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The Hounds travel south to take on Maple Grove in their first real test of the season. The Crimson are in the upper tier of the NWSC but are off to an inconsistent, if unrevealing, start. They were edged by Edina, handled Buffalo easily, and then just barely got by an Armstrong team that got pasted in its first game by Princeton.

Three of East's next four games are against good-but-not-great teams (Maple Grove, Wayzata, and White Bear Lake, with Wayzata being the hardest). If they can win 2 out of 3 of those, I'd feel pretty good about the direction of this team. Of course I'd gladly take 3 out of 3...

Maple Grove, meanwhile, looks to assert itself against the only quality opponent left on its schedule before holiday tournament time.

Yea the toss in of Maple Grove this year will be interesting how these to teams shape out since they have hardly played each other. Like you said Karl it will be a test to both teams to see what kind of depth they both have...but I have to go with my hounds..

East-3
Maple Grove-2

I saw the Edina Maple Grove game. I know its early, but Maple Grove looked good but not great. I'm going with East 4-2 with an empty netter.

This early in the season is pretty much a guessing game, so I guess I'll take the Hounds 2-1.

MG 3
DE 1

My question is why would DE schedule a team like Cambridge? Come on, you can schedule anyone you want and they spend they time and money traveling to Cambridge. Can't find any competition in the Duluth area? Hermantown, Denfeld, etc..

CB00 wrote:MG 3
DE 1

My question is why would DE schedule a team like Cambridge? Come on, you can schedule anyone you want and they spend they time and money traveling to Cambridge. Can't find any competition in the Duluth area? Hermantown, Denfeld, etc..

Cambridge is in East's section.

Lee

DE- 5
MG- 1

east hockey wrote:

CB00 wrote:MG 3
DE 1

My question is why would DE schedule a team like Cambridge? Come on, you can schedule anyone you want and they spend they time and money traveling to Cambridge. Can't find any competition in the Duluth area? Hermantown, Denfeld, etc..

Cambridge is in East's section.

Lee

So do they also step up and play St. Francis and Princeton?

CB00 wrote:

east hockey wrote:

CB00 wrote:MG 3
DE 1

My question is why would DE schedule a team like Cambridge? Come on, you can schedule anyone you want and they spend they time and money traveling to Cambridge. Can't find any competition in the Duluth area? Hermantown, Denfeld, etc..

Cambridge is in East's section.

Lee

So do they also step up and play St. Francis and Princeton?

They also play Princeton, but not St Francis.

Lee

Duluth East should handle the inexperienced Crimson squad. The only thing that will hold Maple Grove in this game is their goaltender who has made some nice improvement to his game. If he has an off night it could be worse than a 5-2 victory by Duluth East! Number 23 for the Crimson team will have to have a big night if they are to pull off an upset. He is MG's ONLY proven goal scorer.

In a very brief conversation I was told 2 of Maple Grove's captains did not play against Armstrong. Not sure what players, or how long they are out for.

That is correct. Their leading returning goal scorer was out, and will be out against East as well.

Just as in its team name represents..... the GreyHounds will be too fast, too experienced and will the only way Maple Grove wins is if there is Crimson and 4-leaf Clovers in the arena.

East 5- MG 1 Shots East 36 MG 16

CB00 wrote:MG 3
DE 1

My question is why would DE schedule a team like Cambridge? Come on, you can schedule anyone you want and they spend they time and money traveling to Cambridge. Can't find any competition in the Duluth area? Hermantown, Denfeld, etc..

well east has started off the year against duluth central for years and it was time to change that so there ya go

Hounds 3, Maple Grove 2

Goldfishdude wrote:Just as in its team name represents..... the GreyHounds will be too fast, too experienced and will the only way Maple Grove wins is if there is Crimson and 4-leaf Clovers in the arena.

East 5- MG 1 Shots East 36 MG 16

Not so sure about experienced. First line forward Toninato is a sophmore, as well as Trevor Olson, Jake Randolph, Steven Holappa and Nate Repensky. Perlinger had never started a varsity game before, and this is Beddow (12), Brazerol(12), Olson (Troy)(12), Renier(11), Mass(12), Toscano(12) and Bergerson's (11) first full year on Varsity.
So out of 23 players, only 9 have a full year or more worth of varsity experience.
I don't see this as really being a problem as all of the above mentioned are solid hockey players but I would count on experience as being a strong factor yet.
Im gonna take East 4-2.

hounds by 2 with an empty netter

EHSHack wrote:

Goldfishdude wrote:Just as in its team name represents..... the GreyHounds will be too fast, too experienced and will the only way Maple Grove wins is if there is Crimson and 4-leaf Clovers in the arena.

East 5- MG 1 Shots East 36 MG 16

Not so sure about experienced. First line forward Toninato is a sophmore, as well as Trevor Olson, Jake Randolph, Steven Holappa and Nate Repensky. Perlinger had never started a varsity game before, and this is Beddow (12), Brazerol(12), Olson (Troy)(12), Renier(11), Mass(12), Toscano(12) and Bergerson's (11) first full year on Varsity.
So out of 23 players, only 9 have a full year or more worth of varsity experience.
I don't see this as really being a problem as all of the above mentioned are solid hockey players but I would count on experience as being a strong factor yet.
Im gonna take East 4-2.

What lines/D pairings are they running?

greyhoundsnation27 wrote:This early in the season is pretty much a guessing game, so I guess I'll take the Hounds 2-1.

We have a winner.

Shots were 23-17 East, per followthepuck.

Not exactly domination, but a win is a win, and winning your first close game of the year on a late goal sets a good precedent for the rest of the season.

They'll probably need more to beat Wayzata on Saturday.

Maple Groves goalie played well - settled down after giving up an early goal to the Hounds. He controlled the first shots and didn't give up big rebounds. Expected the Duluth team to be more physical and after setting a fast pace to the game it seemed as the pace of the game fell into Maple Groves favor for long stretches of time. East had the ice tilted toward MG end of the ice and controlled the puck - just didn't generate enough pressure on the front of the net to score more goals. The SHOTS on net should have been more lopsided... The Crimson D should be credited with keeping them on the perimeter for most of the game. They played tough! The exception would be on the last goal where the forward walked out of the corner creating their game winner.

Like Karl said - A WIN is a WIN! fortunately for Duluth #23 for Maple Grove was out or outcome might have been different! Credit Duluth for coming in and getting the victory late. Good game to watch - closer than I thought it would be.

Boy... I continue to show I know nothing about anything.. My 5-1 prediction only goes to show that East must not have tried very hard!!!

I think your prediction goes to show that you underestimated maple grove

mnhockeywatcher wrote:I think your prediction goes to show that you underestimated maple grove

Actually, in another post, I made reference to how Maple Grove will soon be in the likes of an Eden Prairie and Wayzata. The youth programs have blossomed out there the past couple years with the population growth. I expect them to be very strong this year.

Im just sayin that I thought it was a close game and could have gone either way.