As I have done for the past several years, I will be following 9th grader scoring this season, along with any 8th or 7th graders who may also be playing varsity. I do this for a few simple reasons:
1. It is significant for a 9th grader to make varsity in any sport, on any squad.
2. There are fewer 9th graders playing varsity, than 10th, 11th, and 12th graders; thus, it is easier for a lazy person like me to follow.
3. Although there are some very good 9th graders NOT playing varsity due to stiff upper-class competition at some schools (e.g., Kyle Rau), many of the top players are so good early on that they DO play varsity, and we become aware of them in their 'break-out' frosh season. There are many examples, just look back at some old threads on this same topic.
4. Since a good number of top-notch player leave school early for juniors, it is better to follow the frosh who are less likely to leave early.
Now, here is a brief list of what this thread is NOT:
1. I am not going to rate players on some dumb-@ss system that takes into account 'strength-of-schedule' or 'school prestige' or etc. Teak couldn't care less if the school is Edina or East Lake School for the Blind; a frosh on varsity is an accomplishment at any level. If you want to rate players like a cut of beef, please start your own thread. I am a strong supporter of 'community' and think that small schools mostly get 'short shifts' on this forum.
2. I am not going to break out the players by position; I just don't have that kind of time. Sorry. Minta ma'af. Mai pen rai.
3. One metric that I like to use is the '% involvement in team goals'. This is a player's points divided by the number of team goals. It shows how important that player is to his team's scoring (not the defense).
To get it started, here is how the top frosh scoring ended up last season:
(Games Played, if < 25) Goals-Assists (% involvement in team goals).
If it says they were an 8th grader last season, we'll be following them again this season.
50 points
Chaz Smedsrud, Luverne 23-27 (32%)
45 points
Baron Thompson, Achiever NE Academy (22) 30-15 (37%) <-- 8th Grader
44 points
Jared Mickelson, St.Paul Acad 16-28 (35%)
43 points
Jesse Gabrielle, Eagan 15-28 (29%)
42 points
Austen Long, Spring Lake Park 23-19 (42%)
41 points
Trey Rooney, Robbinsdale Cooper 14-27 (54%)
32 points
Will Garin, Holy Family Catholic 6-26 (24%)
31 points
Cade Gleekel, Blake 18-13 (40%)
Tanner Tweten, East Grand Forks 16-15 (28%)
29 points
Devin Nielsen, Windom (22) 21-8 (27%)
28 points
Zack Hanno, La Crescent (24) 16-12 (32%)
27 points
Jack Becker, Mahtomedi 10-17 (29%)
Blake Lizotte, Chisago Lakes 8-19 (25%)
26 points
Dylan Phillips, Wadena/DC 13-14 (21%)
26 points
Justin Jallen, SPA 16-10 (21%)
25 points
Derek Hammer, East Ridge 15-10 (30%)
Nick Swaney, Lakeville South 12-13 (33%)
Tyler Loe, Mankato West 9-16 (19%)
23 points
Maxwell Zimmer, Wayzata 14-9 (29%)
Johnny Ferguson, Blake 9-14 (29%)
21 points
Grant Loven, East Grand Forks 10-11 (19%)
20 points
Jake Malec, Proctor 11-9 (31%)
Mike Behl, Wadena/Deer Creek 6-14 (15%)
18 points
Chase Ellingson, Breck 11-7 (14%)
Doug Larson, Crookston 7-11 (16%)
Tyler Jutting, Mankato West 4-14 (14%)
17 points
Jonah Bischoff, Grand Rapids (20) 8-9 (18%)
16 points
Michael Graham, Eden Prairie 8-8 (19%)
Thomas Miller, Little Falls 7-9 (15%)
Judd Shulz, Mankato East 7-9 (23%)
Christian Larson, Bagley/Fosston (24) 6-10 (16%) – 8th Grader
Edmund Chute, Blake 3-13 (21%)
Kyle Colsch, La Crescent (21) 3-13 (18%)
15 points
Joey Anderson, Hill-Murray (8/25) 8-7 <-- Called up late in season, played only 8 games.
Alec Baer, BSM 5-10 (10%)
Jake Theis, Chanhassen 2-13 (29%)
Wyatt Orloff, Thief River Falls 2-13 (17%)
14 points
Tanner Breidenbach, St. Cloud Apollo 4-10 (13%)
13 points
Alex Gregor, New Prague 3-10 (17%)
Evan Dahlseide, SPA 3-10 (10%)
Eric Gotz, Hibbing 2-11 (14%)
12 points
Sasha Choporov, Woodbury 9-3 (21%)
11 points
Ryan Murphy, Providence Academy (23) 8-3 (10%)
Joey Mendel, St. Cloud Tech 6-5 (13%)
Brandon Bissett, St. Cloud Apollo 6-5 (10%)
Ben Haugo, Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato 5-6 (17%)
Koby Bender, Cloquet 5-6 (9%)
10 points
Brandon Waldo, North Branch 2-8 (16%)
Zach Black, Achievers Academy (23) 1-9 (8%)
9 points
Josh Radtke, Minnehaha Academy 2-7 (12%)
AJ Robbel, Bloomington Jefferson 2-7 (9%)
Erik Holmstrom, Farmington 1-8 (11%)
8 points
Kiefer Miller, Park Rapids 2-6 (10%)
Wyatt Newpower, WBL 2-6 (8%)
Joe LaDoux, Greenway 1-7 (9%)
7 points
Derrek French, Northern Lakes 2-5 (8%)
Mack Anez, Little Falls 1-6 (7%)
Matt Anderson, Holy Family Catholic 1-6 (5%)
5 points
Nick Hames, St. Louis Park 2-3 (10%)
Milan Kent, Becker/Big Lake 2-3 (5%)
4 points
Niko Berge, Redwood Valley (15) 3-1 <-- Redwood Valley stats only through game #16
Keaton Huot, TRF 1-3
Lucas Olson, Bagley/Fosston 0-4
3 points
Ethan Johnson, TRF 3-0
Andy Krunkkala, Ely (22) 1-2
Drew Liberkowski, Roseville 1-2
Ryley Pickrem, Achiever Academy 1-2
Jared Oakman, Eveleth 0-3
2 points
Kevin Ahn, Blake 0-2
1 point
Josh Boje, St. Paul Highland Park 1-0
Joe Richards, Richfield 1-0
Andrew Setrum, St. Cloud Tech 0-1
Zhenya Schindler, St. Paul Highland Park 0-1
Brandon Baker, St. Cloud Apollo, 0-1
.
..
... and that's a wrap for 2012/2013!
