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Pretty popular topic in early September, it's a little past the middle of the season for many of the teams in the state. Who's your Mr. Hockey thus far and why?

Kyle Rau was the popular name preseason, does he keep his dominance for the award? What about some Class A names like Hendrickson (Virginia), Heinonen (Delano), Rantanen (Mankato West) and many others? Does the award go to a defensemen like Molenaar in EP or Daly from BSM? What are your opinions at the halfway point in the season?

On Rantanen, I have had the chance to witness the kid play and he has a smooth set of hands, but it is easy to see that the stats are inflated by the competition, not a knock at the kid, because he is a great player.

Cameranesi
Daly
Rau
Rantanen (hard to ignore the numbers, despite schedule)
Heinonen
Hendrickson
Archibald (maybe)
Skrbich
Everson

And I'm sure there are some contenders I am missing also.

At least on of the two Wb kids should be mentioned.

old goalie85 wrote:At least on of the two Wb kids should be mentioned.

Brandon wahlin

What about B.Bahe from Hill ??

scarlethockey33 wrote:Pretty popular topic in early September, it's a little past the middle of the season for many of the teams in the state. Who's your Mr. Hockey thus far and why?

Kyle Rau was the popular name preseason, does he keep his dominance for the award? What about some Class A names like Hendrickson (Virginia), Heinonen (Delano), Rantanen (Mankato West) and many others? Does the award go to a defensemen like Molenaar in EP or Daly from BSM? What are your opinions at the halfway point in the season?

Eh Molenaar's been playing hurt so the output hasn't been top-notch, probably won't be a finalist. If there were to be another finalist from EP I would look for either David Rath or Nick Seeler, both have stepped up big time this year. But Kyle Rau still has a pretty good lock on it.

NICK DECENZO- HIBBING

house69 wrote:NICK DECENZO- HIBBING

No need to self promote there Nick. You play for Hibbing, you have no chance.

house69 wrote:NICK DECENZO- HIBBING

Don't you think that Adam Johnson deserves some credit, if not most of the credit, on that Hibbing squad as well? if without Adam Johnson where would Decenzo be statistically as a defensemen?

If Rantanen gets remotely close to Benik's goal record (i'm thinking 60 goals), do you think he at least receives "candidate" status?

scarlethockey33 wrote:

house69 wrote:NICK DECENZO- HIBBING

Don't you think that Adam Johnson deserves some credit, if not most of the credit, on that Hibbing squad as well? if without Adam Johnson where would Decenzo be statistically as a defensemen?

If Rantanen gets remotely close to Benik's goal record (i'm thinking 60 goals), do you think he at least receives "candidate" status?

decenzo isnt a defenseman and johnson only plays point for the power play.

regardless, Adam Johnson needs to be taken into account, I mean Decenzo holds 42 assists, Hibbing's top scorer is Johnson with 30 goals

you have to think having Johnson there for Decenzo is helping him, maybe just a little bit?

Sophomores are not elidgible, having said that you just can't compare apples to oranges. If Rau or Camaranisi played Hibbings schedule their numbers would be crazy. Both blue jackets are great players but do you think their numbers would be the same if they played EP's schedule?

scarlethockey33 wrote:

house69 wrote:NICK DECENZO- HIBBING

Don't you think that Adam Johnson deserves some credit, if not most of the credit, on that Hibbing squad as well? if without Adam Johnson where would Decenzo be statistically as a defensemen?

If Rantanen gets remotely close to Benik's goal record (i'm thinking 60 goals), do you think he at least receives "candidate" status?

Tough to say based on the competition, however Benik played poor competition as well. I think the fact that Benik broke the scoring record the year prior helped, but I would say Rantanen does have a chance if he gets close, just because his numbers will be high, regardless of schedule strength.

keepyourheadup wrote:Sophomores are not elidgible, having said that you just can't compare apples to oranges. If Rau or Camaranisi played Hibbings schedule their numbers would be crazy. Both blue jackets are great players but do you think their numbers would be the same if they played EP's schedule?

and why arent hendricksons numbers being said to be inflated a bit?

No love for LaBate on this board and he's ranked much higher that Rau according to NHL Central Scouting.

Let's see how he does tomorrow against EP

bb will report live during the game....

blueblood wrote:No love for LaBate on this board and he's ranked much higher that Rau according to NHL Central Scouting.

Let's see how he does tomorrow against EP

bb will report live during the game....

NHL draft rankings have nothing to do with the award. It's about how good of a hs hockey player you are.

Pretty hard to evaluate A stats. Overall play weaker competion and are able to play more minutes which increase point total. Seems to be a down year for high end players.

HockeyMN1 wrote:

blueblood wrote:No love for LaBate on this board and he's ranked much higher that Rau according to NHL Central Scouting.

Let's see how he does tomorrow against EP

bb will report live during the game....

NHL draft rankings have nothing to do with the award. It's about how good of a hs hockey player you are.

Yes they do, because the most of the votes come from NHL scouts.

LaBate could definitely be a candidate, but I don't see him winning it despite his draft ranking.

Thanks mulefarm. I was aware of that and that's why I posted it.

Any further comments HockeyMN1?

hendrickson and heinonen are in it because they've both put up big numbers for the past two years. Even playing weaker competition this is impressive to put up big numbers at a younger age and they should be rewarded as seniors. This is decenzo's first year putting up big numbers so it was probably a little late to get into the discussion. Johnson is setting himself up to be a finalist in two years if he keeps it up

I didn't mention Hendrickson but yes I would say the same thing about his numbers.

scarlethockey33 wrote:

house69 wrote:NICK DECENZO- HIBBING

Don't you think that Adam Johnson deserves some credit, if not most of the credit, on that Hibbing squad as well? if without Adam Johnson where would Decenzo be statistically as a defensemen?

If Rantanen gets remotely close to Benik's goal record (i'm thinking 60 goals), do you think he at least receives "candidate" status?

or it's vise versa and Johnson needs to thank Decenzo for where his goal total is? My guess is that they both are a big help to each other and their weaker schedule combined with it being his first year putting up big numbers will keep him out. Rantanaen is tricky because it's his first year putting up the numbers, as well. But, he maybe would have had he been here years earlier, too. By the way, are foreigners allowed to win this? I personally feel that he should be mentioned but not win

I'll apologize in advance.....the chances of winning Mr. Hockey while playing at Mankato West are almost zero. Right or wrong I think most of us realize thats the case.

blueblood wrote:Thanks mulefarm. I was aware of that and that's why I posted it.

Any further comments HockeyMN1?

Huh? Just stating what I think. If you watch the game tomorrow you'll see just how dominant and always visible Rau is when he's on the ice.