U12A PreSeason Top 10

YouthHockeyHub · Post by **YouthHockeyHub** » Wed Nov 07, 2012 10:46 pm

Just finished a little story on ten teams to watch for this season in U12A. U10A to come next week.

Enjoy,

Tony Scott
Editor

http://youthhockeyhub.com/u12a-pre-seas ... na-repeat/

lrugland · Post by **lrugland** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 9:30 pm

Funny how no northern teams ever get a spot. I guess we might just have to change that after this year

We play 1/2 these teams this season so we will get to see how we stack up against the Seasons Top 10.

old goalie85 · Post by **old goalie85** » Fri Nov 09, 2012 7:33 am

Yea Tony what up ?? Irugland we will see you in Jan.

lrugland · Post by **lrugland** » Fri Nov 09, 2012 8:57 am

It will be great to play a bunch of these teams this year. Lots of good teams in the 12U this season. I am happy that we get the chance to play most.

Lace'emUp · Post by **Lace'emUp** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 9:28 am

I mostly agree with the Top 10. Definitely agree that Shakopee should be in there (which has been acknowledged). Lakeville South and Roseville might be ranked a tad high, and OMG has recently had some struggles (but vs good teams). But it's early, and it will be more fun to see where these teams are in a month... and also fun to see what LPH has - first rankings come out next week. One thing is for sure, Edina and Eagan are two of the teams to beat right now... a big feather in your cap if you can steal a win from one them.

lrugland · Post by **lrugland** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 10:26 am

Was hoping to get a game with Edina again this year. Plus Eagan will be at our tourney so we get to play them there, I hope. Should be a great tourney in Duluth this year with all the teams at that one.

Crazy to see the teams that made the State Tourney last year not even in the top 10. Did they really drop that many players and are not ranked in the top this year?

Lace'emUp · Post by **Lace'emUp** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 8:27 pm

Yeah, there are few teams missing from last year's State. But that Duluth tourny might as well be the State tournament. Look at the freaking line-up! 24 of the top teams in the State. I'd like to know the final format with 24 teams involved. That's borderline nuts for one weekend. But going back to last year's State teams:

1. As we all know, Edina is still there. Though they do have upper and lower A-teams, that shouldn't cause any issues with them making it back to the tournament again. The article pretty much sums up the great make up of their team. They have several returners from last year, and they gain several from their B-team who finished 2nd in State. Tons of State tournament experience, and that matters the most.

2. As for Chaska/Chanhassen, it must be an off-year. Don't know too much, so maybe someone from D6 can chime in.

3. I think Centennial will be ok by the end of the year. They lost several players from last year, but are returning 5 from last year’s 3rd place State team, and gain 4 or 5 from their upper-B team that finished 4th in State last year. That's a lot of State tournament experience too (like Edina).

4. Elk River has been really strong, but if you look back to two years ago, they didn't even have a 10A team. Thus, it might be a down year from them too.

5. Blaine retains several from last year's lower-A team, and has decent experience. They did lose a good player with an early move-up to 14's. In the end, they’ll be there with Andover and Centennial in D10. With that said, it gives them a great shot to make Regions, then you never know what can happen.

6. OMG is still ranked, and rightfully so. Again, they've had a few tough early games, but are still dangerous all the time. They will be back in the tournament.

7 & 8.... Both your Roseau team, and the Icebreakers will be back in the State tournament, and are strong teams. I have a good feeling that you'll be ranked once you start making the road trips down. You might be in the first LPH rankings next week, who knows.

lrugland · Post by **lrugland** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 9:54 pm

Very happy we were able to make 2 trip down this year and play some good teams. Wish we could get more to come up here. I think we only have 8 home games including our home tourney games. Not many teams up here and not much competition. Looking forward to the Duluth tourney as well. That is going to be a crazy one - Great competition!

Anyone that wants to make a trip up north let us know. We will give you free ice time and 3 - 17:00 periods stop time. Much different then what you see in the cities.

Tigerhockey2012 · Post by **Tigerhockey2012** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 2:31 pm

lrugland wrote:Funny how no northern teams ever get a spot. I guess we might just have to change that after this year We play 1/2 these teams this season so we will get to see how we stack up against the Seasons Top 10.

Well if you look at My hockey rankings from last year Roseau finished 14th and Duluth 18th. And both teams went one two and BBQ in the State tourney. It would seem there were a few more worthy metro teams that didn't get the opportunity to play in state last year due to geography. So with all that being said, why would it surprise you that there are no northern teams in the top 10? I would suggest you beat the cream puffs up north (Bemidji) before worrying about the metro.

