7A 2015-2016 Prediction

TheHockeyDJ · Post by **TheHockeyDJ** » Sun Jan 17, 2016 5:25 am

Having a 6PM semi final of Hermantown vs Denfeld followed by Hibbing vs Greenway at Amsoil will be awesome!

Whataboutely · Post by **Whataboutely** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 7:43 am

Ely is a nice town but probably not a town parents will be visiting for hockey games after next year. They simply will not have the kids after the current juniors leave the team. They wont ever be discussed on here because they don't have the numbers or talent to compete (let alone the ability to keep the talent from running off to Hermantown or Virginia). At Ely, you don't have to make the team because if you can play hockey your on the team. Now, consider them discussed as something other then a nice town

Jeffy95 · Post by **Jeffy95** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 8:20 am

Whataboutely wrote:Ely is a nice town but probably not a town parents will be visiting for hockey games after next year. They simply will not have the kids after the current juniors leave the team. They wont ever be discussed on here because they don't have the numbers or talent to compete (let alone the ability to keep the talent from running off to Hermantown or Virginia). At Ely, you don't have to make the team because if you can play hockey your on the team. Now, consider them discussed as something other then a nice town

That's sad to hear any time a program is struggling like that. Unfortunately, it seems that's kind of the way things are heading and they probably won't be the last program to dissolve. You feel bad for the kids who want to continue to play. I didn't realize Hermantown was getting kids from Ely too but nothing surprises me anymore.

greenway1969 · Post by **greenway1969** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 8:38 am

That would be a sad day if Ely no longer fields a team. Ely was always more of a basketball town and only fielded a competitive hockey team once in all the years I go back. That was one time in the 60's when they had two players (Merhar? and ?) who played almost the entire game. Periods were only 12 minutes then. They beat a lot of teams for the first time that season. Even then, they didn't make it to the Regional Tournament.

mnmouth · Post by **mnmouth** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 11:45 am

greenway1969 wrote:That would be a sad day if Ely no longer fields a team. Ely was always more of a basketball town and only fielded a competitive hockey team once in all the years I go back. That was one time in the 60's when they had two players (Merhar? and ?) who played almost the entire game. Periods were only 12 minutes then. They beat a lot of teams for the first time that season. Even then, they didn't make it to the Regional Tournament.

For those interested:

The dudes you reference were Otto Merhar and Jack Thompson, but they had a decent team for 2-3 years - too bad this was during International Falls' brilliant run and the usual, better-coached IRC teams. Merhar went on to play well for Army.

Ely actually had a couple other relatively good moments in hockey. In 1982, they fielded their best team since the the early 60s, beat Moose Lake and Babbitt in Section 7 play before getting drubbed 9-1 by the Matt Christensen-led Aurora Hoyt Lakes club in the quarters.

But they may have had their best team in 2000, when they overwhelmed a decent Denfeld team 7-2 in the 7A quarters. They lost 3-2 in the semis to Section champ IFalls. That was the year Falls lost to State runner-up Warroad 2-1 in double OT in the State semifinals on their way to a 3rd place finish.

That's basically it for a 60 year run.

greenway1969 · Post by **greenway1969** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 12:16 pm

Thanks for the lesson on Ely hockey.

mnmouth · Post by **mnmouth** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 12:35 pm

greenway1969 wrote:Thanks for the lesson on Ely hockey.

Sadly, the shortest history lesson ever for a school with a long history of high school hockey.

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Tue Jan 19, 2016 5:28 pm

The Greenway-Virginia game was a great one. Through the first two periods, the Raiders spent so much time in the Virginia zone I believe they may have actually obtained squatter's rights. Westerholm for Virginia was outstanding as usual and Seitz continues to be a crafty, opportunistic scorer; these two were keeping the Blue Devils in it.

Virginia took a major near the end of the 2nd, but they killed it off in the 3rd and hung around. Greenway kept the pressure on, but Seitz completed the hatty to make it 3-3, then another Virginia goal got waved off due to it being kicked in.

Virginia had a nice little spurt of energy near the end of the 3rd, but it went to OT and Greenway went back to work and scored two minutes into OT.

