AA Rankings for 2/15

[gophermadman]

name a tougher one...

my daily, call out of HShockeywatcher


Classic Lake is a better conference this year

[King of the Pond]

name a tougher one...

my daily, call out of HShockeywatcher


Classic Lake is a better conference this year

Lets put it this way if these were the matchups who would come out with a better record

Centennial vs Edina (Centennial)
Blaine vs Minnetonka (?)
Maple Grove vs Wayzata (tie)
Elk River vs Hopkins (?)

[MrBoDangles]

Centennial and Blaine are 2-1-1 against Edina and Duluth East, this leads me to believe that these two teams would be doing no better in the NWSC. Put any of the other top teams in the conference and you would likely have the same result. Having a team from this years toughest conference ranked no higher than 5th is a laugher.

Another one for you to tackle karl(east).

Be patient. My rankings don't take future schedule into account.???????????

The NWSC will sort itself out. Trust me. ??????????????

If Blaine beats MG, they will jump. A lot. It will also help out Centennial, as it will validate their win over Blaine and make the MG loss look a bit more fluky. In fact, the mere occurrence of that game will help out Centennial, no matter the result.

and again.............?

[karl(east)]

Another one for you to tackle karl(east).

Be patient. My rankings don't take future schedule into account.???????????

The NWSC will sort itself out. Trust me. ??????????????

If Blaine beats MG, they will jump. A lot. It will also help out Centennial, as it will validate their win over Blaine and make the MG loss look a bit more fluky. In fact, the mere occurrence of that game will help out Centennial, no matter the result.

and again.............?

I'm not really sure what you're looking for. I'll try yet again.

Without denigrating the importance of the weekly rankings, I consider next week's by far the most important that I will issue this year, as they will be the last ones before the section playoffs. They should accurately reflect each team's performance throughout the year and ability to do well in sections.

In the weeks before this, though, there's going to be some up-and-down movement. I've seen Blaine, and I saw what they did to Duluth East. No one needs to tell me that they're good...very good. But right now, they're coming off losses in their last two big games. The NWSC schedules are backloaded, so these teams are going to naturally move around a bit more than they otherwise might at this time of year.

I could go through and just rank teams on how talented I think they are, but that would be stupid, because they'd practically never move. The idea of the weekly rankings is that they take into account who's hot and who's not...no matter the competition.

[MrBoDangles]

Centennial and Blaine are 2-1-1 against Edina and Duluth East, this leads me to believe that these two teams would be doing no better in the NWSC. Put any of the other top teams in the conference and you would likely have the same result. Having a team from this years toughest conference ranked no higher than 5th is a laugher.

How Edina and Duluth East would fair THIS year if they were members of the NWSC .......? Arguably the best conference with only 7th last week, and 5th this week for top team?

[scoreboard33]

name a tougher one...

my daily, call out of HShockeywatcher


Classic Lake is a better conference this year

Lets put it this way if these were the matchups who would come out with a better record

Centennial vs Edina (Centennial)
Blaine vs Minnetonka (?)
Maple Grove vs Wayzata (tie)
Elk River vs Hopkins (?)

I think top 4 vs. top 4 the record is 2-1-1 Classic Lake.

It seems that this year the consistency of the top teams from game to game has been awful. Some games they show up, some they don't. That goes for every team and that makes head to head hard to gauge because you don't whether you get good Edina or bad Edina vs. good centennial or bad centennial or vs good blaine or bad blaine.

and while the NWSC may have similiarly strengths at the top the 5 ok to bad teams at the bottom probably make the Classic lake a tougher conference.

[HShockeywatcher]

The Classic Lake is an "unfair" comparison in my opinion. Their top 4 teams are competitive year in and year out. Knowing the demographics of where the conference is helps understand why. Their non-conference bouts should have little to do with the toughness of the conference.

You're right, it depends on what you're looking at. If you are looking at the conference top to bottom the Classic Lake obviously wins. The NWSC has 4 teams that can play with anybody on any given night. The Classic Lake has 4 on a good night, 2 on a bad night. Now if you look at the conference standings, the NWSC has 4 teams that are still capable of finishing 1st, the story is much different in the Classic Lake however.

