Class A Rankings 12-24-17

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Where should Minneapolis be ranked?

Poll ended at Sun Dec 31, 2017 8:54 am

1-3
0
No votes
4-6
0
No votes
7-9
2
50%
10-12
2
50%
below 15
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 4

HShockeywatcher
Posts: 6848
Joined: Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:21 pm

Class A Rankings 12-24-17

Post by HShockeywatcher » Sun Dec 24, 2017 8:54 am

A few big games last week and a few big moves up. With a few more comparisons and big games Mound Westonka and Virginia were the big movers up, but I didn't move anyone down substantially, especially with the week ahead of us. With holiday tournaments and so many common opponents in the top 15, it's going to be a good week for hockey and definitely for rankings!

Merry Christmas!


Schwan Cup Divisions
http://www.nscsports.org/schwan-cup-schedules-results

South St Paul Tournament
https://mn02207775.schoolwires.net/cms/ ... 20V-JV.pdf

Hilltopper Classic
http://www.marslakeview.com/wp-content/ ... 2017-1.pdf

Does anyone have a link to the Duluth Heritage Bracket? The rink's website says it exists, but is not where it says.

Any other holiday tournaments with a bracket that I missed?




1. [1] Mahtomedi (6-0-1) (4-0)
The Zephyrs picked up 2 more Class A wins this week, allowing 1 goal in each. Schwan's Cup, Silver Division this week; they should be favored in their first two games and there are all good options for the last game.
This week: Tues vs Mounds View, Wed vs StCloud or Minneapolis, Thurs vs TBD

2. [3] Hermantown (2-3-2) (1-0)
The Hawks pick up their first Class A win and this week play 3 AA teams.
This week: Wed vs Roseville, Thurs vs Wayzata or Cloquet, Fri vs TBD

3. [4] Greenway (8-1) (7-1)
The Raiders have two big games this coming week.
This week: Wed vs Alexandria, Thurs vs Delano, Fri vs Rosemount

4. [12] Mound Westonka (6-1-1) (6-1-1)
This is a huge jump from last week, but beating Delano by the same margin as Orono and beating last week a team that Orono lost to this week seems to let everything fall into place. With Orono and Delano their only ranked Class A opponents from here on out, a lot will depend on how others around them do.
This week: Wed vs Owatonna, Thurs, Fri vs TBD

5. [2] Orono (6-2-1) (6-1)
The Spartans pick up their first Class A loss in Minneapolis, which is also a section loss. With a full Wright County schedule ahead of them, they are still in the driver's seat for a top section seeding and ranking, but without games against Mahtomedi, Hermantown or Greenway, much is now out of their hands.
This week: Fri vs East Ridge

6. [5] Breck (2-4) (2-1)
The Mustangs play in the Silver Division this week. Their first two games will be more AA opponents, but they could play Minneapolis or Mahtomedi in their last game.
This week: Tues vs Buffalo, Wed vs Cretin-Derham Hall or St Louis Park, Thurs vs TBD

7. [6] Delano (4-4) (4-2)
The loss to Mound Westonka isn't good for their ranking or section seeding, but they still only have 2 Class A losses and both are by a goal. A lot will be learned this week.
This week: Wed @ Hibbing, Thurs @ Greenway, Fri @ Virginia

8. [14] Virginia (8-2) (6-1)
A close loss to a good Cloquet team, along with EGF's tying a Warroad team the Blue Devil's had previously beaten by 3 makings this jump possible. 3 good games this week.
This week: Wed vs Rosemount, Thurs vs Alexandria, Fri vs Delano

9. [7] East Grand Forks (6-4-1) (5-3-1)
The Green Wave beat a good Bemidji team then tied Warroad in a game where they didn't score their first goal until midway through the 3rd period. They are off this week and don't play a MN team for nearly 3 weeks.
This week: Idle

