Section 7AA Down Year

[greenway1969]

The Section 7AA teams are solid, but there does not seem to be any quality teams.

Andover: A dangerous team with no quality wins, but they tied Cloquet and took Anoka to overtime. The only team that has shown improvement over last year.

Anoka: Good wins against Eagan and Blaine, but was easily handled by East at home. Lost to Wayzata. Not living up to preseason hype.

Cloquet: An average team. They hold quality wins over White Bear Lake and East, but have not looked good against Buffalo and lost to South St. Paul, Brainerd, and Superior. Probably the worst Cloquet team in recent memory.

Duluth East: Quality wins over Centennial and Anoka. However, they have losses to teams that aren't that good: AHA and Elk River. This is the team that has the most potential to be a true contender for the State Championship.

Elk River: Not very good. Probably the worst Elk River team in many a year. How they beat East is a mystery.

Forest Lake: Can pull an upset, but never a real threat for the Section title.

Grand Rapids: An ok team but does not have any quality wins. Can play good teams close, but does not have the top player(s) that can be a game breaker.

This could be a two and out year for the Section 7AA winner at state. Probable seeding at the end of the regular season:

1. Duluth East
2. Anoka
3. Cloquet
4. Forest Lake
5. Grand Rapids
6. Elk River
7. Andover
8. Cambridge-Isanti
9. St. Francis

Although I'd like to see Rapids win it, hopefully East will play up to its potential and represent Northeastern Minnesota well at State.

[PASTRAPIDSFAN]

Excellent review

[PuckTime]

None of them are good enough RIGHT NOW to be seeded at #1 in the section. Nobody has made their presence known.
Will be fun to see which of them step up and take the challenge. Right now I think it's wide open.

[lampthelight]

Very good post gway. I think East, Rapids, Anoka and Cloquet will be the top 4 come playoff time. The coaches of these teams will have them rolling by then. Should still be a great 7AA playoffs, 6(possibly 7) teams have a shot to win it.

A couple things, from what I've seen... This is going to seem like it's all about Brainerd, but it's one quality, common opponent of three teams, and I've been at all the games.

Cloquet
Lost 7-2 to Brainerd, in what is the best game Brainerd has played all year. Hadn't seen Cloquet before but I'm guessing that wasn't one of their better games.

East
Has proven they can play with, and beat some top teams. They will be a tough out at any point in the playoffs. Should be a great game tomorrow in Brainerd, can't wait to see East play to get a better judgement on them.

Rapids
6-2 Win over Brainerd is a good win. Rapids looked fast and smart, I can tell by their record they haven't shown that in too many games. Maybe the game i saw against Brainerd was their best?

Anoka
I know nothing about this team. Can't judge them on anything besides the opinions on this "bored" and their results.

Sounds like INCONSISTENCY is the real problem with 7AA this year. However, I believe that no matter who makes it to state out of 7AA, they will be battle tested and ready to roll at state. 7AA always has been, and will continue to be one of the toughest sections and will fare well at the Ex.

Good luck to all the teams, this is shaping up to be an exciting playoffs.

[ColdasIce]

None of them are good enough RIGHT NOW to be seeded at #1 in the section. Nobody has made their presence known.
Will be fun to see which of them step up and take the challenge. Right now I think it's wide open.

East has lost one game because they were outplayed (Hill Murray) in the other games the goalie's struggled and let in too many bad goals. Seems to me Rapids, East and Cloquet are missing a number one goalie like they had in the past for many years, otherwise the teams are not up and down.

Who steps up in playoffs is about which goalie is battle ready by then.

[PuckRanger]

I don't know if you can say the section is down. I think the section is deep. Only Elk River has a losing record outside of section games. They are beating up on each other is what is happening. With seven teams so close together and the number of games they play against each other, the losses will add up for all of them. There are 11 losses and 4 ties for these teams in section games so far and they're pretty well spread out. The schedule strength is another factor. Most of these teams have very few cupcake games on their schedules. There is a good chance that the winner of 7AA will have to beat three quality opponents to get to the X and that will have them ready for a run at the rest of the state.

You can't count out any of the top seven at this point, Andover included. Of their 7 losses, three are against section opponents. Two were overtime and two more were one-goal losses. Their worst loss was in the first game of the season to Elk River. They've also won two section games and tied with Cloquet. They might be the only team in the section with a goaltender who can take over a game and win it single-handedly. That is HUGE at playoff time when goals are at a premium.

[karl(east)]

I think it's a bit premature to say 7AA is down. East and Rapids have shown they can play top teams in the state very well, even if they come out on the wrong side, and the section, from 1-7, is arguably the deepest out there.

Also, none of the 7AA teams have really gone in to the State Tournament favored to do much of anything lately, yet they've had teams in the top 3 four years in a row now. I'll judge them more after some of the big non-section games down the stretch and State.

[PuckRanger]

Also, none of the 7AA teams have really gone in to the State Tournament favored to do much of anything lately, yet they've had teams in the top 3 four years in a row now.

I don't know about that... I think state runner up (Grand Rapids 06, 07) and third place (East 04, 05) is pretty good. Thats an 8-4 overall record with no quarterfinal losses in the last four years.

[karl(east)]

Yes, but I Rapids wasn't really favored to get past Edina in the first round last year, and I don't think East was favored over White Bear 3 years ago.

