Duluth Easts Future

allstatebenders · Post by **allstatebenders** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 8:28 pm

I think I probably start this thread every year, but this year with mostly the whole team graduating, I'm really curious on whether Mike will stay or not or if East will continue to perform well. Defense seems to be alright, but im worried about the O and the goaltending. Any thoughts from anyone?

slyer · Post by **slyer** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 10:09 pm

i'm sure many goaltenders phones have been ringing already with calls from mikey, just like the last few years parker sartell skoog forest lake

TheHockeyDJ · Post by **TheHockeyDJ** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 10:36 pm

slyer wrote:i'm sure many goaltenders phones have been ringing already with calls from mikey, just like the last few years parker sartell skoog forest lake

On paper it looks like Rapids and Elk River should be the top 2 teams next year, but as long as Randolph is there East will be the favorite. It looks like Cloquet is gonna go downhill big time. Really sad. St. Michael Albertville looks to be a team to keep an eye on with bantams/peewees currently in the top 20.

Post by **east hockey** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 10:40 pm

allstatebenders wrote:I think I probably start this thread every year, but this year with mostly the whole team graduating, I'm really curious on whether Mike will stay or not or if East will continue to perform well. Defense seems to be alright, but im worried about the O and the goaltending. Any thoughts from anyone?

That is the question; would Mike welcome the challenge of coaching what is going to be a very green group of players this coming season?

Lee

MNhockey29 · Post by **MNhockey29** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 11:03 pm

Rapids will be losing a lot of players next year, but they still will have Jonah Bischoff, AP, and Shepard. Forest Lake should have a decent team with experience. Personally I think Elk River will get the #1 seed next year.

wannagototherink · Post by **wannagototherink** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 11:35 pm

Lets hope for the sake of the program that Mike sticks around. He did such a great job with this group, I truly believe he is doing his best coaching. With his hands on the youth the East program will never be that down and out. I know I'm crossing my fingers.

kniven · Post by **kniven** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 11:46 pm

TheHockeyDJ wrote:
slyer wrote:i'm sure many goaltenders phones have been ringing already with calls from mikey, just like the last few years parker sartell skoog forest lake
On paper it looks like Rapids and Elk River should be the top 2 teams next year, but as long as Randolph is there East will be the favorite. It looks like Cloquet is gonna go downhill big time. Really sad. St. Michael Albertville looks to be a team to keep an eye on with bantams/peewees currently in the top 20.

Cloquet down big time? They will be competitive.

allstatebenders · Post by **allstatebenders** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 8:26 am

Easts Bantam AA won state last year, and are going to state again this year so I don't know if that correlates to high school success but I really hope so.

TheHockeyDJ · Post by **TheHockeyDJ** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:04 am

allstatebenders wrote:Easts Bantam AA won state last year, and are going to state again this year so I don't know if that correlates to high school success but I really hope so.

Keep in mind in regions Rapids beat them 6-1 to get to state in the winners bracket and East beat Hermantown after the Rapids loss to advance to state. Rapids and Elk River have more core players coming back to blend with their very good bantam teams. Cloquet didn't have a good bantam team and they won't have Kuhlman back. East is losing so much that they might be down for a year if at all. It seems they do find a way to add pieces in the offseason.

StreetStix · Post by **StreetStix** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:36 am

The latest I heard after the tournament is that Randolph is coming back - of course that could change at any time. With him, they'll be fine and will compete for the section again. First line has experience now - Bunten, Kolar, Altmann and the D pair of Beaulieu and Trapp should be pretty darn good. One who loves to hit and the other who loves to control the game. As for finding a goalie and depth after the starting 5... those Bantams will need to step up. I'd imagine Rapids, ER, and DE as the top three seeds - not necessarily in that order though. Avery and possibly Beaulieu as Mr. Hockey finalists.

