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Bottom line is Austin and Faribault are at this stage higher seed material, and deservedly so...

It is also possible that AL's game against Blaine tends to indicate the quality of AL's play, including fine goaltending against a superior Blaine squad...

T

RSI wrote:BOLD prediction...
Austin 5 Blaine 2

Shees, I guess I missed that one...I actually expected Austin to win.

Bottom line is Albert Lea lost by 2 goals to Blaine and Austin lost by 7 so Albert lea will win it all. Except of course they can not get by us.

Ok fine, I'll take the bait. What makes you SO sure AL can't get by Faribault? That 2-2 tie at your rink?

Bottom line is Austin and Faribault are at this stage higher seed material, and deservedly so...

Even at another stage, Austin and Faribault are going to be higher seeds, they're both better than AL. The AL team is too young to seriously contend.

BTW, AL did something that no other team could in the Austin Invite. Score on Ashley Nixon.

KRACH SAYS:

PV TEAM RATING SOSRK SOSRATING GP W L T PTS GF AVG GA AVG PCT
1 Austin 44.242 99 78.143 14 12 2 0 24 75 5.36 25 1.79 0.857
2 Faribault 18.777 108 85.667 12 9 2 1 19 76 6.33 27 2.25 0.792
3 Mankato West 7.731 77 67.571 15 8 7 0 16 56 3.73 53 3.53 0.533
4 Albert Lea Tigers 6.256 100 78.462 13 7 5 1 15 48 3.69 31 2.38 0.577
5 Northfield 2.548 97 77.929 14 6 8 0 12 46 3.29 50 3.57 0.429
6 Mankato East 0.373 114 89.067 15 2 12 1 5 24 1.60 114 7.60 0.167
7 Waseca 0.299 110 86.083 12 2 10 0 4 17 1.42 80 6.67 0.167

thanks for the faith RSI...Austin needs to stay out of the penalty box. it tired them out, not to mention giving up 3 goals.

blaine was definitely not the same team as when they played AL. sorry to say, but a championship game is a lot different than a qualifying round. austin played well in the first period, and actually dominated in the opening minutes, but made mistakes and fell apart.

i am surprised austin couldn't score at all though. one girl could have had 2 or 3 goals but wiffed it or timed it wrong... i think it was heimsness. other players couldn't capitalize on chances either. the puck just didn't bounce austins way yesterday.

but notice how both of austins losses have been to AA teams...just thought that was interesting.

GAMES THIS WEEK
1/2/2007
*Winona @ Albert Lea
*Anoka @ Faribault
*Century @ West

1/4/2007
*Faribault @ East
*New Ulm @ Albert Lea
*Austin @ West

AL has it's hands full with Winona and New Ulm. Don't have a clue about Anoka, but Faribault should have an easy time with East. West gets to deal with Century's goalie, Liz Maidl, before trying to avenge their early 6-1 loss to Austin...

Any thoughts?

Albert Lea finally gets some home games. They have been on the road for virtually the whole first half. I know that the team is looking forward to getting some of the teams that beat them into their own barn.

According to the most recent KRACH, the odds of...
-GAMES THIS WEEK-
Albert Lea beating Winona are 1.8 : 1
Faribo beating Anoka are 1.6 : 1
West beating Century are 21.7 : 1
New Ulm beating AL are 1.9 : 1
Austin beating West are 5.3 : 1

-UPCOMING GAMES-
Austin over Faribault 2.3 : 1
Austin over West 5.3 : 1
West over AL 1.3 : 1
Faribault over West 2.4 : 1
Austin over AL 7.1 : 1
Faribault over AL 3.1 : 1

This is just raw data over the course of this season and doesn't take into account where the game is being played, injuries, rivalries, emotions, etc., but I found a couple of these interesting.
1. I would have expected New Ulm to be a bigger favorite over AL.
2. West is only slightly favored over AL
3. Austin and Faribault is a bit closer than I thought
4. Austin over West is larger than I thought

In other words it tells us what we already know...
1. Austin
2. Faribault
3. West
4. AL

Results from Tuesday
Anoka 7 Faribault 3
Winona 4 Albert Lea 1
West 9 Century 0

Winona is fast with pretty good depth and really took it to the Albert Lea girls. Albert Lea played a pretty uninspired game, it was tough to watch.

