2014-15 AA High School Hockey Predictions

nahc · Post by **nahc** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 1:49 pm

Now that St. Thomas has moved up to AA.......

pekyman · Post by **pekyman** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 2:33 pm

Cadets16 wrote:
Froggy Richards wrote:
northwoods oldtimer wrote: Single A runner-up hockey dynasty
Hermantown is going to be good for a long time. Each year they get more and more of the best players from neighboring Associations through open enrollment or move ins. They don't complain about Private Schools anymore.
Until Breck knocks them off in the Tourney this year.

Cadet, the Hawks play Eagan this Saturday so they can avenge sta’s loss to them in sections last year!
Also predicting the Hawks will put one in the L column for both GR and the jacks this year.

Wet Paint · Post by **Wet Paint** » Wed Jul 09, 2014 3:04 pm

Cadets16 wrote:
Froggy Richards wrote:
northwoods oldtimer wrote: Single A runner-up hockey dynasty
Hermantown is going to be good for a long time. Each year they get more and more of the best players from neighboring Associations through open enrollment or move ins. They don't complain about Private Schools anymore.
Until Breck knocks them off in the Tourney this year.

Or DM knocks them off in sections.

Clarkkent · Post by **Clarkkent** » Thu Jul 10, 2014 4:41 pm

Rassmussen gone? Where is he going?

WestMetro wrote:Im reposting my March 12 Predictions, obviously subject to additional early departure information..

Wed Mar 12, 2014 12:54 pm

2014-15 Rank with departures and key returns noted.

1 Edina: No certain departures? Malmquist ,Wait , Bellows,Zulhs, Foley, Masterman Mishmash, Dorhback

2 Wayz No certain departures? Freytag, Zimmer,Sorenson,Patterson, Duma,Aherns

3 LV N McNeely(75%) and Oettinger gone. Poehlings, Enebak, Sadek

4 BSM: No certain departures? Austin, Jungels,Kaske,Newhouse, Roo Heimbold,Calengar, Risteau, Long

5 Hill: Joey gone. Mikey, Olsen, Mills, Zarembinski, Staum

6 STA Novak gone: Broetzman, ,Versich, Tufto, Donahue, McDonald

7 Brns Boeser and Rossini gone . Ahcan,Rossini, Dupre, Lubbesmeyer

8 EV Driscoll, Muehlbauer

9 ER Jaremko Kierstad,Johnson, Lutz

10 HF Rasmussen Gone. Peterson? Garin, Runyon, Anderson,Redden,

WestMetro · Post by **WestMetro** » Thu Jul 10, 2014 5:12 pm

I saw posts on Exiled Ones Whos Not Returning Thread that Rasmussen is headed to a Colorado Midget program. I talked to a HF dad a couple weeks ago who confirmed that situation, at least at that time. But I notice Exiled One has not put this departure on his official list yet.

Cadets16 · Post by **Cadets16** » Thu Jul 10, 2014 6:16 pm

pekyman wrote:
Cadets16 wrote:
Froggy Richards wrote: Hermantown is going to be good for a long time. Each year they get more and more of the best players from neighboring Associations through open enrollment or move ins. They don't complain about Private Schools anymore.
Until Breck knocks them off in the Tourney this year.
Cadet, the Hawks play Eagan this Saturday so they can avenge sta’s loss to them in sections last year!
Also predicting the Hawks will put one in the L column for both GR and the jacks this year.

Beat a team that beat the Cadets, and hey, you beat the Cadets right?

almostashappy · Post by **almostashappy** » Thu Jul 10, 2014 6:40 pm

Cadets16 wrote:
pekyman wrote: Cadet, the Hawks play Eagan this Saturday so they can avenge sta’s loss to them in sections last year!
Also predicting the Hawks will put one in the L column for both GR and the jacks this year.
Beat a team that beat the Cadets, and hey, you beat the Cadets right?

Maybe they could focus on beating a team that beat them last year

Not that summertime scrimmages mean anything...

TheHockeyDJ · Post by **TheHockeyDJ** » Thu Jul 10, 2014 8:08 pm

I would think East should be the highest ranked 7AA team given they are defending champs. Rapids should probably be in the 10-15 range. Hopefully their defensemen will be better with more experience and filling out, they were small bodied last year as their coaches readily admitted. I like Rapids top 3 forwards a lot in Mitchell Mattson (UND), Jonah Bischoff, and Alex Adams. Guys like John Stampohar and Micah Miller should have an immediate impact off the bantam title run. No idea how the goalie situation will work out. Elk River I would put in the top 10, unless they have a few departures. I'm not sure about Cloquet, do they have any high end players moving up from bantams? Been a while since they've had a Tyler Johnson or David Brown quality player IMO. In 7AA I think Forest Lake will fade a bit and STMA will move up, they were a solid bantam group two years ago and a lot of those kids got a year of experience last season.

