Rookie19 wrote:This section is over. Lourdes wins easily in championship by 3 or 4. Does not matter if it is Albert Lea or new prague.
Nice post, it suits you very well, "Rookie."
No way Lourdes walks through this section. In fact I have AL or West knocking them off.
LOL. So you're saying a team that tied to Mayo is going to knock off a 20+ win team. A team that almost beat St. Thomas Academy and tied to Totino Grace along with beating breck? HA
How did Lourdes do against Duluth Marshall ??
This section is wide open, I watch alot of hockey and have seen all these teams play. Sure Lourdes is the favorite and rightfully so. But to think this is going to be a cakewalk is just ridiculous.
AL, West, NP and Red Wing are all very capable of knocking them off. West has lost some games but nearly everyone was by 1 goal and only lost 2-1 to them on the road. Also, Nystroms club is playing well right now, never discount a AL team coached by him.
Lourdes Lost to Marshall 1-5 with 2 ENs and outshot Marshall 30-26
In February (Leading into sections I'll add)
Lourdes Beat Breck 5-3
Lourdes lost to STA in OT 5-6
Lourdes Tied GRace 3-3
Lourdes beat Rogers 4-1
Lourdes beat Owatonna 10-1
So...3-1-1 against teams with a combined record of 74-23-1
How did AL do:
Against Lourdes?
Mankato West?
Virginia?
Hibbing?
Richfield?????
In Feb, Albert Lea has an equally impressive schedule:
West (W6-4)
East (W10-0)
Mayo (T3-3)
Austin (W8-1)
Owatonna (W3-1)
So 4-0-1 against a combined 37-80-7
WOW!!!
BUT---We can speculate all we want, because we learned that anything can happen (ie Apollo over Little Falls)
Tough game for Mankato West, three disallowed goals, Amendolar played pretty well regardless, goals for Red Wing included some real good bounces their way. Special teams became huge and the Red Wing PK did a good job allowing only shots from the points trying to have Amendolar see nearly everything.
When West seemed like they were going to surge back, they had disallowed goals to push them back down. Questionable reffing job but Red Wing won the game by jumping on West early and never letting up. Impressed they were able to score 6 tonight.
Great season for Mankato West, I'll be around watching how the section turns out. I'll hopefully be able to make it to the state tournament this year and it will be quite a good one I suspect, best of luck for Red Wing, wish to see a different purple at the X come March.
scarlethockey33 wrote:Tough game for Mankato West, three disallowed goals, Amendolar played pretty well regardless, goals for Red Wing included some real good bounces their way. Special teams became huge and the Red Wing PK did a good job allowing only shots from the points trying to have Amendolar see nearly everything.
When West seemed like they were going to surge back, they had disallowed goals to push them back down. Questionable reffing job but Red Wing won the game by jumping on West early and never letting up. Impressed they were able to score 6 tonight.
Great season for Mankato West, I'll be around watching how the section turns out. I'll hopefully be able to make it to the state tournament this year and it will be quite a good one I suspect, best of luck for Red Wing, wish to see a different purple at the X come March.
how did #8 play for West? I have been somewhat following his stats. curious as to how he did
Thanks for all your insights and reporting this year scarlethockey33, it's always nice to get a fan and an unbiased opinion out of the Big Nine and 1A. I hope your back next year, you along with hockeydad always give good reports and keep away from the sniping.
My suspicion was the Missota was quite a bit better than the Big Nine this year and that looks to be true. Hats off to the Missota as they had quite a night with Farmington and Red Wing pulling off upsets and former member Prior Lake knocking off AHA as well.
West over acheived and were in the Big Nine race down to the wire but in the end had a tough draw with an improving Red Wing team, so my hats off to them. I'll miss the Marine Corps Hymn in the playoffs yet agian
hockeydad wrote:Final
New Prague 4 (ENG) Northfield 0
goals by Meyer, Fadden, Mason and Mason
Shots were about even
I've heard Red Wing and Albert Lea were winning their games, but haven't heard anything final
This was a really good game, shots even at 22 a piece. I think it was a lot better game than the score, definatley not a 4-0 game. Northfield had a lot of good scoring chances. They hit a few pipes as well. Morris was outstanding tonight, made some huge saves to keep the Raiders off the board. I'm proud of the Raider boys never giving up all game long and all season long. I thought they were gonna pull off this win, but they ran into a tough New Prague team with a good goaltender. Good luck to the Trojans in the next round against Albert Lea, I think New Prague could come out of the section.
