Section 5A Championship: [2] Hermantown vs [1] St. Cloud C.

[HasNoMoves]

Sparky, how can you say Hermantown carried the 3rd period? they didnt score, and had only a FEW shots below the top of the circle...they simply couldnt beat cathedral's D at all last night...were we at the same game? haha....j/k Hermantown wasnt that bad last night, Cathedral was just that good....but they are very fortunate Cathedral didn't bust it open and turn it into running time...very easily could have been. and running time in a section final is embarrassing.

[Goldy Gopher]

Does anyone think this impressive win puts Cathedral in the mix for a potential seed at state?

[Northhcky]

Year after year hermantown is always ranked high because they win a lot of games, i feel that they play a couple good teams and a lot of bad ones... so in my mind i feel that they are overrated. If they play a tough schedule it would prepare them better for playoffs.

You say Hermantown is overrated. How is being ranked 9th with a 22-3 regular season record overrated?

And about Hermantown not playing a tough schedule according to Mitch Hawkers ps2's they have the 4th toughest single A schedule in the state! What more can they do? They play all the AA teams they can find that will play them and don't even play some of their section opponents that are weaker. You obviously have no idea what you are talking about!!!

[HasNoMoves]

they were a top 4 seed for state even if they would have won by 1 goal i think. little falls may have beat cathedral but they play a weak schedule, but was early in the year and it was in OT and on the road (if LF gets past Alex), they have beat warroad, breck is overrated, STA is top seed, and well, the rest of the field just doesnt stand a chance to win.

of the teams left in State Class A contension, the winner will be one of these:

Little Falls
St. Cloud Cathedral
STA

if LF loses to Alex tonight, then its either Cathedral or STA for the championship..mark my words.

[theblandyman]

I can honestly say that Cathedral outplayed Hermantown much worse the first time around than last night. I would say Cathedral played a 'B' game last night and got lucky Tessier had an off night...although I don't know if it was really an off night. That said, Hermantown had some solid pressure in the second period. I thought Cathedral's D did a nice job of keeping the Hawks pressure to the outside...really only allowing 5 or 6 quality shots in the whole game. Cathedral, on the other hand, probably had upwards of 15 quality chances.

Hermantown had a great team, not overrated at all. They are definitely worthy of a top ten ranking. Cathedral just is, and always has been, a good team that flies under the radar of most.

Since Saturday, I've seen STA, Mahtomedi, SSP, Little Falls, Alex, Cathedral and Hermantown play (along with someothers). All I can say is that the depth of class A this year is VERY impressive. I'd give the nod to STA as the best team right now, but can very well see them falling to Mahtomedi in the final.

[HasNoMoves]

i dont feel cathedral played a B game...the pace was FAST, they got shots on net, held Hermantown to few quality chances, played position hockey exceptionally well and backcheck and pick up their respective wingers as well as any team can, and their breakouts and center ice regroups were excellent.

[theblandyman]

i dont feel cathedral played a B game...the pace was FAST, they got shots on net, held Hermantown to few quality chances, played position hockey exceptionally well and backcheck and pick up their respective wingers as well as any team can, and their breakouts and center ice regroups were excellent.

It's really not a bad thing for a team to bring their 'B' game and still beat a team 5-1, right?

Cathedral definitely didn't play as well as I have seen them play this year. Perhaps a testament to Hermantown's abilities. Their D, as always, played well and didn't allow many chances even when they were bottled up in their own zone for much of the second.

[sparky13]

Sparky, how can you say Hermantown carried the 3rd period? they didnt score, and had only a FEW shots below the top of the circle...they simply couldnt beat cathedral's D at all last night...were we at the same game? haha....j/k Hermantown wasnt that bad last night, Cathedral was just that good....but they are very fortunate Cathedral didn't bust it open and turn it into running time...very easily could have been. and running time in a section final is embarrassing.

Maybe carried was the wrong word. But I do think that Hermantown had more pressure in the 3rd, regardless of the quality or quantity of shots. They just couldn't get anything by those D. Hermantown's a relatively quick team, but they're also relatively small, especially compared to SCC's D. SCC's D made the Hawks' speed a non-factor.

