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We’re now in deep to this season, and things are vaguely taking shape. Seven of the top nine teams (and nine of the top 15) are in two sections, which is as unbalanced as I can ever remember, but the real separation is between the top two and everyone else. Their first clash lived up to its billing, and beyond that, typical holiday tournament chaos reigned. Here’s an effort to make sense of it.

1. Minnetonka (10-0-1)
-Unbeaten, elite, but not unblemished: the Skippers settled for a tie against Wayzata. I don’t do rankings ties, so I’m keeping them at number one give Alex Lunski’s absence and this game being in Plymouth, but for as great as this team is, they are not alone in the top tier. We may be on one of the greater collision courses between first- and second-ranked teams since Edina and Lakeville North about a decade ago, though the strength of their respective sections means we can’t take anything for granted. They’ll look to avoid a trap game against a well-structured Hill team on Thursday.
This week: Thurs vs. #13 Hill-Murray, Sat vs. Mahtomedi

2. Wayzata (10-0-2)
-They didn’t win their biggest game of the week and didn’t move in the rankings, but in some ways the Tonka tie was a big step for the Trojans, who showed they can go stride-for-stride with the vaunted Skippers and kept pace in their convincing wins over Lakeville South and Rogers, too. After a conference tune-up game, they head north to face a tough defensive Grand Rapids team that did a decent job of hanging around against the Skippers.
This week: Thurs at Buffalo, Sat at Grand Rapids

3. Benilde-St. Margaret’s (8-1-1)
-This is the hardest spot to fill in the rankings this week, as everyone in the 3-7 range last week took a lump. The only other real contender for this spot is Maple Grove, but I’m going to stick with the transitive property in spots 3-5, and the Red Knights have beaten Edina who beat the Crimson, and their only loss is to Wayzata. The Red Knights had some real positives in their annual holiday tournament, with wins over surging Holy Family and Champlin Park teams, but the Holy Angels tie does open the door to another contender in 6AA and may undermine their case for the 2-seed if Edina can do enough down the stretch. There isn’t much of a letup this coming week, as they face a rising St. Thomas team and a down-but-dangerous Moorhead group.
This week: Thurs vs. #7 St. Thomas Academy, Sat vs. Moorhead

4. Edina (9-2)
-It wasn’t a banner holiday tourney for the Hornets, who plodded along offensively, mustering just 7 goals across three games and falling to St. Thomas before edging past Cretin in overtime. But the Hornets have never been the type to hang a banner in December, and time will tell if this is just a learning curve or cause for concern. The pieces are certainly there to score a lot more. Their schedule carries on with its customary toughness.
This week: Thurs at Lakeville South, Sat vs. #8 Holy Family

5. Maple Grove (8-2)
-It was a great week for the Crimson, who powered up the rankings with wins over Chanhassen and Rosemount and then capped it by coming back from three down against Holy Family. The rebuild seems to be complete after just a month, and with Rogers showing signs of trouble, the premier power of 5AA might not be relinquishing its crown anytime soon. Northwest Suburban supremacy is on the line this week when they face Andover.
This week: Thurs vs. #12 Andover, Sat at Blaine

6. Chanhassen (9-4)
-A loss to Maple Grove sends the Storm down behind the Crimson, but they rebounded with quality wins over Holy Angels and Hill-Murray. This team has shown it will take its lumps, and will of course benefit from a full lineup, but they’re still right here in the picture and capable of beating anyone. On paper they should handle their two opponents this coming week.
This week: Thurs vs. Delano, Sat at Duluth East

7. St. Thomas Academy (8-3-1)
-Here come the Cadets: with a perfect run through the Prior Lake tournament punctuated by a win over Edina, they’ve now won five in a row, and are playing textbook airtight hockey that will give them a chance against just about anyone. They’re not steamrolling teams either, so some vulnerability remains, but if they can build on this, they’ll be a very tough out down the stretch. If they can keep the run going against Benilde this week, look out.
This week: Thurs at #3 Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Sat at Tartan/North St. Paul

8. Holy Family (6-2-1)
-This group hit its first real bumps of the season this week when they lost to good Benilde and Maple Grove teams. They certainly showed they can skate with the likes of those teams, but their highest quality win to date is over Eastview, so I’m loath to move them any higher than this. They can find the top five by doing something against Edina this week.
This week: Wed at Lakeville North, Sat at #8 Edina