Pioneerprideguy · Post by **Pioneerprideguy** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:40 am

1 thing you can count on from Duluth East...they don't rebuild, they reload!

hockey59 · Post by **hockey59** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:45 am

allstatebenders wrote:Easts Bantam AA won state last year, and are going to state again this year so I don't know if that correlates to high school success but I really hope so.

To clarify...DE won VFW State last year (Not MAHA State - which Edina won). VFW is a nice title...but many teams do not participate in VFW...
and MAHA State is the recognized State Title for Bantams in MN.

That said, I'm sure DE will continue to field very competitive HS teams going forward...they have too much talent and are too well coached not to...but "on paper" the next few years also look very promising for GR and ER, with Andover also being a darkhorse the next couple years. Suffice it to say..it appears 7AA will be very competitive going forward.

kniven · Post by **kniven** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 12:40 pm

TheHockeyDJ wrote:
allstatebenders wrote:Easts Bantam AA won state last year, and are going to state again this year so I don't know if that correlates to high school success but I really hope so.
Keep in mind in regions Rapids beat them 6-1 to get to state in the winners bracket and East beat Hermantown after the Rapids loss to advance to state. Rapids and Elk River have more core players coming back to blend with their very good bantam teams. Cloquet didn't have a good bantam team and they won't have Kuhlman back. East is losing so much that they might be down for a year if at all. It seems they do find a way to add pieces in the offseason.

Cloquet's Bantam team wasn't very good this year because they took 5 players from that Bantam team and played them at the JV level. The JV was very successful this year.

Post by **karl(east)** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 1:50 pm

I agree with the general consensus here...the D corps should be pretty sound, and the one line that will return next year looked pretty good by the end of the season. They need a goaltender, and they need to add some depth via bantams or JV. (Or the Evil East Recruiting Machine.

)

If we're looking for a similar situation in semi-recent history, I'd go with the 02-03 team...they graduated just about all their top forwards the previous year, and were left with a pretty inexperienced group, especially up front and in goal. What little high end talent they had was on the blue line, but they didn't have any of the real stars we often see at East. The team had a bad start to the year with a brutal schedule (something to the tune of 2-8 or so), but by the end of the season they found their goalie, were playing smart D, and were rolling 3-4 decent lines. They finished the regular season with more wins than losses, won a fairly open 7AA, and took eventual State Champ Anoka to the brink in the first round at State.

That sort of postseason result would be a best-case scenario, but I think that sort of regular season is attainable, and almost certainly beatable if the pieces fall into place quickly enough.

As for the rest of 7AA, Elk River has the most pieces coming back and probably deserves frontrunner status, though they are certainly beatable. Rapids is right up there with its star talent, but they have a lot of holes to fill on defense. Andover could be a factor if they get things together, Forest Lake will be decent again, and we'll see how the Cloquet situation plays out.

HawkeyPower · Post by **HawkeyPower** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 2:33 pm

kniven wrote:
TheHockeyDJ wrote:
allstatebenders wrote:Easts Bantam AA won state last year, and are going to state again this year so I don't know if that correlates to high school success but I really hope so.
Keep in mind in regions Rapids beat them 6-1 to get to state in the winners bracket and East beat Hermantown after the Rapids loss to advance to state. Rapids and Elk River have more core players coming back to blend with their very good bantam teams. Cloquet didn't have a good bantam team and they won't have Kuhlman back. East is losing so much that they might be down for a year if at all. It seems they do find a way to add pieces in the offseason.

Cloquet's Bantam team wasn't very good this year because they took 5 players from that Bantam team and played them at the JV level. The JV was very successful this year.