[HasNoMoves]

Sparky, how can you say Hermantown carried the 3rd period? they didnt score, and had only a FEW shots below the top of the circle...they simply couldnt beat cathedral's D at all last night...were we at the same game? haha....j/k Hermantown wasnt that bad last night, Cathedral was just that good....but they are very fortunate Cathedral didn't bust it open and turn it into running time...very easily could have been. and running time in a section final is embarrassing.

Maybe carried was the wrong word. But I do think that Hermantown had more pressure in the 3rd, regardless of the quality or quantity of shots. They just couldn't get anything by those D. Hermantown's a relatively quick team, but they're also relatively small, especially compared to SCC's D. SCC's D made the Hawks' speed a non-factor.

i thought Hermanton had a ton of speed...both teams were rediculously fast and it was about as fast pased of a class A game as you will see this year. what cathedral does so well is their d stepping up and closing the distance and forcing teams like Hermantown to take weak shots from out high instead of driving to the net and getting quality shots. it was clear going into the 3rd that if cathedrals D continued to step up at the blue line that Hermantown could go start the buss early. PS..i think the official scorer was pretty liberal in awarding shots to Hermantown that were clearly off net heading towardsd the corner..all their shots were from next to the boards damn near and no where near the net...no way did they have 24 shots last night on Cathedral...15 maybe?

[thewanderer103]

Personally I don't think either team played their respective "A" game last night and this is why........ Big Dave couldn't figure out left from right on the Zamboni. Had an over/under bet of 1.5 times he would mess up going into the third period. A guy, need not be named, took the under for an undisclosed wager and I clearly agreed due to watching the first two attempts to groom the rink. Needless to say with the trench he built after missing a spot twice I won the bet.

With that said, it should be interesting to see the seedings when they come out. Depending on who makes it to state I could see Cathedral being anywhere from a two seed to being picked out of a hat. None the less this years class A tourney will be very entertaining to watch.

Blandy, good thing you didn't have to jump in the River, I don't think the Dala Dollar would have had clothes to keep you warm.

[StarsHockey]

I wonder how many excuse's bruce will have. Everytime he goes to section or conference meetings all he does is complain that hermantown gets the shaft. I live 130 miles away and I hear about it.

[DHMN]

I wonder how many excuse's bruce will have. Everytime he goes to section or conference meetings all he does is complain that hermantown gets the shaft. I live 130 miles away and I hear about it.

He's got nothing to complain about except his own players/game.. Cathedral skated circles around them and out-worked Hermantown as well.

[2good4u]

Year after year hermantown is always ranked high because they win a lot of games, i feel that they play a couple good teams and a lot of bad ones... so in my mind i feel that they are overrated. If they play a tough schedule it would prepare them better for playoffs.

lol wow dont hear that every year

[MARSHALLS]

Year after year hermantown is always ranked high because they win a lot of games, i feel that they play a couple good teams and a lot of bad ones... so in my mind i feel that they are overrated. If they play a tough schedule it would prepare them better for playoffs.

lol wow dont hear that every year

Are you suggesting that Hermantown played even a half descent schedule this year?

[2good4u]

Hermantown sure tried the "cheap it up" at the end of the game taking runs at Cathedral, and cam off as an unclassy team for a decent team....wow did Schmitt put some punishment on a few Hawks last night....ouch.

um if you go back and look at the penalties at the end of the third a good portion of them were on CHS, as for class look at ur hero schmidt, he trips a person then points to another player,

as for hermantowns chances next year... i personally feel that the team will be better then this years and may compare to the championship team, they will have krause back, solid goaltending, and a much more experienced team, i can only see injury holding them back

[2good4u]

Year after year hermantown is always ranked high because they win a lot of games, i feel that they play a couple good teams and a lot of bad ones... so in my mind i feel that they are overrated. If they play a tough schedule it would prepare them better for playoffs.

lol wow dont hear that every year

Are you suggesting that Hermantown played even a half descent schedule this year?

yeah i do believe i am, they played ranked teams instead of crap teams, now their conference is a different story

they played hibbing, virginia, Cathedral, marshall, i falls, bemidji, thief river falls, and scrimmaged a lot of stronger teams

[2good4u]

Year after year hermantown is always ranked high because they win a lot of games, i feel that they play a couple good teams and a lot of bad ones... so in my mind i feel that they are overrated. If they play a tough schedule it would prepare them better for playoffs.

lol wow dont hear that every year

Are you suggesting that Hermantown played even a half descent schedule this year?

