top teams in single A by Let's Play Hockey

[elliott70]

1. Warroad 16-0-0 1
2. Hermantown 12-2-1 2
3. Orono 14-2-0 3
4. Mahtomedi 11-4-0 4
5. East Grand Forks 11-6-0 5
6. Northfield 12-4-0 5
7. Detroit Lakes 12-4-1 8
8. Hibbing-Chisholm 12-5-1 11
9. Rock Ridge 11-4-1 16
10. Two Rivers 14-3-1 12
11. Delano 9-7-0 9
12. Fergus Falls 8-5-1 7
13. New Ulm 14-2-1 13
14. Luverne 9-5-1 NR
15. Minneapolis 9-6-1 NR
16. New Prague 10-4-0 19
17. Duluth Denfeld 10-8-1 14
18. St. Cloud Cathedral 8-7-0 18
19. Albert Lea 12-4-0 15
20. Wadena-Deer Creek 10-4-0 20

Kittson County Central, Mankato East/Loyola, Minneapolis, Monticello, Little Falls, Thief River Falls, Providence Academy, Waconia, Dodge County.

[elliott70]

Analysis

Warroad at #1 is pretty much undisputed.
Hermantown could be said to challenge that because the game was close, 3-1 and it was in Warroad.
Might be different on home or neutral ice.
Hopefully we find out in March.

but Warroad at 1 and Hermantown at 2 - pretty solid.

[elliott70]

3 to 5 are locked in but what order??
Orono
Mahtomedi
East Grand Forks

I can go with that.

[ClassAGuy]

Shared these rankings already early in the week in the A Rankings post

Top 6 Yep - I would have Maht over Orono but maybe not after this week.

7- 12 Pretty close to what I had Two Rivers seems a bit high

13-14..... Lot of Love for two Big South teams.

15- 20- Arguments could be made.

Agree with the teams mentioned surprised by KCC had a rough go of it since January but Hennen is a treat to watch.

Overall not a bad poll by the coaches.

[elliott70]

6 to 9
Northfield 13-4
Detroit Lakes 12-4-1
Hibbing 12-5-1
Rock Ridge 11-5-1

Northfield has lost to 2 higher ranked single A teams and two decent AA teams.

DL tie Thief River Falls and lost to two higher ranked A teams and a decent AA team
one loss to a lower ranked A team (Fergus) - so the question is where should TRF and FF be ranked.

Hibbing tied Denfeld and lost to two decent AA teams and lost to Hermantown and Delano (2 decent single A teams).
so similar questions come up than in regard to Denfeld and Delano

The Rock lost to Albert Lea and Denfeld (two good single A teams) and higher ranked Hibbing (1 to zip) a AA team and tied Little Falls.

But I can accept this ranking.

[elliott70]

#10 Two Rivers 14-3-1

Here it gets a bit dicey.
A nice record and they deserve recognition BUT,

page stat (a very good computer ranking system) has them at #26.

Their wins come against below average teams 63-161-9 with only one team having an above 500 season at 9-8-1.
I could live with that, but their losses were to below average teams in Princeton and Mound and a tie with Luverne.

So if you look beyond their nice record they are at best #20
and probably more in line with pagestat at 26.

[elliott70]

These two could be questionable because their records are not solid.
11. Delano 9-7-0 9
12. Fergus Falls 8-5-1 7


Delano lost to 5 A teams ranked in the top 10 and two AA teams.
They beat Mound8-1 that Two Rivers lost to.

They are ranked where they should be or perhaps a little low as one win was over #8 Hibbing.

Fergus is a little more shakey but still have losses to decent A and AA teams.

[elliott70]

lunch hour is over back to work

[ClassAGuy]

These two could be questionable because their records are not solid.
11. Delano 9-7-0 9
12. Fergus Falls 8-5-1 7


Delano loot to 5 A teams ranked in the top 10 and two AA teams.
They beat Mound8-1 that Two Rivers lost to.

They are ranked where they should be or perhaps a little low as one win was over #8 Hibbing.

Fergus is a little more shakey but still have losses to decent A and AA teams.

Why is Delano ranked where they should be elliott if they only have losses to the top 5 of the 6 Class A teams in every poll for Class A .

They have no other Class A losses and they beat the #8 team in this ranking on the road with their seldom used backup goalie in net by 3 goals?

They are also in the TOP 10 in Pagestat which I know you use as a guide. I think in Class A rankings for now Delano should be in top 10 ahead of Hibbing due to their Head 2 head road win by a 3 goal margin.

Just curious

[elliott70]

These two could be questionable because their records are not solid.
11. Delano 9-7-0 9
12. Fergus Falls 8-5-1 7


Delano loot to 5 A teams ranked in the top 10 and two AA teams.
They beat Mound8-1 that Two Rivers lost to.

They are ranked where they should be or perhaps a little low as one win was over #8 Hibbing.

