How good is Hermantown?

greenway1969 · Post by **greenway1969** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 10:33 pm

Hermantown has lost a couple of key players to injury yet they are still putting up big numbers against good competition. Who has seen them play and what makes them such a good team?

sinbin006 · Post by **sinbin006** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 10:45 pm

I have seen them play 5 games this year and what makes them good is their depth. They lost 7 seniors from last year, one major contributer at forward and three at defense. We knew the forwards would be deep this year, but the question was how we'd be at defense with only two kids with significant playing time returning. So far the younger kids have stepped up to the challenge and played well. Both goaltenders also returned after playing for the first time last year. What we have seen is they have a lot more confidence in their ability and are much more comfortable between the pipes. The team has been able to take advantage of their powerplays and been strong on the penalty kill. When you have those two things working you end up with successful results. With the combination of great coaching and the eagerness to learn, everyone becomes a better player. The injury bug has hit them hard early in the season, but hopefully that is out of the way and they will only get better from here.

hshckfan08 · Post by **hshckfan08** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 11:33 am

sinbin006 wrote:I have seen them play 5 games this year and what makes them good is their depth. They lost 7 seniors from last year, one major contributer at forward and three at defense. We knew the forwards would be deep this year, but the question was how we'd be at defense with only two kids with significant playing time returning. So far the younger kids have stepped up to the challenge and played well. Both goaltenders also returned after playing for the first time last year. What we have seen is they have a lot more confidence in their ability and are much more comfortable between the pipes. The team has been able to take advantage of their powerplays and been strong on the penalty kill. When you have those two things working you end up with successful results. With the combination of great coaching and the eagerness to learn, everyone becomes a better player. The injury bug has hit them hard early in the season, but hopefully that is out of the way and they will only get better from here.

I was a little bit skeptical of them early, for the same reason, that they are young, but after seeing their record and the teams they have beaten, it's obvious they are a very good team and could definately be at the X in March. Sinbin, did you watch the Virginia Hermantown game? was it close or did the score tell the story?

Nednarb · Post by **Nednarb** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 6:05 pm

Hermantown won the game 5-1 and they had to kill three or four 5on3's so i was impressed because most of the penalties called on them were "weak" i would say but who knows...

PuckRanger · Post by **PuckRanger** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 11:51 am

With what they have done so far, it is very hard to say that they are not for real. Right now, they are the best team I've seen this year (and I've seen quite a few - including Hibbing, Virginia, Duluth Marshall, East, Cloquet, plus all the FSN games - amongst others. I would have a hard time not ranking them #1 in the state right now if I were a ranker. 8-0 and nobody's really contested them at all is hard to argue. The only issue I noticed was that they have taken some stupid penalties with stuff after the whistle. They have solid goaltending, very good defense, a good penalty kill, potent powerplay, and strong skating forwards. If they learn to stay out of the box, they will be in St. Paul barring any further injuries.

HShockeywatcher · Post by **HShockeywatcher** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 2:00 pm

Who have they played so far? No one spectacular, Hopkins being the best. The rest they only beat Anoka by one goal and let in two from a Greenway team who has yet to win a game. After their first 4 games in January we will know what they are really made of.

Lucia4President · Post by **Lucia4President** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 2:38 pm

PuckRanger wrote:With what they have done so far, it is very hard to say that they are not for real. Right now, they are the best team I've seen this year (and I've seen quite a few - including Hibbing, Virginia, Duluth Marshall, East, Cloquet, plus all the FSN games - amongst others. I would have a hard time not ranking them #1 in the state right now if I were a ranker. 8-0 and nobody's really contested them at all is hard to argue. The only issue I noticed was that they have taken some stupid penalties with stuff after the whistle. They have solid goaltending, very good defense, a good penalty kill, potent powerplay, and strong skating forwards. If they learn to stay out of the box, they will be in St. Paul barring any further injuries.

Are you honestly trying to argue that Hermantown is better than Duluth East, Edina, Hill-Murray, Centennial, and Eden Prairie?

Nednarb · Post by **Nednarb** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 5:45 pm

Its hard to ever compare Hermantown and East only because they never play each other... Which is weird because they are usually two of stronger teams in the Duluth area and it seems to me that it would be an above average showdown.. but who knows

scoreboard33 · Post by **scoreboard33** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 6:24 pm

Nednarb wrote:Its hard to ever compare Hermantown and East only because they never play each other... Which is weird because they are usually two of stronger teams in the Duluth area and it seems to me that it would be an above average showdown.. but who knows

East would walk all over Hermantown. It is not hard to compare, East is possibly the best team in the state and Hermantown just isn't that good.

