Most high school Class A hockey teams will have played half of their 2013-2014 schedule by the end of December.  So how are they doing?  One thing appears certain, this year’s Class A tourney will not look like last years.  Halfway through the season, only five teams of last years tourney teams are contending and only four of the five can advance(Duluth Marshall or Hermantown, Breck, East Grand Forks, and St. Cloud Apollo).  St. Thomas Academy has moved to Class AA.  The Cadets are gone.  Rochester Lourdes has won only one game (Northfield) this year and are 1-7, Marshall is in the middle of the pack in Section 3A and lost to Luverne 6-0 earlier this season.

With Lourdes being down this year, Mankato West is the Section 1A favorite with La Crescent, St. Peter, and New Prague challenging.  Breck looks solid this year and are favorites to win Section 2A and return.  Luverne is the strong favorite in Section 3A.  St. Paul Academy, as YHH noted two weeks ago, is starting to dominate Section 4A and has become the favorite there.  Achiever Academy is one of SPA’s challangers.  In Section 5A, Chisago Lakes, Spring Lake Park, and Princeton are in a battle.  There is no Section 5A favorite.

In Section 6A, St. Cloud Cathedral is unbeaten (8-0); but will be challenged by Alexandria and St. Cloud Apollo.  Section 6A should become a 3-way battle between those teams making Section 6A’s #1 seed valuable.  Hermantown and Duluth Marshall are in a battle this year for the Section 7A title.  Only one of these two teams can return to the state tourney this year.  And they could be challenged by either Virginia (5-2-1) or Eveleth (6-1-1).  Section 8A should be the domain of East Grand Forks.  It would be a big upset, if the Green Wave were not at the Xcel in March.

With Luverne and Achiever Academy in the running in their sectionals titles, the game the two played last Saturday at the Bloomington Ice Gardens will have significance when teams are seeded in March for sectionals and for the state tourney.  Luverne has decimated their Section 3A competition to date outscoring sectional opponents 66-4 in seven games played posting a 9-0 record before yesterday’s game.  Achiever Academy has lost twice this season to St. Cloud Tech (3-2 and 2-1) and had posted a 4-2-1 record going into the Luverne game.

A Quiet Opening

The opening period was evenly played.  There were few good scoring opportunities despite 17 shots on net by both teams.  Two penalties were called, one on each team.  The first period ended in a 0-0 tie.  It was quiet dramatics played in front of a smaller crowd on BIG’s Rink 1.  Each team pressed the other at time a couple of times, but nobody could find the net.

A Major Turns the Momentum

The Aces came out of the locker room and dominated play in the opening minutes of the second period.  The kept the puck low in the Cardinals’ moving at the end boards looking for an opening.  But Academy could not get that good shot and as the period wore on, the Luverne forwards began to develop breakouts.

Five minutes into the period, Luverne scored.  The Cardinals established control inside the Aces’ zone and moved the puck low and rotated it to the left side blue line.  A forward took a high hard shot on the net and the puck was deflected downward slightly at the left faceoff circle beating Academy’s goalie Sage Broda.  Chaz Smedsrud got the goal; Connor Sanbulte got the assist.  Luverne led 1-0. 

The key play of the game started with a Luverne forward getting a 5 minute major for boarding (it was a weak call).  Luverne set their defensive box at the Cardinals blue and simply turned the puck relying on the top two to pinch the Aces attack off the puck and the defense led by Toby Sengvongxay to clear the zone.  The Aces could not mount a significant attack and failed to score.  But the penalty changed the game momentum.  The Cardinals lost their aggressive play.

Toby Sengvongxay skated a seven minute shift (just as he did many times as a peewee A for Luverne).  But it cost him.  He slowed In the third period.  The Aces outshot Luverne 10-4 in the second period.  They had a 5-0n-4 advantage for 7 minutes of the 17 minutes played in the second and couldn’t score.  Luverne led 1-0.

Another Major

The third period opened with a bang.  In the first two minutes, Luverne scored.  Jaxson Nelson picked up a loose puck along the left boards, beat the defense low in the left corner and hit Andrew Verhey breaking into the weak side area of the crease.  Verhey banged the puck into the net and Luverne led 2-0.  Nelson and Smedsrud got the assists.

Thirty seconds later, the Cardinals got their second major penalty (another weak call).  This time the Luverne defensive box on the ice was backed by Nelson and Sengvongxay.  Again the Cardinal defense proved too tough for the Aces.  Their second 5 minute power play was zeroed.  Late in the game, the Aces Cory Sprague scored to cut the Cardinal lead to 2-1 and end the scoring.  Zach Black and Garrett Martin got the assists.

What’s next?

Luverne’s brain trust must have looked past their sectionals and looked to play teams outside 4A to improve their overall ranking for next March’s Class A State Tourney seeding.  The Aces have beaten Shakopee (a Section 2AA entry) 3-2 earlier this year.  That’s a good win for the Aces and now a good win for Luverne.  They will have their chances in the Schwanz open tourney next week.  They play St. Michael/Albertville in the opener and if they win, could meet Spring Lake Park the potential 5A winner in the Schwanz semifinals.

Luverne’s defense was impressive and the play of a Minnesota Select player, Sengvongxay, a former YHH top peewee A pick, at defense was outstanding until he pulled that 7 min shift.  Jax Nelson, an eighth grader and Luverne’s second leading scorer and former YHH top 50 peewee A pick, had a good game playing center and defense (on penalty kills).   

The Aces played well yesterday, but did not show the spark that last year’s Achiever team had.  There is definitely room for improvement with the Aces.  The Aces, Cory Srague, Will Mix, and Barron Thompson all had good games.  Thompson, a former YHH top 50 pick in 2012 and a ninth grader, is in his second year playing for the Aces.  He was one of the biggest and strongest players on the ice in yesterday’s game.

The Aces head to Thief River Falls after Christmas to play in a Thief River Falls holiday tourney.  They open play against Fargo North ND next Thursday.