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62ZamboniMeister wrote:I don't know what you heard but Anoka's poor defensive play is not about the defensemen or lack thereof. Anoka has probably the best defensive defenseman in the state in Jeff Lesmeister. When he is on the ice, Anoka is usually in control of the play. Unfortunately he isn't able to play 51 min of the game though he is usually on the ice 75% of the time and almost 100% of the penalty kill time. Now that Tony Rush has moved to defense and paired up with Lesmeister Anoka has a first line defensive pair equal to any in the state. The problem is after that they have nothing. The "poor devensive play" of Anoka in the Hopkins game was actually atributed to the lack of defensive play on the part of their forwards, especially the big three, O'Neil, Belsile, and Scott along with unusually poor defensive play on the part of their second line defensemen.
The next two games in the St Paul Tournament Anoka played their backup goaltender and saw the partial return of one of their top four defensemen from last year in Tyler Manthey who played a few shifts in each game. In the consolation championship game Lesmeister put on an exihibition of defensive play totally dominating Egan in all three zones. Egan only managed to score when he went off the ice. The Anoka forwards played much beter defensively in the game as well.

62ZamboniMeister wrote:What is truly amazing is the amount of ignorance spewn forth on these forums in the name of hockey knowledge. Why is an obvious Elk River fan posting a topic about Anoka defense in a tournament which he did not attend? Anoka shut out Elk River 4 to 0 with only two of their regular defensemen in the lineup. Is the Elk River fan grasping on to the hope that all the regular defensemen of Anoka will be injured or out when they play again giving Elk River the slightest chance to even score a goal. Sorry elkshock22, the top Anoka defensemen are in great shape playing better every game. To the other Elk River fan please do not compare Jeff Lesmeister to Brandon Eason. He was a hack goalie whose only thing bigger than his 5 hole was his mouth. Lesmeister would not lower himself so much as to even read these forums much less post on them. He would never toot his own horn so I will do it for him. I stand by what I said about him being one of the best when it comes to playing the defensive aspects of the position. His skills are excellent stoping the rush at the blueline, one on one against the boards, tying up and cleararing space in front of the net. He does not contribute much to the offense (other than creating turnovers and initiating outlet passes to forwards creating breakaways and odd man rushes) which is why he does not have the stats or get the notoriety of the totally offensive forwards (i.e. gleason) but he does not get beat in the defensive zone or cought out of position deep in the offensive zone like so many of those offensive forwards do. On a team with three highly skilled offensive players Lesmeister focuses on playing defense. What more could you ask for out of a defenseman.

62ZamboniMeister wrote:What is truly amazing is the amount of ignorance spewn forth on these forums in the name of hockey knowledge. Why is an obvious Elk River fan posting a topic about Anoka defense in a tournament which he did not attend? Anoka shut out Elk River 4 to 0 with only two of their regular defensemen in the lineup. Is the Elk River fan grasping on to the hope that all the regular defensemen of Anoka will be injured or out when they play again giving Elk River the slightest chance to even score a goal. Sorry elkshock22, the top Anoka defensemen are in great shape playing better every game. To the other Elk River fan please do not compare Jeff Lesmeister to Brandon Eason. He was a hack goalie whose only thing bigger than his 5 hole was his mouth. Lesmeister would not lower himself so much as to even read these forums much less post on them. He would never toot his own horn so I will do it for him. I stand by what I said about him being one of the best when it comes to playing the defensive aspects of the position. His skills are excellent stoping the rush at the blueline, one on one against the boards, tying up and cleararing space in front of the net. He does not contribute much to the offense (other than creating turnovers and initiating outlet passes to forwards creating breakaways and odd man rushes) which is why he does not have the stats or get the notoriety of the totally offensive forwards (i.e. gleason) but he does not get beat in the defensive zone or cought out of position deep in the offensive zone like so many of those offensive forwards do. On a team with three highly skilled offensive players Lesmeister focuses on playing defense. What more could you ask for out of a defenseman.

62ZamboniMeister wrote:What is truly amazing is the amount of ignorance spewn forth on these forums in the name of hockey knowledge. Why is an obvious Elk River fan posting a topic about Anoka defense in a tournament which he did not attend? Anoka shut out Elk River 4 to 0 with only two of their regular defensemen in the lineup. Is the Elk River fan grasping on to the hope that all the regular defensemen of Anoka will be injured or out when they play again giving Elk River the slightest chance to even score a goal. Sorry elkshock22, the top Anoka defensemen are in great shape playing better every game. To the other Elk River fan please do not compare Jeff Lesmeister to Brandon Eason. He was a hack goalie whose only thing bigger than his 5 hole was his mouth. Lesmeister would not lower himself so much as to even read these forums much less post on them. He would never toot his own horn so I will do it for him. I stand by what I said about him being one of the best when it comes to playing the defensive aspects of the position. His skills are excellent stoping the rush at the blueline, one on one against the boards, tying up and cleararing space in front of the net. He does not contribute much to the offense (other than creating turnovers and initiating outlet passes to forwards creating breakaways and odd man rushes) which is why he does not have the stats or get the notoriety of the totally offensive forwards (i.e. gleason) but he does not get beat in the defensive zone or cought out of position deep in the offensive zone like so many of those offensive forwards do. On a team with three highly skilled offensive players Lesmeister focuses on playing defense. What more could you ask for out of a defenseman.

HOFam'r wrote: I am lowering myself posting on this thread...in my opinion he is a good but not great player.

EREmpireStrikesBack wrote:I'm getting credit where it isn't even due? I'm flattered.

As far as Jeff (aka 62ZamboniMeister or whatever member of his family that may be), I have not seen him play this year so I am not going to pass my judgment on him as a player. I have seen him play in past years and was not thoroughly impressed, but he could have gotten better, so who knows. Based on the unbiased opinion of Famer, I would guess that what I saw in the past hasn't changed much. (Never thought I'd be using famer as a credible source). Either way, I think whoever Meister is would be best served staying away from the boards. They may talk about Eason in a negative manner, but the tides can easily be turned and exposure isn't always good.