1a predictions

[bstarr15]

davey, I think the games you refer to in Kato are next saturday not Friday.
Just FYI, if my info is correct. Should be good watching though.

[stud-lee]

bstarr15,
According to the Mankato West schedule the scrimmages are next Friday, November 23. Seeing as West is the host I would assume that their schedule is right. So your info is not correct. But mine is

[tpshockey30]

Yea it will be interesting how the goalie situation will turn out. Bruggeman will have to make the big jump from jv to varsity. i haven't heard much about the austin goalie. we'll see how some of the big goalies do in the owatonna scrimmages this weekend. i know they're scrimmages but we can find out if they will be good or not. I know east, owatonna, northfield, and some others are in that scrimmage. someone help me out on the other teams coming if they know?

Dodge County and Waseca I beleive are in that mix, dont take my word for it though. Just heard that, no clue

[magicman01]

so does any one know how the owatonna scrimmages went?

[tpshockey30]

Well Waseca played three games against, Winona, Owatonna, and Dodge County. Im not sure why Waseca got to play in all three games, but they lost all of them. Even though they weren't counting goals, Waseca got outmatched in every game.

Didn't notice anyone particularly, but since Waseca played the three consecutive games, I got a pretty good look at them. All they have is a couple D-men. One in particular caught my attention, number 17. Their net minding was pretty good considering that they have a sophmore at the starting position number 30. Number 9 he is a right winger, he is tall, skinny and fast. I don't think that Owatonna had their best goalies in net. They did not get tested very much. Wobschall, I beleive is the starter, for Owatonna. 14 for the Huskies looked like a solid forward. He was on the first line. Dodge and Winona didnt have anyone impressive.

Anyone here anything about the AL scrimmages?

[SuperFan09]

Well the Albert Lea scrimmages went very well. They have solid goaltending going into the season. They played three games and won all three. I was there in Owatonna and the players asked me how they looked. My response was to them that they looked fantastic for a team that lost 8 seniors. They will have a solid goalie play with Ben Waalkens and Tyler Distad. I expect Waalkens to get the nod because he knows the Albert Lea system and he just looked a little better in the net. Distad should be an excellent backup coming in from Blaine. Now the only thing I can see that may hurt them is that I didn't see a go to scorer like they had and got from Mark "Markie" Walton last year. Now this team looked to be solid on the defensive side as well. As long as they play up to their level of play and as well as they are expected to they will do just fine this year. Look for this team to make some noise in this newly redone 1A Section as well as to represnt Section 1A at the State Tournament.

[tpshockey30]

AL always brings in a good goalie, example Troy French, wasn't he from Colorado?

[Grizwald]

yes french was from colorado and he lived with his cousin alex lair for the 2 years he was here.. and for distad coming acutally from utah but played in blaine last season and lived with a host family.. came up here for better hockey and now he is in AL cuz he dad got a job offer up here..

[Chalktalk]

From what I witnessed, they looked out of unimpressive. D were slow in transitions, and goalies were struggeling. Let in some very questionsable goals, especially vs Winona. Forwards looked slow. Owatonna looked good. Dodge obvioulsy lost a lot from last year and through suspensions. Slow, unskilled, undisciplined and no leadership from top. Winona looks like they have improved and have at least one line that can play.

[the MILF man]

From what I witnessed, they looked out of unimpressive. D were slow in transitions, and goalies were struggeling. Let in some very questionsable goals, especially vs Winona. Forwards looked slow. Owatonna looked good. Dodge obvioulsy lost a lot from last year and through suspensions. Slow, unskilled, undisciplined and no leadership from top. Winona looks like they have improved and have at least one line that can play.

When you say Owatonna looked good, give some details on how good they were.

[SEMinnHockeyNut]

Albert Lea is the favorite based upon coaching alone.
They have a solid goalie in Waalkens coming back - very underrated after being behind Casanova the past couple of years.

They still have Adam Royce - the best defenseman in section 1A and the Big Nine conference. They have a couple of other solid D as well.

Scoring might be an issue, but they do have Woodside and Bowman back and both of them can bury the puck.

Other contenders in what looks like a deep section: Red Wing, Mankato West, Lourdes, New Prague, Northfield, and Faribault.

[Chalktalk]

From what I witnessed, they looked out of unimpressive. D were slow in transitions, and goalies were struggeling. Let in some very questionsable goals, especially vs Winona. Forwards looked slow. Owatonna looked good. Dodge obvioulsy lost a lot from last year and through suspensions. Slow, unskilled, undisciplined and no leadership from top. Winona looks like they have improved and have at least one line that can play.

When you say Owatonna looked good, give some details on how good they were.

Goalies looked solid. Team moved puck pretty well. Pretty good continuity in offensive zone. D were solid and transitioned puck quickly. Created some good chances. Didn't get to see special teams. Looked like a team that can finish in the middle of the conference.

[davey]

Albert Lea is the favorite based upon coaching alone.
They have a solid goalie in Waalkens coming back - very underrated after being behind Casanova the past couple of years.

They still have Adam Royce - the best defenseman in section 1A and the Big Nine conference. They have a couple of other solid D as well.

Scoring might be an issue, but they do have Woodside and Bowman back and both of them can bury the puck.

Other contenders in what looks like a deep section: Red Wing, Mankato West, Lourdes, New Prague, Northfield, and Faribault.