I would say that top to bottom the Classic Lake is the toughest, but as far as toughness of winning with the most teams competing for the title, NWSC wins out on that one. I would also throw the CSC in there, just a week ago there were 5 teams that had a legitimate shot at the title. That has since changed, but there are still two that could get 1st and three fighting for second.

[Pioneerprideguy]

Karl,

You mention that your next weekly rankings will be the "most important" that you will issue this year. I think "important" is just a tad too strong. Don't ya think the most important are the ones compiled by the coaches involved in the game? I enjoy the effort you put into this stuff, but let's not get too carried away with the value of your effort.

[karl(east)]

Karl,

You mention that your next weekly rankings will be the "most important" that you will issue this year. I think "important" is just a tad too strong. Don't ya think the most important are the ones compiled by the coaches involved in the game? I enjoy the effort you put into this stuff, but let's not get too carried away with the value of your effort.

Perhaps. But relative to the other ones I have done, I think it's more significant.

Re: MrBoDangles and the NWSC vs. the rest of MN: I'll try to explain the logic one last time, in as straightforward a way as possible.

Right now, I'd rank their 4 teams this way:
1. Centennial
2. Maple Grove
3. Elk River
4. Blaine

Yes, I think Blaine is better than #4. They will jump to #2 if they beat MG. But this is what the standings say right now, and Blaine is coming off losses to the other two top teams.

As for nonconference schedules...
-ER is obviously a vastly improved team (having just beaten Centennial AND Blaine) from earlier in the season, so we'll throw out everything that's more than a few weeks old. Yet...
-They lost by 2 to DE in a game DE dominated.
-Even more importantly, they lost a close game to AHA very recently. The rankings reflect this.
-AHA lost to Minnetonka by 1 goal. The rankings reflect this.
-AHA lost to Edina by 3 goals. The rankings reflect this.
-Minnetonka lost to DE by 2 goals. The rankings reflect this.

See how one can reasonably assume rankings fall into place this way?

Centennial has some impressive nonconference wins, especially the one over Edina, meaning they should be above the ER team that just beat them. I'd have no complaint with anyone ranking them as high as 4th. Going above that would be difficult, though, because of their losses in the conference and the Moorhead and WBL ties.

MG is having a great season, but the most impressive thing they've done out of the conference is tie Wayzata. That does nothing to help the NWSC's cause.

Blaine does have a very good nonconference win over DE, but they have an equally bad loss to Edina. That's about all the schedule offers.

I hope you can at least see the logic there, even if you disagree with it, and move on.

If it still really bothers you as much as it seems to, issue your own rankings. It's not like I have a monopoly on the business or anything.

[talkofthetown17]

1. Eden Prairie

2. Bloomington Jefferson

3. Centennial- Actually, I like the NWSC as a whole, we will get a better picture when the seedings come around

4. Blaine- Lost by 1 to Centennial without Tufte and Wagamon

5. Edina- We'll see how they do against Tonka

6. Duluth East- Still not entirely convinced of this team, but they played well against strong teams earlier in the season so ill give them the benefit of the doubt.

7. Elk River- Stuck in the most competitive conference, defeated Blaine and Centennial, however as much as I want to rank them higher, I know how inconsistent the Elks can play.

8. Tonka- Have a good chance to prove top 5 legitimacy by beating Edina for the second time

9. Holy Angels- Big win against Benilde

10. Maple Grove- Almost lost to Andover on a miss-call by the officials. Sure, they beat Centennial, but lets see how they fare against the Bengals on Thursday.

with the whole blaine thing i understand those players are hurt but that does not give them a reason to be ranked higher come tourney time they are not just going to say well blaine has two guys hurt so dont play as hard against them

[talkofthetown17]

Karl,

You mention that your next weekly rankings will be the "most important" that you will issue this year. I think "important" is just a tad too strong. Don't ya think the most important are the ones compiled by the coaches involved in the game? I enjoy the effort you put into this stuff, but let's not get too carried away with the value of your effort.

