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Benik is the leading goal scorer on a team of future WCHA studs. Benik will put the puck in the net for SCSU.

The exchange kid sounds pretty good.....

MrBoDangles wrote:Benik is the leading goal scorer on a team of future WCHA studs. Benik will put the puck in the net for SCSU.

I hope you're right, but he could just as easily be the next Matt Francis.

Joey benik is the third leading scorer on the Penticton Vee's, 16 points behind the team leader. League wide he is in the 40's in the scoring race.

Like I said.... He is the leading GOAL scorer on a team with some players you will hear a lot about very soon in the WCHA. #1 in the league for rookies......

You are correct, seems he's heated up lately after a somewhat slow start.

OK...what happend against Marshall if any one was there? A loss and no goals - only one goal?

Ken Dryden wrote:OK...what happend against Marshall if any one was there? A loss and no goals - only one goal?

Kid can play.
He's just like advertised, smart and great hands and always ends up in a good spot with the puck. Marshall just played him well and their tenders came up big a couple times on him. McCoy stoned him on a breakaway early, and Noble stopped him late in the game on a couple point-blank shots. Marshall's D moved their feet to meet him better, and got great backcheck help from their forwards all night.
Marshall made West play defense more than they (West) like to, that was the difference, pushed the play. Good match-up of decent teams who will both get better.

Edger wrote:

Ken Dryden wrote:OK...what happend against Marshall if any one was there? A loss and no goals - only one goal?

Kid can play.
He's just like advertised, smart and great hands and always ends up in a good spot with the puck. Marshall just played him well and their tenders came up big a couple times on him. McCoy stoned him on a breakaway early, and Noble stopped him late in the game on a couple point-blank shots. Marshall's D moved their feet to meet him better, and got great backcheck help from their forwards all night.
Marshall made West play defense more than they (West) like to, that was the difference, pushed the play. Good match-up of decent teams who will both get better.

Were we watching the same game? I don't think I saw that kid take one hard stride all night. While his hands were good, he didn't move his feet at all, he tries to do way too much, the kid is fast, why didn't he move his feet? He tries going through guys instead of using his speed. And another thing, he skated off the ice without shaking anybody's hand after the game. Wake up wonder boy, show some class! There's not a helmet big enough to fit his big head. Marshall played a good game while West didn't show up, and it shows. Rantanen looked like he had the highest potential, but that he didn't work hard and he expected to be the best player on the ice. If he wants to be considered as a top player in this state, he better start working harder and moving his feet, because he definitely has the potential to be a completely dominating player, but he can't be lazy like he was last night.

This was a huge win for our program in Marshall, as 3A doesn't get any credit. Now 3A teams have beat two 1A teams that are supposedly supposed to be top teams in the section, as Marshall over West and New Ulm over New Prague. (Yes we understand that we're no section 2 or 6, etc.)

Looks like he turned into a playmaker against East...his 2 assists must have been from off of rebounds lol.

Does this kid stay on all year or is the exchange program based on semesters?

He's in a typical exchange student program, so he's at West for the rest of the school year, and playing the entire hockey season.

I wonder if he chose to attend Mankato West. If he's really as good as his numbers suggest, why would he travel all this way to play for a sub par program?

I'm sure he could have walked onto the Hopkins squad and played against the best competition the state has to offer.

Thoughts?

(this is not a bash against Mankato hockey btw)

I wonder if he chose to attend Mankato West. If he's really as good as his numbers suggest, why would he travel all this way to play for a sub par program?

I'm sure he could have walked onto the Hopkins squad and played against the best competition the state has to offer.

Thoughts?

(this is not a bash against Mankato hockey btw)

not very likely he had much of a choice of where he was going, and even if he had a choice on where to go, most foreign exchange students are in the program for the experience of living in the United States and seeing how the culture is.

I don't see much of a difference from this situation as any other foreign exchange student. The only real difference is that this individual enjoys playing hockey and luckily he's in the best state to play high school hockey. Really I think he's here for more than just the hockey.

scarlethockey33 wrote:

I wonder if he chose to attend Mankato West. If he's really as good as his numbers suggest, why would he travel all this way to play for a sub par program?

I'm sure he could have walked onto the Hopkins squad and played against the best competition the state has to offer.

Thoughts?

(this is not a bash against Mankato hockey btw)

not very likely he had much of a choice of where he was going, and even if he had a choice on where to go, most foreign exchange students are in the program for the experience of living in the United States and seeing how the culture is.

I don't see much of a difference from this situation as any other foreign exchange student. The only real difference is that this individual enjoys playing hockey and luckily he's in the best state to play high school hockey. Really I think he's here for more than just the hockey.

A good call on your response. Thanks for bringing me back from planet hockey to mother earth

Well, he certainly has toned it down a bit lately. He still figures in on most of the Scarlets goals but haven't seen even a hat trick out of him lately.
Are teams figuring him out a bit? I wouldn't call it a slump, but I was looking for at least 3 goals against Le Sueur.

Ken Dryden wrote:Well, he certainly has toned it down a bit lately. He still figures in on most of the Scarlets goals but haven't seen even a hat trick out of him lately.
Are teams figuring him out a bit? I wouldn't call it a slump, but I was looking for at least 3 goals against Le Sueur.

The kid had four assists, and his linemates had four goals..that's not enough for you?

