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September 10, 2019-South Red and Black Fall League

Note: 20 Teams will skate Red and Black this fall, 14 in the South and 6 in the new North league.  North results will be posted here in the next few days.  Red and Black games are generally played Friday, Saturday, and Sunday-but not always (this week has South games scheduled for Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday).  Look for posts as game results become available.  This post covers the South League’s games through Monday.

As Hurricane Dorian departed from the East Coast this Sunday, the 14 team Red and Black fall league open play.  Seven games were played at three rinks around the cities (Eden Prairie, South St. Paul, and Woodbury).  Last spring, in the South Red and Black League version of the league championship came down to the last shootout shot that saw the Spring Black Team loaded with Edina and Rosemount high school players beat the Spring Orange loaded with Mound/Westonka players 4-3.

Fourteen teams will compete in the 2019 South’s fall league.  The initial game results show that the league will be competitive.  Pink beat Green 7-5, Neon edged White 4-3, Purple shutout Orange 5-0, Red edged Teal 4-3, Vintage beat Grey 7-2, Royal beat Light Blue 5-3, and Black beat Yellow 7-3.  All 14 South League teams played well in their opening games.  Four opening games were settled by two or less goals and one game was a shutout.

Sunday’s opening games was the first of 18 regular season games to be played.  Regular season games will be followed by a playoff.  Unlike other leagues, Red and Black teams are organized around Minnesota High School team approach that combines players from grades 9-12 on a single team and eliminates the hard checking.  Players delivering hard checks along the boards and in center ice will be sat down or thrown out of the league.  Other teams formed this fall at this level are geared to USA rules.  They are called “before teams” that focus on grouping teams by age (U18, U16, and U14), Red and Black teams roster players who will be attending high school and groups them around the high schools they most likely will be trying out for in November.  The teams will skate a tough 18 game schedule in two months not counting playoffs with the league schedule ending just before high school tryouts start.

Each game consists of two 25 minute stop time halves.  The emphasis is on the skills and no hard checking is allowed.  Rubs are fine, but boards can result in immediate suspension from the league.  Each Red and Black Fall league team will have a roster 20 players all who will be trying out in November for their high school team.  A player shows up for a game can expect to play a regular shift.  The coaches will not sit a player.  He skates even if he has a bad game.  If a player is missing a shift, it is because the player wants to sit.  As the season wears on, playing every game can become a challenge.  The game is fast paced with three games usually played on a weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday).  But there is a reward for those who endure.  At the end of the season, they will have played 18-21 games and will carry that experience into their high school season.

Some of the teams are dominated by players who will try out for a single high school.  The league rules allow boosters to form teams and they often bring in a group of players intending to try out for the same school.  In the South Fall League, six of the 14 teams are dominated by players trying out for six high school varsities in November.

1. Royal and White Teams

Woodbury split on Sunday.  The Royal and White teams are dominated by players who will be trying out for Woodbury.  The Royal team has 19 players; the White team has 18 players.  The Royal Team beat Light Blue Sunday and the White Team lost to the Neon Team 4-3.  The Light Blue team is a combo of South Suburban Conference players and Hill Murray players.  After trailing the Light Blue 3-1 at the half, Zach Siegert (Faribault/Junior) scored a second half hat trick to lead the Royals to the 5-3 win.  Woodbury junior, Tyler Kulesa scored once and assisted Siegert on two of his goals.  Another Woodbury junior, Charles Schuyler assisted both Siegert and Kulesa on goals.  Woodbury sophomore goalie Anthony Klett got the win.  White lost to Neon in the last minutes of play.  The Woodbury teams split their opening games, winning one and losing one.  Neon players are from two schools, Eden Prairie and New Ulm, with two Prior Lake players.  The White team battled Neon to a 2-2 tie with two minutes left to play.  The White Team gave up two quick Neon goals in the last two minutes of play.  Brycen Cordts and Austin Hoscka scored first half goals for the White.  Alex Glaeser scored late to make it a 4-3 game.  Hoscka and Cordts each had an assist in the game.

The Royal play the White at 7:00 PM this Thursday at the Health East Sports Center.  