9. Shakopee (9-2-1)
-While chaos unfolded in the holiday tournaments, the Sabers grabbed one of the more convincing wins of the week with a 4-0 shutout of Hermantown; while it was the Hawks’ third game in as many days and they aren’t quite on the level of the past few seasons, that’s still a win worthy of a top ten team. They now head into an extended run of section play that begins with one of their lead competitors at the top of the South Suburban.
This week: Tues vs. Eastview, Sat at Prior Lake

10. Rosemount (10-3)
-The Irish kept their winning ways going by edging Andover, but they then had a bit of a reality check with back-to-back losses to Maple Grove and surging Champlin Park. There’s no great shame in either of those, but it does show they aren’t exactly separated from the pack in 3AA. A big section game awaits them, especially since Eastview has beaten St. Thomas and they don’t play the two private school contenders in the section.
This week: Thurs vs. Eastview

11. Rogers (7-4-1)
-That clunking sound you heard from the Northwest Metro this past week was Rogers’ effort in Plymouth, in which they got drummed by Minnetonka, struggled to hang with Wayzata, and then took a loss they should not take to Lakeville South. They have the talent to be more competitive than this and have shown it at times this season, but the trend in big games is not encouraging, especially with what Maple Grove has been up to lately. They’ll look to restore some order this week.
This week: Wed vs. Armstrong/Cooper, Sat vs. Elk River

12. Andover (7-5)
-The Huskies have been pleasantly consistent so far this season, usually sticking around against good competition (such as Rosemount this past week) and pulling out some respectable wins (such as Hill this past week) and taking care of everyone else. They aren’t going to bowl anyone over, but they are firmly in the 7AA driver’s seat. We’ll see what they can make of Maple Grove next.
This week: Thurs at #5 Maple Grove, Sat vs. Osseo

13. Hill-Murray (5-3-2)
-The Pioneers’ 1-2 week has them edging downward. Andover and Chanhassen aren’t bad losses, but they aren’t helpful for a team trying to make a top ten case, and they had trouble putting away Champlin, too. This spot makes sense for now, and they’ll take their crack at number one next.
This week: Thurs at #1 Minnetonka, Sat vs. Two Rivers

14. Eden Prairie (7-3-1)
-The Eagles surged to life with three blowout wins in Prior Lake, and while they didn’t have the toughest of draws, it was at least a statement, particularly against Moorhead, and builds nicely on the Wayzata tie. The big games keep coming, so we’ll see if they can keep it up against Hermantown.
This week: Sat at Hermantown

15. Holy Angels (8-2-1)
-The Stars may lack a quality win, but they sure got themselves a quality tie when they drew even with Benilde and announced their presence in the 6AA race. A competitive showing with Chanhassen is a good sign that they’re here to be reckoned with, too. Up next: a decent Gentry team that could foul things up if they’re not careful.
This week: Fri at Gentry Academy

The Next Ten

White Bear Lake (7-2-1)
-The Bears slide back some here through no real fault of their own, as someone had to accommodate the likes of Holy Angels and Eden Prairie; their schedule this season, unfortunately, does not give them many chances to show they can run with the top tier of teams, and with Hill backsliding and the Bears’ losses to Champlin and Rosemount, this is where the chips are falling at the moment. A second win over Stillwater this week would likely make them the 2-seed at worst in 4AA.

Cretin-Derham Hall (5-4)
-The Raiders had a pretty good showing in Prior Lake, beating two lesser opponents comfortably and taking Edina to overtime before falling. Their four losses are all by one goal to very good teams, though they don’t have a quality win to their name yet, either, so they stay slip out of the top 15 as others make stronger cases. The injury to Veszi Lippai won’t help matters, either. They now head into a string of conference games that should help beef up the record.

Champlin Park (6-5-1)
-The Rebels had themselves a good weekend in the Premier Holiday Classic despite going 1-2; by holding on against Rosemount and giving Hill a good fight, they’ve entrenched themselves as contenders in this part of the rankings. Things ease up a bit for them this week.
This week: Thurs vs. Blaine, Sat at Armstrong/Cooper

Eastview (6-5)
-Enjoyed a rest week. The early win over St. Thomas looks better after this past week, though the Centennial loss offsets it somewhat, and they sit here right next to a Lakeville South team they split with recently. Shakopee and Rosemount make for a tough week of conference play ahead of them.