Shots were 55-25 Raiders.

Good job by Greenway to apply heavy, heavy pressure to finally overwhelm the Blue Devils. Virginia gets my vote for the team that no one wants to face in the quarterfinals.

PuckRanger · Post by **PuckRanger** » Tue Jan 19, 2016 7:42 pm

rainier wrote:The Greenway-Virginia game was a great one. Through the first two periods, the Raiders spent so much time in the Virginia zone I believe they may have actually obtained squatter's rights. Westerholm for Virginia was outstanding as usual and Seitz continues to be a crafty, opportunistic scorer; these two were keeping the Blue Devils in it.

Virginia took a major near the end of the 2nd, but they killed it off in the 3rd and hung around. Greenway kept the pressure on, but Seitz completed the hatty to make it 3-3, then another Virginia goal got waved off due to it being kicked in.

Virginia had a nice little spurt of energy near the end of the 3rd, but it went to OT and Greenway went back to work and scored two minutes into OT.

Shots were 55-25 Raiders.

Good job by Greenway to apply heavy, heavy pressure to finally overwhelm the Blue Devils. Virginia gets my vote for the team that no one wants to face in the quarterfinals.

I agree. Westerholm for Virginia is getting better with each game and the younger forwards are starting to put the puck in the net. Quietly, the Blue Devils have built up a resume that includes a last second loss to #4 Hibbing, an overtime loss to #11 Greenway, an overtime win over #18 Little Falls, and nobody has been able to completely put them away in section play since Denfeld beat them 4-1 the second week of the season. They also scored 8 goals in one game last weekend... the first time in almost 3 years they have accomplished that (Jan 25, 2013 13-1 win over Eveleth), so the offense is showing flickers of coming to life.

I'm not saying they are going to win this section, but they might make somebody's night miserable down the road.

howardst · Post by **howardst** » Tue Jan 19, 2016 10:47 pm

Rainier. Boy you must have been in your invisable jet. I saw you at the Hibbing game. Lol. Must have read the hub and put that report together or your reporter really messed up. My insiders from Virginia tell me there was no goal waived off for being kicked in, it was thrown in. I heard they even aired it on the big screens. If you were there or had good info you would have known that simple fact. My info is from a scout for a nahl team that said the Virginia tender my be the best goalie in northern Minnesota today. His numbers and game influence are proving he may be right

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 2:10 am

howardst wrote:Rainier. Boy you must have been in your invisable jet. I saw you at the Hibbing game. Lol. Must have read the hub and put that report together or your reporter really messed up. My insiders from Virginia tell me there was no goal waived off for being kicked in, it was thrown in. I heard they even aired it on the big screens. If you were there or had good info you would have known that simple fact. My info is from a scout for a nahl team that said the Virginia tender my be the best goalie in northern Minnesota today. His numbers and game influence are proving he may be right

I see even your sleuthing skills are at 4th grade level. Thanks to the miracle of this thing called the internet, I was able to watch the entire Greenway-Virginia game on the big screen in my living room while catching some of the GR-Marshall game online and also follow the Hibbing-Denfeld game through the Hub. If you look at the "Monday and Tuesday games" thread, I was giving updates for all three of these games, so if you think I was doing all of that from my phone at the MB, then you are far dimmer than I thought.

I watched the game on the Cube, as presented by Mesabi Community Television, who, as I have already mentioned, do a fantastic job when it comes to hockey games. The announcer for that game said he was told the puck was kicked in, as it was hard to see what happened on the replay.

It's funny, no mention of Westerholm from you until Virginia nearly upsets your beloved Raiders. Lest anyone think your real favorite team had a bad game, you get on here and start telling everyone that "he is the best in N MN", and that "he is at a whole different level than Ullan".

I see you even turned a post about BSM into a post about Greenway. You can't go 30 seconds without mentioning Greenway. I imagine the conversations at your house go something like this:

cowardst's legal guardian: "cowardst, please pass the peanut butter."
cowardst: "Ok, Mom. Speaking of peanut butter, did you know Greenway's power play is also super smooth and leaves everyone satisfied?"
cowardst's legal guardian: "Yes, cowardst, you mention it every morning, and stop calling me Mom. The court forces me to take care of you, even though you are 40 years old. Now go take out the garbage."
cowardst: "Speaking of garbage, did you see the OT goal Denfeld scored against Greenway earlier this season?"