2. Teal

The Teal Team has 12 players who will be trying out for Edina’s varsity combined with Orono, Minnetonka, and Rosemount players.  In their opening game, the Teal Team lost 4-3 to the Red (a combo team of Mound/Westonka seniors, Minneapolis, Eastview, and Lakeville North players).  The Teal trailed 2-0 at the half and rallied to cut the lead to 3-2 on a Matt Akemann (Rosemount/senior) score with three minutes left in the game.  A Red goal with 30 seconds left, iced the game for the Red.  Jonah Forshier (Rosemount/senior) scored for the Teal 15 seconds later to make the final score 4-3 and an exciting finish.  Edina sophomore, Jack Sorem scored the first Teal goal.  Orono junior Gabe Lewis, Edina senior Camden Glass, and Orono senior George James each got assists for the Teal.

3. Yellow

Holy Family has 16 of its potential players skating for the Yellow Team.  They opened their season losing 7-3 to the Black Team (Prior Lake/Chaska/Shakopee).  The Yellow Team skated evenly with the Black for the first 20 minutes of the first half.  The game was tied 1-1.  Yellow gave up three goals in the last five minutes to trail 4-1 at the half.  They again played the Black even in the second half cutting Black’s lead to 4-3.  With three minutes to play, Yellow gave up three more goals to lose 7-3.  Orono junior Jake Gherardi, Holy Family sophomore Joe Schmidt, and Holy Family eighth-grader Bobby Cowan each scored for the Yellow.  Gherardi, Schmidt, and Cowan each had an assist along with Tyler Thode and Abraham Melek in the game.  Monday night, Yellow came back to beat Purple 3-1 in a game played at Orono.  All the scoring was done in the first half.  Fire sophomores Peter Van Voorhis and Tyler Thode scored for the Yellow in the first nine minutes of the game to take a 2-0 lead.  After Purple scored to cut the lead to 2-1, Orono senior Aaron Brekken scored the final goal.  The second half was scoreless.  Orono senior goalie Finn Grandy got the win. 

4. Purple

Chanhassen has 18 players skating for the Purple Team with two East Ridge and one Eden Prairie player.  The Purple Team was the only team to post a shutout on Sunday winning 5-0 in beating Orange.  The Orange Team being shutout should be rare this fall with the top two leading scorers from the Spring League season on the Orange Team.  It was not a surprise with Red and Black veteran goalie Chanhassen senior Brody Amrheim in the net.  Amrheim has led his Red and Black teams into championship games in three of the past four league playoffs.  The Purple Team took a 4-0 lead at the end of the first half getting scores from four different players (Chanhassen sophomores Ryan Nicholson, Zach Bloedorn, and Joe Gerebi, and Chanhassen ninth grader Tyler Hanson).  Ben Gerebi scored the lone second half goal assisted by Nicholson.  That was sophomore Nicholson’s second assist as he posted a 3 point game.  Ben Gerebi also posted an assist along with Tyler Davidson.  Chanhassen senior Blake Roeder had two assists in the win.  In a game that matched Holy Family players (Yellow) with Chanhassen players (Purple) played Monday night, Purple lost to Yellow 3-1.  Chanhassen senior Tyler Davidson scored the lone Purple goal unassisted. 

5. Pink

Pink has 18 players that will be trying out for the Mound/Westonka on its roster.  They beat Green 7-5 in a game that was a repeat of a scrimmage played between the two teams Saturday.  With the scoreboard off, it was more rink rat hockey, but with the game on for real Sunday, both teams skated hard going for the win.  Green is a combo team of Litchfield and Minnehaha Academy players and the game was tight.  Pink had a 3-2 lead at half behind scores by Mound/Westonka sophomores Ethan Dominy and Michael Doshan.  Green tied the game two minutes into the second only to have Dominy break the tie three minutes later putting Pink up 4-3.  After Green again tied the game 4-4, Pink scored three goals in a two minute span halfway through the second period to put the game away 7-4.  Mound/Westonka Juniors Kyle Sorrentino and Jackson Studebaker and ninth grader Max Krebsbach each scored.  Green scored the final goal with 4 minutes left to end the scoring 7-5.  Mound/Westonka junior Elijah Goetz got the win.

