1a predictions

[hockeystar56784]

Touche'

[doubleOHseven]

I haven't seen West play yet, but I'm not going to give them my vote until they play some competition.

[chisel]

Who has or does West play? Look at Lourdes and especially Red Wings schedules. Lourdes beat RW by 1 but now they have their senior goalie.
That game could of gone either way and it looks like RW beat up on Orano and Breck who beat St. Thomas. I don't think you can continue this topic until after Jan. 31st. Lourdes @ West.

[davey]

Who has or does West play? Look at Lourdes and especially Red Wings schedules. Lourdes beat RW by 1 but now they have their senior goalie.
That game could of gone either way and it looks like RW beat up on Orano and Breck who beat St. Thomas. I don't think you can continue this topic until after Jan. 31st. Lourdes @ West.

West will play all Section rivals except RW who they tried to schedule, but with contracts out already were not able to make it work. The only quality opponent West has played so far is NP. I personally like that they are getting the weaker teams out of the way early so that hopefully they can build some momentum come the end of the year. Believe me, everyone knows Lourdes, RW, AL and NP are very good teams. This section can no longer be considered weak. Some good section games coming up this week

[hockey90]

Waseca 5, East 3

East had 54 shots on goal.
(Actually 56. They undercounted a couple in the first period)
The Waseca goalie, sophomore Tom Eaton, made 51 saves.

Eaton had a great game for Waseca. But there is no way East had 54 or as you say 56 shots. Whoever is keeping track of shots need to realize it has to hit the net for it to count as a shot on goal (not just attempted shots)

[the MILF man]

Waseca 5, East 3

East had 54 shots on goal.
(Actually 56. They undercounted a couple in the first period)
The Waseca goalie, sophomore Tom Eaton, made 51 saves.

Eaton had a great game for Waseca. But there is no way East had 54 or as you say 56 shots. Whoever is keeping track of shots need to realize it has to hit the net for it to count as a shot on goal (not just attempted shots)

It doesnt matter whoever did the counting for the shots. If a team can get 50 shots in a game, there should be no reason for losing. I tip my hat to the goalie for saving all them shots to get Waseca the win. This shows that East can get shots but they arent good enough to win because those must have been weak shots. East has still yet to get a win. If they get 50 shots in a game and still dont win, I dont think anything can help them to win.

[goaler]

I was just reporting what the guy keeping the score sheet announced. He said 13-20-21.

I counted 15 in the first period and I was standing right behind the net. As you can probably tell, I have an interest in how many shots get taken on the Waseca goalie, if you get my drift.

And also, they were not easy shots. Many, I mean many, were right in the slot. Waseca, as usual, turned the puck over dozens of times and East had many, many good scoring chances. Ok, they didn't put them away like West would have, but they whipped some pretty good shots on the Waseca goal.

The East goalie Eric Miller played well in the first two periods, but he got burned a couple of times in the third, and Waseca got the victory.

It was no classic, but it was a hard fought, entertaining and intense high school game. Pretty good stuff. Watch out for that East team in the next two years. They've got a lot of upside potential.

[goaler]

New Prague 8, Austin 0

Not much going for Austin. The third period was running time, starting 6-0. NP coach did not play the top two lines in the third period, and they still put up two more. They didn't announce the shots in Austin but they were easily 3-1 for NP. I don't think Austin had many more than 10 shots.

Austin had two one-on-ones and both times the shooter put it right into the big NP goalie's chest. Made it too easy for him to get the shutout.

NP's top line Ambroz-Lapic-Lapic had a pretty easy time of it, although Austin did a decent job clogging up the slot in the first period. Austin took way too many penalties in the second and the NP power play cashed in.

NP is small but quick. They move the puck very well and had way too much quickness for Austin, which really lacks offensive ability and speed.

[goaler]

http://sports.smumn.edu/bignine/2007/ma ... aseca.html

Here's a link to that Big Nine web site. And, to whom it may concern, the Waseca goalie was Eaton, not Preisler.

Ethan Preisler is an outstanding senior goalie, but he plays for Lesueur-St. Peter.

Tom Eaton is a sophomore and he was the one in the Waseca goal Friday in Mankato.

[the MILF man]

I was just reporting what the guy keeping the score sheet announced. He said 13-20-21.

I counted 15 in the first period and I was standing right behind the net. As you can probably tell, I have an interest in how many shots get taken on the Waseca goalie, if you get my drift.