And it goes on like this ad nauseum...

Did you happen to see my prediction for the Hibbing-Denfeld game? Now that is "spot on"!

howardst · Post by **howardst** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 2:51 am

Westerholm was not mentioned as he struggled to say the least early in the year and is today making the biggest impact in 7a

The BSM comments if you go back and read took place in a thread about class A hockey and had nothing to do with any class A team.

greenway1969 · Post by **greenway1969** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 2:53 am

The radio announcers from Rapids said the puck was clearly hit in by a Virginia's player hand.

howardst · Post by **howardst** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 2:59 am

It was so clear and not reported by the guy that watched the feed that they played it multiple times on the feed and on the big screens at Miners Memorial. Not a controversial call at all per a guy that was getting paid to go and scout the kids.

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 3:11 am

howardst wrote:It was so clear and not reported by the guy that watched the feed that they played it multiple times on the feed and on the big screens at Miners Memorial. Not a controversial call at all per a guy that was getting paid to go and scout the kids.

Did anyone on here say it was controversial? I just reported what the Mesabi TV guy said. I know the fans were booing hard, but I don't recall the Virginia coach having a long discussion with the refs.

You say you were at the Hibbing-Denfeld game, yet you have yet to utter a single word about how the game for your "favorite team" went. Care to give us a report?

howardst · Post by **howardst** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 4:23 am

I believe I did on another thread. Pretty much the same as always. Perunovich Perunovich Perunovich. It all starts and ends with him. He is the most electric player in the state. Hibbing has a nice team but not of the depth they had in the mid 80's. In those days they were a top 1-2-3 team when it was all one class. Today they are very good but it's no secret that Perunovich is what takes them from .500+ to a special squad. Pretty simple assessment but I still love watching him play.

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 4:57 am

howardst wrote:I believe I did on another thread. Pretty much the same as always. Perunovich Perunovich Perunovich. It all starts and ends with him. He is the most electric player in the state. Hibbing has a nice team but not of the depth they had in the mid 80's. In those days they were a top 1-2-3 team when it was all one class. Today they are very good but it's no secret that Perunovich is what takes them from .500+ to a special squad. Pretty simple assessment but I still love watching him play.

This is one of the things that drives me insane about your criticisms of Hibbing. You hold them to a top ten AA standard, and then rip them because they don't live up to it. They don't have the depth of they did in the mid 80's? Could that have anything to do with the enrollment dropping by 60% since then?

Hibbing is an A school. They are 15-1 and are in the top five in A in almost every ranking out there. Their only loss is to a very good AA team. They are 4-0 vs teams that are in the top 20 in LPH's rankings, and they beat Cloquet, Brainerd, and Roseau, all teams that would be in the top 20 of Class A. That is a darn good resume so far for an A team. It is no guarantee of any success in the playoffs, but to rip them for not being good enough to be top ten in AA make no sense at all.

And so what if Perunovich is the main cog of the team? Why do you disrespect Lee, Bestul, DeBoom, Ullan, and the other kids who are doing quite well for Hibbing. I hear Perunovich hit Lee at the Denfeld blue line with a nice pass, and Lee split the D and beat Alander. Was that play "all Perunovich"?

Every team in the state takes a big step back if their best player is hurt or has a terrible game.

Would EP still be top ten without Mittlestadt?
What would Greenway's record be without Lantz?
Is Apollo top ten in A if they don't have Althaus?
If Hermantown lost Aamodt, would they even have the chance to take 2nd again? (According to you, the Hibbing transfer isn't good at all, so that would leave them with only one good defenseman, right?)

Why don't you tell us how much worse Greenway is now than in their heyday? I don't think the current GR team could hang with the late 70's Indians squads either. Eveleth sure has taken a dive since the Mayasich days.

If you aren't even able to establish the proper context for your arguments, then you have no credibility.