7AA Rankings (though I don't see a wide margin from 1-7)
1. East
2. Elk River
3. Grand Rapids
4. Andover
5. STMA
6. Cloquet
7. Forest Lake

warriors41 · Post by **warriors41** » Thu Jul 10, 2014 9:17 pm

The Bemidji Lumberjacks will take section 8AA. The section will be once again weaker than we are used to and they quietly have some pretty good talent. They just have to put it all together.

northwoods oldtimer · Post by **northwoods oldtimer** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 8:19 am

warriors41 wrote:The Bemidji Lumberjacks will take section 8AA. The section will be once again weaker than we are used to and they quietly have some pretty good talent. They just have to put it all together.

Hope you are right but for some reason Bemidji fades away when getting to the high school level.

kniven · Post by **kniven** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 1:05 pm

TheHockeyDJ wrote:I would think East should be the highest ranked 7AA team given they are defending champs. Rapids should probably be in the 10-15 range. Hopefully their defensemen will be better with more experience and filling out, they were small bodied last year as their coaches readily admitted. I like Rapids top 3 forwards a lot in Mitchell Mattson (UND), Jonah Bischoff, and Alex Adams. Guys like John Stampohar and Micah Miller should have an immediate impact off the bantam title run. No idea how the goalie situation will work out. Elk River I would put in the top 10, unless they have a few departures. I'm not sure about Cloquet, do they have any high end players moving up from bantams? Been a while since they've had a Tyler Johnson or David Brown quality player IMO. In 7AA I think Forest Lake will fade a bit and STMA will move up, they were a solid bantam group two years ago and a lot of those kids got a year of experience last season.

7AA Rankings (though I don't see a wide margin from 1-7)
1. East
2. Elk River
3. Grand Rapids
4. Andover
5. STMA
6. Cloquet
7. Forest Lake

For future reference...a great website.
http://www.mnhockeycentral.com/section-7aa

Post by **karl(east)** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:54 pm

TheHockeyDJ wrote:I would think East should be the highest ranked 7AA team given they are defending champs. Rapids should probably be in the 10-15 range. Hopefully their defensemen will be better with more experience and filling out, they were small bodied last year as their coaches readily admitted. I like Rapids top 3 forwards a lot in Mitchell Mattson (UND), Jonah Bischoff, and Alex Adams. Guys like John Stampohar and Micah Miller should have an immediate impact off the bantam title run. No idea how the goalie situation will work out. Elk River I would put in the top 10, unless they have a few departures. I'm not sure about Cloquet, do they have any high end players moving up from bantams? Been a while since they've had a Tyler Johnson or David Brown quality player IMO. In 7AA I think Forest Lake will fade a bit and STMA will move up, they were a solid bantam group two years ago and a lot of those kids got a year of experience last season.

7AA Rankings (though I don't see a wide margin from 1-7)
1. East
2. Elk River
3. Grand Rapids
4. Andover
5. STMA
6. Cloquet
7. Forest Lake

No serious disagreement here; Elky probably has a little more talent, but they did last season, too. Both return a similar number of forwards who played regularly, but the Elks bring back a more established defense; they have a question mark in goal, while East has Howg back there. The Elks' bantams have been a bit stronger on the whole over the past few years (and don't share them with a neighboring school), but it's not a big gap, and East will probably be the somewhat older team after graduating just 4 seniors. East has at least two bantams who should jump in right away; I'm not sure what the Elks' prognosis there is, other than that there's some obvious talent, given the strength of their bantam squad last season.

Rapids' top line (if kept together) will be great, perhaps the best in this section since Randolph-Toninato-Olson at East. But, as tends to be the case, the question for Rapids will be one of depth. They've got to find some way to hold their own against the East forechecking machine. On paper you'd say 15-16 will be the year they're really scary, but it's not uncommon for HS teams to arrive a year "early," when there's less pressure on them.

I might drop Andover behind STMA and CEC given the loss of several big scorers, but that's a big enough program that they won't go over the cliff. It'll be interesting to watch STMA's rise.

On the Cloquet point, I think they'd definitely have had some memorable top-end talent if Kuhlman had stuck around; he just didn't. Bender has some potential to be a big-time HS player. Beyond that, well, there are a couple of kids with the last name "Langenbrunner" in the pipeline...