[PuckRanger]

Yes, but I Rapids wasn't really favored to get past Edina in the first round last year, and I don't think East was favored over White Bear 3 years ago.

Your right. I misread that initially...
I thought you were saying they didn't do anything when they were favored to. You are 100% correct with that statement.

[snapdog]

East is never weak and they will come on. Rapids I expect the same. I think Randolph is one of the best High School coaches in the state. I,m really interested in seeing how they do at the Decc against Edina. I believe they will play very well. But then I also believed Marshall would beat STA.

[boblee]

I believe they will play very well. But then I also believed Marshall would beat STA.

You make it sound like Marshall lost...

[snapdog]

Boblee I guess I said in a poor way that I think East will fair very well against Edina. I also predicted Marshalls win over STA in another thread. I thought it would be a much closer game but we all know you can play 10 games and have 10 totally different scores. Congrats to Marshall on a nice win (today).

[karl(east)]

[quote="snapdog"]East is never weak and they will come on. Rapids I expect the same. I think Randolph is one of the best High School coaches in the state. I,m really interested in seeing how they do at the Decc against Edina. I believe they will play very well. But then I also believed Marshall would beat STA.[/quote]

Aside from the section rivalries, this is the East game I've been anticipating most all year. It'll be a very interesting matchup, and both teams will be coming off games against other good teams the night before (Edina vs. CEC, Blaine vs. East).

[snapdog]

karl east starting Thurs Jan 22nd I see Marshall- Cloquet. The 25th Denfeld- I Falls. The 26th a doubleheader East- Edina afternoon Denfeld- Warroad evening. Not a bad 3 days of hockey in the northland.

[Metallica81]

I figured this might help project what the section 7AA seedings will be in about a month from now

Section 7AA
Andover: L-0-1 Anoka, T-2-2 Cloquet, DNP Duluth East, L-1-6 Elk River, L-0-5 Forest Lake, DNP Grand Rapids
Anoka: W-1-0 Andover, DNP Cloquet, L-0-4 Duluth East, W-4-0 Elk River, DNP Forest Lake
Cloquet: T-2-2 Andover, DNP Anoka, W-4-2 Duluth East, DNP Elk River, W-4-2 Forest Lake, T-2-2 Grand Rapids
Duluth East: DNP Andover, W-4-0 Anoka, L-2-4 Cloquet, L-3-5 Elk River, W-4-2 Grand Rapids
Elk River: W-6-1 Andover, L-0-4 Anoka, DNP Cloquet, W-5-3 Duluth East, DNP Forest Lake, L-4-6 Grand Rapids
Forest Lake: W-5-0 Andover, DNP Anoka, L-2-4 Cloquet, DNP Elk River, W-4-3 Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids: DNP Andover, T-2-2 Cloquet, L-2-4 Duluth East, W-6-4 Elk River, L-3-4 Forest Lake

Other Teams in Section 7AA:
> Cambridge-Isanti
> St. Francis

Remaining Section Games That Will Affect Seeding
Tuesday, January 15th, Grand Rapids @ Cloquet, 7:30 PM
Saturday, January 19th, Elk River @ Andover, 3:30 PM
Tuesday, January 22nd, Duluth East @ Forest Lake, 7:30 PM
Thursday, January 24th, Elk River @ Anoka, 7:30 PM
Saturday, January 26th, Anoka @ Grand Rapids, 3:15 PM
Tuesday, February, 5th, Cloquet @ Duluth East, 8:00 PM
Thursday, February 7th, Anoka @ Andover, 7:30 PM

Common Opponents For Teams That Don't Play Head-to-Head
> Anoka and Forest Lake: Andover, Coon Rapids, Duluth East, Grand Rapids, Hastings
> Cloquet and Anoka: Andover, Blaine, Duluth East, Grand Rapids
> Cloquet and Elk River: Andover, Blaine, Brainerd, Edina, Duluth East, Grand Rapids, St. Cloud Tech
> Duluth East and Andover: Anoka, Blaine, Centennial, Cloquet, Elk River, Forest Lake
> Elk River and Forest Lake: Andover, Coon Rapids, Duluth East, Grand Rapids
> Grand Rapids and Andover: Anoka, Cloquet, Elk River, Forest Lake, Hermantown

[rbk28]

The only thing to say about these teams has already been said, "inconsistent." They have all played very well at times, but also very spotty at other times

[northwoods oldtimer]

7AA is far more vanilla than last season for certain. Not as many big dogs that are able to run with the cidiot teams in 2007-08. Not expecting much out of the section this season. About the only one who makes a lick worth of common sense is true blue greenway1969 who has it figured out. Speaking of the north, here's hoping that the Rams don't shoot themselves in the foot running 3 D all season and cough up along the stretch. Hey Oly run 4 defensemen for crying out loud! 7AA is down this season like our old friend greenway1969 pointed out to you folks, still enjoy the season it is great just watching hockey in Minnesota!

[TheHockeyDJ]

I agree with that statement about the section lacking the big dogs. Last season was a peak for talent in 7AA. I think it will be a while til we see the section that loaded. Having guys like Patrick White, Joe Stejskal, Tyler Johnson, Reid Ellingson, Ben Leis, and Brandon Martell all in one semi-final doubleheader at the DECC is as good as it will ever be. That said, it doesn't mean the teams won't be fun to watch this year.