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GoldenBear69 wrote:8AA - Pre-Season Prediction

JOMO - (Just one man's opinion) .... In July no less

1. Moorhead - the 'Taters' are the clear, cut favorite. Very solid returning players (several high end), and great youth coming up from JV and Bantam. Goaltending remains a question mark; inconsistent goaltending and Youth may result in a slow start, but they have the best talent in the section, combined with solid leadership and coaching, come play-off time the rest of the section should 'Beware of the Spuds'. 8AA should be theirs for several years to come.

2. Bemidji - Paul Bunyan's boys will not go quietly, but their two year reign of 8AA is over...no trifecta for the Jaccks. High end players in key positions, but will greatly miss the depth and strong leadership they have enjoyed the past two seasons; not much help coming from JV and/or Bantam; personnel losses will be difficult to replace (especially at D); goalies will be tested more this season (still not sold).

3. Brainerd - the "Wizard' has them going in the right direction and this could be the Warriors year, but don't think they have enough to get past the Spuds or Jacks. Lost quite a bit of scoring and leadership; returners are very capable and should get adequate help from JV and bantam ranks to make some noise; will need to find a replacement for 3 year starter in the goal (no easy task).

4. STMA - Knights are a program on the rise; solid returners, combined with decent crop coming in; but this team will only go as far their goaltending will take them; if they can focus on playing hockey, stay out of the penalty box and get a consistent performance between the pipes, they will be a factor in the end.

5). St. Cloud Tech/Apollo (if this is where they land) - UPSET special - good overall talent; strong (incoming) junior class on the Tech side, including a very nice goaltender, combined with quite possibly the best coach in the section; they will be a serious 'darkhorse' in the section.

6. Roseau - this will not be the year of the Sheep - several very nice players, but serious lack of depth; losses to graduation (and privates) and BIG question mark in between the pipes will be too much to overcome for the Rams;

7. Rogers - 'also rans' - Royals will be improved, but will not be a serious factor in this section.

8. Buffalo - see above

Have at it boys!

Section 8 guy wrote:I don't think 8AA is quite in that category this year Kniven. 7AA definitely could contend for a title this year. Maybe the following season 8AA will start to have some teams that could contend for a title again but in my eyes it's a year away.

GoldenBear69 wrote:8AA - Pre-Season Prediction

JOMO - (Just one man's opinion) .... In July no less :-)

1. Moorhead - the 'Taters' are the clear, cut favorite. Very solid returning players (several high end), and great youth coming up from JV and Bantam. Goaltending remains a question mark; inconsistent goaltending and Youth may result in a slow start, but they have the best talent in the section, combined with solid leadership and coaching, come play-off time the rest of the section should 'Beware of the Spuds'. 8AA should be theirs for several years to come.

2. Bemidji - Paul Bunyan's boys will not go quietly, but their two year reign of 8AA is over...no trifecta for the Jaccks. High end players in key positions, but will greatly miss the depth and strong leadership they have enjoyed the past two seasons; not much help coming from JV and/or Bantam; personnel losses will be difficult to replace (especially at D); goalies will be tested more this season (still not sold).

3. Brainerd - the "Wizard' has them going in the right direction and this could be the Warriors year, but don't think they have enough to get past the Spuds or Jacks. Lost quite a bit of scoring and leadership; returners are very capable and should get adequate help from JV and bantam ranks to make some noise; will need to find a replacement for 3 year starter in the goal (no easy task).

4. STMA - Knights are a program on the rise; solid returners, combined with decent crop coming in; but this team will only go as far their goaltending will take them; if they can focus on playing hockey, stay out of the penalty box and get a consistent performance between the pipes, they will be a factor in the end.

5). St. Cloud Tech/Apollo (if this is where they land) - UPSET special - good overall talent; strong (incoming) junior class on the Tech side, including a very nice goaltender, combined with quite possibly the best coach in the section; they will be a serious 'darkhorse' in the section.

6. Roseau - this will not be the year of the Sheep - several very nice players, but serious lack of depth; losses to graduation (and privates) and BIG question mark in between the pipes will be too much to overcome for the Rams;

7. Rogers - 'also rans' - Royals will be improved, but will not be a serious factor in this section.

8. Buffalo - see above

Have at it boys!

GoldenBear69 wrote:Noah Althaus, who will be a junior ... And the comment was "a very nice goaltender" :-)

CornerBar wrote:St. Cloud played up in the Duluth Marshall AA tournament this weekend going 2-1 and winning consolation, beating Brainerd and Bemidji both in 2OT in the process, should be a very interesting season for them. Bemidji didn't play all of its studs however. Still interesting to see them hanging in there.

Goldy Gopher wrote:

CornerBar wrote:St. Cloud played up in the Duluth Marshall AA tournament this weekend going 2-1 and winning consolation, beating Brainerd and Bemidji both in 2OT in the process, should be a very interesting season for them. Bemidji didn't play all of its studs however. Still interesting to see them hanging in there.

A few solid forwards, one solid D, and a horrible goalie is good enough for St. Cloud to beat Brainerd and Bemidji, eh?

