Duluth Hockey Frenzy (DD-H'Town, DE-CEC)

[MNHockeyFan]

This section is wide open. Lee, who would you put at 2?

Before answering Lee should wait 'till he calms down a little.

[east hockey]

This section is wide open. Lee, who would you put at 2?

Rapids second. East or Andover 3rd, Flake 5th, Cloquet 6th, don't care about 7-8-9.

Lee

[east hockey]

This section is wide open. Lee, who would you put at 2?

Before answering Lee should wait 'till he calms down a little.

Me? CALM DOWN???

I AM CALM!!!!

Lee

[Frequent_MN_Flyer]

Rapids beat down Hibbing, but they need to beat Hermantown. Should be interesting with Elk River... they play Blaine and Centennial. Could lose both.

[Houndhockey]

Bad loss for East, but lets not jump ahead of ourselves. After this past weekend, people were ready to give East the #1 seed. One loss doesn't move them to #3. Yes I would say Elk River is #1 at this point, but East is still an easy #2. Just take the head to head over Rapids and then compare body of work as well, it's not even close.

[Slammer]

Rivalry game in a tight and packed arena. Don't forget these are 16 year old kids out there. This game will defenitley give the Hounds motivation and is a good wake up call! Props to cloquet for finally winning one..... You could tell they really wanted it.

As for the seeding, it doesn't change a thing for East. They are still at number 2, and there is no case for anyone to move ahead of them at this point in the season.

[karl(east)]

Well, you could see that coming by the middle of the second period. Esse broke out that trap they've used in a number of their upsets over East over the years, and it just lulled the Hounds to sleep. It made for deathly dull hockey for over two periods, but it kept it close, and all it takes is one little break, one ill-advised pinch, and you get a break the other way and tie the game. After that, it's all momentum and adrenaline.

The last few minutes were an East shooting gallery, but the Jacks blocked just enough shots, and East couldn't cash in on a few chances, including a couple of breakaways. East's lone goal was pretty soft. They need to generate a lot more offense. Forget about rankings, section seeds, and so on; they just need to get back on track. Lakeville North should sure make for an interesting follow-up to this one.

This probably gets Cloquet the 6-seed, no matter what happens in their STMA game. I'd still give East the 2 for now, but it's going to be tough, with East, Elky, and Rapids all not playing stellar hockey down the stretch. How much value do you put in Andover's late season run?

In the end, though, it's great to see some life back in this rivalry again. East had the biggest student section I've ever seen at Heritage, and the Cloquet fans were sure making noise by the end. The last few minutes were great. 12 in a row is a lot over a rival, and it had to happen someday. Better now than in sections, though we'll see where everyone goes from here. Hopefully it's a learning experience.

[Frequent_MN_Flyer]

I could easily see East at 2... Today. That may change if they get beat by North and at Tonka. Rapids needs to win remaining games including a tough one vs Hermantown (A doesn't matter, they are good).

[Traxler]

I've seen a lot of references to playing a trap. Can someone explain that to me?

[Slammer]

I've seen a lot of references to playing a trap. Can someone explain that to me?

The "trap" is used to make sure the opposing team doesn't make it though the neutral zone. It causes a lot of dumped pucks and some boring hockey..... Basically just hanging onto the same score. Perfect strategy for the lumberjacks tonight.

It helps really level the playing field for the team using it, and it certainly helped Cloquet tonight. Good coaching.

[TheHockeyDJ]

I've seen a lot of references to playing a trap. Can someone explain that to me?

The "trap" is used to make sure the opposing team doesn't make it though the neutral zone. It causes a lot of dumped pucks and some boring hockey..... Basically just hanging onto the same score. Perfect strategy for the lumberjacks tonight.

It helps really level the playing field for the team using it, and it certainly helped Cloquet tonight. Good coaching.

That's a good description I'll expand on. You send in an attacker on the puck carrier, forcing him to one side or the other and a quick pass. Your other two forwards pick up the closest possible passing targets and try to stay a length away from them of about 1/3 the distance they are from the puck carrier. This causes the puck carrier to have to make a quick decision with the puck and the way the other two forwards play defensively against the targets, they make the passing targets deceptively open, but can close on them in a hurry to break up or intercept the pass. I know sometimes it is hard to describe without a diagram and there are probably different variations of this.

[Traxler]

I've seen a lot of references to playing a trap. Can someone explain that to me?

The "trap" is used to make sure the opposing team doesn't make it though the neutral zone. It causes a lot of dumped pucks and some boring hockey..... Basically just hanging onto the same score. Perfect strategy for the lumberjacks tonight.

It helps really level the playing field for the team using it, and it certainly helped Cloquet tonight. Good coaching.

That's a good description I'll expand on. You send in an attacker on the puck carrier, forcing him to one side or the other and a quick pass. Your other two forwards pick up the closest possible passing targets and try to stay a length away from them of about 1/3 the distance they are from the puck carrier. This causes the puck carrier to have to make a quick decision with the puck and the way the other two forwards play defensively against the targets, they make the passing targets deceptively open, but can close on them in a hurry to break up or intercept the pass. I know sometimes it is hard to describe without a diagram and there are probably different variations of this.

Thanks for the explanations. I think I recognize what you're describing.

[northwoods oldtimer]

Rivalry game in a tight and packed arena. Don't forget these are 16 year old kids out there. This game will defenitley give the Hounds motivation and is a good wake up call! Props to cloquet for finally winning one..... You could tell they really wanted it.

