AA Preseason Rankings and Preview

[FREDFLINTSTONE]

People don't get so worked up about Karl's opinions on the rankings. Disagree, make comments, make your points, but keep in mind he is not attacking. Right or wrong people are gonna have different opinions.

A few of my thoughts after seeing the rankings and reading the responses:

Very nice job Karl, obviously a lot of time and thought put into it. Keep up the good work!

Duluth East will be one of the deeper teams in the state, yes I believe deeper then Eden Prairie. They did have one of the top 3 Bantam A teams that I saw last year, a few that can step in on the top 3 lines if need be. Also, a few JV players/4th line guys from last year that I believe can flourish in an expanded role.

I think it is a very legitimate question to wonder who is going to score besides Rau at Eden Prairie. I believe they are one of the top teams in the state regardless. I know how good defensively they are with Moleenar, Seeler, and Rau, and Moleenar is a huge threat offensively. They lost Rogge, Erickson, Gerdes, and Loken. I did not see any Bantams from last year that I believe can play on the top 2 lines this year. What 2 forwards are going to play with Rau? McCartan? Rath? Who does that leave for their 2nd line?

Gerdes is a senior this year. With Rau you're probably looking at either both Raths who they kept together most of last year or McCartan and Gerdes. Whichever one it isn't will probably be second line and then third line will be mostly juniors. So two very strong lines offensively which will probably see a lot of ice time and two of the top d lines in the state.

Yes, they can definitely have 2 good lines if they develop the 2nd one properly. I never denied that. The point all along was that East was deeper, in that they can roll 3-4 lines that will be counted on to do some scoring. This was reflected to some degree in their meeting last year; as I recall, East matched its 3rd line up with EP's 1st. Rogge scored both of EP's goals in the 2-2 tie; East got 1 from the 4th line and 1 from the 2nd. I see no reason to think that dynamic has changed much this year.

That doesn't mean East is better than EP. EP clearly has more star power, both on offense and on defense. I have them ahead of East in the rankings for a reason. East is just a bit deeper.

I will be in Duluth this weekend. All I am saying is I told you EP will be deeper. You can see for yourself this weekend.

[dlhhockey]

Gerdes is a senior this year. With Rau you're probably looking at either both Raths who they kept together most of last year or McCartan and Gerdes. Whichever one it isn't will probably be second line and then third line will be mostly juniors. So two very strong lines offensively which will probably see a lot of ice time and two of the top d lines in the state.

Yes, they can definitely have 2 good lines if they develop the 2nd one properly. I never denied that. The point all along was that East was deeper, in that they can roll 3-4 lines that will be counted on to do some scoring. This was reflected to some degree in their meeting last year; as I recall, East matched its 3rd line up with EP's 1st. Rogge scored both of EP's goals in the 2-2 tie; East got 1 from the 4th line and 1 from the 2nd. I see no reason to think that dynamic has changed much this year.

That doesn't mean East is better than EP. EP clearly has more star power, both on offense and on defense. I have them ahead of East in the rankings for a reason. East is just a bit deeper.

I will be in Duluth this weekend. All I am saying is I told you EP will be deeper. You can see for yourself this weekend.

You're going to base your season and prove your point on one hour in Duluth the first day they can play? Should we have the paramedics standing by for when you bust a vessel, or just play it by ear?

[FREDFLINTSTONE]

Yes, they can definitely have 2 good lines if they develop the 2nd one properly. I never denied that. The point all along was that East was deeper, in that they can roll 3-4 lines that will be counted on to do some scoring. This was reflected to some degree in their meeting last year; as I recall, East matched its 3rd line up with EP's 1st. Rogge scored both of EP's goals in the 2-2 tie; East got 1 from the 4th line and 1 from the 2nd. I see no reason to think that dynamic has changed much this year.

That doesn't mean East is better than EP. EP clearly has more star power, both on offense and on defense. I have them ahead of East in the rankings for a reason. East is just a bit deeper.

I will be in Duluth this weekend. All I am saying is I told you EP will be deeper. You can see for yourself this weekend.

You're going to base your season and prove your point on one hour in Duluth the first day they can play? Should we have the paramedics standing by for when you bust a vessel, or just play it by ear?

All I said is that I told you so. Don't really care when you find out the trueth, as I already know, and when reality sets in for you, you can say, mr. Stone, you were correct.

