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Last year Forest Lake was state champ at U12A and Chisago Lakes was one of the worst teams in the state. If they played, it would have been 12-0.

This year:

Chisago Lakes 6
Forest Lake 1

Crazy what can happen from year to year. Maybe Chisago had a few studs playing boys hockey or something or maybe they were all first year kids last year?

Mavs wrote:Last year Forest Lake was state champ at U12A and Chisago Lakes was one of the worst teams in the state. If they played, it would have been 12-0.

This year:

Chisago Lakes 6
Forest Lake 1

Crazy what can happen from year to year. Maybe Chisago had a few studs playing boys hockey or something or maybe they were all first year kids last year?

Chisago definitely has some great players - I know they were good 2 years ago at 10A. I think they are running a smaller roster this year as well so best players are getting out there every other shift, whereas Forest Lake I believe is a larger roster (confirm?).

A couple things I know (no skin in the game here):

1) Looks like Chisago has had 9 practices and 1 other scrimmage before last night's game, whereas Forest Lake looks like it has had 1 practice before the scrimmage.

2) Yes, Chisago has 10 skaters and FL has 13. 13 would mean 9 forwards and 4 defense, so if she was there, FL would've had its best player (Golnitz) out every other shift.

Either way, Chisago has wins already over NE Metro and Forest Lake, two teams with state tournament aspirations. Good job to CL.

Its a whole new team, I would guess over 3/4 the girls moved up to another level (U14? or High school) Same could be said for Chisago High School Boys - 2 years ago had a showing at the State and last year struggled...

jg2112 wrote:A couple things I know (no skin in the game here):

1) Looks like Chisago has had 9 practices and 1 other scrimmage before last night's game, whereas Forest Lake looks like it has had 1 practice before the scrimmage.

2) Yes, Chisago has 10 skaters and FL has 13. 13 would mean 9 forwards and 4 defense, so if she was there, FL would've had its best player (Golnitz) out every other shift.

Either way, Chisago has wins already over NE Metro and Forest Lake, two teams with state tournament aspirations. Good job to CL.

makes a difference for sure

SimplyPut wrote:Its a whole new team, I would guess over 3/4 the girls moved up to another level (U14? or High school) Same could be said for Chisago High School Boys - 2 years ago had a showing at the State and last year struggled...

If you're talking about Forest Lake, you are absolutely correct. The only holdovers from last year on the U12A team are Golnitz (IMO, one of the top 5 02/03 girls players in D2) and goalie Thompson.

The rest are coming from (wait for it), either the U12B team which won the District, or the U10A team which finished in 1st or 2nd place (cannot recall which) last year. The cupboard is not bare for them at all - it may very well be that Chisago is a very good team.

jg2112 wrote:

SimplyPut wrote:Its a whole new team, I would guess over 3/4 the girls moved up to another level (U14? or High school) Same could be said for Chisago High School Boys - 2 years ago had a showing at the State and last year struggled...

If you're talking about Forest Lake, you are absolutely correct. The only holdovers from last year on the U12A team are Golnitz (IMO, one of the top 5 02/03 girls players in D2) and goalie Thompson.

The rest are coming from (wait for it), either the U12B team which won the District, or the U10A team which finished in 1st or 2nd place (cannot recall which) last year. The cupboard is not bare for them at all - it may very well be that Chisago is a very good team.

Chisago is likely pretty good and FL (as you pointed out) hasn't practiced much yet.

Chisago definitely has a nice team and Forest Lake will not be as deep as they were but that was Forest Lake's A pool not the actual team. FL made final cuts after that game. Could be interesting when they meet again - best of luck to both teams.

hockeyfan74 wrote:Chisago definitely has a nice team and Forest Lake will not be as deep as they were but that was Forest Lake's A pool not the actual team. FL made final cuts after that game. Could be interesting when they meet again - best of luck to both teams.

Then shame on Chisago for posting the score on YHH. Brutal

Mavs wrote:

jg2112 wrote:

SimplyPut wrote:Its a whole new team, I would guess over 3/4 the girls moved up to another level (U14? or High school) Same could be said for Chisago High School Boys - 2 years ago had a showing at the State and last year struggled...

If you're talking about Forest Lake, you are absolutely correct. The only holdovers from last year on the U12A team are Golnitz (IMO, one of the top 5 02/03 girls players in D2) and goalie Thompson.

The rest are coming from (wait for it), either the U12B team which won the District, or the U10A team which finished in 1st or 2nd place (cannot recall which) last year. The cupboard is not bare for them at all - it may very well be that Chisago is a very good team.

Chisago is likely pretty good and FL (as you pointed out) hasn't practiced much yet.

Chisago will be decent this year but their u10a team did not finish 1 or 2 in D10 last year, I think they were 5 or 6. They were decent team but not 2 or 2. What makes them good this year is a pretty good top end and very short roster. Forest Lake has some great players but I don't think this is considered one of their stronger groups especially when you compare to last year. They do have one of the best coaches in the game though. I think teams like Farmington and Stillwater are teams to watch and should be top 3-6. Farmington will give people fits for sure this year. Edina might go undefeated. It looked like NE Metro was going to be very strong but I heard a couple of girls they were planning on getting stayed where they were.

HuskiesHockey wrote:

Mavs wrote:

jg2112 wrote: If you're talking about Forest Lake, you are absolutely correct. The only holdovers from last year on the U12A team are Golnitz (IMO, one of the top 5 02/03 girls players in D2) and goalie Thompson.

The rest are coming from (wait for it), either the U12B team which won the District, or the U10A team which finished in 1st or 2nd place (cannot recall which) last year. The cupboard is not bare for them at all - it may very well be that Chisago is a very good team.