10. [8] Cathedral (7-2) (7-2)
The early loss to EGF really does seem like a hiccup among the rest of their schedule, but this still seems like the teams they should be nestled between. The Sartell game this week could be a game, but the following week playing both Hermantown and Virginia on the road is where they'll have the chance to make some big moves.
This week: Thurs vs River Lakes, Fri vs Sartell-St Stephen, Sat vs Sauk Rapids-Rice

11. [9] Alexandria (4-4-1) (4-2-1)
The Cardinals' only Class A losses are to Cathedral and by 1 to East Grand Forks. This will be a big week for them; can they win more than one game on the road this week?
This week: Wed @ Greenway, Thurs @ Virginia, Fri @ Hibbing

12. [10] Monticello (7-1) (6-1)
The Moose picked up 2 more wins and should pick up 3 more this week.
This week: Tues vs Sauk Rapids-Rice, Wed vs Holy Angels, Thurs vs River Lakes

13. [11] Sartell-St Stephen (6-2) (5-0)
The Sabres are still undefeated in Class A games while losing to 2 of the AA teams they've played. This week they'll be playing Cathedral, which will help get a better idea of where they should be.
This week: Tues vs Holy Angels, Wed @ Cathedral, Thurs vs Litchfield

14. [-] Minneapolis (6-5) (4-4)
Minneapolis started the year 5-0, lost 5 in a row and followed that up with a win over Orono. Breck is their remaining section opponent and their only remaining ranked opponent, so the rest of their ranking both here and in sections will be based on what other teams do and if they don't lose more.
This week: Tues vs St Cloud, Wed vs Mahtomedi or Mounds View, Thurs vs TBD

15. [-] Crookston (5-3) (4-3)
The Pirates have had an interesting season. Close loss to Sartell, win over Warroad, close loss to Johnson, lost 7-3 to EGF and beat Minneapolis. They can play with and score many goals with some top teams and have a good shot at the highest section rank in a long time.
This wee: Wed vs River Lakes, Thurs vs Fargo North, Fri vs Chippewa Falls

Other noteworthy teams:

Northfield (6-2) (5-2)
The Raiders got crushed by Mahtomedi at home, so they probably don't have a shot at the section, but they have a good shot at the 2 or 3 seed and their first game this week is against a section opponent.
This week: Tues vs Minnehaha Academy, Wed, Thurs TBD

Totino-Grace (4-7-1) (1-3)
As was the case last year, the Eagles are hard to place. They are in section 4A, the only section team they play is Mahtomedi, who they only lost to by 1, and they play a total of 5 Class A teams on their schedule. How do you rank a team who got shut out by EGF, lost to Mahtomedi by 1, lost to TRF by 2, now beat Luverne by 3 and whose next Class A opponent is Breck in their 25th game of the season?
This week: Idle

[13] Luverne (7-1) (7-1)
This week: Thurs vs Eagan, Fri, Sat TBD

Lake of the Woods (5-0) (5-0)
This week: Thurs @ Roseau, Fri vs Minot, Sat vs Eau Claire North


Some comments on the sections...


1A
This seems to be down to Albert Lea, Mankato East or Lourdes, with two other teams having winning records but easier schedules. With no common games yet, Albert Lea and East play twice while Lourdes only plays Albert Lea and it's the last game of the season.

2A
This looks to be the most competitive section in the state with 5 ranked teams this week. It will be an interesting section to rank as well. Mound Westonka beat Orono beat Breck beat Delano. Minneapolis has a loss to Mound Westonka and beat Orono, but also lost to Delano and plays Breck later. As of today, I'd probably do rank them like this, although there's lots of hockey still to be played with probably only one of these teams not being able to get to the top with a bunch of wins:
Mound Westonka, Orono, Delano, Minneapolis, Breck

3A
Litchfield, Luverne and Marshall are the 3 teams with winning records in this season. Luverne has already beaten Marshall once, plays them again and plays Litchfield.
Luverne should win this section.

