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A few surprises this past week with quite a few really big games this coming week and things are getting pretty excited in the last month of the regular season.
I expect things to look very different next week as the last couple weeks have shown us that things rarely go as planned.

Feedback and input are always appreciated. Enjoy!

1. East Grand Forks (13-2-1)
The Green Wave have two losses this season, to WI’s top team and to a struggling Breck team. That loss also came the day after East Grand Forks got something only two other top Class A schools have; a win over a top AA team. They haven’t play Thief River falls yet and do that on the road this week.
This week: Tues @ Thief River Falls, Thurs vs Grand Forks Red River, Sat vs Moorhead

2. Warroad (14-2-1)
Coming of a win over Moorhead, the Warriors have 3 away games this week. Can they stop a hot Marshall team?
This week: Tues @ Crookston, Fri @ Duluth Marshall, Sat @ Denfeld

3. Hermantown (13-2)
The Hawks just keep winning; with Breck’s struggles, they slide into the top 3. Seeing games other teams have they have the potential to be the higher in the coming weeks and the top seed at state if the right things happen for them.
This week: Tues vs Proctor, Fri vs White Bear Lake, Sat @ New Prague

4. Duluth Marshall (10-6-1)
Just when they beat Breck, they lose the next time to Roseville. Luckily, they’re not a Class A team, but this weekend does show how up and down this team can be. With a couple wins this week, they’d set themselves up to be the top seed if they make it to state, while it also wouldn’t be out of the question for them to not make it to the section final.
This week: Fri vs Warroad, Sat vs Thief River Falls

5. Breck (11-4-1)
Very few could have imagined the Mustangs not a top 3 team at any point in the season, but losing every other game for their last 8 games isn’t a good sign. If the trend continues, they’d lose to the Eagles on Tuesday, can they stop it and get back to their winning ways?
This week: Tues vs Totino-Grace, Thurs vs Blake, Sat vs St Thomas Academy

6. New Prague (12-2-2)
With 9 games left in the regular season, the Trojan’s last “quality opponent” is Hermantown this week. A win would really make things interesting. All season they have been playing close games with just about every team they play, good and bad, so we’ll see what happens this week.
This week: Tues @ Albert Lea, Fri vs Chanhassen, Sat vs Hermantown

7. Mankato West (14-2)
The Scarlet’s next challenge will be in the section final game against New Prague with not much to prepare them for that game. Clearly a good team as they went to OT with a team EGF got shut out by, but with their top 5 scorers and one of their goalies being seniors, if they lose to New Prague the next time around, it’s hard to think they’ll be in this situation against next year.
This week: Tues @ Mankato East, Thurs @ Austin, Sat vs Owatonna

8. Totino-Grace (8-6-1)
With 3 easy conference wins last week, the Eagles bring their record back above .500 and have the chance this week to show they are the team many thought they were to start the season. There is the potential for some decent movement, either up or down, depending on how their away games this week turn out.
This week: Tues @ Breck, Thurs vs Robbinsdale Cooper, Sat @ Cathedral

9. Cathedral (11-6)
Despite their unpredictable section losses over the holidays, the Crusaders are still in line for the top spot in section 6A and if they can make it to 13 wins this week would likely be a top 4 seed at state if they make it.
This week: Tues @ Monticello, Sat vs Totino-Grace

10. St Paul Academy (10-5)
The Spartans will likely pick up 3 more wins this week. Their early loss to Blake may be what holds them back from the top spot in the section. Wins over Blake next week and a struggling Breck team the following week would probably seal their bid for the top spot.
This week: Tues @ St Paul Como Park, Thurs vs Minneapolis, Sat @ Providence Academy

11. Mahtomedi (9-7)
The Zephyrs will pick up two sections wins this week then travel to Maplewood to play a Hill-Murray team they had a lead over after 1 period the first time around. Not only would a win on Saturday allow them to finish higher than 3rd in the conference, but it would likely give them the top spot in the section no matter what the other two top teams do.
This week: Tues @ Spring Lake Park, Thurs vs Simley, Sat @ Hill-Murray