Perhaps. But relative to the other ones I have done, I think it's more significant.

Re: MrBoDangles and the NWSC vs. the rest of MN: I'll try to explain the logic one last time, in as straightforward a way as possible.

Right now, I'd rank their 4 teams this way:
1. Centennial
2. Maple Grove
3. Elk River
4. Blaine

Yes, I think Blaine is better than #4. They will jump to #2 if they beat MG. But this is what the standings say right now, and Blaine is coming off losses to the other two top teams.

As for nonconference schedules...
-ER is obviously a vastly improved team (having just beaten Centennial AND Blaine) from earlier in the season, so we'll throw out everything that's more than a few weeks old. Yet...
-They lost by 2 to DE in a game DE dominated.
-Even more importantly, they lost a close game to AHA very recently. The rankings reflect this.
-AHA lost to Minnetonka by 1 goal. The rankings reflect this.
-AHA lost to Edina by 3 goals. The rankings reflect this.
-Minnetonka lost to DE by 2 goals. The rankings reflect this.

See how one can reasonably assume rankings fall into place this way?

Centennial has some impressive nonconference wins, especially the one over Edina, meaning they should be above the ER team that just beat them. I'd have no complaint with anyone ranking them as high as 4th. Going above that would be difficult, though, because of their losses in the conference and the Moorhead and WBL ties.

MG is having a great season, but the most impressive thing they've done out of the conference is tie Wayzata. That does nothing to help the NWSC's cause.

Blaine does have a very good nonconference win over DE, but they have an equally bad loss to Edina. That's about all the schedule offers.

I hope you can at least see the logic there, even if you disagree with it, and move on.

If it still really bothers you as much as it seems to, issue your own rankings. It's not like I have a monopoly on the business or anything.

I like your logic a lot you could even go farther onto who elk river has played i mean they were beating edina 1 nothing the whole game till nine minutes left and they had a breakdown losing 3-1 and then they played very well against eden prairie and lost 4-2 with an empty netter

[Shovel Shot]

talkofthetown17 I love the way you justify your losses by "Well we were beating Edina, Eden Prairie, etc. going into the third period...I guess that's why there's three periods of hockey instead of 2.

I'm not quite sure why minnesotaice or maybe his name should be minnesota "nice" ranked Elk River #7 in his rankings. Obviously he must have missed your recent games against Maple Grove, Osseo & Coon Rapids.

Also I do not agree with Karl (east) for ranking Elk River ahead of Blaine in the NWSC but I do understand his reasoning for doing so.

Anyway you should be proud of your teams recent turnaround and success and good luck in sections!!!

[scoreboard33]

Karl,

You mention that your next weekly rankings will be the "most important" that you will issue this year. I think "important" is just a tad too strong. Don't ya think the most important are the ones compiled by the coaches involved in the game? I enjoy the effort you put into this stuff, but let's not get too carried away with the value of your effort.

Perhaps. But relative to the other ones I have done, I think it's more significant.

Re: MrBoDangles and the NWSC vs. the rest of MN: I'll try to explain the logic one last time, in as straightforward a way as possible.

Right now, I'd rank their 4 teams this way:
1. Centennial
2. Maple Grove
3. Elk River
4. Blaine

Yes, I think Blaine is better than #4. They will jump to #2 if they beat MG. But this is what the standings say right now, and Blaine is coming off losses to the other two top teams.

As for nonconference schedules...
-ER is obviously a vastly improved team (having just beaten Centennial AND Blaine) from earlier in the season, so we'll throw out everything that's more than a few weeks old. Yet...
-They lost by 2 to DE in a game DE dominated.
-Even more importantly, they lost a close game to AHA very recently. The rankings reflect this.
-AHA lost to Minnetonka by 1 goal. The rankings reflect this.
-AHA lost to Edina by 3 goals. The rankings reflect this.
-Minnetonka lost to DE by 2 goals. The rankings reflect this.

See how one can reasonably assume rankings fall into place this way?

