Class A 2019-2020

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MNGuide
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2014 3:50 pm

Re: Class A 2019-2020

Post by MNGuide » Tue Mar 26, 2019 4:16 pm

Jeffy95 wrote:
Mon Mar 25, 2019 11:49 am
BP wrote:
Mon Mar 25, 2019 10:33 am
rainier2 wrote:
Sat Mar 23, 2019 4:38 pm


Agreed, I'd pump the brakes on Denfeld a bit. As good as their bantam team was this year, they only beat Hibbing 3-2 and 3-1, and Virginia 3-0, so it's not like they were light years ahead of other 7A teams. Plus, their Pee Wee team was 2-23, so it doesn't appear there will be a solid sophomore crop coming up to fill in behind the bantam talent later in HS.

Even if Denfeld is better than the Range teams by a solid margin, getting by Hermantown is still a monumental challenge. Hermantown beat the Denfeld bantams this year, the Hawks 1st year bantams were #5 in Pee Wee AA last year, and their Pee Wee team this year was #13 in AA. Add in the usual one or two star transfers that will materialize between now and HS and Hermantown is again looking like a top 10 AA team.

As great as the Greenway run was this year, let's not forget that the Raiders needed two top-six forwards and a goalie to transfer there in order to squeak by the Hawks. Denfeld has a decent history of getting transfers, so maybe they will attract a couple over the next few years, but is this what we want in Class A, to hope for transfers every year?

Hopefully by the time the Denfeld kids are seniors Hermantown will be in AA. I'd gladly root for the Hunters at state.
Aren't most of the Denfeld kids a Duluth Marshall?
Not most but there are a few. I know of one 9th Grader and two 8th Graders from this year's Bantam group that go to Marshall. There may be a couple more, I'm sure one of the Denfeld fans on here can confirm.

Denfeld has some top end talent for sure. They should be good in a couple of years. But the transfers will always be the difference for Hermantown. A lot of them are top end talent and the rest add a ton of depth that Denfeld and other 7A teams won't be able to match. As someone said, Denfeld's PeeWee group wasn't strong this year, and Hermantown's PeeWee AA team has the Plante kid and a whopping 4 transfers from Proctor and 3 from Denfeld. (Half of their 14 skaters) I'm sure we'll see a few more by the time those kids get to High School. No class A team can compete with that type of player movement.
This makes me sad...

But to clear up, Denfeld bantams have three DMarshall kids and one of those kids is probably going to be switching over to Denfeld now that their bantams had so much success. The top kids are all Denfeld kids as well. The team won the consolation at state and lost to Warroad in a battle 4-2 in the opening round, who eventually won the whole thing. Looking at next year, I expect Denfeld to be down just slightly. Yes, the bantam group will be very good in high school in 2 and 3 years, but for next year it will be tough for them to match this years solid senior class.

Dog
Posts: 81
Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2018 10:47 am

Re: Class A 2019-2020

Post by Dog » Tue Mar 26, 2019 5:10 pm

Jeffy95 wrote:
Mon Mar 25, 2019 11:49 am
BP wrote:
Mon Mar 25, 2019 10:33 am
rainier2 wrote:
Sat Mar 23, 2019 4:38 pm


Agreed, I'd pump the brakes on Denfeld a bit. As good as their bantam team was this year, they only beat Hibbing 3-2 and 3-1, and Virginia 3-0, so it's not like they were light years ahead of other 7A teams. Plus, their Pee Wee team was 2-23, so it doesn't appear there will be a solid sophomore crop coming up to fill in behind the bantam talent later in HS.

Even if Denfeld is better than the Range teams by a solid margin, getting by Hermantown is still a monumental challenge. Hermantown beat the Denfeld bantams this year, the Hawks 1st year bantams were #5 in Pee Wee AA last year, and their Pee Wee team this year was #13 in AA. Add in the usual one or two star transfers that will materialize between now and HS and Hermantown is again looking like a top 10 AA team.

As great as the Greenway run was this year, let's not forget that the Raiders needed two top-six forwards and a goalie to transfer there in order to squeak by the Hawks. Denfeld has a decent history of getting transfers, so maybe they will attract a couple over the next few years, but is this what we want in Class A, to hope for transfers every year?

Hopefully by the time the Denfeld kids are seniors Hermantown will be in AA. I'd gladly root for the Hunters at state.
Aren't most of the Denfeld kids a Duluth Marshall?
Not most but there are a few. I know of one 9th Grader and two 8th Graders from this year's Bantam group that go to Marshall. There may be a couple more, I'm sure one of the Denfeld fans on here can confirm.