6. Black

Black has 14 potential Prior Lake varsity players on its roster combined with Chaska and Shakopee players.  Prior Lake sophomore Zach Schmidt scored twice; Shakopee sophomore Bruin Allen and Prior Lake junior Tucker Devos each scored once to give the Black Team a 4-1 halftime lead over Yellow in their opening game.  After the Holy Family dominated Yellow Team closed the gap to 4-3 late in the second half, Black scored three quick goals to win.  Prior Lake junior Ryan Haghighi, Prior Lake sophomore Tyson Handevidt, and Shakopee’s Bruin Allen each scored to lead the Black to a 7-3 win.  All three goals were scored in a two minute span at the end of the second half.  Chaska ninth grader, goalie Carter Wishart, got the win.

Monday, Black continued to win beating Teal 6-2.  Black took a 2-0 lead at the end of the first half on goals by Chaska junior Ben John Chalupsky and Prior Lake junior Tucker DeVos.  They built that lead to 4-0 scoring twice in the first five minutes of the second half.  Prior Lake sophomore Blake Dicke and Chaska junior Garrett Pritchard each scored.  Teal rallied scoring twice in one minute.  With nine minutes to play, Black led 4-2.  Prior Lake senior defenseman Ethan Drew and sophomore Tanner Lykken scored in the final minutes to end the scoring 6-2.  Shakopee junior goalie Soren Pederson got the win.   

7. Green

The Green Team will skate 10 Minnehaha Academy players and 9 Litchfield/Dassel/Cokato players this fall.  Minnehaha’s Connor Nelson scored twice in the opening half In their 7-5 loss to Pink.  Trailing 3-2, Logan Benson scored to tie the game 3-3.  Nelson got his hat trick scoring eight minutes into the second half to tie the game 4-4.  Litchfield’s Gavyn Lund scored the final goal of the game to end the scoring in the 7-5 loss to Pink.

Monday night, the Green lost their second game of the season, 7-6 to Red.  Green managed only one goal in the opening half and trailed 5-1 going into the second half.  Rutger Hoekstra scored the first half goal.  They rallied in the second half cutting the lead to 6-5 with 10 minutes to play behind two goals scored by LDC sophomore Zach Zwilling.  LDC sophomore Gavyn Lund and Minnehaha junior AJ Beugen each scored once.  Gavyn (Zach?) Hanson scored with 90 seconds left to play, but Green could not get the tiebreaker.  Green lost 7-6.  Zwilling added an assist to post 3 points in the game.  Lund got an assist.  LDC senior Mason Schroeder, LDC sophomore Jack Hillmann, Minnehaha junior Robert Provost, Minnehaha junior Connor Nelson, and Orono sophomore Jack Lewin all posted assists.  

The Green Team skates most juniors who have had varsity experience and looks to be strong as the season progresses.  The L/D/C line of senior Mason Schroeder, sophomore Gavyn Lund, and sophomore Logan Benson powered the Orange Team into the semifinals last spring scoring 81 points/39 goals in 18 games.  AJ Beugen and Connor Nelson powered an all Minnehaha line on the same Orange Team.  Beugen and Nelson were among the Spring League scorers posting collectively 77 points/43 goals.  With experienced defense led by goaltending (LDC junior Darby Halonen and Minnehaha senior William Oconnell) and a defensive corps led by three Minnehaha juniors (Robert Provost, Leo Kloos, and Nick Coryell), the Green Team will be tough once they get settled.

8. Neon

The Neon team has 12 Eden Prairie, 8 New Ulm players, and two Prior Lake players rostered.  Neon broke a 2-2 tie with under three minutes to play in their opening 4-3 win Sunday at Wakota.  The White team is heavily dominated by Woodbury players and it was a tight game played well by both teams considering it was an opener.  Neon’s Jacob Casey (Eden Prairie/junior) scored the only first half goal for the team.  They trailed 2-1 at the half.  New Ulm junior Jace Addy scored the tying goal two minutes into the second half, but it took 20 minutes of play before Eden Prairie junior Tyler Marble scored the tie breaker and Adder scored the game winner.  New Ulm’s junior goalie Joe Gag was in the nets for the win for Neon.  Gag was instrumental in the Royal Team (consisting mostly of Mound/Westonka players) making the championship game in the past Spring League.