And also, they were not easy shots. Many, I mean many, were right in the slot. Waseca, as usual, turned the puck over dozens of times and East had many, many good scoring chances. Ok, they didn't put them away like West would have, but they whipped some pretty good shots on the Waseca goal.

The East goalie Eric Miller played well in the first two periods, but he got burned a couple of times in the third, and Waseca got the victory.

It was no classic, but it was a hard fought, entertaining and intense high school game. Pretty good stuff. Watch out for that East team in the next two years. They've got a lot of upside potential.

East may have gotten tons of chances, but they still couldnt put up anything on the scoreboard. If they kept getting shots in the slot, they should have killed Waseca with no problem. The shots either had to have been at his chest or in his glove because there was obviously no garbage goals scored. A good team can pick their spots and get their rebounds to put teams away with those shots. They may be young, but their coach needs to start fixing some things if he wants to get some wins.

[the MILF man]

I would say west is the most hated team out there.

Why would you say that? Because they can put some numbers on the scoreboard and your team CANT

[iloveburritos]

I would say west is the most hated team out there.

Why would you say that? Because they can put some numbers on the scoreboard and your team CANT

good call

[merritt29]

I would say west is the most hated team out there.

Why would you say that? Because they can put some numbers on the scoreboard and your team CANT

my team getting points has nothing to do wtih that. its the fact that they take cheap penalties and dont show any respect. yes there good, but they dont show any class.

[goaler]

MILF man,

I'll grant you some points about the East shots. Remember I was right behind the goal and up top at Mankato. Many of the shots in the first period from the slot were low and to the corner. The Waseca goalie, and I have a very good read on this kid, has a good butterfly spread. He put many of those shots into the corner off the pads. And in the second period, he was very tough in close and he made some excellent lateral moves for saves. He read the shots well, was high in the crease and controlled most rebounds. And his team, as flawed as they are, played their hearts out. Kevin Selvig, No. 26, leaves every ounce of guts he has on the ice every game. He never quits on a play, never.

So did East. But ... there were rebounds that they missed. Granted, a better, more experienced team should have put more of those shots away. But they didn't. East is young, very young. And they'll get better. I was more than a little impressed with their puck movement and overall speed and skating ability. They played hard and made my blood pressure very high.

Give Waseca some credit. They're a flawed team, but if you watch them play you will see that they never give up on a play. Every player gives his guts in every game. On Friday, their goalie gave them a chance to win, and they responded by sucking it up and putting some big goals in in the third period. One of those goals was scored by a freshman defenseman who caught East in a line change, pushed the puck up the ice and scored on a slap shot. Made the score, 4-2. A huge goal. His name is Dillon Larson.

[goaler]

Merritt29 is not the only player in 1A who feels that way about West. I can attest to that.

[dipseydoodle17]

Merritt29 is not the only player in 1A who feels that way about West. I can attest to that.

I agree. West is a damn good team, but they are cocky and pretty cheap as well. I feel that the only way this team will reach their full potential is if they change their attitudes and the way they play, or its going to come back and bite them towards the end of the season.

[fubar-errr-what]

let them be cocky, who cares... if they choke again then they choke.... everyone says hockey players are cocky anyways its just our nature...i do disagree with them runnin the score up but who cares its there style..

[stud-lee]

West 11
Austin 0

West is a very solid team. They move the puck very well throughout all the lines and are quick with the feet and moving the puck. Haven't seen many other teams from the section but what I saw tonight was a team that should definately be one of the, if not the top team in the section. Their goalie also played well. Austin had numerous chances to score but the goalie played very well making solid saves and showed a good glove.

West showed very little class though during the win. They can go a long way but they may also hurt themselves as well. They are undisiplined, a player was ejected after a vicious two handed slash to an Austin players head in retaliation to a prior minor slash. Easily could have caused a serious injury as he nearly hit him in the neck. The worst part was he was greeted with cheers, chants, and a standing ovation by his crowd both as he left the ice and as he came out of the locker room. West also was playing their top line all game despite the score. They are obviously more talented then the Austin team yet they ran up the score. There comes a point where there is no need to rub it in like that. Lievermann and Litchfield are great players with exceptional speed and minds, but Lievermann needs to be more humble. After scoring his third goal in a game that was in hand he took the celebration a bit to far, with this many points already he needs to show he has been there before. Lots of talent. He also took a bad penalty with a two handed cross check to the high chest neck area of an austin player.

