skip navigation

Big Pumpkin Preview and Predictions

By Tony Scott, 10/30/14, 6:00PM CDT

Share

There could be a terrible Storm in Moorhead this Weekend


Wiz Wyatt Player of the Year, Brock Faber looks to lead OMG to Pumpkin glory.

The teams have been chosen, the uniforms and hoodies have been handed out and a few pre-season games have been played. Twenty four of those teams will arrive to the two rinks in Moorhead Friday for the first tournament of the year. Arguably 16 of the best PeeWee AA teams in Minnesota and 8 PeeWee A teams including seven that are the second teams in a larger association with a AA team.

YHH will be in Moorhead to cover the great event. The PeeWee AA event will  be a 16 team Bracket event with the winner having to run a four game gauntlet in three days through a very tough field. The PeeWee A tourney is an 8 team pool play event with the top two pool play teams advancing to a Final Four playdown on Sunday.

PeeWee AA


Could Ryan Mulrenin lead Wayzata on a run in Moorhead?

It has been well documented on YHH that the '14-'15 PeeWee AA season will be a very fun campaign. Several really good hockey clubs and not one real dominant team like the two previous seasons with Edina. 

Friday

First Round

Game 1: Minneapolis > Hermantown...as stated on Ten Minutes with Tony Scott, we feel the Storm has as good of a shot to haul the Pumpkin back to the City of Lakes as possible. Top end talent on both sides of the ice and a major size advantage over most teams. Don't sleep on the Hawks, they have talent of their own and likely will come in with a thing or two to prove on Friday.

Game 2: Osseo Maple Grove > Duluth East...OMG's strength is in numbers. They will throw three lines of speed and skill at Duluth East which will likely be hard to stop. The Hounds are a young team with a few standouts of their own looking to make a name for themselves. 

Game 3: Wayzata > Moorhead...the Trojans are lead by former Elk River PeeWee coach Ross Carlson. He will have them ready to go. The host Spuds will have been assembled as a team for less than 72 hours prior to their first game. Early reviews of Wayzata have been very favorable with a win over highly regarded Andover...this could be a team that threatens the big boys this weekend. Counting out the Spuds could be our first mistake in the prediction process. This group of kids have played a lot of hockey together and are probably pretty excited to show how good they can be in front of a home crowd.

Game 4: Chaska Chan > Blaine...a great first round match up of two very talented teams. Slight edge to the StormHawks. Standouts Bobby Brink and William Magnuson will be major difference makers. The Bengals have first year stars Chaz and Cruz Lucius in the lineup as well as Zach Buzick and Carsen Richels who will likely give teams fits up front all weekend.

Game 5: Edina > Elk River...Edina comes in as the two time defending state champs with only 1 loss in the last two years. They are the defending Pumpkin Champions as well. They will be loaded with talent again and are a good bet to be in the mix come Saturday and Sunday. Elk River is a big team and will likely try to use that to their advantage. If the Elks can find a way to get Austin Humphrey on the board this game could be interesting.

Game 6: Andover > St. Cloud...one of the best first round match ups of the tournament, Andover has three really strong lines and one of the best defensemen in Minnesota, Wyatt Kaiser. St. Cloud has some very top end players including Nate Warner and Ethan Cumming. Andover will outlast St. Cloud on Friday, despite a scare. Note: this game will be live streamed Friday at 7:00 on YHH.

Game 7: Rosemount > Eden Prairie...both teams could be missing top players Friday. Luke Levandowski for Rosemount and Kai Stansberry for EP. Both teams are deep up front with scoring threats Johnny Mittelstadt and Drew Holt for EP and Kyle Heffron and Keaton Kranz for Rosemount. Should be a great game, slight edge to Rosemount.

Game 8: Prior Lake > White Bear Lake...two great teams with a lot to prove from two years ago. Both showed serious promise two years ago in the '13 Squirtacular and both teams have players that have shown great improvement. Sam Emmerich is a player who will stand out for the Lakers this weekend as will Luke Ahles for the Bears...both defensemen will be keys to their team's success at the Pumpkin. Slight edge to the Lakers in a hard fought win Friday night. Note: this game will be live streamed Friday at 8:30 on YHH.

