7AA & 7A Semi-finals at Amsoil Arena Saturday

[east hockey]

Tons of fun at Amsoil today. DE-GR and DM-Denfeld were tight battles, and the other two games not so much, but the crowds were solid and I hope they do it again next year. A few observations:

-Tough break for Rapids outshooting East 2-1 yet still being denied. There's a lot of young talent on the T-hawks that I think will make them the favorite in 7AA next year.

-Hounds get it done, what can you say? The beat goes on for Randolph as they get to shoot for yet another trip to state.

-I'll be shocked if ER doesn't win 7AA. They looked great.

-Marshall played a fantastic game defensively as Denfeld had very few high quality scoring chances. They'll need to do that again to beat Hermantown.

-Hermantown kicked it into another gear after the first period and did a great job keeping Perunovich in check. They are a talented, hard working group that always impresses.

-Hermantown was easily the 2nd best team that played at Amsoil today. They could absolutely compete with Elk River and it would be a great game. Too bad the powers that be in Hermantown won't let their kids reach their full potential and play at the highest level; they are more than capable of being a AA power.

-Parking sucked. Might not want to have the boat show on the same weekend next year.

- Congrats to the winners and I'm hoping the title games will be barnburners.

Next year, park at the Holiday Center and walk the Skywalk down. It's free and the walk is easy.

Lee

[karl(east)]

A fun, though exhausting, day of hockey at Amsoil. I'm glad we had one thriller and one other reasonably good game. Pretty good crowd, too...it may look bad in pictures with those glaring yellow seats in the front couple rows always empty, but when you factor in the 2,000 extra seats, I'd guess the gate count was no different from the days of the old DECC (in years where there wasn't an East-Cloquet game). Nice crowd for the nightcap as well, with Hibbing in particular bringing good numbers down from the Range.

Hibbing got worked over in the 2nd period after a decent 1st, but I hope this group sticks around...with that young talent, Denfeld probably dropping off, and Marshall moving up, it's probably them and the Hawks the next couple of years.

Marshall's D looked very tight, and Denfeld didn't generate a whole lot of quality chances. Mildly disappointing for Denfeld, who were playing pretty well down the stretch, and I don't think they'll have this much depth or talent in the foreseeable future, unless they continue to pull in transfers. I don't know if the Toppers have the finishing they'll need to get past Hermantown, but they should be able to make a game of it.

[greenway1969]

Agree that 7A will be between Hibbing and Hermantown next year. Hibbing players arer going to need to put on 20 pounds to compete. One of the things that caught my attention was how Hermantown outmuscled the Hibbing players the entire game. Denfeld loses all of its top players so will fall back considerably with the rest of the Range teams. I'm hoping Greenway will be at Amsoil next year. Since Marshall is gone I'm wondering if they'll put Proctor into 7A.