[MARSHALLS]

lol wow dont hear that every year

Are you suggesting that Hermantown played even a half descent schedule this year?

yeah i do believe i am, they played ranked teams instead of crap teams, now their conference is a different story

they played hibbing, virginia, Cathedral, marshall, i falls, bemidji, thief river falls, and scrimmaged a lot of stronger teams

And only Cathedral was a top 10 team.

[2good4u]

all are and were ranked high, and whats wrong with virginia? last time i checked they were going to state

[sinbin006]

The same thing was said about their schedule the last 2 times they made the state tournament...and how did that end up? Oh, yeah, 3rd place and 1st place. I would have to argue that their schedule now is tougher than it was then. The better team won last night...let it go

[Northhcky]

Year after year hermantown is always ranked high because they win a lot of games, i feel that they play a couple good teams and a lot of bad ones... so in my mind i feel that they are overrated. If they play a tough schedule it would prepare them better for playoffs.

lol wow dont hear that every year

Are you suggesting that Hermantown played even a half descent schedule this year?

I would call this a pretty decent schedule...tied with marshall in Mitch Hawkers ps2 rankings at 4th toughest in A. Here's 20 of their 25 games...the other 5 were against lake superior conference teams they have to play. Thats 17-3 against these teams and obviously they won the other 5. See some darn good teams there both A and AA don't see how you could improve that schedule too much!


Dec 05, 2008 H Sauk Rapids - Rice (5A) (8-17-0) W · 5 - 1
Dec 06, 2008 H New Prague / Montgomery - Lonsdale (1A) (17-8-0) W · 7 - 1
Dec 12, 2008 H Hopkins (6AA) (15-9-1) W · 6 - 4
Dec 13, 2008 H Andover (7AA) (11-13-2) W · 4 - 3
Dec 16, 2008 A Superior (WI) (17-7-0) W · 7 - 2 PLAYING IN THE WISC STATE TOURNEY NOW
Dec 20, 2008 A Mound - Westonka / Watertown - Mayer (2A) (15-10-0) W · 10 - 0
Dec 23, 2008 A Virginia / Mountain Iron - Buhl / Orr (7A) (23-5-0) W · 5 - 1 SECTION 7 CHAMPS
Dec 29, 2008 A Thief River Falls / Goodridge (8A) (19-4-2) W · 3 - 2
Dec 30, 2008 N Crookston / Fisher (8A) (11-12-0) W · 7 - 0
Dec 31, 2008 N East Grand Forks (8A) (9-15-1) W · 5 - 2
Jan 06, 2009 H Duluth Marshall School (7A) (15-11-1) W · 4 - 3
Jan 10, 2009 H International Falls (7A) (17-8-2) L · 4 - 5 OT
Jan 13, 2009 H Grand Rapids (7AA) (11-11-4) W · 6 - 3
Jan 20, 2009 H Superior (WI) (17-7-0) W · 8 - 2
Jan 26, 2009 A Saint Cloud Cathedral (5A) (25-2-1) L · 1 - 2
Feb 03, 2009 A Bemidji (8A) (13-11-1) W · 5 - 3
Feb 05, 2009 H Cloquet / Esko / Carlton (7AA) (6-19-2) W · 7 - 4
Feb 11, 2009 H Duluth Denfeld (5A) (14-12-1) W · 7 - 0
Feb 14, 2009 A Red Wing (1A) (18-7-0) L · 1 - 4
Feb 20, 2009 A Hibbing / Chisholm (7A) (16-10-1) W · 5 - 0

[Northhcky]

The same thing was said about their schedule the last 2 times they made the state tournament...and how did that end up? Oh, yeah, 3rd place and 1st place. I would have to argue that their schedule now is tougher than it was then. The better team won last night...let it go

You hit the nail right on the head sin. Hermantown won state with an undefeated season in 07 and still didn't play anyone! And yes last night they did get beat by a better team. St Cloud has a great defense and they just might win it all. Good luck to them at state!!