08-09 Pioneers

GopherHockeyRube · Post by **GopherHockeyRube** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:58 pm

What do you think? Will they make it back to Xcel and defend their Title? How do they go about replacing senior and tournment MVP Joe Phillippi? Your Thoughts!

parrish4president · Post by **parrish4president** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:19 pm

deffinetely will be a down year for Hill. The last three years have been good for them, but the lost allot of key seniors. In all fairness, the talent is not a problem but the sheer ammount of experience and age might hurt them.

sachishi4 · Post by **sachishi4** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:21 pm

parrish4president wrote:deffinetely will be a down year for Hill. The last three years have been good for them, but the lost allot of key seniors. In all fairness, the talent is not a problem but the sheer ammount of experience and age might hurt them.

we lost 12 seniors and hoeffel 2 seasons ago. no one gave us a chance

and then we made state again...

Anything can happen

parrish4president · Post by **parrish4president** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:26 pm

sachishi4 wrote:
parrish4president wrote:deffinetely will be a down year for Hill. The last three years have been good for them, but the lost allot of key seniors. In all fairness, the talent is not a problem but the sheer ammount of experience and age might hurt them.
we lost 12 seniors and hoeffel 2 seasons ago. no one gave us a chance

and then we made state again...

Anything can happen

very true, in Minnesota hockey anything can happen when a team is firing on all cylinders like Hill was in the tourney this year. I mean heck, Cretin won state in 06' and NOBODY could have predicted that (although the titans that year werent in the tourney...i.e. AHA, Jefferson).

SiouxRecruit · Post by **SiouxRecruit** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:29 pm

It looks like they will still be a strong team...sadly.....

Hillfan · Post by **Hillfan** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:36 pm

While it'll be tough to cope with the losses of Flip, Furne, Cecka, Dolan, and Sova, the Pioneers have a strong chance in defending their section 4AA title. Issac Kohls should produce Dan Cecka type numbers and play along Tyler Zepeda and Nick Widing. Paul Prescott and Jeff Westerhaus could become solid 2nd line contributors. 4 of the 6 defensemen return with great experience.

I'm curious to see who the goalie will be. I saw the JV had a fantastic year (I believe just 1 loss) and their goalie was Matt Shaugnessy's younger brother, a freshman this year, who looked very good in the games I caught. If White Bear doesn't improve upon this past season's team then I think the Pioneers have to be the favorite again.

parrish4president · Post by **parrish4president** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 10:08 pm

Hillfan wrote:While it'll be tough to cope with the losses of Flip, Furne, Cecka, Dolan, and Sova, the Pioneers have a strong chance in defending their section 4AA title. Issac Kohls should produce Dan Cecka type numbers and play along Tyler Zepeda and Nick Widing. Paul Prescott and Jeff Westerhaus could become solid 2nd line contributors. 4 of the 6 defensemen return with great experience.

I'm curious to see who the goalie will be. I saw the JV had a fantastic year (I believe just 1 loss) and their goalie was Matt Shaugnessy's younger brother, a freshman this year, who looked very good in the games I caught. If White Bear doesn't improve upon this past season's team then I think the Pioneers have to be the favorite again.

sums it up perfectly..I dont see anyone else in 4AA beating Hill till sections change and they get some competition

HMHockey · Post by **HMHockey** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 10:23 pm

Hillfan wrote:While it'll be tough to cope with the losses of Flip, Furne, Cecka, Dolan, and Sova, the Pioneers have a strong chance in defending their section 4AA title. Issac Kohls should produce Dan Cecka type numbers and play along Tyler Zepeda and Nick Widing. Paul Prescott and Jeff Westerhaus could become solid 2nd line contributors. 4 of the 6 defensemen return with great experience.

I'm curious to see who the goalie will be. I saw the JV had a fantastic year (I believe just 1 loss) and their goalie was Matt Shaugnessy's younger brother, a freshman this year, who looked very good in the games I caught. If White Bear doesn't improve upon this past season's team then I think the Pioneers have to be the favorite again.

Both Shaugnessy and the other goalie, Basil Sampair split time in nets. The jv had 3 losses all of them belonging to shaugnessy. Shaugnessy also looked very small (probably the smallest on the team). Sampair seemed to be a very solid goaltender when i watched him play.

H-M 4 Life · Post by **H-M 4 Life** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 10:37 pm

Shaugnessy is the better goalie of the two though. The only knock on him is that he is small. Kirk McGinley should be fine in net. I hope

HMHockey · Post by **HMHockey** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 10:56 pm

I disagree. Shaugnessy is good don't get me wrong. But he just doesn't look ready for whats ahead of him. I've watched plenty of the jv games and Sampair seemed to be more relaxed and confident on the ice. He didnt have to make big glove saves or anything because he didn't put himself in the position to have to. Shaugnessy always seemed to be scrambling after he made a first save. And that only knock, which is being small is a HUGE factor at this level.[/b]

Hillfan · Post by **Hillfan** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 11:57 pm

Size definitely has advantage but lets not forget Joe Phillippi is no monster himself. In fact former Pioneer goalie James Fangel ('04) started out at about 5 feet even as a freshman and graduated from the Pioneers with All-State honorable mention honors and a near knock off of Centennial's 2004 "Dream Team" in the section finals. Either way, I see one of the three doing just fine next year. It may take an added year or two to match Phillippi's level still.

Pioneerprideguy · Post by **Pioneerprideguy** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:36 am

Pioneers don't rebuild, they reload!

