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Big week for the Bengals, Hill, ER, Champlain. Could go a long way towards a high seed at State if they win their section.

I think Hill sqeaks one out over Blaine 2-1

Not really sure what to make of this Bengals team. They were hyped at the beginning of the year, and have consistently been ranked toward the top of class AA all year. I haven't seen them play yet, but it looks like they've had a somewhat soft schedule. Beat DE 5-2 and tied LN back in December. This is a big game for both teams. It's a chance for Blaine to prove they are right at the top of state contenders, and this is probably Hill's last big game before sections. WBL is playing great lately so hopefully the evil empire can sharpen the edge a little tonight.

I'll take Hill 5-3 (en)

BlueLineSpecial wrote:Not really sure what to make of this Bengals team. They were hyped at the beginning of the year, and have consistently been ranked toward the top of class AA all year. I haven't seen them play yet, but it looks like they've had a somewhat soft schedule. Beat DE 5-2 and tied LN back in December. This is a big game for both teams. It's a chance for Blaine to prove they are right at the top of state contenders, and this is probably Hill's last big game before sections. WBL is playing great lately so hopefully the evil empire can sharpen the edge a little tonight.

I'll take Hill 5-3 (en)

I was initially skeptical of the early season Blaine hype as well. They started off by beating 2 decent 8AA teams and a bunch of NWSC cellar dwellers and some outfits went crazy and even ranked them at #1 at that time. However, after watching Blaine, I do think they are a top 10 team and on the brink of top 5. Their forwards are big, fast, and go hard for 51 mins. Their weakness seemed to be their defense (except for first line, maybe) and their goaltending. From what I understand, they have since swapped goalies. Either way, the fact remains that Blaine is an offensive machine, but can be beaten with some solid D and aggressive forechecking.

Should be a good one,
HM 4-3 in OT

3-0 midway through the 1st for Hill

End of 1 HM 3-0
Slattery, Krueger & Regan with goals
Illgen 14 saves
shots 14-9 Blaine

Still 3-0 after 2
lots of good chances for Blaine but Illgen stops them all
shots 18-8 for Blaine in the 2nd

French for HM and Notermann for Blaine
both on the PP
HM 4-1 11 min left

Notermann another PP goal
HM 4-2
4 min left
Blaine going on their 7th PP
Simpson on the PP
HM 4-3 3 min left

HM hangs on to win 4-3.
shots 56-22 for Blaine
7 PPs for Blaine, 1 for HM

Sam Ilgen's 53 saves tonight were a Hill-Murray school record for saves in one game. Congratulations to him.

For whatever reason, this Hill team lacks discipline. They consistently take more penalties than their opponent, and tonight was no different. They haven't shown they plan on correcting it either.

I wonder what the HM take will be on this game OUTSHOT 53- 18, just a couple of weeks ago when STA beat them , shots were such meaningful statistic hmmmm

bauerman wrote:I wonder what the HM take will be on this game OUTSHOT 53- 18, just a couple of weeks ago when STA beat them , shots were such meaningful statistic hmmmm

I believe the Pioneer Press had it wrong. Shots were 56-22. HM's take should be that if you take too many penalties against a good team, you will have to be very lucky and have a hot goaltender to win. They had both luck and a hot goalie last night. Blaine had 7 PPs to HMs 1 including 1:07 of 5 on 3 in the 3rd period. HM will have to play more disciplined hockey or they will get bounced out early. On the other hand they built a 4-0 lead against a top team and got a win.

bauerman wrote:I wonder what the HM take will be on this game OUTSHOT 53- 18, just a couple of weeks ago when STA beat them , shots were such meaningful statistic hmmmm

Nothing amazing here:

Blaine > Hill-Murray > St. Thomas Academy

As was reported in another thread, Blaine absolutely destroyed STA in a scrimmage at the beginning of the year and would do so in a game. This isn't the year STA will be making a deep run. Welcome to the big league.

Sparlimb wrote:

bauerman wrote:I wonder what the HM take will be on this game OUTSHOT 53- 18, just a couple of weeks ago when STA beat them , shots were such meaningful statistic hmmmm

Nothing amazing here:

Blaine > Hill-Murray > St. Thomas Academy

As was reported in another thread, Blaine absolutely destroyed STA in a scrimmage at the beginning of the year and would do so in a game. This isn't the year STA will be making a deep run. Welcome to the big league.

Before the season started, my guess was that people wouldn't fall in love with STA just because they finally opted up. Some memories are long--besides, at the end of the day, STA is still a private school and that will matter more to some than what class they play in.

Not to mention, as you referred to, the desire to "See! You're not that good after all!" if they don't get to state in AA.

Lee

Blaine just lost to HM 4-3 getting all there goals on power plays in the 3rd period because of a lack of discipline by HM and you say Blaine would destroy STAA who beat HM 2 weeks ago. At the same time you refer to Blaine outplaying STAA in a scrimmage a couple of months ago? I'd say the best team of the 3 in your a$$ backwards transitive equation is HM but they will struggle if they don't quit the dumb penalties (and Blaine falls behind STA IMHO at this point in the season far away from a scrimmage).

