell like some people are setting the bar a little low for Jefferson. DEast, too.

ryguyMN wrote: ↑Sun Dec 28, 2025 9:16 am Having watched the back end of the Hill-Edina home-in-home series, I feel these two teams are closer together than apart. Yeah, Hill’s loss to Holy Family is a head scratcher and their drop was understandable but Hill was right there Saturday night. A couple fluky Edina goals that don’t happen and a couple Hill shots off the iron that sneak in and it could have been a different outcome.

I saw both Hill-Edina games, and I agree with this assessment. Hill had three solid goals on Friday night, and two of Edina's goals were fluky. So why downplay Edina's loss and highlight Hill's loss? After seeing the home-and-home, my conclusion is that a March meeting would be a much tighter contest that will be anybody's game. Elsewhere it was reported that Hill very much outplayed H Family. I've never seen a HIll team with 3 frosh and 6 sophs, that's just crazy. Zasada and Lentz need to start finding some twine until the underclassmen get their wheels underneath them.

What I noticed again about Edina is all the after the whistle garbage; it's like the refs have a dog whistle that Hornets can't hear. On most plays, there's a face wash, a half slash skating past the goalie, pushing a guy 2 or 3 feet. It's consistent enough that it has to be something that is coached, and I don't know why stripes tolerates it. It's the kind of chippiness that leads to worse infractions. On it's own, it's not a penalty. The tenth or twelve time, start calling it. I'm surprised Lex doesn't beckon stripes over by the end of the first period for one of his patened calm conversations.

I keep struggling to get it through my brain that Buffalo is in 6AA now. Updated both the 6AA and 8AA write-ups accordingly.

The Hill-Edina series summed up the difficulty of ranking teams beyond the top 2. I watched the Saturday night game and agree there just isn't much separation in talent, but we have to go by something to rank them, and when one team has lost to Holy Family and the other hasn't, that ends up being the separator.

Jefferson was my first team out of the top 25 after beating a Buffalo team that had been in there last week. The Cloquet win is decent, too, though the Mankato West tie is sketchy, and some of their margins of victory over weak teams don't inspire much confidence. PageStat isn't too high on them, either. Holy Family and Chanhassen in the first full week of January will be telling for them.

Buffalo’s situation is kind of odd. The boys play in Section 6AA but they kept the girls in 8AA.

karl(east) wrote: ↑Sun Dec 28, 2025 11:38 am I keep struggling to get it through my brain that Buffalo is in 6AA now. Updated both the 6AA and 8AA write-ups accordingly.

The Hill-Edina series summed up the difficulty of ranking teams beyond the top 2. I watched the Saturday night game and agree there just isn't much separation in talent, but we have to go by something to rank them, and when one team has lost to Holy Family and the other hasn't, that ends up being the separator.

Jefferson was my first team out of the top 25 after beating a Buffalo team that had been in there last week. The Cloquet win is decent, too, though the Mankato West tie is sketchy, and some of their margins of victory over weak teams don't inspire much confidence. PageStat isn't too high on them, either. Holy Family and Chanhassen in the first full week of January will be telling for them.

Right on that. I can see putting Edina ahead of Hill. Four places lower seems a bit much. And I do sympathize with that 3-10 area. It seems like everyone but Tonka and Edina have one or more head scratcheres already.

After number ten, I'd just have a '11-15' and '16-20' category. Or just the top ten and 5 also-rans. It gets to be like asking how many holy angels can dance on the head of a pin. (See what I did there?)

karl(east) wrote: ↑Sun Dec 28, 2025 11:38 am The Hill-Edina series summed up the difficulty of ranking teams beyond the top 2. I watched the Saturday night game and agree there just isn't much separation in talent, but we have to go by something to rank them, and when one team has lost to Holy Family and the other hasn't, that ends up being the separator.

I agree the top 2 teams are one tier and 3-10 is another tier with not a lot of separation among them.

I'm pretty good with Hill at #7

Regardless of circumstance, you can't lose to an unranked Holy Family team and expect not to get dinged.

This week will tell us a lot about the top teams. Moorhead, STA, Stillwater, Edina, Shakopee & Rogers all have tough games, mostly because of the Tradition Holiday tourney.

Regarding Stillwater, I'm impressed by their start but wonder if they're for real. I think they lose both their games this week, against WB and Rogers.

BlueLineSpecial wrote: ↑Mon Dec 29, 2025 5:13 pm I'm pretty good with Hill at #7

Regardless of circumstance, you can't lose to an unranked Holy Family team and expect not to get dinged.

This week will tell us a lot about the top teams. Moorhead, STA, Stillwater, Edina, Shakopee & Rogers all have tough games, mostly because of the Tradition Holiday tourney.

Regarding Stillwater, I'm impressed by their start but wonder if they're for real. I think they lose both their games this week, against WB and Rogers.

I'm not worried at all. Here's what we know about Hill over time. No matter how well they play in the regular season, no matter their record, WBL will play them tough. And this year, so will Stillwater (as Stillwater did last year). Hill will play them tough too. So I don't really care about the regular season record or rankings. The trick is winning your section, and then peaking at state. Hill has enough talent to win any game, but at this point can lose to anyone too. Peaking too soon is never good. I remember a Duluth East team at Christmas one year was way under .500 and made a strong run to state. So just get better.

Sparlimb wrote: ↑Mon Dec 29, 2025 8:17 pm

BlueLineSpecial wrote: ↑Mon Dec 29, 2025 5:13 pm I'm pretty good with Hill at #7

Regardless of circumstance, you can't lose to an unranked Holy Family team and expect not to get dinged.

This week will tell us a lot about the top teams. Moorhead, STA, Stillwater, Edina, Shakopee & Rogers all have tough games, mostly because of the Tradition Holiday tourney.

Regarding Stillwater, I'm impressed by their start but wonder if they're for real. I think they lose both their games this week, against WB and Rogers.

I'm not worried at all. Here's what we know about Hill over time. No matter how well they play in the regular season, no matter their record, WBL will play them tough. And this year, so will Stillwater (as Stillwater did last year). Hill will play them tough too. So I don't really care about the regular season record or rankings. The trick is winning your section, and then peaking at state. Hill has enough talent to win any game, but at this point can lose to anyone too. Peaking too soon is never good. I remember a Duluth East team at Christmas one year was way under .500 and made a strong run to state. So just get better.

This brings up a couple of good points. In recent years, we have had a 1 or 2 (or last season 3) dominant teams. Think of Tonka's dominant championship, or the great Chanhassan team that lost to Edina in the final. But go back a few more years and we've had a muddle all season, with lots of shifting around in the rankings, including #1. So far this looks like we have 2 dominant teams (although that could change). And that is my concern with Hill. They will get better, but with Moorhead and Tonka looking so dominant, it's just hard to see someone getting past both of them. It's a very tough needle to thread.

Peaking is also important. We've seen a couple of times recently where Hill peaked a couple of weeks early.

Giles and Lex will have their squads in much better shape in mid February. And given Hill's uncharacteristically underclass roster, they can certainly make some good strides. But even given that, it's just hard to see either Hill or Edina winning a title.