NW Suburban Conference Predictions

[ShotNAGoal]

Anyone have any predictions for this conference?

Lots of coaching changes, with some of the coaches having previous coaching experience within the conference. 50% coaching turnover this year, which was pretty shocking.

Andover - Ben Monahan - Previous Monticello boys coach
Centennial - Mark Domschot - Has been coaching in the Centennial system.
Champlin Park - Jim Koltes - Previously was the head coach at Maple Grove.
Coon Rapids - Jessica Christopherson - Previously St. Thomas Women’s assistant and was the Coon Rapids assistant coach several years ago.
Maple Grove - Rob Potter - Previously was the head coach at Coon Rapids.

My opinion of how the conference will shake out.

1. Coon Rapids - Lots of senior talent. Have the best scorer in the conference in Bona. Goaltending depth could be an issue. This seems to be their year to do something.

2. Elk River - Curtis was an amazing goal scorer last year and can carry the team. I wonder if how much she will miss Erickson??? Erickson was very good at knowing where she was on the ice and getting her the puck.

3. Centennial - Tons of depth as usual. JV team in the past could pass as a Varsity team for most programs. Change in the coach could be interesting, as Diggens always had this team on top of the conference.

4. Anoka - Young team that got much better as the season went on. Might be Hays' best group in years.

5. Blaine - Guider always a physical defensive group with good goaltending, but where will the scoring come from?

6. Andover - Can Monahan get more out of this group than Maeckelbergh? In the past they always seemed to be a team that would self implode.

7. Maple Grove - Hirsch is very good, but does not have much help. Potter is the 3rd new coach in 4 years. Should be interesting to see if Potter can make it more than a year.

8. North Metro - Might need to merge with a few more schools this year to be competitive. Gravel always seems to have them play close games however.

9. Champlin Park - Koltes has a very new raw group to work with as they lost a very deep senior class last season.

10. Robbinsdale Armstrong - Should be an easy two wins for every other team in the conference this year. The first gimme-win for other teams in the conference since Osseo left several years back.


Best Starting Five

F - Bona - Senior - Coon Rapids
F - Curtis - Junior - Elk River
F - Hirsch -Senior - Maple Grove
D - Schlagel - Freshman - Coon Rapids
D - Lobejko - Senior - Coon Rapids
G - Geissler - Senior - Elk River

[The Bone]

Heard that Elk River had 8 to 10 players quit the Girls HS program a week or so into the season. Any one able to confrim this?
Who left?
Why did they quit?
What will be the impact?

[mnhock10]

I think this conference is going to be very hard to predict. Losts of turnover with coaches and players to graduation as well. At the very least it should make for an interesting race.

Here are my picks.

1. Coon Rapids - Bona and a young group of talented players

2. Centennial - depth

3. Elk River - I believe they return the core of their team from last season

4. Blaine - Bengals are always competitors, however scoring does appear like it might be a challenge

5. Anoka - Nothing flashy but were very scrappy last year, I believe they had a young team last year as well

6. North Metro - lost some key players to graduation but Gravel always has a group of competitors

7. Andover - Have always had some talent, will be interesting to see if it can culminate into success

8. Maple Grove - Hirsch can be a game changer, but she is coming off a major knee injury. Defense and goaltending are questionable.

9. Armstrong - I wouldn't say it will be an easy win, they have competed with tough teams, but I don't see them being a problem for the top couple of teams in this conference

10. Champlin Park - Lost a significant senior class, will be interesting to see what Koltes can get out of his group.

[elkpower]

Who was the palyer who won the scoring title last year in the conference?

[ShotNAGoal]

Curtis led the conference in scoring, which I assume you are getting at. I will still stick with Bona being the better scorer.

[hockeyfan87]

10. Robbinsdale Armstrong - Should be an easy two wins for every other team in the conference this year. The first gimme-win for other teams in the conference since Osseo left several years back.

Wow...that was a little harsh since they haven't even played a game yet!! My guess is they will not be the push over that you are making them out to be.

[ShotNAGoal]

Can anyone comment on the ER - Centennial game that may have been there? I saw the Elks had a very solid win 6-2, but were outshot, giving up 41 shots. I am assuming Geissler had a very good game as usual. It also looks like Centennial may have dropped off more than expected as well. I can't remember the last time they started 0-2.

