HS AA/A Pre-Season Top 10

[pekyman]

Let's Play Hockey just came out with it's Class A pre-season rankings:

High School Boys A - PRESEASON

1 HERMANTOWN ( 8 first place votes)
2 Breck
3 East Grand Forks (2 first place votes)
4 St. Paul Academy
5 St. Cloud Apollo
6 Mahtomedi
7 Delano/Rockford
8 Luverne
9 St. Cloud Cathedral
10 Hibbing/Chisholm
11 Thief River Falls
12 Orono
13 Fergus Falls
14 Duluth Denfeld
15 New Prague
16 Alexandria
17 St. Paul Johnson
18 Warroad
19 Sartell-St. Stephen
20 Mankato West

Also included a summary of top teams, section summaries and some players to watch:

http://www.letsplayhockey.com/

These look pretty good. My only questions are:

I'm not sure Denfeld should even be that high. Yes, they have a great goaltender in Alander, but from what I see this team returns only two skaters that could even remotely be considered difference makers. I watched Hibbing smoke their JV squad last year and their bantam team was not very good, so unless there was a serious incoming wave of transfer talent, I don't see how they will be a Top 20 team.

No Greenway? This is a team that made great strides last season once they recovered from the player suspension fiasco, and they did it mostly without their best player Lantz. The Raiders return 85% of their scoring, they have an excellent goalie, and their bantams were decent. I have them firmly as the #3 team in 7A, and I think they will show that they are for sure Top 20 material.

Not so sure EGF should be that high. I know they will have a super top line, but it seems they lost nearly all their defense and goaltending. Their bantam team was good not great, so unless they had a good chunk of talent paying their dues on the JV squad, I have a hard time seeing them at #3.

It will be interesting to see how good Orono is. I think their bantam team was as good as a lot of AA bantam teams last year, so if there are a couple of talented upperclassmen on the team, they may be able to put something solid together. Anyone have any predictions on Orono other than that they will go through three more head coaches before xmas?

Would still love to see Becker return and instantly make Mahtomedi a top 3 team. Sadly, it seems that ship has sailed, which is too bad, because they may have had enough depth to give Hermantown a run. I know players and families have to do what they think is best for them, but my opinion is that the kid would have had way more fun making another tourney run with his buddies. I don't know anything about his situation, but playing with your friends, being big man on campus, and having a chance to hand Hermantown its 7th consecutive runner up trophy sounds a lot better than being just another unknown face on some USHL team in the middle of godforsaken Iowa.

I agree on Mahtomedi. Hermantown has been playing Mahtomedi in it's summer tourney for years and the games are always close/even. Big loss for Mahtomedi but they will still be very good.

[Sats81]

Couldnt agree more on Becker.

[greenway1969]

I'm not sure why everyone is so high on Denfeld. Ranier is right, Denfeld has very little coming back. Also Alander may be a good goalie but he had a good team in front of him last year. I'd like to think Greenway can get the #3 seed but aside from their game against Hibbing in the Sectionals, they didn't finish that strongly. They have the talent to be a 3 seed and that will be settled in early December. They play Denfeld on December 1 and Proctor on December 8. If they win both the #3 seed is probable but a split will result in a scramble for the 3, 4 and 5 seeds.

[stromboli]

Top 10 Class A:

1. Hermantown
2. Breck
3. Saint Cloud Apollo
4. Mahtomedi
5. Saint Paul Academy
6. East Grand Forks
7. Hibbing
8. Saint Cloud Cathedral
9. Delano
10. New Prague

Teams to watch: TRF, Fergus Falls, Roll Cards Roll, St. Paul Johnson.

[CreaseMonkey]

I'm not sure why everyone is so high on Denfeld. Ranier is right, Denfeld has very little coming back. Also Alander may be a good goalie but he had a good team in front of him last year. I'd like to think Greenway can get the #3 seed but aside from their game against Hibbing in the Sectionals, they didn't finish that strongly. They have the talent to be a 3 seed and that will be settled in early December. They play Denfeld on December 1 and Proctor on December 8. If they win both the #3 seed is probable but a split will result in a scramble for the 3, 4 and 5 seeds.

I agree on Denfeld. They lost a lot from last year and it will show. Alander is a good goalie, but he was not able to wrestle the job away from the senior last year, so I would not expect miracles.

Greenway should be solid. If they stay disciplined, they will make some noise this year.

[hawkenjonny]

I'm not sure why everyone is so high on Denfeld. Ranier is right, Denfeld has very little coming back. Also Alander may be a good goalie but he had a good team in front of him last year. I'd like to think Greenway can get the #3 seed but aside from their game against Hibbing in the Sectionals, they didn't finish that strongly. They have the talent to be a 3 seed and that will be settled in early December. They play Denfeld on December 1 and Proctor on December 8. If they win both the #3 seed is probable but a split will result in a scramble for the 3, 4 and 5 seeds.

I agree on Denfeld. They lost a lot from last year and it will show. Alander is a good goalie, but he was not able to wrestle the job away from the senior last year, so I would not expect miracles.

Greenway should be solid. If they stay disciplined, they will make some noise this year.

I am also not sure that Denfeld is a legitimate top 20 but if you follow these guys at all, Smalley will get the best possible out of whatever talent he has, and grit out of the rest. Rarely an easy out.

[TheHockeyDJ]

When 7A gets to the semifinals at Amsoil I expect to see the matchups like this: 6:00 #1 Hermantown vs #4 Denfeld, 8:00 #2 Hibbing vs #3 Greenway.