4A
This is Mahtomedi's section to lose. Northfield, Minnehaha and Simley should have some good records heading into sections, with Totino-Grace being the dark horse who recently lost to Mahtomedi by 1.

5A
Monticello beat Pine City 7-3 and North Branch 4-2; they are the only other teams with a winning record in this section. Monticello should make it to the section final easily and if the kids don't overlook their opponent, they should win the game.

6A
This looks to be Cathedral's section to lose after they beat Alexandria 6-1. Cathedral plays the Sartell at the MAC this coming week then Alexandria and Sartell play twice.

7A
Greenway or Hermantown will likely be the top seed, with Virginia having a great season but getting crushed by Greenway early.

8A
East Grand Forks is the favorite here but it looks like Crookston will be making a push for the 2 seed and despite losing the first matchup plays EGF again during the season and possibly again during sections. Warroad tied EGF and Thief River Falls lost to Crookston by 2 and Warroad by 1. Lake of the Woods is 5-0 but hasn't played any of the other 4 yet.
All of the mentioned teams have one matchup left, with EGF and TRF meeting twice.
It's still way too early to do anything beyond who is the favorite, but it should be really easy to rank at season's end.

blueblood
Posts: 2620
Joined: Fri May 26, 2006 8:36 am

Class A

Post by blueblood » Sun Dec 24, 2017 9:28 am

Hshw:

Definitely stepping up his game with expert analysis. Nice work and Merry Christmas!

-bb
Play Like a Champion Today

greenwayraider
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Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2016 6:54 am
Location: Bovey

Post by greenwayraider » Sun Dec 24, 2017 3:48 pm

I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on Greenway’s 8-2 thumping of Virginia. Theses two teams are very even. It was just one of those games where one team was very undisciplined as things started to go wrong. The rematch is in Virginia and it will be very difficult for Greenway to win there. Hermantown plays at Virginia and at Greenway. Anyone of those three could get the #1 seed. It’s surprising to me that it is even possible and that Hermantown does not have the #1 seed already locked up. Things probably will end up as they always do but it’s fun to be able to even have a chance that something unusual just might happen.

HShockeywatcher
Posts: 6848
Joined: Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:21 pm

Post by HShockeywatcher » Mon Dec 25, 2017 1:06 am

greenwayraider wrote:Hermantown plays at Virginia and at Greenway. Anyone of those three could get the #1 seed.
Greenway and Virginia combined have the same number of losses as Hermantown. It’s very exciting to watch from afar. It’ll be cool to see how it all plays out.

HShockeywatcher
Posts: 6848
Joined: Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:21 pm

Post by HShockeywatcher » Tue Dec 26, 2017 11:28 pm

4 Breck
3 Buffalo

6 Minnehaha Academy
4 Northfield

7 Mahtomedi
0 Mounds View

5 Minneapolis
3 St Cloud



Match Ups Tuesday...
Chisago Lakes vs Princeton
Minneapolis vs Mahtomedi
Breck vs Cretin-Derham Hall
Aexandria @ Greenway

HShockeywatcher
Posts: 6848
Joined: Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:21 pm

Post by HShockeywatcher » Wed Dec 27, 2017 2:23 pm

Does anyone know much about Lake of the Woods?
They only graduated 3 of their top 10 in points from last year (#2,#4,#5) and return their goalie from last year.
They seem to have a mix of seniors and underclassmen scoring, while the two goalies are splitting time.
They played 22 games last year and are back up to 25 this year.

It's not the best competition, but they are 5-0 with 3 shut outs and 2 total GA.

Pretty cool to see them doing well on paper. Will they be able to compete in their section?

HShockeywatcher
Posts: 6848
Joined: Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:21 pm

Post by HShockeywatcher » Wed Dec 27, 2017 10:14 pm

In a strange turn of events, we will be getting a Mahtomedi vs Breck match up in game 3 of the Silver Division, it will just be in the 3rd place game instead of the championship...

