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1. Eden Prairie
2. Benilde
3. Duluth East
4. Blaine
5. Grand Rapids
6. Stillwater
7. Lakeville North
8. Edina
9. Holy Family
10. Prior Lake

Next Bemidji, Wayzata, Elk River

Thanks minnscout. Great work you do. !

1. Benilde 5-0 -- BSM has won five straight on the road including at Grand Rapids and an impressive 7-0 and 5-1 wins AT Burnsville and Hill Murray.
Woodbury Tuesday, Eden Prairie Friday.

2. Duluth East 4-0 -- DE began the season with an impressive 4-1 win against a Wayzata team that had just beat Edina for the Turkey Trot title a week prior. East also gained some section wins this week.
At Cloquet Thursday, At STMA Saturday.

3. Blaine 4-0 -- Blaine just emerged as a contender after knocking off Edina AT EDINA. Also when you are outscoring your opponents 30-9 you deserve to be in the top 3.
At Centennial Thursday, Elk River Saturday.

4. Eden Prairie 3-0 -- Eden Prairie has played well but they have not played as a team deserving of number one compared to the resume of the teams ahead of them. EP did not score in the third period against Maple Grove and survived after escaping at home with a 5-3 win. EP did pick up a 6-3 section win against Prior Lake and because they have the two best players gives them a reason to be in the top 4.
CDH Tuesday, At BSM Friday

5. Stillwater 3-0 -- Defeated the defending champs on the road and stopped the streak of Lakeville North. Also picked up a nice 5-1 conference win against CDH.
At Hastings Tuesday, At East Ridge Thurs, At Park Saturday.

6. Lakeville North 1-1 -- Lost to Stillwater but outshot them 33-12. LN needs better play from their defense and goalie otherwise they will continue to fall.
At Farmington Thurs, Grand Rapids Saturday

7. Wayzata 4-2 -- Defeated Edina in the first week of the season in the Turkey Trot title And picked up a shutout on the road at Hill Murray, 2-0. Only two losses are to the number one ranked Class A Hermantown and Duluth East on the road.
Breck Thurs, Anoka Saturday.

8. Edina 5-2 -- Lost to Wayzata on the road and Blaine at home. Picked up wins over Holy Family, Centennial, Farmington, Burnsville and CDH. Edina still has a lot of firepower but h2h they need to be ranked behind Wayzata.
Off for 12 days.

9. Holy Family 4-2 -- Lost to Edina and at Breck in overtime. Picked up shutout wins over Maple Grove and Lakeville South. Also won a critical section game against Minnetonka outshooting Tonka 39-17 placing the Fire in the second spot in the 2aa standings.
Waconia Tuesday, At Hutch Thurs, At St. Thomas Academy Saturday

10. Grand Rapids 4-1-1 -- Only quality win is against Minnetonka. Has a chance to move up in the rankings with a trip to Lakeville North on Saturday.
Lost to Benilde and tied the best team from the worst section in Bemidji.
Cloquet Tuesday, At Lakeville North Saturday

11. Elk River 3-0 -- Has played no one of quality yet but has not lost. Big chance to prove themselves this week with Maple Grove and Blaine road trips.
At Maple Grove, Anoka Thursday, At Blaine Saturday

12. Minnetonka 2-2 -- Plays a tough schedule but H2H losses to Grand Rapids and Holy Family will keep Tonka at Bay. Nice win at St. Thomas this week.
At Moorhead Saturday

13. Hill Murray 1-2 -- Had to come from behind down 3-1 to beat Burnsville 4-3 and then lost badly to BSM (5-1) and Wayzata (2-0). WBL game this year features two teams in desperate need of a good win.
WBL Tuesday, At Maple Grove Saturday

14. St. Thomas Academy 2-1-1 -- Barely beat a bad Rosemount team, tied Eastview and lost 5-2 to Minnetonka at home. Has a chance to move up with Holy Family at home this Saturday.
At Hastings Thurs, Holy Family Saturday

15. Prior Lake 2-1 -- Lost 6-3 to Eden Prairie at home, picked up two wins against bad teams 5-1 at Jefferson and 9-1 against Rosemount.
Lakeville South Thursday

In the hunt: Bemidji 2-0-1, Eastview 3-0-1, Moorhead 2-1, Burnsville 0-3-1, Farmington 2-2-1, Centennial 1-1-1, BJ 3-2, WBL 3-1, MG 3-3, CDH 1-3

MinnScout, pretty close to my thinking. Could debate the last 2, vs the three Next. I note you quickly changed thinking on Blaine. They had lots of help last night from kids with lower name recognition, both juniors and seniors, maybe their depth is better than figured? Another thing , I am impressed they can play either senior goalie in a tough high pressure game

HockeyonFire wrote:1. Benilde 5-0 -- BSM has won five straight on the road including at Grand Rapids and an impressive 7-0 and 5-1 wins AT Burnsville and Hill Murray.
Woodbury Tuesday, Eden Prairie Friday.

