Games Tuesday 1-11-22

[ROSEVILLEHOCKEYDAD]

Overtime in Brainerd
Alexandria 2
Brainerd 2
Still :25 PP for Brainerd to start OT.

[ClassAGuy]

Overtime in Brainerd
Alexandria 2
Brainerd 2
Still :25 PP for Brainerd to start OT.

[ROSEVILLEHOCKEYDAD]

Alexandria 3
Brainerd 2
OT-Final

[O-townClown]

Correction
BSM 3
Chaska 2
OT-Final

It was more interesting when you posted that there were three goals in overtime.

[Stang5280]

#4 Mahtomedi 2 #17 Simley 1 in the 3rd

Even game Simley lets a stretch pass get behind them to give Maht a breakaway goal with about 10 minutes to go. Simley showing they can hang with the 4A Favorite.

#4 Mahtomedi 2 #17 Simley 1 Final
SOG 24-22 Maht

Spartans show they can hang around and Maht's gaol scoring issues continue to show up. Good Game overall be a fun rematch in the Section Final in 4A

Thanks for the updates. Great to see them giving Mahtomedi a game. Definitely will check out their game Thursday v Hill.

I am really skeptical of Mahtomedi. They just have such limited offensive firepower, either to put teams away or keep up with better competition. Very nice showing by Simley, though.

[BlueLineSpecial]

#4 Mahtomedi 2 #17 Simley 1 Final
SOG 24-22 Maht

Spartans show they can hang around and Maht's gaol scoring issues continue to show up. Good Game overall be a fun rematch in the Section Final in 4A

Thanks for the updates. Great to see them giving Mahtomedi a game. Definitely will check out their game Thursday v Hill.

I am really skeptical of Mahtomedi. They just have such limited offensive firepower, either to put teams away or keep up with better competition. Very nice showing by Simley, though.

I don't disagree about Mahtomedi's lack of goal scoring, but I'm not as skeptical. Their goal scoring outages are coming against many of the better teams in the state. Using most recent class A and AA board rankings, Mahtomedi has played 4 games against top 20 A teams and 6 games against top 20 AA teams. Of those 10 games:

Mahtomedi is 4-6 overall
3-1 against top 20 A teams [+8 goal differential]
1-5 against top 20 AA teams [-9 goal differential]

They're not a high scoring team, but they did hang 6 on Orono, 5 on EGF and beat STA 3-2. I think they can beat good teams and hang around with great ones. In class A that might well be enough to get them to semifinal Friday. They've got one of the better goalies in the state, who should be able to keep you in most games, even against the best of class A.

[Stang5280]

Thanks for the updates. Great to see them giving Mahtomedi a game. Definitely will check out their game Thursday v Hill.

I am really skeptical of Mahtomedi. They just have such limited offensive firepower, either to put teams away or keep up with better competition. Very nice showing by Simley, though.

I don't disagree about Mahtomedi's lack of goal scoring, but I'm not as skeptical. Their goal scoring outages are coming against many of the better teams in the state. Using most recent class A and AA board rankings, Mahtomedi has played 4 games against top 20 A teams and 6 games against top 20 AA teams. Of those 10 games:

Mahtomedi is 4-6 overall
3-1 against top 20 A teams [+8 goal differential]
1-5 against top 20 AA teams [-9 goal differential]

They're not a high scoring team, but they did hang 6 on Orono, 5 on EGF and beat STA 3-2. I think they can beat good teams and hang around with great ones. In class A that might well be enough to get them to semifinal Friday. They've got one of the better goalies in the state, who should be able to keep you in most games, even against the best of class A.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not completely selling on Mahtomedi. But you also have to look at the ranked Class A teams they have faced: Hermantown, Orono, EGF, and Simley. Of those, only the Hawks are likely to be at state, and the other three are in the back half morass of the rankings. I would be curious to see Mahtomedi play a Little Falls or Denfeld type of team that can really score. My guess is that the Zephyrs would turtle up on defense and wait for their chances, and probably be successful doing it, but it would be an interesting contrast in styles. It’s always hard to gauge Mahtomedi with their AA heavy schedule, and they don’t play a serious Class A contender until Delano on Feb. 15.

[BlueLineSpecial]

I am really skeptical of Mahtomedi. They just have such limited offensive firepower, either to put teams away or keep up with better competition. Very nice showing by Simley, though.

