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Who will win today?

A couple of upsets in the semis yesterday. I'll be a homer and say North by two. Seems like they've been coming on strong towards the end of the season.

Is there no consolation bracket this year? The Hub isn't listing one, but there has been one in the past.

karl(east) wrote:Is there no consolation bracket this year? The Hub isn't listing one, but there has been one in the past.

They play the games, but the front draw is all they show on the Hub. Not sure if that is by choice, or because that software is brutal to use.

North won 4-3. Give credit to North coach, played lines evenly. SE rode the backs of a few who saw a lot of ice.

puckster15 wrote:North won 4-3. Give credit to North coach, played lines evenly. SE rode the backs of a few who saw a lot of ice.

Pat Guyer is a class act!

WCHBlog wrote:

karl(east) wrote:Is there no consolation bracket this year? The Hub isn't listing one, but there has been one in the past.

They play the games, but the front draw is all they show on the Hub. Not sure if that is by choice, or because that software is brutal to use.

Looks like they're finally getting the scores up. They've had them all in the past.

Congrats to Coach Guyer and Team North!

Consolation won by Great Plains 4-2 over NE.

How did Chicago Young America team look?

Interesting that North and Great Plains are the winners over the weekend. Congrats to both teams. I don't think many would have called that. Goaltending can always be a factor. Anyone watch and have other opinions regarding the metro downfall?

observer wrote:Interesting that North and Great Plains are the winners over the weekend. Congrats to both teams. I don't think many would have called that. Goaltending can always be a factor. Anyone watch and have other opinions regarding the metro downfall?

For North's success, I'd say depth probably had a lot to do with it. As someone noted, the team was able to roll four pretty even lines, and that really pays off towards the end of a season.

This looks to be a good year for hockey in northeast MN. As some have noted, talent in small northern towns tends to go in cycles, and a bunch of teams have upward cycles coming up right now. Grand Rapids and Cloquet will be the best they've been in a while; Bemidji and Hibbing, while perhaps not great teams, do have a few stars to their name. It's a bit more complicated in Duluth, where East has a largeish program that is consistently good, but even there we have a mild tick upward--the current group of East seniors was probably the best Bantam team the Hounds have put out in quite some time, though they are now missing Valesano from that group. Marshall seems to be on the upswing as well, after a few down years (by their standards).

Still, I'd say the biggest upset of the weekend was Southeast over Southwest, which made North's task in the final much easier. North only needed one mild upset to pull off the win. Likewise, Great Plains (with wins over Wisconsin and Northeast) didn't exactly overachieve. Great Plains draws from a huge area, and they were able to field a very deep team, even if they didn't have the front-end talent of some of the Metro squads.

You know for a team without front end talent Great Plains did beat North, NW and SE last weekend of the season. These teams are very close. Great Plains can field a top line that is very talented.

karl(east) wrote:

observer wrote:Interesting that North and Great Plains are the winners over the weekend. Congrats to both teams. I don't think many would have called that. Goaltending can always be a factor. Anyone watch and have other opinions regarding the metro downfall?

For North's success, I'd say depth probably had a lot to do with it. As someone noted, the team was able to roll four pretty even lines, and that really pays off towards the end of a season.

This looks to be a good year for hockey in northeast MN. As some have noted, talent in small northern towns tends to go in cycles, and a bunch of teams have upward cycles coming up right now. Grand Rapids and Cloquet will be the best they've been in a while; Bemidji and Hibbing, while perhaps not great teams, do have a few stars to their name. It's a bit more complicated in Duluth, where East has a largeish program that is consistently good, but even there we have a mild tick upward--the current group of East seniors was probably the best Bantam team the Hounds have put out in quite some time, though they are now missing Valesano from that group. Marshall seems to be on the upswing as well, after a few down years (by their standards).

Still, I'd say the biggest upset of the weekend was Southeast over Southwest, which made North's task in the final much easier. North only needed one mild upset to pull off the win. Likewise, Great Plains (with wins over Wisconsin and Northeast) didn't exactly overachieve. Great Plains draws from a huge area, and they were able to field a very deep team, even if they didn't have the front-end talent of some of the Metro squads.

SE outplayed SW through all three periods. They are a bigger stronger team with great young D and great Goalie. They had tied both SW and SSM in second half of year as well. They also had a 2-1 lead over N in the championship game thanks to goals by Brown and Spinner. So after watching all these games in person, I can say that N wouldn't have likely had a more difficult task if they played SW. Remember also that SW of late wasn't the SW at beginning of season because of absence of Hurley, Bianchi, Malmquist, Funk etc through much of 2nd half.

SuperStar wrote:How did Chicago Young America team look?