2. Duluth East 4-0 -- DE began the season with an impressive 4-1 win against a Wayzata team that had just beat Edina for the Turkey Trot title a week prior. East also gained some section wins this week.
At Cloquet Thursday, At STMA Saturday.

3. Blaine 4-0 -- Blaine just emerged as a contender after knocking off Edina AT EDINA. Also when you are outscoring your opponents 30-9 you deserve to be in the top 3.
At Centennial Thursday, Elk River Saturday.

4. Eden Prairie 3-0 -- Eden Prairie has played well but they have not played as a team deserving of number one compared to the resume of the teams ahead of them. EP did not score in the third period against Maple Grove and survived after escaping at home with a 5-3 win. EP did pick up a 6-3 section win against Prior Lake and because they have the two best players gives them a reason to be in the top 4.
CDH Tuesday, At BSM Friday

5. Stillwater 3-0 -- Defeated the defending champs on the road and stopped the streak of Lakeville North. Also picked up a nice 5-1 conference win against CDH.
At Hastings Tuesday, At East Ridge Thurs, At Park Saturday.

6. Lakeville North 1-1 -- Lost to Stillwater but outshot them 33-12. LN needs better play from their defense and goalie otherwise they will continue to fall.
At Farmington Thurs, Grand Rapids Saturday

7. Wayzata 4-2 -- Defeated Edina in the first week of the season in the Turkey Trot title And picked up a shutout on the road at Hill Murray, 2-0. Only two losses are to the number one ranked Class A Hermantown and Duluth East on the road.
Breck Thurs, Anoka Saturday.

8. Edina 5-2 -- Lost to Wayzata on the road and Blaine at home. Picked up wins over Holy Family, Centennial, Farmington, Burnsville and CDH. Edina still has a lot of firepower but h2h they need to be ranked behind Wayzata.
Off for 12 days.

9. Holy Family 4-2 -- Lost to Edina and at Breck in overtime. Picked up shutout wins over Maple Grove and Lakeville South. Also won a critical section game against Minnetonka outshooting Tonka 39-17 placing the Fire in the second spot in the 2aa standings.
Waconia Tuesday, At Hutch Thurs, At St. Thomas Academy Saturday

10. Grand Rapids 4-1-1 -- Only quality win is against Minnetonka. Has a chance to move up in the rankings with a trip to Lakeville North on Saturday.
Lost to Benilde and tied the best team from the worst section in Bemidji.
Cloquet Tuesday, At Lakeville North Saturday

11. Elk River 3-0 -- Has played no one of quality yet but has not lost. Big chance to prove themselves this week with Maple Grove and Blaine road trips.
At Maple Grove, Anoka Thursday, At Blaine Saturday

12. Minnetonka 2-2 -- Plays a tough schedule but H2H losses to Grand Rapids and Holy Family will keep Tonka at Bay. Nice win at St. Thomas this week.
At Moorhead Saturday

13. Hill Murray 1-2 -- Had to come from behind down 3-1 to beat Burnsville 4-3 and then lost badly to BSM (5-1) and Wayzata (2-0). WBL game this year features two teams in desperate need of a good win.
WBL Tuesday, At Maple Grove Saturday

14. St. Thomas Academy 2-1-1 -- Barely beat a bad Rosemount team, tied Eastview and lost 5-2 to Minnetonka at home. Has a chance to move up with Holy Family at home this Saturday.
At Hastings Thurs, Holy Family Saturday

15. Prior Lake 2-1 -- Lost 6-3 to Eden Prairie at home, picked up two wins against bad teams 5-1 at Jefferson and 9-1 against Rosemount.
Lakeville South Thursday

In the hunt: Bemidji 2-0-1, Eastview 3-0-1, Moorhead 2-1, Burnsville 0-3-1, Farmington 2-2-1, Centennial 1-1-1, BJ 3-2, WBL 3-1, MG 3-3, CDH 1-3

3AA in my opinion is a worse section than 8AA, Bemidji is good. I got 5 bucks that they would beat your Fire boys.

HOF

Good observations, and some interesting contrarian conclusions and rankings . Given this years parity, your list could be as close as anyones. We will know more after the EP/BSM game and the LVN/GR games this week.

$5 isn't much at all. Maybe Bemidji should schedule Edina, Breck, Minnetonka, St. Thomas Academy, Stillwater twice, Lakeville North, Wayzata, Prior Lake and Grand Rapids and I'd give them more respect. Oh well they do play grand rapids, hermantown and hill murray but that is all i see. Glad your Edina boys lost again

""3AA in my opinion is a worse section than 8AA, Bemidji is good. I got 5 bucks that they would beat your Fire boys.""

HockeyonFire wrote:$5 isn't much at all. Maybe Bemidji should schedule Edina, Breck, Minnetonka, St. Thomas Academy, Stillwater twice, Lakeville North, Wayzata, Prior Lake and Grand Rapids and I'd give them more respect. Oh well they do play grand rapids, hermantown and hill murray but that is all i see. Glad your Edina boys lost again

""3AA in my opinion is a worse section than 8AA, Bemidji is good. I got 5 bucks that they would beat your Fire boys.""