Rantanen is seeing a lot of teams doubling him up, but as shown it's giving other Scarlets more room and opportunities to score goals

Ken - I think your question is fair. Ville has certainly been getting a lot of extra attention from opponents, and who can blame those teams for shadowing the leading goal scorer in the state? He's played well lately, and the team has played it's best hockey of the season in the last two weeks or so. He and West will see Lourdes, Century, and Albert Lea coming up soon, all of whom have great teams and coaches. Should be fun to watch.

Besides, "wins" are the only stats that count, right?

Hey Gopher, when the kid is scoring 4,5 and 6 goals a game then 1 goal and 4 assists just doesn't impress me much...if you know what I mean! lol

I was actually hoping to see him shatter the goal scoring record and now he is getting as many or more assists as goals. I like goal scorers, you just can't teach the kind of talent.

Clearly Weber and other guys on the team are benefiting from the attention he is receiving lately...and your right, the team is playing well and winning!

Keep winning West...would love to see you at the X again this spring!

3g 4a for Rantanen tonight vs. Mankato East final score was 15-0 for West

31 goals with 13 games (49 points total), Mankato West's record for goals in a season is 45 held by MSU Freshmen Corey Leivermann

12 games left in the regular season for West, He's averaging roughly 2.4 goals a game, he's on pace for 60 goals this season. Very possible he could break the scoring record or even tie the scoring record or at least get very close

scarlethockey33 wrote:3g 4a for Rantanen tonight vs. Mankato East final score was 15-0 for West

31 goals with 13 games (49 points total), Mankato West's record for goals in a season is 45 held by MSU Freshmen Corey Leivermann

12 games left in the regular season for West, He's averaging roughly 2.4 goals a game, he's on pace for 60 goals this season. Very possible he could break the scoring record or even tie the scoring record or at least get very close

Too bad they forget to teach him class and humility, he may be good, but without class, he will never be great....

all they did last nite was pad the stat line, the first goal was the game winner, were the other 14 necessary?

Too bad they forget to teach him class and humility, he may be good, but without class, he will never be great....

referring to the number of goals scored? or what?

all they did last nite was pad the stat line, the first goal was the game winner, were the other 14 necessary?

rather have west just cycle the puck for the last period of hockey? because they could've easily just passed around East for the last 17 minutes.. as oddly as it sounds personally I think continuing to play at a high level shows more respect to the rival East players than backing down and not scoring..

scarlethockey33 wrote:

Too bad they forget to teach him class and humility, he may be good, but without class, he will never be great....

referring to the number of goals scored? or what?

all they did last nite was pad the stat line, the first goal was the game winner, were the other 14 necessary?

rather have west just cycle the puck for the last period of hockey? because they could've easily just passed around East for the last 17 minutes.. as oddly as it sounds personally I think continuing to play at a high level shows more respect to the rival East players than backing down and not scoring..

the over celebrating a 15th goal and trash talking the east bench shows no class. how about not trying pad the stats and beat the other team into the ground, must make a get feel all warm and fuzzy knowing they put up the same amount of goals as we have players?


have you been on the wrong side of a blow out mr scarlet?

most coaches sit their top line in the 3rd period when they are up by 10 goals. Shame on the coach for letting his 1st line play in this type of a blowout. This coach shows no class. And, for the scoring, who cares if you can get 5 or 7 points on a night like this. Show some class Mankato West.

the over celebrating a 15th goal and trash talking the east bench shows no class. how about not trying pad the stats and beat the other team into the ground, must make a get feel all warm and fuzzy knowing they put up the same amount of goals as we have players?


have you been on the wrong side of a blow out mr scarlet?

First of all, yes I've been on the wrong side of multiple blowouts before, and I know what it's like being how the Cougars felt. Heck I even know how it is to be blown out by my rival team (which were the Cougars), which might be even more salt to a wounding loss.

The trash talking I'm sure goes both ways it's hockey, like any sport it's competitive and emotions run high. Especially in a crosstown rivalry games, where many of the guys I'm sure know each other, played with each other when they were younger and probably see each other on the weekends.

How about the words that coach Anderson directed towards Rantanen that angered the Fin towards the end of the game? How about the 10 and the 2 given to the Cougars in the end of the game with 5 minutes remaining, which may have resulted from Anderson's words? I'm not sure why the 10 and 2 were given, but I'm sure it was a serious enough reason. Where's the class in that?

Many of the Scarlet boys were very genuine after the game. Sure they were happy to win a rivalry game, and for many of the Scarlets, it was their last East v. West game of their lives. I didn't see any Scarlets celebrating after any goals if so they were very brief and not very noticeable and none were boasting about their win after the game.

The only thing that might be considered over celebrating was the 13th goal scored by sophomore Billy Bigham, which was the first of his high school career after two seasons, but even that was very subtle.

From a coaching point of view, the Scarlets face maybe their toughest week next week going to Lourdes and hosting Albert Lea, games which have extremely high section implications. The Scarlets need to prepare for these games, and they need to play at a high level in order to prepare. If the Scarlets laid off and slowed their play, they would be unprepared for these games next week.

You can't expect players to just turn off and turn on the "play at their highest level" switch, the Scarlets need to play consistently at their highest level hockey in order to improve and be ready for harder opponents.

I've got nothing personal against Mankato East and understand I openly support the Scarlets. I don't support blowouts, I simply support my team.

I do understand there's ways to avoid this, but understand there are also reasons for it. Yes, I understand that it looks classless and it probably is classless, but understand it's just the way hockey and all sports in general is blowouts happen and you move on.