[Master Recruiter]

great write up. Cant wait for the mini state tournament we refer to as the 6AA section tournament

[HappyHockeyFan]

Should be an interesting year for the Eagan Wildcats, they lost alot of solid but not great seniors from last years team but return all of their most talented players which were only Sophs last year. This years team only has 5 seniors of which only one played regularily on the varsity, the others played JV and very sparingly on Varsity in lopsided game situations. This largly Junior led team will need to develop its own identity now and take leadership roles that left with the seniors, and with the beefed up non conference schedule and already tough conference schedule it will be a year of growing. I expect the team will be competitive early but might not sport a great record thru December as they have Edina, Minnetonka and EP all in the first month along with their conference teams. But as the juniors learn to take hold of the team and with their raw talent I think by seasons end they will be ready to make a good run at state again. I really think next year will be the big year for them as those highly talented juniors will be seniors.

[blueblood]

Don't count yourself out against tonka. They lost a lot of talent and will need to prove they can play without 4 D1 recruits and one of the top 3 goalies in the state from last year.

[HappyHockeyFan]

Don't count yourself out against tonka. They lost a lot of talent and will need to prove they can play without 4 D1 recruits and one of the top 3 goalies in the state from last year.

Actually I think Eagan is capable of beating any of those 3 teams, just maybe not this early in the year, but I think they will compete well and maybe get a win. They have a very talented junior class but they will miss last years senior leadership early in the season.

[MHGr8ness]

what are the chances that you do one of these for class A? they are very detailed, informative, and interesting to see

[HockeyMN1]

what are the chances that you do one of these for class A? they are very detailed, informative, and interesting to see

Someone tried last year but ended up not being consistent with it. To be perfectly honest I don't really care much about class A and I bet that goes for most of the metro and big schools up north. I definitely don't stay completely up to date on it so you'd have to find a big small school guy thats willing to put in the time.

[karl(east)]

what are the chances that you do one of these for class A? they are very detailed, informative, and interesting to see

Although I think it's very valuable that we have A rankings as well, I simply don't have the time to commit to two different sets of rankings with this level of detail, and my interest does lie primarily with AA. It'd be great for the forum if we had detailed A rankings, but someone else will have to step up to do it. I will try to throw in my comments on the A scene from time to time if I think I have something to contribute.

I also think ranking Class A is actually quite a bit harder than ranking AA--there are so few common opponents between all the teams scattered around the state. In AA there are only a couple outstate teams that are in consideration for rankings, and they tend to play a lot of Metro teams, but in A, it's very hard to measure teams in the IRC vs. the Mariucci vs. the Central Lakes vs. the cities privates.

[MHGr8ness]

what are the chances that you do one of these for class A? they are very detailed, informative, and interesting to see

Although I think it's very valuable that we have A rankings as well, I simply don't have the time to commit to two different sets of rankings with this level of detail, and my interest does lie primarily with AA. It'd be great for the forum if we had detailed A rankings, but someone else will have to step up to do it. I will try to throw in my comments on the A scene from time to time if I think I have something to contribute.

I also think ranking Class A is actually quite a bit harder than ranking AA--there are so few common opponents between all the teams scattered around the state. In AA there are only a couple outstate teams that are in consideration for rankings, and they tend to play a lot of Metro teams, but in A, it's very hard to measure teams in the IRC vs. the Mariucci vs. the Central Lakes vs. the cities privates.

very true and that's understandable. i'll just be grateful for AA

[hockeystud9]

I will defend Karl and say that DE had the best BA team in the state last year. That will help the hounds out a lot. I have no problem with putting DE where they are in the preseason rankings.

as i recall didnt grand rapids bantams beat them to go to state?

[northwoods oldtimer]

I will defend Karl and say that DE had the best BA team in the state last year. That will help the hounds out a lot. I have no problem with putting DE where they are in the preseason rankings.

as i recall didnt grand rapids bantams beat them to go to state?

Ya and every east fan knows that was a fluke

[HockeyMN1]

Yes, they can definitely have 2 good lines if they develop the 2nd one properly. I never denied that. The point all along was that East was deeper, in that they can roll 3-4 lines that will be counted on to do some scoring. This was reflected to some degree in their meeting last year; as I recall, East matched its 3rd line up with EP's 1st. Rogge scored both of EP's goals in the 2-2 tie; East got 1 from the 4th line and 1 from the 2nd. I see no reason to think that dynamic has changed much this year.

That doesn't mean East is better than EP. EP clearly has more star power, both on offense and on defense. I have them ahead of East in the rankings for a reason. East is just a bit deeper.

I will be in Duluth this weekend. All I am saying is I told you EP will be deeper. You can see for yourself this weekend.

You're going to base your season and prove your point on one hour in Duluth the first day they can play? Should we have the paramedics standing by for when you bust a vessel, or just play it by ear?

EP played a full scrimmage last weekend against Holy Angels without Rau and won 3-0. Depth's looking good