Chisago is likely pretty good and FL (as you pointed out) hasn't practiced much yet.

Chisago will be decent this year but their u10a team did not finish 1 or 2 in D10 last year, I think they were 5 or 6. They were decent team but not 2 or 2. What makes them good this year is a pretty good top end and very short roster. Forest Lake has some great players but I don't think this is considered one of their stronger groups especially when you compare to last year. They do have one of the best coaches in the game though. I think teams like Farmington and Stillwater are teams to watch and should be top 3-6. Farmington will give people fits for sure this year. Edina might go undefeated. It looked like NE Metro was going to be very strong but I heard a couple of girls they were planning on getting stayed where they were.

Who is your pres-season U12A top ten?

Don't know if I could go ten but here is what I think:

1. Edina
2. Minnetonka
3. Farmington
4. Andover
5. Mound/Orono
6. Stillwater
7. Wayzata

Big unknowns for me: Roseau, Shakopee, Cottage Grove

HuskiesHockey wrote:Don't know if I could go ten but here is what I think:

1. Edina
2. Minnetonka
3. Farmington
4. Andover
5. Mound/Orono
6. Stillwater
7. Wayzata

Big unknowns for me: Roseau, Shakopee, Cottage Grove

Thanks

Farmington over Andover is interesting...I would think its clearly the other way around but I guess we will know before too long.

I think it's very close between those two and I was trying to adjust for my bias. Farmington will be very strong though. River Lakes could be a sleeper too depending on how many returners they have from that state champion B team they had last year. I know some real good players return just don't know if they will have enough of them.

I will predict Edina vs Andover in the state title game.

HuskiesHockey wrote:

Mavs wrote:

jg2112 wrote: If you're talking about Forest Lake, you are absolutely correct. The only holdovers from last year on the U12A team are Golnitz (IMO, one of the top 5 02/03 girls players in D2) and goalie Thompson.

The rest are coming from (wait for it), either the U12B team which won the District, or the U10A team which finished in 1st or 2nd place (cannot recall which) last year. The cupboard is not bare for them at all - it may very well be that Chisago is a very good team.

Chisago is likely pretty good and FL (as you pointed out) hasn't practiced much yet.

Chisago will be decent this year but their u10a team did not finish 1 or 2 in D10 last year, I think they were 5 or 6. They were decent team but not 2 or 2. What makes them good this year is a pretty good top end and very short roster. Forest Lake has some great players but I don't think this is considered one of their stronger groups especially when you compare to last year. They do have one of the best coaches in the game though. I think teams like Farmington and Stillwater are teams to watch and should be top 3-6. Farmington will give people fits for sure this year. Edina might go undefeated. It looked like NE Metro was going to be very strong but I heard a couple of girls they were planning on getting stayed where they were.

Good point on NE Metro. Their summer recruiting did not go as planned.

I have also heard their top returning scorer (a 7th grader) is trying out for the Hill-Murray JV next week.

jg2112 wrote:

HuskiesHockey wrote:

Mavs wrote: Chisago is likely pretty good and FL (as you pointed out) hasn't practiced much yet.

Chisago will be decent this year but their u10a team did not finish 1 or 2 in D10 last year, I think they were 5 or 6. They were decent team but not 2 or 2. What makes them good this year is a pretty good top end and very short roster. Forest Lake has some great players but I don't think this is considered one of their stronger groups especially when you compare to last year. They do have one of the best coaches in the game though. I think teams like Farmington and Stillwater are teams to watch and should be top 3-6. Farmington will give people fits for sure this year. Edina might go undefeated. It looked like NE Metro was going to be very strong but I heard a couple of girls they were planning on getting stayed where they were.

Good point on NE Metro. Their summer recruiting did not go as planned.

I have also heard their top returning scorer (a 7th grader) is trying out for the Hill-Murray JV next week.

HuskiesHockey wrote:I think it's very close between those two and I was trying to adjust for my bias. Farmington will be very strong though. River Lakes could be a sleeper too depending on how many returners they have from that state champion B team they had last year. I know some real good players return just don't know if they will have enough of them.

It looks like last year River Lakes only fielded a B team, this year they are only fielding one 12U team, an A team. They may be competitive with other 12A teams in their area, if there are any, but I don't think they are worthy of mention with the top 12A teams in the state.

Unfortunately, this is pretty common around the state - a program only has 12-15 kids, and they struggle to decide whether to play A or B. Some years 3 or 4 pretty good skaters end up on the same team, but every year there are 3 or 4 kids that aren't very good. It's tough, and Observer is absolutely right, if River Lakes would recruit 20 kids a year instead of 6 or 7, they'd field 3 teams - almost all would get an opportunity to play at the level best for them.

I preface by saying, I have absolutely no idea the situation River Lakes finds itself in. However, many in their situation may have had 4 or 5 really good players (A players on most any team), 4 or 5 OK players, and 4 or 5 not very good (yet) players on the B state championship team. This year 2 of those really good players are returning to the 12 team, so the parents want them to play A, the teams that got beat badly by them the previous year want to them to play A, sometimes even the district will force them to play A - however, this year those two are the only A skaters and the other 13 are nice B players. In this case, would it be terrible for the 13 B players to get to play B hockey in competitive games with and against players of like skill, where they get to develop with lots of puck touches. The options for the 2 very skilled players are: play on the B team and either dominate play or play down to the level being played on the ice; play on the closest A team (in a River Lakes case, probably St Cloud, possibly a 45 minute drive to practice with girls they don't know); play on the peewee team, right in town, also with classmates and life-long friends who just happen to be boys.