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With a relatively weak start to the season by Eagan, do they have a shot coming into Pagel on Tuesday and pulling an upset?

I see a 6-2 Tonka game.

Also, congratulations to Tommy Vannelli for committing to the University of Minnesota!

Is ramsey hurt for tonka? Havent seen his name on scoresheet

Yes, Ramsey has not played yet this year. He should be back sometime this week; he skated in warm-ups the past two games.

To compare Eagan to Minnetonka is like comparing Apples to Lawn Chairs.. Typically not uttered in the same sentence.. Eagan had a pretty good 1st period against Hill Murray but overall they looked like a 15-20 (rankings) type of team and the 5-4 win over East Ridge speaks for itself (shots were 31-29).. Tough anytime you lose three 45+ point scorers..They return Glienke and Willox who had 20 and 14 regular season goals respectively and the next highest returning scorer had 7.. Plus they return a 10th grade goalie who saw partial action last year. They do have some big boys with 7 players 6'1" or taller but that doesn't seem to have translated into increased effectiveness as far as I could tell ..

Not quite sounding like the reviews on Minnetonka this year though. I could see a 5-1 or 6-2 game with like 35-23 shots.. Sorry, I like to predict exacts as that is the best measure of true experiential and theoretical knowledge.... And, if I'm wrong, I can re-analyze the underlying assumptions behind my prediction.. And yes I'm a geek.........

Granttenn wrote:To compare Eagan to Minnetonka is like comparing Apples to Lawn Chairs.. Typically not uttered in the same sentence.. Eagan had a pretty good 1st period against Hill Murray but overall they looked like a 15-20 (rankings) type of team and the 5-4 win over East Ridge speaks for itself (shots were 31-29).. Tough anytime you lose three 45+ point scorers..They return Glienke and Willox who had 20 and 14 regular season goals respectively and the next highest returning scorer had 7.. Plus they return a 10th grade goalie who saw partial action last year. They do have some big boys with 7 players 6'1" or taller but that doesn't seem to have translated into increased effectiveness as far as I could tell ..

Not quite sounding like the reviews on Minnetonka this year though. I could see a 5-1 or 6-2 game with like 35-23 shots.. Sorry, I like to predict exacts as that is the best measure of true experiential and theoretical knowledge.... And, if I'm wrong, I can re-analyze the underlying assumptions behind my prediction.. And yes I'm a geek.........

LOL. I understand your assesment. Like many, it comes from a basic lack of understanding (or familiarity) of the players involved. Either way, I get it. I know exactly where you are coming from. I know many do agree with you.

I don't.

Gleinke had 42 points last season. Willox had 38 and Peterson had 32.

This year they will have at least seven 30+ pts guys and as many as 9 spread out through 3 lines and the back end as well.

This fall, 5 of the Wildcats played in the Elite League. Six of the Wildcats played Elite-D. Many of those players played multiple years. Most of those kids played on League All Star and/or NIT teams. Another who didn't play in either league OR play varsity last year was a National Festival All Star. I know that stuff can have a political slant to it and it's not end-all-be-all-stuff, but it does figure into the equation. Not much room for many of these kids at varsity last couple years with the quality players they have had here, but make no mistake, this is a quality hockey team with a lot of depth.

As was mentioned on another thread - while most teams have 1 or 2 key players, the Wildcats have a crowded key chain. The fact that their 7 goals have come from 6 different goal scorers on 3 different lines speaks to that.

The Wildcat defense is as good as any in the State. The Wildcat depth upfront is in the top tier of teams in the State. Not to mention an exceptional coaching staff (which includes a Hall of Famer ) who have a wealth of experience that includes multiple trips to the State Tournament - these guys know which keys open which locks.

Yes, they have size AS WELL, as you mention. They didn't just look good against Hill in the first. They DOMINATED the first , (held an over 2:1 shot advantage and a 70:30 possession advantage) as they did again in the latter stages of the 3rd.

