Class A Rankings 12-11-16

[HShockeywatcher]

This week brought a lot of interesting game results. This week was also one of the most difficult I've ranked. There seems to be 8 or so teams that are above the rest, but beyond that it's really in the eye of the beholder. Even the Top 10 has a lot of questions and subjectivity. There are a handful of games among the teams listed below this week, but things don't seem like they'll really sort themselves out until after more games and holiday tournaments.

Happy discussing!

1. [1] Delano/Rockford (4-0-0)
The Tigers beat Breck by 3 and the next smallest margin of victory was 6 goals, albeit not the greatest competition. The next two weeks shouldn't be much different, but the holiday tournament at MARS will be a good test.

2. [2] Hermantown (2-1-1)
Despite their start the Hawks now have a winning record including a win over the Hilltoppers. They can keep it rolling with Tonka and New Prague this week.

3. [3] St. Paul Academy (3-1-0)
The Spartans have beaten Mahtomedi and now Cathedral. They don't have the toughest of schedules and don't play another top team until January.

4. [6] Breck (3-2-0)
After two early losses the Mustangs are turning things around, including a win over Wayzata in OT.

5. [8] Greenway (6-0-0)
The Raiders just beat EGF by 1 on the road. They have 4 one goal wins now, but they are undefeated. Will they be undefeated a week from now with games against Hibbing and Breck this week?

6. [4] Mahtomedi (2-2-0)
The Zephyrs kept it close with Hill Murray and their only other loss is to SPA and the wins have been conference games by 6 goal margins. With 2 more conference games this week, it'll be the holiday tournament where we find out more about them.

7. [5] St. Cloud Cathedral (4-1-1)
The Crusaders' only loss is to a good SPA team on the road. They have a big section battle with Alexandria this week.

8. [7] East Grand Forks (2-1-1)
The Green Wave are 0-1-1 against teams ranked ahead of them and they have a 1 goal win over a struggling Totino team this week. They play Alexandria this week.

9. [13] Warroad (1-3-1)
The Warriors are 1-1-1 against Class A opponents and have a 1 goal road loss to Cathedral.

10. [14] Sartell (3-0-2)
The Sabres tied Warroad two weeks ago then tied Brainerd last week; can they keep the zero in the loss column after traveling to St Cloud this week?

11. [17] Totino-Grace (2-3-0)
The Eagles have a 1 goal loss to EGF and losses in games they wouldn't be expected to win. Can they get rid of their losing record this week?

12. [-] Rochester Lourdes (3-3-0)
This is a big jump after beating a good Chaska team in OT who beat Minnehaha Academy. They have a road trip this coming weekend with Greenway and Little Falls.

13. [12] Alexandria (2-0-1)
One game last week was a tie with St Cloud, which doesn't tell a lot for either team just yet. 3 games this week and 2 being against top 10 teams. A week from now they could solidify their place outside the top 10 or be among them, maybe even in the Top 5.

14. [18] Minnehaha Academy (4-1-0)
A win over Providence Academy makes it seems like the Redhawks may be worthy of being ranked pretty high. They don't play many top teams this season, so for now it'll be about not stumbling.

15. [9] Monticello (5-1-0)
Their one loss is by a wide margin to a good St Michael team but they don't seem to have been challenged much otherwise and it doesn't look like they will be until the holiday tournament.

16. [10] Luverne (5-1-0)
Some shutouts this week but a loss to Waseca that brings up questions, the Cardinals have no weekday games this week and play at SPA next weekend.

17. [11] Orono (3-2-0)
The Spartans won both of their games this week and dropped with how the teams around them did. Their conference games will help a lot get sorted out.

18. [15] New Prague (3-1)
Getting beat by Holy Family doesn't say much from last week; this week they play 3 road games including Breck and Hermantown. Can they win more than one game this week?

19. [16] Blake (4-3-0)
The Bears have played 7 games early and don't play again until the holiday tournament. They don't have any great wins, have lost to the 2 top teams they've played plus an Orono that's hard to figure out, so there's a lot to be learned.

20. [19] Hibbing/Chisholm (3-1-0)
The Bluejackets have three wins with a 13-2 GF-GA margin and a 1 goal loss to Roseau. A game with Greenway this week will give a better picture for them.

Teams to watch

[20] Thief River Falls (2-2-0)
A 1 goal win over Tartan doesn't tell much. The next two week will give a lot more to go on.

