AV?

[hockeyguy05]

I really dont see all the hype about the Eagles this year. They should have a solid defense returning with medvec and fischer, and the further addition of beggs. But i dont see any scoring?? I mean you can be as solid as you want on D but then whos going to "Bury the biscuit"?? just thought i would bring it up..what do all of you think?<br> <p></p><i></i>

[RBK sniper]

you pretty much nailed it. They will, by no doubt have SOLID defense, and an goalie who is good when hes on his game (just dont score more than 3 goals on him, and he blows up). BUT they have NO offense, i heard one returning forward (3rd line)....look for this team to be a .500 team, who can pull some upsets when it counts, but wont be able to go far. <p></p><i></i>

[98irish]

Hey .500 in the Lake conference isn't too bad. Could gat a team a top seed in the Sectionals as the Lake Loses EP, Jefferson, Lakeville (both), Chaska when it comes to Sections, however they do pick up Holy Angels. <br>The Lake is the best Conference in HS Hockey year in and year out, so I'd take .500 anytime with a shot at Holy ANgels in the Sectional finals. Also there's an old saying "Offense wins games, Defense wins CHAMPIONSHIPS"!!! <p></p><i></i>

[RBK sniper]

Your right, the lake is the best every year. But when you cant score, and when fischer and medvec cant be out their the whole game its pretty tough to win. <p></p><i></i>

[GNHogger]

irish here's a guiness salute to you! av played a great game against aha in the semi's. two solid periods. had trebils boys on the ropes until the 3rd period. as slinger indicated any team can gell going into the final stretch and land in the excel. aha is beatable. <p></p><i></i>

[RBK sniper]

yes they are...but AV is not cappable of that.!! its is a TOTALLY diff team than last years. <p></p><i></i>

[GNHogger]

hey sniper. your probably right. two d1 defensive stars may not catapult the team to a championship run. through the course of the long season, they may, however, find a scoring leader/leaders who will surprise everybody. and remember the vikings of old. bud grant won many games on defense alone. kind of what his son is doing at the eden prairie football scene now. <p></p><i></i>

[RBK sniper]

oh <p></p><i></i>

[Wheresmycardude]

everyone knows what they say "Defence Wins championships" Fischer, Medvek, and Baggs will try to help the Eagles as much as they can. True that the offence will be weaker they had alot of senior offencive might last year with returners like Tabor, Iccarella (sp?), and Politz. I'm thinking that Tabor is the only one with siginificat varsity experence. <p></p><i></i>

[hockeyguy05]

yes and another point that was said. Medvec and fischer wont be on the ice the whole game. What happens when they are off the ice?? Yes and the saying "Defense wins championships" you could have the most solid defense possible. But when it comes down to those big games..a team would need a little offensive threat. I really dont think AV will have that this year after losing many senior forwards. I can see the Eagles below .500 and MAYBE..just MAYBE at .500.<br><br>You cant rest the weight of the team on 3 kids shoulders. It takes an all around team to win championships. <p></p><i></i>

[Wheresmycardude]

Yeah i'm not saying that the whole team rests upon thoes three guys, they also have a talented guy backing up at defence, Goche. And it doesnt matter that they wont be on the ice the whole time, the fact that they have possibly the best defencemen in the state will help alot <p></p><i></i>

[98irish]

Also remember a few years back (maybe more than a few) when AV won the title. They did it with a great defense and timely scoring from some real lunch pail kind of forwards (Sikich sp? to name one). Their forwards were not flashy, but they worked their cans off and always seemed to find the net at the most appropriate times. AV always seems to find a few guys that can put it in the net. You still have to put those guys toward the top of the Lake. They always seem to get it done. Gosh that really pains me to say those things coming from the Rosemount area, but you've really got to respect the AV program, past present and future. <p></p><i></i>

[NPGandyDancer]

irish. speaking of rosemount, bring me up to speed. was their a coaching change? the team 2 years ago was comprised of many underclassmen. these guys, assuming most of them are still playing, should be matured and ready to dominate the lake. reminds me of donahues boys at slp a few years ago. maybe 1 or 2 seniors on the team. mostly soph's. and these guys eventually gelled and gave it a run to state. <p></p><i></i>

[sloppyice]

hockeyice,<br><br>AV recent history indicates that their coaching staff has no problems playing a defenseman the entire game (lundin). Now they have 2 good D, they may only play with 3 defenseman the whole year. Just keep rotating the forwards.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[BlueHawks00]

Wheresmycardude: "Yeah i'm not saying that the whole team rests upon thoes three guys, they also have a talented guy backing up at defence, Goche."<br>-Just an FYI, Gauche broke his leg in an Elite II game and will be sidelined for quite awhile maybe 2-3 months. It was a fairly serious leg injury. <p></p><i></i>

[RBK sniper]

AV is the most over- rated team right now....everyone well see <p></p><i></i>

[98irish]