Furthermore, the team has already been tested with adversity, in the first game against East Ridge, on the road in game one, down 3 players and playing a team in it's 3rd game - also a home opener - and against a Raptors team fresh off a 15 goal outburst. Wildcats dug deep, met the adversity, rose to the challenge, got the win and passed the test.

Against Hill Murray they played short-handed for nearly 9 minutes and surrendered just 1 goal. Met the adversity head on and again rose to the challenge. Came up short in OT, but played like a top team in a battle of two top teams.

Right here on this forum, we heard how Hill - a team just months removed from the State title game - was going to have an easy time with Eagan. It didn't happen. Instead, the Pioneers played from behind all night and clawed their way back to a 2-2 draw through 3 periods with a dead even shot clock of 25-25.

Meanwhile, the Skippers have cruised early with a soft schedule. I am glad to see the Wildcats are such an underdog going into the Minnetonka game. That works well in their favor. I hope the Skippers take them as lightly as these anonymous forum posters.

The outcome? I suppose if the Cats get in penalty trouble early and get back on their heels it could be a 5-1 result. They are just kids afterall, anything can happen. Or you may find yourself on here Wednesday morning making excuses for the Cats 2-1 win. Who knows. It should be close.

It could be anywhere from Apples 4, Lawn Chairs 1 to Lawns Chairs 3, Apples 2. And anywhere in between. Likely neither team will score more than 4 goals and the spread won't be any higher than 3 and likely closer than that.

Regardless, the outcome on Tuesday is of little importance, as the Wildcats are a team built for success in February and March. Most agree they are a top 8-10 team now, but by February most will agree they are top 4-5.

I think I am going to be able to just sit back and let Scorekeeper do all my raving for the Cats this season, lol, its been a rough last 3 or 4 years being the only true Cats supporter on here,lol, yes this will be nice, just put my feet up and let Scorekeeper go !!

tonkafan77 wrote:With a relatively weak start to the season by Eagan, do they have a shot coming into Pagel on Tuesday and pulling an upset?

Didn't Eagan just take the State runner-up to OT? Is that considered "relatively weak" these days?

If that's the case then teams who lost to or tied other teams (Blaine, Roseau, Wayzata, Burnsville, Andover, Elk River etc.) must be off to downright awful starts. Heck, by that measuring stick, those poor kids from Grand Rapids might as well put the skates away for the winter.

Granttenn wrote:To compare Eagan to Minnetonka is like comparing Apples to Lawn Chairs.. Typically not uttered in the same sentence..

They return Glienke and Willox who had 20 and 14 regular season goals respectively and the next highest returning scorer had 7.. Plus they return a 10th grade goalie who saw partial action last year.

Not quite sounding like the reviews on Minnetonka this year though. I could see a 5-1 or 6-2 game with like 35-23 shots.. Sorry, I like to predict exacts as that is the best measure of true experiential and theoretical knowledge.... And, if I'm wrong, I can re-analyze the underlying assumptions behind my prediction.. And yes I'm a geek.........

So let me get this straight ... top returning goal scorers from last year ...

Gleinke 20, Willox 14, Peterson 7 compared to .. Coatta 23, Thie 11, Vanelli 6

And in goal;

Ciaccio 12-1 with 1.54 GAA , 91% Save % and 695 minutes
Lindgren 9-0 with a 1.34 GAA, 90% Save % and 495 minutes

This is apples to lawn furniture to you? Remind me to pass on the fruit salad at your house during the holidays, lest I get a mouthfull of chesterfield.

I'll take the lawn chairs to "upset" the apple cart on Tuesday.

Eagan 3
Tonka 1

I didn't mean to offend all of you Eagan fans out there. I really didn't. But usually when #10 (who BARELY beat a weak, unranked team) beats #4 (3-0), it is considered an upset.

But if that hurts your ego, we don't need to call it that.

There has been a lot of talk about this Eagan team and I will believe all of you once they prove that they can win against the big boys. For now, a 5-4 win over East Ridge doesn't cut it for me.