Lakeville South (6-4)
-An impressive showing against Rogers salvaged the Cougars’ week after rough showings against the top two teams in the state, and with that, they actually come out looking pretty good considering how brutal the competition was. It doesn’t get any easier in their first game this week, as they host Edina, though a mild reprieve then follows.

Gentry Academy (11-3)
-The Stars plowed their way through the Herb Brooks Invitational, earning some alright wins against Hibbing and Duluth Marshall in the process. They’re now winners of eight straight, but will get a better test against a rankings peer when they meet their fellow Stars from Holy Angels this week.

Grand Rapids (6-5)
-Just enjoyed a week off, but it’s in preparation for some big stuff: they get a shot at the season sweep against Duluth East on Thursday, and they’ve got Wayzata up over the weekend, too. Are they closer to Andover or to the muddle outside the top 25 in 7AA?

Rock Ridge (8-1-1)
-A tie with Delano isn’t a bad result, but doesn’t leave me feeling certain about this team’s top 25 status, either. This week’s game with Hermantown is arguably their toughest of the season, and their most meaningful game until they get to a few 7AA teams later in January. Can they repeat their performance in the 7A title game a season ago and give the Hawks a game?

Centennial (4-4-1)
-No action and no change here. Coon Rapids could be an interesting one this week, and it certainly has some section implications.

Coon Rapids (6-2)
-The Cardinals tumbled from the top 25 when they lost badly to Champlin and Maple Grove, but they’ve beaten everyone else, and the other contenders for the 25th spot here are either under .500 (Stillwater, Moorhead) or have some far sketchier losses than theirs (Roseau). The tilt against Centennial this week is a big one, and the other teams on their schedule over the next few weeks give them a chance at a mini run here.

And now the sections feature, which will run every other week until sections:

1AA
20 Lakeville South
Rochester Century/John Marshall
Lakeville North
New Prague
-The holidays were not pretty for the Lakevilles, but I don’t think they fundamentally change much here, either. Century/John Marshall doesn’t play either of them, so we’ll have to rely on common opponents and such; at the very least the Rochester co-op will have a good record, which may help its case for a higher seed. Their loss to Eagan this past week doesn’t inspire much confidence, but will at least provide a good common opponent, since the Lakevilles play the Wildcats over the next two weeks.

2AA
1 Minnetonka
6 Chanhassen
8 Holy Family
9 Shakopee
14 Eden Prairie
-Things stay in rankings order here for now. While Chanhassen has had its lumps, that overtime game with the Skippers is an achievement; Holy Family has a case to go ahead of Chanhassen, but the lack of section games will likely bite the Fire here. A Shakopee-Prior Lake game is the only contest of note in the next two weeks.

3AA
10 Rosemount
19 Eastview
8 St. Thomas Academy
17 Cretin-Derham Hall
-This might be the deepest true section race in the state this season. Eastview has beaten St. Thomas who has beaten Cretin; the Rosemount- Eastview game this week could either solidify this order or move the Lightning toward the top of the heap. The two private schools may need some help to climb, unless St. Thomas continues its recent trend while Rosemount drops a bit.

4AA
13 Hill-Murray
16 White Bear Lake
21 Gentry Academy
Stillwater
-The Hill-White Bear tie resolved nothing here, and I have Hill on top based on body of work, but the Bears are certainly within striking distance of the top seed. They can firm up their case with a second win over Stillwater this week. Gentry continues to lurk somewhere in here and will be harder and harder to ignore for a higher seed if they keep on winning. Stillwater, meanwhile, has quietly been pretty competitive with good teams in four of its five losses, though the Ponies need to beef up that record to reach the top 25.

5AA
5 Maple Grove
11 Rogers
18 Champlin Park
24 Centennial
25 Coon Rapids
-Maple Grove’s strong week coupled with Rogers’ struggles have us flipping things at the top here, with Champlin suddenly lurking and Centennial and Coon Rapids, who play this week, lurking somewhere behind. The all-important Maple Grove-Rogers collision is next week, when the Royals have Champlin too, so we’ll know a lot more the next time we check in.