Not really fair to Bemidji, not a private school or exactly a wealthy community that has the ability to schedule and travel all over the state. Not in the location that gets a lot of teams traveling to them either.
They are good whether you give them respect or not. I guess since not many respect Holy Family, we can't expect you to respect many others.

I'm okay with Edina losing, at the end of the season they will still be playing for a section championship, can't say the same for the fire.

Duluth east is ranked to high, should he about 5th. They have goaltender issues that will prevent these from winning key games.

I agree with the EP comment. Was actually at that game. They get to many dumb penalties and the goalie is damn lucky his team can score. I caught the end of the JV game, and that goalie should switch places with the varsity goalie. Maple grove goalie played a hell of a game, and their defense was able to stop Middelstat better than i thought they would.

BSM/EP will be a great game to watch. I give the edge to BSM. They have depth and a good goalie. Guaranteed, the goalie weakness at EP won't be able to hide during this game. Wonder if we will have another fight?

I have yet to watch Edina this year. Hoping to get to a game this week.

WestMetro

Yeah I saw Blaine a couple times and the win at Edina deserves a bump in the standings. I am not completely sold on them though as I think depth on the D core is going to hurt against the top offensive teams that forecheck well.

I was at the game against Blaine at braemar.

To be fair, Edina dominated first and second, Blaine was always chasing the puck and Edina put so much pressure on them they couldn't make plays.

But in the third Edina took their foot off the gas and didn't put as much pressure on Blaine players, allowing them to make plays and eventually come back and win it in overtime.

Also Blaine were lucky not to get called on a few more penalties because at the end of the game they kept roughing up Edina players and sometimes wouldn't get called for it...

minnscout wrote:WestMetro

Yeah I saw Blaine a couple times and the win at Edina deserves a bump in the standings. I am not completely sold on them though as I think depth on the D core is going to hurt against the top offensive teams that forecheck well.

And you are right, read my post about the game. To be fair 1st and 2nd period were dominated by Edina, they were literally smothering Blaine with a great forecheck and great lane closing.

So against a team with a great forecheck, Blaine will struggle.

HockeyonFire wrote:$5 isn't much at all. Maybe Bemidji should schedule Edina, Breck, Minnetonka, St. Thomas Academy, Stillwater twice, Lakeville North, Wayzata, Prior Lake and Grand Rapids and I'd give them more respect. Oh well they do play grand rapids, hermantown and hill murray but that is all i see. Glad your Edina boys lost again

""3AA in my opinion is a worse section than 8AA, Bemidji is good. I got 5 bucks that they would beat your Fire boys.""

LOL - this quote coming from a HF homer that has games vs NP, Waconia, Orono, Mound West Tonka, Hutchinson, Litchfield, and Delano (which will beat HF twice IMHO). Strength of schedule is a factor that has/will continued to haunt HF. Not sure you should be hanging your strength of schedule on the Skippers or STA this year - time will tell - that's why they play the games

green4 wrote:

HockeyonFire wrote:$5 isn't much at all. Maybe Bemidji should schedule Edina, Breck, Minnetonka, St. Thomas Academy, Stillwater twice, Lakeville North, Wayzata, Prior Lake and Grand Rapids and I'd give them more respect. Oh well they do play grand rapids, hermantown and hill murray but that is all i see. Glad your Edina boys lost again

""3AA in my opinion is a worse section than 8AA, Bemidji is good. I got 5 bucks that they would beat your Fire boys.""

Not really fair to Bemidji, not a private school or exactly a wealthy community that has the ability to schedule and travel all over the state. Not in the location that gets a lot of teams traveling to them either.
They are good whether you give them respect or not. I guess since not many respect Holy Family, we can't expect you to respect many others.

I'm okay with Edina losing, at the end of the season they will still be playing for a section championship, can't say the same for the fire.

I was gonna say something similar. Unless you only expect Bemidji to play 6 home games a year that's a little ridiculous. Those teams you mentioned aren't going to drive that far north to play Bemidji so it will all be on the Jacks to travel. It also might be tough to get those teams schedules since they just made state for the first time in 30 years last year. They are still a very good team this year. I think they're higher than 11 but there isn't much use in arguing it this early in the season.

HockeyonFire wrote:$5 isn't much at all. Maybe Bemidji should schedule Edina, Breck, Minnetonka, St. Thomas Academy, Stillwater twice, Lakeville North, Wayzata, Prior Lake and Grand Rapids and I'd give them more respect. Oh well they do play grand rapids, hermantown and hill murray but that is all i see. Glad your Edina boys lost again

""3AA in my opinion is a worse section than 8AA, Bemidji is good. I got 5 bucks that they would beat your Fire boys.""

They tried to get Litchfield, New Prague (2), Waconia, Hutchinson, Mound and Orono, but someone had them booked.