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I do these every year for the guys, time to do one for the girls. I try to throw in a not so obvious choice, or a girl who didn't win the award.

Ms. Forward: AA-Lauren Smith (Academy of Holy Angels), A-Abby Williams (Alexandria)

Ms. Defense: AA-Kelly Seeler (Eden Prairie), A-Ashley Holmes (Alexandria)

Ms. Goalie: AA-Lea Jondal (Cretin-Derham Hall), A-Danielle Justice (Alexandria)

Coach of the Year: AA-Jon Holmes (Farmington), A-Brian Bergstrom (Roseau)

Unsung Hero of the Year: AA-Molly Arola (Grand Rapids/Greenway), Andrea Green (Eden Prairie) A-Kaye Collier (Hibbing/Chisholm), Kathryn DelZoppo (Alexandria)

Character Award: AA-Allie Bondy (Moorhead), Danielle Persson (Crookston)

Surprise Team of the Year: AA-Farmington, A-Roseau

Fans of the Year: AA-Cretin-Derham Hall, A-Alexandria

I am amazed how much I gave out to Cardinals. I saw Alexandria play a handful of times and liked them every time. I KNOW there are people I missed but from the many, many games I have seen this year, I think that is a pretty good list. I also understand I have a northern bias.

A very good list, even with the northern bias

It is amazing as you look back on a year at how difficult it is for anyone to put together a list like this! Girls hockey has come a long way and its cool that a list like this leaves off lots of great players. We have a very deep talent pool. Girls hockey is strong and well in the State of Hockey!!

Sounds something like the Madden awards in the NFL.

hockeyrube7 wrote:Sounds something like the Madden awards in the NFL.

I currently lack two things...

Turdunken

My own video game

(Oh, and about 200 pounds)

Good list.. I like your appreciation of Alex, your one of the few. I do agree with Alex fans, they had amazing fan support down at the state tournament for a class A school!
and you did pick Alex to win it all, nice pic I'd have to say!!

hockeyrube7 wrote:Sounds something like the Madden awards in the NFL.

good list where is the Turkey legs though???

hockeyrube7 wrote:Sounds something like the Madden awards in the NFL.

Break out the TurDucken

For the Surprise Team of the Year in AA I would have to go with CDH. After having kind of a mediocre regular season they really turned it around in sections and ended up 3rd in the Tournament. Hardly anyone expected this to happen.

I don't think that Kathryn DelZappo is an unsung hero because she got tons of press, most of their points, and all-tournament team. I would have to go with Michelle Anez on that.

MNHockeyFan wrote:For the Surprise Team of the Year in AA I would have to go with CDH. After having kind of a mediocre regular season they really turned it around in sections and ended up 3rd in the Tournament. Hardly anyone expected this to happen.

I debated over that for a long time. I think Farmington is more impressive because they just moved up from A and they are very, very young. I think it was a much bigger surprise from the start of the season to have Farmington in the state semi-finals compared to Cretin-Derham Hall. Cretin is probably the surprise team of the playoffs.

hocktang wrote:I don't think that Kathryn DelZappo is an unsung hero because she got tons of press, most of their points, and all-tournament team. I would have to go with Michelle Anez on that.

Yes, she gets press and I debated between Kathryn and Michelle for a few minutes. My final decision was that Williams gets the majority of the press where I feel DelZoppo is just as good, if not better. Anez could easily be there too.

boblee wrote:

MNHockeyFan wrote:For the Surprise Team of the Year in AA I would have to go with CDH. After having kind of a mediocre regular season they really turned it around in sections and ended up 3rd in the Tournament. Hardly anyone expected this to happen.

I debated over that for a long time. I think Farmington is more impressive because they just moved up from A and they are very, very young. I think it was a much bigger surprise from the start of the season to have Farmington in the state semi-finals compared to Cretin-Derham Hall. Cretin is probably the surprise team of the playoffs.

I would have to disagree with MNH here. With the importance of a goalie and how a team can rally around that, someone should have seen some of that coming. Jondal got a late start from what I have seen on these threads, and to be honest CDH could have just as easily won the whole thing, the "bounce" just went EP's way that night.

I have to agree with Boblee, the biggest surprise I seen was Farmington beating Eagan!

I think the unsung hero award could go to Alex's second and third line. Usually overlooked, but important to the team's success. They dont put up the numbers like first line but they play very good defense and allow Alex to run three lines. Second line center, Nikki Ecklund, was named player of the game for Alex in their win over SSP in the quarters. That line put in the first two goals for Alex.

hockeyrube7 wrote:

boblee wrote:

MNHockeyFan wrote:For the Surprise Team of the Year in AA I would have to go with CDH. After having kind of a mediocre regular season they really turned it around in sections and ended up 3rd in the Tournament. Hardly anyone expected this to happen.

I debated over that for a long time. I think Farmington is more impressive because they just moved up from A and they are very, very young. I think it was a much bigger surprise from the start of the season to have Farmington in the state semi-finals compared to Cretin-Derham Hall. Cretin is probably the surprise team of the playoffs.

I would have to disagree with MNH here. With the importance of a goalie and how a team can rally around that, someone should have seen some of that coming. Jondal got a late start from what I have seen on these threads, and to be honest CDH could have just as easily won the whole thing, the "bounce" just went EP's way that night.

I have to agree with Boblee, the biggest surprise I seen was Farmington beating Eagan!