9. Grey     

The Grey Team has players from the South Suburban conference (Burnsville, Lakeville North, and Eastview) combined with 4 Minnetonka players and players from the Metro East and West conferences on their roster.  The Grey lost their opener 7-2 to the Vintage that is a combo of New Prague, Gentry Academy, and Holy Angels players.  Burnsville senior Dylan Reed scored the lone Grey goal in the first half.  Grey trailed 3-1 at the half.  Cretin sophomore Colin Benick scored the Grey’s lone goal in the second half.

10. Red

The Red Team edged Teal 4-3 in Sunday’s game and Monday beat Green 7-6 in a game with a wild finish.  They are tied with Black at 2-0 going into the Week 2 games mostly played Saturday and Sunday.  The Red has 8 Minneapolis players combined with 5 Eastview and 5 Mound/Westonka players.  Red took a 3-0 lead over Teal on goals by Mound/Westonka senior Cooper Curti and Eastview sophomores Andrew Wagner and Tyler Gross.  Teal rallied to cut Red’s lead to 3-2 with three minutes left in the game.  Mound/Westonka senior Trey Madsen scored the winner putting Red up 4-2 with less than a minute to play.  The game ended 4-3 with Madsen posting 3 points.  Minneapolis junior Max Smith, Mound/Westonka senior Blake Harmer, and Minneapolis junior Jack Stock got assists in the opening win.  Red goalie Carter Jensen (Eastview junior) got the win over Teal.

Against Green in Monday’s game, the Red Team took a 5-1 lead at the half and hung on to win 7-6.  The game’s outcome was uncertain until Trey Madsen scored the game winner with seven minutes left to play.  That game winning goal completed the hat trick for Madsen and put Red up 7-5.  Lakeville North junior Jack Sellman, Eastview sophomore Joe Sigel, and White Hawk seniors Blake Harmer and Jacob Gutekunst each scored for the Red in the win.  Harmer, Gutekunst, and Sellman added an assist.  Minneapolis junior Jack Stock posted two assists in the game.  Lakeville North sophomore defenseman Gavin Moorhead, Eastview sophomore Tyler Gross, and Mound/Westonka senior Cooper Curti each had an assist.  Red goalie Dominic Cook (Edina junior) got the win.

11. Orange

Orange has 8 Benilde St. Margaret’s and 7 St. Louis Park players.  They are a Red Knight leaning team that has 4 Wayzata players added for spice.  Orange lost their opener to Purple 5-0 running into a good goaltender.  They should get stronger as the season progresses.

The Orange Team has the top two leading scorers from the Spring League returning to play in Benilde St. Margaret’s seniors Axel Toft and Toby Curtiss.  They will be joined by BSM junior forwards Asher Connelly, Johnny Schieffert, Matt Kroll, and Michael Paulson and defenseman Gordy Johnson.  Sophomore Ryan Sever is the eighth Red Knight on the team.  Toft, Curtiss, Kroll, Johnson, and Paulson led the St. Louis Park Junior A Gold team to the Junior Gold A state tourney semifinals last season before losing to Minnetonka.

Wayzata has three forwards skating for the Orange, senior Mason Olson and juniors Max Breon and Mason Moore.  Breon saw action with the Skippers varsity team last season.  St. Louis Park’s junior defenseman Austin Amelse returns to play Red and Black, but without Lucas Hands.  He will likely skate the fall league at forward.  SLP Sophomore Juan Russy will join him at forward. 

Junior defensemen Cam Donahue and Fynn Hammer both saw varsity action for SLP last season and join Amelse on the Orange team along with sophomores Michael Hoikka and Jacob Favour and freshman Mason Amelse.  The Orange Team defensive corps will be dominated by St. Louis Park players who will be competing for slots at the varsity level.  Two junior goalies will be in the nets for the Orange, Wayzata’s Calvin Mathe and Armstrong’s George Peterson.

