7A Early Season Review
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 10:59 pm
It's early, but here is a look at 7A thus far. The only 7A team I've seen in person is Hibbing; the rest of my opinions are based on box scores, common opponents, and what I know of the teams' returning players from last year. So I invite fans of the other teams to chime in and correct my bad takes.
1. Hermantown (3-1) They haven't beaten anyone impressive yet (Princeton, Hopkins, Orono), and they lost 6-1 to Wayzata, but I still have a hard time putting anyone in 7A ahead of them until they actually beat the Hawks. The Wayzata score might be a little misleading, as the shots were 32-27 Trojans, thus the game was likely closer than the final score indicates. The Hawks are young but they just reload every year.
2. Duluth Marshall (2-2) Despite a decent showing vs STA (5-2 loss, shots 35-18 STA), the Toppers played a tight one with a mediocre Cloquet team and loss a curious one to St. Cloud Apollo 5-2. They did beat Blake 6-2, but it remains to be seen just how good Blake is. I think Marshall might be the most talented team in 7A, but again it's hard to pick against Hermantown at this point. DM plays Grand Rapids on Friday which will be a good measuring stick as to how good the Toppers can be this season.
3. Hibbing (3-2) With identical 5-0 losses to solid AA teams Tonka and Roseau, and three wins over bad to mediocre A teams (4-1 vs I-Falls, 2-1 vs Mound, and 8-0 vs Little Falls), Hibbing appears to be a middle of the road A team themselves. They seem to be a solid defensive team, as they only allowed 26 shots to Tonka despite the Skippers having 9 more minutes of PP time, and they allowed a combined 46 shots to IF, LF, and MW. The Bluejackets seem to be more aggressive and physical this year, which helps the defense, but they lack top offensive talent, and thus far the goaltending hasn't been good enough to make up for it. They are a very inexperienced team with only 4 returning players that have any significant varsity experience. If the goaltending can improve and some of the new faces can start putting the puck in the net, then they may make some noise, but no matter how you slice it I think they would need some serious puck luck to beat Hermantown or Marshall this year.
4. Virginia (3-1) A case could be made for Virginia at #3, but given they beat LF 4-3 while Hibbing beat LF 8-0, the Blue Devils stay at #4. With wins over bad LF and Greenway teams, a 7-0 beating at the hands of a damn good Warroad team, and the recent 4-0 win over Denfeld, Virginia also appears to be slightly above average. As stated on another thread, VMIB's goalie Murray has been know to win games by himself, but to ask him to do that in the playoffs vs Hermantown and Marshall is asking a bit much. The Hibbing-VMIB games should be fun ones to watch this year as thus far they seem to be pretty evenly matched.
5. Duluth Denfeld (1-4) Their only win is versus Cambridge, and they have losses to VMIB, SCC, BSM, and SSP. I though the Hunters would be better than they have shown this season, but they did lose a ton from last year in Talarico, Thompson, and goalie Thompson. Opack and Lemker are good players, but they are more complementary players that thrived in the presence of Talarico and Co. last year. It seems like their most talented kids are really young, so they will have to mature quickly and become factors for the Hunters to have any hopes of a playoff upset.
6. I-Falls (3-1) The Broncos' three wins are over bad Proctor, LF and Lake O' the Woods teams, and they were dominated by Hibbing in a 4-1 game where they were outshot 33-9. This might be the worst IF team in memory, but hopefully they will make solid improvement as the season moves on and could put a scare into teams 3,4, and 5.
7. North Shore (2-1) Still better than Two Harbors and Silver Bay were individually, but they will have to beat one of the teams ahead of them to prove the program is progressing.
8. Eveleth-Gilbert (4-0) The Golden Bears may be as high as the #5 team in 7A, but all their wins have come against terrible A teams. They have beaten these teams by a combined score of 32-4, so perhaps they will have an upset or two in them when they start playing Hibbing, VMIB, IF, etc.
9. Greenway (1-4) Still struggling, but apparently Bantam A team was decent last season and they now field a JV team, so hopefully the Raiders will be on the rise over the next few seasons. Would love to see them be competitive in 7A.
10. Ely
I just can't see any team other than Hermantown or Marshall winning 7A. A playoff upset is always a possibility, but to upset both of those teams would take a near miracle. The people that should be happiest Hermantown moved to 7A are Duluth East fans, as I imagine a few top Duluth youth players may opt for the East route now that single A juggernaut Hermantown will be the yearly favorite to go to the X. The rest of 7A wasn't too happy to see the Hawks return, but they belong in 7A and upsets happen every year.