I still think Cretin because boblee's award is for "Surprise Team of the Year" not just the tournament. Cretin surprised everyone in upsetting strong favorites Stillwater and Roseville in sections, not to mention WBL who was coming on strong at the end. Then after upsetting BSM in the quarterfinals and narrowly losing to EP, they beat Farmington for 3rd place in the Tourney. I still say they were overwhelming underdogs to even get there let alone come in 3rd.

Farmington, on the other hand, played in a weak conference (except Holy Angels) and Section, so it was no big surprise that they got there. Maybe Mayo was a slight favorite but they were never ranked very high like Roseville, Stillwater and even WBL. Once they were in they only won one game then lost their next two. The only surprise really was they beat a good Eagan team, but even then they got outshot 35-8.

Not a big deal, but my vote still goes to CDH!

Hey MN, I dont understand how you consider Cretin. They have 3 D1 players plus Jondal Argueably is also a D1 goalie. Also Welch is an excelent player and some younger talent. I dont understand where you are coming from. Top to bottom they are as good if not Better than Benilde.

I would agree the surprise team was Cretin as a #5 seed in the section. Beating 2 highly ranked teams and winning an extremely tough section. Then nearly beating the #1 seed in the state. I just feel Farmington came out of a much weaker section.

Alexandria wasn't the only team in Class A. There are many other good players out there.

In many people's eyes the biggest surprise about Cretin is how they underachieved during the regular season given their wealth of talent. The same was said to a lesser degree about Benilde. Fortunately both teams were able to elevate their level of play when it counted. Cretin's fortunes rose on some stellar goaltending that was expected with their transfer player and finally materialized in sections.

hocktang wrote:Alexandria wasn't the only team in Class A. There are many other good players out there.

hocktang, haven't you figured it out yet, this whole forum is All Alex All Day! There is no one that could beat them, nor as good. Heck maybe they should try to play D1 as a team.

MNH, I see what you are saying and agree for the most part. Yet if CDH had had the goalie from the beginning of the year, as in the end, I think all thoughts may have been different, that is all.

hocktang and hockeyrube, whine all you want but Boblee was the only one who made these pics. The rest of us are just commenting on them. Id have to say all three of his picks are very good picks to. Justice is one of the top goalies in A, Holmes is one of the strongest D in class A, and Williams is one of the strongest forwards in A. If you want, you can go ahead and make your own alltournament team. But my guess is that an Alex player wouldnt make it once.

GOCARDS1 wrote:hocktang and hockeyrube, whine all you want but Boblee was the only one who made these pics. The rest of us are just commenting on them. Id have to say all three of his picks are very good picks to. Justice is one of the top goalies in A, Holmes is one of the strongest D in class A, and Williams is one of the strongest forwards in A. If you want, you can go ahead and make your own alltournament team. But my guess is that an Alex player wouldnt make it once.

GOCARDS1, You are always the best one to poke fun at. You will always come back with something. Not whining at all, and don't argue with what you say at all. Just having fun! See Alex in the tourney next year!

hockeywild7 wrote:I would agree the surprise team was Cretin as a #5 seed in the section. Beating 2 highly ranked teams and winning an extremely tough section. Then nearly beating the #1 seed in the state. I just feel Farmington came out of a much weaker section.

I believe that Cretin-Derham Hall underachieved all year. I believe the way they played in playoffs is what they should have done all year. However, I do buy the CDH argument. As for Farmington, they played single A last year. They had Holy Angels in their conference. They had a very nice year and won a section that wasn't as weak as many think. Yes, weaked than the on CDH came out of, but I was much more shocked to see Farmington in the state semi-final compared to Cretin-Derham Hall.

boblee wrote:I believe that Cretin-Derham Hall underachieved all year. I believe the way they played in playoffs is what they should have done all year. However, I do buy the CDH argument. As for Farmington, they played single A last year. They had Holy Angels in their conference. They had a very nice year and won a section that wasn't as weak as many think. Yes, weaked than the on CDH came out of, but I was much more shocked to see Farmington in the state semi-final compared to Cretin-Derham Hall.

OK, look back on the forum poll:

http://www.ushsho.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11356

Only 4 of 58 people thought CDH would win their section. But they not only won their section, beating the No. 3 and 4 ranked teams in the State in getting there, but they ended up taking 3rd place in the State Tournament. To me, that's about as surprising as it gets. Sure they had a good goalie, but so did a lot of other teams, including Eagan, who lost to the other "surprising" team, Farmington, which was seeded No. 1 in their section and as expected advanced to the Tournament, where they won one game.

'Nuff said on this topic!

Vulcans84 wrote:Hey MN, I dont understand how you consider Cretin. They have 3 D1 players plus Jondal Argueably is also a D1 goalie. Also Welch is an excelent player and some younger talent. I dont understand where you are coming from. Top to bottom they are as good if not Better than Benilde.

I think that some people should get there facts straight before making such accusations. I am not sure if you attended the BSM Cretin game this past week but I was there. BSM dominatated the whole game, I know the year is over but I do believe those BSM girls deserve more credit. During the game the puck was in CDH defensive end for almost 5 min straight during both the second and third period. After watching the game I believe BSM had way more depth than CDH, but BSM just wasn't recieveing the right bounces. Nothing aganist CDH which is a very hardworking and derserving team, with an phenomenal goalie, I just believe that BSM is by far the stronger team. The shots during the game were BSM 34 to CDH 13 which I believe proves my point.