LPH PreSeason Rankings

[pucktech]

High School Girls AA - PRESEASON
1 BENILDE-ST. MARGARET'S
2 Minnetonka
3 Hill-Murray
4 Eden Prairie
5 Lakeville North
6 Edina
7 Hopkins
8 Mounds View
9 Wayzata
10 Buffalo
11 Andover
12 Roseville Area
13 Blaine
14 North Wright County
15 Eagan
16 Lakeville South
17 Dodge County
18 Cretin-Derham Hall
19 Armstrong/Cooper
20 Irondale

High School Girls A - PRESEASON
1 WARROAD
2 Blake
3 Red Wing
4 Breck
5 South St. Paul
6 Thief River Falls
7 Orono
8 Mound Westonka
9 Proctor/Hermantown
10 New Prague
11 Hibbing/Chisholm
12 St. Paul United
13 Mankato East/Loyola
14 Achiever Academy
15 Totino-Grace
16 Alexandria
17 East Grand Forks
18 Northfield
19 Crookston
20 Princeton

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[Sparlimb]

What happened to the killer teams White Bear Lake and Stillwater used to field? They've fallen off the map. Good to see Irondale give some love after their epic upset of Mounds View in sections last year. I can't imagine Mounds View will want to see them in sections again. Tonka is still #1 in my book until they get beat. BSM has had the rankings the past 3 years and not made state any of them. Granted they are in the toughest section...

[AAA Dad]

What happened to the killer teams White Bear Lake and Stillwater used to field? They've fallen off the map. Good to see Irondale give some love after their epic upset of Mounds View in sections last year. I can't imagine Mounds View will want to see them in sections again. Tonka is still #1 in my book until they get beat. BSM has had the rankings the past 3 years and not made state any of them. Granted they are in the toughest section...

Pannek , Reilly and 6 more Seniors may do it this year

[sinbin]

Despite the fact that BSM has never won the big won (or even gotten to the dance), it's theirs to lose . . . although they're still in the toughest section in state . . .

[MNHockeyFan]

Tonka is still #1 in my book until they get beat.

Looking at this year's rosters and comparing them to 2012-13, it appears to me that Minnetonka and Warroad - two teams that have a number of state championships as of late - may have lost the most to graduation.

In the case of Tonka I'm sure they a great group of girls coming up out of their youth program, but it may take them a while before they begin to make up for the loss of Peterson, Bowman and Morin - that's 116 points that you would think will be hard to make up. Fortunately they have an excellent returning goaltender who, along with Sydney Baldwin - perhaps the best defender in the State (?) - should keep their opponents's scores down.

I don't know as much about Warroad but I do know that they lost their top two scorers from last year (Marvin and Gardner - 147 total points!) so they'll also need some players to step up if they're going to retain their No. 1 pre-season ranking. Their game against Minnetonka on the 16th should tell us more.

[puckbreath]

Tonka is still #1 in my book until they get beat.

Looking at this year's rosters and comparing them to 2012-13, it appears to me that the two teams that may have lost the most to graduation are the two teams the voters have ranked No. 1 in this pre-season poll.

In the case of Tonka I'm sure they a great group of girls coming up out of their youth program, but it may take them a while before they begin to make up for the loss of Peterson, Bowman and Morin - that's 116 points that you would think will be hard to make up. Fortunately they have an excellent returning goaltender who, along with Sydney Baldwin - perhaps the best defender in the State (?) - should keep their opponents's scores down.

I don't know as much about Warroad but I do know that they lost their top two scorers from last year (Marvin and Gardner - 147 total points!) so they'll also need some players to step up if they're going to retain their No. 1 pre-season ranking. Their game against Minnetonka on the 16th should tell us more.

You mean Warroad will need players to step in, not up

Wonder where they'll be from this year, hopefully they're at least American.

[D6 Girls Fan]

And mine...

1 Hill-Murray
2 Eden Prairie
3 Lakeville North
4 Minnetonka
5 Benilde
6 Edina
7 Hopkins
8 Armstrong/Cooper
9 Wayzata
10 Lakeville South

I just think that the inexperienced Benilde D will be an issue. Maybe at the end of the year they'll be fine, and you can't argue that they have the best 2 top lines in the state, but is that enough?

[Maverick2000]

Looks like a great year for girls hockey as no clear cut favorites. With some transfers and development I feel Hill will be the team to beat as Tonka graduations, and benilde lack of D will hurt. The sleeper way underrated team on here is dodge county at #17. They outplayed lakeville north in section final last year two key injuries in the third allowed north to sqeek by after being down all game til late and they only graduated two players and added several very good players. Looks like they also took it to south as well last year. This past weekend I watched them in red wing pound prior lake and out skate and tie buffalo. Looks like a very fast deep squad and will see Saturday when they play benilde. Red wing looks to be be top single A for me as warroad and Blake lost too much and red wing returns that top line as well as a solid goalie.

[Lace'emUp]

And mine...

1 Hill-Murray
2 Eden Prairie
3 Lakeville North
4 Minnetonka
5 Benilde
6 Edina
7 Hopkins
8 Armstrong/Cooper
9 Wayzata
10 Lakeville South

I just think that the inexperienced Benilde D will be an issue. Maybe at the end of the year they'll be fine, and you can't argue that they have the best 2 top lines in the state, but is that enough?

I agree with your list and your comment about BSM. They lost a very good D to HM, and that will hurt. Plus, Benilde was already defeated by Centennial up at their Duluth scrimmages (2-1). Not an official game, but it does mean and say something.

[blondegirlsdad]

Yeah, I wouldn't read too much into those scrimmages. Penalty shots instead of real penalties, games played an hour apart, coaches experimenting, interesting officiating. I just wouldn't make a lot of conclusions off those "games."

[sinbin]

I would say that clearly Tonka did lose the most to graduation with 5 D1 players leaving (most schools this side of BSM don't even have 5 D1 players over a 4-year span), plus some strong role players, plus two seniors with multiple state championships who unexpectedly moved elsewhere and would have played strong contributing roles this season. Tonka may take some lumps early on and every team will be gunning for them each week, but they always seem to figure out their lines by the playoffs. And, with the two remaining D1 defensemen and the D1 goalie, they're automatically in every single game even if they don't have any big time scorers.

[Nimrod]

I agree with Blondiegirlsdad on not reading too much into the scrimmages. Last year BSM "lost" to HM by 3 goals in the same scrimmage format and beat them by 3 or 4 goals at HM late in the season. I would say that the better read on the BSM vs. Centennial scrimmage is that Centennial will make a big jump this year. Pulling out the penalty shot goal and ignoring all the flaws with judging a preseason scrimmage, they tied 1-1 against a fairly strong team. Centennial is big and aggressive and has a solid break out. They will get a lot of penalties this year, including some majors, and that could sink them if the refs use their whistles - but I predict a top 15 ranking for them by January.