12. Alexandria (11-3-1)
The Cardinals have only lost to Roseau, Moorhead and a close loss to Cathedral. They beat Brainerd at home by 1 in the second game of the season; can they do it on the road this week?
This week: Mon @ Brainerd, Tues vs Sartell-St Stephen, Sat @ Bemidji

13. Orono (12-5)
In their last 12 games the Spartans have only lost to Rogers and Holy Family. After beating Delano, they will probably be the 2 seed in the section provided they can be beat Delano again. They still have Cathedral to play this season, so they could potentially rise quite a bit in the rankings by the end of the year.
This week: Tues vs Mound-Westonka, Sat @ Hutchinson

14. Luverne (17-0-1)
After their very lopsided shut out this week, sophomore Chaz Smedsrud has moved up to #3 in points and goals in the state. Seeded or not many are very interested in seeing this team play at the X
This week: Sat @ Morris/Benson

15. Thief River Falls (9-5)
While the Prowlers did beat Roseau in their first game of the season, they haven’t won any big games since then. This week would be the perfect opportunity for them to make some noise. Ending the week with more than 10 wins would be huge for this team.
This week: Tues vs East Grand Forks, Fri @ Denfeld, Sat @ Duluth Marshall


Teams to watch:

Delano (9-6-1)
The Tigers will have the body of work to be a top 4 team in their sections and with their recent close loss to Orono, anything can happen.
This week: Tues vs Holy Family Catholic, Fri @ Waconia

Virginia (12-5-1)
The Blue Devils continue to be interesting as they lost to Mayo but have no other bad losses and have some good wins, but haven’t played too many top teams. Beating Denfeld while losing to Mahtomedi has been on the outside looking in, but the 3 seed in their section is theirs to lose at this point and a win over Marshall would be them at 2.
This week: Tues vs Greenway, Sat vs Eveleth

Denfeld (8-8-1)
The Hunters beat Hibbing and tie Cloquet leading into a week of big games. They’re looking at the 4 seed but a win over Marshall would complicate things a bit.
This week: Tues @ Superior, Fri vs Thief River Falls, Sat vs Warroad

Park Rapids (11-3-3)
Not a team that is likely to make any noise, they have a good shot at being a top 4 seed in section 8A. With 3 of their skaters with 15 or more points not seniors, it’ll be interesting to see if they can continue the winning into future seasons.
This week: Thurs vs Crookston, Fri @ Lake of the Woods


Section Rankings
1A
#1 New Prague
#2 Mankato West

2A
#1 Breck
#2 Orono
#3 Chaska
#4 Kennedy

#5 Delano
#6 St Louis Park
#7 Blake
#8 Minneapolis

3A
#1 Luverne
#2 Willmar
#3 New Ulm
#4 Hutchinson

4A
#1 Mahtomedi
#2 Totino-Grace
#3 St Paul Academy

5A
#1 Chisago Lakes
#2 Spring Lake Park
#3 Princeton

6A
#1 Cathedral
#2 Alexandria
#3 Apollo
#4 Sartell-St Stephen
#5 Sauk Rapids-Rice
This section is really close. Cathedral could cruise through as expected or one of the 4 or 5 seeds who’ve already beat them could upset their way to state.

7A
#1 Hermantown
#2 Duluth Marshall
#3 Virginia
#4 Denfeld
#5 Hibbing

8A
#1 East Grand Forks
#2 Warroad
#3 Thief River Falls
#4 Park Rapids
This section is probably one of the most useless sections to speculate on as the top 3 teams all play each other twice. Park Rapids doesn’t play Warroad but with their 3-1 loss to Thief River Falls and their 11-3-3 record make them worth mentioning.

HHW,

Not sure what you meant by the last statement about Park Rapids, but they played EGF the first game of the year for both teams and EGF won 5 - 0. Just FYI

TTpuckster wrote:HHW,

Not sure what you meant by the last statement about Park Rapids, but they played EGF the first game of the year for both teams and EGF won 5 - 0. Just FYI

It seems I get one factual thing wrong every week. I'm fine with that being this week's

Hermantown has to be #1. Their only loses were to AA teams, they have been the most consistent of any Class A team in the state.