As for the seeding, it doesn't change a thing for East. They are still at number 2, and there is no case for anyone to move ahead of them at this point in the season.

Sounds like some excuses being made for not showing up! Should be a wild section 7AA playoff. I will be pulling for the 16 year old's from Rapids.

[greenway1969]

Envy Twin Ports high school hockey. Great teams, great games and great rivalries. Plenty of good games to see every week. Didn't see anything from Rapids last night (vs. Hibbing) that was very encouraging. The defensemen are till making the same mistakes that they did at the beginning of the season. They weren't as obvious because they were playing a team that was not competitive with them. Individual talent won the game (Peterson and Mattson). Hermantown won't allow the end to end rushes that Hibbing allowed. Key thing to watch when Rapids plays Hermantown is once again how Rapids handles or doesn't handle the Hermantown forecheck.

[northwoods oldtimer]

Envy Twin Ports high school hockey. Great teams, great games and great rivalries. Plenty of good games to see every week. Didn't see anything from Rapids last night (vs. Hibbing) that was very encouraging. The defensemen are till making the same mistakes that they did at the beginning of the season. They weren't as obvious because they were playing a team that was not competitive with them. Individual talent won the game (Peterson and Mattson). Hermantown won't allow the end to end rushes that Hibbing allowed. Key thing to watch when Rapids plays Hermantown is once again how Rapids handles or doesn't handle the Hermantown forecheck.

Agree it has been ugly to watch this season against good and better than average teams.

[GPGT]

Didn't rapids used to trap east a lot as well?

I thought I remember a few years back when the Jake, Trevor , Dom line was dominating , teams used to try the trap , and it failed miserably.

Thats what I always assumed a trap tactic was... A weak team using an easy tactic to try to slow down a much more talented team.

[karl(east)]

Didn't rapids used to trap east a lot as well?

I thought I remember a few years back when the Jake, Trevor , Dom line was dominating , teams used to try the trap , and it failed miserably.

Thats what I always assumed a trap tactic was... A weak team using an easy tactic to try to slow down a much more talented team.

Yeah, lots of teams have tried to trap against East over the years, some with more success than others. I guess I'd disagree that it's an "easy" tactic, though. The design isn't all that complex, but actually getting high school kids to execute it at a high level so that it actually slows down a more talented team...that can be difficult, as evidenced by the many teams that have tried it against East over the years and failed. Dave Esse pretty consistently gets Cloquet to do a good job with it, and deserves credit for that.

I agree it is no fun to watch unless you derive great joy out of watching players move to the right spots on the ice, but if you know you're the weaker team, you do what it takes. Sometimes the alternative is far worse...witness what happened a few weeks ago when Rapids tried to skate with East. And the trap need not be as defensive as Cloquet's take on it; some teams use it to generate a lot of offense in transition.

It's up to the other team to figure out how to beat it. Dump-and-chase is the safest approach, but that requires hard work and commitment to assignments on the forecheck. You can try long stretch passes, but that can be risky--East tried that a few times last night, and it got them a few breakaways, but it also resulted in a few turnovers that cost them. The most straightforward approach is to just have forwards who are good enough to shred through it, as they did in the Dom-Trevor-Jake days, but that requires talent.

To that end, I think it might be a good idea to play Beaulieu at forward if East plays Cloquet in the playoffs, or run into some other team that traps as much as the Jacks do. I haven't been a big fan of the Phil at Phorward experiment because he can exert more control over the game at his natural position, and because it often seems to result in Phil trying to skate through the entire defense while his linemates stand and watch. But this is one situation where that might actually have a productive use. Have him center the 3rd line, even, if you don't want to mess with the chemistry of the top two.

[north_bear]

Envy Twin Ports high school hockey. Great teams, great games and great rivalries. Plenty of good games to see every week. Didn't see anything from Rapids last night (vs. Hibbing) that was very encouraging. The defensemen are till making the same mistakes that they did at the beginning of the season. They weren't as obvious because they were playing a team that was not competitive with them. Individual talent won the game (Peterson and Mattson). Hermantown won't allow the end to end rushes that Hibbing allowed. Key thing to watch when Rapids plays Hermantown is once again how Rapids handles or doesn't handle the Hermantown forecheck.

I saw probably the most physical Rapids has been this year. If they keep that up it will keep their intensity up and will disrupt and slow down the play of Hermantown. They took a few too many penalties but at least they looked energized.

[TheHockeyDJ]

Envy Twin Ports high school hockey. Great teams, great games and great rivalries. Plenty of good games to see every week. Didn't see anything from Rapids last night (vs. Hibbing) that was very encouraging. The defensemen are till making the same mistakes that they did at the beginning of the season. They weren't as obvious because they were playing a team that was not competitive with them. Individual talent won the game (Peterson and Mattson). Hermantown won't allow the end to end rushes that Hibbing allowed. Key thing to watch when Rapids plays Hermantown is once again how Rapids handles or doesn't handle the Hermantown forecheck.

I saw probably the most physical Rapids has been this year. If they keep that up it will keep their intensity up and will disrupt and slow down the play of Hermantown. They took a few too many penalties but at least they looked energized.

Any idea when Quinn Mischke and Alex Adams will return? I thought Mischke was targeting the Hermantown game and I thought Alex Adams injury was just minor. I didn't hear anything about it on the radio last night.

[north_bear]

I am not sure. Quinn was suited up and skated barely the first shift in the Moorhead game but that's been it. I'm pretty sure Adams' got a dislocated shoulder in the IFalls game but I'm surprised he's been out this long.