Sparlimb wrote:

bauerman wrote:I wonder what the HM take will be on this game OUTSHOT 53- 18, just a couple of weeks ago when STA beat them , shots were such meaningful statistic hmmmm

Nothing amazing here:

Blaine > Hill-Murray > St. Thomas Academy

As was reported in another thread, Blaine absolutely destroyed STA in a scrimmage at the beginning of the year and would do so in a game. This isn't the year STA will be making a deep run. Welcome to the big league.

I'm no sta fan, at all, but scrimmages mean very, very little.

Most coaches use them to test this, try that, look at players, etc. vs. caring about winning them.

I wasn't able to make it to the game; 5-on-5, how did Blaine's speed look? That's what everyone seems to talk about with this Bengals team...speed to burn, they fly around the rink, etc.

Sparlimb wrote:

bauerman wrote:I wonder what the HM take will be on this game OUTSHOT 53- 18, just a couple of weeks ago when STA beat them , shots were such meaningful statistic hmmmm

Nothing amazing here:

Blaine > Hill-Murray > St. Thomas Academy

As was reported in another thread, Blaine absolutely destroyed STA in a scrimmage at the beginning of the year and would do so in a game. This isn't the year STA will be making a deep run. Welcome to the big league.

I would love to see a Blaine/STA matchup in a month. I've only seen Blaine once this year, but I bet you haven't seen STA play to be making a statement like that. It would likely be a good game, but if Blaine wins, I doubt it would be a landslide. They've been beaten by more than 1 goal once this season...

Blaine absolutley dominated HM from late in the first period through the end of the game, even when 5 on 5. They drew the penalties because they were consistently beating HM to the puck and winning the battles. Yes, they can fly and dominate play, but that doesn't always equate to scoring goals. Blaine had a goal disallowed HM got credited for one that may have been off the pipe rather than the back of the net. HM won because they cashed in with some nice high skilled plays when they had their chances.

After exspending all of that energy last night, Blaine followed it up tonight with a solid game vs ER on ER's big sheet winning 5-3. They kept up the pace the entire game. Three lines have been rolling and scoring all season. The play in the defensive end has improved a bit lately, but they still give up way too many soft goals and take way too many dumb penalties, especially when you consider that their penalty kill is substandard. They are going to struggle to beat the very top teams unless they turns some things around, but they still have a legit shot at beating any team.

i was just trying to point out to the HM faithful ,when you lose a game by 2 goals you lost the game. All the banter after that game revoved around shots on goal. Now that HM was significantly outshot__ not a peep. Apparently we are now concentrating on scrimmages.My belief is these are are good teams and particulary this year the tournement is wide open

Sparlimb, the more I think about this I think you maybe on to something. Could you please forward to karl any scrimmage results that you have from a few months ago and be sure to include shots on goal.I would bet karl will find this very helpful when he does his rankings, I'll bet he didn't include this meanful info

stpaul wrote:

bauerman wrote:I wonder what the HM take will be on this game OUTSHOT 53- 18, just a couple of weeks ago when STA beat them , shots were such meaningful statistic hmmmm

I believe the Pioneer Press had it wrong. Shots were 56-22. HM's take should be that if you take too many penalties against a good team, you will have to be very lucky and have a hot goaltender to win. They had both luck and a hot goalie last night. Blaine had 7 PPs to HMs 1 including 1:07 of 5 on 3 in the 3rd period. HM will have to play more disciplined hockey or they will get bounced out early. On the other hand they built a 4-0 lead against a top team and got a win.

Pioneer press lists saves, so the total would be correct.

bauerman wrote:Sparlimb, the more I think about this I think you maybe on to something. Could you please forward to karl any scrimmage results that you have from a few months ago and be sure to include shots on goal.I would bet karl will find this very helpful when he does his rankings, I'll bet he didn't include this meanful info

Haha. I have seen Blaine play 4 times this year and I do believe they can play with and on a good night beat anyone. They have great balance up front. Their issue is in my opinion their D-men 3-6 and goaltending.

If goalie gets hot though they will be very dangerous. Cline is a stud.

bauerman wrote:I wonder what the HM take will be on this game OUTSHOT 53- 18, just a couple of weeks ago when STA beat them , shots were such meaningful statistic hmmmm

Blaine is clearly the better team. Who scored more goals doesn't matter at all, the goal is put more shots on net. Blaine is, hands down, almost 3 times as good as Hill

HShockeywatcher wrote:

bauerman wrote:I wonder what the HM take will be on this game OUTSHOT 53- 18, just a couple of weeks ago when STA beat them , shots were such meaningful statistic hmmmm

Blaine is clearly the better team. Who scored more goals doesn't matter at all, the goal is put more shots on net. Blaine is, hands down, almost 3 times as good as Hill

It's been TWO WEEKS since the discussion on value of controlling play and SOG ended. Like the refrain your team heard for years from every MN hockey fan..."time to move on"

On the subject of matchups, I don't put any stock in scrimmages and frankly a lot of the time the beginning of the year is just spent seeing what you've got, messing around with lines, etc. I think a Blaine-STA state tourney game (if both teams get there) would be terrific. Having seen STA play now three times this year, they are very good. Blaine can clearly blow the doors off teams. This would be a great game...here's hoping the best teams make it to St Paul this year because you're right bauerman, the field is wide open.