Nednarb · Post by **Nednarb** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 11:39 pm

scoreboard33 wrote:
Nednarb wrote:Its hard to ever compare Hermantown and East only because they never play each other... Which is weird because they are usually two of stronger teams in the Duluth area and it seems to me that it would be an above average showdown.. but who knows
East would walk all over Hermantown. It is not hard to compare, East is possibly the best team in the state and Hermantown just isn't that good.

Maybe they would? but... they do not want to play hermantown or any other local dominating class A teams like Marshall or I falls... so it may be a long while before East will decide to play one of them...... It just looks to me like they are afraid to lose to a local class A team

Post by **east hockey** » Fri Dec 26, 2008 7:27 am

Nednarb wrote:
scoreboard33 wrote:
Nednarb wrote:Its hard to ever compare Hermantown and East only because they never play each other... Which is weird because they are usually two of stronger teams in the Duluth area and it seems to me that it would be an above average showdown.. but who knows
East would walk all over Hermantown. It is not hard to compare, East is possibly the best team in the state and Hermantown just isn't that good.
Maybe they would? but... they do not want to play hermantown or any other local dominating class A teams like Marshall or I falls... so it may be a long while before East will decide to play one of them...... It just looks to me like they are afraid to lose to a local class A team

Pretty familiar whine from someone who is allegedly "new" here.

Lee

quickgym guy · Post by **quickgym guy** » Fri Dec 26, 2008 9:54 am

east hockey wrote:
Nednarb wrote:
scoreboard33 wrote: East would walk all over Hermantown. It is not hard to compare, East is possibly the best team in the state and Hermantown just isn't that good.
Maybe they would? but... they do not want to play hermantown or any other local dominating class A teams like Marshall or I falls... so it may be a long while before East will decide to play one of them...... It just looks to me like they are afraid to lose to a local class A team

Why don't these so-called powerhouse "A" teams step up to the plate and play AA hockey... Until they do, quit whining about who East plays. Cloquet plays East twice a year and they could be a single A school.

HShockeywatcher · Post by **HShockeywatcher** » Fri Dec 26, 2008 12:28 pm

The only thing a class should matter for is the POST-season, not who you play during the season. Use that argument in any other sport and you'd get laughed at. "yeah, they're good, but we're in a class above them so we won't play them"

oh yeah, my bad, I forgot, "hockey's different"

If East doesn't want to play them, that's fine with me. Just reflects on them, not on the schools they won't play.

I think it would be great if all the good teams up here played each other once or twice a year. It would be great for hockey and for the teams up here it would be good for travel time.

Nednarb · Post by **Nednarb** » Fri Dec 26, 2008 5:26 pm

HShockeywatcher wrote:The only thing a class should matter for is the POST-season, not who you play during the season. Use that argument in any other sport and you'd get laughed at. "yeah, they're good, but we're in a class above them so we won't play them" oh yeah, my bad, I forgot, "hockey's different"

If East doesn't want to play them, that's fine with me. Just reflects on them, not on the schools they won't play.

I think it would be great if all the good teams up here played each other once or twice a year. It would be great for hockey and for the teams up here it would be good for travel time.

I agree, it would be nice... East is in the independent conference and I don't really care who they play and their schedual is usually stacked with above average teams.. but once again, it would be nice

sinbin006 · Post by **sinbin006** » Fri Dec 26, 2008 9:53 pm

scoreboard33 wrote: Hermantown just isn't that good.

We must be looking at different stats

PuckRanger · Post by **PuckRanger** » Fri Dec 26, 2008 10:25 pm

HShockeywatcher wrote:Who have they played so far? No one spectacular, Hopkins being the best. The rest they only beat Anoka by one goal and let in two from a Greenway team who has yet to win a game. After their first 4 games in January we will know what they are really made of.

