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What team is going to take Section 8AA and who will be the impact players? Who are the up and coming players? Lots of impact players have graduated. Who's going to be on top this 2009 upcoming season?

Why don't you tell us what you think? You'll get more responses that way.

They will all tie

It's possible that he/she doesn't know this section for the upcoming year very well. Weber (ER) and Erickson (Bem) are gone. I still think those two teams will be in the top three of the section. I believe Moorhead will be that other team. They keep their big gun and their goalie. Stenerson can carry that team a long way. Bemidji will get a lot of production from Jessica Christofferson, but they need a goalie. I know less about ER, but it seems like they will have to rebuild. They did have a very, very good 8th grader last year, though. Right now I say Moorhead. Ask me again in December. Ashley Stenerson (MH) will be THE impact player in this section in 2009.

ER is the team to beat.lots of up and coming kids. the 8th grader is jonna curtis great hands and vision.She will be one to watch this winter.

rink101 wrote:ER is the team to beat.lots of up and coming kids. the 8th grader is jonna curtis great hands and vision.She will be one to watch this winter.

Curtis will be very good, but outside of Webber, she was the only one that looked good at the state tournament. It will be about goaltending and I still think Moorhead returns the most there and they will have the best player in this section. Moorhead also had a lot of 14U girls that will move up that are great skaters.

boblee wrote:

rink101 wrote:ER is the team to beat.lots of up and coming kids. the 8th grader is jonna curtis great hands and vision.She will be one to watch this winter.

Curtis will be very good, but outside of Webber, she was the only one that looked good at the state tournament. It will be about goaltending and I still think Moorhead returns the most there and they will have the best player in this section. Moorhead also had a lot of 14U girls that will move up that are great skaters.

Elk River has many fine young players coming up, but that is just it, they are young. Two years, ago, Curtis and that age group went to state in U12A, to provide perspective. Geisler is a nice gaolie also, and a 9th grader.
I would see ER stronger two and three years from now.

the year befor that the u-12 went to state also.Alot of them kids were on j.v this past year.the j.v was a strong team.

1. Bemidji
2. Elk River
3. Moorehead

Christofferson does have some nice support players. There goaltending
should be better.


Word through the grapevine. The Curtis girl is being recruited very hard by Shattuck. Anyone know anything on this?

Moorhead loses a few nice def but still has some nice offensive punch.

This section may come down to best goatending. Who is the best Goaltender?

I wouldn't lean to heavily on what happened in 12U. Especially considering these ER girls are still very young.

Bemidji should be better, but defense and goaltending hurt them last year and I don't see an immediate improvement there.

Moorhead probably RETURNS the best goalie in Betsy Miller, but anyone can step up between the pipes in this section.

I don't think this a real deep, high end section, but it should be a very fun one.

upnorthguy wrote:This section may come down to best goatending. Who is the best Goaltender?

Geisler of Elk River is a 9th grader and a very good goalie.

Don't rule North Wright County out (Monticello/Annandale/St. Michael), they have a nice pipeline of players and really don't lose anyone from last years young team.

These 2 clubs merge could throw a little wrinkle into the mix. Anyone know if this is going to Happen?

upnorthguy wrote:These 2 clubs merge could throw a little wrinkle into the mix. Anyone know if this is going to Happen?

You mean North Wright County? They "split" from the old Wright County Blades (which also included Buffalo, Rockford, Delano and a couple other small towns) a few years back. So there's no merger but they have a solid program that will get better as their numbers improve.

Silent But Deadly wrote:

upnorthguy wrote:These 2 clubs merge could throw a little wrinkle into the mix. Anyone know if this is going to Happen?

You mean North Wright County? They "split" from the old Wright County Blades (which also included Buffalo, Rockford, Delano and a couple other small towns) a few years back. So there's no merger but they have a solid program that will get better as their numbers improve.

Im quite sure Brainerd is merging with someone it might be little falls not really sure maybe someone can enlighten me.

Rumor has it Warroad may be going AA. Any truth to this? They have a nice team and will be dominant for the next three four years. Could change the rankings in 8 AA

Brainerd did merge with Little Falls.
Warroad did not go AA, at least not this year. If they do they would be contenders.

Silent But Deadly wrote:

upnorthguy wrote:This section may come down to best goatending. Who is the best Goaltender?

Geisler of Elk River is a 9th grader and a very good goalie.

Don't rule North Wright County out (Monticello/Annandale/St. Michael), they have a nice pipeline of players and really don't lose anyone from last years young team.

I hear NWC has a handful of really good 8th graders but that the HS doesn't take 8th graders?? Our HS takes 7th on up mostly because we need girls. Anyone know why they other HS's wouldn't take them if they are good enough to play at that level?

WildWin wrote:

Silent But Deadly wrote:

upnorthguy wrote:This section may come down to best goatending. Who is the best Goaltender?

Geisler of Elk River is a 9th grader and a very good goalie.

Don't rule North Wright County out (Monticello/Annandale/St. Michael), they have a nice pipeline of players and really don't lose anyone from last years young team.

I hear NWC has a handful of really good 8th graders but that the HS doesn't take 8th graders?? Our HS takes 7th on up mostly because we need girls. Anyone know why they other HS's wouldn't take them if they are good enough to play at that level?

Not sure what your point is...some programs move 7th graders up because they have to. If they didn't, some would not be able to field a JV.

So....from what some Mississippi 8 folks tell me:

1) They don't need their 8th graders...they have enough high School kids.