Centennial has some impressive nonconference wins, especially the one over Edina, meaning they should be above the ER team that just beat them. I'd have no complaint with anyone ranking them as high as 4th. Going above that would be difficult, though, because of their losses in the conference and the Moorhead and WBL ties.

MG is having a great season, but the most impressive thing they've done out of the conference is tie Wayzata. That does nothing to help the NWSC's cause.

Blaine does have a very good nonconference win over DE, but they have an equally bad loss to Edina. That's about all the schedule offers.

I hope you can at least see the logic there, even if you disagree with it, and move on.

If it still really bothers you as much as it seems to, issue your own rankings. It's not like I have a monopoly on the business or anything.

I like your logic a lot you could even go farther onto who elk river has played i mean they were beating edina 1 nothing the whole game till nine minutes left and they had a breakdown losing 3-1 and then they played very well against eden prairie and lost 4-2 with an empty netter

In both the Edina game and the EP game , Elk River's goalie played very well and it was just a matter of time before Edina and EP took the game over and won it.

[hockeyjunkie2]

1. Edina
2. Jefferson
3. Eden Prairie
4. Centennial
5. Minnetonka
6. Duluth East
7. Blaine
8. Maple Grove
9. AHA
10. BSM
11. Wayzata
12. Elk River
13. Moorhead
14. Woodbury
15. Hopkins

[StillAnEagle]

Let's have a post state tourney, tourney for conference bragging rights.

NWSC vs. Classic Lake

Wouldn't that be fun!!!

[joycer10]

[quote="karl(east)"]15. Woodbury (19-3-2/5-1)
-Continued their generally unconvincing play with an upset at the hands of Roseville. The win over Cretin assured them a #1 seed in 3AA, but it did not come in a manner that suggests it's a foregone conclusion. Both Cretin and Eagan have shots at them. That 5-1 record vs. the "top" teams is misleading; all 5 have come against unranked teams. Important game in the SEC in which they can get back on track on Thursday.
This week: Thurs vs. White Bear Lake quote]

Definatley right here this is a very good team but they're not playing like it right now. They seem to have a very good offense and a very good defense but only one shows up on a given night. Their offense showed up in a 7-4 win over park and a 5-4 win over Mounds View but their defense definatley didn't, but their defense did show up in a 2-0 win over hastings and in their 3-2 loss to Roseville but their offense definatley was cold for most of those games. The fact is though if this team can get both their offense and defense to play their A game during the playoffs this team is going to be in a different leval than Cretin and Eagan and will have to capibility to compete with any of the states premier teams but for now this team still has to prove they can do that.

[Ilovethe212]

talkofthetown17 I love the way you justify your losses by "Well we were beating Edina, Eden Prairie, etc. going into the third period...I guess that's why there's three periods of hockey instead of 2.

I'm not quite sure why minnesotaice or maybe his name should be minnesota "nice" ranked Elk River #7 in his rankings. Obviously he must have missed your recent games against Maple Grove, Osseo & Coon Rapids.

Also I do not agree with Karl (east) for ranking Elk River ahead of Blaine in the NWSC but I do understand his reasoning for doing so.

Anyway you should be proud of your teams recent turnaround and success and good luck in sections!!!

Elk River went 2-0-1 against Maple Grove, Osseo & Coon Rapids. I dont see your argument.

[minnesotaice]

talkofthetown17 I love the way you justify your losses by "Well we were beating Edina, Eden Prairie, etc. going into the third period...I guess that's why there's three periods of hockey instead of 2.

I'm not quite sure why minnesotaice or maybe his name should be minnesota "nice" ranked Elk River #7 in his rankings. Obviously he must have missed your recent games against Maple Grove, Osseo & Coon Rapids.

Also I do not agree with Karl (east) for ranking Elk River ahead of Blaine in the NWSC but I do understand his reasoning for doing so.

Anyway you should be proud of your teams recent turnaround and success and good luck in sections!!!

Elk River went 2-0-1 against Maple Grove, Osseo & Coon Rapids. I dont see your argument.

