Games Tuesday 1-15-19

[greenwayraider]

Kind words Karl but those two players will not make a difference. Greenway’s problems go beyond the skill level of the players. Seems likes there’s always an “only if” scenario. After their scrimmage with Benilde this summer I commented that Greenway did not look like a top ten team. At some point you have to win a couple of games against good teams. They have one against Alexandria but have two bad losses (Denfeld and Delano). After Bemidji they should win all of their remaining games. If they do maybe they’ll gain some confidence.

[hockey59]

Went up to Hermantown to watch the Hawks play Greenway tonight. Greenway did a respectable job of weathering an early storm and had a mini surge late in the 1st that momentarily had me thinking it might turn into a game, but then Pierce scored with 30 seconds left and Hermantown didn't really look back after that. The Hawks' top line is in the conversation for the best in the state, the second line matches up well with other teams' top lines, and the defense seems somewhat improved over a season ago. Biondi is a ton of fun to watch.

The asterisk on this game for me was the absence of Lantz and Troumbly for Greenway. For a team that really relies on the star power of five or six players, being down two of those players takes them from a team that could stick around with Hermantown and make things interesting to a team that gets steamrolled like any other good-but-not-great A team playing Hermantown. They got good goaltending and largely played respectable defense, but the jump wasn't there, and players like Lawson were being left out for some brutally long shifts. If those two injured players are healthy in sections (and that sounds like it may be a big if in Troumbly's case?), one could see this game being interesting again.

For now, though, the king of 7A is still very much the king.

While Thomas isn’t near the talent his brother ended up being..Biondi is THE BEST junior forward in the State & Pierce is as good a sophomore forward (or D for that matter) as I’ve seen & I’ve seen Joe Miller of Blake & Jack Peart of GR SO yes, this HT line rivals Edina’s top line or Tonka’s or MG’s or EP’s or STA’s