Games Friday 1-25

[elliott70]

Eagan vs Duluth Marshall at Mars Lakeview Arena 4:30 PM
East Grand Forks vs Lake of the Woods at Baudette 6:00 PM

Duluth East vs Prior Lake at Dakotah Ice Arena 6:00 PM
Northern Lakes vs Wadena-Deer Creek at Wadena 7:00 PM

Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato vs Luverne at Luverne 7:00 PM
Waseca vs Marshall at Marshall 7:00 PM

New Prague vs Hutchinson at Hutchinson 7:00 PM
Dodge County vs Windom Area at Windom 7:00 PM

Winona/Cotter vs Worthington at Worthington 7:00 PM
Roseau vs St. Michael-Albertville at Albertville 7:00 PM

Mora/Milaca vs Proctor at Proctor 7:00 PM
Willmar vs Fergus Falls at Fergus Falls 7:15 PM

Waconia vs Delano at Delano 7:15 PM
Minnesota River vs Redwood Valley at Redwood Falls 7:15 PM

Hibbing/Chisholm vs Warroad at Warroad 7:30 PM
Duluth Denfeld vs Thief River Falls at REA - Thief River Falls 7:30 PM

Bemidji vs Alexandria at Alexandria 7:30 PM

[BSUBeaver]

I will be at the Bemidji at Alexandria game, with some Beaver Hockey tickets possibly on the line!!!!

[karl(east)]

Duluth East 0, Prior Lake 0 after 1. The Hounds smothered the Lakers for the first ten minutes or so of the period, but then had a bad power play and the Lakers showed some decent jump after that.

[SPUDNUT]

Roseau - STMA updates, please

[WarmUpTheBus]

I will be at the Bemidji at Alexandria game, with some Beaver Hockey tickets possibly on the line!!!!

What is 1st prize in this wager?

[karl(east)]

Prior Lake 1, Duluth East 0 after 2. PL with over 3 minutes of carryover major PP into the 3rd. I didn't see the Champlin Park game or last weekend's road trip, but this is the flattest I've seen East look all season. PL has legitimately been the better team in an otherwise fairly dull, mucky game.

[east hockey]

This has become a painful season. Now 2-0 Prior Lake on another power play goal.

At least the Bulldogs are no TV

Lee

[karl(east)]

Prior Lake 2, Duluth East 0, final. East generated practically nothing in the way of respectable offensive chances until they pulled the goalie with 3 and a half minutes left. One of the more uninspiring Hounds efforts in my recent memory. Completely disjointed offensively, taking lots of penalties, and they appear easily knocked off their game. If this keeps up they'll be playing their way into some 7AA seeding intrigue.

[east hockey]

Prior Lake 2, Duluth East 0, final. East generated practically nothing in the way of respectable offensive chances until they pulled the goalie with 3 and a half minutes left. One of the more uninspiring Hounds efforts in my recent memory. Completely disjointed offensively, taking lots of penalties, and they appear easily knocked off their game. If this keeps up they'll be playing their way into some 7AA seeding intrigue.

East's season?





Lee

[WarmUpTheBus]

This has become a painful season. Now 2-0 Prior Lake on another power play goal.

At least the Bulldogs are no TV

Lee

I haven’t followed Prior Lake this year but their season just became less painful

[WestMetro]

Karl/Lee.

Any sign of active (or passive ) dissenters / attituders creating morale issues ?
Time for some serious captain meetings?

Also , what have you seen recently regarding consistently and cleanly finishing forechecks, which should be a big strength and can also help create dirty goal opportunities ? Or maybe it’s time for Rydo to do a little camping in low slot the minute they enter the zone ?

[karl(east)]

Karl/Lee.

Any sign of active (or passive ) dissenters / attituders creating morale issues ?
Time for some serious captain meetings?

Also , what have you seen recently regarding consistently and cleanly finishing forechecks, which should be a big strength and can also help create dirty goal opportunities ? Or maybe it’s time for Rydo to do a little camping in low slot the minute they enter the zone ?

I don't get the sense there are any issues within the locker room. If morale is low, it's more of a collective thing.

