Class A
Moderators: Mitch Hawker, east hockey, karl(east)
Class A
Class A seems to be wide open. With STA not playing to their potential and losing to teams like Brainerd, they do not seem as good as they were predicted to be. Marshall has had some very good games but they have also had some bad ones. Hermantown is okay, not great. And I will believe Little Falls is good when they play teams other than Little Sisters of the Poor. I don't know much about Warroad. Who is the favorite at this point?
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Re: Class A
Hermantown is definitely the better team
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I know people like to tell me to shut up so I won't give my opinion either way. As far as St Thomas living up to their potential though, they have a much tougher schedule than both of the other two mentioned. So while they maybe should've won one of the three they lost, they have much tougher competition than the teams you are saying are better than they are. Honestly, there isn't much to compare the teams yet, so we'll see.
St.Thomas Academy,Duluth Marshall, and Hermantown have been the top three for quite some time. STA probably has played the stiffest competition lately. All three of these teams played each other close in games going back to last years state tournament although some seniors have graduated. STA and DM tied early this season. Hermantown is playing very good right now,there is no doubt about that. I would say they have to be ranked number one as of now. We will see though on Jan 4th when they play Duluth Marshall.
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This is true.
St Thomas has Hill Murray, who many have said they could beat. They played a bad game and lost two by 1. They also play Minnetonka, who they haven't lost to in the last 2 years.
Hermantown played a close one that could've gone either way with Virginia, but won't really be challenged much the rest of the season aside from two games.
Marshall has a good win against Cretin, but if St Thomas beats Minnetonka that will show they are even. But they also only play three tough games, Rapids, Cloquet and Hermantown.
Only a total of 7 games left that should even be possible challenges. I think if St Thomas wins 2 of their games they'll get the #1 seed in State. If not, all bets are off and it's really a toss up. Hard to compare them to the other two. And aside from the result maybe being different, thus far Hermantown is the top of the two of them.
My opinion
St Thomas
Hermantown
Marshall
Little Falls
But if the northern two have big wins and the city boys don't, they definitely lose my vote.
St Thomas has Hill Murray, who many have said they could beat. They played a bad game and lost two by 1. They also play Minnetonka, who they haven't lost to in the last 2 years.
Hermantown played a close one that could've gone either way with Virginia, but won't really be challenged much the rest of the season aside from two games.
Marshall has a good win against Cretin, but if St Thomas beats Minnetonka that will show they are even. But they also only play three tough games, Rapids, Cloquet and Hermantown.
Only a total of 7 games left that should even be possible challenges. I think if St Thomas wins 2 of their games they'll get the #1 seed in State. If not, all bets are off and it's really a toss up. Hard to compare them to the other two. And aside from the result maybe being different, thus far Hermantown is the top of the two of them.
My opinion
St Thomas
Hermantown
Marshall
Little Falls
But if the northern two have big wins and the city boys don't, they definitely lose my vote.
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STA has a ton of potential, they just need to live up to that potential. I would say that STA and DM are about even at this point. Hermantown is fairly close behind them. A game between any two of those three teams could go any direction depending on who showed up to play that day. The STA defense and Crandall need to step it up a notch in future games to continue to be ranked high otherwise there are going to be a lot of people saying that they are over-rated. They need to prove to those people that are chanting over-rated that they are really not. I think that they can do it, they just need to get it done.
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I don't believe Warroad or Little Falls are in the same class as the top 3. There are cases to be made for all three of these teams and at this point, none standout more than the other. I voted Hermantown, just because they haven't lost yet, although they've only played a couple of decent teams so far. I watched them handle Denfeld and pull out a miracle in Virginia. Throw in the fact that they throttled Thief River Falls, and they have proven enough to me for now.
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mnjorc,
I would've agreed with you about Crandall a month ago, but Crandall is doing everything a good goalie needs to. He is a goalie that makes amazing saves. He is the ONLY reason the team was anywhere close to beating Edina with the amazing saves he made. And the defense was the only reason they lost. If they played half as well as he did, they would've won. But they didn't, that's on the defense. St Thomas has a goalie that can do great things, good offense, but defense needs work. He shut out a Tartan team in Oakdale that Hill Phillippi couldn't do. He's not the problem.
Hermantown is undefeated, but they are class A and all in all I think you should only consider class A teams when ranking them against each other, and against Class A teams all three of them are undefeated. Also, St Thomas is #34, Duluth Marshall is #73, and Hermantown is #87 in SOS. So, for all those who have been defending Hermantown's schedule, it is easier. In St Thomas' losses, they lost by 1 in two of them and only have 3. St Thomas also came back to tie Marshall IN Duluth.
All in all, in my opinion I think it is hard to compare the three right now. Even come state, if they all make it, I think it will be really hard to compare St Thomas to the other two, with only two common opponents with Marshall and one with Hermantown. If St Thomas wins out, easy to place them, otherwise it's hard.
I would've agreed with you about Crandall a month ago, but Crandall is doing everything a good goalie needs to. He is a goalie that makes amazing saves. He is the ONLY reason the team was anywhere close to beating Edina with the amazing saves he made. And the defense was the only reason they lost. If they played half as well as he did, they would've won. But they didn't, that's on the defense. St Thomas has a goalie that can do great things, good offense, but defense needs work. He shut out a Tartan team in Oakdale that Hill Phillippi couldn't do. He's not the problem.
Hermantown is undefeated, but they are class A and all in all I think you should only consider class A teams when ranking them against each other, and against Class A teams all three of them are undefeated. Also, St Thomas is #34, Duluth Marshall is #73, and Hermantown is #87 in SOS. So, for all those who have been defending Hermantown's schedule, it is easier. In St Thomas' losses, they lost by 1 in two of them and only have 3. St Thomas also came back to tie Marshall IN Duluth.
All in all, in my opinion I think it is hard to compare the three right now. Even come state, if they all make it, I think it will be really hard to compare St Thomas to the other two, with only two common opponents with Marshall and one with Hermantown. If St Thomas wins out, easy to place them, otherwise it's hard.
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Between DM and Hermantown, I think I will take DM, I have watched them both, and DM seems to be a little deeper than Hermantown, in my opnion, if you stop Leblanc, Hermantown isn't much. DM has a solid two lines, along with a couple of good defensemen, as long as little Paul stays solid in the nets, they'll beat HTown