For a "Hibbing fan" that went to the game last night, you sure offered essentially no details about the game, especially when one considers how much you like to brag about your hockey knowledge and you are never at a loss for words about Greenway.

howardst · Post by **howardst** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 5:14 am

You are bringing greenway up. Not me. Oh and you make my point. Perunovich has the vision to create those opportunities. I won't say never but very seldom does anyone else create those opportunities. As far as lantz he does not have the impact if lst like Perunovich. Heck he was out last year when we beat them 2-1 and 5-4 in ot so that is a mute point.

I'm not holding Hibbing to a AA standard. In fact I had them at number 3 last week in A but even after the win I think I have to move them down a notch or two. In a state wide perspective they depend on one guy more than any other team. It's not ripping on them it is just a fact of where they sit. Why do you consider it ripping on any player to say Perunovich is the one driving the ship. The others are good players just not difference makers without Scotty. Why are you ripping on the next level players buy excluding them from your list of players? I am not anti Hibbing at all. Let me make this very clear. I have them as one of the better teams based on Scotty being there, if he was not for any reason Hibbing would drop way more than lantz out at greenway. Just a proven fact after last year. I think you need to relax and look at the big picture. Yes Hibbing is very good but being a fan of reason I just disagree with what you think they really are. I guess it's impossible to be a hibbing fan unless you think they are ready to take on the Russians. Lol

They are kids playing a game and doing it very well. Time to sit back and enjoy them being competitive as if your a true Hibbing hockey fan you know the challenges that are coming down the pipe to be competitive are going to take a turn. See I love high school hockey and cach games all over the state but I also watch youth hockey. Sorry your so offended that someone from Hibbing doesn't just see blue colored glasses. In fact looking at bantams Virginia and Eveleth will have the upper hand on Hibbing in a few short years.

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 5:28 am

howardst wrote:You are bringing greenway up. Not me. Oh and you make my point. Perunovich has the vision to create those opportunities. I won't say never but very seldom does anyone else create those opportunities. As far as lantz he does not have the impact if lst like Perunovich. Heck he was out last year when we beat them 2-1 and 5-4 in ot so that is a mute point.

I'm not holding Hibbing to a AA standard. In fact I had them at number 3 last week in A but even after the win I think I have to move them down a notch or two. In a state wide perspective they depend on one guy more than any other team. It's not ripping on them it is just a fact of where they sit. Why do you consider it ripping on any player to say Perunovich is the one driving the ship. The others are good players just not difference makers without Scotty. Why are you ripping on the next level players buy excluding them from your list of players? I am not anti Hibbing at all. Let me make this very clear. I have them as one of the better teams based on Scotty being there, if he was not for any reason Hibbing would drop way more than lantz out at greenway. Just a proven fact after last year. I think you need to relax and look at the big picture. Yes Hibbing is very good but being a fan of reason I just disagree with what you think they really are. I guess it's impossible to be a hibbing fan unless you think they are ready to take on the Russians. Lol

They are kids playing a game and doing it very well. Time to sit back and enjoy them being competitive as if your a true Hibbing hockey fan you know the challenges that are coming down the pipe to be competitive are going to take a turn. See I love high school hockey and cach games all over the state but I also watch youth hockey. Sorry your so offended that someone from Hibbing doesn't just see blue colored glasses. In fact looking at bantams Virginia and Eveleth will have the upper hand on Hibbing in a few short years.

Not holding Hibbing to a AA standard? You just compared this year's Hibbing team to the Hibbing teams of the mid-80's. You were criticizing Hibbing and this was your exact statement: "Hibbing has a nice team but not of the depth they had in the mid 80's"

You used this statement in a pejorative sense. You used it to try and bolster you argument that Hibbing is not that good. The mid-80's AA-sized enrollment teams from Hibbing have nothing to do with this current Hibbing team.

Why do you only say this about Hibbing, oh great Range hockey master? Compare the other Range teams to their teams from 30 years ago and see what you come up with.

I'm still waiting for your assessment of last night's Hibbing-Denfeld game that you claimed to be at. You got one coming, or are you waiting for your buddy to call you back with the game details so you can cover up another one of your lies?

