East vs CEC

[kniven]

Here is a link to the official game sheet from the game.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TjrY4 ... dPorV6DiZC

[elliott70]

Well, that was entertaining. 6-6 tie, shots 47-21 Hounds.

The story in this one was really the Cloquet PP/East PK...I believe the Jacks went 4 for 6 on the PP, including their first 4 goals. 5 on 5 it was pretty lopsided, and when East took over in the 2nd and went up 5-3, it was hard to see a way back...but the Jacks found one.

I don't think it's a stretch to call this East offense their best since the Spehar era. When they get rolling, it's a lot of fun to watch. WMD (plus LaMaster going forward) is lethal, the second line (once Lanigan kicked off some rust in his first game back from injury) has fantastic puck control, and the third line is coming along. But they've got an uncertain goaltending situation, a PK that needs a lot of work, and certain defensemen should not be getting walked for game-tying goals. Randolph's task for this season is going to be getting this team to mind its defensive responsibilities without hurting their offensive instincts too much.

The Cloquet non-student attendance was as bad as I've ever seen it for this game, but even so, this game always delivers awesome atmosphere and the best student sections going back and forth that I see all year. Of course, 12 goals, including two in the final 16 seconds of regulation, will help the cause. Best $6 of entertainment you can find.

Any truth that Randolph has a phone call in to Finland foreign exchange student program?

[GPGT]

Karl... What are your thoughts on the goalie situation..

Also, yea the WMD line is good, and spehars line was great, but I dont think either line is as good as the Randolph-Toninato-Olson line... Thoughts on that?

[mnmouth]

Karl... What are your thoughts on the goalie situation..

Also, yea the WMD line is good, and spehars line was great, but I dont think either line is as good as the Randolph-Toninato-Olson line... Thoughts on that?

Spehar-Locker line from 1994-96 vastly superior. They almost scored at will.

East goalie situation a bit troubling right now, but the team as a whole is not playing well in its own end for an entire game. Also, Hanson played well against Andover.

[gitter]

Karl... What are your thoughts on the goalie situation..

Also, yea the WMD line is good, and spehars line was great, but I dont think either line is as good as the Randolph-Toninato-Olson line... Thoughts on that?

Spehar-Locker line from 1994-96 vastly superior. They almost scored at will.

East goalie situation a bit troubling right now, but the team as a whole is not playing well in its own end for an entire game. Also, Hanson played well against Andover.

Agree. Playing against them my entire career at Cloquet...it was ridiculous what those 2 could do at the HS level.

[kniven]

Here is a link to the official game sheet from the game.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TjrY4 ... dPorV6DiZC

I was looking at the game sheet after I watched the game on my DVR this morning. It looks as though they got the OT shots on goal reversed or something.

[karl(east)]

Karl... What are your thoughts on the goalie situation..

Also, yea the WMD line is good, and spehars line was great, but I dont think either line is as good as the Randolph-Toninato-Olson line... Thoughts on that?

Spehar-Locker line from 1994-96 vastly superior. They almost scored at will.

East goalie situation a bit troubling right now, but the team as a whole is not playing well in its own end for an entire game. Also, Hanson played well against Andover.

Yeah, hard to compare anything in modern AA hockey with Spehar-Locker-X. You could argue that the third-best player on Randolph-Toninato-Olson was better than the third-best player on the Spehar-Locker lines in most of those years (maybe...Clint Johnson and Andy Wheeler were no slouches); they certainly played very different styles of hockey, with Locker and Spehar stretching the ice while RTO were masters of puck possession and cycling.

WMD is somewhere between those two stylistically...they don't control play as thoroughly as RTO, but Worth is a better sniper than any of them were, probably the best East has had since Spehar. (Don't let that go to your head, Garrett.) The sky's the limit, but they have some work to do before they're mentioned in the same breath as those lines. I'd be comfortable calling them the 3rd best East line in the Randolph era right now; they're on pace for some impressive point totals but need to avoid those occasional moments where they disappear, as in the latter stages of the WBL game. Other top five candidates probably being the Carlson/Licari group around the turn of the century and the 2013 line that didn't have D-I talent but just scored a ton. (It helps when you've got Meirs Moore and Phil Beaulieu feeding you pucks and running your 50+% PP.)

Back in the present...we'll see on the goaltending situation. I think Hanson has the talent to claim the job and will have every chance to do it in their big upcoming week next week. It is perhaps worth noting that the have a bantam-eligible sophomore who was the star of the PWAA team's run to a 2nd place finish a couple years back on JV. I don't know much about what he's done since or what it would take for Randolph to dip that deep, but I wouldn't put it past him if things don't work out with the upperclassmen.

As mouth said, I wouldn't pin it all on the goalies, either. They were decent but not great 5 on 5 in their own end, but the PK ran around way too much, and there was a glaring error on the game-tying goal. They're playing such an aggressive forecheck that there's space to be exploited behind the D for teams who can take advantage of that.

Reflecting further now, too, yesterday has to have been the most fun regular season game I've seen in years from a raw entertainment standpoint.

[elliott70]

Also, yea the WMD line is good,

WMD is somewhere between those two stylistically...

As mouth said, I wouldn't pin it all on the goalies, either.

I would NOT put them in the best of anything if they don't play defense.



WMD
What are their jersey numbers?