...and they beat both Blaine and Centennial so they could be ranked higher than 7th if i was a bit more generous..

talkofthetown17
I agree. However, they still played Centennial tough, losing by 1 isnt a lazy effort at all. Tufte is a first line player and was 3rd on the team for points until his injury. Thats like taking Connor Gaarder out of the Edina first line.
Tufte should be back come sections, but Blaine is still playing strong even without Tufte and Jay Wagamon. Their 1 goal losses to Centennial and ER (not counting the Empty netters) arent bad enough in my opinion to drop that far in the rankings.
But like I said, lets wait and see what happens against Maple Grove.

[Shovel Shot]

talkofthetown17 I love the way you justify your losses by "Well we were beating Edina, Eden Prairie, etc. going into the third period...I guess that's why there's three periods of hockey instead of 2.

I'm not quite sure why minnesotaice or maybe his name should be minnesota "nice" ranked Elk River #7 in his rankings. Obviously he must have missed your recent games against Maple Grove, Osseo & Coon Rapids.

Also I do not agree with Karl (east) for ranking Elk River ahead of Blaine in the NWSC but I do understand his reasoning for doing so.

Anyway you should be proud of your teams recent turnaround and success and good luck in sections!!!

Elk River went 2-0-1 against Maple Grove, Osseo & Coon Rapids. I dont see your argument.

...and they beat both Blaine and Centennial so they could be ranked higher than 7th if i was a bit more generous..

talkofthetown17
I agree. However, they still played Centennial tough, losing by 1 isnt a lazy effort at all. Tufte is a first line player and was 3rd on the team for points until his injury. Thats like taking Connor Gaarder out of the Edina first line.
Tufte should be back come sections, but Blaine is still playing strong even without Tufte and Jay Wagamon. Their 1 goal losses to Centennial and ER (not counting the Empty netters) arent bad enough in my opinion to drop that far in the rankings.
But like I said, lets wait and see what happens against Maple Grove.

If you were anymore generous they would be ranked #1. I guess it must be nice to be able to forget the Elks past record.

2-7-1 against top 15 teams doesn't really add up a #7 ranking. Having them ranked higher than AHA, Minnetonka & Maple Grove is just plain ridiculous.

[Maple Grove Crimson#1]

talkofthetown17 I love the way you justify your losses by "Well we were beating Edina, Eden Prairie, etc. going into the third period...I guess that's why there's three periods of hockey instead of 2.

I'm not quite sure why minnesotaice or maybe his name should be minnesota "nice" ranked Elk River #7 in his rankings. Obviously he must have missed your recent games against Maple Grove, Osseo & Coon Rapids.

Also I do not agree with Karl (east) for ranking Elk River ahead of Blaine in the NWSC but I do understand his reasoning for doing so.

Anyway you should be proud of your teams recent turnaround and success and good luck in sections!!!

Elk River went 2-0-1 against Maple Grove, Osseo & Coon Rapids. I dont see your argument.

Elk River went 0-1-1 againts Maple Grove this year. Osseo and Coon Rapids are non factors.

[gophermadman]

name a tougher one...

my daily, call out of HShockeywatcher


Classic Lake is a better conference this year

Lets put it this way if these were the matchups who would come out with a better record

Centennial vs Edina (Centennial)
Blaine vs Minnetonka (?)
Maple Grove vs Wayzata (tie)
Elk River vs Hopkins (?)

I'll help you out a bit

Centennial vs Edina (Edina)
Blaine vs Minnetonka (Minnetonka)
Maple Grove vs. Wayzata (Wayzata)
Elk River vs Hopkins (Elk River)

case and point, classic lake is better and if you want to match it up that way, lets take a peak at the lake:

Jefferson vs Centennial (Jefferson)
EP vs Blaine (EP)
Burnsville vs Maple Grove (Burnsville)
Elk River vs Eagan (Elk River)

[Maple Grove Crimson#1]

my daily, call out of HShockeywatcher


Classic Lake is a better conference this year

Lets put it this way if these were the matchups who would come out with a better record

Centennial vs Edina (Centennial)
Blaine vs Minnetonka (?)
Maple Grove vs Wayzata (tie)
Elk River vs Hopkins (?)