It used to be that I couldn't tell if you are dishonest or just plain dimwitted, but now I know it is both.

And you're not going to give me any credit for predicting the exact result of the Hibbing-Denfeld game? I must have had my "blue-colored glasses" on when I made that prediction, huh?

Post by **karl(east)** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 12:36 pm

Hey, can you two shut up and take your little spat--the personal aspects of it, at least--somewhere else?

Sincerely,
Your Moderator

Sats81 · Post by **Sats81** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 12:47 pm

karl(east) wrote:Hey, can you two shut up and take your little spat--the personal aspects of it, at least--somewhere else?

Sincerely,
Your Moderator

Karl! Come on! This is pure entertainment.....(and for once old Sats here isn't in the middle of it)

Post by **karl(east)** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 12:54 pm

Sats81 wrote:
karl(east) wrote:Hey, can you two shut up and take your little spat--the personal aspects of it, at least--somewhere else?

Sincerely,
Your Moderator
Karl! Come on! This is pure entertainment.....(and for once old Sats here isn't in the middle of it)

Seriously, you're off your game. And most of yours don't rival these Rangers' novelistic length, either.

Sats81 · Post by **Sats81** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 1:29 pm

karl(east) wrote:
Sats81 wrote:
karl(east) wrote:Hey, can you two shut up and take your little spat--the personal aspects of it, at least--somewhere else?

Sincerely,
Your Moderator
Karl! Come on! This is pure entertainment.....(and for once old Sats here isn't in the middle of it)
Seriously, you're off your game. And most of yours don't rival these Rangers' novelistic length, either.

Truth, a lot of my old sparring partners have disappeared too.

howardst · Post by **howardst** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 1:58 pm

Sorry to bum you out sats but Karl is right. I won't be engaging with him any longer!!!! Lol

PuckRanger · Post by **PuckRanger** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 8:33 pm

howardst wrote:Westerholm was not mentioned as he struggled to say the least early in the year and is today making the biggest impact in 7a

"To say the least"?

I disagree with that entirely... not even a hint of reality in that statement.

Westerholm has not struggled at any point this season. He did not start against Cloquet and did not play in a couple of other games. He faced a combined 80 shots in the 3-3 and 2-2 ties Virginia had against I Falls and Eveleth early in the season. He did all he could to keep Virginia in their game against Grand Rapids (it was 3-2 well into the 3rd period before the flood gates opened... for the only time they have on him all year despite being put under constant heavy stress). He has faced more than 37 shots in 8 of the 14 games he has started. Against teams like Rapids, Brainerd, and Eagan, a very high percentage of those were high quality shots.

In fact, his "worst" game was a 27 save performance against Greenway early in the season where he faced 31 shots. In 10 of his 14 starts his save percentage was .927 or better (and the 4 games that were lower have been spread out throughout the schedule against Greenway in the aforementioned game, and the 3 AA teams I also already mentioned).

The reality is that the young team around him has gotten a little better, thus garnering the attention he is getting (and deserves) because they are able to score a few goals and lessen the pressure to some degree. As a result, instead of a game going in the direction of a 4-1 loss, it ends up 3-2 and those games that were ties are now two goal wins. Westerholm has been very consistent and VERY good through ALL of it from day 1.

...................................
As for the no-goal in the Greenway/Virginia game, it was originally called a goal and signaled as a goal by the referee nearest to the play. The referee and linesman came skating in immediately to discuss the play. They eventually ruled it went in off of his hand (not thrown in or kicked in). I was standing behind the glass on that end of the ice and saw it pretty clearly. #7 from Virginia tried to swat the puck out of the air with his stick and it appeared that he missed it and hit his glove and ricocheted over the Greenway goalie into the net. He did not catch it and throw it in the net. The replays shown at the arena were poor and you could not see the puck at any point until it was in the net, therefor the fans could not see a reason for the change in call and were upset as you would expect. Even some of the people standing by me thought he hit it with his stick. The call, however, was correct. Even the player knew it, he did not even attempt to celebrate until his teammates mobbed him (that you can see on the replay).