Fergus is a little more shakey but still have losses to decent A and AA teams.

Why is Delano ranked where they should be elliott if they only have losses to the top 5 of the 6 Class A teams in every poll for Class A .

They have no other Class A losses and they beat the #8 team in this ranking on the road with their seldom used backup goalie in net by 3 goals?

Just curious

"perhaps they are a little low"
In my rankings they would be in the top 9 somewhere but this is an analysis of what the coaches are doing and I can see them putting them in this spot.

[ClassAGuy]

These two could be questionable because their records are not solid.
11. Delano 9-7-0 9
12. Fergus Falls 8-5-1 7


Delano loot to 5 A teams ranked in the top 10 and two AA teams.
They beat Mound8-1 that Two Rivers lost to.

They are ranked where they should be or perhaps a little low as one win was over #8 Hibbing.

Fergus is a little more shakey but still have losses to decent A and AA teams.

Why is Delano ranked where they should be elliott if they only have losses to the top 5 of the 6 Class A teams in every poll for Class A .

They have no other Class A losses and they beat the #8 team in this ranking on the road with their seldom used backup goalie in net by 3 goals?

Just curious

"perhaps they are a little low"
In my rankings they would be in the top 9 somewhere but this is an analysis of what the coaches are doing and I can see them putting them in this spot.

Just was curious I see Delano as a for sure Top 10 right now having them outside it would be low in my mind

Looking that Poll its not bad the coaches are too high on Two Rivers, NU and Luv but again the coaches tend to reward record over strength of schedule.

But again Delano probably will drop the game to MPLS next Saturday and just add more complexity to 6-30. I just think right now Delano seemed like a good choice for Top 10 of any Class A poll you are doing

[rainier2]

These two could be questionable because their records are not solid.
11. Delano 9-7-0 9
12. Fergus Falls 8-5-1 7


Delano loot to 5 A teams ranked in the top 10 and two AA teams.
They beat Mound8-1 that Two Rivers lost to.

They are ranked where they should be or perhaps a little low as one win was over #8 Hibbing.

Fergus is a little more shakey but still have losses to decent A and AA teams.

Why is Delano ranked where they should be elliott if they only have losses to the top 5 of the 6 Class A teams in every poll for Class A .

They have no other Class A losses and they beat the #8 team in this ranking on the road with their seldom used backup goalie in net by 3 goals?

They are also in the TOP 10 in Pagestat which I know you use as a guide. I think in Class A rankings for now Delano should be in top 10 ahead of Hibbing due to their Head 2 head road win by a 3 goal margin.

Just curious

Just a note that Delano had two empty net goals vs Hibbing. I wouldn't argue against putting Delano ahead of Hibbing, but it was essentially a one goal game, for what that's worth.

[ClassAGuy]

These two could be questionable because their records are not solid.
11. Delano 9-7-0 9
12. Fergus Falls 8-5-1 7


Delano loot to 5 A teams ranked in the top 10 and two AA teams.
They beat Mound8-1 that Two Rivers lost to.

They are ranked where they should be or perhaps a little low as one win was over #8 Hibbing.

Fergus is a little more shakey but still have losses to decent A and AA teams.

Why is Delano ranked where they should be elliott if they only have losses to the top 5 of the 6 Class A teams in every poll for Class A .

They have no other Class A losses and they beat the #8 team in this ranking on the road with their seldom used backup goalie in net by 3 goals?

They are also in the TOP 10 in Pagestat which I know you use as a guide. I think in Class A rankings for now Delano should be in top 10 ahead of Hibbing due to their Head 2 head road win by a 3 goal margin.

Just curious

Just a note that Delano had two empty net goals vs Hibbing. I wouldn't argue against putting Delano ahead of Hibbing, but it was essentially a one goal game, for what that's worth.\

Yep I watched it rainer it was a game controlled by Delano they heavily outshot Hibbing and controlled good chunks of zone time.

I like Hibbing I have watched a lot of their games I get ripped weekly as having them Top 10 by the YHH Crew on the weekly Podcast but I think they are good top 10 Class A team this winter.

But they should be below Delano as the Tigers were the better team when they played

[elliott70]

13. New Ulm 14-2-1 13
14. Luverne 9-5-1 NR
15. Minneapolis 9-6-1 NR
16. New Prague 10-4-0 19

New Ulm
- a good team perhaps top 20 but a recent loss to a mediocre single A team questions #13 spot as the rest of their record does not support a very high ranking - good games with Fergus and DL.
I would see them a little lower.

Luverne is too high - page stat has them somewhere around #32 or 33.
I don't see them in the top 20.

Minneapolis I can be excited about - losses have come against top teams and they are 8 - 2 in the last ten games.
Page sat has them at 10 or 11.
They are too low.

New Prague could be a little higher but close to where they belong.