Saturday

Quarterfinals

OMG > Prior Lake...OMG is stacked with talent and great goaltending, they will be ready for Prior Lake and take over the game late and win.

Andover > Chaska Chan...in a rematch of last year's semifinal game where Andover completely outplayed CC and lost (and where YHH saw Andover score an own goal on a delayed penalty), YHH thinks the tables will be turned this time. 

Wayzata > Rosemount...our first upset pick, YHH has heard some good things about the Trojans, if they can get past Moorhead, don't be surprised if they sneak past the Irish, too.

Minneapolis > Edina...In 1970 Minneapolis Southwest beat Edina 1-0 in the state championship game to earn the City school it's only title. Saturday's Quarterfinal will likely be a low scoring affair...with the Storm coming out ahead.

Semifinals

Andover > OMG...should be an instant classic, the two teams played a preseason game and it ended in a 3-3 tie. Both teams have a lot of speed and a high compete level...look for this game to go down to the wire. Andover will sneak out the win and advance to the finals.

Minneapolis > Wayzata...Minneapolis will take down it's second juggernaut association in the same day, first Edina and then Wayzata. Their strong defensemen and wily forwards will be too much for the Trojans.

Finals

Last year in the finals, Edina was the clear cut favorite and they walked away with the Golden Pumpkin with a 4-1 win over Chaska Chanhassen. This year 1 of six teams will likely emerge. YHH says that team will be Minneapolis. Just like the '70 Southwest team, this could be a shining moment for a Minneapolis hockey team against the best the state has to offer.

PeeWee A


Mark Lund and Edina come into Moorhead as favorites.

The eight team PeeWee A field brings in seven PWA teams that have a AA team in front of them making the event unique for the players and fans. The eighth team is Pine City who is looking to make it's mark at the "A" level as their association continues to grow. The tournament is a pool play event with each team playing three games (1 on Friday and 2 on Saturday). The top two teams will advance to the Final Four played on Sunday, with the winners advancing to the Championship.

Pool A - Edina, Elk River, White Bear Lake, and Pine City

Pool B - Chaska Chan, Osseo Maple Grove, Blaine and Moorhead

Pool A: Edina and White Bear Lake look to be the favorites with the winner taking the important #1 seed into Sunday's semifinal. Don't count out Elk River or the Dragons from Pine City. Elk River kids always play hard and seem to always overachieve. Pine City will have a couple AA caliber kids that could end up in the spotlight.

Advance: Edina and White Bear Lake

Pool B: Chaska Chan and Osseo Maple Grove have the most talent on paper and will likely advance. That said, the winner of the pool will avoid Edina on Sunday morning. Blaine and Moorhead are wild card teams that likely have higher plans than the Consolation Crossover game on Sunday. Those two will have to play a perfect couple games and get good goaltending to move on.

Advance: Osseo Maple Grove and Chaska Chan

Semifinals

OMG > WBL...if these two opponents sound familiar, just take a look at the rosters and think back to every major Squirt A Championship game last year and you will find several usual suspects from both teams. White Bear has Joe Joe Montgomery, Luke Rausch, and Connor Smith. OMG has Jacob Hicks, Cade Wessman, and Calvin Kiefer. OMG should win this game, look out for Rocco Marcacinni for OMG to have a great tournament.

Edina > Chaska Chan...Edina loaded with a great combination of first year (Evan Pahos, Mark Lund and Drew Hatch) and second year (Davey Peck, Lily Delianedis, and Brett Witzke) stars will be a very tough team to beat. Chaska is coached by former Gopher Nick Gerebi. The StormHawks also have some great balance of first year and second year standouts...Braedan Sanders, Gavin Brown, and Danny Redden are sure fire first year players that will be helped by second year kids Ben Ramler and Derek Jutting. Edina is loaded...they will knock off D6 rival by a couple goals.

Finals

Edina > OMG....Two talented programs with a lot of recent success at Squirts and PeeWees will clash on Sunday. Edina is deeper and will run the table going 4-0 to win the Big Pumpkin. 


Minneapolis' Joe Miller hopes to lead the Storm to a tourney win in Moorhead.

Recent MN YHH News