[Usthockey13]

WMD is somewhere between those two stylistically...

As mouth said, I wouldn't pin it all on the goalies, either.

I would NOT put them in the best of anything if they don't play defense.



WMD
What are their jersey numbers?

23/22/5

[elliott70]

23/22/5

thanks

[boblee]

Whoa - they even played 8 minutes of overtime?

[GPGT]

Karl... What are your thoughts on the goalie situation..

Also, yea the WMD line is good, and spehars line was great, but I dont think either line is as good as the Randolph-Toninato-Olson line... Thoughts on that?

Spehar-Locker line from 1994-96 vastly superior. They almost scored at will.

East goalie situation a bit troubling right now, but the team as a whole is not playing well in its own end for an entire game. Also, Hanson played well against Andover.

Yeah, hard to compare anything in modern AA hockey with Spehar-Locker-X. You could argue that the third-best player on Randolph-Toninato-Olson was better than the third-best player on the Spehar-Locker lines in most of those years (maybe...Clint Johnson and Andy Wheeler were no slouches); they certainly played very different styles of hockey, with Locker and Spehar stretching the ice while RTO were masters of puck possession and cycling.

WMD is somewhere between those two stylistically...they don't control play as thoroughly as RTO, but Worth is a better sniper than any of them were, probably the best East has had since Spehar. (Don't let that go to your head, Garrett.) The sky's the limit, but they have some work to do before they're mentioned in the same breath as those lines. I'd be comfortable calling them the 3rd best East line in the Randolph era right now; they're on pace for some impressive point totals but need to avoid those occasional moments where they disappear, as in the latter stages of the WBL game. Other top five candidates probably being the Carlson/Licari group around the turn of the century and the 2013 line that didn't have D-I talent but just scored a ton. (It helps when you've got Meirs Moore and Phil Beaulieu feeding you pucks and running your 50+% PP.)

Back in the present...we'll see on the goaltending situation. I think Hanson has the talent to claim the job and will have every chance to do it in their big upcoming week next week. It is perhaps worth noting that the have a bantam-eligible sophomore who was the star of the PWAA team's run to a 2nd place finish a couple years back on JV. I don't know much about what he's done since or what it would take for Randolph to dip that deep, but I wouldn't put it past him if things don't work out with the upperclassmen.

As mouth said, I wouldn't pin it all on the goalies, either. They were decent but not great 5 on 5 in their own end, but the PK ran around way too much, and there was a glaring error on the game-tying goal. They're playing such an aggressive forecheck that there's space to be exploited behind the D for teams who can take advantage of that.

Reflecting further now, too, yesterday has to have been the most fun regular season game I've seen in years from a raw entertainment standpoint.

I agree it's hard to compare many players to spee and Locker.. and I'll admit I watched pretty much every game that those guys played at home, as it was just too fun to watch especially being a 97 east grad.

Moore and Beaulieu we're fun to watch as well... Some great teams through the past 20+ years. It's hard to pick.. not to get too far off topic but the Jack Connelly line from around 2005 from Duluth Marshall was pretty amazing as well...


That said. I hope east can make a good run for it this year, I just don't recall this team being on par with the R-T-O squad. Maybe I haven't watched enough of their games, but it just doesn't strike me as one of the best. Hopefully , I'm proven wrong.

[hockey59]

I realize Cloquet was clearly looking ahead to DE when they lost to Superior Tuesday (I was at that game)...but it’s hard to believe that same Cloquet team....tied DE 6-6 . Obviously Cloquet really bounced back & DE didn’t have a great game defending their goal. And after watching Edina last night, I have my doubts the WMD line is as good as Edina’s Walker-Nevers-Jungels Line, especially with Brinkman & Boltman on the ice as the D...although I realize LaMaster & Paine tandem are good for DE too.

[O-townClown]

WMD
What are their jersey numbers?

Fifty

[That guy for that thing]

I realize Cloquet was clearly looking ahead to DE when they lost to Superior Tuesday (I was at that game)...but it’s hard to believe that same Cloquet team....tied DE 6-6 . Obviously Cloquet really bounced back & DE didn’t have a great game defending their goal. And after watching Edina last night, I have my doubts the WMD line is as good as Edina’s Walker-Nevers-Jungels Line, especially with Brinkman & Boltman on the ice as the D...although I realize LaMaster & Paine tandem are good for DE too.

Cloquet has an odd ability to play well against DE when they have a steep slope to climb. The rivalry of old may not be there the same as it was in the 90's and early 00's but it is still there. Look at when DE lost Nolan Meyer to Cloquet. That was a tense season and those games were circled on everyone's calendar.

As for WMD vs WNJ, we can only speculate. I haven't seen Edina's boys play since the Elite League, and they were very present all season long. I think the big comparison will be forward depth. Both DE and Edina had numerous players in EL (DE 12 and Edina 11) Both of these teams are obviously deep, but how well do they work together. This will be the debate all season until tourney time. I want to watch some of the Edina games to see how their depth goes, but as for DE, their second and third lines don't score quite like their first, but they are very physical. Edina has a very high scoring depth forwards with Crosby, Koumontzis, Malmquist, Walker.... the list goes on. DE needs their depth players to score a bit more, and their d-zone play to lock down a bit more, but both teams are looking like they are poised for a state tournament match up.