SEC Conference

[Gotothenetman]

I am looking for some thoughts on the SEC for this upcoming winter. I do not know much about the teams other than I assume Cretin is possibly the favorite. Who else is in the conference and what is the scouting report on those teams.

Looking for someone in the know!

[Can't Never Tried]

I do not know much about the teams other than I assume Cretin is possibly the favorite. Looking for someone in the know!

Gee, packerboy what do you think?

[SEC Scotty]

I would break it down like this.

Favorites-CDH and Woodbury

Will challenge- Roseville, WBL, Stillwater

Could surprise- Hastings

The rest. Mounds View. Forest Lake, Park (Cottage Grove)

[packerboy]

Hmmm, let me think.

Seriously though, the conference should be "Up for Grabs"

CDH graduated a lot of good players. So did the other strong teams such as WBL, Roseville, and Woodbury.

The conference had some great HS players last year(Hickey, McDonaugh, Jake Hansen, Dorr (just to name a few) that are gone to JRs or graduation. I doubt there was a conference any where that had more talent.

It will be fun to see who takes their place.

[hockey nut]

Roseville, WBL, CDH will have a shot at it. Hastings will be awful again, Cottage Grove may improve with Jay Moser there. Stillwater would be my surprise.

[hockeyeast223]

I would agree that the conference is up for grabs. I would say Cretin and and White Bear always seem to put together good teams but this year, they don't quite have the same level of talent. Roseville, Stillwater, Woodbury all have a chance to be top contenders.
Some key players to these teams this year
Cretin- Boher, Zimmerman
White Bear- Villeneauve
Roseville- Mueller
Stillwater- Molstad, Johnson
Woodbury- Eddy

[Pucknutz69]

Cretin - lost a lot, love Weyandt but unproven in nets.
WBL - Can this group ever get it together, success at youth ranks but this group has too many loose cannons
Roseville - Will be at or near the top of the SEC
Woodbury - lost a ton but comes right back with a spot at the top
Hastings - will be at the bottom for a while
CG - will be very young, Moser has set the tone
Stillwater - will be competitive 4-5 spot just warming up for next year
Forest Lake - like the goalie Moberg
Mounds View - will keep Hastings company

[SEC Scotty]

Cretin - lost a lot, love Weyandt but unproven in nets.
WBL - Can this group ever get it together, success at youth ranks but this group has too many loose cannons
Roseville - Will be at or near the top of the SEC
Woodbury - lost a ton but comes right back with a spot at the top
Hastings - will be at the bottom for a while
CG - will be very young, Moser has set the tone
Stillwater - will be competitive 4-5 spot just warming up for next year
Forest Lake - like the goalie Moberg
Mounds View - will keep Hastings company

White Bear will be solid in goal and on the blue line. They do have one player in particular who likes to yap. Games are never dull when he is on the ice.

I agree that Park is a team to watch in the next few years. Moser will have an effect on the youth program as well as the high school program.

Should be a fun year with no clear cut favorite.

[hockey nut]

Why is Hastings so bad, I thought they had a pretty good Bantam team a couple of years ago. Is Welch still the coach there?

[Govs93]

Why is Hastings so bad, Is Welch still the coach there?

You answered your own question.

[Pucknutz69]

They lost most of the Bantams from a few years ago. Cretin, St Thomas, Shattuck and Holy Angels all have them. That means they fill in with kids from the B teams. This is where CG and Woodbury have been for years and now they are starting to keep some at home. Welch is on his last year or 2.

[packerboy]

Looks like we have some guys who know more than just a little bit about hockey in the best conference in the state.

Lets keep it going all year with updates on the teams and, of course, arguments about who is best and any controversies that arise.

There are a number of teams now that love to hate each other as some good rivalries have developed even though the conference isnt that old in its current form.

[hockey nut]

Who did Hastings lose. And I really think Park will be better with Jay Moser coaching. Any thoughts.

[gophs12]

Roseville- they lost pretty much all of there defense from last year. so they will be lacking there. they also have no standout players other then Meuller. so they will be so so.

White Bear Lake- they have solid defense and they have collete. they also just got Ryan Walter from Mounds veiw. he will be a good contribution to what they have now. White bear will contend.

