Grading 24 teams from holiday events

[O-townClown]

TEAM/Grade (PS2 ranking pre-/post) - recap

BIG TRADITION

ANDOVER/A- (8/7) - The Huskies teased beating C-DH 3-1 and taking out Pios in OT, then showed they are beatable.
BLAKE/B+ (45/38) - Righted the ship nicely after getting pummeled into run time by the Red Knights last week.
CENTENNIAL/B- (3/12) - Started with a chaotic defeat to Champlin Park and followed with big margin wins.
CHAMPLIN PARK/B- (34/34) - Gigantic win on Tuesday was followed by lackluster losses.
CLOQUET-ESKO-CARLTON/D (62/59) - Their great goaltending was on full display facing around 50 shots per game.
CRETIN-DERHAM HALL/B+ (5/5) - Went down to the wire with Andover before cruising past gritty Rosemount.
HILL-MURRAY/A (4/5) - Only loss was to Andover in an even game after pulling away from the Irish on Tuesday.
ROSEMOUNT/B (29/29) - Showed very well against three of the state's top teams in Hill, Cretin & Andover.

HOCKEY FOR LIFE

CHASKA/F (21/27) - Dismissing the pizza loss as a fluke still leaves a winless week questioning if they really are a top team.
EDEN PRAIRIE/B+ (13/15) - Rebounded nicely after the 4 goal loss to St. Thomas with a critical seeding win over the Hawks.
EDINA/D (2/6) - Only a good third period on Wednesday prevents them from registering a lower grade.
LAKEVILLE NORTH/A (28/21) - Prior Lake, Totino & Chaska were the victims...don't assume South at the X is a given.
MOORHEAD/A+ (15/13) - Taking down Edina was nice, and Wednesday's OT win over Cadets looking even better.
PRIOR LAKE/F (27/32) - For all the excitement with players returning from Juniors, going winless is an equal disappointment.
ST. THOMAS/A- (12/11) - Breezing past Eden Prairie & Edina somehow builds interest for the anticipated third Raiders tilt in 3AA.
TOTINO-GRACE/B (50/41) - Results show they aren't as weak as it seemed.

TRADITION IN THE PARK

BENILDE-ST. MARGARET'S/A- (11/10) - Found ways to win three one-goal games, one in OT and another at the horn.
HOLY FAMILY/C+ (37/37) - Blasted by Wayzata, they rebounded to put up a game showing in their other two losses.
LAKEVILLE SOUTH/B+ (6/8) - Entered undefeated, leaves with questions of whether they can beat Top 5 teams.
MAPLE GROVE/A- (9/2) - Cemented their status as a state title contender despite the narrow loss to Benilde.
ROGERS/A (30/24) - Two wins, including over Wayzata, and an OT loss to Red Knights? Yes, please! Rogers arrives.
ST. MICHAEL-ALBERTVILLE/D (18/23) - Three losses, with Tuesday's to Stillwater not even close.
STILLWATER/B (19/18) - Hung tight with Benilde after splitting two one-sided games.
WAYZATA/B (7/9) - Schedule laid out for a sweep, but the tight Thursday loss to Rogers is a reminder they are good, not great.

[SEC Scotty]

Nice summary. Hill Murray, Andover, Maple Grove, Lakeville South, and Edina are your top five teams in AA in my opinion. Put them in any order. I was really impressed with Maple Grove Wednesday night.

[OldManRiver]

This is a great recap. I think these grades pass the eye test as well (for the games that I saw).

Those top AA teams are kind of a revolving door right now - should make for a great run through the second half of the season.

[O-townClown]

Nice summary. Hill Murray, Andover, Maple Grove, Lakeville South, and Edina are your top five teams in AA in my opinion.

Thanks. Calling Edina a top team is the classic "Get a reputation as a early riser and you can sleep until Noon every day" phenomenon on full display. Lost 3 of 4. The win was lackluster but for one period. They have a chance in the coming week to show they deserve mention. Losing to either Lakeville South or Cretin-Derham Hall means more excuses, or just maybe they're too inconsistent. Fun to find out!

[ClassAGuy]

Fun Concept here are the Top 20 and Notables Grades from the Holidays in Class A .

Grade- A
#1 Hermantown- No Zam no problem the Hawks easily disposed of two good Section 2A teams in Orono & Delano

#2 Warroad- Went 3-0 in dominant fashion and some of their younger stars got on the scoresheet to start building their depth.

#4 Little Falls- Went 3-0 in dominate fashion and end 2021 at (12-0-0) heading into the new year.

#5 Duluth Denfeld- Went 3-0 as well the Hunters have now reeled off 8 straight with a date with Hermantown upcoming.

#8 Providence Academy- Went 3-0 in the Granite City Classic and beat a Solid AA Sartell in OT to cap off the weekend.

#11 Detroit Lakes- Went 3-0 in at Fergus Falls which was capped off by a nice win over the Otters to get revenge from an opening season loss.

#14 St Cloud Cathedral- Went 3-0 at their home Granite City Classic picked up two section wins and the big over their big cross town rival.