HockeyStorm wrote:Hermantown has to be #1. Their only loses were to AA teams, they have been the most consistent of any Class A team in the state.

By that definition, Warroad has to be #1 too...

Unlike the last few years where there were 3 teams that were in a separate group from the rest, this year there seems to be a group of 5-7 at the top who are all pretty close.
I think that the schedules/results of both EGF and Warroad look better than Hermantown's.
With how Breck has been playing as of late, you could probably put the top 5 in any order and it'd be hard to argue.

I'm very interested in seeing how the New Prague/Hermantown game turns out, as well as the Warroad/TRF/DM/Denfeld games. I expect the rankings to be

I haven't seen Warroad yet, but I don't believe they have the depth of Hermantown. I did see EGF earlier in the year, and fun team to watch but they rely on their top players to produce. Should be fun next month and a half of high school hockey!

HShockeywatcher wrote:The Zephyrs will pick up two sections wins this week then travel to Maplewood to play a Hill-Murray team they had a lead over after 1 period the first time around.

This was a test to see if anyone actually bothers to read your summaries and predictions at the A level ?

Take that one to Vegas and maybe pay off your mortgage note.

HockeyStorm wrote:Hermantown has to be #1. Their only loses were to AA teams, they have been the most consistent of any Class A team in the state.

Okay, but Hermantown will lose to Breck in the A state finals, and Plante will call his team the public league champion, once again. So maybe they should be ranked #2.

Marty wrote:

HShockeywatcher wrote:The Zephyrs will pick up two sections wins this week then travel to Maplewood to play a Hill-Murray team they had a lead over after 1 period the first time around.

This was a test to see if anyone actually bothers to read your summaries and predictions at the A level ?

Huh?
Mahtomedi plays Spring Lake Park and Simley this week (two teams I think they will beat) and then plays Hill-Murray; they led 2-1 after the first period the first time the two met.
Not trying to predict anything crazy here...

HockeyStorm wrote:I haven't seen Warroad yet, but I don't believe they have the depth of Hermantown. I did see EGF earlier in the year, and fun team to watch but they rely on their top players to produce. Should be fun next month and a half of high school hockey!

Of the current top 4 I've only seen EGF play. Maybe everyone was just having the game of their life and their opponent had an off night, but they played the best defensive game I've seen all year. They didn't get too many quality scoring opportunities, but they took advantage of the ones they had.
I wouldn't expect to see them score too many against the top teams in the state, but if you don't allow too many anything can happen.

What's your opinion of Chisago Lakes?

Must be Monday. Missed "then" and apparently saw "when they".

MrBoDangles wrote:What's your opinion of Chisago Lakes?

They have beaten Spring Lake Park and Princeton 5-2 and 8-2 respectably, so they'll be the top seed in the section and, if they don't overlook their competition, should walk to state. Beyond that, there's no much to look at on paper.

It's always nice to see new faces at state and this team seems pretty young. They have 6 players with more than 10 points on the season and while the top 2 are seniors, 3 of the next 4 are sophomores or juniors. Looking at their whole roster, they only have 7 seniors.

I expect them to make it to state, but beyond that, I don't know that they're worth mentioning. Just my two cents.

Curious why you dropped Warroad from your top spot and moved EGF up two spots to number 1. Both won their games last week and I'd even say that winning the rivalry game with Roseau was more impressive than what EGF accomplished.
Obviously, they are your rankings but you have historically not dropped a team from your top spot unless they stumble or a team below them has some big, recent wins.

We'll see how they do with the upcoming schedule, but Denfeld is a bit of a sleeper IMO....I'd put them around 12 when compared to what I've seen on this top 20.

