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rainier wrote:Latest LPH rankings have 5 teams from 7A in top 20.

1. Hermantown
5. Hibbing
14. Denfeld
16. Greenway
20. North Shore

Nice!

I don't get how denfeld continues to get ranked...good to see greenway and surprised at north shore

North Shore will get their first real test today when they face St. Louis Park, a team that beat Orono and played Delano tough.

It will be a nice statement for them if they win.

7A Rankings: Team Name [overall record (7A record)]

1. Hermantown [6-1-1 (1-0)] The Hawks fell to Minnetonka and then beat New Prague this week. A loss to a good AA team isn’t enough to dislodge them from the top spot in 7A, and they will stay at the top through at least this week, as Eveleth-Gilbert comes to town. This one won’t be pretty.

2. Hibbing [8-0 (1-0)] The Bluejackets took care of business vs Mayo and Albert Lea, as they dominated both games just as they should have. Senior winger Lescarbeau looked very good in his return from a football injury, and his presence should bolster the Hibbing offense the rest of the way.
Now the real fun begins, as Hibbing finally plays its second 7A game of the season and they get to travel to Coleraine to face a 9-1 Greenway squad that has been decimating its opponents. True, the Raiders’ opponents have been mostly weak, but they are winning by huge margins.
I feel Hibbing is the deeper team, but I expect Greenway to come out with a ton of intensity playing in front of a huge crowd. With a packed house that is likely to be deafening, we will see which team adapts to the pressure and feeds off the energy. Should be a fun game, especially if Hibbing wins.

3. Denfeld [5-3-1 (3-1)] The Hunters tied Superior and beat I-Falls this week, and they stay at #3, as Superior is a solid AA team. The west siders travel to play against Cathedral this week, in a game that can tell us a lot more where this team belongs in the Class A pecking order.

4. Greenway [9-1 (4-1)] The Raiders continued to treat their opponents like a windshield treats bugs, as they now stand at an impressive 9-1 with their only loss being the OT heartbreaker to Denfeld. I considered moving the Greenies back up to #3, but the win over a quality opponent just isn’t there to get them past losing to the Hunters.
This week the Raiders have a chance to jump all the way up to #2 with a home victory over Hibbing. Greenway shouldn’t be surprised by anything that Hibbing intends to do in this game, as their coaches all know the Hibbing kids and system intimately. (Clafton-former Hibbing assistant, Holman-former Hibbing player, assistant coach, and was the bantam coach for the current Hibbing upperclassmen, Pechovnik-recent Hibbing player.) This team will be seriously fired up.

5. North Shore [7-1 (2-0)] The Storm finally fell from the ranks of the unbeaten, as they lost a close one to St. Louis Park, a team who beat Orono and played Delano tough. I don’t think any team below them would have fared this well, and their record is still sterling. They play what I assume is a terrible Hayward team this week, and in early January they will begin their nine game odyssey through 7A, where they can test themselves against Greenway and Denfeld.

6. I-Falls [3-5-1 (1-3-1)] The Broncos went 1-2 this week, but the losses were to Roseau and they played Denfeld tough, so they stay at #6 this week. They play Lake O” the Woods this week before heading to Warroad for a holiday tourney next week.

7. Proctor [6-5 (2-2)] The Rails move back up this week after playing Superior tough and then beating previously unbeaten Princeton. ( man, does section 5A suck!) Proctor has shown flashes of being a better team, but they have also produced some clunkers. They are one of the few teams with two games this week, and they should beat both of them, Mora and Pine City.

8. Eveleth-Gilbert [3-6-1 (2-3-1)] The Bears who are Golden in color lost to two terrible teams this week, falling to both Mayo and Albert Lea. After some early signs of promise from this team, they haven’t looked good, and unfortunately they have to travel to Hermantown this week. Ugh.

9. VMIB [2-5-2 (0-2-2)] The Blue Devils are the team I’ve been most perplexed by, as they have some talented kids, that, even though they are young, should be enough for them to be beating some of the teams above them. I still think they can improve significantly, but their schedule the rest of the way is very tough (Brainerd, Hibbing twice, Hermantown, Greenway, Apollo, Cathedral, Eagan), so they are likely in for a rough overall campaign. They’ll host Eagan this week.

10. Ely [3-3-1 (0-2)] The T-Wolves are holding steady at .500. They lost 9-1 to E-G, so I don’t see them moving up at anytime this season.

