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#1 vs #2 in the only rankings that matter [Karls] face off in SLP. As the late Dark Star would say, "your thoughts".

I haven't had a chance to watch Stillwater yet but have watched the Elks a couple of times. In the games I saw, Elk River moved the puck from defense to offense as smoothly as any high school team can. They have a lot of size and their goal tending is excellent too.

I'll stick with what I said on the podcast: in the long run here I like Stillwater, but the Ponies have yet to play a top 10 team, and the Elks are battle-tested. The Ponies certainly haven't seen anyone with the Elks' depth or discipline yet, so this will be a great test for them. If I had to guess, I think I'm crowning a new #1 on Sunday.

I haven't seen Stillwater play yet this year, and my only chance will probably be when they play WBL Jan. 14

From what I've heard, Eisele looks good in goal, which could have been a trouble spot with Benson gone. So far scoring doesn't seem to have taken a huge hit with one half the Cates' gone.

Ponies schedule gets a tougher moving forward. Eisele will be put to the test. Does section 4 have the best collection of goaltenders right now?

Elk River should be the favorite based on their schedule and already having experience with these games this year

Mavs wrote:Elk River should be the favorite based on their schedule and already having experience with these games this year

This isn't a rivalry game. Elk River will dominate them.

kniven wrote:

Mavs wrote:Elk River should be the favorite based on their schedule and already having experience with these games this year

This isn't a rivalry game. Elk River will dominate them.

7AA Pride baby.

I swear I saw this game was going to be live streamed tonight. If anyone could post a link, I'd appreciate it.


Guess I was looking in wrong thread.

http://www.youthhockeyhub.com/livegamevideos

Credit to the Ponies on a nice win, solid goaltending and some snipers. Of concern for for ER is that Jax Murray missed the game with a an injury. He is a key cog for ER. Looks like a wide open race to the finish.

I see it was 4-1 Ponies with an empty netter. Shots looked pretty even, was the play even?

Mavs wrote:I see it was 4-1 Ponies with an empty netter. Shots looked pretty even, was the play even?

Play was very even, Elks just couldn't bury a number of quality chances. Stillwater goalie played well and ER was missing Murray but are deep enough to make up for that. Don't see any great separation for Stillwater from the rest of the top teams.

Al CS

Disagree play was even, thought SW had the definite advantage, although I wouldnt say dominant. And the gap would have closed if Murray played.

One thing that is obvious watching SW. As a team, theyve got some of the quickest " skate to space time" and quickest " stick to use time" in all three zones, O D and N, that we have seen in many years. It was a rare time that Elk was handling or receiving the puck that they didnt have one or two Ponies blades in the vicinity almost immediately. And on the offensive side, Ponies dont need much space to make stickwork quick and effective.

Also , Stanton may be the biggest upside overachiever , at least to many of us not that familiar with the SW program, in all of AA hockey this year.

Agree Elks have enough talent to potentially rebound from the loss of JM.

But, their line reshufflng Friday nite did not appear to me to be working well,
lots of errant passes, even errant short passes, hesitant forward movement to space, 2 men occupying same ice space, etc. Even N Perbix back in D zone seemed puzzled at times looking for outlet pass recipients. But, I do want to note Nate Horns great performance, despite taped up broken finger.

So remains to be seen how soon Elk line recaliberation will be as productive as before. ( The Elks performance in their first Braemar Tourney game was one of the the greatest examples of smooth line performance and passing effectiveness that we have seen by any team in any venue in a long long time)

WestMetro wrote:Al CS

Disagree play was even, thought SW had the definite advantage, although I wouldnt say dominant. And the gap would have closed if Murray played.

One thing that is obvious watching SW. As a team, theyve got some of the quickest " skate to space time" and quickest " stick to use time" in all three zones, O D and N, that we have seen in many years. It was a rare time that Elk was handling or receiving the puck that they didnt have one or two Ponies blades in the vicinity almost immediately. And on the offensive side, Ponies dont need much space to make stickwork quick and effective.

Also , Stanton may be the biggest upside overachiever , at least to many of us not that familiar with the SW program, in all of AA hockey this year.

Agree Elks have enough talent to potentially rebound from the loss of JM.

But, their line reshufflng Friday nite did not appear to me to be working well,
lots of errant passes, even errant short passes, hesitant forward movement to space, 2 men occupying same ice space, etc. Even N Perbix back in D zone seemed puzzled at times looking for outlet pass recipients. But, I do want to note Nate Horns great performance, despite taped up broken finger.

So remains to be seen how soon Elk line recaliberation will be as productive as before. ( The Elks performance in their first Braemar Tourney game was one of the the greatest examples of smooth line performance and passing effectiveness that we have seen by any team in any venue in a long long time)

Murray is a very good puck possession guy and missing him would throw things out of sync. Appreciate your astute game analysis, keep em coming.