Interesting to see 8AA come up, too. Moorhead would be the safe pick, and they should be tough to crack with their D and goalie, but there has been some talent in Bemidji in recent years, and while Roseau has a lot to replace, they won't be going away. Brainerd lost a lot of scoring, but the program is getting steadily better, and we'll see what Aus can do at the helm.

Usthockey13 · Post by **Usthockey13** » Mon Jul 14, 2014 3:07 pm

Luke Dow transfered into East from Marshall

karl(east) wrote:
TheHockeyDJ wrote:I would think East should be the highest ranked 7AA team given they are defending champs. Rapids should probably be in the 10-15 range. Hopefully their defensemen will be better with more experience and filling out, they were small bodied last year as their coaches readily admitted. I like Rapids top 3 forwards a lot in Mitchell Mattson (UND), Jonah Bischoff, and Alex Adams. Guys like John Stampohar and Micah Miller should have an immediate impact off the bantam title run. No idea how the goalie situation will work out. Elk River I would put in the top 10, unless they have a few departures. I'm not sure about Cloquet, do they have any high end players moving up from bantams? Been a while since they've had a Tyler Johnson or David Brown quality player IMO. In 7AA I think Forest Lake will fade a bit and STMA will move up, they were a solid bantam group two years ago and a lot of those kids got a year of experience last season.

7AA Rankings (though I don't see a wide margin from 1-7)
1. East
2. Elk River
3. Grand Rapids
4. Andover
5. STMA
6. Cloquet
7. Forest Lake
No serious disagreement here; Elky probably has a little more talent, but they did last season, too. Both return a similar number of forwards who played regularly, but the Elks bring back a more established defense; they have a question mark in goal, while East has Howg back there. The Elks' bantams have been a bit stronger on the whole over the past few years (and don't share them with a neighboring school), but it's not a big gap, and East will probably be the somewhat older team after graduating just 4 seniors. East has at least two bantams who should jump in right away; I'm not sure what the Elks' prognosis there is, other than that there's some obvious talent, given the strength of their bantam squad last season.

Rapids' top line (if kept together) will be great, perhaps the best in this section since Randolph-Toninato-Olson at East. But, as tends to be the case, the question for Rapids will be one of depth. They've got to find some way to hold their own against the East forechecking machine. On paper you'd say 15-16 will be the year they're really scary, but it's not uncommon for HS teams to arrive a year "early," when there's less pressure on them.

I might drop Andover behind STMA and CEC given the loss of several big scorers, but that's a big enough program that they won't go over the cliff. It'll be interesting to watch STMA's rise.

On the Cloquet point, I think they'd definitely have had some memorable top-end talent if Kuhlman had stuck around; he just didn't. Bender has some potential to be a big-time HS player. Beyond that, well, there are a couple of kids with the last name "Langenbrunner" in the pipeline...

Interesting to see 8AA come up, too. Moorhead would be the safe pick, and they should be tough to crack with their D and goalie, but there has been some talent in Bemidji in recent years, and while Roseau has a lot to replace, they won't be going away. Brainerd lost a lot of scoring, but the program is getting steadily better, and we'll see what Aus can do at the helm.

Post by **karl(east)** » Mon Jul 14, 2014 8:57 pm

Usthockey13 wrote:Luke Dow transfered into East from Marshall

Nice grab by the Evil East Recruiting Machine. It had been a while since we pilfered someone from one of those poor, defenseless private schools.

In all seriousness, though, Dow adds a new dimension to the offense. East will score some goals this year. The question will be the D.

pekyman · Post by **pekyman** » Tue Jul 15, 2014 7:26 pm

karl(east) wrote:
Usthockey13 wrote:Luke Dow transfered into East from Marshall
Nice grab by the Evil East Recruiting Machine. It had been a while since we pilfered someone from one of those poor, defenseless private schools.

In all seriousness, though, Dow adds a new dimension to the offense. East will score some goals this year. The question will be the D.

Guessing you can thank Hermantown's move into 7A for this one.

Traxler · Post by **Traxler** » Thu Jul 17, 2014 1:59 pm

TheHockeyDJ wrote:I would think East should be the highest ranked 7AA team given they are defending champs. Rapids should probably be in the 10-15 range. Hopefully their defensemen will be better with more experience and filling out, they were small bodied last year as their coaches readily admitted. I like Rapids top 3 forwards a lot in Mitchell Mattson (UND), Jonah Bischoff, and Alex Adams. Guys like John Stampohar and Micah Miller should have an immediate impact off the bantam title run. No idea how the goalie situation will work out. Elk River I would put in the top 10, unless they have a few departures. I'm not sure about Cloquet, do they have any high end players moving up from bantams? Been a while since they've had a Tyler Johnson or David Brown quality player IMO. In 7AA I think Forest Lake will fade a bit and STMA will move up, they were a solid bantam group two years ago and a lot of those kids got a year of experience last season.