Denfeld has some top end talent for sure. They should be good in a couple of years. But the transfers will always be the difference for Hermantown. A lot of them are top end talent and the rest add a ton of depth that Denfeld and other 7A teams won't be able to match. As someone said, Denfeld's PeeWee group wasn't strong this year, and Hermantown's PeeWee AA team has the Plante kid and a whopping 4 transfers from Proctor and 3 from Denfeld. (Half of their 14 skaters) I'm sure we'll see a few more by the time those kids get to High School. No class A team can compete with that type of player movement.
There were two 8th grade Marshall kids on the Denfeld bantam team. All of the 9th graders are currently at Denfeld. There are kids talking of transferring to Denfeld. Not what you ultimately want to see with single A hockey but it seems to be the trend. They had tight games with most range teams but usually have in years past even when one team appears to be far superior on paper. They also beat Andover AA, White Bear Lake AA, and tied Stillwater after being down 5-1 with 6 minutes left. The game vs HT AA was a bummer because they outshot them by about 15 shots, it was just one of those games. I would have liked to see them play a couple more games.

There was a post earlier about the loss of points from the seniors. Only two of those seniors had significant point totals from the year before (same as they'll have this fall). The junior Lehet had 13 points last year. He worked out with the group all summer and had 38 this year. So, we'll see I guess, but the group they'll have next year will have better all around players who also know how to get points. Very unselfish group. It will probably take 6 games or so to get going I would think though.

The Denfeld schedule is tougher next year so it will be more challenging. But people were saying that Jago wouldn't win more than 4 his first year and they won 9. Last year many said he'd be lucky to maybe get 8 or 9 and they got 14. They've gotten better every year and now have a group that has only known these coaches and are fully receptive to the new culture and workout regiment. Not sure how next year will end up but they'll be very good for the next 2 years after next.

The coaching staff (Jago, Johnson and Geris) are completely invested and will develop some impressive players. Plus all of this group that will be there has had success before and won, something really hard to teach or coach. And with the better numbers Denfeld will have the next 2 years (32-34+ players) they'll be able to play who is performing.

Looking at their schedule for next year, I'll put it out there: I think they'll have around 18 wins or more. It comes down to one or two games at the end of the year....but I'm telling you: these boys would go to war for these coaches. I firmly believe you'll like how this group grinds and plays the game. Hopefully they'll give some on the HT thread someone to root for.

BP
Posts: 1024
Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2012 8:31 am

Re: Class A 2019-2020

Post by BP » Wed Mar 27, 2019 8:24 am

Dog wrote:
Tue Mar 26, 2019 5:10 pm
Jeffy95 wrote:
Mon Mar 25, 2019 11:49 am
BP wrote:
Mon Mar 25, 2019 10:33 am


Aren't most of the Denfeld kids a Duluth Marshall?
Not most but there are a few. I know of one 9th Grader and two 8th Graders from this year's Bantam group that go to Marshall. There may be a couple more, I'm sure one of the Denfeld fans on here can confirm.

Denfeld has some top end talent for sure. They should be good in a couple of years. But the transfers will always be the difference for Hermantown. A lot of them are top end talent and the rest add a ton of depth that Denfeld and other 7A teams won't be able to match. As someone said, Denfeld's PeeWee group wasn't strong this year, and Hermantown's PeeWee AA team has the Plante kid and a whopping 4 transfers from Proctor and 3 from Denfeld. (Half of their 14 skaters) I'm sure we'll see a few more by the time those kids get to High School. No class A team can compete with that type of player movement.
There were two 8th grade Marshall kids on the Denfeld bantam team. All of the 9th graders are currently at Denfeld. There are kids talking of transferring to Denfeld. Not what you ultimately want to see with single A hockey but it seems to be the trend. They had tight games with most range teams but usually have in years past even when one team appears to be far superior on paper. They also beat Andover AA, White Bear Lake AA, and tied Stillwater after being down 5-1 with 6 minutes left. The game vs HT AA was a bummer because they outshot them by about 15 shots, it was just one of those games. I would have liked to see them play a couple more games.

There was a post earlier about the loss of points from the seniors. Only two of those seniors had significant point totals from the year before (same as they'll have this fall). The junior Lehet had 13 points last year. He worked out with the group all summer and had 38 this year. So, we'll see I guess, but the group they'll have next year will have better all around players who also know how to get points. Very unselfish group. It will probably take 6 games or so to get going I would think though.

The Denfeld schedule is tougher next year so it will be more challenging. But people were saying that Jago wouldn't win more than 4 his first year and they won 9. Last year many said he'd be lucky to maybe get 8 or 9 and they got 14. They've gotten better every year and now have a group that has only known these coaches and are fully receptive to the new culture and workout regiment. Not sure how next year will end up but they'll be very good for the next 2 years after next.

The coaching staff (Jago, Johnson and Geris) are completely invested and will develop some impressive players. Plus all of this group that will be there has had success before and won, something really hard to teach or coach. And with the better numbers Denfeld will have the next 2 years (32-34+ players) they'll be able to play who is performing.

Looking at their schedule for next year, I'll put it out there: I think they'll have around 18 wins or more. It comes down to one or two games at the end of the year....but I'm telling you: these boys would go to war for these coaches. I firmly believe you'll like how this group grinds and plays the game. Hopefully they'll give some on the HT thread someone to root for.
That's great to hear that things are developing at Denfeld. Here's to continued success and great job by the coaches it sounds like - keep it up!

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