Class A Rankings 1-14-18

[HShockeywatcher]

Not a lot of change this week. A minor change at the top and a handful of teams pushing to be ranked at the bottom. Only a couple games this week between ranked teams.

Enjoy!

1. [1] Hermantown (7-4-2) (2-0)
The Hawks went into the third period tied with Minnetonka but came up short. After their rough start, they are clearly one of the top teams in the state. This week they go on the road to play their first 7A game of the season.
This week: Tues @ Greenway, Thurs vs Denfeld, Sat vs St Michael-Albertville

2. [2] Mahtomedi (11-2-1) (6-1)
The Zephyrs had a big conference week. This week they play local Stillwater and host Breck, two games they should be favored in.
This week: Thurs @ Stillwater, Sat vs Breck

3. [5] Orono (9-4-1) (9-1)
The Spartans' only Class A loss is to Minneapolis and they still have rematches with Delano and Mound Westonka along with a game with Cathedral. Rising at this point can only happen if those above them falter.
This week: Tues @ Hutchinson, Fri vs New Prague

4. [3] Mound Westonka (12-3-1) (9-2-1)
The White Hawks have wins over Minneapolis and Delano and while they lost to Orono, the rematch is at home in February so winning the rematch could give them the top seed in the section. Can they play the Fire close at home?
This week: Tues @ Litchfield, Thurs vs Holy Family

5. [4] Greenway (12-4) (10-2)
The Raiders picked up an easy win last week and host Hermantown this week.
This week: Tues vs Hermantown, Thurs @ Superior

6 [6] Delano (7-7) (6-4)
The Tigers had a good week in shutting out New Prague and losing to Wayzata by 2. This week they play two home games they should win and play a big game in St Cloud on Thursday.
This week: Tues vs Waconia, Thurs @ St Cloud Cathedral, Sat vs Litchfield

7. [7] Minneapolis (10-7) (6-4)
The Novas picked up a Class A shut out and lost to a good St Cloud team who only has 3 losses. With their schedule, there isn't much left for them to prove. Chaska and Breck are the two that should challenge them, but aside from the Breck game helping with section seeding proving that they can play with everyone and not falter would go a long way. They have beaten Mahtomedi and Orono but lost to some other unranked teams.
This week: Thurs vs Waconia, Sat vs Holy Angels

8. [8] East Grand Forks (9-5-1) (6-3-1)
The Green Wave picked up two good wins last week. This week they have three good opponents.
This week: Tues vs Roseau, Thurs @ Bemidji, Sat vs Hibbing

9. [9] Virginia (10-6-1) (7-4-1)
In their last 4 games the Blue Devils have lost in Proctor, tied in International Falls and lost in Hibbing. They were all one goal games, two went to OT and all on the road. Their next five are at home, so maybe that will help.
This week: Tues vs North Shore, Sat vs Eagan

10. [10] Cathedral (10-4) (10-4)
The Crusaders still have games against 3 of the top teams in 2A, so their first game this week could have state seeding implications. Then they play St Cloud to be the best team in the city.
This week: Thurs vs Delano, Sat @ St Cloud

11. [11] Sartell-St Stephen (12-4) (11-1)
The Sabres picked up 3 more wins this week. Their only Class A loss is to Cathedral, who happens to be in their section. They have two more section games this week.
This week: Tues @ Little Falls, Thurs @ River Lakes

12. [15] Warroad (8-7-1) (6-4-1)
The Warriors lost a close one to Roseau, beat Crookston 8-1 who they lost to by 1 earlier, and are now 8-1-1 in their last 10 games.
This week: Thurs @ Thief River Falls

13. [12] Alexandria (7-7-1) (7-5-1)
The Cardinals picked up two more wins and brought themselves to .500. 9 of their remaining 11 games are on the road.
This week: Tues @ Prairie Center, Thurs @ Sauk Rapids-Rice

14. [13] Breck (3-9) (2-3)
The Mustangs are in a weird spot, where they have beaten Delano, lost close games to Orono and Mahtomedi and all but one of their losses have been to teams better than them, but they have a lot of losses so it doesn't look good. They should end their losing streak this week; if they can win more than one game it would be huge for them.
This week: Tues @ SPA, Thurs vs Blake, Sat @ Mahtomedi

15. [-] South St Paul (9-4) (5-2)
The Packers' last 3 games have been shut out wins. They are 6-1 in their last 7 games with the loss being to Mahtomedi.
This week: Tues @ Red Wing, Thurs @ Tartan, Sat vs Simley

On the bubble...

