Class A Rankings 2-20-11

HShockeywatcher · Post by **HShockeywatcher** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 10:47 am

A couple teams have moved up and down by quite a few spots, but for the most part things have stayed the same from last week. Sections are starting this week and next week there will be less teams being ranked.

1. [1] St Thomas Academy (19-6)
A recent home loss to Hill Murray and losing the conference title is not great but still the top Class A team.

2. [9] Rochester Lourdes (21-3-1)
Playing 5 quality opponent and only beating one of them doesn’t convince me this is where they should be, but how they played the top team and tying Totino gets them a 7 spot bump.

3. [3] Totino-Grace (19-5-1)
Tying Lourdes last week keeps TG at 3 but this week below Lourdes.

4. [10] Breck (17-8 )
I dropped Breck last week because of how I felt about Lourdes, but now they sit below the three teams who’ve beaten them and above the team they beat last night. Look for them to try to defend their back-to-back section and state titles.

5. [2] Blake (19-2-2)
Losing to Breck worse than they beat Breck earlier means the Bears are no longer the team to beat in 2A.

6. [5] Hermantown (20-3-2)
I don’t think anyone would be surprised if Hermantown won state, as they have no Class A losses, but they are where they are because of their ties and losses.

7. [13] Mahtomedi (12-12-1)
I know this will be an unpopular move on my part, but the Zephyrs have only lost to teams above them, Hibbing early and SSP, who they beat last night. It will be interesting to see how they are seeded.

8. [8] Warroad (17-8 )
I’m giving Warroad the nod over TRF because those in the section have as well.

9. [6] Thief River Falls (17-7-1)
The Prowlers fall a couple spots because of Breck moving up and Warroad getting the top seed in the section.

10. [4] South St. Paul (16-9)
The Packers are definitely a threat to compete for a section title, but are not a favorite.
This week: Tues @ Henry Sibley, Thurs @ Mahtomedi

11. [20] Virginia/MI-B (18-7)
The Blue Devils beat the Hilltoppers two weeks ago and just shut out the Bluejackets. Should they make it out of this very close section, I suspect they have earned the #4 seed.

12. [12] Duluth Marshall (14-10-1)
The Hilltoppers beat two 8A teams they are ranked below, but losing to Central and Virginia doesn’t help them.

13. [16] Little Falls (20-3-2)
As always, not much spectacular to say about the Fliers’ schedule. Their section loss last year was their first in 6 years and they’d like to make it to 6 out of 7 years.

14. [15] Lake of the Woods (15-5-3)
The Bears do have a win over TRF but recently got shut out by Warroad. A section win against them would be great for the section and the state.

15. [11] Duluth Central (12-13)
It’s tough to say what will happen with the Trojans; if section results are the same as the regular season, they will get another shot at Virginia.

16. [16] Rogers (16-8-1)
A good shot at making the section final, but not at getting to state.

17. [17] St. Cloud Cathedral (15-9-1)
Losses to Rogers and Hermantown will probably keep them from getting to state, but they are a good program.

18. [18] Proctor (16-7-2)
It is great to see the Rails doing well but it is disappointing all the top players are seniors.

19. [19] Hibbing/Chisholm (14-9-2)
Tying #6 Hermantown to end the season really shows they can play, but their slew of losses keeps them on the low end of the rankings.

T20. [7] Chisago Lakes Area (20-5)
This ranking is more to appease readers than anything else. A good case could be made to have them in the top 5 with two 1 goal losses to Totino, but with a loss to Hibbing on their schedule and no quality wins, it is tough to say. I’m interested to see how they get seeded; where will they be in the 3-5 range?

T20. [-] Providence Academy (18-6-1)
The biggest difference between CLA and PA is that PA has lost to an unranked team, but also that they have lost to top 5 teams by 2 goals. I wouldn't be surprised to see them make the finals, but I don't know they could win games against two top 5 teams in a row.

MNHockey75 · Post by **MNHockey75** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:36 am

I just wrote an entire rundown of my top 20, and I got an error message and it deleted my post. Awesome. I'm not spending a half an hour again. So here is my final rankings.