7A Game of the Week: Hibbing at Greenway. These teams know each other well and played two tight contests late last season. They come in a combined 17-1 and there hasn’t been this much anticipation and excitement for a Bluejacket/Raider clash in some time. Hibbing has more impressive wins (EGF, Roseau), but Greenway has been leaving no doubt in their games vs every team not named Duluth Denfeld. I think Hibbing is the better team, but the energy provided by the home crowd will even that out. And Greenway’s goalie is a very good, experienced senior, while Hibbing has a goalie who is also very good, but who is a freshman, and he will have never played in a game with anywhere the amount of noise and pressure that will be present on Tuesday.

Still, with that said, I’ll go with Hibbing to win, 4-3.

I agree with most of your ranking other than the one move your afraid to make that is not really even a question. Greenway is 3 ahead of denfeld. No question a flukey ot loss and I mean flukey does not over shadow the total overall business completed. Denfeld tied superior and sup only win was over proctor who greenway derailed. Herm 1, hibb 2, greenway3, then the rest. In fact I'm scared that in the snake pit the raiders could not only move into the top 5-6 in the state but also take a firm hold of number 2. You have to revamp your thinking or be ready to move Hibbing to 4 with a loss as denfeld beat greenway. Lol. Nope it's a three horse race and they are entering the starting gates. In evaluating the hibb-green game I now believe hibb has the best player but green may have the better depth. Here is how it should look now. Herm, hibb, green, den, proc, n shore, vir, falls, ev, Ely

howardst wrote:I agree with most of your ranking other than the one move your afraid to make that is not really even a question. Greenway is 3 ahead of denfeld. No question a flukey ot loss and I mean flukey does not over shadow the total overall business completed. Denfeld tied superior and sup only win was over proctor who greenway derailed. Herm 1, hibb 2, greenway3, then the rest. In fact I'm scared that in the snake pit the raiders could not only move into the top 5-6 in the state but also take a firm hold of number 2. You have to revamp your thinking or be ready to move Hibbing to 4 with a loss as denfeld beat greenway. Lol. Nope it's a three horse race and they are entering the starting gates. In evaluating the hibb-green game I now believe hibb has the best player but green may have the better depth. Here is how it should look now. Herm, hibb, green, den, proc, n shore, vir, falls, ev, Ely

Denfeld beat Greenway in OT and the shots in the game were dead even, hardly a fluky win. They both beat VMIB by identical 4-1 scores, and all the teams Denfeld has lost to or tied (Eagan, Jefferson, Superior) are all better than any team Greenway has played. If Denfeld had played Greenway's schedule they would likely be 10-0. I like how Greenway looks so far, but honestly, they haven't played anybody.

If Greenway beats Hibbing, I would move Greenway to 2 and drop Hibbing to 3, not 4, as Hibbing's wins vs Roseau and EGF are better than anything Denfeld has done.

And I'm not sure how you think Proctor belongs above North Shore, considering North Shore beat Proctor.

Well as I said before I have seen almost all of the teams and was at the green denf game. Wish you were. Stats are deceiving when taken like they were. Shots were not even. Sorry. I guess you had to be there. I've seen just about every Hibbing game and they are good. Deep? I question that. They had to go to 2 lines vs mound. Fact is every mathematical ranking out there that takes away perception which is hard because who can see every team in the state agrees and helps me develop a true positioning. Superior has one win, how does that make them quality? Just saying I think your selling the raiders short. In fact numbers back up my claim. Now back to Hibbing. The bluejackets are going to have to find away to create offense beyond lee and perunovich to give us a chance vs very good teams. Egf is not one of the very good missing a stud. In fact they may have lost to much to be considered a threat at all. It's hs. Just because you win state one year does not mean that you return enough the next year. Hermantown is no where near as good this year as last. Pionk and kero are huge losses that created most of their offense along with the loss of a lot of sr depth in other players.

Hibbing 5 to 1 over Greenway.

Greenway is the 4 seed.