...was a pretty good atmosphere tonight too, a good high school hockey game.
Personally, I have Lourdes over Red Wing, 3 goal difference.
Albert Lea and New Prague is gonna be a close down to the wire game, probably 1 goal, maybe 2 after empty net. Should be a fun day.
I would take Lourdes 5-1.
Red Wing has some momentum and got to Lourdes early in the year but I don't see that happening again. The Eagles are a different team that is not afraid to beat up on opponents mercilessly. They have played competitive with some of the best programs in the state while Red Wing was over matched.
I will take Albert Lea 2-1 OT
This is going to be a close game no matter what. What is going to be the make or break factor for New Prague is goalie play. Albert Lea has all the weapons to rack on the score but if New Prague can keep them in check they have a very good chance of pulling the minor upset.
Shots 34-33 in favor of NP. NP came out flying in the first period and scored a couple quick ones. AL needed to weather that storm, and they didn't. NP plays a very nice brand of hockey. Good goaltending and very disciplined. I was impressed.
I was impressed with new prague they have good goaltending and have very good defence. Shots were close but the first two periods it was all new prague they came ready to play. I think it will be a great final lourdes better not take them lightly.
Expect this will be an old fashioned low-scoring game, physical but clean. Scores last couple of years have been 2-1, 1-1, 4-1, 3-1, 3-1. If NP has some jump at the get-go, could be a mild upset.
Personally think Mankato West and New Prague were the only teams in the section that could match up with Lourdes. New Prague has a lot of depth in scoring and has a lot of youth, expect the Trojans to be a team to beat in future years. Lourdes has depth in their defense with Vesel, Brandrup and Slightam. Will be interesting, the goaltending of Morris and Heimer will be an interesting factor in the match up.
New Prague needs to secure a lead in the game because otherwise if Lourdes is given the lead, I see it hard for New Prague to comeback with that veteran defense in front of arguably the section's best goaltender in Heimer. Out of all the teams in the section though, New Prague has seen Rochester Lourdes the most this season. This will be their third meeting this season Lourdes has won both with the score of 3-1.
I like Lourdes obviously with the depth at defense and the rock solid goaltender, but right now Joe Morris for New Prague is hot and Zach Adams is a solid defensive defensemen. New Prague must jump on Lourdes early and then never let off the pedal to have a chance at this one. Lourdes will suffocate you defensively, and they will still be able to score plenty while playing defensively, which makes them deadly with the lead.
I like Lourdes by 1, but I would not be surprised with a New Prague upset.
The last two years Lourdes has cherished the chance to get to play in section title games, they have jumped on opponents early and stayed on the petal all game long... I don't see how this game is going to be any different. Lourdes has the depth and defense to stifle any New Prague attack and have arguably the sections best goalie in Heimer. As stated earlier if given a lead Lourdes will almost take away any chance New Prague has in this game. I give NP a chance if they can get a 2 goal lead early, otherwise Eagles to the X for the 3rd straight year.
Hockeybro wrote:The last two years Lourdes has cherished the chance to get to play in section title games, they have jumped on opponents early and stayed on the petal all game long... I don't see how this game is going to be any different. Lourdes has the depth and defense to stifle any New Prague attack and have arguably the sections best goalie in Heimer. As stated earlier if given a lead Lourdes will almost take away any chance New Prague has in this game. I give NP a chance if they can get a 2 goal lead early, otherwise Eagles to the X for the 3rd straight year.
Agreed. New Prague is a small town team and will be lucky to beat Lourdes on their home ice. How can a small community team like NP beat Rochester Lourdes/John Marshall/Mayo/Century? Seriously. Funny how the best team in the town of Rochester for the 3rd straight year is the single "A" team, and not one of the 3 "AA" teams in town. Its just ridiculous that these small school teams have to go through a four school team to get to state. What a joke.
