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Any thoughts on who well compete and win the 7AA title>?

Same o'l, same o'l, Rapids, East, Cloquet, maybe Elk River.

We've already had a topic on 7AA, but I don't mind discussing it again.

Duluth East is the favorite again, but we've seen in past years that being the favorite doesn't mean much in this section.

Cloquet will drop off a bit from last year, but they still have a solid program and are more likely to cause problems for East than any other team.

Rapids will be there as always and has a lot to prove after their ugly exit in last year's 7AA semifinal.

Elk River will remain on the radar screen as always, and who knows, maybe they'll finally get over the hump one of these years.

Anoka probably loses the most but could cause issues.

Flake and Andover may pull off an upset or two but aren't realistic section threats.

Cambridge and St. Francis are Cambridge and St. Francis.

This section certainly won't be what it was 2-3 years ago. East should be the favorite again I suppose considering the star power Cloquet lost. Grand Rapids should have the best goalie and group of defensemen in 7AA, but will their youth at forward emerge enough by sections? The teams down south I don't know much about at this point. Though, I would suspect Anoka and Elk River will be competitive at worst. Forest Lake is kinda due for one of their seasons where they upset someone in the quarterfinals (right Greenway?).

My preseason rankings based on upcoming rosters and taking nothing from last season's finish:

1. Duluth East
2. Grand Rapids
3. Anoka
4. Cloquet
5. Elk River
6. Andover
7. Forest Lake
8. Cambridge
9. St. Francis

rapidsrapids wrote:This section certainly won't be what it was 2-3 years ago. East should be the favorite again I suppose considering the star power Cloquet lost. Grand Rapids should have the best goalie and group of defensemen in 7AA, but will their youth at forward emerge enough by sections? The teams down south I don't know much about at this point. Though, I would suspect Anoka and Elk River will be competitive at worst. Forest Lake is kinda due for one of their seasons where they upset someone in the quarterfinals (right Greenway?).

My preseason rankings based on upcoming rosters and taking nothing from last season's finish:

1. Duluth East
2. Grand Rapids
3. Anoka
4. Cloquet
5. Elk River
6. Andover
7. Forest Lake
8. Cambridge
9. St. Francis

If you really believe Rapids has the best returning D, you're nuts! Derek Forbort is better than all of them put together! He turned down Ann Arbour and with Jake Williams returning for a 3rd season, and hopefully Joe Arbor stays, East is heads above all the rest on the blue line.

ColdasIce wrote:

rapidsrapids wrote:This section certainly won't be what it was 2-3 years ago. East should be the favorite again I suppose considering the star power Cloquet lost. Grand Rapids should have the best goalie and group of defensemen in 7AA, but will their youth at forward emerge enough by sections? The teams down south I don't know much about at this point. Though, I would suspect Anoka and Elk River will be competitive at worst. Forest Lake is kinda due for one of their seasons where they upset someone in the quarterfinals (right Greenway?).

My preseason rankings based on upcoming rosters and taking nothing from last season's finish:

1. Duluth East
2. Grand Rapids
3. Anoka
4. Cloquet
5. Elk River
6. Andover
7. Forest Lake
8. Cambridge
9. St. Francis

If you really believe Rapids has the best returning D, you're nuts! Derek Forbort is better than all of them put together! He turned down Ann Arbour and with Jake Williams returning for a 3rd season, and hopefully Joe Arbor stays, East is heads above all the rest on the blue line.

Don't forget Al McLean, who was solid last year too...East returns an excellent defensive corps. Their biggest issue is finding some quality scoring depth to help Max Tardy (assuming he stays).

ColdasIce wrote:

rapidsrapids wrote:This section certainly won't be what it was 2-3 years ago. East should be the favorite again I suppose considering the star power Cloquet lost. Grand Rapids should have the best goalie and group of defensemen in 7AA, but will their youth at forward emerge enough by sections? The teams down south I don't know much about at this point. Though, I would suspect Anoka and Elk River will be competitive at worst. Forest Lake is kinda due for one of their seasons where they upset someone in the quarterfinals (right Greenway?).