5 Cretin-Derham Hall
1 Breck

3 Minneapolis
1 Mahtomedi
:shock:

Also...
3 Alexandria
2 Greenway
:shock:

5 Rosemount
1 Virginia

6 Mound Westonka
1 Owatonna

Stang5280
Posts: 1955
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2017 1:12 pm

Post by Stang5280 » Thu Dec 28, 2017 10:55 am

HShockeywatcher wrote:In a strange turn of events, we will be getting a Mahtomedi vs Breck match up in game 3 of the Silver Division, it will just be in the 3rd place game instead of the championship...

5 Cretin-Derham Hall
1 Breck

3 Minneapolis
1 Mahtomedi
:shock:

Also...
3 Alexandria
2 Greenway
:shock:

5 Rosemount
1 Virginia

6 Mound Westonka
1 Owatonna
CDH really should be in the gold division, so it isn’t surprising what they did to my Mustangs. The Minneapolis win does qualify as quite a shocker, though. Alex finally has their leading scorer from last year (Doherty) back from injury. He hasn’t registered any points yet, but it seems like Alex has righted the ship and could make a post-holiday run.

SquirtC'00
Posts: 118
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2012 6:19 pm

Post by SquirtC'00 » Thu Dec 28, 2017 1:13 pm

Stang5280 wrote:
HShockeywatcher wrote:In a strange turn of events, we will be getting a Mahtomedi vs Breck match up in game 3 of the Silver Division, it will just be in the 3rd place game instead of the championship...

5 Cretin-Derham Hall
1 Breck

3 Minneapolis
1 Mahtomedi
:shock:

Also...
3 Alexandria
2 Greenway
:shock:

5 Rosemount
1 Virginia

6 Mound Westonka
1 Owatonna
CDH really should be in the gold division, so it isn’t surprising what they did to my Mustangs. The Minneapolis win does qualify as quite a shocker, though. Alex finally has their leading scorer from last year (Doherty) back from injury. He hasn’t registered any points yet, but it seems like Alex has righted the ship and could make a post-holiday run.
Also by the looks of it Maht didn't have their starting goaltender in net for the Minneapolis game and he may be their most important player.

Hermhawkey
Posts: 128
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2012 6:39 pm

Post by Hermhawkey » Thu Dec 28, 2017 3:16 pm

They score 1 goal and that is the goalies fault? Hard to win any game with 1 goal.

Zamman
Posts: 2097
Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2002 1:15 pm
Location: Edina

Post by Zamman » Fri Dec 29, 2017 10:00 am

I watched Cathedral yesterday play River lakes. They are pretty good and handled RL without an issue. But one cheap hit late in the game takes away all the respect.
Sartell played my AHA and they also look pretty good. They move the puck well, a few good players (5, 18 and 26 stood out). Goalie started very calm, but when AHA put on some pressure he gave up some good rebounds. Sartell beat my STARS 6-1. AHA gave up two shorties and a PPG. Those two teams look good. Will get to see Monticello today and St. Francis tomorrow.

hockey9011
Posts: 310
Joined: Wed Nov 20, 2013 4:34 pm

Post by hockey9011 » Fri Dec 29, 2017 3:59 pm

Zamman wrote:I watched Cathedral yesterday play River lakes. They are pretty good and handled RL without an issue. But one cheap hit late in the game takes away all the respect.
Sartell played my AHA and they also look pretty good. They move the puck well, a few good players (5, 18 and 26 stood out). Goalie started very calm, but when AHA put on some pressure he gave up some good rebounds. Sartell beat my STARS 6-1. AHA gave up two shorties and a PPG. Those two teams look good. Will get to see Monticello today and St. Francis tomorrow.
who do you see as having the edge between SCC after seeing them both play back to back the same day?? Should be a good game between the two tonight
2015-2016 Regular Season Pick 'em Champion

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