AA Preseason Rankings 2021-2022

[karl(east)]

A new season is upon us, and it’s time to revive the rankings. This process had some additional challenges this season, with last season’s thinner crop of results to work with and fewer chances to see all of said teams and understand what’s coming up. But we now head in to what looks like a somewhat more normal season, and the AA field looks relatively open and entertaining.

The first set of in-season rankings will come out on December 5; teams’ schedules are listed up to that point in the write-up.

1. Cretin-Derham Hall
-I think the top spot is a straightforward choice, though I also don’t think they’re in some other tier from anyone else in the top ten. On paper the Raiders loaded, losing just one of their top 12 scorers from a season ago. Behind the Fishers and the Sondreals and a pile of supporting talent and a veteran goaltender in Marko Belak, there are no clear on-ice weaknesses. They’re also now in a more forgiving section, though St. Thomas is a formidable obstacle, and for all the talent, this squad has not made it out of a section semifinal since 2016. We’ll see how they stack up against the rival Cadets right out of the gate, and they follow that with a couple of respectable second tier teams.
Schedule: The Opener—Sat 11/27 vs. #10 St. Thomas Academy; Tues 11/30 vs. Mahtomedi, Thurs 12/2 vs. Blake

2. Maple Grove
- If number one is straightforward, number two is not at all; no spot was more of a struggle.
The Crimson may have lost a lot of bodies off last year’s elite squad, but they continue to churn out top-flight youth teams year after year, so there’s no reason to expect a major decline. Landen Gunderson will lead a potent offense, and expect a bunch of kids who got buried on the depth chart last season to slot in quite comfortably. The Turkey Trot will show us if there will be any adjustment period, and they follow that with the start of conference play.
Schedule: Wayzata Turkey Trot—Fri 11/26 vs. #4 Edina, Sat 11/27 vs. TBD; Thurs 12/2 at Champlin Park, Sat 12/4 vs. Blaine

3. Moorhead
-This Spud squad is deep, talented, and back with a vengeance: they return eight of their top nine scorers from a season ago, including front-line junior stars Harper Bentz and Joe Gramer. The first month of their schedule is particularly aggressive, as they’ve added themselves to the Wayzata Turkey Trot and also have an early date with a strong Andover team.
Schedule: Wayzata Turkey Trot—Fri 11/26 vs. #13 Wayzata, Sat 11/27 vs. TBD; Fri 12/3 vs. #5 Andover, Sat 12/4 vs. Lakeville North

4. Edina
-I am bullish on the Hornets. The Jimmy Clark and Trey Fechko combo is about as good a one-two punch as any in the state, and while the depth players didn’t put up a ton of points last season, they are rock-solid; this seems like a formula that Curt Giles will thrive with. They’re set in goal with Robbie Clarkowski, too. They can show what they’ve got right away in the Turkey Trot, while after that, the schedule settles down until the Holiday Classic, and even that may not be quite what it normally is this season.
Schedule: Wayzata Turkey Trot—Fri 11/26 vs. #2 Maple Grove, Sat 11/27 vs. TBD; Thurs 12/2 at St. Louis Park, Sat 12/4 vs. White Bear Lake

5. Andover
-Big weapon Garrett Schifsky has graduated, but most of the rest of the Huskies core is back as they look for a third straight 7AA title. A dynasty could well be brewing here, with a steady flow of resources while their chief rivals face bigger challenges. Gavyn Thoreson leads a deep forward group that only gets better with the addition of Cayden Casey from Elk River, and they’ve got some rocks on defense as well, most notably Weston Knox. First off, we’ll get a sense of how they measure up against 8AA’s top two.
Schedule: Sat 11/27 vs. #15 Roseau, Tues 11/30 at #3 Moorhead

6. Hill-Murray
-The Pioneers are going to miss some members of the core that carried them to a title two seasons ago and had them contending for another before disaster struck last season; replacing their top defensive pair is first on the to-do list, and the extent of that ask is why I’m (for once) a little more down on them than others. That said, the program depth remains on par with anyone’s, Dylan Godbout has a shot at Mr. Hockey with a big senior year, and they have one of the more experienced goaltenders out there in Nick Erickson. Does anyone really want to bet against this group returning to St. Paul? They start with a bang as they host Benilde, rematch the 2020 title game, and see if they can contain the Plantes.
Schedule: Tues 11/30 vs. #7 Benilde-St. Margaret’s; Champions Cup—Fri 12/3 vs. Eden Prairie, Sat 12/4 vs. Hermantown