Hill will be competitive almost every year based on the sheer numbers of kids that tryout. Their strength next year will be the defense which will assist in the development of an unproven varsity goalie. If they return, Kohls, Zepeda, and Widing, will be a year older/stronger & will be as good of forwards as there is in their section. The JV had another solid season and won the JV Gold Division in the Scwhans Cup (competed against top end programs) and those players are eager to make their mark on the next level. The torch will be passed to a new group of Pioneers & they will accept the challenge to maintain the Hill-Murray hockey tradition. Lech will bring this team along slowly with the hopes of them playing their best hockey at the end of the year. In the end, I expect this team to compete for another conference title next season & will be one of the favorites to represent sectionn 4AA in the state tournament.

FIREHAWK · Post by **FIREHAWK** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:03 am

Don't worry hill fans, if they think their goalie isn't good enough they will just pay to have one come into the program.

Charliedog · Post by **Charliedog** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:19 am

This is my best guess at who will move up from JV.

Jack Walsh - strong all around player
Willie Faust - finds the net
Tyler Hill - great improvement this season

Defense
Josh Olson
Dave Bruchu

He will keep Bahe, Holler and Cotroneo as top JV players for one more year of development. I also don't see McCallum and Phillippi moving just yet.

As for goaltender. I see Shaughnessy moving up (he has been practicing with varsity)

Hilltopper99 · Post by **Hilltopper99** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:05 am

Sampier? Brother of the guy who played at Hill, then St. Cloud? Nephew maybe?

BIAFP · Post by **BIAFP** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:25 am

Pioneerprideguy wrote:Pioneers don't rebuild, they recruit! Hill will be competitive almost every year based on the sheer numbers of kids that tryout. Their strength next year will be the defense which will assist in the development of an unproven varsity goalie. If they return, Kohls, Zepeda, and Widing, will be a year older/stronger & will be as good of forwards as there is in their section. The JV had another solid season and won the JV Gold Division in the Scwhans Cup (competed against top end programs) and those players are eager to make their mark on the next level. The torch will be passed to a new group of Pioneers & they will accept the challenge to maintain the Hill-Murray hockey tradition. Lech will bring this team along slowly with the hopes of them playing their best hockey at the end of the year. In the end, I expect this team to compete for another conference title next season & will be one of the favorites to represent sectionn 4AA in the state tournament.

Pioneerprideguy · Post by **Pioneerprideguy** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:20 pm

2008 definition of recruting: Destroy the best team from the north on the way to a State Title.

PointBlank · Post by **PointBlank** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:28 pm

Charliedog wrote:This is my best guess at who will move up from JV.

Jack Walsh - strong all around player
Willie Faust - finds the net
Tyler Hill - great improvement this season

Defense
Josh Olson
Dave Bruchu

He will keep Bahe, Holler and Cotroneo as top JV players for one more year of development. I also don't see McCallum and Phillippi moving just yet.

As for goaltender. I see Shaughnessy moving up (he has been practicing with varsity)

Heard there were 6 forward openings....who will fill the other 3 forward spots?

HMHockey · Post by **HMHockey** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:17 pm

Hilltopper99 wrote:Sampier? Brother of the guy who played at Hill, then St. Cloud? Nephew maybe?

yea I'm pretty sure they are cousins..

chillout · Post by **chillout** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:41 pm

HMHockey wrote:
Hilltopper99 wrote:Sampier? Brother of the guy who played at Hill, then St. Cloud? Nephew maybe?

yea I'm pretty sure they are cousins..

I don't know if you just spelled his name incorrectly, but the goalie at Hill now is Sampair, not Sampier.

AngusYoung · Post by **AngusYoung** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:55 pm

Hot news on the wire is that they have inked Chris Simon to replace #24 for next season. Apparently he is coming back to get his diploma. Should fit in well with their play.

AY

H-M 4 Life · Post by **H-M 4 Life** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:19 pm

I have heard that Ben Marshall is thinking about coming to Hill, but could he still transfer over to Hill with the transfer rule ? And also I think that this team will win the section next year and make another run at defending their titile. Jeff Westerhaus and Monte French will step it up next year and have solid season, where as the other members - Zepeda, Kohls, Widing, and Prescott will continue to build on their game as well. The defense will be solid with returning 4 of the 6 but the goalie will be the question mark with this team. Maybe we can go out and get one in the offseason

Pioneerprideguy · Post by **Pioneerprideguy** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:40 pm

AngusYoung wrote:Hot news on the wire is that they have inked Chris Simon to replace #24 for next season. Apparently he is coming back to get his diploma. Should fit in well with their play.

AY

Well, given how many games Hill plays at the Xcel, Chris should feel right at home. This will workout great because he doesn't even have to deal with the transfer rule either. When asked how he feels about going back to high school, Chris responded, "I'm excited about going to a championship program."

Charliedog · Post by **Charliedog** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:21 pm

PointBlank,

I have no clue who Lechner will choose to fill all 6 spots. He usually doesn't play his 4th line in full rotation and some kids would find this frustrating and would see more game time as 1st line JV. There are 3 kids who will be seniors next year who could take the spots. Or maybe he won't carry 4 full lines?

November is a long way off and kids will develop and get stronger. Who knows, maybe someone new will move into the neighborhood.

The only thing I know for a fact is that Lechner is not going to call me and ask for my opinion.[/i]

pistol · Post by **pistol** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:07 pm

The answer for all you bandwagon jumpers: Hill will 3pete.

In 2009, Hill will have a combined 16 seniors or returning State Champion vets.

The remaining 2008 JV underclassmen will fill the 13 open spots in 2010.

Do you dare doubt me, again?