Unlike many of their other games I've seen, the issue tonight wasn't the lack of finishing. They rarely even got that far. They spent way too much time bottled up in their own zone chipping pucks around instead of looking for clean zone exits, and there was no pace to the game whatsoever. Yeah, driving to the net more would be nice, but it's hard to be successful at that when the puck-carrier is going in one on three because the rest of the team is 20 feet behind the play.

[WestMetro]

Sogs were about even, what I’m saying is slow offense down and always move rydo or jj in front of net for screening ,or deflection or rebound opportunities . Nothing else working ?

[grindiangrad-80]

Prior Lake 2, Duluth East 0, final. East generated practically nothing in the way of respectable offensive chances until they pulled the goalie with 3 and a half minutes left. One of the more uninspiring Hounds efforts in my recent memory. Completely disjointed offensively, taking lots of penalties, and they appear easily knocked off their game. If this keeps up they'll be playing their way into some 7AA seeding intrigue.

East's season?





Lee

Who had the GoPro back then?

I'm pretty sure that East will be playing solid hockey within the next 4 weeks. I also believe Cloquet and Greenway will be looking good as well.

They better be. Rapids is always lurking.

[karl(east)]

Sogs were about even, what I’m saying is slow offense down and always move rydo or jj in front of net for screening ,or deflection or rebound opportunities . Nothing else working ?

Jones and Lyle would be the logical ones to use as net-front bodies. They have been doing some of that, though they were also on a line together until the recent injury/sickness absences, which will necessarily limit how much each of them can do that. (Jones was back tonight after going off hurt early in the Brainerd game.) Unclear where they will end up given the constant state of flux of the East lines (somewhat out of necessity; Baker is still out though I'm certainly not going to use that as an excuse for why East can't get one goal past Prior Lake's backup goalie). I think Ryder is too good of a puck-handler to be parked out in front of the net, but he should be on a line with someone who is crashing it regularly.

[ThatMNHockeyGuy62]

Not trying to be too knee-jerk here, but is it time we look back at Andover’s schedule and wonder if they’re just a bit overrated? Best results by far are 3-2 over Moorhead (meh), 2-1 win over Duluth East when everybody thought they were a top 5 team, 1-1 tie with Blaine (ignoring of course this week’s response game from Blaine), and a 4-1 win over Maple Grove. IMO the Maple Grove game is their only truly high quality win. Maybe their schedule really is inflating them as Karl predicted pre season, and they’re more of a 5-10 team. Still a definite front runner in the all of a sudden not-so-deep 7AA.

Will await Saturday results, but as of Friday night I’d say:
1. Edina
2. Minnetonka
3. Blaine

Edina and Tonka easily interchangeable and Blaine not far behind at all. Just no head to head to give them the edge.

[kniven]

Karl/Lee.

Any sign of active (or passive ) dissenters / attituders creating morale issues ?
Time for some serious captain meetings?

Also , what have you seen recently regarding consistently and cleanly finishing forechecks, which should be a big strength and can also help create dirty goal opportunities ? Or maybe it’s time for Rydo to do a little camping in low slot the minute they enter the zone ?

I don't get the sense there are any issues within the locker room. If morale is low, it's more of a collective thing.

Unlike many of their other games I've seen, the issue tonight wasn't the lack of finishing. They rarely even got that far. They spent way too much time bottled up in their own zone chipping pucks around instead of looking for clean zone exits, and there was no pace to the game whatsoever. Yeah, driving to the net more would be nice, but it's hard to be successful at that when the puck-carrier is going in one on three because the rest of the team is 20 feet behind the play.

On February 4th, Duluth East comes to Cloquet to dance. This will surely get the juices flowing again for both squads.

[Dog]

Denfeld and Thief River tie, 2-2

[BSUBeaver]

I will be at the Bemidji at Alexandria game, with some Beaver Hockey tickets possibly on the line!!!!

What is 1st prize in this wager?

Alex wins 4-2 (empty netter). My family now gets four club level seats to a WCHA playoff game if the Beavers can somehow get back to home ice. My Cardinals took care of business last night, but my Beavers, not so much....

If Alex would have lost, the first round of drinks were on me at the next Beaver game we get to. I am sure there will still be some drinks bought!

[Stang5280]

With all of the posts focused on East’s offensive woes, no one bothered to point out that STMA blew Roseau’s doors off, putting the Rams’ shot at the top seed in 8AA in serious jeopardy.