Austin is in for a long year. They try hard and work as much as they can but they are not there skill wise. They have only 3-4 players that are able to help this team compete. Many young players that just arent quick enough physically or mentally for the varsity level. Austin has to play there top line so often that they are worn down and tired in the third which why games have been getting ugly in the third period/

grad, I think you touched on the one thing that may come back to haunt West is that they have a penchant for taking some bad penalties. Once again tonight as they did in the NP game, they had to kill off a lengthy 5 on 3 when the score was only 3-0. That just comes down to not using your head. The refs called the game very tight and you need to figure out really early in the game what is and is not going to be called. Any night is a crapshoot with the refs, some are really enforcing the new standard, but some really let the teams play. Not saying which is right or wrong, but the kids have to adapt or else.

hey davey your pretty high on your west team. All west is, is a bunch of goonies that take cheap penalties and like to rack up their points. i think there is only about 5 kids on that team that have points, maybe some other kids with an assist here or there. Their coach needs to learn to play his third line once in awhile instead of making his first line seem like their the best in state. I would say west is the most hated team out there.

Merritt,
I think you need to get your facts straight before shooting your mouth off. West rolled all three lines through the whole game. The only time anybody from the first 2 lines ever got double shifted was when Austin took penalties and West would send out their PP. Can't fault a coach for working his powerplay. Not that it was too tough against such a stellar penalty kill.

[GinosAreGood]

The Tuesday game against Owatonna will be a good test. The Huskies are a hard-working, talented and well-coached team. Many of their players were in the Bantam A state tourney twice, when Mankato was watching in the stands.

This game should be great. Two undefeated teams looking to be the top in their conference. These group of Mankato kids walked to state in PeeWees and should of walked to state in Bantams had their 5 best players not moved up to high school where they all started and Litchfield broke the school goal record.

I also agree with everyone saying west needs to be more disciplined. Being short handed half the game is never good. They need to stop taking so many penalties.

Reguardless, I'm looking forward to watching a great game on Tuesday night in Owatonna

[NDfightingirish35]

I would also agree that west needs to be more disciplined. Sure they have given up maybe one pp goal this year...but they haven't exactly played the cream of the crop. Bruggeman saved them against NP not giving up any on the 5-3 but you can't expect a goalie to do that every game.

[goaler]

If West can blow out Owatonna then they must be for real. I saw Mayo beat Farmington Saturday, and Owatonna held Mayo to one goal.

Mayo has some stud forwards who can really crash the net. Tom Alexander and Charlie Thauwald can really wire the puck so if Owatonna can keep them down, who knows what they'll do against West.

[TheCaptain]

Well Corey did lead his team in goals for quite some time for his elite 1 team, and Litchfield was not on the team. So to me what is Litchfield without Leivermann.

I would hope that his elite 1 team has someone that would step up to fill in for Litchfield, but thats just a guess.

[TheCaptain]

West 6 Owatonna 3

[EaglehockeyI]

I haven't seen West play yet, but I'm not going to give them my vote until they play some competition.

pretty hard to totally play that easy schedule card. they beat a new prague team that is ranked and has beaten 2 other ranked teams in denfeld and orono. west goalie may have had a big game against new prague, but that was the big ? for west going into the season, their goal tending. they also put up 7 goals against them. it looks like they are for real. they have a chance to improve their image this week with games against owatonna(5-0) and northfield(3-2). much better competition than they have been playing since new prague. sounds like they have some kids that can't control their tempers, which could hurt them during the playoffs. what also might hurt them is they don't play quite as tough a schedule as the other top teams in the section. consistently playing tough teams gets you ready for the section stretch run. again i'm not saying they're only good because of the teams they play. they look for real. but not playing enough good teams during the season may hurt them.

[davey]

If West can blow out Owatonna then they must be for real. I saw Mayo beat Farmington Saturday, and Owatonna held Mayo to one goal.

Mayo has some stud forwards who can really crash the net. Tom Alexander and Charlie Thauwald can really wire the puck so if Owatonna can keep them down, who knows what they'll do against West.

I expect this to be closer than last years games which West swept 6-1,6-3. Owatonna seems to play pretty close to the vest in looking at their scores. West likes to run and gun. Which style will win out we will have to see. This is a big game in the Big 9 as this is the only time this year these two teams play. Look for a fast paced exciting game.