What happened at the Faribault game? That score seems a bit out of line.

Austin 8
Mankato W 0

albert lea just beat new ulm 4-1..... surprising

Albert Lea 4-New Ulm 1
A totally different team than came out Tuesday nite.
Superb goaltending by AL's #1 (Hanson stopped 36 of 37).
Defense was good too, and the girls realy hustled all nite.
T

Twinnesota wrote:Albert Lea 4-New Ulm 1
A totally different team than came out Tuesday nite.
Superb goaltending by AL's #1 (Hanson stopped 36 of 37).
Defense was good too, and the girls realy hustled all nite.
T

I totally agree, very good goaltending and they really kept new ulm's best players to the outside. They closed out the game well, despite a few badly timed penalties on albert lea's part.

I'm sooo confused by this team...lay an egg Tuesday against Winona and then come out and beat #19 New Ulm 4-1. What the heck?

Special teams were key. AL got themselves in a spot a couple times and managed to kill off some penalties. #12 has got to stay out of the box. Also 2 pp goals for AL, nice work. AL also got some scoring from some "unlikely" candidates, that helps a ton. I thought AL played with some grit and tenacity, they need that to compete. Very good game in net for Kelli Hanson.

Century on Saturday and the Austin comes to town next Tuesday. Can't wait for that Austin game, always fun, but which AL team will show up? That's the scarey part...

the anoka - faribault game was closer than what the score shows. It was a good game. Anoka was a very quick team and it was going back and forth the whole game. faribault out shot anoka but anoka got a couple of weak goals that put them up and it stayed that way the rest of the game. but anoka was a very good team.

Faribo's Ali Miller....
17 goals in her last 7 games. Nice work.

AL- 7
Century- 0

Not much of a game. Century isn't very good. Can't wait for the game on Tuesday. Both teams coming off big wins over weak teams.

Any thooughts?

it should be a fun game with the boys playin afterwards. it will be close if albert lea can keep austin to the outside, keep from giving up late goals, and capitalize on scoring chances. Last time they played austin went up by 2 in the first five minutes then it settled down. after that it was just a 2-1 game.

You're not asking for too much Hocostud !!!



But, that plus goaltending is the only way...

T

yes goaltending will also be key. Hanson will most likely be in net for AL, whether or not she can duplicate her performance like against new ulm is the question.

ok so we know what AL needs to do to win but any predictions?
im thinking
Austin-6
AL-2

i think Austin 5 Albert Lea 3

This should be a tough game. AL is at home while Austin clearly has more talent. It will be up to the AL coaches to be sure the team is ready, coming off a 7-0 drilling of Century. This has been a problem in the past.

The way I see it...
1. The first half of period 1 will determine the outcome.
AL needs to keep the pressure on the Austin attack and limited their time and space.
Too much time and/or space = Too much Jenkins, Faber, Heimsness

2. The team that scores first will win.
A close game favors AL, they'll start to believe they can win if they get a lead and/or keep it close.

3. Match-ups
AL's line of Walton, Klick and Gackstetter need to be physical and aggressive.

4. Special teams
Austin's PP unit is TOO good to give many opportunities. AL's Jensen and Passingham have to stay OUT of the box.

Prediction:
Austin 2
Albert Lea 3

Bold projection RSI. I also think that AL has to take the space away from faber and jenkins especially. We will have to see how they do it. I just don't know if they have the personnel for the strength of faber and the quickness and hands of jenkins.

I'm not sure they have the personnel either, but that's where line 3 comes in to play...