AA Rankings for 12/25/22

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karl(east)
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AA Rankings for 12/25/22

Post by karl(east) » Sun Dec 25, 2022 2:34 pm

Merry Christmas, here are rankings! (It helps when I can get ahead of the game and have these done long before Sunday morning.) A week that was already a bit thin on games took a beating when a winter storm descended on most of the state this past week. Still, just enough happened to merit reshuffling a few teams as we head into the ever-entertaining holiday tournaments, three of which will feature the bulk of the top 15. Your rankings:

1. Wayzata (6-0-1)
-They aren’t doing this in a way that suggests much of a talent gap between them and the rest of the field, but the Trojans do just keep on winning, this past week against conference rival Eden Prairie. Another tight affair, another victory for a well-oiled machine. Does that keep up as other teams settle into their own systems? They have two more top ten opponents this week to test that, plus a section opponent, too.
This week: Premier Holiday Classic in the Grove—Tues vs. Blake, Wed vs. #4 Cretin-Derham Hall, Thurs vs. #10 Maple Grove

2. Minnetonka (7-1)
-The Skippers were rendered idle by the weather this past week. No holiday tournament for this high-flying team; instead, they head north to try to puncture the Grand Rapids defense.
This week: Wed at Grand Rapids

3. Rogers (6-1)
-No games for the Royals this past week either, but they edge up thanks to St. Thomas’s loss. They’ve got a couple of bluebloods this week; PageStat does not particularly like them, so it will be interesting to see if they can justify this high ranking.
This week: Tradition Holiday Invitational (Prior Lake)—Tues vs. Chaska, Wed vs. Eden Prairie, Thurs vs. #8 Edina

4. Cretin-Derham Hall (7-2)
-Filling the spot right behind the obvious top few has been rough all season, so in this case I’m choosing a hot hand that just beat a former member of this group. They don’t have quite the number of quality wins I would like to see here, but they are getting the job done, PageStat likes them, and they have avenged their only AA loss.
This week: Premier Holiday Classic in the Grove—Tues vs. #10 Maple Grove, Wed vs. #1 Wayzata, Thurs vs. Totino-Grace

5. St. Thomas Academy (7-1)
-Could not complete the sweep against Cretin, which leaves the door open in the race for the 3AA top seed. Two ranked opponents in Prior Lake this week could allow them to either affirm this high ranking they earned with the 7-0 start or sink back into the crowded pack.
This week: Tradition Holiday Invitational (Prior Lake)—Tues vs. Prior Lake, Wed vs. #8 Edina, Thurs vs. #12 Moorhead

6. Lakeville South (4-1)
-With just five games under their belts, the Cougars remain a relative mystery still riding their preseason ranking. That will change dramatically this week, as they have one of the toughest holiday tourney slates, including three top fifteen teams, all of very different styles: a defense-first traditional power, a top ten upstart, and a high-flying offense.
This week: Premier Holiday Classic in the Park—Tues vs. #14 Hill-Murray, Wed vs. #7 Chanhassen, Thurs vs. #9 Benilde-St. Margaret’s

7. Chanhassen (7-1)
-Another team that did not play last week, and thus does not move. They have a comparatively easy draw in St. Louis Park this week, which is a shame since they could stand to prove more against good competition; the Wednesday date with South will have to do on that front.
This week: Premier Holiday Classic in the Park—Tues vs. Rosemount, Wed vs. #6 Lakeville South, Thurs vs. St. Louis Park

8. Edina (4-3)
-Perhaps a bit revisionist here, but the losses are all relatively old and when they were without Jackson Nevers, and they have beaten the team right below them. They get a chance to avenge one of those losses this week, plus two higher-ranked teams; with a good performance, they have as much to gain as anyone.
This week: Tradition Holiday Invitational (Prior Lake)—Tues vs. #12 Moorhead, Wed vs. #5 St. Thomas Academy, Thurs vs. #3 Rogers; Sat vs. Chaska