D3Referee, I agree with most of your comparisons, but the goalie comparison might be a bit skewed only because I know that the games Lindgren played for Eagan last year were the easier games on the schedule which no doubt helped his numbers. I am not sure what Minnetonka's goalie's games were but probably a bit tougher than what the Eagan goalie faced. Personally, I would be happy with a close game and within 1 or 2 goals either way. It's early in the season and Eagan is still gelling with many first time varsity starters, not sure how many returnees Minnetonka has this year but they probably didnt lose as much as Eagan did. Eagan will be a much stronger team as the season goes on.

tonkafan77 wrote:I didn't mean to offend all of you Eagan fans out there. I really didn't.

There has been a lot of talk about this Eagan team and I will believe all of you once they prove that they can win against the big boys. For now, a 5-4 win over East Ridge doesn't cut it for me.

You can call it whatever you like. I don't really care who you offend. I am just not sure how you equate an OT result against the State runner-up as a "relatively weak" start. I'd say that's a pretty impressive start - I don't care who you are.

If you guys in Minnetonka want to build this as David vs. Goliath, go ahead. I am pretty sure Eagan fans will enjoy that.

HappyHockeyFan wrote:D3Referee, I agree with most of your comparisons, but the goalie comparison might be a bit skewed only because I know that the games Lindgren played for Eagan last year were the easier games on the schedule which no doubt helped his numbers. I am not sure what Minnetonka's goalie's games were but probably a bit tougher than what the Eagan goalie faced. Personally, I would be happy with a close game and within 1 or 2 goals either way. It's early in the season and Eagan is still gelling with many first time varsity starters, not sure how many returnees Minnetonka has this year but they probably didnt lose as much as Eagan did. Eagan will be a much stronger team as the season goes on.

Well good luck. It looks like a pretty competitive matchup.

tonkafan77 wrote:I didn't mean to offend all of you Eagan fans out there. I really didn't. But usually when #10 (who BARELY beat a weak, unranked team) beats #4 (3-0), it is considered an upset.

But if that hurts your ego, we don't need to call it that.

There has been a lot of talk about this Eagan team and I will believe all of you once they prove that they can win against the big boys. For now, a 5-4 win over East Ridge doesn't cut it for me.

No offense taken, at least here. Nothing wrong with some friendly banter, imo, so long as everyone is respectful (particularly to the high school players involved). Oh, and brevity...that'd be nice too.

Side note...while 5 Eagan players may have had playing experience this Fall at the Elite level, only 2 (Glienke, Petersen) were original cast members of Team TCF. Scorekeeper's royal blue-tinged accounting methods must be double-counting D-leaguers who were weekend call-ups.

scorekeeper wrote:

Granttenn wrote:To compare Eagan to Minnetonka is like comparing Apples to Lawn Chairs.. Typically not uttered in the same sentence.. Eagan had a pretty good 1st period against Hill Murray but overall they looked like a 15-20 (rankings) type of team and the 5-4 win over East Ridge speaks for itself (shots were 31-29).. Tough anytime you lose three 45+ point scorers..They return Glienke and Willox who had 20 and 14 regular season goals respectively and the next highest returning scorer had 7.. Plus they return a 10th grade goalie who saw partial action last year. They do have some big boys with 7 players 6'1" or taller but that doesn't seem to have translated into increased effectiveness as far as I could tell ..

Not quite sounding like the reviews on Minnetonka this year though. I could see a 5-1 or 6-2 game with like 35-23 shots.. Sorry, I like to predict exacts as that is the best measure of true experiential and theoretical knowledge.... And, if I'm wrong, I can re-analyze the underlying assumptions behind my prediction.. And yes I'm a geek.........

Regardless, the outcome on Tuesday is of little importance, as the Wildcats are a team built for success in February and March. Most agree they are a top 8-10 team now, but by February most will agree they are top 4-5.