I hope so

howardst wrote:Well as I said before I have seen almost all of the teams and was at the green denf game. Wish you were. Stats are deceiving when taken like they were. Shots were not even. Sorry. I guess you had to be there. I've seen just about every Hibbing game and they are good. Deep? I question that. They had to go to 2 lines vs mound. Fact is every mathematical ranking out there that takes away perception which is hard because who can see every team in the state agrees and helps me develop a true positioning. Superior has one win, how does that make them quality? Just saying I think your selling the raiders short. In fact numbers back up my claim. Now back to Hibbing. The bluejackets are going to have to find away to create offense beyond lee and perunovich to give us a chance vs very good teams. Egf is not one of the very good missing a stud. In fact they may have lost to much to be considered a threat at all. It's hs. Just because you win state one year does not mean that you return enough the next year. Hermantown is no where near as good this year as last. Pionk and kero are huge losses that created most of their offense along with the loss of a lot of sr depth in other players.

That's fine if you think I'm selling Greenway short, but who have they played that is even remotely good, other than Denfeld, who they lost to? The Hub is often wrong on shots, but it says the shots were even and a game where it goes to OT and the shots were even is not a fluky win. Proctor beating Marshall while being outshot 35-10 is fluky.

Didn't EGF just tie Bemidji, a top 10 AA team? EGF's losses are to the #1, #5, and #6 teams in Class A, and they tied Bemidji. To say they aren't a threat makes no sense, especially when they get Loven back.

You may be right about Hibbing's depth. They did get Lescarbeau back this week, which is a big plus.

At this point Greenway will be battling North Shore for the #4 seed. North Shore had an impressive weekend in the Cities. A one goal loss to St. Louis Park is certainly equivalent to Greenway's loss to Denfeld and they also crushed Chaska, a team they beat in OT earlier. The #3 seed might be in play for both if North Shore can upend Denfeld.

howardst wrote:Well as I said before I have seen almost all of the teams and was at the green denf game. Wish you were. Stats are deceiving when taken like they were. Shots were not even. Sorry. I guess you had to be there. I've seen just about every Hibbing game and they are good. Deep? I question that. They had to go to 2 lines vs mound. Fact is every mathematical ranking out there that takes away perception which is hard because who can see every team in the state agrees and helps me develop a true positioning. Superior has one win, how does that make them quality? Just saying I think your selling the raiders short. In fact numbers back up my claim. Now back to Hibbing. The bluejackets are going to have to find away to create offense beyond lee and perunovich to give us a chance vs very good teams. Egf is not one of the very good missing a stud. In fact they may have lost to much to be considered a threat at all. It's hs. Just because you win state one year does not mean that you return enough the next year. Hermantown is no where near as good this year as last. Pionk and kero are huge losses that created most of their offense along with the loss of a lot of sr depth in other players.

Hold on a second. I was at the Denfeld/Greenway game too. This was far from a "flukey" win.
1. Denfeld was never behind.
2. Nor were they ever behind in shots. In fact, it was a 5 minute major at the end of the third that extended into overtime that allowed Greenway to catch up in s.o.g.
I might also add that Denfeld won this game with out starting their #1 goaltender who I hear is pretty good.

well if you were in the house than you know shots on goal wer not close to acurate. You would know that other than the first 15 min the game was controled by the raiders who did start very slow and that is a major mistake. You also know that the ot goal was a flukey turn over on the pp that the denfeld player made a great play on but never really got a quality shot off as it rolled off his stick and slid awkwardly by the raider tender. The game was taken over by the raiders. I hope they get a chance to play again and you can give me a goal and I will take the raiders for a beer and I will be enjoying a cold one on you!!!! Hibbing will have no problem with Denfeld. In fact after a few more losses by the hunters/trojans this will be a conversation of told you so.

Pagestat - No personal opinion, just a make up of body of work and strength of schedule. No AA / A All one

Rapids 8
Herm 17
Hibb 18
Cloq 24
Green 30
East 40
Dul Marshall 55
Denfeld 67
Nor Shor 87
Vir 88
Falls 99
Proc 102

Enough said

myhockey rankings - Another numbers only progaram. Just A teams

1 Breck
2 Herm
3 Delano
4 Hibb
5 St Cloud Apollo
6 Greenway
7 TRF
8 Sartel
9 Mahtomedi
10 St Lo Park

Others
EGF 15
Denfeld 18
Vir 34
Luverne 35
Nor Shor 37
I Falls 39
Eveleth 41

howardst wrote:I agree with most of your ranking other than the one move your afraid to make that is not really even a question. Greenway is 3 ahead of denfeld. No question a flukey ot loss and I mean flukey does not over shadow the total overall business completed. Denfeld tied superior and sup only win was over proctor who greenway derailed. Herm 1, hibb 2, greenway3, then the rest. In fact I'm scared that in the snake pit the raiders could not only move into the top 5-6 in the state but also take a firm hold of number 2. You have to revamp your thinking or be ready to move Hibbing to 4 with a loss as denfeld beat greenway. Lol. Nope it's a three horse race and they are entering the starting gates. In evaluating the hibb-green game I now believe hibb has the best player but green may have the better depth. Here is how it should look now. Herm, hibb, green, den, proc, n shore, vir, falls, ev, Ely

For a Hibbing guy, you sure get riled up over Greenway.