I'll help you out a bit

Centennial vs Edina (Edina)
Blaine vs Minnetonka (Minnetonka)
Maple Grove vs. Wayzata (Wayzata)
Elk River vs Hopkins (Elk River)

case and point, classic lake is better and if you want to match it up that way, lets take a peak at the lake:

Jefferson vs Centennial (Jefferson)
EP vs Blaine (EP)
Burnsville vs Maple Grove (Burnsville)
Elk River vs Eagan (Elk River)

you actually think Burnsville would beat Maple Grove?

[Shovel Shot]

Minnesota wrote:
Maple Grove is overrated and sucks, so yes.

What I really like about this forum is that we can all come out here and for the most part have intelligent and spirited debate over our teams, the rankings or which conference we think is better.

What I dislike the most is when we feel a need to keep beating a dead horse. So I agree with you...

Maple Grove is overrated and Elk River is a very good team.

Next subject please.

[BIGSEXY]

my daily, call out of HShockeywatcher


Classic Lake is a better conference this year

Lets put it this way if these were the matchups who would come out with a better record

Centennial vs Edina (Centennial)
Blaine vs Minnetonka (?)
Maple Grove vs Wayzata (tie)
Elk River vs Hopkins (?)

I'll help you out a bit

Centennial vs Edina (Edina)
Blaine vs Minnetonka (Minnetonka)
Maple Grove vs. Wayzata (Wayzata)
Elk River vs Hopkins (Elk River)

case and point, classic lake is better and if you want to match it up that way, lets take a peak at the lake:

Jefferson vs Centennial (Jefferson)
EP vs Blaine (EP)
Burnsville vs Maple Grove (Burnsville)
Elk River vs Eagan (Elk River)

So I guess it's settled.... Apparently the madman has a crystal ball and can tell us who wins these matchups....

[MrBoDangles]

Karl,

You mention that your next weekly rankings will be the "most important" that you will issue this year. I think "important" is just a tad too strong. Don't ya think the most important are the ones compiled by the coaches involved in the game? I enjoy the effort you put into this stuff, but let's not get too carried away with the value of your effort.

Perhaps. But relative to the other ones I have done, I think it's more significant.

Re: MrBoDangles and the NWSC vs. the rest of MN: I'll try to explain the logic one last time, in as straightforward a way as possible.

Right now, I'd rank their 4 teams this way:
1. Centennial
2. Maple Grove
3. Elk River
4. Blaine

Yes, I think Blaine is better than #4. They will jump to #2 if they beat MG. But this is what the standings say right now, and Blaine is coming off losses to the other two top teams.

As for nonconference schedules...
-ER is obviously a vastly improved team (having just beaten Centennial AND Blaine) from earlier in the season, so we'll throw out everything that's more than a few weeks old. Yet...
-They lost by 2 to DE in a game DE dominated.
-Even more importantly, they lost a close game to AHA very recently. The rankings reflect this.
-AHA lost to Minnetonka by 1 goal. The rankings reflect this.
-AHA lost to Edina by 3 goals. The rankings reflect this.
-Minnetonka lost to DE by 2 goals. The rankings reflect this.

See how one can reasonably assume rankings fall into place this way?

Centennial has some impressive nonconference wins, especially the one over Edina, meaning they should be above the ER team that just beat them. I'd have no complaint with anyone ranking them as high as 4th. Going above that would be difficult, though, because of their losses in the conference and the Moorhead and WBL ties.

MG is having a great season, but the most impressive thing they've done out of the conference is tie Wayzata. That does nothing to help the NWSC's cause.

Blaine does have a very good nonconference win over DE, but they have an equally bad loss to Edina. That's about all the schedule offers.

I hope you can at least see the logic there, even if you disagree with it, and move on.

If it still really bothers you as much as it seems to, issue your own rankings. It's not like I have a monopoly on the business or anything.