Tigerhockey2012 · Post by **Tigerhockey2012** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 2:37 pm

lrugland wrote:Was hoping to get a game with Edina again this year. Plus Eagan will be at our tourney so we get to play them there, I hope. Should be a great tourney in Duluth this year with all the teams at that one.

Crazy to see the teams that made the State Tourney last year not even in the top 10. Did they really drop that many players and are not ranked in the top this year?

Edina as good or better than last year. Clearly the team to beat.
Chaska Chan - filled with first years not even close to last year's team.
Blaine - Not very good. Simply not as talented as last year.
Centennial - Haven't seen them but I know their best player is playing PW AA. Based on scores they have dropped some.
Elk River - All the studs moved up. Don't even have a B team. Merely a shadow of last year's team.
OMG - Other than Edina and maybe Centennial, they are probably the only ones that have a chance to get back to state. Good but not anywhere near what they were last year.

lrugland · Post by **lrugland** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 9:20 pm

Tigerhockey2012 wrote:
lrugland wrote:Funny how no northern teams ever get a spot. I guess we might just have to change that after this year We play 1/2 these teams this season so we will get to see how we stack up against the Seasons Top 10.
Well if you look at My hockey rankings from last year Roseau finished 14th and Duluth 18th. And both teams went one two and BBQ in the State tourney. It would seem there were a few more worthy metro teams that didn't get the opportunity to play in state last year due to geography. So with all that being said, why would it surprise you that there are no northern teams in the top 10? I would suggest you beat the cream puffs up north (Bemidji) before worrying about the metro.

I guess we will have to play Bemidji this Friday (our first game) and see if we can maybe hang with St. Cloud on Sat. I hear St. Cloud is a team to watch this year so for our second game of the year that will be a good test for us. Then hopefully we get to play Eagan next weekend. Then maybe we will have a handle on what we need to work on for the end of the season.

Tigerhockey2012 · Post by **Tigerhockey2012** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 7:52 am

lrugland wrote:
Tigerhockey2012 wrote:
lrugland wrote:Funny how no northern teams ever get a spot. I guess we might just have to change that after this year We play 1/2 these teams this season so we will get to see how we stack up against the Seasons Top 10.
Well if you look at My hockey rankings from last year Roseau finished 14th and Duluth 18th. And both teams went one two and BBQ in the State tourney. It would seem there were a few more worthy metro teams that didn't get the opportunity to play in state last year due to geography. So with all that being said, why would it surprise you that there are no northern teams in the top 10? I would suggest you beat the cream puffs up north (Bemidji) before worrying about the metro.
I guess we will have to play Bemidji this Friday (our first game) and see if we can maybe hang with St. Cloud on Sat. I hear St. Cloud is a team to watch this year so for our second game of the year that will be a good test for us. Then hopefully we get to play Eagan next weekend. Then maybe we will have a handle on what we need to work on for the end of the season.

St Cloud is decent, not great. My guess is they are going to end around top 20... Brainerd seems to be okay as well. Eagan is for real. They aren't Edina but they are legit top 5 or 6 team. Obviously something weird is going on. How did you lose to Bemidiji 3-1 and then beat them 17-0. Check Bemidiji's website for the 3-1 game. Based on the scores you put out there you are in the mix for top 10 but I still don't get how you would be surprised that you didn't start in the top 10 based on last year. Sure you can say we made the state tourney but that isn't really proving anything coming out of that region... There were probably at least 15 metro teams that could have went up to that region and made state that didn't make state in the American or National regions...

lrugland · Post by **lrugland** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 9:51 am

Tigerhockey2012 wrote:St Cloud is decent, not great. My guess is they are going to end around top 20... Brainerd seems to be okay as well. Eagan is for real. They aren't Edina but they are legit top 5 or 6 team. Obviously something weird is going on. How did you lose to Bemidiji 3-1 and then beat them 17-0. Check Bemidiji's website for the 3-1 game. Based on the scores you put out there you are in the mix for top 10 but I still don't get how you would be surprised that you didn't start in the top 10 based on last year. Sure you can say we made the state tourney but that isn't really proving anything coming out of that region... There were probably at least 15 metro teams that could have went up to that region and made state that didn't make state in the American or National regions...