6AA
2 Wayzata
3 Benilde-St. Margaret’s
4 Edina
15 Holy Angels
-The top three remain in a pretty clear order based on head-to-head games involving Benilde, and Holy Angels has entered the chat after tying the Red Knights, plus a convincing win over Blake. We’re still a few weeks out from the first Edina-Wayzata contest and Holy Angels’ remaining games with the teams above them, so not much to watch here in the next few weeks, but there will certainly be chances for everyone here to make a move and add more clarity.

7AA
12 Andover
22 Grand Rapids
23 Rock Ridge
Duluth Denfeld
-Andover took a strong step toward the top seed with a win over Duluth East; their only remaining section game of note is against Grand Rapids in early February. Rapids can probably secure a top-2 seed by beating East a second time this coming week, while Rock Ridge continues to hang in there. I’ve thrown Denfeld to the top of the clump of Duluth teams in 4-6 position at the moment on the strength of the Hermantown tie, but there are plenty of games among them upcoming to resolve all of that.

8AA
Moorhead
Roseau
Elk River
St. Cloud
-So this section is…something right now. The Spuds are 4-0-1 against the section but 0-8 against everyone else they’ve played, which I guess is good enough for top seed position right now. Roseau is 1-3 against the section but 7-0 against everyone else. Talent-wise those two seem to be the class of the section, so I’ll keep them at the top in spite of those weird numbers, especially since it is an absolute pile-up after that. Elk River and St. Cloud have winning records against the section, so I’m putting them next, but there are so many teams vaguely in the mix and so many games left among them that I’m not going to expend too much mental effort trying to handicap this thing. We’ll try again in two weeks.

Solid job Karl! Happy New Year!

Great job Karl!

My only point of contention is with your 8-10. Based on quality wins/ties I would go with:

8. Rosemount
9. Shakopee
10. Holy Family

Great job by Karl as usual, Class A guy, and Lee on the PageStat. Much appreciated by all of us!

Brods makes a good point on 8-10

However back to the big picture.

Good for the Trojans to stay with Tonka stride for stride . That makes two teams that have taken a little bloom off the Skips rose, as Chan took them to Ot earlier. This was about as even, well played game by two top talent HS teams as ive seen in a long time, even though a few open net missed rebound shots by both. And they both played their system for 59 minutes. Tonka was a little more physical at times, and by and large got away with it except for one charge, seemed to me Coach O must have told his boys to lay off the bodies and out of the box because of Skips PP talent. Should point out that Trojans senior key Dman Jack Hartle was out injured as well, in addition to Lunksi for Tonka, so there was a little offset there.

Saw Maple Grove for the second time this season, and they got the jump early and took care of Rosemount. Total reload of homegrown big strong talented boys with recognizable family names like Giuliani, Kukkonen, Steenerson, and another 6.4 er Karkoc to replace the older Steenerson last year. Busch showed himself over over the week to be as skilled as any of the Tonka, Wayz or Chan scorers. And keep in mind Sammy Nelson couldve/shouldve been on this team , in which case they mightve been equal or better than Tonka and Wayz. ( Likely we will never see Sammy play in the high school ranks , as he almost certainly will move on to NTDP next year)

Chan held their own this week without Uhlenkamp, who will return soon we were told Friday night.

Great job by Coach Randolph and the Cadets on an impressive month of December.

Congrats also this week to AHA and Shak on some quality games against top opponents.

Our group has now seen 16' of Karls top 20 teams, working on the rest, and a half dozen below 20. A good start helped by good weather, and of course being retired is the biggest help of all.

Was a real privilege within 6 days to see Hill and the Bears skate all out to a 3-3 tie in front of 3000+- at Aldrich on the 23rd , only to be followed by Tonka and Wayzata playing all out to a 1-1 tie in front of 2000+- at PIC on the 29th . This is what Minn high school hockey is all about.

And congrats to Bill Lechner on win #600 against CP last week.

Some thoughts on top 10 that make these rankings difficult.

I think too much weight is being put on the opening weekend Thanksgiving festivals. Edina’s only strong win is game 1 against a new look MG team where Maple Grove carried the play. In turn, BSM’s only strong win was against Edina. Other than that their next strongest game was a 6-3 loss to Wayzata. Those first games count and should matter, but the games when these teams had practiced just a couple times after tryouts should quickly lose weight to more recent results.