Wow Nut some pretty big predictions here saying AL is the favorite and Royce is the best defenseman in the Section. I agree that AL is a contender, but i don't think they have the scoring to win it. Waalkens is good, but not the clear choice for top goalie in the Section. I'd also have to say that Nystrom is the best coach, but not to the point that he will put this team into the X

[SEMinnHockeyNut]

Who is better than Royce then?

Nystrom has been rock solid, especially lately. Nobody can deny the recent success, from the consolation title, to beating Small Falls, etc.
They have not always been the section favorite when they made it to St. Paul.

[nickel slots]

I would have to mention Derek Docken from Northfield as one of the top D-men in 1A. Putrah from Faribault is decent. And who could forget Soup? Royce had a lot of exposure from the state tourney last year, but I'm going to withhold judgment until I see him play in person.

[the MILF man]

Royce is a good defenseman, but that kid has got to those them ugly gloves.

[Pony963]

Any predictions on what we'll see at the scrimmages in Mankato this Friday? Should be some good scrimmages to watch!

I had to laugh at the East coach giving his Varsity guys the nod to play against West's JV squad in the final scrimmage. Coach Essay asked Van Overboeck if he would mind having the final game just be a JV scrimmage since the guys are gonna be gassed after playing Lourdes and Albert Lea, but good ol' "Van O" shot him down.

[GETSome]

I take back my predictions. Kesti should be fine this year and his line should score some goals if they can stay healthy. Red Wing has only two lines that can score some goals, but that should be enough in 1a.

1.Red Wing
2.Lourdes
3.Mankato West

[SuperFan09]

The Albert Lea scrimmages up in Mankato today went as followed. In the first game Albert Lea beat Mankato East 13 to Nothing and in the Second Game Albert Lea lost 5 to 4. Now I thought they played very well in both scrimmages. The first scrimmage against East they Dominated. They had fantastic goalie play from Waalkens and Distad. There offense played awesome since they did put thirteen goals on the scoreboard. Now in the second game it got pretty physical in there 5 to 3 loss to West. The goalies did have a bit of a struggle. However you can't put all of the blame on Waalkens and Distad because West is a much better team than East and the puck spent WAY TOO MUCH TIME IN THE ALBERT LEA ZONE. The second thing is that #11 of West played very dirty. Two of Albert Lea's players got kicked out of the game because of him. Now I am not saying that all of the Albert Lea loss is to blame on #11. What I am saying is that #11 better get control of his Emotions and not start anything, if he does start something he may cost teams games because the players or players may retaliate as you kind of saw today. Another thing is the REFS kicked those two Albert Lea kids out of the game as well as repeatedly warned their bench, but they never warned West's bench and they never came close to kicking #11 out. That is not right or fair in my mind.

[davey]

The Albert Lea scrimmages up in Mankato today went as followed. In the first game Albert Lea beat Mankato East 13 to Nothing and in the Second Game Albert Lea lost 5 to 3. Now I thought they played very well in both scrimmages. The first scrimmage against East they Dominated. They had fantastic goalie play from Waalkens and Distad. There offense played awesome since they did put thirteen goals on the scoreboard. Now in the second game it got pretty physical in there 5 to 3 loss to West. The goalies did have a bit of a struggle. However you can't put all of the blame on Waalkens and Distad because West is a much better team than East and the puck spent WAY TOO MUCH TIME IN THE ALBERT LEA ZONE. The second thing is that #11 of West played very dirty. Two of Albert Lea's players got kicked out of the game because of him. Now I am not saying that all of the Albert Lea loss is to blame on #11. What I am saying is that #11 better get control of his Emotions and not start anything, if he does start something he may cost teams games because the players or players may retaliate as you kind of saw today. Another thing is the REFS kicked those two Albert Lea kids out of the game as well as repeatedly warned their bench, but they never warned West's bench and they never came close to kicking #11 out. That is not right or fair in my mind.

Superfan, #11 was the reason you lost because he scored 4 goals and was the most dominant player on the ice. Not sure where you get off saying the refs were not fair, two west players were also asked to leave the ice. What I saw was two pretty equal teams that will contend in Section 1a. The person on this board who said Adam Royce is the best D in this Section is sadly mistaken. He has not improved at all and was horrible today. Interestingly enough I was standing next to a knowledgeable AL fan who said the same thing. However, I still say these two teams are very evenly matched and should play several tough games against each other this year. Coach Nystrom has a way to get these kids to peak at the right time

[fubar-errr-what]

ok.... one-royce has been sick since monday and first time on the ice all week was yesterday...i think the score was 5-4 not 5-3....AL let two pp goals in.... AL played 4 lines 8 defense...so there will be a ton of changes till the next time these two play... it should be such a good game...

[the MILF man]

Royce definately didnt play well at all. There was two players from each team that got kicked out, so i dont see how there was any home-town reffing going on. West and AL will be very good physical games when they go to eachother's barns.

[magicman01]

So has any one heard about Northfields scrimmages against Richfield, Procter, and Hermantown?

[patricia mcneil]

red wing is the best team they have it all once everyone from there team comes back from being injured and what not but ya blake schammel is the best junior in the confrence hands down

[davey]

red wing is the best team they have it all once everyone from there team comes back from being injured and what not but ya blake schammel is the best junior in the confrence hands down

So is it true that Red Wings goalie tore his ACL this summer playing Soccer. Is he expected to play this year and what are the expectations for him. Pretty serious injury to come back so quickly from if it is true. Also, Schammel is not the hands down best junior in the Section. Plenty of juniors that can play with him in the Section, but that has been beaten to death on the forum here.