[mnhock10]

Conference and overall records:

Coon Rapids 1-0 and 1-0-0 - Nice win over CP

Anoka 1-0 and 2-0-0 - two big wins

Blaine 1-0 and 1-1-0 - lopsided loss to Edina and nice win over MG

North Metro 1-0 and 1-1-0 - 3-0 loss to Buffalo, 3-0 win over Armstrong

Elk River 1-0 and 1-0-0 - Big 6-2 win over Centennial

Maple Grove 0-1 and 0-2-0 - lopsided losses to Minnetonka and Blaine

Andover 0-1 and 2-1-0 - Couple of big wins and a lopsided loss to Anoka

Champlin Park 0-1 and 0-1-0 - tough loss to Coon Rapids

Centennial 0-1 and 0-1-0 - tough Loss to ER

Armstrong 0-1 and 0-1-0 - 3-0 loss to North Metro

Can't draw many conclusions this early, but results seem to match pre-season predictions...

[ShotNAGoal]

First I would like to note to Hockeyfan87 that I did make a mistake on Armstrong. For some reason I was thinking of Robinsdale Cooper. Armstrong will be much more competitive.

Here is something interesting I took from the first round of games.

Champlin outshoots Coon Rapids 32-30, but loses 4-1.
CR Sv% - 97
CP Sv % - 87

Andover outshoots Anoka 22-18, but loses 6-1.
Anoka Sv % - 95
Andover Sv% - 67 - YUCK

Maple Grove outshoots Blaine 32-24, but loses 4-1.
Blaine Sv % - 97
MG Sv% - 83

Centennial outshoots Elk River 39-27, but loses 6-2.
ER Sv % - 95
Centennial % - 78

Armstrong outshoots North Metro 23-16, but loses 3-0.
NM Sv % - 100
Arm Sv% - 81

Going into the Tuesday night’s games it looks like five coaches are real pleased with their goaltending and five that are probably not so happy. Stings to lose when you outshoot a team.

[ProudParent]

The Bengals are shocking the Conference. Most of us said the Bengals would have a hard time getting goals but they seem to not only score some nice goals but they are on a winning streak, who would of thought that would happen?

[hockbandit]

Anoka has some young fast players and a decent goalie. They might suprise some teams

[ShotNAGoal]

Conference Standings after 11-23 games.

Team Team PTS GP W L T Overall
Coon Rapids
CNRPDS
4 2 2 0 0 2-0-0
Anoka
ANOKA
4 2 2 0 0 3-0-0
Blaine
BLAINE
4 2 2 0 0 2-1-0
Elk River
ELKS
4 2 2 0 0 2-0-0
North Metro Stars
N-MTRO
2 2 1 1 0 1-2-0
Maple Grove
M. G.
2 2 1 1 0 1-2-0
Andover
ANDVR
0 2 0 2 0 2-2-0
Champlin Park
CH PRK
0 2 0 2 0 0-3-0
Centennial
CENTEN
0 2 0 2 0 0-2-0
Armstrong
ARMSTR
0 2 0 2 0 0-2-0

Observations:

Coon Rapids defeats Andover 6-1 – I went to the game last night and here were some of my thoughts.
1st Period - Andover did a pretty good job of limiting Coon Rapids scoring chances and the period ended 0-0.
2nd Period – Coon Rapids exploded and scored 4 goals in a matter of minutes taking the game over.
3rd Period – A couple goals for each team, but there were so many penalties for each side it was almost ridiculous.
Schlagel ended up with 3 goals and showed she can be a game changer. Bona dominated the game and ended up with a disappointing goal and assist. She had trouble finishing in my opinion, should have had at least 3 goals if not more. Amunrud was solid in net for CR. I was not that impressed with CRs second and third lines. The defensemen, goalie, and first line will be good enough to beat most teams.

I did think Andover was going to be better. Afton was pretty much nonexistent the whole game. They seemed to be intimidated by CRs loud student section in the 2nd period. I even think Coach Monahan complained to the refs on two different occasions about the crowd, which I did not really understand. Denny was hung out to dry time after time by an unorganized team in front of her. She stopped numerous good chances and only giving up 6 goals was a good game for her.