CornerBar wrote:

Goldy Gopher wrote:

CornerBar wrote:St. Cloud played up in the Duluth Marshall AA tournament this weekend going 2-1 and winning consolation, beating Brainerd and Bemidji both in 2OT in the process, should be a very interesting season for them. Bemidji didn't play all of its studs however. Still interesting to see them hanging in there.

A few solid forwards, one solid D, and a horrible goalie is good enough for St. Cloud to beat Brainerd and Bemidji, eh?

Keep in mind both Bemidji and Brainerd are worse than last year, and Bemidji didn't play its entire varsity team, it was about have JV half Varsity and their JV is god awful. Brainerd is a solid team but nobody knows what's going on in net there so I can't speak for what happened in that game as I was not there. Also, I never said they had a "few" solid forwards, I said they aren't very strong outside of their forwards. They have about 3 solid lines that can play. And I never said a horrible goaltender either. Watch yourself before you go putting words in my mouth

CornerBar wrote:

Goldy Gopher wrote:

CornerBar wrote:St. Cloud played up in the Duluth Marshall AA tournament this weekend going 2-1 and winning consolation, beating Brainerd and Bemidji both in 2OT in the process, should be a very interesting season for them. Bemidji didn't play all of its studs however. Still interesting to see them hanging in there.

A few solid forwards, one solid D, and a horrible goalie is good enough for St. Cloud to beat Brainerd and Bemidji, eh?

Keep in mind both Bemidji and Brainerd are worse than last year, and Bemidji didn't play its entire varsity team, it was about have JV half Varsity and their JV is god awful. Brainerd is a solid team but nobody knows what's going on in net there so I can't speak for what happened in that game as I was not there. Also, I never said they had a "few" solid forwards, I said they aren't very strong outside of their forwards. They have about 3 solid lines that can play. And I never said a horrible goaltender either. Watch yourself before you go putting words in my mouth

Goldy Gopher wrote:

CornerBar wrote:

Goldy Gopher wrote: A few solid forwards, one solid D, and a horrible goalie is good enough for St. Cloud to beat Brainerd and Bemidji, eh?

Keep in mind both Bemidji and Brainerd are worse than last year, and Bemidji didn't play its entire varsity team, it was about have JV half Varsity and their JV is god awful. Brainerd is a solid team but nobody knows what's going on in net there so I can't speak for what happened in that game as I was not there. Also, I never said they had a "few" solid forwards, I said they aren't very strong outside of their forwards. They have about 3 solid lines that can play. And I never said a horrible goaltender either. Watch yourself before you go putting words in my mouth

Sounds like a lot of back peddling to me.

Section 8 guy wrote:Me thinks Elliott is sandbagging a bit.

The section is still Bemidjis until someone proves otherwise.

Goldy Gopher wrote:

Section 8 guy wrote:Me thinks Elliott is sandbagging a bit.

The section is still Bemidjis until someone proves otherwise.

That's a hot take.

kniven wrote:

Goldy Gopher wrote:

Section 8 guy wrote:Me thinks Elliott is sandbagging a bit.

The section is still Bemidjis until someone proves otherwise.

That's a hot take.

I'll take the Spuds for sure. I like that system up there in Moorhead a lot. If I weren't such a huge CEC fan, I'd probably move to Moorhead and do what I do there. But, that's why they play the games. Being the better team on paper don't mean much when it comes to rivalry games. Speaking of rivalries, who are the Spuds Duluth East?

Goldy Gopher wrote:

kniven wrote:

Goldy Gopher wrote: That's a hot take.

I'll take the Spuds for sure. I like that system up there in Moorhead a lot. If I weren't such a huge CEC fan, I'd probably move to Moorhead and do what I do there. But, that's why they play the games. Being the better team on paper don't mean much when it comes to rivalry games. Speaking of rivalries, who are the Spuds Duluth East?

Do your HS hockey allegiances really play a factor in where you choose to live?

kniven wrote:

Goldy Gopher wrote:

kniven wrote: I'll take the Spuds for sure. I like that system up there in Moorhead a lot. If I weren't such a huge CEC fan, I'd probably move to Moorhead and do what I do there. But, that's why they play the games. Being the better team on paper don't mean much when it comes to rivalry games. Speaking of rivalries, who are the Spuds Duluth East?

Do your HS hockey allegiances really play a factor in where you choose to live?

Well no. I've got a wife and family so I do exaggerate. But if I were single, or retired, it would be something I'd consider. Luckily I don't see that happening though. Cloquet/Esko/Carlton hockey rocks!! And the rivalries in 7AA are amazing ))

Goldy Gopher wrote:

kniven wrote:

Goldy Gopher wrote: Do your HS hockey allegiances really play a factor in where you choose to live?

Well no. I've got a wife and family so I do exaggerate. But if I were single, or retired, it would be something I'd consider. Luckily I don't see that happening though. Cloquet/Esko/Carlton hockey rocks!! And the rivalries in 7AA are amazing ))

Cambridge, St. Francis, and Andover really get me jacked up too

greenwayraider wrote:On January 27th one of the best rivalries ever is being renewed. Greenway will be playing the Chickenhawks in Rapids.

greenwayraider wrote:On January 27th one of the best rivalries ever is being renewed. Greenway will be playing the Chickenhawks in Rapids.

Section 8 guy wrote:Me thinks Elliott is sandbagging a bit.

The section is still Bemidjis until someone proves otherwise.