7. Benilde-St. Margaret’s
-The Red Knights are an intriguing team with one of the higher ceilings out there. They have not one but two potential Mr. Hockey short-listers in Adam Marshall and Tristan Sarsland, and the defense, so often a source of stress in St. Louis Park, has a very solid core returning. If young guns like Drew Stewart and Michael Risteau can take the next step, they could be a very potent group. However, there are enough question marks for a program that is now a decade removed from its last Tourney trip that I’m keeping them out of the top five at the start. They can change that in a hurry with a win over Hill or Hermantown.
Schedule: Tues 11/30 at #6 Hill-Murray; Champions Cup—Fri 12/3 vs. Hermantown, Sat 12/4 vs. Eden Prairie

8. Lakeville South
-The Cougars are reloading some following their title game appearance, but Tanner Ludtke is one of the best players in the state, and juniors like Aidan Willis and Ashton Dahms look like the core of a next good run. The defense is probably the largest point of concern, but they are certainly in a forgiving section on that front. Will the offseason coaching drama have any effect? They start with a couple of north Metro teams that have some potential to make things interesting.
Schedule: Sat 11/27 at Rogers, Tues 11/30 vs. Blaine

9. Prior Lake
-With Will Schumacher, Alex Bump, and Sam Rice all back in the fold, the potential for a dream season is there for the Lakers. I am still perhaps a bit more of a skeptic here than some; they didn’t really take a step forward last season, and need to show they have the depth and defensive prowess to compete with many of the teams above them. Still, they have an elite top line and are the favorites in 2AA. Their first few weeks of the season are fairly forgiving before things ramp up around the holidays.
Schedule: Thurs 12/2 vs. Holy Family, Sat 12/4 at Chanhassen

10. St. Thomas Academy
-The Cadets lose two high-flying forwards off last season’s squad, but there are plenty of capable hands they can plug right into those key roles, starting with senior Max Nagel and junior Tommy Cronin. They also have plenty of experience on the big stage, while new section rival Cretin does not. That early meeting will set the standard in 3AA, though they can’t sleep on their Opener opener with Chaska, either.
Schedule: The Opener—Fri 11/26 vs. #12 Chaska, Sat 11/27 vs. #1 Cretin-Derham Hall

11. Gentry Academy
-The Stars arrive in AA fresh off a small-school title and now make the leap. Last season, their relentless regimen had them looking like a machine that no Class A team (other than, perhaps, Hermantown) could match, but AA is a different animal, so we’ll see if they maintain that ability to grind down the opposition. Barrett Hall provides legitimate offensive firepower, and there is plenty around him. One point of concern: a paper-thin schedule featuring near nothing in the way AA powers. Will they be ready for the pace of a major playoff game?
Schedule: Fri 12/3 vs. Duluth Denfeld

12. Chaska
-This team is the first of several candidates to spoil the dream script in Prior Lake. They return nine of their ten top scorers, have a Gopher commit in defenseman in Sam Rinzel, and the pipeline has been steadily improving, with a heap of bantams who will contribute immediately joining the party. Past experience tells me to trust that young talent, so they’re rising up in the rankings here. Given some of their youth and a new coach, the opening test against St. Thomas will be a good early test of how far they have to grow.
Schedule: The Opener—Fri 11/26 vs. #10 St. Thomas Academy, Sat 11/27 vs. Duluth East, Tues 11/30 vs. Chanhassen

13. Wayzata
-Stop me if you’ve heard this story before: Wayzata doesn’t have the firepower of their 6AA rivals, particularly with Gavin O’Connell off to juniors, but they remain capable and flush with incoming talent. They’ll play their game, and that does have a habit of paying off. On paper they are the weakest team in the Turkey Trot, so any sort of positive result there is a good sign.
Schedule: Wayzata Turkey Trot—Fri 11/26 vs. #3 Moorhead, Sat 11/27 vs. TBD; Sat 12/4 vs. Duluth East

14. Minnetonka
-The Skippers are in that category of team that doesn’t return a ton, but there is enough depth on hand and enough young talent coming in that they should be right there in a winnable 2AA. Their opener against Roseau is an intriguing one, and the Rogers game is worth paying some attention to as well.
Schedule: Fri 11/26 vs. #15 Roseau, Sat 11/27 vs. Cloquet, Thurs 12/2 at Owatonna, Sat 12/4 at Rogers