Refs - There were many penalties that needed to be called, but I thought the refs called way too many. I would guess Andover spent about 9 minutes of the third with a 5-3 advantage. At some point the refs needed to figure out how to let the girls play. CR did take many undisciplined penalties. If they don’t get that under control it will cost them against better teams.

Anoka defeats Armstrong 7-1 - Anoka has not really had that tough of an opponent yet, but they are showing they can bury the puck. Katie Johnson had 2 goals and an assist, and looks like she might make a push to lead the conference in scoring. They had scoring from 5 different girls, showing their depth.
Armstrong through the first few games has shown that they do not have much scoring and also terrible goaltending. Not a good combo.

Blaine defeats North Metro 2-0 – A game that would have been expected for these two teams. Low shot total, 20 for Blaine and 13 for NM. Both teams have solid goaltending and good systems and will give teams in the conference tough games. Will be interesting to see if Blaine can become one of the better teams in the conference.

Elk River defeats Champlin 4-0 – Looked like a VERY convincing win for the Elks. Outshot CP 30 -10. Ellis had a hat trick and Curtis added two points. At this point ER has moved into my favorite to win the conference.

Maple Grove defeats Centennial 7-6 - WOW goaltending and defense did not show up in this one. 38 shots for each team. MG got scoring from 7 different players and Centennial got 5 points from Lauren Anderson. Centennial has now given up 18 GOALS in 3 games. There usual good goaltending and solid defensive play has fallen off the map. Can they turn this mess around??? I am sure no teams feel too bad for them after their long dominance in the conference.

Would love to hear others opinions that were at some of these games!

[DmanDad1980]

Anoka has some young fast players and a decent goalie. They might suprise some teams

Agreed
Nice older nucleus to go with young girls from very good 12UA teams the last two years... Fast, good with puck, and not afraid to play physical...

[elkpower]

Anoka really has not played anyone yet. Don't get to excited. There non-conference schedule seems a little weak. Why?

Anoka has some young fast players and a decent goalie. They might suprise some teams

Agreed
Nice older nucleus to go with young girls from very good 12UA teams the last two years... Fast, good with puck, and not afraid to play physical...

[ShotNAGoal]

Elkpower - The previous two posters about Anoka were not saying that Anoka was going to have an undefeated season. They said they might suprise some teams and gave some insight on the Anoka team. I also agree with their comments. Anoka is on the rise.

[ShotNAGoal]

Over the weekend there were a few games from the conference to note.

Coon Rapids had two huge wins in terms of their section. Beat Mounds View 4-3 and Irondale 3-2. What I was most impressed with is they gave up 25 shots to MV and 20 to Irondale. Will continue to win if the shots stay that low.

Should be a great game against Elk River tonight. I think Coon Rapids will have a big advantage in shots and they game will come down to how Geissler plays.

Blaine outshot Grand Rapids but lost 3-2. They also beat up on Hibbing 5-1 and outshooting them by a large amount.

Anoka ties Shakopee. Not sure how good Shakopee is so no real comment on this game. I am assuming they are not that great.

Armstrong loses to Rogers 5-4 and beats River Lakes 5-1. Opponents were not very good, but congrats on the first win of the year.

[ShotNAGoal]

Coon Rapids beats Elk River 5-1. I was able to get to the game and was hoping it would be closer than the score. Coon Rapids got two early PP goals. ER scored one in the second to make it 2-1. CR got three in the third to put it out of reach.

I thought CR controlled most of the game besides a small stretch in the 2nd period. CR outshot ER in each period and 35-23 for the game. Geissler played good, but I have seen her play much better. Amunrud was very solid in net for CR, stopping Curtis multiple times. CR is much deeper up front and their Dee is stronger. ER seemed to only get chances when Curtis was on the ice.

I decided to compare Curtis vs. Bona since they are probably the two best forwards in the conference. I am going to give the edge to Bona, but before I go into reasons why I would like to say any team in the state would be lucky to have a player like Curtis.

Speed - About even, however Bona is the smoother skater.

