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Lourdes top dog again?

Any surprising teams good or bad?

New Prague will be competitive but lost both leading scorers to EP and Omaha AAA. New goaltender and youth on offense will be a big test for the Trojans this year ,not to mention the toughest schedule conf and non-conf in memory.They've looked solid in most of their scrimmages so far but the real test starts on Tues nite vs Mankato West!!

Lourdes is definitely the team to beat. They've got a new goalie who was a transfer from Red Wing, Jack Burkel. He's a pretty solid goaltender; fundamentally strong. I believe they will start the season testing the two goalies though. That's all my two cents for the Eagles.

New Prague is my number two. Always a competitive team. Good goaltending there as well. Coach always puts together a scrappy group of boys also. I see them taking the #2 seed.

Red Wing will be interesting to see...a lot of youth in this group. A few Freshmen coming up too. They return Rezansoff, Hanson, and Rehder (possible first line?), and I think that may be all the offense for the year... There isn't too much depth in the roster, due primarily to lack of experience. Their non-conference schedule is not a strong as it was in years past, we'll see how that works out for them. Will be interesting to see what happens with the Wingers.. I see them finishing around #3-5 seed (pending Northfield and West, also possibly Waseca?)

A couple teams I see that could surprise are Mankato West and Waseca. Great goaltending can do plenty for any team in Waseca's case, and as for West they were young last year. It will be fun to see what the boys do with another year of experience under their belt.

I do not know how Northfield will look this year compared to last. I believe Scolfield is returning, but not completely sure about that one..? Anyone with more info about the Raiders or any other teams?

Predictions:
1. Lourdes
2. New Prague
3. Northfield
4. West
5. Red Wing
6. LSP
...and the rest to follow...

Lourdes is by far the #1 pic in the section, and IMHO the heaviest favorite to win it's section in all of Class A. New Prague lost Schmidt and Lijewski to transfers, the top two scorers from last year, and Morris, maybe the top Section 1A goalie, to graduation. They have a great coach in Lonke and people seem to think they will be strong despite the player losses.

Mankato West, our hometown boys here, is returning some scoring, but lost outstanding goalie Fox to graduation. They play at New Prague Tuesday, so we should get some idea of things from that game. Northfield has both Scofields on a line, and they looked strong offensively in their opener on Friday. Red Wing is hard to figure, but has a history of success in section playoffs. Albert Lea had an off year last year, and had mixed results against West in two scrimmages this past week.

GAMES FOR 11/27:

New Prague vs. Mankato West
Northfield vs. New Ulm
Red Wing vs. Buffalo
La Crescent vs. Winona

Picks are bolded

New Prague/West is a good early test to see where these two should compete. I expect a very close game.

Red Wing/Buffalo I can see being a tight one; both are young teams but I give the Wingers a slight edge.

Red Wing also has Mike Bigelbach back this year, big and strong maybe their best player!! Besides Lourdes, I see alot of parity in the next 4 or 5 teams,should be a interesting year!!

Is Lourdes a strong enough team this year to finally make a run in state and not just get there?

West 6-2 over New Prague

Buffalo over the Wingers: 5-1
Northfield over New Ulm: 4-1
Winona over La Crescent: 1-0

justlivin wrote:West 6-2 over New Prague

MW looked a step faster and more organized. NP was spending most of its time on the PK.

Not too surprised with last evenings results...

West seems to be tough... West winning on the road, nice W for them.

Northfield has put a couple of nice games together, may surprise some people.

Red Wing should get it going after a few games, they usually are a later blooming team.

Surprised on how Winona only beat a very young LaCrescent team 1-0 in OT, Hub shows a big shot difference, but looked like alot of them were in the 2nd on PP's, waiting to hear from my Winona connection on how that went.

GAMES FOR 11/29

Northfield vs. Albert Lea
Mankato West vs. Mankato East
Red Wing vs. Hudson (WI)
Faribault vs. Rochester Mayo
LSP vs. St. Paul Como Park
Waseca vs. Dodge County
La Crescent vs. Tomah (WI)

RESULTS FOR 11/29

Northfield beats Albert Lea: 6-0
Mankato West over Mankato East: 11-0
Hudson (WI) over Red Wing: 5-3
Rochester Mayo over Faribault: 4-2
St. Paul Como Park beats LSP: 8-3
Waseca wins in OT over Dodge County: 4-3
Tomah (WI) beats La Crescent: 5-1

Do I read the stats correctly that Chris Amsden of St. Peter gave up eight goals last night? What gives? He is one of the top goalies around.

I was at the Albert Lea - Northfield game last night.