We all know Eagan is a very talented team, but I have to disagree with the statement bolded above. Let's face it, Eagan's toughest part of their schedule this year is before they start the conference games. The also play in one of the easiest sections in the state, and making it to state last year was no surprise to anyone, as will this year. BUT, winning these tough early season games will give them confidence that they can beat the top teams in the state. If they can't beat them now, they will not have a lot of confidence that they will be able to beat them when the state tournament rolls around.

Eagan makes a return trip to state this March. The pool of talent dries up for Eagan after this year. Assuming the tender sticks around, that won't be enough to advance out of districts. One more chance for some hardware.

Tonka 6 Eagan 2

Anyone know if this game will be webstreamed anywhere?

Scorekeeper -

You obviously know Eagan well...do you think this years team is better than last years team? We all know they had high expectations last year and by looking back at the scores their biggest wins were against HM 1/13 and MG in the consolation bracket of state 3/9. I really liked Eagan's teams the last 2/3 years but I haven't seen anything translate into a great team. I didn't see the HM game this year but from what I've heard HM has lost some key players. I agree with earlier posts that moral victories can be worthy but a win vs East Ridge and a OT loss to HM doesn't do much yet for me. If they come into Pagel and win Tuesday I would think that would be there biggest win in some time.

If this years Eagan team is better than last years I think they can beat tonka at Pagel...if they are not as strong as last year I think it will be hard for them to come up with a big win on the road. Tonka is not as strong as last year or previous years but they look to be top 5.

My guess is Tonka wins 4-2 with an empty net goal (tonka will hold strong advantage in shots but not be able to put Eagan away)

Everyone,

Scorekeeper has some issues.

In 2011-2012 Eagan Bantam A was ranked 34th at the end of the season with a record of 17-21.

In 2010-2011 Eagan Bantam A was ranked 47th at the end of the season with a record of 15-24.

http://myhockeyrankings.com/rankings.php

That generally doesn't translate into a top 10 ranking. Remember, that's overall. Getting to the tournament doesn't mean you're top 20 as there are several teams, in stronger Sections, that don't make it. I really liked last years team. I liked Maple Grove too. In fact, they were my picks at the Tourney. Both disappointed. A bubble of solid players, like the groups on those two teams last season, are very rare.

Hey knowledgeable one, let me ask... Where does Slaterry live? Where does the roaming one, Jack Jenson, live? Lindgren?

just a question...are we going have a EAGAN vs ______ poll for every Eagan game?

jancze5 wrote:just a question...are we going have a EAGAN vs ______ poll for every Eagan game?

Shouldn't.

A Hill Murray fan started the Hill/Eagan thread and a Tonka fan started this one. There hasn't been a Eagan v ____ thread started by an Eagan fan yet this season

observer wrote:Everyone,

Scorekeeper has some issues.

In 2011-2012 Eagan Bantam A was ranked 34th at the end of the season with a record of 17-21.

In 2010-2011 Eagan Bantam A was ranked 47th at the end of the season with a record of 15-24.

http://myhockeyrankings.com/rankings.php

That generally doesn't translate into a top 10 ranking. Remember, that's overall. Getting to the tournament doesn't mean you're top 20 as there are several teams, in stronger Sections, that don't make it. I really liked last years team. I liked Maple Grove too. In fact, they were my picks at the Tourney. Both disappointed. A bubble of solid players, like the groups on those two teams last season, are very rare.

Hey knowledgeable one, let me ask... Where does Slaterry live? Where does the roaming one, Jack Jenson, live? Lindgren?

Your rankings might lend support to the upthread suggestion that this is the last best chance for Eagan to grab hardware at State, but they have little relevance for this year's team. The rankings you need to focus on are 2009-10, when eleven of the kids on this year's varsity roster were on Eagan's Top 10 Bantam A team. In contrast, I think that there's one 4th line forward that was a Bantam A last year

As for your pointed questions regarding Eagan residency, doesn't matter if you are a ninth grader when you open enrolled. A "roaming one" could be commuting from Coleraine and it'd still be legit. Jensen's family moved to Eagan from St. Paul...they bought a house there and are living in it. Nothing to dispute.

jancze5 wrote:just a question...are we going have a EAGAN vs ______ poll for every Eagan game?