Toe Drag - Must be both players go to move. Made a handful of girls on the other team look silly. Curtis has a deeper drag or pull to hers. Bona uses hers going full speed and is quicker. That being said this move will not very effective when they move on to the higher levels.

Scoring Touch - Both girls can finish, each had at least 4-5 great scoring chances last night. Bona had a goal and assist, Curtis with an assist.

Responsibility -This is the category where Bona wins in a landslide for me and makes her the better and more valuable player. Bona is responsible for covering someone in the defensive zone man on man. You will often see her gaining control of the puck down low and leading the break out. Bona will spend her energy evenly on offense and defense.

Curtis on the other hand has very little defensive responsibility and you will rarely see her go below the top of the circles in her defensive zone. She more or less circles out by the opposing Dee waiting for her team to get the puck to her. For this reason she is at full tilt when she gets the puck and spends almost all of her energy during a game on offense.

This is neither of the girl’s choice, as they are playing in the system their coach feels is best and gives them the best chance to win. I do think they way Bona is utilized makes her a more complete player. I would like to see Curtis used in the same way as she is good enough to play offense and defense. Right now Bona is the Crosby of the conference and Curtis is the Gaborik.


Did anyone catch the Anoka - Blaine game???? Looked like a good one....and would love to hear the recap.....

[ProudParent]

The Blaine Vs Anoka games were good.

The Jv game was a one sided game. Anoka was always in Blaine's zone and had to have atleast 50 something shots. No matter what Anoka would do Blaine's goalie would always stop the puck. I was really impressed with Blaine's goalie and the saves she made. She pretty much did all the work since Blaine had atleast 7 shots. It wasn't until the third period when Crystal scored the first and only goal for the game. Good job Anoka on the hard win!

The Varsity game was also good except for the fact that the ref's didn't call anything on Anoka. The Blaine coaches were talking up a storm and yelling at the ref's which in all do respect is not a good idea. The parents of Blaine were also getting into it. The game was going back and forth without one team being in total control of the game. It ended with a 2-2 tie and went into over time where Anoka scored the game winning goal and made all of us parents and fans excited

[royals dad]

Nice to see Armstrong with a conference win, 2-1 over Blaine. Some of the top players are young and they not real deep but they may still surprise some teams. Defiantly not 2 easy ones for every in conference this year.

[mnhock10]

It looks like Centennial is getting back to their winning ways and looks like Coon Rapids is on a little slide. Rest of the conference seems to be a toss up night in and night out.

[Bandy]

Centennial took 2 from Anoka. Blaine ties Anoka. Anoka beats Coon Rapids. Blaine beats Centennial. Elks and Andover still in the hunt. Things are looking pretty tight in the upper half of the conference....Especially the top 3: CR 10-3, Cent 10-4, Anoka 9-3-1.

Anoka 4 CR 3: Rumor has it Bona sat first period vs. Anoka because she forgot her jersey. That appeared to be the difference in the game. CR is an entirely different team with her on the ice. Anoka hung on despite the officiating. CR got away many uncalled trips & hooks, and Bona threw some elbows at her "escort" for the evening. Anoka got called on some very marginal calls that usually go as non-calls.

Right now, Centennial and Andover are playing the best as a TEAM. CR tough to stop when Bona catches fire. Anoka, Blaine, & Andover have some good young talent that can surprise a few teams. Hang on!

[mnhock10]

With the regular season winding down, here are the standings. Some predictions were quite close.

1. Coon Rapids

2. Anoka - 1 pt behind CR

3. Centennial

4. Elk River

5. Blaine

6. Andover

7. Maple Grove

9. North Metro

10. Armstrong

11. Champlin Park

Any surprises? North Metro at 9 seems a little surprising. I think Anoka was a pleasant surprise. I think it was a general consensus they would be much improved but maybe not in the running for conference champs.

[Bandy]

Not too surprised with the overall standings. The top 6 teams can play some highly competitive hockey.

A huge surprise this past weekend was Champlin Park tying Centennial, basically knocking Centennial out of contention for conference champs unless something bizarre happens.

If Anoka beats ER Tuesday, it sets up a HUGE Anoka vs CR rematch Thursday evening.