NPGandyDancer: I can give you an update although there's a thread out there somewhere that probably has more info. Coach Micheletti resigned about a month ago and Scott Macho was named as the new head coach (I believe he was an assistant at St. Olaf Men's last year). He did not retain the services of any of the assistants except I believe he kept Matt ANderson the JV coach. And you're right about a veteran team. There should be about 20-25 (I may be off on the count as I only have 10 fingers and 10 toes) seniors available and probably a dozen will play Varsity, the rest of the seniors will be a nightmare for the new guy (would you want to walk in and cut 10 or more seniors???). Add in about 4 maybe 5 of last year's VFW Bantam A champs (sophs) and toss in a few Juniors and you've got a pretty good team that should be competitive if the coaching change does not become an issue. The loss of Beggs certainly will put a question mark on the whole deal as well. They have a senior goalie who filled to give Beggs a few games off last year, but we'll just have to see if he steps up to the plate. I believe he's capable, but ????? There's been some talk of some of the sophs heading for greener pastures (AHA or ST. Thomas) with Micheletti's departure. But with Mick resigning after the start of the school year they're SOL for this year. Anyway it's probably just talk and nothing to it. That's about all I know or have heard. I'm looking forward to watching the Irish and all the Lake teams...consider myself fortunate to live in Rosemount and able to watch the likes of AV, Burnsville, Lakeville N and S, Eagan, EP, Chaska, Jefferson, Kennedy, Eastview and of course Rosemount twice a week for the next 3 + months. Hockey heaven!!!! <p></p><i></i>

[hockeyguy05]

hey irish..i see you know some stuff about the underclassmen(sophs) from rosemount. What do you think of that Brown, Percy, Saintey line?? I have watched them grow up and got to watch that Bantam A team and it looks like they should hold there own. Just thought i would see what you think of them. <p></p><i></i>

[98irish]

Yeh I know a little bit of the underclassmen, having been on the ice with them during various clinics the past several years. I watched them as Squirts, PeeWees and Bantams. The whole group was/is outstanding. Of course I would give a lot of the credit to old man Saintey (Rick) as he coached that group for the past 6 years, pretty much all year round in hockey and most of them in baseball. The 3 you speak of are the real deal individually and especially together. That's also part of the group who are always mentioned in the rumors about leaving. They skated all summer in Micheletti's summer high school program and really shined in the summer end Burnsville tournament. There's also a couple more soph's Carlson, Porter, and Dale who have a real shot at Varsity, but may be odd men out if the new guy stays with the senior group. I'm probably missing a few and I apologize to them. You may see some of the sophs who don't make Varsity, opt to play on the U16 team instead of JV as rumor has it 2 of the former assistant high school coaches will be working under a veteran youth coach (Del something I can never spell it right) at that level. Of course that's rumor and propaganda floating around but that's what makes things interesting. Anyway this is an AV thread and we probably should get back to the subject. That's all I have to say about that right now. <p></p><i></i>

[eaglehockey15]

I have a question, Eastview is part of AV right, so what happens when they seperate into 2 high schools, do they seperate the players, or do they both have youth programs. <p></p><i></i>

[Wheresmycardude]

Yeah it happened just like Lakeville North/South and the youth usually play where they are going to high school <p></p><i></i>

[diskman]

Eastview never SPLIT from Apple Valley. When Eastview H.S. boundaries were drawn they pulled kids from Rosemount and Eagan high schools. None came from Apple Valley High School even though Eastview is in the city of Apple Valley. The youth associations were a different matter though. <br><br>Eastview has had it's own youth association since the second year of the high school. When Eastview High School opened, and a youth association was formed, hockey players came from all three youth associations - A.V., Eagan, and Rosemount. That was a huge transition period. <p></p><i></i>

[98irish]

Actually guys Eastview is between Rosemount and AV and both high schools lost 1,000+ students overnight to EV. I believe back in 93 or 94 when it happened the seniors were given the option of staying at AV/Rsmt or moving to EV. Some students had no choice other than open enrollment. So that is a big reason Rosemount has been struggling in sports since that time, they lost around 1,500 students I believe I saw somewhere. AV fared a little better. But EV was the big winner in that whole deal. Took them just 3 years to make it to the State tourney in hockey and they fared pretty well. And yes when the HS split occurred the fools went and split the youth association as well, wasn't necessary but they did it anyway. That destroyed the Rsmt youth program and it didn't help the AV prorgam much either. Yes we've been whining about it since the split, but now Lakeville is going through it...watch their programs at the HS and youth for the next 10 years to see how long it takes to get back on form. It's a long slow process to rebuild a youth program and Posemount HS had years where they barely had enough for Varsity let alone JV. As I said, AV fared better, maybe their youth program was better, maybe they were just luckier when they drew the line. <p></p><i></i>

[iknowbetter]

AV should be pretty good, not great. No real offense returning, real solid D and a good goalie in Beggs,the Rosemount goalie. Now that the recruiting period is over I don't see them adding any players that can help. It really doesn't matter because they will never get by AHA in the sections. Good luck to the Eagles <p></p><i></i>

[diskman]

You are wroing 98irish. Apple Valley High School lost zero kids to Eastview High School. When the boundaries were changed Eastview's kids came from Rosemount and Eagan-none from Apple Valley.<br><br>The youth associations were a different matter, like I said, but Rosemount couldn't wait to get rid of the Eastview kids. They thought that opportunites would abound for their Rsmt. players without the EV kids. MYHA has strict rules about this. You have to play in the association in your city or the one that feeds your high school unless you have a release from the association board. There wasn't much choice for the EV kids. The kids have always been blamed for the moves they had to make - like they had anything to do with it. <br> <p></p><i></i>