My preseason rankings based on upcoming rosters and taking nothing from last season's finish:

1. Duluth East
2. Grand Rapids
3. Anoka
4. Cloquet
5. Elk River
6. Andover
7. Forest Lake
8. Cambridge
9. St. Francis

If you really believe Rapids has the best returning D, you're nuts! Derek Forbort is better than all of them put together! He turned down Ann Arbour and with Jake Williams returning for a 3rd season, and hopefully Joe Arbor stays, East is heads above all the rest on the blue line.

You named two and Forbort is really good, I don't need you to tell me this. However Rendle, Kleinendorst, Merrit, and Zach Dick will be the best as a group.

rapidsrapids wrote:

ColdasIce wrote:

rapidsrapids wrote:This section certainly won't be what it was 2-3 years ago. East should be the favorite again I suppose considering the star power Cloquet lost. Grand Rapids should have the best goalie and group of defensemen in 7AA, but will their youth at forward emerge enough by sections? The teams down south I don't know much about at this point. Though, I would suspect Anoka and Elk River will be competitive at worst. Forest Lake is kinda due for one of their seasons where they upset someone in the quarterfinals (right Greenway?).

My preseason rankings based on upcoming rosters and taking nothing from last season's finish:

1. Duluth East
2. Grand Rapids
3. Anoka
4. Cloquet
5. Elk River
6. Andover
7. Forest Lake
8. Cambridge
9. St. Francis

If you really believe Rapids has the best returning D, you're nuts! Derek Forbort is better than all of them put together! He turned down Ann Arbour and with Jake Williams returning for a 3rd season, and hopefully Joe Arbor stays, East is heads above all the rest on the blue line.

You named two and Forbort is really good, I don't need you to tell me this. However Rendle, Kleinendorst, Merrit, and Zach Dick will be the best as a group.

I beg to differ big time with you on this Forbort, Arbor, Williams, & McLean are all better than Rapids D will be. No comparison really

ColdasIce wrote:

rapidsrapids wrote:

ColdasIce wrote:
If you really believe Rapids has the best returning D, you're nuts! Derek Forbort is better than all of them put together! He turned down Ann Arbour and with Jake Williams returning for a 3rd season, and hopefully Joe Arbor stays, East is heads above all the rest on the blue line.

You named two and Forbort is really good, I don't need you to tell me this. However Rendle, Kleinendorst, Merrit, and Zach Dick will be the best as a group.

I beg to differ big time with you on this Forbort, Arbor, Williams, & McLean are all better than Rapids D will be. No comparison really

This may be useful later

Is Princeton joining 7AA now that they are a AA team?

I would think that would be the best fit for them, but MSHSL could always surprise.

And they got bumped up? Didn't see that one coming.

Can Princeton even do that before this season?

I'm hardly an expert on MSHSL bureaucracy, but it was my understanding that teams can only switch sections or classes during a realignment year, which isn't until after the upcoming season.

karl(east) wrote:Can Princeton even do that before this season?

I'm hardly an expert on MSHSL bureaucracy, but it was my understanding that teams can only switch sections or classes during a realignment year, which isn't until after the upcoming season.

Yep they (MSHSL) can bump you up, it happend to Rogers 2 years ago in a non change year.

OK, thanks for the clarification.

So they'd just throw Princeton into 7AA and have a section with one more team? It doesn't make sense geographically, but I guess they could also put them in 2AA, which is the only AA section with less than 9 teams. It's not like it really matters as it will just give St. Francis and Cambridge a little competition, but it's an interesting situation.

Can't Never Tried wrote:

karl(east) wrote:Can Princeton even do that before this season?

I'm hardly an expert on MSHSL bureaucracy, but it was my understanding that teams can only switch sections or classes during a realignment year, which isn't until after the upcoming season.

Yep they (MSHSL) can bump you up, it happend to Rogers 2 years ago in a non change year.

And the ranting was epic.

Lee

Sam Rendle (GR) is one of the best 3 dmen in this section. However, Kyle Klienendorst, AJ Merritt, Zach Dick, Brad Horsmann, Jake Liengang, and whoever else will need to improve quickly and help out the cause. GR defense won't be bad, but probably not tops in the section. Top 3? Sure. Top? Not now.

east hockey wrote:

Can't Never Tried wrote:

karl(east) wrote:Can Princeton even do that before this season?