9. Benilde-St. Margaret’s (4-3)
-The Red Knights actually got two games in this past week, as they blasted Blake and got a good win over Hill-Murray. That’s enough to boost them above a couple of the teams who have proven less for now. Two teams that have talent but are somewhat enigmatic highlight their holiday tournament, along with their rinkmates.
This week: Premier Holiday Classic in the Park—Tues vs. #11 Andover, Wed vs. St. Louis Park, Thurs vs. #6 Lakeville South

10. Maple Grove (6-2)
-Picked up a valuable section win over Centennial this past week, though their only other real quality win was that season-opener over Edina. They get a chance to prove something against couple of big guns this week.
This week: Premier Holiday Classic in the Grove—Tues vs. #4 Cretin-Derham Hall, Wed vs. St. Michael-Albertville, Thurs vs. #1 Wayzata

11. Andover (4-4-1)
-A 5-1 loss to Duluth East has suddenly livened up what had been a sleepy 7AA and put an added They still have two very nice wins (Chanhassen, Moorhead), which offsets the East result somewhat, and the other three losses are all to top ten teams, so they sky isn’t quite falling. But they do have some real question marks in the lineup beyond the prolific top line. A couple of private powers await them in St. Louis Park.
This week: Premier Holiday Classic in the Park—Tues vs. #9 Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Wed vs. #14 Hill-Murray, Thurs vs. Rosemount

12. Moorhead (5-3)
-The Spuds took care of St. Michael-Albertville, but they’ve been backsliding here as other teams collect more notable results. They can put an end to that this week with an opportunity to beat Edina a second time and do something against St. Thomas, too.
This week: Tradition Holiday Invitational (Prior Lake)—Tues vs. #8 Edina, Wed vs. Lakeville North, Thurs vs. #5 St. Thomas Academy

13. Stillwater (6-1)
-The Ponies managed to get a game in this past week, taking down rinkmate Mahtomedi for a quality victory. While most of the rest of the state has a busy week, they get to sit back and watch before the schedule starts to get very busy.
This week: Idle

14. Hill-Murray (3-3)
-The Pioneers fought Benilde tightly but are still looking for their first top 15 win, and have just 15 goals in 6 games. Two challenging opponents await this week, and Champlin isn’t a free pass, either.
This week: Premier Holiday Classic in the Park—Tues vs. #6 Lakeville South, Wed vs. #11 Andover, Thurs vs. Champlin Park

15. Eastview (6-2)
-The Lightning joined the substantial ranks of teams that were unable to play this past week, and they don’t play this week, either. Who knows where they’ll wind up after this layoff, with teams likely moving all around them.
This week: Idle

The Next Ten

Holy Family (6-2)
-Blitzed a decent Providence team in their only action this past week, though I’m reassessing them upward in light of a broader view of their results and a very favorable PageStat rating. They have a funky draw in Maple Grove, avoiding all of the higher-caliber teams in the field and being left with games against Totino, Gentry, and St. Michael-Albertville. If they can take care of business, they may be in position to slide up as others fall.

Eden Prairie (3-5)
-The Eagles appear ensconced around here, consistently competitive but not yet busting through against a quality team, as was exemplified in the Wayzata loss on Wednesday. They have one of the easier draws in Prior Lake, with Rogers being their one headliner opponent.

White Bear Lake (6-2)
-Puttering along steadily in this area after a win over Totino. They’ll look for more of the same this week against Mounds View.

Centennial (4-3-1)
-Lost to Maple Grove and had their game with Champlin wiped out, so nothing much changes here. They are idle this coming week.

Grand Rapids (8-3)
-The Thunderhawks took care of business against two northern opponents and had to like the news out of Duluth in 7AA. We’ll see if this vaunted defense can hold up against one of the state’s best attacks when Minnetonka comes to town on Wednesday.

Shakopee (4-2)
-Scraped past Chaska, which is nice, but not overly helpful from a ranking perspective. After hosting Mounds View, they have a good barometer game in a visit to Hermantown.

Duluth East (5-5)
-The Hounds are back in the realm of the relevant after a statement win over Andover. They’ll need to back that up with some more quality wins to make a real move; they’ll have to wait another week for that opportunity, as their only game comes against not-what-it-used-to-be Blaine.