EGF and Warroad skated to a 2-2 tie and both handled Roseau pretty easily. Breck is really good and so is Hermantown. EGF has not lost to a Minnesota AA school with wins over Bemidji, Roseau, Blaine. They have beaten both the Grand Forks Schools three times and their leading scorer has returned. They play a very difficult schedule, as does Warroad. All that said, EGF and Warroad is a coin flip. Rank either 1 or 2. Hermantown can be in the mix just as well. Include Breck and this might be the best top 4 teams on balance in single A, I can remember.

nota612er wrote:Curious why you dropped Warroad from your top spot and moved EGF up two spots to number 1. Both won their games last week and I'd even say that winning the rivalry game with Roseau was more impressive than what EGF accomplished.
Obviously, they are your rankings but you have historically not dropped a team from your top spot unless they stumble or a team below them has some big, recent wins.

Basically, last week I had the top 3 in a circle; EGF is the team I thought should be at the top, but with their loss to Breck I wasn't ready to have them above the Mustangs and Warroad has been doing really well. With Breck's recent loss, they drop a few and EGF goes back above Warroad. It's not so much dropping them as it is not holding EGF back.

Ultimately, EGF has the most impressive win of any Class A team this season and their losses aren't bad.
Like I've said, the top 5 are all very close, but I think that beating Blaine in the fashion they did is enough to give them the bump over the others.

HockeyStorm wrote:I haven't seen Warroad yet, but I don't believe they have the depth of Hermantown.

For sure don't have the depth. But have the most potent first line I've ever seen. That combined with their strong D has been enough.

25 sheet power wrote:

HockeyStorm wrote:I haven't seen Warroad yet, but I don't believe they have the depth of Hermantown.

For sure don't have the depth. But have the most potent first line I've ever seen. That combined with their strong D has been enough.

The point drop, from Warroad's first line to any other line is Jaw Dropping. Points for line 1, 63,63,58. The next player point total: 15. It is incredible how productive warroads first line has been. Coming into the year i thought EGF had this thing locked up! I sure hope Warroad stays healthy and they can bring it in the playoffs.

Marty wrote:

HShockeywatcher wrote:The Zephyrs will pick up two sections wins this week then travel to Maplewood to play a Hill-Murray team they had a lead over after 1 period the first time around.

This was a test to see if anyone actually bothers to read your summaries and predictions at the A level ?

Take that one to Vegas and maybe pay off your mortgage note.

He went to sta.

He doesn't have a mortgage

Another reasons to like Karl's rankings better!

notTONIGHT wrote:

25 sheet power wrote:

HockeyStorm wrote:I haven't seen Warroad yet, but I don't believe they have the depth of Hermantown.

For sure don't have the depth. But have the most potent first line I've ever seen. That combined with their strong D has been enough.

The point drop, from Warroad's first line to any other line is Jaw Dropping. Points for line 1, 63,63,58. The next player point total: 15. It is incredible how productive warroads first line has been. Coming into the year i thought EGF had this thing locked up! I sure hope Warroad stays healthy and they can bring it in the playoffs.

It may only take 1 great line and enough D to keep shot count low to "get er done" this year (pretty successful formula for one team)

Having seen both teams versus the Rams, I would say EGF and Warroad are a toss up. Warroad has a first line as good as you will find and EGF has more depth. One would think depth would defeat 1 good line, but so far it has worked for the Warriors. The Roseau vs. Warroad game, was a close battle all night, whereas the EGF vs. Roseau game was more of a blow out. IF a team can somehow find a way to slow Warroad's first line, they have very little after that, so if I had to lean one way, I may give a slight edge to EGF.

Don't forget, if a goalie gets hot during playoffs. That could also neutralize a first line some. That combined with EGF's defense could be a difference maker against a one line team.

What the heck has happened to Breck?

NLHockey wrote:What the heck has happened to Breck?

Not as good as their record or rankings....

Zamman wrote:

NLHockey wrote:What the heck has happened to Breck?

Not as good as their record or rankings....

They looked pretty good when I saw them play EGF earlier this season. Haven't seen them since. Have they lost players to illness or injury?