Defense Line of Von Ruden, Noel
Offense Line of Scofields and Fieremuth

This group is very strong the 2nd line will hold their own. Albert Lea played and aggressive 2nd period but the strong play by Northfield defense shut that burst down. It is early but Northfield could do very well in Missota and in Section 1A.

Looking forward to other games this weekend.

GAMES FOR 12/1

Rochester Lourdes vs. St. Thomas Academy
Mankato West vs. Winona
New Prague vs. North St. Paul
Red Wing vs. South St. Paul
Albert Lea vs. Faribault
LSP vs. Fairmont
Austin vs. Dodge County
Mankato East vs. Windom Area

Picks are bolded. Should be some good hockey today!

West won 5-1 over Winona.

Haven't been to a West game but excited to hear about their early success! They are a young squad so making sure they continue to build throughout the season and not become easily complacent should be stressed its always easy take things from a loss but its hard to learn when you win

SCORES FOR 12/1

St. Thomas Academy over Rochester Lourdes: 8-1
North St. Paul over New Prague: 1-0
South St. Paul over Red Wing: 3-1
Albert Lea over Faribault: 7-1
LSP over Fairmont: 7-0
Dodge County over Austin: 9-7
Windom Area over Mankato East: 4-3 OT

And OU812 already provided the West results (see above)

Great games today! We can begin to see where these teams are settling out early here..

Roy01 wrote:SCORES FOR 12/1

St. Thomas Academy over Rochester Lourdes: 8-1
North St. Paul over New Prague: 1-0
South St. Paul over Red Wing: 3-1
Albert Lea over Faribault: 7-1
LSP over Fairmont: 7-0
Dodge County over Austin: 9-7
Windom Area over Mankato East: 4-3 OT

And OU812 already provided the West results (see above)

Great games today! We can begin to see where these teams are settling out early here..

New Prague all over NSP last night in the loss, out shooting the polars 39-21. NSP Goalie was great all game with NP getting numerous scoring chances. Pretty lopsided on the penalties though, with NSP only getting one!!!( Just sayin') I hope that the Trojans are turning the corner now after making some changes with the lines. Lourdes next then Mahtomedi so it doesn't get any easier for them.

IT'S NOT HOW YOU START, IT'S HOW YOU FINNISH

GAMES FOR 12/4

Rochester Lourdes vs. New Prague
Northfield vs. Bloomington Kennedy
Mankato West vs. Albert Lea
Faribault vs. Owatonna
LSP vs. Mankato East
Austin vs. Waseca
La Crescent vs. West Salem (WI)

Picks are bolded. Lourdes/New Prague is another early season measure for these teams. They do play again at the end of the regular season so we can see how far they've come along. As for the other games, more settling out between the pack. Should be some good hockey!

Mankato West followed up on the hot start with a 7 - 4 victory over the Tigers of Albert Lea. It looks like section 1a could be a very tough section this year.

Follow the pucks says West 7-3 over AL on the road? Anyway, West is off to a very impressive start.

It appears Lourdes scratched by NP 3-2 in OT on the road.

Looks like 1A could be wide open this year with West and Northfield figuring into the equation, Lourdes are no longer the sure thing in 1A.

aspartame wrote:Mankato West followed up on the hot start with a 7 - 4 victory over the Tigers of Albert Lea. It looks like section 1a could be a very tough section this year.

Dog_Log17 wrote:Follow the pucks says West 7-3 over AL on the road? Anyway, West is off to a very impressive start.

It appears Lourdes scratched by NP 3-2 in OT on the road.

Looks like 1A could be wide open this year with West and Northfield figuring into the equation, Lourdes are no longer the sure thing in 1A.

aspartame wrote:Mankato West followed up on the hot start with a 7 - 4 victory over the Tigers of Albert Lea. It looks like section 1a could be a very tough section this year.

Lourdes is missing key players due to injuries. Wouldn't quite give up on Lourdes yet. Also Lourdes usually starts off the season slow as well.

clutterbuck22 wrote:

Dog_Log17 wrote:Follow the pucks says West 7-3 over AL on the road? Anyway, West is off to a very impressive start.

It appears Lourdes scratched by NP 3-2 in OT on the road.

Looks like 1A could be wide open this year with West and Northfield figuring into the equation, Lourdes are no longer the sure thing in 1A.

aspartame wrote:Mankato West followed up on the hot start with a 7 - 4 victory over the Tigers of Albert Lea. It looks like section 1a could be a very tough section this year.

Lourdes is missing key players due to injuries. Wouldn't quite give up on Lourdes yet. Also Lourdes usually starts off the season slow as well.

How many players are the Eagles missing from football?