Not good at all...

puckster15 wrote:North won 4-3. Give credit to North coach, played lines evenly. SE rode the backs of a few who saw a lot of ice.

?? When you have even lines, you play them evenly. Congrats?, not so sure you get pat on back for that.

observer wrote:Interesting that North and Great Plains are the winners over the weekend. Congrats to both teams. I don't think many would have called that. Goaltending can always be a factor. Anyone watch and have other opinions regarding the metro downfall?

funny you say that great plains are "winners" when they got 5th place... if i saw correctly i'm pretty sure that team SW got 3rd place, making them more of winners that great plains

Granttenn wrote:

karl(east) wrote:

observer wrote:Interesting that North and Great Plains are the winners over the weekend. Congrats to both teams. I don't think many would have called that. Goaltending can always be a factor. Anyone watch and have other opinions regarding the metro downfall?

For North's success, I'd say depth probably had a lot to do with it. As someone noted, the team was able to roll four pretty even lines, and that really pays off towards the end of a season.

This looks to be a good year for hockey in northeast MN. As some have noted, talent in small northern towns tends to go in cycles, and a bunch of teams have upward cycles coming up right now. Grand Rapids and Cloquet will be the best they've been in a while; Bemidji and Hibbing, while perhaps not great teams, do have a few stars to their name. It's a bit more complicated in Duluth, where East has a largeish program that is consistently good, but even there we have a mild tick upward--the current group of East seniors was probably the best Bantam team the Hounds have put out in quite some time, though they are now missing Valesano from that group. Marshall seems to be on the upswing as well, after a few down years (by their standards).

Still, I'd say the biggest upset of the weekend was Southeast over Southwest, which made North's task in the final much easier. North only needed one mild upset to pull off the win. Likewise, Great Plains (with wins over Wisconsin and Northeast) didn't exactly overachieve. Great Plains draws from a huge area, and they were able to field a very deep team, even if they didn't have the front-end talent of some of the Metro squads.

SE outplayed SW through all three periods. They are a bigger stronger team with great young D and great Goalie. They had tied both SW and SSM in second half of year as well. They also had a 2-1 lead over N in the championship game thanks to goals by Brown and Spinner. So after watching all these games in person, I can say that N wouldn't have likely had a more difficult task if they played SW. Remember also that SW of late wasn't the SW at beginning of season because of absence of Hurley, Bianchi, Malmquist, Funk etc through much of 2nd half.

did you forget about the future #1 draft pick of the NHL Shane Gersich? he was on team SW and then was still currently hurt from an over seas injury but played and dominated the league..

Future #1 pick? He could be a first rounder, but #1 overall? Not with his size and playing HS hockey.

There is only one kid in the state that has #1 overall pick written all over him, and it's AP from LVS.

Granttenn wrote:SE outplayed SW through all three periods. They are a bigger stronger team with great young D and great Goalie. They had tied both SW and SSM in second half of year as well. They also had a 2-1 lead over N in the championship game thanks to goals by Brown and Spinner. So after watching all these games in person, I can say that N wouldn't have likely had a more difficult task if they played SW. Remember also that SW of late wasn't the SW at beginning of season because of absence of Hurley, Bianchi, Malmquist, Funk etc through much of 2nd half.

True...all of those missing players had to hurt SW, and as a younger team, it makes sense that SE improved as the season went along. Once the injuries and international/U18 play took their toll, I think we actually wound up with six teams that were all more or less capable of beating each other on any given night.

Given that they were already on the deeper side to begin with and didn't suffer many such losses, it makes sense that North and Great Plains would do well over the final weekend.

OH MY HA IS THE ONLY 1 THAT WILL MAKE THAT MISTAKE

Napalm187 wrote:Future #1 pick? He could be a first rounder, but #1 overall? Not with his size and playing HS hockey.

There is only one kid in the state that has #1 overall pick written all over him, and it's AP from LVS.

His size...? he was the strongest one in the elite testing groups.. he dominates everywhere. oh and who us AP? and what the hell is LVS?

holymolywhatagoalie30 wrote:

Napalm187 wrote:Future #1 pick? He could be a first rounder, but #1 overall? Not with his size and playing HS hockey.

There is only one kid in the state that has #1 overall pick written all over him, and it's AP from LVS.

His size...? he was the strongest one in the elite testing groups.. he dominates everywhere. oh and who us AP? and what the hell is LVS?

nothing like an intelligent argument ...........

I believe AP would be Austin Pratt...little early to determine this kids potential because he is about twice as big as anyone else on the rink his age. It's likely scouts know who he is but you need a crystal ball to make a statement like that. I will say, however, he is the largest first year PW I have personally ever seen.