[elliott70]

17. Duluth Denfeld 10-8-1 14
18. St. Cloud Cathedral 8-7-0 18
19. Albert Lea 12-4-0 15
20. Wadena-Deer Creek 10-4-0 20

Denfeld and Cathedral are better than the rankings how but not sure how to make the argument other than by the eye test.

Alber Lea is a decent team but the loss recently to Luverne leaves them at #19 at best.

Wadena is similar to Two Rivers - a good record but two of their four losses are to teams that a top 20 team would nto lose to.
I would not have them in the top 20.

[TTpuckster]

6 to 9
Northfield 13-4
Detroit Lakes 12-4-1
Hibbing 12-5-1
Rock Ridge 11-5-1

Northfield has lost to 2 higher ranked single A teams and two decent AA teams.

DL tie Thief River Falls and lost to two higher ranked A teams and a decent AA team
one loss to a lower ranked A team (Fergus) - so the question is where should TRF and FF be ranked.

Hibbing tied Denfeld and lost to two decent AA teams, Hermantown and Delano
so similar questions come up than in regard to Denfeld and Delano

The Rock lost to Albert Lea and Denfeld (two good single A teams) and higher ranked Hibbing (1 to zip) a AA team and tied Little Falls.

But I can accept this ranking.

Yea, and Elliott, why are you calling Hermantown and Delano AA teams? (Just seeing if that will get the Hermantown haters going again).

[elliott70]

6 to 9
Northfield 13-4
Detroit Lakes 12-4-1
Hibbing 12-5-1
Rock Ridge 11-5-1

Northfield has lost to 2 higher ranked single A teams and two decent AA teams.

DL tie Thief River Falls and lost to two higher ranked A teams and a decent AA team
one loss to a lower ranked A team (Fergus) - so the question is where should TRF and FF be ranked.

Hibbing tied Denfeld and lost to two decent AA teams, Hermantown and Delano
so similar questions come up than in regard to Denfeld and Delano

The Rock lost to Albert Lea and Denfeld (two good single A teams) and higher ranked Hibbing (1 to zip) a AA team and tied Little Falls.

But I can accept this ranking.

Yea, and Elliott, why are you calling Hermantown and Delano AA teams? (Just seeing if that will get the Hermantown haters going again).

previous post edited for clarity and those with a nearly North Dakota education.

[rainier2]

Why is Delano ranked where they should be elliott if they only have losses to the top 5 of the 6 Class A teams in every poll for Class A .

They have no other Class A losses and they beat the #8 team in this ranking on the road with their seldom used backup goalie in net by 3 goals?

They are also in the TOP 10 in Pagestat which I know you use as a guide. I think in Class A rankings for now Delano should be in top 10 ahead of Hibbing due to their Head 2 head road win by a 3 goal margin.

Just curious

Just a note that Delano had two empty net goals vs Hibbing. I wouldn't argue against putting Delano ahead of Hibbing, but it was essentially a one goal game, for what that's worth.\

Yep I watched it rainer it was a game controlled by Delano they heavily outshot Hibbing and controlled good chunks of zone time.

I like Hibbing I have watched a lot of their games I get ripped weekly as having them Top 10 by the YHH Crew on the weekly Podcast but I think they are good top 10 Class A team this winter.

But they should be below Delano as the Tigers were the better team when they played

I get we're just splitting hairs here, but Hibbing getting outshot isn't the mark against them as it normally would be for many teams, as their goalie is their best player who gives them a shot vs teams that will outzone and outshoot them. That's how they beat Cloquet, played a one goal game vs GR, and kept it a 3-0 game vs Hermantown until 2.5 minutes left. So I agree that Delano has better SKATERS as a whole, but figuring in goaltending closes the overall gap between the teams.

And the backup Delano goalie has a better save % than the starter, so it's not like they put a block of swiss cheese in nets compared to the usual starter.

Either way, I'd actually rank Delano ahead of Hibbing. I'm just bored and looking to argue a bit. --Rainier

[headsupsticksdown]

13. New Ulm 14-2-1 13
14. Luverne 9-5-1 NR
15. Minneapolis 9-6-1 NR
16. New Prague 10-4-0 19

New Ulm
- a good team perhaps top 20 but a recent loss to a mediocre single A team questions #13 spot as the rest of their record does not support a very high ranking - good games with Fergus and DL.
I would see them a little lower.

Luverne is too high - page stat has them somewhere around #32 or 33.
I don't see them in the top 20.

Minneapolis I can be excited about - losses have come against top teams and they are 8 - 2 in the last ten games.
Page sat has them at 10 or 11.
They are too low.

New Prague could be a little higher but close to where they belong.

Not surprised JD has his boys dialed in at the right time. For such a young group with a questionable tendy coming in, they’ve been clicking a bit. Still need to tighten up that D though.. I hope they make another run.