Champlin Park (4-2)
-Sitting in a holding pattern here. A date with Hill-Murray in the St. Louis Park tournament, after two winnable prior games, will tell us something about who they are.

Park of Cottage Grove (7-2)
-A new entrant to the top 25: the Wolfpack have just two losses in nine games, both to top 15 teams in which they were at least somewhat competitive, and they’ve taken care of everyone else, often handily. They don’t have a terribly high ceiling here, as their best win is over Woodbury and they don’t have a ton of quality opponents down the stretch, but if they just keep winning, they’ll hang around here. Owatonna is up this week.

Prior Lake (4-3)
-The Lakers are doing a respectable job of hanging in there despite being in total rebuild mode from last season’s dramatic run; their losses are all to teams well above them, and they have wins over Rosemount and Lakeville North, who are also somewhere in this clump along the edges of the top 25. They get North again in the tournament they host this week, but St. Thomas Academy will be the real chance to prove something.

There you go for now; next week is usually one of my favorite weeks to do this, as the holiday tournaments leave us with a lot of quality games to sort through, and it’ll be time for another section run-through, too. Get out there and enjoy some good hockey this week!

ryguyMN
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Re: AA Rankings for 12/25/22

Post by ryguyMN » Thu Dec 29, 2022 9:02 pm

I can see why PageStat does not like Rogers. They got exposed this week. Two ties against teams they should have beat (Chaska and EP) and a loss to Edina. PageStat don't lie?

Random thought: Eden Prairie might not even be hosting a first round section playoff game this year...let that one marinate a bit.
Ryan
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SpreadOut!
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Re: AA Rankings for 12/25/22

Post by SpreadOut! » Thu Dec 29, 2022 9:54 pm

Yep. Also, two teams that shouldn’t be anywhere near top 10 after this week are Hill Murray and Lakeville South. Unfortunately, Lakeville South still has arguably the easiest path to state tourney of any other team, due to Section 1AA being awful. Man, it’s time to move some other south metro teams to that section…Prior Lake, Chaska, Chanhassen. The Lakevilles should not get an automatic ticket to state tourney every year. And I don’t know what to make of Hill Murray this year. They look terrible.

SpreadOut!
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Re: AA Rankings for 12/25/22

Post by SpreadOut! » Thu Dec 29, 2022 10:00 pm

After this week, top 5, in no particular order, seem to be Wayzata, Minnetonka, Chanhassen, Maple Grove and Edina. Could make credible arguments for all five of these teams earning #1 ranking right now.

O-townClown
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Re: AA Rankings for 12/25/22

Post by O-townClown » Fri Dec 30, 2022 11:05 am

PageStat2 this morning

1. Tonka
2. Chan
3. Wayz
4. Edina
5. St. T
6. MG
7. And
8. Herm
9. Cretin
10. Benilde
11. HF
12. Warroad
13. Eastview
14. Stilly
15. WBL
17. M'head
18. EP
19. Rogers
24. GR
26. Hill
28. Lake S
Be kind. Rewind.

goldy313
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Re: AA Rankings for 12/25/22

Post by goldy313 » Sat Dec 31, 2022 12:19 am

SpreadOut! wrote:
Thu Dec 29, 2022 9:54 pm
Yep. Also, two teams that shouldn’t be anywhere near top 10 after this week are Hill Murray and Lakeville South. Unfortunately, Lakeville South still has arguably the easiest path to state tourney of any other team, due to Section 1AA being awful. Man, it’s time to move some other south metro teams to that section…Prior Lake, Chaska, Chanhassen. The Lakevilles should not get an automatic ticket to state tourney every year. And I don’t know what to make of Hill Murray this year. They look terrible.
Since 2002 (to the best of my memory) either a Lakeville school, Farmington twice, and Rochester Century twice have come out of 1AA.