Should be another fun year.
1. Hermantown (3-1) They haven't beaten anyone impressive yet (Princeton, Hopkins, Orono), and they lost 6-1 to Wayzata, but I still have a hard time putting anyone in 7A ahead of them until they actually beat the Hawks. The Wayzata score might be a little misleading, as the shots were 32-27 Trojans, thus the game was likely closer than the final score indicates. The Hawks are young but they just reload every year.
2. Duluth Marshall (2-2) Despite a decent showing vs STA (5-2 loss, shots 35-18 STA), the Toppers played a tight one with a mediocre Cloquet team and loss a curious one to St. Cloud Apollo 5-2. They did beat Blake 6-2, but it remains to be seen just how good Blake is. I think Marshall might be the most talented team in 7A, but again it's hard to pick against Hermantown at this point. DM plays Grand Rapids on Friday which will be a good measuring stick as to how good the Toppers can be this season.
3. Hibbing (3-2) With identical 5-0 losses to solid AA teams Tonka and Roseau, and three wins over bad to mediocre A teams (4-1 vs I-Falls, 2-1 vs Mound, and 8-0 vs Little Falls), Hibbing appears to be a middle of the road A team themselves. They seem to be a solid defensive team, as they only allowed 26 shots to Tonka despite the Skippers having 9 more minutes of PP time, and they allowed a combined 46 shots to IF, LF, and MW. The Bluejackets seem to be more aggressive and physical this year, which helps the defense, but they lack top offensive talent, and thus far the goaltending hasn't been good enough to make up for it. They are a very inexperienced team with only 4 returning players that have any significant varsity experience. If the goaltending can improve and some of the new faces can start putting the puck in the net, then they may make some noise, but no matter how you slice it I think they would need some serious puck luck to beat Hermantown or Marshall this year.
4. Virginia (3-1) A case could be made for Virginia at #3, but given they beat LF 4-3 while Hibbing beat LF 8-0, the Blue Devils stay at #4. With wins over bad LF and Greenway teams, a 7-0 beating at the hands of a damn good Warroad team, and the recent 4-0 win over Denfeld, Virginia also appears to be slightly above average. As stated on another thread, VMIB's goalie Murray has been know to win games by himself, but to ask him to do that in the playoffs vs Hermantown and Marshall is asking a bit much. The Hibbing-VMIB games should be fun ones to watch this year as thus far they seem to be pretty evenly matched.
5. Duluth Denfeld (1-4) Their only win is versus Cambridge, and they have losses to VMIB, SCC, BSM, and SSP. I though the Hunters would be better than they have shown this season, but they did lose a ton from last year in Talarico, Thompson, and goalie Thompson. Opack and Lemker are good players, but they are more complementary players that thrived in the presence of Talarico and Co. last year. It seems like their most talented kids are really young, so they will have to mature quickly and become factors for the Hunters to have any hopes of a playoff upset.
6. I-Falls (3-1) The Broncos' three wins are over bad Proctor, LF and Lake O' the Woods teams, and they were dominated by Hibbing in a 4-1 game where they were outshot 33-9. This might be the worst IF team in memory, but hopefully they will make solid improvement as the season moves on and could put a scare into teams 3,4, and 5.
7. North Shore (2-1) Still better than Two Harbors and Silver Bay were individually, but they will have to beat one of the teams ahead of them to prove the program is progressing.
8. Eveleth-Gilbert (4-0) The Golden Bears may be as high as the #5 team in 7A, but all their wins have come against terrible A teams. They have beaten these teams by a combined score of 32-4, so perhaps they will have an upset or two in them when they start playing Hibbing, VMIB, IF, etc.
9. Greenway (1-4) Still struggling, but apparently Bantam A team was decent last season and they now field a JV team, so hopefully the Raiders will be on the rise over the next few seasons. Would love to see them be competitive in 7A.
10. Ely
I just can't see any team other than Hermantown or Marshall winning 7A. A playoff upset is always a possibility, but to upset both of those teams would take a near miracle. The people that should be happiest Hermantown moved to 7A are Duluth East fans, as I imagine a few top Duluth youth players may opt for the East route now that single A juggernaut Hermantown will be the yearly favorite to go to the X. The rest of 7A wasn't too happy to see the Hawks return, but they belong in 7A and upsets happen every year.
Should be another fun year.