Also, what argument could Holy Family have to be seeded ahead of Chanhassen? Common opponents:

Prior Lake - Chan won 6-1, HF won 5-1
St. Thomas - Chan won 4-0, HF tied 3-3
Eastview - Chan won 3-0, HF won 3-1 (ENG)
Maple Grove - Chan lost 2-0 (ENG), HF lost 5-3 (ENG)
Add in the Chan late OT loss to Tonka, and while it’s close, I don’t see any argument for HF to be ahead of them.

The Shakopee-HF game in February will be important for section 2 seeding. EP is the big wildcard there that will be a very tough out whoever they play. Their games against Tonka will unfortunately be all we have to gauge them in section 2.

Rosemount plays a hard game and will be tough to beat for anybody outside the top 2. But they may lack the firepower to put other teams in their range away. It won’t matter for section seedings, but the games between Rosemount and Shakopee will be helpful for ranking purposes.

One other note on Chanhassen since their full lineup was mentioned… lots of teams with injuries it seems, but they have only had their full lineup for one game this season. The one against Minnetonka.

To clarify, I think BSM and Edina are both top 10. Just pointing out the challenge in where to place them and how the early games are having a strange weight on it all.

Thanks Karl. Great job as usual.

The South Metro has always been relevant in High School hockey. But this year it is unbelievable. It looks like it's not going to change anytime soon.

ThatMNHockeyGuy62 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 31, 2023 10:46 am Some thoughts on top 10 that make these rankings difficult.

I think too much weight is being put on the opening weekend Thanksgiving festivals. Edina’s only strong win is game 1 against a new look MG team where Maple Grove carried the play. In turn, BSM’s only strong win was against Edina. Other than that their next strongest game was a 6-3 loss to Wayzata. Those first games count and should matter, but the games when these teams had practiced just a couple times after tryouts should quickly lose weight to more recent results.

Also, what argument could Holy Family have to be seeded ahead of Chanhassen? Common opponents:

Prior Lake - Chan won 6-1, HF won 5-1
St. Thomas - Chan won 4-0, HF tied 3-3
Eastview - Chan won 3-0, HF won 3-1 (ENG)
Maple Grove - Chan lost 2-0 (ENG), HF lost 5-3 (ENG)
Add in the Chan late OT loss to Tonka, and while it’s close, I don’t see any argument for HF to be ahead of them.

The Shakopee-HF game in February will be important for section 2 seeding. EP is the big wildcard there that will be a very tough out whoever they play. Their games against Tonka will unfortunately be all we have to gauge them in section 2.

Rosemount plays a hard game and will be tough to beat for anybody outside the top 2. But they may lack the firepower to put other teams in their range away. It won’t matter for section seedings, but the games between Rosemount and Shakopee will be helpful for ranking purposes.

One other note on Chanhassen since their full lineup was mentioned… lots of teams with injuries it seems, but they have only had their full lineup for one game this season. The one against Minnetonka.

You could play the “who have they beat” game with basically any team below Benilde and Edina. The only team in my opinion playing well enough to go ahead of them is Maple Grove. That being said, all three have similar resumes so then you go to the transitive property. If you were to say that Edina looks more vulnerable than we thought at the beginning of the year, I would agree. But I don’t think you can say that there are many/any teams ranked below them that deserve to be above them.

Ps - Maple Grove absolutely did not carry the play in that first game against Edina. Gotta look beyond the SOG. Edina kept them to the outside most of the night.

Brodziak Fan Club wrote: ↑Sun Dec 31, 2023 6:39 pm

ThatMNHockeyGuy62 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 31, 2023 10:46 am Some thoughts on top 10 that make these rankings difficult.

I think too much weight is being put on the opening weekend Thanksgiving festivals. Edina’s only strong win is game 1 against a new look MG team where Maple Grove carried the play. In turn, BSM’s only strong win was against Edina. Other than that their next strongest game was a 6-3 loss to Wayzata. Those first games count and should matter, but the games when these teams had practiced just a couple times after tryouts should quickly lose weight to more recent results.

