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Continuing the fine work of Stang....
Who will chime in sometime today.
My top 20

1 Hermantown 1-1-0
Two quality games against better AA teams.
2 St Cloud Cathedral 3-0-0
Nice start, good win over East Grand on the backside of their southern trip.
3 Greenway 2-0-0
Big section 7 win over Virginia but closer than most thought it would be.
4 East Grand Forks 4-1-1
A good season start despite looking tired against SCC.
5 Mahtomedi 2-0-0
A nice start against two middle of the road teams.

6 Thief River Falls 3-1-1
Road trip to the cities resulted in 2 one goal wins against better than average single A teams
7 Alexandria 2-0-0
Game postponed on Saturday which would have given some insight.
8 Virginia 2-1-0
A one goal loss to Greenway without one of their best players shows potential for a great show-down come February.
9 Northfield 1-0-0
A postponement leaves little to make judgment on.
10 Orono 1-2-0
Nice win over Litchfield

11 Mankato East 2-2-0
Surprised by the score in the loss to Mayo but bounced back with a nice win over Mound.
12 Monticello 1-1-1
Took St Mikes to OT but then tied Pine City??
13 Eveleth 2-1-0
Boosted by win over Chaska
14 Breck 2-2-0
15 Warroad 1-2-0
16 Minnesota River 3-1-0
17 Litchfield 1-1-0
18 to 20 tie
in no order
Duluth Denfeld 3-0-0
Mound 3-1-0
Marshall 2-1
Sartell 1-1-0
Waconia 3-1-0
Henry Sibley 2-0-1
Chisago Lakes 4-0-0

Please chime in with your own rankings or comments.

Not sure if I'd call St. Paul Johnson and Minneapolis better than average A teams, but TRF is playing well and without their starting goalie (injury).

Alex at 7 is pretty funny. So, when are you putting out your real rankings?

zooomx wrote: ↑Sun Dec 02, 2018 10:46 am Alex at 7 is pretty funny. So, when are you putting out your real rankings?

Where do you have them?
I have not seen them.
Things are based on what others tell me, last year's info on returnees, and the early games.
I am all ears?

Top 4 for sure. Lost a very good goalie, but have 2 very good replacements. Lost one defenseman and one forward off a team that beat Hermantown, Cathedral, Thief, etc last year and was runner up at state. Arguably, all the other teams ranked above them lost more than Alex did.

Why would they start the season 7th? Until they stumble, they should be given a bit more respect. Just my humble opinion.

I had Alex at 4 in week 1 and dropped them this week based on the Little Falls game and the postponed game did not help.

I tend to be more volatile in ranking.
I prefer grouping than slot in individual spot.

Hopefully Stang will post today and give us another insight.

Also, I think the section ranking to be more beneficial.

I would say Little Falls will be pretty good by the end of the season, with some good bantams who moved up. I think we will see them in the top 15 by the end of the year. However, in that 2-1 game, shots were 34-16. I just think dropping them 3 spots for winning a game against a solid A opponent on the road is a little volatile. This is a group that has won all the way up through the ranks and lost very little to graduation.

I would rank them as Hermantown, Cathedral, Alexandria, Greenway, EGF with a marginal drop off from there. Cathedral/Alex pretty even. Greenway/EGF a toss up.

Maybe toss Mahtomedi in that 4-6 toss up.

We will see how good Waconia is this next week. They play two section games on Thursday and Saturday, against SW Christian Richfield and Providence.

zooomx wrote: ↑Sun Dec 02, 2018 11:23 am I would say Little Falls will be pretty good by the end of the season, with some good bantams who moved up. I think we will see them in the top 15 by the end of the year. However, in that 2-1 game, shots were 34-16. I just think dropping them 3 spots for winning a game against a solid A opponent on the road is a little volatile. This is a group that has won all the way up through the ranks and lost very little to graduation.

I would rank them as Hermantown, Cathedral, Alexandria, Greenway, EGF with a marginal drop off from there. Cathedral/Alex pretty even. Greenway/EGF a toss up.