Not fired up at all. Im super nervous for what tues night brings. I have alot of respect for what they have over there and want to be sure that people understand how good a game this could be. My blood is blue. Always has been. Hibbing has taken care of business to this point and that is all a fan can ask for. Kids play hard and with respect. I just feel that one ot loss and a 9-1 record is better than others want to give the credit for. Hibbing I do believe has a team that can take down Hermantown. When the Greenway game is done I can then move onto putting the stats out there as to why Hermantown as good as they are, is over rated this year and it will be a tough task to get to state and odds are they dont get to state champ game if they are lucky enough to get there. Hibbing on the other hand has the fire power and goal tending to make alot of noise

howardst wrote:well if you were in the house than you know shots on goal wer not close to acurate. You would know that other than the first 15 min the game was controled by the raiders who did start very slow and that is a major mistake. You also know that the ot goal was a flukey turn over on the pp that the denfeld player made a great play on but never really got a quality shot off as it rolled off his stick and slid awkwardly by the raider tender. The game was taken over by the raiders. I hope they get a chance to play again and you can give me a goal and I will take the raiders for a beer and I will be enjoying a cold one on you!!!! Hibbing will have no problem with Denfeld. In fact after a few more losses by the hunters/trojans this will be a conversation of told you so.

For being a Hibbing fan, you sure have a strange way of showing it. Here's what I find confusing and/or suspicious:

1. You defend Greenway passionately. Don't know many Hibbing fans that could muster that type of motivation to make the Raiders look good.

2. You put down Hibbing's depth and their schedule. I've been to all the home games and have listened to the others on the radio, and one of my good friends that has a kid on the team has been to every game and we talk about it a lot, so I think I have a good idea of where this team stands so far.

It has been pretty obvious thus far that Hibbing's biggest concern is depth at defense, certainly not at forward. I would think this would be clear to any Hibbing fan. And their 4th or 5th best forward just returned from a football injury and put up 2 goals and an assist in his first game back, so there should be even less of a concern about depth at forward now.

I'd go so far as to say Hibbing's ability on offense to possess the puck and generate large chunks of zone time has been their best defense. A goalie with a .930 sv% has been a big help also. To talk about any potential weaknesses of Hibbing and not mention their depth at defense really makes me question if you are a Hibbing fan or not.

3. You made the trip to Duluth to watch the Denfeld-Greenway game. I live in Duluth and I didn't even go to this game. You can't get enough of Greenway hockey.

As I said, if you are indeed a Hibbing fan, you have a real strange way of showing it.

well i am a hockey fan. was in duluth for mtgs that day and thought I would check it out. I prob go to as many hs games as anyone. Rapids, Ev, Vir, Green, Hibbing - does not matter. I have and always will be a jacket fan. I am suprised that you take my comments about Hibbing as ripping on them. This is a real take on the team so far. Goalie - young and un proven at the varsity level to this point. D - Perunovich and its a crap shoot of 4-5 other guys who none are what I would call stellar hs players. Good yes, great nope. ( Irwins leaving for EP really depleted the blue line) Up front you have a wonderful puck handling player and goal scorer in Lee. Then you have Rado and boomer as rugged type of players that go to the net. Bestul is a high energy guy that can be very effective. Lescarbo just coming back adds depth but not exactly a guy that is going to carry your team. yes Hibbing has some depth but be honest they control the puck coming up the rink when it is on Peruni or Lee stick. That could be a issue down the road and may bite them. I do believe Hibbing is very good and I have stated they will have a chance to take down herm with the likes of lee and peruni carrying the load. Herm does not have a player other than maybe watkins that plays the game like that. Ques what you will. Fact is I am a hockey fan and prob watch more than most