15. Roseau
-The Rams bring back eight of their top nine scorers from a season ago, including some legitimate front-end talent in the likes of Max Strand and Thor Byfuglien. Overcoming Moorhead will be a tall order, but on paper, this may also be this team’s last great chance for the foreseeable future. They’ve done a good job of beefing up the schedule, which in the past has been a point of concern for their ability to prepare for big games.
Schedule: Fri 11/26 at #14 Minnetonka, Sat 11/27 at #5 Andover, Sat 12/4 at Brainerd

The Next Ten

Grand Rapids
-The post-Peart era in Grand Rapids still has its share of promise. They return pretty much everyone else on defense and have a capable goalie, and with transfer Kaden Nelson bolstering some good forward talent, they should be able to muster two pretty productive lines. They probably can’t match Andover in depth or in star power, but they’re close enough to make things interesting. Their first two weeks, which feature Duluths East and Marshall and Forest Lake, will give a sense of how much separation they have from the 7AA chase pack.

Eden Prairie
-It’s a total rebuild for the defending champs. There is certainly hope for the Teddy Townsend era, so if there kids come along quickly they can contend in 2AA again, and as usual, a couple of acquisitions via the transfer portal have reinforced the ranks some. An opening week against Hill and Benilde in the Champions Cup could be a challenge, though.

Rogers
-A new era is dawning for Royals, who make the move to 5AA after years of toil in 8AA. Not only that, they’re good: they return their top two forwards, have three pretty prolific defensemen, and have acquired a top forward from Champlin Park in Hogan Sinjem. Whether they’re in the same league as Maple Grove remains to be seen, but this team could be worth watching this winter, and it starts out with a couple of big nonconference tilts including Lakeville South and Minnetonka.

Blake
-I’m not sure what the sum will be, but this team has some interesting parts in the likes of Will Matzke, Carter Krenke, and Jake Svenddal. 6AA offers a tall hill to climb, but a semifinal upset isn’t out of the question for this group. After opening with Holy Family and St. Michael-Albertville, they head to Cretin for their first serious test.

Centennial
-Like Rogers, the Cougars bring back plenty of players from a team that was respectable a season ago, but not on the same level as section rival Maple Grove. They should win some early games against Eastview and Osseo.

Stillwater
-The Ponies return their top two scorers, who will be juniors, offering some hope they’ll have an offense that can give the two 4AA frontrunners something to think about. They’ll need to develop a supporting cast to be able to compete with Hill and Gentry, though. As usual they are one of the latest starters, with no games scheduled for the first two weeks.

Lakeville North
-The Panthers return a good collection of players from a season ago and should be better than they’ve been. Whether that’s enough to close the gap with South may be a different story, but this team could sneak up on a few people if they’re taken for granted. Their first game is on Saturday, December 4 vs. Moorhead.

Holy Angels
-The Stars return a lot from a team that was edging upward a season ago, and berth in the section semifinals seems like an attainable goal, even if anything more still seems like a reach. Their schedule should allow them to pile up some wins and points, as they begin with a couple of Rochester schools and a visit to Woodbury.

Blaine
-Nothing earth-shattering here, but the Bengals return enough pieces from a respectable team and on paper should be the third-best squad in a forgiving section. How will they make do in the friendly confines of Amsoil Arena? We’ll get early measures on their ability to contend with games against Lakeville South and Maple Grove.

Shakopee
-The Sabers made a few splashes last season and will look to build on that as they return their top three scorers from a season ago. If they can round out the depth chart some, they will continue to be a thorn in the side of strong teams, and the open nature of 2AA at least gives them a chance to pull a surprise or two come sections.

And now, the sections:

1AA
8 Lakeville South
22 Lakeville North
Rochester Mayo
Hastings
-The picture at the top is very familiar here. Rochester Mayo returns pretty much everyone, which probably makes them the most interesting team in the southern tier. Hastings and Owatonna still have some pieces, but their windows for competing with the Lakevilles of the past couple years are probably slipping away. The first Lakeville Battle takes place on December 14.

2AA
9 Prior Lake
12 Chaska
14 Minnetonka
17 Eden Prairie
25 Shakopee
-This is one of the more open sections out there, and it’s actually conceivable, between Prior Lake’s peak and Chaska’s rise, that the section final could lack a Lake Conference team. Those two aren’t going away, though, so it’s going to be a good race, with potentially pesky Shakopee and a young Holy Family team hovering a bit further back. A Chaska-Minnetonka game on December 16 is the first meeting among the big four.