I don't disagree about Mahtomedi's lack of goal scoring, but I'm not as skeptical. Their goal scoring outages are coming against many of the better teams in the state. Using most recent class A and AA board rankings, Mahtomedi has played 4 games against top 20 A teams and 6 games against top 20 AA teams. Of those 10 games:

Mahtomedi is 4-6 overall
3-1 against top 20 A teams [+8 goal differential]
1-5 against top 20 AA teams [-9 goal differential]

They're not a high scoring team, but they did hang 6 on Orono, 5 on EGF and beat STA 3-2. I think they can beat good teams and hang around with great ones. In class A that might well be enough to get them to semifinal Friday. They've got one of the better goalies in the state, who should be able to keep you in most games, even against the best of class A.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not completely selling on Mahtomedi. But you also have to look at the ranked Class A teams they have faced: Hermantown, Orono, EGF, and Simley. Of those, only the Hawks are likely to be at state, and the other three are in the back half morass of the rankings. I would be curious to see Mahtomedi play a Little Falls or Denfeld type of team that can really score. My guess is that the Zephyrs would turtle up on defense and wait for their chances, and probably be successful doing it, but it would be an interesting contrast in styles. It’s always hard to gauge Mahtomedi with their AA heavy schedule, and they don’t play a serious Class A contender until Delano on Feb. 15.

This Mahtomedi team actually reminds me a lot of their 2019-2020 championship team (I exclude last year for obvious reasons).

2019-2020 Season
17-8 final regular season record
GPG - 3.88
GAPG - 2.40

2021-2022 Season
7-6-1 regular season record so far, and may very well end up with a nearly identical record to the above
GPG - 3.50
GAPG - 2.00

At State in 2019-2020 they fairly easily handled Delano (5-2 win) and a 23-2 Warroad team (5-1 win) before hanging on for dear life and winning in OT against the Hawks for the title. According to the Hub, Mahtomedi was outshot 42-12 in that title game. They had lost to Hermantown by 7 goals during the regular season.

This year they were thoroughly outplayed by Hermantown (0-3 loss, outshot 42-16).

I say all this because I do see a lot of the same characteristics in this year's Zephyrs team when compared to that title team. But yeah I agree with everything you said and admittedly you know plenty more about class A than I do

[ClassAGuy]

I don't disagree about Mahtomedi's lack of goal scoring, but I'm not as skeptical. Their goal scoring outages are coming against many of the better teams in the state. Using most recent class A and AA board rankings, Mahtomedi has played 4 games against top 20 A teams and 6 games against top 20 AA teams. Of those 10 games:

Mahtomedi is 4-6 overall
3-1 against top 20 A teams [+8 goal differential]
1-5 against top 20 AA teams [-9 goal differential]

They're not a high scoring team, but they did hang 6 on Orono, 5 on EGF and beat STA 3-2. I think they can beat good teams and hang around with great ones. In class A that might well be enough to get them to semifinal Friday. They've got one of the better goalies in the state, who should be able to keep you in most games, even against the best of class A.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not completely selling on Mahtomedi. But you also have to look at the ranked Class A teams they have faced: Hermantown, Orono, EGF, and Simley. Of those, only the Hawks are likely to be at state, and the other three are in the back half morass of the rankings. I would be curious to see Mahtomedi play a Little Falls or Denfeld type of team that can really score. My guess is that the Zephyrs would turtle up on defense and wait for their chances, and probably be successful doing it, but it would be an interesting contrast in styles. It’s always hard to gauge Mahtomedi with their AA heavy schedule, and they don’t play a serious Class A contender until Delano on Feb. 15.

This Mahtomedi team actually reminds me a lot of their 2019-2020 championship team (I exclude last year for obvious reasons).

2019-2020 Season
17-8 final regular season record
GPG - 3.88
GAPG - 2.40

2021-2022 Season
7-6-1 regular season record so far, and may very well end up with a nearly identical record to the above
GPG - 3.50
GAPG - 2.00

At State in 2019-2020 they fairly easily handled Delano (5-2 win) and a 23-2 Warroad team (5-1 win) before hanging on for dear life and winning in OT against the Hawks for the title. According to the Hub, Mahtomedi was outshot 42-12 in that title game. They had lost to Hermantown by 7 goals during the regular season.

