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An early season battle between the top two 7AA teams on paper. Both have only played 2 games so far, each knocking off a Lake team and having a closer-than-expected win over a weaker 7AA team, though the Elks' wins are both a bit more impressive. Who takes this one?

This one will be on my9 tv in Duluth and ifan.tv online. Grand Rapids/Duluth Marshall will be on Friday. Should be fun to see all 3 of the favorites in 7AA this week. I'd imagine East will play a tight game and not try to play fire wagon hockey with Elk River.

Hounds will play a tough, defensive game. Randolph will have them ready. I see East winning this one 2-0.

I do however see East losing to Cloquet Thursday. Wouldn't be surprised to see the inexperienced goalies of East (Hedin or Howg, whoever gets the start) let in a lot of goals against their rivals. The lumber dome game is a completely different atmosphere than a heritage game.

Elks pull the big section win. They are tops in 7AA this year.

Elks win, I think, this time.
Section playoffs may be a different thing.

East wins a close one. East kids are in great shape from shoveling the last week !!!

elliott70 wrote:Elks win, I think, this time.
Section playoffs may be a different thing.

Agree.

On another note, is the ifan.tv broadcast same as the MY9 TV? Hope not, as I'd love an alternative to Tom Hansen and the crew. LY he mentioned that Jonah Bischoff was "only a freshman" at LEAST a dozen times during a GR broadcast, consistently mispronounces names, and the biggy.... they go to commercials during face offs so you miss parts of the game. I know you gotta get them in - and limited budgets for high school broadcasts - but work with the refs and whoever else to to hold up 15-30 seconds like any other broadcast like they already do for UMD games! When they built Heritage, they couldn't afford a red light to tell the refs when its okay to drop the puck?
Okay...got that off my chest!

I pick East, against ER and Cloquet. IMHO their bench is deeper. If Duluth's D shows up to help their goalie and hold off ER from dramatically outshooting them....

Nevertoomuchhockey wrote:I pick East, against ER and Cloquet. IMHO their bench is deeper. If Duluth's D shows up to help their goalie and hold off ER from dramatically outshooting them....

East, deeper than Elky? Maybe you could say that since the Elks have their top 3 forwards on one line whereas East has its top few spread across two lines, but given East's youth and relative lack (by East standards) of obvious top-end forward talent, I'm not convinced. I think those lower line match-ups could really be what swing this game, since both teams are in pretty good shape in back.

On a random side note, I wonder when a 7AA team was last deeper than East. There have certainly been some teams over the years that were better than the Hounds because they had more top-end talent, but in terms of depth...1999? If ever? At any rate, I'm curious to see how the coaches play this one.

To answer the other question, I'm pretty sure MY9 and ifan.tv are the same thing, so yes, you get Tom Hanson. He means well, but...yeah, I have no regrets about enduring a little cold and forking over the $6 to watch this one in person. (Also, useless fact for those of you who've been on this forum for a while: Tom and Goldfishdude were college roommates. I can only imagine what those two were like together.)

Karl's quote -
"East, deeper than Elky? Maybe you could say that since the Elks have their top 3 forwards on one line whereas East has its top few spread across two lines, but given East's youth and relative lack (by East standards) of obvious top-end forward talent, I'm not convinced. I think those lower line match-ups could really be what swing this game, since both teams are in pretty good shape in back.
On a random side note, I wonder when a 7AA team was last deeper than East. There have certainly been some teams over the years that were better than the Hounds because they had more top-end talent, but in terms of depth...1999? If ever? At any rate, I'm curious to see how the coaches play this."

Your first paragraph seems to contradict your second? 1) East does not have a deep bench, just seems to because they balance the lines , and 2) East's bench is so deep you have to go back to '99 to find better.

Elks 4-2

Given how good both these teams are and that they will both probably have a similar season result, this game is huge for taking an early hold on the #1 seed in 7AA. Another team could beat both of them and I know it's early, just saying for an early game you can't find one with a bigger impact on the top of the seeds. Given the quality of teams in 7AA, avoiding the 6 and 7 seeds in the quarterfinals (STMA is no push-over, could be Cloquet or Forest Lake too), plus the 2/3 semi-final game will be a huge advantage this year.
I know Berglove is one of the front runners for the Frank Brimsek award, so one has to be a little surprised he gave up 6 goals vs. Andover. I'm curious to see how he responds and also how whoever starts in goal for East is able to handle the pressure of playing a top 5 team with so much at stake.