North Branch (3-0-0)
The Vikings are undefeated. Can they beat Cambridge-Isanti this week?

Princeton (2-0-0)
They've played 2 games and won them both. How will they do with section games this week?

Virginia (3-3)
The Blue Devils have a 1 goal Greenway loss and a 6 goal Warroad loss, both at home.

[elliott70]

9. [13] Warroad (0-2-1)
The Warriors are 1-1-1 against Class A opponents and have a 1 goal road loss to Cathedral.

Typo???
1-3-1, I believe.

[Slapper Al]

Good rankings but funny you comment on SPA'S weak schedule, but they play your #4 (twice), #5, #6, #7, #12, #14 (twice), #16, #19 (twice), and #20. Seems like a small school that tries to play a lot of the Class A top schools.

[HShockeywatcher]

Good rankings but funny you comment on SPA'S weak schedule, but they play your #4 (twice), #5, #6, #7, #12, #14 (twice), #16, #19 (twice), and #20. Seems like a small school that tries to play a lot of the Class A top schools.

You're not wrong about who they play, although it's the second week of the season with lots of games to be played. I agree with your last sentence; it's great to see Greenway on their schedule. My comment isn't putting them down, but merely a comment about their schedule that is also based on experience.

Teams they have yet to play on my list: Luverne, TRF, Lourdes, Breck (x2), Blake (x2), Minnehaha (x2) and Greenway.
Two of those teams, and 3 remaining games, are in what appears to be the "top tier" of teams this year. It's likely these rankings won't last, some will drop, etc. Playing a bunch of lower good teams doesn't help with sorting you out between the other good teams. Every year there's a handful of teams that are difficult to differentiate between in January/February. It seems, to me, that SPA may be one of those this year. That's all.

[Slapper Al]

HSW that makes sense to me. Thanks for clarifying.

[HShockeywatcher]

For reference: http://minnhock.com/ps2017.htm

1. Delano (7)
2. Hermantown (13)
3. Breck (16)
4. SPA (19)
5. Mahtomedi (22)
6. Cathedral (32)
7. Warroad (35)
8. Sartell (37)
9. Hibbing (41)
10. Monticello (45)
11. East Grand Forks (46)
12. Thief River Falls (49)
13. New Prague (51)
14. Greenway (53)
15. Blake (56)
16. Orono (59)
17. Alexandria (60)
18. St Paul Johnson (64)
19. Minneapolis (68 )
20. Northfield (70)
21. Minnehaha Academy (71)
22. Totino-Grace (72)
23. Mound-Westonka (75)
24. Princeton (77)
25. South St Paul (78 )

[HShockeywatcher]

Teams without a loss...

North Branch (3-0)
Princeton (2-0)
Alexandria (2-0-1)
Greenway (6-0)
Sartell (3-0-2)
Delano (4-0)

[HShockeywatcher]

6 of 11 (yuge sample size!) have said Breck should be #2. I'm assuming that means ahead of Hermantown and SPA? I have a hard time justifying them ahead of either of those two...

[HShockeywatcher]

5 Hibbing
1 Greenway

Obviously the rankings of these 2 teams are going to change this week? Is Hibbing a top 5 team because of this? Is Greenway not a top 10 teams because of this? Should they both be in the 8-10 range?

3 Alexandria
3 Cathedral

Great 6A match up here, Alexandria keeping the 0 in the L column.

[elliott70]

5 Hibbing
1 Greenway

Obviously the rankings of these 2 teams are going to change this week? Is Hibbing a top 5 team because of this? Is Greenway not a top 10 teams because of this? Should they both be in the 8-10 range?

3 Alexandria
3 Cathedral

Great 6A match up here, Alexandria keeping the 0 in the L column.

Hibbing top 10
Greenway top 12
Alex top 10

Luverne not top 20, maybe redwood falls.

[Whiner33]

5 Hibbing
1 Greenway

Obviously the rankings of these 2 teams are going to change this week? Is Hibbing a top 5 team because of this? Is Greenway not a top 10 teams because of this? Should they both be in the 8-10 range?

3 Alexandria
3 Cathedral

Great 6A match up here, Alexandria keeping the 0 in the L column.

Hibbing top 10
Greenway top 12
Alex top 10

Luverne not top 20, maybe redwood falls.

Luverne 5 redwood falls 0

If Luverne isn't a top 20 neither is Redwood falls. Luverne with a bad loss to Waseca. SPA this week. Will see where this puts them.