7AA Rankings (though I don't see a wide margin from 1-7)
1. East
2. Elk River
3. Grand Rapids
4. Andover
5. STMA
6. Cloquet
7. Forest Lake

Is Mitchell Mattson going to play for Grand Rapids? Or is he leaving for the NTDP?

Nuts&Bolts · Post by **Nuts&Bolts** » Thu Jul 17, 2014 8:53 pm

Back in Grand Rapids. My understanding is he wasnt invited to the national program but I may be wrong.

Nuts&Bolts · Post by **Nuts&Bolts** » Thu Jul 17, 2014 8:58 pm

And I'll predict Section 3AA almost gets it right by having the final at Ridder (but botches it by going with Veterans arena for the semis). Section 4AA gets it right by running everything through Aldrich where it will be a great atmosphere to see HM get a rematch against Stillwater (WBL without Wahlin and any depth defensively won't make it to the end).

WestMetro · Post by **WestMetro** » Thu Jul 17, 2014 9:09 pm

What logic to give Hill 4AA home ice advantage at Aldrich?

Nuts&Bolts · Post by **Nuts&Bolts** » Thu Jul 17, 2014 9:16 pm

At least it will be a neutral city. It will be a jam packed rink and fun game regardless of who plays (but yes advantage Pioneers).

Wblhcky2424 · Post by **Wblhcky2424** » Sun Jul 20, 2014 12:47 pm

Nuts&Bolts wrote:And I'll predict Section 3AA almost gets it right by having the final at Ridder (but botches it by going with Veterans arena for the semis). Section 4AA gets it right by running everything through Aldrich where it will be a great atmosphere to see HM get a rematch against Stillwater (WBL without Wahlin and any depth defensively won't make it to the end).

I think goaltending might be an issue too if the backup from last year is the starter. In my opinion Dornfeld (jv last year) or Parenteau (AA bantams last year) should be the goalie

WestMetro · Post by **WestMetro** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 10:12 pm

Amending my March 12 prediction for early departs and transfers,
known so far.

2014
2015
Rank Returning key players

1 Edina Malmquist, Bellows , Wait ,Zuhlsdorf, Masterman
Dornback,Mishmash,Fuss,Bohlby,,Foley,Meyer ,

2. LV North Poehlings,McNeeley, Enebak, Sadek, goalie Edquist

3 Benilde Jungels,Kaske,Newhouse, Roo,Heimbold , Austin
Calengar, Long

4 STA Broetzman , Versich, Tufto, Donahue,McDonald,Hurley

5 Hill Murray Mikey Anderson, Olsen,Mills, Zarembinski, Staum.
Coach Lechner is worth a couple notches in the rankings.

6 Wayzata Stevens, Zimmer, Sorenson, Senden,Duma, Dingman,

7 Elk River Kierstad, Jaremko,,Johnson,Lutz,Schwab

8 Holy Family Peterson, Garin, Redden, Runyon,Anderson

9 Maple Grove Passolt, Huff, Kelly,Franta, Zajicek, Goodman

10 Duluth East Spencer, Altman,Altman,Dow,Howg
Coach Randolph worth a couple notches

C-dad · Post by **C-dad** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 12:26 pm

WestMetro wrote:
3 Benilde Jungels,Kaske,Newhouse, Roo,Heimbold , Austin
Calengar, Long

Any truth to a rumor of a high end goalie transferring into BSM from out of State?

SidneysDogHouse · Post by **SidneysDogHouse** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 9:54 am

C-dad wrote:
WestMetro wrote:
3 Benilde Jungels,Kaske,Newhouse, Roo,Heimbold , Austin
Calengar, Long
Any truth to a rumor of a high end goalie transferring into BSM from out of State?

Are you speaking of a previous post on a goalie coming back to BSM from Michigan?

C-dad · Post by **C-dad** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:12 am

SidneysDogHouse wrote:
C-dad wrote:
WestMetro wrote:
3 Benilde Jungels,Kaske,Newhouse, Roo,Heimbold , Austin
Calengar, Long
Any truth to a rumor of a high end goalie transferring into BSM from out of State?
Are you speaking of a previous post on a goalie coming back to BSM from Michigan?

My rumor was pretty fuzzy and uninformed. My kid had heard that a very good goalie from, he thought, Chicago area was going to move in. It's a rumor from one high school kid to another so not at all reliable.