[14] Monticello (11-2-1) (10-1)
The Moose beat North Branch in OT on the road, which still counts as a win, but means they won't walk through the section.
This week: Tues @ Mora, Thurs vs St Francis, Sat @ Cambridge-Isanti

[-] Lake of the Woods (9-2-2) (8-1-1)
The Bears picked up their first Class A loss last week in a section game with East Grand Forks that they scored first in and were only behind for the last 43 seconds of the game. They have played two notable opponents this season and lost both times, along with tying two other times, so maybe ranking them is too soon, but the EGF game looks really good for now. With their schedule, there is no room for error going forward.
This week: Tues vs Red Lake Falls, Fri @ Detroit Lakes, Sat @ Thief River Falls


Other noteworthy teams:

Fergus Falls (7-6-3) (6-5-3)
This week: Thurs vs Brainerd

Hibbing (5-7) (3-3)
This week: Tues @ Superior, Thurs vs Grand Rapids, Fri @ Crookston

Providence Academy (9-5-2) (7-3-1)
This week: Tues @ Minnehaha Academy

[Stang5280]

You probably already know what I’m going to say, but no mention of the 13 to freaking 1 score? I will be happy if Breck simply beats SPA at this point.

[elliott70]

You probably already know what I’m going to say, but no mention of the 13 to freaking 1 score? I will be happy if Breck simply beats SPA at this point.

And they do not belong in the top 20 let alone top 15.

[HShockeywatcher]

You probably already know what I’m going to say, but no mention of the 13 to freaking 1 score? I will be happy if Breck simply beats SPA at this point.

PageStat has Moorhead at 9, Karl has them at 12 and the Hub at them at 10.
It seems bad, but it doesn't help that Moorhead was their first opponent in 9 days and they were coming off a thumping by Providence Academy. But those are only 2 games. PageStat has them at 17 in Class A and even QRF, which is very W/L heavy, has them at 26.

On paper, it seems their record is a product of their schedule more than the quality of team they are. If they lose to SPA, they won't be mentioned next week. But they could shut out SPA, be a top 5 team in Class A and still go 1-2 this week. While they don't have a lot of wins to show for, their Class A losses are 3-2 to Orono, 4-2 to Mahtomedi and 7-1 to Providence Academy. Everything else equal, if the PA game was a win and they were 4-8, they're probably closer to 5 than 10 at this point and I don't like having 1 game define a season. I went through their entire schedule in last week's rankings and I stand by those comments.

[HShockeywatcher]

For comparison; PageStat's top 25 Class A teams:

1. 20 MAHTOMEDI
2. 23 HERMANTOWN
3. 28 GREENWAY
4. 32 CATHEDRAL
5. 34 EGF
6. 36 ORONO
7. 44 M. WESTONKA
8. 45 DELANO
9. 46 SARTELL
10. 50 S ST PAUL
11. 51 MINNEAPOLIS
12. 57 SIMLEY
13. 59 VIRGINIA
14. 61 WARROAD
15. 63 THIEF RIVER FALLS
16. 66 ALEXANDRIA
17. 68 BRECK_
18. 69 PROVIDENCE ACADEMY
19. 72 HIBBING
20. 73 CROOKSTON
21. 76 LAKE OF THE WOODS
22. 77 TOTINO GRACE
23. 78 MONTICELLO
24. 79 LUVERNE
25. 80 FERGUS FALLS

[Stang5280]

So Breck is 17th in PageStat, one spot ahead of a team that recently walloped them 7-1. That 14 ranking seems totally justified now. [/mild sarcasm] Also, those PS rankings were run Friday, prior to the Moorhead loss. Breck now has a lovely 24:58 GF:GA ratio.
(Update: Breck dropped to 19th in today’s PS run, falling behind Providence and Hibbing)

To me, the biggest takeaway from the PS ratings is that the top Class A team is 20th (now 18th). I have mentioned it a few times but it seems like Class A is down overall this year. We are just two years removed from Hermantown being the number one team overall, and Breck was 12th last year despite losing their Section 2A final.

[HShockeywatcher]

I don't know exactly how the PageStat formula works. However, there are two Class A teams in the top 40 in SOS in the state and those are Hermantown and Breck at 18 and 19 respectively. The next Class A teams are Delano, EGF Mahtomedi and Hibbing at 43, 44, 49 and 50 respectively.

Take that how you will...

http://minnhock.com/strength.htm