[elliott70]

5 Hibbing
1 Greenway

Obviously the rankings of these 2 teams are going to change this week? Is Hibbing a top 5 team because of this? Is Greenway not a top 10 teams because of this? Should they both be in the 8-10 range?

3 Alexandria
3 Cathedral

Great 6A match up here, Alexandria keeping the 0 in the L column.

Hibbing top 10
Greenway top 12
Alex top 10

Luverne not top 20, maybe redwood falls.

Luverne 5 redwood falls 0

If Luverne isn't a top 20 neither is Redwood falls. Luverne with a bad loss to Waseca. SPA this week. Will see where this puts them.

Missed that one...
How about New Ulm or Litch.....

[elliott70]

Or how about Hutch...

I see on one hockey site they beat Holy Family 12 - 0???????

[GoldyGopher]

5 Hibbing
1 Greenway

Obviously the rankings of these 2 teams are going to change this week? Is Hibbing a top 5 team because of this? Is Greenway not a top 10 teams because of this? Should they both be in the 8-10 range?

3 Alexandria
3 Cathedral

Great 6A match up here, Alexandria keeping the 0 in the L column.

Hibbing top 10
Greenway top 12
Alex top 10

Luverne not top 20, maybe redwood falls.

Luverne 5 redwood falls 0

If Luverne isn't a top 20 neither is Redwood falls. Luverne with a bad loss to Waseca. SPA this week. Will see where this puts them.

Luverne and Redwood both played stinkers for their 1 loss. I think on any given game they could both be a top 20 team, however their composite play as of now would say both have top 20 team caliber talent but neither are top 20 teams currently. Safe to say no team in 3A warrants a top 20 ranking as of now, team A beats team B, team B beats team C, team A loses to team C kind of deal going on right now.

[elliott70]

Like Merlot says, we will see in the SPA game.

[karl(east)]

5 Hibbing
1 Greenway

Obviously the rankings of these 2 teams are going to change this week? Is Hibbing a top 5 team because of this? Is Greenway not a top 10 teams because of this? Should they both be in the 8-10 range?

Hibbing 5-9, Greenway 8-12, IMO, having watched this game and also seen Hermantown, Breck, and Delano.

[HShockeywatcher]

5 Hibbing
1 Greenway

Obviously the rankings of these 2 teams are going to change this week? Is Hibbing a top 5 team because of this? Is Greenway not a top 10 teams because of this? Should they both be in the 8-10 range?

Hibbing 5-9, Greenway 8-12, IMO, having watched this game and also seen Hermantown, Breck, and Delano.

Who have you seen them play and what do you think of them?

[Whiner33]

Or how about Hutch...

I see on one hockey site they beat Holy Family 12 - 0???????

HF won 12-0.

[elliott70]

Or how about Hutch...

I see on one hockey site they beat Holy Family 12 - 0???????

HF won 12-0.

I saw that while it was happening, just funny how things can get messed up with today's technology.

[twincitiespuckmind]

Delano beat Buffalo last night, 8-2. They are averaging over 8 games per game through 5 games. It begs to question, regardless of class, are they the best team in the state?

[elliott70]

Delano beat Buffalo last night, 8-2. They are averaging over 8 games per game through 5 games. It begs to question, regardless of class, are they the best team in the state?

No.

[twincitiespuckmind]

Delano beat Buffalo last night, 8-2. They are averaging over 8 games per game through 5 games. It begs to question, regardless of class, are they the best team in the state?

No.

Well, the only other team that I see better than them is Eden Prairie.

[elliott70]

Delano beat Buffalo last night, 8-2. They are averaging over 8 games per game through 5 games. It begs to question, regardless of class, are they the best team in the state?

No.

Well, the only other team that I see better than them is Eden Prairie.

Well, there you go.

[BodyShots]

Delano beat Buffalo last night, 8-2. They are averaging over 8 games per game through 5 games. It begs to question, regardless of class, are they the best team in the state?

That's one hell of a feat. Does each game count as 8 wins?

NO, they are not the best team in state. If there are 64 AA teams, I might give them #65 or #66!

[TTpuckster]

Delano beat Buffalo last night, 8-2. They are averaging over 8 games per game through 5 games. It begs to question, regardless of class, are they the best team in the state?

That's one hell of a feat. Does each game count as 8 wins?

NO, they are not the best team in state. If there are 64 AA teams, I might give them #65 or #66!

More like #75 or 80.....