howardst wrote:well i am a hockey fan. was in duluth for mtgs that day and thought I would check it out. I prob go to as many hs games as anyone. Rapids, Ev, Vir, Green, Hibbing - does not matter. I have and always will be a jacket fan. I am suprised that you take my comments about Hibbing as ripping on them. This is a real take on the team so far. Goalie - young and un proven at the varsity level to this point. D - Perunovich and its a crap shoot of 4-5 other guys who none are what I would call stellar hs players. Good yes, great nope. ( Irwins leaving for EP really depleted the blue line) Up front you have a wonderful puck handling player and goal scorer in Lee. Then you have Rado and boomer as rugged type of players that go to the net. Bestul is a high energy guy that can be very effective. Lescarbo just coming back adds depth but not exactly a guy that is going to carry your team. yes Hibbing has some depth but be honest they control the puck coming up the rink when it is on Peruni or Lee stick. That could be a issue down the road and may bite them. I do believe Hibbing is very good and I have stated they will have a chance to take down herm with the likes of lee and peruni carrying the load. Herm does not have a player other than maybe watkins that plays the game like that. Ques what you will. Fact is I am a hockey fan and prob watch more than most

Fair enough, I agree with pretty much everything in this post. Yes, Lee is the highest level forward they have, but for Class A, guys like Deboom, Bestul, Radovich, Mattson, Lescarbeau and Osborne are an excellent group of players to fill out the rest of your top 6. Even Versich on the third line has 6 points this season; most years the third liners for Hibbing would be lucky to get that many points for the whole season.

I am also nervous for the Greenway game. I think Hibbing should be favored, but nobody would be shocked if Greenway won. They have some talented players and this is their chance to pick up a signature win. They will be jacked up and energized, and Hibbing will have to match their intensity.

We do disagree on Hermantown. I still think they are an excellent team. Losing to Tonka by two goals on the road wouldn't be a bad loss for any team, A or AA. Until they actually lose to a Class A team, I will continue to believe it is them and Breck, followed by everyone else.

I think Hibbing can beat Hermantown, but they have to continue to show improvement as the season goes along, especially the defensemen. But most of them have very little varsity experience, so there is room to grow.

I also think Hibbing will beat Denfeld, handily.

As a Greenway fan I appreciate the fact that some Hibbing fans are nervous about Greenway. Can Greenway win? Yeah, but it would be a pretty big upset. LaDoux (goalie) will have to make more than one spectacular save in order for this to happen. Greenway's forecheck has been overwhelming against its weaker opponent so the other Hibbing defensemen will have to make some plays. The main reason I think that Hibbing will win this somewhat comfortably is that their speedy forwards will have success beating the Greenway defensemen, thus creating scoring opportunities or penalties. Hibbing's biggest challenge is to control Greenway's first line, especially Lantz and Troumbly (both are very good with the puck) with Kalisch providing some good muscle. Hope it's a one goal game, but I'm afraid Hibbing will win by 3 or possibly 4 goals. Hope I'm wrong.

elliott70 wrote:

howardst wrote:I agree with most of your ranking other than the one move your afraid to make that is not really even a question. Greenway is 3 ahead of denfeld. No question a flukey ot loss and I mean flukey does not over shadow the total overall business completed. Denfeld tied superior and sup only win was over proctor who greenway derailed. Herm 1, hibb 2, greenway3, then the rest. In fact I'm scared that in the snake pit the raiders could not only move into the top 5-6 in the state but also take a firm hold of number 2. You have to revamp your thinking or be ready to move Hibbing to 4 with a loss as denfeld beat greenway. Lol. Nope it's a three horse race and they are entering the starting gates. In evaluating the hibb-green game I now believe hibb has the best player but green may have the better depth. Here is how it should look now. Herm, hibb, green, den, proc, n shore, vir, falls, ev, Ely

For a Hibbing guy, you sure get riled up over Greenway.

On the original plat of Coleraine I think Gunn St was Howard St.

Would that make Greenway1969 and howardst second cousins?

No, we are first cousins. He's also my brother-in-law.

greenway1969 wrote:No, we are first cousins. He's also my brother-in-law.

You are from Bovey (or Calumet).

Hibbing will beat Hermantown for section 7A, you can take that to the bank.

northwoods oldtimer wrote:Hibbing will beat Hermantown for section 7A, you can take that to the bank.

I ain't gonna put money on it.

And with a nephew playing for Hermantown B AA, I kinda got ta cheer for the Hawks.