We did not lose to Bemidji, that was our B team that lost to them. Plus, I never said that Roseau should have been in the top 10, I stated that it seems that none of the Northern teams get looked at in the begining of the season. Big difference there. Not sure why you have such a attitude for the north. I have not and will not complain about any team at the top of any rankings. Does not matter, any team can get beat during the year. A loss will make a team stronger and that is what we all want, our teams to be stronger.

Tigerhockey2012 · Post by **Tigerhockey2012** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:08 am

lrugland wrote:
Tigerhockey2012 wrote:St Cloud is decent, not great. My guess is they are going to end around top 20... Brainerd seems to be okay as well. Eagan is for real. They aren't Edina but they are legit top 5 or 6 team. Obviously something weird is going on. How did you lose to Bemidiji 3-1 and then beat them 17-0. Check Bemidiji's website for the 3-1 game. Based on the scores you put out there you are in the mix for top 10 but I still don't get how you would be surprised that you didn't start in the top 10 based on last year. Sure you can say we made the state tourney but that isn't really proving anything coming out of that region... There were probably at least 15 metro teams that could have went up to that region and made state that didn't make state in the American or National regions...
We did not lose to Bemidji, that was our B team that lost to them. Plus, I never said that Roseau should have been in the top 10, I stated that it seems that none of the Northern teams get looked at in the begining of the season. Big difference there. Not sure why you have such a attitude for the north. I have not and will not complain about any team at the top of any rankings. Does not matter, any team can get beat during the year. A loss will make a team stronger and that is what we all want, our teams to be stronger.

Sorry didn't mean to project an attitude about northern teams. However, I think you would agree it is not the same level of play... Granted you might have a couple of teams that can hang with most of the metro teams, but as a whole it is considerably weaker. That is every year not just this year. So putting a northern team in the preseason top 10 doesn't make sense... If they earn it by their play in during the season, then more power to them. That is weird, why would Bemidiji's A team play your B team? I've always assumed A teams play A teams and B teams play B teams... I assumed since you are probably the strongest team up north, that you would be talking about yourself when you say there is a lack of northern teams in the top 10. You certainly were the strongest northern team last season. My guess is that it will be the same this year. Roseau and Duluth to the state tourney. I understand travel costs and everything but the way it is set up now, two teams in the top 20 are pretty much guaranteed a trip to state (Roseau and Duluth) while the other 18 or whatever have to fight for the remaining 6 spots... Not really the fairest system but I guess that is why you only get 2 spots from the Olympic region while the American and National get 3 spots each... I would propose dropping that Olympic region down to 1 spot... That way at least Roseau and Duluth have to beat at least 1 team to get there...

lrugland · Post by **lrugland** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:50 am

Tigerhockey2012 wrote:Sorry didn't mean to project an attitude about northern teams. However, I think you would agree it is not the same level of play... Granted you might have a couple of teams that can hang with most of the metro teams, but as a whole it is considerably weaker. That is every year not just this year. So putting a northern team in the preseason top 10 doesn't make sense... If they earn it by their play in during the season, then more power to them. That is weird, why would Bemidiji's A team play your B team? I've always assumed A teams play A teams and B teams play B teams... I assumed since you are probably the strongest team up north, that you would be talking about yourself when you say there is a lack of northern teams in the top 10. You certainly were the strongest northern team last season. My guess is that it will be the same this year. Roseau and Duluth to the state tourney. I understand travel costs and everything but the way it is set up now, two teams in the top 20 are pretty much guaranteed a trip to state (Roseau and Duluth) while the other 18 or whatever have to fight for the remaining 6 spots... Not really the fairest system but I guess that is why you only get 2 spots from the Olympic region while the American and National get 3 spots each... I would propose dropping that Olympic region down to 1 spot... That way at least Roseau and Duluth have to beat at least 1 team to get there...

You are correct that the competition up in the north is not the best for the top girls teams. Duluth and Roseau will be strong this year for sure. Duluth as an easier time with travel to the Cities, but they still have to get the games scheduled. We tried to schedule or setup games with many of the top teams early in the season, and sent emails back in Aug and Sept to the managers about scheduling games. Thanks to this forum we were able to get 8 games in 2 weekends down there with some teams.

As for Roseau 12U B team, there are no other B teams in the area for them to play unless they travel 3+ hours away, so they have the approval to play the other A teams in our district.

hockeychopper · Post by **hockeychopper** » Thu Dec 27, 2012 10:36 am

So here we are the end of Dec are the U12's lining up as was expected in some of the pre-season specualtion?