Saint Thomas vs Hill Murray.

[thestickler07]

Another fun Hockey Day game. The Pioneers did a good job of imposing their physical style through much of the game, but STA won the special teams battle, and their finishers don't need much.

I said this a few times last year before STA lost to Eagan, and the same thing looks to be true this season: they don't seem to have a whole lot of answers for tough, deep, physical teams. This wasn't something they ever had to face in Class A, and it takes some adjustments to beat this sort of team with any consistency. They got a bit more physical as the game went on, and that helped some. But until they add a few more wrinkles, I'm going to be a bit skeptical of their ability to beat teams like Hill, Edina, and Wayzata. They have the talent, but I have yet to see the scheme.

They definitely played HM's game, too bad because they were pretty lethal on the powerplay.

Snow in goal was surprisingly solid imo, gotta control the rebounds a little better and the only weak goal was the 5 hole.

STAA needs to win the rematch but I think they played well today.

[bauerman]

concerning Tom Vannelli as a coach and make no debate about it Greg and Tom are classified as co -head coaches but Tom calls all the shots. my point would be with St Lechner gets all this credit as a great coach and he probably is but if you talk
to former players that maybe a question.Lechner took over a average Stillwater program and made them average, Tom took over an average Cretin program and made them good he tooh over a poor STA program and made them good. Obviousley it helps to have good players and that where judging coaches gets tough(what about Moose at Johnson?) but my point would be this many players have moved on to play college hockey after playing for Tom V and i do not know of one who after experiencing college coaching who didnt think they were better coached and better prepared for the next level. I admidre all the top coaches in HS but it amazes me how Vannelli is never mentioned