Hermantown will probably win by 3-4 goals even against a solid goalie, Hibbing vs Greenway I won't be surprised if the go to OT again. Glad to see Greenway back, they've definitely come a long ways.

[Wet Paint]

I'm not sure why everyone is so high on Denfeld. Ranier is right, Denfeld has very little coming back. Also Alander may be a good goalie but he had a good team in front of him last year. I'd like to think Greenway can get the #3 seed but aside from their game against Hibbing in the Sectionals, they didn't finish that strongly. They have the talent to be a 3 seed and that will be settled in early December. They play Denfeld on December 1 and Proctor on December 8. If they win both the #3 seed is probable but a split will result in a scramble for the 3, 4 and 5 seeds.

I agree on Denfeld. They lost a lot from last year and it will show. Alander is a good goalie, but he was not able to wrestle the job away from the senior last year, so I would not expect miracles.

Greenway should be solid. If they stay disciplined, they will make some noise this year.

I watched Alander play last year and a couple of times this fall and I think he has gotten better over the summer. Seemed a little quicker and more settled. As far as wrestling the job from the Sr we all know how hockey goes in places where you wait your turn to play behind the senior who is there. I am not saying Denfeld is like that but I know of a few other teams up there who are that way so it would not shock me if they were that way too.

I think that Hermantown will win 7A again this year but will be challenged by Hibbing for sure and possibly Denfeld. The thing that Hermantown has that those other teams don't is depth and that really pays off in the 3rd period.

[MrBoDangles]

Burnsville will have some really nice players, but depth might keep them from cracking the rankings.

Such as?

The ones that are really good..

[MrBoDangles]

Burnsville will have some really nice players, but depth might keep them from cracking the rankings.

Such as?

The ones that are really good..

[Sats81]

Such as?

The ones that are really good..

Again, such as?


So they took Edina to OT and lost and were up on HM most of game. Still lost both games. Counts the same if you 4-3 in OT or 9-1.

[MrBoDangles]

The ones that are really good..

Again, such as?


So they took Edina to OT and lost and were up on HM most of game. Still lost both games. Counts the same if you 4-3 in OT or 9-1.

You really are a world class idiot..

[edgeless2]

Again, such as?


So they took Edina to OT and lost and were up on HM most of game. Still lost both games. Counts the same if you 4-3 in OT or 9-1.

You really are a world class idiot..

This BOSATS duel is so overdue.

[Sats81]

Again, such as?


So they took Edina to OT and lost and were up on HM most of game. Still lost both games. Counts the same if you 4-3 in OT or 9-1.

You really are a world class idiot..

Still never answered my question. Whose the "world class idiot" here? Janne that you? Burnsville is irrelevant

Let's see if Burnsville cracks .500 here this yr MrBoJuevenile

"My team played 2 teams close, but there are still 0-2!"

Irrelevant

[stromboli]

This could be better than Rocky v Apollo.

[Sats81]

This could be better than Rocky v Apollo.

Yeah. That would be great but I don't waste my time on peasants like mrbojangly. Yawn.

[Greenandwhitebobo]

Was at Burnsville/Edina game. Edina got lucky in this one. Shots were tied but scoring chances more for the Black and Yellow. And 17 (Otto) is a helluva player.

[Sats81]

Was at Burnsville/Edina game. Edina got lucky in this one. Shots were tied but scoring chances more for the Black and Yellow. And 17 (Otto) is a helluva player.

Thanks! All I wanted was to know who was a player for Braves.

[old goalie85]

Stillwater over LVN ?

[MrBoDangles]

Was at Burnsville/Edina game. Edina got lucky in this one. Shots were tied but scoring chances more for the Black and Yellow. And 17 (Otto) is a helluva player.

Thanks! All I wanted was to know who was a player for Braves.

trying to save face now....

[C-dad]

Was at Burnsville/Edina game. Edina got lucky in this one. Shots were tied but scoring chances more for the Black and Yellow. And 17 (Otto) is a helluva player.

Thanks! All I wanted was to know who was a player for Braves.

trying to save face now....

How did those good players for the Blaze do last night in the 7-0 thumping BSM put on them?

[MrBoDangles]

Thanks! All I wanted was to know who was a player for Braves.

trying to save face now....

How did those good players for the Blaze do last night in the 7-0 thumping BSM put on them?

Not as good as the game where they should have beat your hornets.. I guess you don't see the irony and change of tone in his comments.

7-0 game and then a whole different story the next meeting.. You know how hockey goes.

[C-dad]

trying to save face now....

How did those good players for the Blaze do last night in the 7-0 thumping BSM put on them?

Not as good as the game where they should have beat your hornets.. I guess you don't see the irony and change of tone in his comments.

7-0 game and then a whole different story the next meeting.. You know how hockey goes.

Shoulda, woulda, clouda....

[MrBoDangles]

How did those good players for the Blaze do last night in the 7-0 thumping BSM put on them?

Not as good as the game where they should have beat your hornets.. I guess you don't see the irony and change of tone in his comments.

7-0 game and then a whole different story the next meeting.. You know how hockey goes.

Shoulda, woulda, clouda....

That's not how it goes...

[bsmguy]

Bville really hurtby lack of depth last night. BSM mostly rolled 4 lines. BV mostly just two lines after getting down 2-0 early. By late second, the horses had no legs and BSM won most races and battles. Top two BSM lines played little in third, which went running for last 15 mins. Bishell played great when it mattered. BV goalies were fine but got buzzed hard, especially in 2d period.