Heard Kuhlman and Michaud were not returning. If so, that would leave them at best in the middle of the pack in 7AA.

allstatebenders · Post by **allstatebenders** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 3:27 pm

Talked to someone in the DE bantam program today about the goalie situation next year. He said they have a pretty good goaltender who played jv this year, who Randolph wants to start next year on varsity who's been playing very well named Gunnar Howg (i think?) he told me he plays exactly like Jojo Jeanetta, and that Randolph loves it. Of course thats all word of mouth but if true, That should be fun to watch, JoJo was great in net.

sparty · Post by **sparty** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 5:23 pm

Future's so bright...I gotta wear

allstatebenders · Post by **allstatebenders** » Wed Mar 13, 2013 3:49 pm

hockey59 wrote:
allstatebenders wrote:Easts Bantam AA won state last year, and are going to state again this year so I don't know if that correlates to high school success but I really hope so.
To clarify...DE won VFW State last year (Not MAHA State - which Edina won). VFW is a nice title...but many teams do not participate in VFW...
and MAHA State is the recognized State Title for Bantams in MN.

That said, I'm sure DE will continue to field very competitive HS teams going forward...they have too much talent and are too well coached not to...but "on paper" the next few years also look very promising for GR and ER, with Andover also being a darkhorse the next couple years. Suffice it to say..it appears 7AA will be very competitive going forward.

Agree with what the last statement is, 7AA is wide open next year! Can't wait to see Easts new generation next year.

alcloseshaver · Post by **alcloseshaver** » Wed Mar 13, 2013 4:39 pm

Scheduling issues aside it would nice to see Elk River play East again in the regular season, they played only 3 section games last year with 2 being conference games V Andover.

allstatebenders · Post by **allstatebenders** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 1:23 pm

Easts bantam AA's are going to the state championship. Wow, pretty surprising.

The Insider · Post by **The Insider** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 2:47 pm

Sadly, the Duluth East downfall starts next year and will continue on. Duluth Marshall is starting to steal some of the more high end players. But if Randolph is the coach, they will always be contenders. Elk River brings back the most players in section 7AA and should be considered the favorites.

Post by **karl(east)** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 3:48 pm

Right now it may seem like the Hounds are always good, after a run of 5 straight Tourneys, 4 of which they had a legitimate chance to win. But it's worth remembering some fairly recent history: in 01 and 02 they had strong teams that failed to get out of the section; from 03-05 they made 3 straight Tourneys but never really had a legitimate shot at winning one; and from 06-08 some good-but-not-great Hounds teams went down in the section semifinals. Some very good players in the youth program went to Marshall over that stretch, too, and the program survived just fine.

My point: Over the past 20 years, East has had some stretches where they were great (top 5-10), but also some long stretches where they were just good (ranked in the 5-20 range). There was never any (realistic or reasonable) panic about "decline" in the "good" stretch. The next couple years look to be "good" years, and it's hard to predict anything beyond that, except to say that the youth system looks quite healthy. Anyone who expects a program (particularly one of this size) to be a state title contender every single year is living in a fantasyland. There will always be peaks and valleys, though East fans have been blessed in that their "valleys" have still pretty much all produced realistic contenders in the section.

Also, the "so long as they have Randolph, they'll be good" line seems to come up a lot, and while I don't disagree, if his successor is one of his current assistants or one of the top youth coaches (or some high profile coach from outside the program), I don't see any obvious cause for concern in the post-Randolph era. Mike Randolph has given a lot to East hockey, but East hockey has always been more than Mike Randolph, too.

blueblood · Post by **blueblood** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 10:18 pm

How many of the current bantam A's will play for Duluth East versus other schools in the Duluth area?

allstatebenders · Post by **allstatebenders** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 10:59 pm

blueblood wrote:How many of the current bantam A's will play for Duluth East versus other schools in the Duluth area?

Majority will be with Duluth East. A few of the good players go to Marshall though.

wannagototherink · Post by **wannagototherink** » Sun Mar 17, 2013 12:34 am

allstatebenders wrote:
blueblood wrote:How many of the current bantam A's will play for Duluth East versus other schools in the Duluth area?
Majority will be with Duluth East. A few of the good players go to Marshall though.

I think you may see this trend stop at least as long as they are in the same section as Hermantown. They may compete against those small range schools but Hermantown's program is growing and will be good for the foreseeable future. This is just my opinion but I think that hurts the Toppers and the defections will start to end.

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