#16 Cambridge Isanti- went 2-0 with two nice wins over Greenway and Hibbing for 7 straight wins.

#19 Albert Lea- Went 3-0 in Rochester to show they are a threat in 1A

Grade- B
#6- Delano- Snuck by a depleted Hibbing and hung around with the Hawks for 2 periods to go 1-1.

#7 Minneapolis- Picked up a critical Section 2A win and a win over ranked Class A team before falling in OT to a solid Holy Angels team.

#12 Fergus Falls- Started out hot but allowed big third period by Detroit Lakes to lose momentum heading into their biggest week of the season coming up.

#15 Mankato East- Took third in the Gold Division of the Herb Brooks Classic nice showing for them

#18 Simley- Took 3rd place in the Herb Brooks Silver Division to improve to (9-3-0) on the year.

Grade C
#3 Mahtomedi- Losing to Roseau was fine but the follow up tie with St Louis Park is concerning...

# 9 Alexandria- Lost a tight one to Gentry in their only action nothing bad about that.

#20 Orono- Lost at Hermantown again nothing to be ashamed of for now.

#17 Chisago Lakes- Lost a tight one to AA Forest Lake

Grade D
#13 Northfield- Had a rough go of it in the Gold Division at the Herb Brooks Classic.

Grade F
Northern Lakes- Got beat by 10 by Little Falls and then dropped a critical section game to WDC to fall out of the rankings

Southwest Christian- Another week of below average results for this club

Rochester Lourdes- Got smoked by winless Bloomington Kennedy and lost a key Section 1A game to Albert Lea

Grade INC
#10 East Grand Forks- Did not play their big match up with the Hawks was PPD due to weather.

[WestMetro]

Nice research work OTC and agree with 99% of your comments

I would put Blake at C . I would have agreed with B if they had kept the Centenntial loss margin to 1 or 2 goals. I mean they’ve got 5 Elite kids on their roster .

Would appreciate insights from those closer to Blake as well as PL and Chaska about what has been going right and wrong so far and what changes needed in the second half to rebound

[Stang5280]

#8 Providence Academy- Went 3-0 in the Granite City Classic and beat a Solid AA Sartell in OT to cap off the weekend.

#14 St Cloud Cathedral- Went 3-0 at their home Granite City Classic picked up two section wins and the big over their big cross town rival.

Just fyi, Providence and St. Cloud regular had a dust up at the end of their second round game, resulting in two ejections apiece. So they were each playing down two men in their respective games against Sartell and Cathedral, which may or may not have impacted the results.

[SEC Scotty]

#8 Providence Academy- Went 3-0 in the Granite City Classic and beat a Solid AA Sartell in OT to cap off the weekend.

#14 St Cloud Cathedral- Went 3-0 at their home Granite City Classic picked up two section wins and the big over their big cross town rival.

Just fyi, Providence and St. Cloud regular had a dust up at the end of their second round game, resulting in two ejections apiece. So they were each playing down two men in their respective games against Sartell and Cathedral, which may or may not have impacted the results.

Is a dust up as bad and as a kerfuffel?

[SEC Scotty]

Nice summary. Hill Murray, Andover, Maple Grove, Lakeville South, and Edina are your top five teams in AA in my opinion.

Thanks. Calling Edina a top team is the classic "Get a reputation as a early riser and you can sleep until Noon every day" phenomenon on full display. Lost 3 of 4. The win was lackluster but for one period. They have a chance in the coming week to show they deserve mention. Losing to either Lakeville South or Cretin-Derham Hall means more excuses, or just maybe they're too inconsistent. Fun to find out!

Haven’t seen the Hornets in person yet. Maybe tomorrow.

[Stang5280]

#8 Providence Academy- Went 3-0 in the Granite City Classic and beat a Solid AA Sartell in OT to cap off the weekend.

#14 St Cloud Cathedral- Went 3-0 at their home Granite City Classic picked up two section wins and the big over their big cross town rival.

Just fyi, Providence and St. Cloud regular had a dust up at the end of their second round game, resulting in two ejections apiece. So they were each playing down two men in their respective games against Sartell and Cathedral, which may or may not have impacted the results.

Is a dust up as bad and as a kerfuffel?

Almost, but not quite, especially when a private school is involved. Neither rises to the level of a donnybrook, though.

[O-townClown]

My biggest disappointment in 2021 was learning Hill-Murray and Cretin-Derham Hall didn’t schedule each other.

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

My biggest disappointment in 2021 was learning Hill-Murray and Cretin-Derham Hall didn’t schedule each other.

The Raiders need to earn a place on our schedule.

[goldy313]

They were both once in the St. Paul City Conference weren’t they?

If that is so tradition dictates they play!

[Stang5280]

They were both once in the St. Paul City Conference weren’t they?

If that is so tradition dictates they play!

Yessir. HM, CDH, and STA all joined in 1977-78. HM and STA departed after the 86-87 season, while CDH stayed through 2003 (I obviously had to look that info up.) The Pioneers won the conference every year they were a member except for 1985, when the Cadets won it. The St. Paul and Minneapolis conference websites have great historical data on them.