Cretin- they always put together a solid squad. they got some good players. they will be one of the better ones this year.

Mounds View- they are ok. not alot though. middle of the pack team

Woodbury- they are finally coming around. they will be descent this year.

Stillwater- they got some good players but they lost a lot too. they are going to be better then most think.

Hastings and Cottage Grove- they are never that good. thats all that needs to be said.

[mnhockey9009]

HockeyNut, Hastings lost 6 players I believe to other teams that were on that ABantam team. Derek Stepan to Shattuck who just won a National Championship and committed to the Badgers. Charlie Raskob who I believe is captain at Holy Angels and playing 1st line D. Austin Lepley to Hill Murray who didn't play last year due to back injuries and is questionable this year. STA took three of them including Ryan Stepan who played varsity there. Alex Rivness who played half the year up, and Tom Caturia who played JV I believe. I am pretty sure on most these facts but could be mistaken. did they lose anyone to cretin pucknutz?

[SEC Scotty]

Hastings still has some good players. Waxlax a forward, Horsch on defense, and Kimmes in nets. Unless they flew the coop as well.

Roseville still has Morrison and Tilleson (sp) on the blueline.

White Bears scoring will have to come from Villneauve,Fiala,Dolfay,Swanson and other upperclassmen. I don't think Wolter will be expected to do much as a sophmore.

Cottage Grove has lost a lot of players over the years as well to the private schools. Darwitz, McClellan, Sova, among others.

[SEC9]

CDH should take the title....
the next teams are a toss up with Woodbury, Roseville, WBL
Stillwater
MV
Park
Hastings
last i heard about villinueve is that he isnt playing...any updates?
also..look for mueller to have a HUGE year, he looked great at Elite

[chillout]

Villneauve is practicing with the team right now and from what I know should be on the team.

But I also had heard a couple weeks ago that he might not make it because of certain reasons involving problems with the law. But my sources for this were from other schools making it hard to believe..

[wbmd]

Villneauve is practicing with the team right now and from what I know should be on the team.

But I also had heard a couple weeks ago that he might not make it because of certain reasons involving problems with the law. But my sources for this were from other schools making it hard to believe..

Sounds like he's taking the role of Eric Hartzell/Jake Hansen.

[chillout]

Haha

Now that's good.


The "break-in" story is quite a classic now in White Bear...

[sicknasty7722]

Villneauve will be playing this year, but I believe he will have to sit out the first two games due to problems with the law. This season is the one we will find out if he's all what he is supposed to be because, rather than Hansen carrying him now, he will have to carry his line/the team. We'll see how he does.

Mueller should have a good season this year and a lot is to be expected from him, definately the player who will have to carry Roseville.

Also to SEC Scotty, scoring will have to come from Villneauve, Swanson, and Fiala, but I don't know how much you can expect from Dolfay. He is one of the weaker captains White Bear's ever had, and doesn't have much of a scoring sense. He played quite a few games last year on JV, and there he didn't stand out either.

I'm not too sure you can give this conference to Cretin yet, they've also lost a lot. I'd say it is very much so up for grabs.

[chillout]

Villneauve, forgetting his height issue, could really be a leader for the team and carry them. But I honestly don't see that happening, I've seen this kid have issues even on their "A" peewee state runner up team in '04. His mindset is just different then a good hockey player and leader. Unless he really pulls it together, I see him just once again being a very talented player that takes his potential and destroys it by trash talk and being the "tough guy."

Note on Dolfay...I'm pretty sure last year he did not play much because of some elbow/arm injury? Haven't seen him too much, but that was the case last year (atleast i heard), so things could be different this season.

[crouching tiger]

Villneauve is a crazy kid

[Gotothenetman]

Thanks for all the quality info. It seems weird to me with how strong the Hastings Youth numbers are that they are stuggling so much at the High School Level.

Thanks for all the info

[Pucknutz69]

They just lost a lot of kids from this age group. And for that matter they haven't had a strong group at the youth level since this group of Jrs and Srs. They have also lost some of thier best coaches, they had guys in positions for years they had a system and it worked, now they have a guy in the younger ages trying to clear a path for his little group. Sometimes getting rid of tradition and what works isn't the best ideas. It may look good for 3-4 years but is it the best for the long run?