Sparlimb
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Re: AA Rankings for 12/25/22

Post by Sparlimb » Sat Dec 31, 2022 2:18 pm

SpreadOut! wrote:
Thu Dec 29, 2022 9:54 pm
Yep. Also, two teams that shouldn’t be anywhere near top 10 after this week are Hill Murray and Lakeville South. Unfortunately, Lakeville South still has arguably the easiest path to state tourney of any other team, due to Section 1AA being awful. Man, it’s time to move some other south metro teams to that section…Prior Lake, Chaska, Chanhassen. The Lakevilles should not get an automatic ticket to state tourney every year. And I don’t know what to make of Hill Murray this year. They look terrible.
It was said early, they would be a high loss team. But I suggest you beat them now as I think they will be a solid team by late Feb. 3 other teams in 4AA could beat them, but will they?

SpreadOut!
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Re: AA Rankings for 12/25/22

Post by SpreadOut! » Sat Dec 31, 2022 4:02 pm

Sparlimb wrote:
Sat Dec 31, 2022 2:18 pm
SpreadOut! wrote:
Thu Dec 29, 2022 9:54 pm
Yep. Also, two teams that shouldn’t be anywhere near top 10 after this week are Hill Murray and Lakeville South. Unfortunately, Lakeville South still has arguably the easiest path to state tourney of any other team, due to Section 1AA being awful. Man, it’s time to move some other south metro teams to that section…Prior Lake, Chaska, Chanhassen. The Lakevilles should not get an automatic ticket to state tourney every year. And I don’t know what to make of Hill Murray this year. They look terrible.
It was said early, they would be a high loss team. But I suggest you beat them now as I think they will be a solid team by late Feb. 3 other teams in 4AA could beat them, but will they?
Yes, Lechner is great coach and I’m sure Hill will get better. But they seem much, much more down this year than they have been in a while. 4AA is wide open.

SpreadOut!
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Re: AA Rankings for 12/25/22

Post by SpreadOut! » Sat Dec 31, 2022 4:10 pm

goldy313 wrote:
Sat Dec 31, 2022 12:19 am
SpreadOut! wrote:
Thu Dec 29, 2022 9:54 pm
Yep. Also, two teams that shouldn’t be anywhere near top 10 after this week are Hill Murray and Lakeville South. Unfortunately, Lakeville South still has arguably the easiest path to state tourney of any other team, due to Section 1AA being awful. Man, it’s time to move some other south metro teams to that section…Prior Lake, Chaska, Chanhassen. The Lakevilles should not get an automatic ticket to state tourney every year. And I don’t know what to make of Hill Murray this year. They look terrible.
Since 2002 (to the best of my memory) either a Lakeville school, Farmington twice, and Rochester Century twice have come out of 1AA.
Just checked. Since 2002, Century has won section four times (last time was 2009) and Farmington once (2016). It’s been all Lakeville otherwise, and mostly (especially recently) the two Lakeville teams playing each other in section final. It’s a brutally weak section that needs to be expanded if you ever want to see anyone but the Lakeville teams coming to St. Paul in March again.

goldy313
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Re: AA Rankings for 12/25/22

Post by goldy313 » Mon Jan 02, 2023 12:35 am

You are right.

However, geographically who makes 1AA better? St Thomas is the only logical school. Park and Simley are probably the next two. Hastings didn’t, Apple Valley/Burnsville wouldn’t. 1AA is just buying time for Northfield.

HockeyTalk2020
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Re: AA Rankings for 12/25/22

Post by HockeyTalk2020 » Mon Jan 02, 2023 10:14 pm

Rosemount is a no brainer. Its closer to Rochester where they play section chip than Lakeville.

SpreadOut!
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Re: AA Rankings for 12/25/22

Post by SpreadOut! » Tue Jan 03, 2023 12:01 am

If you look at a map, Prior Lake is further south than Hastings and Rosemount (I don’t care which city is closer to Rochester, I just care which is furthest south). That would be my vote to move into 1AA to up the competition. Growing community with strong youth program, and they finally cracked into state tourney last year for first time.

goldy313
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Re: AA Rankings for 12/25/22

Post by goldy313 » Sun Jan 08, 2023 12:34 am

I have no problem with Prior Lake, section 1 teams include New Pragueand Lakeville. Both which extends west of I35

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