Great feedback xoomX.
Pretty much how I have them with Maht thrown in.

Its going to be a great game next Friday, SCC at Greenway! Another crowd over 2000?

A somewhat strange week in Class A land, but fear not, your best buddy Stang is here to make sense of it all.

1. Hermantown (1-1-0) (LW 1)
L 3-4 (OT) @ Wayzata, W 1-0 vs Lakeville South
The LVS win saved their bacon, as I was tempted to elevate Cathedral to the top spot. Give us some data points to work with, Hawks!
2. St. Cloud Cathedral (3-0-0) (LW 2)
W 9-0 @ Fergus Falls, W 7-0 vs Warroad, W 7-2 vs EGF
Basically my 1(b) at this point after ripping two of 8A’s best.
3. Greenway (2-0-0) (LW 3)
W 3-2 @ Virginia
Held serve in a tough game, and few teams can match the top end talent.
4. Mahtomedi (2-0-0) (LW 4)
W 7-2 vs SPA, W 5-0 @ Mounds View
Haven’t been tested yet, and don’t face a quality Class A team for nearly three weeks.
5. Alexandria (2-0-0) (LW 5)
W 2-1 @ Little Falls, W 8-0 @ Willmar
LF game was closer than expected, but Flyers may be a tough out this year.
6. East Grand Forks (4-1-0) (LW 6)
W 7-2 @ Totino-Grace, L 2-7 @ Cathedral
Were caught up in the SCC buzzsaw, but had dispatched four solid foes previously.
7. Virginia-MIB (2-1-0) (LW 14)
L 2-3 vs Greenway, W 3-2 @ International Falls
Hung tough against Greenway at less than full strength, and LF win looking more impressive.
8. Thief River Falls (3-1-1) [LW 8]
T 2-2 @ Roseau, W 2-1 @ SP Johnson, W 3-2 @ Minneapolis
Things start to get dicey at this point. Mostly here based on Roseau tie.
9. Northfield (1-0-0) (LW 9)
W 3-1 vs Faribault
Not much to go on yet with yesterday’s postponement. Needed two late goals to squeak by Faribault.
10. Eveleth-Gilbert (2-1-0) (LW NR)
W 5-4 vs Chaska
Yes, the Chaska win was impressive, but they also lost to Minnehaha Academy last week.
11. Orono (1-2-0) (LW 12)
W 5-2 vs LDC
Defending champs come back from the dead to slay the Dragons.
12. Mankato East (1-1-0) (LW 10)
L 2-5 vs. Rochester Mayo, W 5-3 vs Mound-WT
Puzzling loss to Mayo drops them two slots.
13. Warroad (1-2-0) (LW 7)
L 1-5 @ Bemidji, L 0-7 @ Cathedral, W 4-3 (OT) @ Sartell
Bounced back from two ugly losses to edge Sartell.
14. Sartell-St. Stephen (1-1-0) (LW NR)
W 6-1 vs Crookston, L 3-4 (OT) vs Warroad
Well, if I’m keeping Warroad around, I almost have to put Sartell right behind.
15. Monticello (1-1-1) (LW 11)
L 4-5 (OT) @ STMA, T 2-2 @ Pine City
Showed well against STMA, but tie against PC is concerning.

Out: Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato (LW 13), North Branch (LW 15)

Honorable mentions (alphabetical order):
Breck (2-2-0)
L 1-5 vs St. Louis Park, W 4-1 vs Delano
Chisago Lakes (4-0-0)
W 6-1 @ Somerset, W 7-2 @ Northern Lakes
Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato (1-1-0)
W 3-1 @ New Ulm, L 2-5 @ Orono
Marshall (2-1-0)
W 8-2 vs Worthington
Minnesota River (3-1-0)
W 6-2 @ Mankato West, W 5-3 vs Luverne
North Branch (3-1-0)
L 2-4 @ St. Francis, W 5-1 @ North Shore