Also, what argument could Holy Family have to be seeded ahead of Chanhassen? Common opponents:

Prior Lake - Chan won 6-1, HF won 5-1
St. Thomas - Chan won 4-0, HF tied 3-3
Eastview - Chan won 3-0, HF won 3-1 (ENG)
Maple Grove - Chan lost 2-0 (ENG), HF lost 5-3 (ENG)
Add in the Chan late OT loss to Tonka, and while it’s close, I don’t see any argument for HF to be ahead of them.

The Shakopee-HF game in February will be important for section 2 seeding. EP is the big wildcard there that will be a very tough out whoever they play. Their games against Tonka will unfortunately be all we have to gauge them in section 2.

Rosemount plays a hard game and will be tough to beat for anybody outside the top 2. But they may lack the firepower to put other teams in their range away. It won’t matter for section seedings, but the games between Rosemount and Shakopee will be helpful for ranking purposes.

One other note on Chanhassen since their full lineup was mentioned… lots of teams with injuries it seems, but they have only had their full lineup for one game this season. The one against Minnetonka.

You could play the “who have they beat” game with basically any team below Benilde and Edina. The only team in my opinion playing well enough to go ahead of them is Maple Grove. That being said, all three have similar resumes so then you go to the transitive property. If you were to say that Edina looks more vulnerable than we thought at the beginning of the year, I would agree. But I don’t think you can say that there are many/any teams ranked below them that deserve to be above them.

Agreed MG probably only team deserving to be at 3 now, but I guess my point was just that if you’re weighting all games equally, these are probably the right rankings. If you take out Thanksgiving weekend which was after each team had practiced just enough to count on one hand, it’s a slightly different picture.

Teams 3-10 record vs Top 15 AFTER Thanksgiving weekend:
3. BSM 2-1-1 (4-2 And, 3-2 HF, 3-3 AHA, 3-6 Way)
4. Edina 1-2 (1-3 BSM, 3-1 EP, 2-3 STA)
5. MG 3-0 (2-0 Chan, 5-2 Rose, 5-3 HF)
6. Chan 5-2 (6-1 Shak, 2-3 Tonka, 4-0 STA, 8-1 Rog, 0-2 MG, 3-1 AHA, 4-1 Hill)
7. STA 1-1-1 (0-4 Chan, 3-3 HF, 3-2 Edina)
8. HF 0-2-1 (3-3 STA, 2-3 BSM, 3-5 MG)
9. Shak 0-2-1 (1-6 Chan, 1-1 Rog, 3-4 Tonka)
10. Rose 1-1 (4-3 And, 2-5 MG)

7-10 probably stay the same, but some shakeups with 3-6 when you look at it that way. This does put a lot of weight on MG’s three games on their home Olympic sheet last week. And like I said in OP, those Thanksgiving games happened and should count, they’re just making the rankings a hard thing to match up to eye test and more recent results. End of day, rankings don’t matter, but they can make for fun discussions on “the bored.”

Ranking seems solid to me. I would have to bump Rosemount above HF. I know they took a couple losses over the holidays but still have the quality wins and a difficult schedule. Who exactly has HF beat? They have a weak schedule and lost to their only two real opponents. I would prioritize quality wins over close losses.

Truth, ThatMNHockeyGuy. It will all get sorted out on the ice! Your points are good food for thought.

Good comments here! Appreciate getting some debate.

The reasoning on HF at #8 is that they have a tie with #7 (STA) and have only lost to top 5 teams, while Rosemount has the Champlin loss. I do agree Rosemount has more good wins.

I generally think it is a little too early to start throwing out the November results...yes, they are starting to get old, but if you throw them out you're not left with a very large body of work for teams. If there is a discount being given somewhere, it's to some of those games with Chan early on, since Chan was not full strength and pretty clearly not playing up to its potential in that first weekend. So that's another reason why Rosemount (and Andover) might seem to get a little less love for what seems to be a high-quality win. Chan can't ride excuses like that forever, but they do have more losses than anyone else in the top 10.

MG is certainly hot now, but those early games did happen and I'm not ready to completely dump them. I also try not to overreact to one good week, because I've found over the years that's very easy to do. Before this past week, their best wins were over Coon Rapids and Stillwater.

Good luck with the next rankings! It'll once again be tough once you get to the 3 spot after Benilde lost to STA last night and Edina barely skipped by lowly Lakeville South. Not to mention Maple Grove dropping one to Andover!