Wasn't planning on it. But if you've got your heart set...

GTTN wrote:do you think this years team is better than last years team? We all know they had high expectations last year and by looking back at the scores their biggest wins were against HM 1/13 and MG in the consolation bracket of state 3/9. I really liked Eagan's teams the last 2/3 years but I haven't seen anything translate into a great team.

If this years Eagan team is better than last years I think they can beat tonka at Pagel...if they are not as strong as last year I think it will be hard for them to come up with a big win on the road. Tonka is not as strong as last year or previous years but they look to be top 5.

My guess is Tonka wins 4-2 with an empty net goal (tonka will hold strong advantage in shots but not be able to put Eagan away)

GTTN, thanks for the harvest moon softball. Fair warning to almostashappy - sorry, but this will NOT BE BRIEF - so scroll on down and. BodyShots, cover your shoes.

For me, it's not a question right now, "is this team better than last year".

Every team in the state is going though a similar transition. Comparing outgoing seniors to incoming soph's and juniors is an unfair comparison to both groups.

I think it's more about building a program than replacing individual players. If you install a winning tradition with strong coaching and an environment conducive to development than recruiting becomes easier. "If you build it, they will come".

That mantra has worked for years in the college ranks. It's no surprise that many of the Minnesota private schools are running with it and it's also worked well for some of the Minnesota public schools as well.

Good programs attract good players.

In that sense, winning in any given season is rarely the result of a single season effort, but instead, a cumulative effort spanning several years.

I think that is the case in Eagan.

The real question is, "Can this years team accomplish more than last years team?" The answer there is a resounding YES. They absolutely have the potential to do that. But if they do succeed, they will do so in large part BECAUSE of the departing class, who did much of the heavy lifting over the past 2-3 seasons, acting as great mentors and roll models for the current crop of players and creating a positive environment and a winning tradition that players want to be part of and take pride in continuing.

I think it's important to note that the challenge this Eagan team faces are different than last years team.

The relative parity in schedule is going work well in favor of the Wildcats, allowing them a slow, steady, methodical development with a string of competitive games.

Their conference schedule features a nice blend programs on the rise like Eastview and Jefferson, complimented by strong returning teams like Burnsville and Prior Lake.

At sections, East Ridge and Woodbury will be competitive.

This years Cats won't encounter the steady stream of blowouts that breed complacency. Instead, they will be challenged steadily to stay focused and improve.

That attractive season long challenge really diminishes the importance of early season results for the Cats and instead allows them to rightly focus on early season development and late season results.

I think your prediction of a 4-2 win with an empty netter would probably be the odds on favorite as a result in this game, but I maintain that the final score in this game is less important to Eagan than the effort on the ice. If they COMPETE in this game it's a win for Eagan regardless of the score, and I am very confident they will compete well.

Last years team probably had more high end talents, but this years squad looks to have more balance throughout and thanks to the efforts of the great players that have come before them, have the opportunity to accomplish even more team success.

Finally, tonka77, no offense taken whatsoever. We have some good friends over on the Tonka team, great respect for their players and coaches and we are very thankful that they are blessed as well with strong community support and a supportive fan base.

Here in the scorekeeper household, we wish Minnetonka nothing but great success this year.

Sorry for the long winded response ...

Go Wildcats!

Love the passion. Every team needs a scorekeeper and wishes they had one. Just not quite as long winded.

observer wrote:Just not quite as long winded.

I know I need to work on that. Pulling out the blackboard now and writing 100 times

"Brevity is Wit"
"Brevity is Wit"
"Brevity is Wit"

I can't help myself. Now I am going to write it out 100 times here

"Brevity is Wit"
"Brevity is Wit"
"Brevity is Wit"
"Brevity is Wit"
"Brevity is Wit"
"Brevity is Wit"
"Brevity is Wit"
"Brevity is Wit"
"Brevity is Wit"

K, that wasn't as fun as I thought it was gonna be. All done now