A few notes:
- It was difficult to find 15 teams that I thought were truly worthy of ranking
- It seems like the top six or seven teams are a cut above, and parity reigns supreme after that
- I cheated a bit by including six teams in my HM section, but I couldn’t figure out who to kick out after adding Minn River
- So much for that 5A love, it was a brief fling
- Elliott did a great job of pointing out some other teams deserving of recognition, and I would also add Little Falls

nice job stang

I like giving teams some recognition especially early on when thing are clustered.

zooomx wrote: ↑Sun Dec 02, 2018 11:23 am I would say Little Falls will be pretty good by the end of the season, with some good bantams who moved up. I think we will see them in the top 15 by the end of the year. However, in that 2-1 game, shots were 34-16. I just think dropping them 3 spots for winning a game against a solid A opponent on the road is a little volatile. This is a group that has won all the way up through the ranks and lost very little to graduation.

I would rank them as Hermantown, Cathedral, Alexandria, Greenway, EGF with a marginal drop off from there. Cathedral/Alex pretty even. Greenway/EGF a toss up.

Yes, plus this was LF third game and Alex's first. And it is definitely a rivalry game. Remember LF tied and lost in OT to Alex last year.

Mite-dad wrote: ↑Mon Dec 03, 2018 7:52 am

zooomx wrote: ↑Sun Dec 02, 2018 11:23 am I would say Little Falls will be pretty good by the end of the season, with some good bantams who moved up. I think we will see them in the top 15 by the end of the year. However, in that 2-1 game, shots were 34-16. I just think dropping them 3 spots for winning a game against a solid A opponent on the road is a little volatile. This is a group that has won all the way up through the ranks and lost very little to graduation.

I would rank them as Hermantown, Cathedral, Alexandria, Greenway, EGF with a marginal drop off from there. Cathedral/Alex pretty even. Greenway/EGF a toss up.

Yes, plus this was LF third game and Alex's first. And it is definitely a rivalry game. Remember LF tied and lost in OT to Alex last year.

The postponed game would have helped clarify things at this point of the season.

A few but not many games tonight to help clean this up.

elliott70 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 4:34 pm A few but not many games tonight to help clean this up.

Not many high level A vs. A matchups tonight, but there will be plenty later in the week (with SCC-Greenway being the headliner). Personally, I tend to discount the importance of A vs. AA games unless the A team plays unexpectedly well or poorly. It’s just too difficult to put the results into context in most cases.

One interesting A vs A
Denfeld leading Greenway

Interesting AA vs A
Rapids beating Virginia pretty handily.

Yeah, both of those definitely fall into the surprise category. We’ll see how Denfeld survives the likely final period barrage.

Stang5280 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 9:11 pm Yeah, both of those definitely fall into the surprise category. We’ll see how Denfeld survives the likely final period barrage.

4-3 OT Denfeld. That will move some things around as Denfeld is still perfect on the year 4-0. No big teams besides Greenway but they host Virginia next Tuesday.

Denfeld has 2 solid lines, enough defense to keep things interesting and a young sophomore goalie emerging and dependable junior net minder. They should be able to keep most games interesting along the way.
New coaching staff going into second season with kids, they put in the work all summer, 5 days a week, 630 am workouts. They should fly under the radar for awhile and see how this season develops. Not a highly respected program recently on the rise? Or short window to make some noise? At the least they add flavor to section 7A.

Northernlakes wrote: ↑Wed Dec 05, 2018 8:55 am Denfeld has 2 solid lines, enough defense to keep things interesting and a young sophomore goalie emerging and dependable junior net minder. They should be able to keep most games interesting along the way.
New coaching staff going into second season with kids, they put in the work all summer, 5 days a week, 630 am workouts. They should fly under the radar for awhile and see how this season develops. Not a highly respected program recently on the rise? Or short window to make some noise? At the least they add flavor to section 7A.

They use to be quite competitive, even beating DE and DM in the early 2010's. They slumped mid-2000's and bumped up when Delulth Central was closed and most kids went over to Denfeld. Anyone who would have left for East either went to Marshall or was already at East because they knew Central was closing.