They did not play Anoka, they played Andover and won by a goal. Andover is a much better team this year than Anoka in my opinion and they will be in the running in 7AA this year. Virginia is probably better than Hopkins as well. Virginia and Hermantown nearly mirrored their games against Hopkins - both won. Its not that big of a deal for any team to score two goals in against you once the game is pretty much decided as Greenway did. They also plastered Mound, who beat Hibbing earlier this year (and we all know what Hibbing recently did to Duluth Marshall), not to mention they routed a very solid Superior team along with a decent New Prague squad. They haven't been running up the score against the bottom feeder teams, most of these are section contenders their whooping up on. This team is for real and St. Cloud Cathedral has their work cut out for them if they want to return to the state tournament.

hockeypro09 · Post by **hockeypro09** » Sat Dec 27, 2008 2:43 pm

haha i like the previous responce above sayin " east would walk all over hermantown" haha wow do you watch hockey at all!? yeah ill give you that east is very good this year but in no means would they walk all over hermantown but good joke!

scoreboard33 · Post by **scoreboard33** » Sat Dec 27, 2008 7:28 pm

sinbin006 wrote:
scoreboard33 wrote: Hermantown just isn't that good.
We must be looking at different stats

Well if you didn't delete everything else I wrote, you'd understand that I was comparing Hermantown to Duluth East. And compared to Duluth East, they aren't that good.

scoreboard33 · Post by **scoreboard33** » Sat Dec 27, 2008 7:32 pm

HShockeywatcher wrote:The only thing a class should matter for is the POST-season, not who you play during the season. Use that argument in any other sport and you'd get laughed at. "yeah, they're good, but we're in a class above them so we won't play them" oh yeah, my bad, I forgot, "hockey's different"

If East doesn't want to play them, that's fine with me. Just reflects on them, not on the schools they won't play.

I think it would be great if all the good teams up here played each other once or twice a year. It would be great for hockey and for the teams up here it would be good for travel time.

Teams generally don't like to play lower class teams because it is embarrassing to lose to schools like that in all sports. Edina football only has 4 conference games and has to fill the rest of their schedule with non conference and while they do play 4AA teams, they try their best to avoid scheduling them.

sinbin006 · Post by **sinbin006** » Sun Dec 28, 2008 12:30 am

scoreboard33 wrote:
sinbin006 wrote:
scoreboard33 wrote: Hermantown just isn't that good.
We must be looking at different stats
Well if you didn't delete everything else I wrote, you'd understand that I was comparing Hermantown to Duluth East. And compared to Duluth East, they aren't that good.

Yeah, I get it, but it's hard to compare the two without them playing each other...

scoreboard33 · Post by **scoreboard33** » Sun Dec 28, 2008 11:45 am

sinbin006 wrote:
scoreboard33 wrote:
sinbin006 wrote: We must be looking at different stats
Well if you didn't delete everything else I wrote, you'd understand that I was comparing Hermantown to Duluth East. And compared to Duluth East, they aren't that good.
Yeah, I get it, but it's hard to compare the two without them playing each other...

Point taken, but we seem to compare teams who haven't played all the time, if they have played, there would be no real reason to compare them as the argument will always be, Duluth East beat Hermantown or Hermantown beat Duluth East, so the winner is better. Maybe if there was a huge discrepency in records they would just it an upset and say that just because you won, you weren't actually the better team.

Rankings always end up comparing many different teams that haven't played, so its done all the time.

If I said East was better than Meadow Creek, no one would make the argument that they haven't played, so you can't compare them.

hockeypro09 · Post by **hockeypro09** » Sun Dec 28, 2008 12:50 pm

you can correct me if im wrong on the date but back in 97 or 98 was the last time the two teams played each other! but i do know for a fact hermantown beat east the last time they played! but again that was a long time ago!

Post by **east hockey** » Sun Dec 28, 2008 1:06 pm

hockeypro09 wrote:you can correct me if im wrong on the date but back in 97 or 98 was the last time the two teams played each other! but i do know for a fact hermantown beat east the last time they played! but again that was a long time ago!

1/28/99; Hermantown 4, East 2 at tDECC. It was East's final season in the Lake Superior Conference and Hermantown won the conference that season. It was the first win for Hermantown over East in their history.

Lee

wild77 · Post by **wild77** » Sun Dec 28, 2008 3:24 pm

personally, I dont like East or Hermantown much. But, I find it very unlikely that East is afraid to lose to hermantown. One fact is, it does nothing for their seeding in sections and it would be one less game they would play against a potential tournament team. IMO, the argument that East is afraid to play hermantown can be turned around on Hermantown's coach. He has a reputation for playing a soft schedule and not liking to play gaainst the single A privates.

elliott70 · Post by **elliott70** » Sun Dec 28, 2008 4:01 pm

Hermantown plays Thief River Falls on Monday 12/29....

Hawks should be the favorite but should be a good test for them.