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OK, its finally time to break out of the group rankings and debut my positional rankings. Each week I will give 10 mythical first place votes, this will give you an indication of how strongly I feel about a given teams hold on first place. Here we go !It should be noted that I have not looked at any other rankings before posting mine so as not to be influenced.

1 Hillmurray (4-0) - 4 votes - Hill gets the nod here by virtue of beating solid teams in Eagan and Burnsville and then BSM considered by most the top team in the state to start the season.

2 Edina (6-0) - 3 Votes - Edina has done well against a good schedule but doesnt have any top 5 victories like Hill at this time so for now they sit here.

3 Minnetonka (5-0) - 3 Votes - Tonka has also played a good schedule but also no wins at this time against a top 5 team.

4 Wayzata (6-1) Wayzata has played nicely against a strong schedule to start the season and has a victory over previous top 5 team in Duluth East. Loss to Edina keeps them from going higher at this time.

5 BSM (2-1) Only 3 games to judge by but one is a tough loss to Hill which knocks BSM to #5, they will have plenty of opportunities to move up with their tough schedule.

6 Burnsville (2-2) - Only >.500 after 4 games but a good win over EP and only a 1 goal loss to #1 Hillmurray.

7 Eagan (2-2) Like B'ville they are .500 but they showed they can play with the big boys in 1 and 2 goal losses to Hill and Tonka.

8 Duluth East (2-1) Soft schedule to start the season and they lost their toughest game thus far to #4 Wayzata.

9 Eden Prairie (3-1) Soft schedule to start the season and lost their toughest game thus far to #6 Burnsville.

10 Grand Rapids (4-1) 4 mediocre wins, the Forest Lake loss is holding them back right now.

11 Blaine
12 Roseau
13 Elk River
14 Centennial
15 Holy Family
16 Andover
17 Cloquet
18 Forest Lake
19 Moorhead
20 Holy Angels

5 Teams to Watch
21 Jefferson
22 Maple Grove
23 Moundsview
24 White Bear Lake
25 Anoka

Top 9 look solid. I would have put Blaine at #10 and probably moved GR down to around 13 or 14.

Roseau is mediocre? Andover shouldn't be in the top 20 anymore, Forest Lake should be in other teams to watch as well after they got crushed 11-6. FL needs to come up with more than just one decent win. I'd consider them top 20 if they beat Cretin Durham Hall and route St. Francis and Park. Moorhead being behind the teams you have listed at 14-18 is just wrong.

TheHockeyDJ wrote:Roseau is mediocre? Andover shouldn't be in the top 20 anymore, Forest Lake should be in other teams to watch as well after they got crushed 11-6. FL needs to come up with more than just one decent win. I'd consider them top 20 if they beat Cretin Durham Hall and route St. Francis and Park. Moorhead being behind the teams you have listed at 14-18 is just wrong.

Alright, well I appreciate your feedback. Regarding Roseau, maybe mediocre wasnt the best word to use but at the same time I dont consider their schedule thus far to be that tough either. TRF and Hibbing are class A teams and Buffalo a weak AA team, nothing impressive there. They tied Blaine, a team we really dont know much about yet, they (Blaine) have a win against a weak Osseo team and a close win against a decent centennial team. Then there is the 3 goal loss to Grand Rapids, overall I dont see any thing overly impressive yet, not bad but not great either. We will learn alot more about Roseau this week with games against Moorhead and Minnetonka. Andover doesnt have much in the win column, however, they have played 3 very good teams relatively close which indicates to me they just got to work a few things out and the wins will start coming. And all 3 losses came against teams that were already ranked ahead of them, however, they are on a short leash. Then there is Forest Lake which has a win over Grand Rapids a team ranked ahead of them which shows what they are capable of, the Moundsview loss wasnt good but I tend to be less hard on teams for losses (depending on who it is they lose too) and give more credit for wins (again depending on who it is they beat). And finally, Moorhead has no impressive wins and a blowout loss to a top team, at least some of the teams ahead of them have won a big game thus far. Elk River has a win over Andover and a 1 goal loss to Wayzata, Centennial has a win over Andover and a 1 goal loss against Blaine which is ranked ahead of them, Holy Family showed me what they are capable of with a strong showing against Edina, forget the final score as it was a 1 goal game late in the second period, the 5 major completely changed that game. Andover has showed they can play with some top teams they just need to finish now. Cloquet hasnt been impressive but they did play close losses to both of their AA opponents. Forest Lake has the win over Grand Rapids. All in all I feel more strongly about where I have teams ranked in the top 10 and as usual in every year the further you go down the list into the top twenty the more muddled it gets. If your only concerns are where I have teams ranked 11-25 then I figure I must be doing pretty well. There are some good games this week that will help to clear some of this up. I look at the season as a big puzzle and each game result is a piece of that puzzle, and as you slowly put those pieces together a picture begins to form and by seasons end you should have an almost completed puzzle, the only that can mess it up of course is the section playoffs and the State Tourney, where we know anything can happen..lol.

So a team is not impressive as a quality opponent simply for being in Class A? There are teams that are equally good and equally bad in Class A and Class AA. St. Thomas Academy, Duluth Marshall, and Hibbing are all teams that could compete very well in AA. St. Francis, Cambridge, and St. Michael Albertville would all lose in the quarterfinals in Section 7A. Hibbing is a very strong team this year and they are dealing with some injuries, they have UMD recruit Adam Johnson. When looking at opponents what class they are in should have no bearing. Either the team is good or they aren't.

I agree with your Andover take to an extent, but Chase Perry isn't putting up the performances he did last year. I think people put too much into them reaching the 7AA final, it was more a result of GR flopping in the quarters and they barely got by FL. I tend to feel that a lack of a legit elite scoring threat combined with Perry being in an early season funk is going to land Andover a 6 seed in 7AA. They could be very dangerous if they get it together, however it's going to get late in a hurry in terms of getting a higher seed. They might just have to realize they won't get a high seed and will just have to worry about playing better going into sections and embrace being a road team in the quarterfinals. No matter where they end up, I will consider them to be dangerous in the playoffs and by no means would take them lightly.