1. STA
2. Hermantown
3. Totino-Grace
4. Lourdes
5. Breck
6. Blake
7. Virginia
8. Mahtomedi
9. Duluth Marshall
10. Warroad
11. Thief River Falls
12. Little Falls
13. Hibbing
14. South St. Paul
15. Delano
16. Duluth Central
17. Sartell
18. Rogers
19. Chisago Lakes
20. Lake of the Woods
Watch list: Albert Lea, New Prague, Proctor, Willmar, Providence Academy

MHGr8ness · Post by **MHGr8ness** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 4:44 pm

Don't change your rankings to please readers. Put what you think. If they don't like it... that's fine. They can try to convince you if they think it's worth the effort, but don't just make changes to please people.

bobforhockey · Post by **bobforhockey** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 5:11 pm

Lourdes is too high, getting to many "almost winner" points. History of good leads that they don't hold. Should get out of the section, can shut out a star, but will struggle against deep teams.

top ten definitely, top five probably, not higher than 4 at tourney start.

hockeydad · Post by **hockeydad** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 6:04 pm

bobforhockey wrote:Lourdes is too high, getting to many "almost winner" points. History of good leads that they don't hold. Should get out of the section, can shut out a star, but will struggle against deep teams.

top ten definitely, top five probably, not higher than 4 at tourney start.

figures.... all season long, people have been ragging on the guy for not rating Lourdes high enough. Now that he's moved them up, the naysayers come out.

Lourdes is a good team. Are they No. 2? Maybe not, but they will have the chance to prove it on the ice.

HShockeywatcher · Post by **HShockeywatcher** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 10:13 pm

bobforhockey wrote:Lourdes is too high, getting to many "almost winner" points. History of good leads that they don't hold. Should get out of the section, can shut out a star, but will struggle against deep teams.

top ten definitely, top five probably, not higher than 4 at tourney start.

They beat Breck, went to OT with St Thomas and tied TG (who lost to St Thomas in regulation). Where would you put them?

Redeck of da north · Post by **Redeck of da north** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:14 am

HShockeywatcher wrote:
bobforhockey wrote:Lourdes is too high, getting to many "almost winner" points. History of good leads that they don't hold. Should get out of the section, can shut out a star, but will struggle against deep teams.

top ten definitely, top five probably, not higher than 4 at tourney start.
They beat Breck, went to OT with St Thomas and tied TG (who lost to St Thomas in regulation). Where would you put them?

Im not going to say that they should be below marshall but the toppers did beat them 5-1 right after new years. But the toppers also lost to totino and st thomas pretty bad. That could be because of their somewhat streaky goalie.

Redeck of da north · Post by **Redeck of da north** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:16 am

HShockeywatcher wrote:
bobforhockey wrote:Lourdes is too high, getting to many "almost winner" points. History of good leads that they don't hold. Should get out of the section, can shut out a star, but will struggle against deep teams.

top ten definitely, top five probably, not higher than 4 at tourney start.
They beat Breck, went to OT with St Thomas and tied TG (who lost to St Thomas in regulation). Where would you put them?

Im not going to say that they should be below marshall but the toppers did beat them 5-1 right after new years. But the toppers also lost to totino and st thomas pretty bad. That could be because of their somewhat streaky goalie.

HShockeywatcher · Post by **HShockeywatcher** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 10:39 am

Redeck of da north wrote:
HShockeywatcher wrote:
bobforhockey wrote:Lourdes is too high, getting to many "almost winner" points. History of good leads that they don't hold. Should get out of the section, can shut out a star, but will struggle against deep teams.

top ten definitely, top five probably, not higher than 4 at tourney start.
They beat Breck, went to OT with St Thomas and tied TG (who lost to St Thomas in regulation). Where would you put them?
Im not going to say that they should be below marshall but the toppers did beat them 5-1 right after new years. But the toppers also lost to totino and st thomas pretty bad. That could be because of their somewhat streaky goalie.

Marshall also lost to Central and Virginia. If it weren't for those losses, even though they were both in OT, they'd be right below Hermantown.

Redeck of da north · Post by **Redeck of da north** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:37 pm

HShockeywatcher wrote:
Redeck of da north wrote:
HShockeywatcher wrote: They beat Breck, went to OT with St Thomas and tied TG (who lost to St Thomas in regulation). Where would you put them?
Im not going to say that they should be below marshall but the toppers did beat them 5-1 right after new years. But the toppers also lost to totino and st thomas pretty bad. That could be because of their somewhat streaky goalie.
Marshall also lost to Central and Virginia. If it weren't for those losses, even though they were both in OT, they'd be right below Hermantown.

Again the streaky goalie. Coffman won four straight vs eveleth cloquet warroad and thief. He then lost to sup town central and virginia. They were close and you could tell the refs were against the toppers giving a penalty shot in ot vs central amd a questionable penalty with a few seconds left in the virginia game. So its not all christians fault.

north*hockey · Post by **north*hockey** » Tue Feb 22, 2011 7:13 am

Whats the reasoning for hermantown at the 6 spot. Seems a bit ridiculous...

HShockeywatcher · Post by **HShockeywatcher** » Tue Feb 22, 2011 12:49 pm

north*hockey wrote:Whats the reasoning for hermantown at the 6 spot. Seems a bit ridiculous...

They were at 5 last week and Breck beat Blake, who was at 2 last week. They tied TRF, who both TG and Blake beat, who are both ahead of them. Take your pick...or do you think they should be lower since they tied Hibbing last week?