The Elks/Andover score is a head scratcher. ER still has to prove themselves against top teams and tonight will go a long way in letting us know if they are up to it. Their best backliner is playing only his third varsity game {Kiersted}. Getting East back on the schedule is a good move, making the much discussed bus trip to Duluth might be their only regular season long trip of the year? Elks 5-2.

any idea of a stream for tonight's game?

The game will be streamed on ifan.tv by my9 of Duluth.

alcloseshaver wrote:The Elks/Andover score is a head scratcher. ER still has to prove themselves against top teams and tonight will go a long way in letting us know if they are up to it. Their best backliner is playing only his third varsity game {Kiersted}. Getting East back on the schedule is a good move, making the much discussed bus trip to Duluth might be their only regular season long trip of the year? Elks 5-2.

Long trip? ER to Duluth? I wonder if this is your only kid in hockey. I've personally driven 3 times as far there and back in a day for various association, playoff, state, AAA, and Elite League games. Long car rides are the norm in this sport! Parents with more than 2 players... Mad respect. They must live in the car.

Duluth is not a long trip I agree. Some sarcasm intended. My point is that it is a trip ER doesn't make often with a mostly metro schedule and it will be a good experience in preparation for a possible couple of trips to Duluth in March. Road trips were always fun and good team builders.

The semi-finals in Duluth should have decent attendance. Wild are off due to Olympic break, Gophers are on a bye that weekend, and North Dakota is at UMD that Fri/Sat. night. I plan on making a weekend of it going to the UMD game friday night. I'd imagine a decent number of fans in for the college games will attend the 7AA semifinals. Amsoil Arena put on a good show last year with an NHL level production with the use of the scoreboard and music.

ER 4-2

Nevertoomuchhockey wrote:Your first paragraph seems to contradict your second? 1) East does not have a deep bench, just seems to because they balance the lines , and 2) East's bench is so deep you have to go back to '99 to find better.

My point there was that, historically, East has been the deepest team in 7AA. That may NOT be true this year since East has a pretty thin senior class, whereas the Elks have a very deep one. 1999 was perhaps the last time a 7AA team was deeper than East.

karl(east) wrote:

Nevertoomuchhockey wrote:Your first paragraph seems to contradict your second? 1) East does not have a deep bench, just seems to because they balance the lines , and 2) East's bench is so deep you have to go back to '99 to find better.

My point there was that, historically, East has been the deepest team in 7AA. That may NOT be true this year since East has a pretty thin senior class, whereas the Elks have a very deep one. 1999 was perhaps the last time a 7AA team was deeper than East.

2011 Rapids team was deeper then East Karl. Rapids had three potent lines and East only had two potent lines that season. No need to rip open that old wound!

Elks+Berglove= "Upset" win tonight

Well, all I know, deep lines or not deep lines, East will come out on top 2-0. Guaranteed.

Slammer wrote:Well, all I know, deep lines or not deep lines, East will come out on top 2-0. Guaranteed.

Good thing you didn't end it with "Period".

northwoods oldtimer wrote:

karl(east) wrote:

Nevertoomuchhockey wrote:Your first paragraph seems to contradict your second? 1) East does not have a deep bench, just seems to because they balance the lines , and 2) East's bench is so deep you have to go back to '99 to find better.

My point there was that, historically, East has been the deepest team in 7AA. That may NOT be true this year since East has a pretty thin senior class, whereas the Elks have a very deep one. 1999 was perhaps the last time a 7AA team was deeper than East.

2011 Rapids team was deeper then East Karl. Rapids had three potent lines and East only had two potent lines that season. No need to rip open that old wound!

Elks+Berglove= "Upset" win tonight

I'd have called those two even. Randolph wasn't afraid to play the "3rd line" (which came out second or even started some games) in any situation, even if they weren't huge scorers. And they scored the game-winning OT goals in East's two Tourney wins.

That Rapids team was definitely the deepest non-East team I can remember in 7AA, though. Fond memories.

As for tonight...if the Elks can jump out and set the tone early, I like them to win. If it's close late, though, I like East. Should be a very fun one no matter what.