2) They are ok for 8th graders but nothing like the 8th graders the Bison have.

ExecutionTrumpsStrategy wrote:

WildWin wrote:

Silent But Deadly wrote: Geisler of Elk River is a 9th grader and a very good goalie.

Don't rule North Wright County out (Monticello/Annandale/St. Michael), they have a nice pipeline of players and really don't lose anyone from last years young team.

I hear NWC has a handful of really good 8th graders but that the HS doesn't take 8th graders?? Our HS takes 7th on up mostly because we need girls. Anyone know why they other HS's wouldn't take them if they are good enough to play at that level?

Not sure what your point is...some programs move 7th graders up because they have to. If they didn't, some would not be able to field a JV.

So....from what some Mississippi 8 folks tell me:

1) They don't need their 8th graders...they have enough high School kids.

2) They are ok for 8th graders but nothing like the 8th graders the Bison have.

I hear the Bison 8th graders are pretty dynamite! It makes sense that if they don't need them to not take them. We've always needed all the girls we can get at the HS level. I guess my point is that at the HS level you want to field the best team if that means there are 8th graders better than some of the HS players why wouldn't you want them on the team? Don't get me wrong I am all for the kids playing at their age level to develope their skills and I also understand the social aspect as well.

WildWin wrote:

Silent But Deadly wrote:

upnorthguy wrote:This section may come down to best goatending. Who is the best Goaltender?

Geisler of Elk River is a 9th grader and a very good goalie.

Don't rule North Wright County out (Monticello/Annandale/St. Michael), they have a nice pipeline of players and really don't lose anyone from last years young team.

I hear NWC has a handful of really good 8th graders but that the HS doesn't take 8th graders?? Our HS takes 7th on up mostly because we need girls. Anyone know why they other HS's wouldn't take them if they are good enough to play at that level?

Maybe because they are not in HS?!?!?!?

WildWin wrote:I guess my point is that at the HS level you want to field the best team if that means there are 8th graders better than some of the HS players why wouldn't you want them on the team? Don't get me wrong I am all for the kids playing at their age level to develope their skills and I also understand the social aspect as well.

I know alittle about NWC hockey and there's no 8th graders that would help that VARSITY team. The varsity has a bunch of nice sophomores and seniors and besides the NWC 8th graders are just ok. I think the parent you're talking to is overplaying the 8th graders.

I know alittle about NWC hockey and there's no 8th graders that would help that VARSITY team. The varsity has a bunch of nice sophomores and seniors and besides the NWC 8th graders are just ok. I think the parent you're talking to is overplaying the 8th graders.[/quote]

That could very well be as is the case with most parents when talking about their kids. I guess they played on some independent AAA team that was pretty good. Don't remember what team. I was just curious! All done! Thanks. Got my own girls to worry about.

WildWin wrote:I know alittle about NWC hockey and there's no 8th graders that would help that VARSITY team. The varsity has a bunch of nice sophomores and seniors and besides the NWC 8th graders are just ok. I think the parent you're talking to is overplaying the 8th graders.

That could very well be as is the case with most parents when talking about their kids. I guess they played on some independent AAA team that was pretty good. Don't remember what team. I was just curious! All done! Thanks. Got my own girls to worry about.[/quote]

It's amazing how fast word spreads in the hockey community. Just found out this site existed. All I have to say is:
"Don't they grow up fast enough?????" I am a dad of a North Wright County 8th grader.

MaxSnatch wrote:

WildWin wrote:

Silent But Deadly wrote: Geisler of Elk River is a 9th grader and a very good goalie.

Don't rule North Wright County out (Monticello/Annandale/St. Michael), they have a nice pipeline of players and really don't lose anyone from last years young team.

I hear NWC has a handful of really good 8th graders but that the HS doesn't take 8th graders?? Our HS takes 7th on up mostly because we need girls. Anyone know why they other HS's wouldn't take them if they are good enough to play at that level?

IMaybe because they are not in HS?!?!?!?

I think taking 7th and 8th graders is typically a desperation move (or blackmail by parents threatening to go to a Private school). Many programs don't have enough depth so they have to dig down into the middle schools to fill out their roster. Some 7th and 8th grade girls might be good enough to play at the HS varsity level but there are problems when this happens. Just a few are:

Do you really want your 12 and 13 year olds hanging out with 17 and 18 year olds? Its tough enough when 14 and 15 year old freshmen get an eye opening with the older more mature girls of Varsity.

Parents think its neat when their 7th or 8th grader plays with Varsity but are they thinking about how boring it will be after playing 5-6 years on the same team. Many such kids end up going to other places (Thoroughbreds etc) due to boredom.

Letting one or two 7th or 8th graders sets up team unrest (e.g. why did so and so make it and not so and so.

I'm sure that other bloggers can come up with even more reasons.

Most school don’t play 7th and 8th graders (regardless of their abilities), and for good reason. Not many have the skill or the mental and physical maturity to be true contributors to a program. It’s a big jump, and if you haven’t been exposed to the speed or physicality of the varsity game (AAA leagues, etc.) you may not know what you are up against. You generally only see them on teams that absolutely need the numbers to compete or at private schools (phenoms generally gravitate to private school when their district teams won’t allow it). Only a hand full truly have a meaningful impact on their team’s success. Last year McMillan (Breck) Curtis (ER), Illekainen (GR) Brandt (HM) Hanson (WBL) Leshomb (So. St. Paul). This year look for Cameranesi (Wayzata).