This year they were thoroughly outplayed by Hermantown (0-3 loss, outshot 42-16).

I say all this because I do see a lot of the same characteristics in this year's Zephyrs team when compared to that title team. But yeah I agree with everything you said and admittedly you know plenty more about class A than I do

That 2019-20 Run was interesting but Mahtomedi did not easily handle Delano. That game was a barn burner and it was 2-1 Delano with 5:00 minutes to go in the third period. I remember looking at my friend at that game saying wow the Tigers are gonna win this and then the wheels fell off the Zephyrs magical run to Title was written.

Everything went right for them in those three games to the State Title... Which needs to happen to win a Title.

That team also had an outstanding Top End Forwards like Nikolai Dulak, Adam Johnson and JD Metz and they picked up their Captain Colin Hagstrom right at sectional time as he missed most of the year with a broken leg. I dont see that type of front end talent on this current Maht group.

They should still win 4A. Last night may have been a wake up call for them even that 2019-20 State Title team lost a shocker around this time of the year on the road at then 4A Tartan. They met again in the Playoffs and the Zephyrs locked them down. I dont see Simley winning a rematch. However, I dont see the forwards on this current Maht team that I saw on that 2019-20 group.

Ben Dardis is the X factor.... But again I watched the entire game last night on Simley Youtube page. Mahtomedi struggled to generate offense they are system wise rock solid they run their Forecheck to perfection and their structure is sound. They will hang around with Hill because of this but they could also lose to a team like Simley or St Louis Park because they cant score to separate.

[BlueLineSpecial]

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not completely selling on Mahtomedi. But you also have to look at the ranked Class A teams they have faced: Hermantown, Orono, EGF, and Simley. Of those, only the Hawks are likely to be at state, and the other three are in the back half morass of the rankings. I would be curious to see Mahtomedi play a Little Falls or Denfeld type of team that can really score. My guess is that the Zephyrs would turtle up on defense and wait for their chances, and probably be successful doing it, but it would be an interesting contrast in styles. It’s always hard to gauge Mahtomedi with their AA heavy schedule, and they don’t play a serious Class A contender until Delano on Feb. 15.

This Mahtomedi team actually reminds me a lot of their 2019-2020 championship team (I exclude last year for obvious reasons).

2019-2020 Season
17-8 final regular season record
GPG - 3.88
GAPG - 2.40

2021-2022 Season
7-6-1 regular season record so far, and may very well end up with a nearly identical record to the above
GPG - 3.50
GAPG - 2.00

At State in 2019-2020 they fairly easily handled Delano (5-2 win) and a 23-2 Warroad team (5-1 win) before hanging on for dear life and winning in OT against the Hawks for the title. According to the Hub, Mahtomedi was outshot 42-12 in that title game. They had lost to Hermantown by 7 goals during the regular season.

This year they were thoroughly outplayed by Hermantown (0-3 loss, outshot 42-16).

I say all this because I do see a lot of the same characteristics in this year's Zephyrs team when compared to that title team. But yeah I agree with everything you said and admittedly you know plenty more about class A than I do

That 2019-20 Run was interesting but Mahtomedi did not easily handle Delano. That game was a barn burner and it was 2-1 Delano with 5:00 minutes to go in the third period. I remember looking at my friend at that game saying wow the Tigers are gonna win this and then the wheels fell off the Zephyrs magical run to Title was written.

Everything went right for them in those three games to the State Title... Which needs to happen to win a Title.

That team also had an outstanding Top End Forwards like Nikolai Dulak, Adam Johnson and JD Metz and they picked up their Captain Colin Hagstrom right at sectional time as he missed most of the year with a broken leg. I dont see that type of front end talent on this current Maht group.

They should still win 4A. Last night may have been a wake up call for them even that 2019-20 State Title team lost a shocker around this time of the year on the road at then 4A Tartan. They met again in the Playoffs and the Zephyrs locked them down. I dont see Simley winning a rematch. However, I dont see the forwards on this current Maht team that I saw on that 2019-20 group.

Ben Dardis is the X factor.... But again I watched the entire game last night on Simley Youtube page. Mahtomedi struggled to generate offense they are system wise rock solid they run their Forecheck to perfection and their structure is sound. They will hang around with Hill because of this but they could also lose to a team like Simley or St Louis Park because they cant score to separate.

Good stuff, good insights. Thanks