I'm hardly an expert on MSHSL bureaucracy, but it was my understanding that teams can only switch sections or classes during a realignment year, which isn't until after the upcoming season.

Yep they (MSHSL) can bump you up, it happend to Rogers 2 years ago in a non change year.

And the ranting was epic.

Lee

Would you want it any other way?

boblee wrote:Sam Rendle (GR) is one of the best 3 dmen in this section. However, Kyle Klienendorst, AJ Merritt, Zach Dick, Brad Horsmann, Jake Liengang, and whoever else will need to improve quickly and help out the cause. GR defense won't be bad, but probably not tops in the section. Top 3? Sure. Top? Not now.

You should probably get to the rink more often in GR. The GR D core will be as good if not better than anyone in Section 7. Based on what I've personally seen, they've already made improvements over last season, and the upside on a few of them is extremely high. From the goal out, GR will be as strong as anyone.

east hockey wrote:

Can't Never Tried wrote:

karl(east) wrote:Can Princeton even do that before this season?

I'm hardly an expert on MSHSL bureaucracy, but it was my understanding that teams can only switch sections or classes during a realignment year, which isn't until after the upcoming season.

Yep they (MSHSL) can bump you up, it happend to Rogers 2 years ago in a non change year.

And the ranting was epic.

Lee

What???????? Meeeee?
It's all been for the better...I do think we had a shot that year in A.
But water under the bridge I guess.

CEC will be a a pretty solid club. Very young compared to last year and a lot of key players need to be replaced (Jokinen, Brown, Hatch, Baker to name a few). I think Tompson's a top tier goalie in 7AA and will continue to improve as the season moves on. I also heard that CEC got a goalie from Alaska recently, and I believe that he is a junior next year, which will help his senior year for sure. I expect that Roy, Abrahamson, and McFarlane will lead this team offensively, and that Jokinen, T. Tollerud, and R. Tollerud will be strong on the blue line. It will be interesting to see how they fair against other 7AA teams next year.

BigWorm wrote:CEC will be a a pretty solid club. Very young compared to last year and a lot of key players need to be replaced (Jokinen, Brown, Hatch, Baker to name a few). I think Tompson's a top tier goalie in 7AA and will continue to improve as the season moves on. I also heard that CEC got a goalie from Alaska recently, and I believe that he is a junior next year, which will help his senior year for sure. I expect that Roy, Abrahamson, and McFarlane will lead this team offensively, and that Jokinen, T. Tollerud, and R. Tollerud will be strong on the blue line. It will be interesting to see how they fair against other 7AA teams next year.

From what I saw this weekend, it's going to be a long season for the Lumberjacks. I'm not sure if they had all of their big guns playing because of the Legion tournament, but they looked very undersized and not as skilled as in the past. Esse always gets the best out of his players so we'll just have to see.

BigWorm wrote:CEC will be a a pretty solid club. Very young compared to last year and a lot of key players need to be replaced (Jokinen, Brown, Hatch, Baker to name a few). I think Tompson's a top tier goalie in 7AA and will continue to improve as the season moves on. I also heard that CEC got a goalie from Alaska recently, and I believe that he is a junior next year, which will help his senior year for sure. I expect that Roy, Abrahamson, and McFarlane will lead this team offensively, and that Jokinen, T. Tollerud, and R. Tollerud will be strong on the blue line. It will be interesting to see how they fair against other 7AA teams next year.

Who is the kid from Alaska? I wonder if there was a Corey Millen influence there, since he lives up here in the AK.

Trent Klatt to join Rapids coaching staff for up coming season.

Reggie wrote:Trent Klatt to join Rapids coaching staff for up coming season.

Who is stepping aside? What will Trent's role be?

rapidsrapids wrote:

Reggie wrote:Trent Klatt to join Rapids coaching staff for up coming season.

Who is stepping aside? What will Trent's role be?

Not sure who if anyone is leaving. Trent will be a welcome addition in my opinion. I know several of the players have said they're happy to have him there.