3AA
1 Cretin-Derham Hall
10 St. Thomas Academy
Rosemount
Eastview
-A historic rivalry gets turbocharged in 3AA this season as St. Thomas and Cretin finally find themselves in the same section, and in a league of their own compared to the competition. Elsewhere, Rosemount probably remains the best of the rest by returning a decent amount of supporting cast. The Irish and Eastview have the best youth crops coming in of the public schools, so we’ll keep them toward the top for now. We’ll get an immediate sense of where the top two stand in the season’s first weekend, but there is a rematch in a few weeks, too.

4AA
6 Hill-Murray
11 Gentry Academy
21 Stillwater
White Bear Lake
-The addition of Gentry to the mix shakes up what had been a pretty stable state of affairs in 4AA. I’m in the camp that wants them to prove a little more before they’re in the same class as Hill, but it’ll be interesting to see how they stack up against the Suburban East powers that have normally joined the Pioneers in the upper tier here. We’ll see if Gentry gets any respect comes section seeding time, given their schedule; the other teams all play each other this season, with Stillwater and White Bear meeting for the first time on December 7.

5AA
2 Maple Grove
18 Rogers
20 Centennial
Champlin Park
-Last season the Crimson were untouchable in this section, but after their extensive graduations and the addition of rising Rogers to the mix here, the 5AA race may be worth watching again. Beyond the top three, Champlin had a top ten bantam team a season ago, so they’ll be one to watch, though losing their top scorer to Rogers doesn’t help matters. Early relevant games include a December round robin between Maple Grove, Centennial, and Champlin.

6AA
4 Edina
7 Benilde-St. Margaret’s
13 Wayzata
19 Blake
23 Holy Angels
-Despite the subtraction of Cretin this remains a very tough section. There’s a bit of added incentive to grab that top seed since I think Blake and Holy Angels aren’t quite on the levels of the 4- and 5-seeds in recent years, but the gap isn’t so large to think that an upset would be crazy in either semifinal. Talent points to an Edina-Benilde final, but Wayzata has won 6AA in three of the past six years, and never as the top seed in that stretch. A Benilde-Wayzata game on December 8, along with a potential Edina-Wayzata Turkey Trot meeting, are the early games of note here.

7AA
5 Andover
16 Grand Rapids
24 Blaine
Duluth East
-Much like last season this looks like a two-team race between Rapids and Andover, though the roles of pacer and chaser have flipped this season. The Huskies’ depth is now a decided advantage over anyone else here. Beyond that, it’s pretty thin and the higher seeds are open for the taking. We’ll see what new-look Duluth East can muster, what Blaine can do now that they’ve joined the party, and how quickly the Duluth Marshall rebuild can go. The two big guns play in the second-to-last week of the season, so it’s all jockeying until then.

8AA
3 Moorhead
15 Roseau
St. Cloud
Sartell
-The names at the top of the heap are rather familiar in this one, and their two regular season meetings come very early and very late. Beyond that the names have changed some, but the practical effects may not be large. Defections keep St. Cloud from rising into legitimate contention, but there’s still some stuff to work with there; AA newcomer Sartell also gets a chance to prove its worth.

Thanks, as always, for coming along for the ride!

[east hockey]

You do know that you'll be accused of being an East homer just because you mentioned them, right?

Looking forward to seeing how things unfold this season, and if CDH can live up to the hype.

Lee

[karl(east)]

You do know that you'll be accused of being an East homer just because you mentioned them, right?

Looking forward to seeing how things unfold this season, and if CDH can live up to the hype.

Lee

I can't escape it even when I don't put them in the top 25!

[WestMetro]

excellent report by Karl !

lots of parity this year

i mean when you conceivably could see an 11 to 17 team make it to the X , with a little puck luck and no injuries

[O-townClown]

Love seeing Holy Angels mentioned. I think they’ll fare well this season. Somehow I thought they wound up in 3AA with St. Thomas & Cretin. Guess not.

[goldy313]

North will be a bottom feeder in metro AA, luckily for them they are in section 1 and that the SSC conference has a pretty clear demarcation line and isn’t very deep…..being the best of the rest makes Karl feel they are relevant.

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

North will be a bottom feeder in metro AA, luckily for them they are in section 1 and that the SSC conference has a pretty clear demarcation line and isn’t very deep…..being the best of the rest makes Karl feel they are relevant.

I don't think North Saint Paul is in AA anymore.

[elliott70]

Quote
8AA
3 Moorhead
15 Roseau
St. Cloud
Sartell
Unquote

Ooops!

[ryguyMN]

Being bullish on Edina has paid off so far for Karl.