12. Light Blue   

The Light Blue team has 6 Eagan players, 4 Hill Murray players, 4 Hastings players, and 4 Park players rostered.  They lost to one of the Woodbury dominated teams, the Royal Team, in their opener 5-3.  The Light Blues took a 3-1 at the end of the first half of that game on scores by Hastings junior Kyle Bauer, Park (of Cottage Grove) junior Alex Folsom, and Hastings sophomore Jordan Costello.  Redwood Valley’s Jordan Gibbs and Park (of Cottage Grove) Josh Brown got assists in the season opener.  The Light Blue could not hold the lead.  Royal tied the game early in the second half and scored twice late to win the game 5-3.

13. Vintage

The Vintage Team combines 6 Holy Angels players with three Gentry Academy players and four New Prague players.  They beat the Grey Team 7-2 in their opener taking a 3-1 lead at the half.  Gentry Academy sophomore Noah Heiderscheid, Holy Angels junior Jonah Slater, and Holy Angels sophomore Ricky Nelson each scored in the opening half.  Holy Angels junior Jackson Biltz scored a hat trick in the second half of play with Heiderscheid getting the seventh Vintage score.  Nelson assisted on each of Biltz’s three scores and finished with a four point game.  Heiderscheid had an assist to go with his two goals and finished with three points.  Lakeville South sophomore Mason Johnson, Gentry Academy junior Daniel Yusupoff, and John Meskan each had an assist.

14. South League Summary

The fourteen team 2019 South Fall League will roster 300 players including 28 goalies.  They will all be trying out for 55 high school varsity teams in November, 30 Class AA teams and 20 Class A teams.  Players skating in the Fall league will be trying out for 8 South Suburban Conference varsities, 4 Lake Conference varsities, 4 Metro East varsities, 5 Metro West varsities, 5 Suburban East Conference varsities, 5 Wright County varsities, 3 Big South Conference varsities, 2 Big Nine Conference varsities, 2 Independent Metro Athletic Conference varsities, and 2 Mississippi 8 Conference varsities.

15. Looking ahead

It should be a tough Fall league.  The 14 teams are balanced.  The best teams in the past two years have come from a combo of talent, endurance (who is skating competitively at the end of the season), and goal tending.  But in the end, it takes the right mix of players that start to move the puck and trigger others on their team to do the same.  Last fall, the Black won with senior talent at the forwards (Rosemount seniors) and young talent at the defense (Edina Bantam AA) and good goaltending.  Dominic Cook was in the net and he returns for the Red Team this fall and could be the reason the Red wins the title.  He was in the nets when Black won the Spring playoffs.  They beat an Orange Team in the spring, loaded with younger players, but led by Southwest Christian’s top varsity line.  The SWC varsity’s, passing skills, absorbed by the younger players was key to the Spring Orange Team’s good play.    

So who will be the best this fall, just looking at the rosters on paper?  The Orange Team has the top two leading scorers from the Spring League in Benilde St. Margaret’s seniors Axel Toft and Toby Curtiss but they lost their opener.  Green looks tough with solid forwards in top varsity players from Litchfield/Dassel/Cokato and Minnehaha Academy, but they lost twice already to a young Pink team of Mound/Westonka underclassmen in their opener and to a veteran Red Team.  Red maybe one of the top teams this fall.  They have what looks to be a good combo of three high schools (Mound/Westonka, Minneapolis, and Eastview).  The Yellow Team loaded with Holy Family players, the Purple Team loaded with Chanhassen talent, and the Royal and White teams loaded with Woodbury players are all tough.  It should be another season of high school hockey this fall.      

Capstone Tourney-a confluence of hockey talents August 8,2019

1.What is a Capstone Tourney?

A player’s youth hockey development ends when he turns 21.  After 21, a player competes with all hockey players over that age.  Junior hockey is set up to allow players to transition from U18 teams and high school programs to ultimately playing pro or college hockey.  It is a players last step in his development giving him three years from 17-21, to find a place playing hockey after he turns 21.  But each player has to find a spot in junior hockey to play and that is what the Capstone Tourney does.  The Capstone Tourney is aimed at those potential junior players.

Last weekend in Edina MN, the 2019 Capstone Tourney was played by 20 teams and 400 players from all over the US and Canada..  For most of the players, they were looking for an opportunity to find a place in Junior A hockey.  For those lucky enough to play on one of 20 teams entered, they were tested against a myriad of talented players.  The Capstone is a “confluence” of players and coaches that brings together potential junior A players from all over the US and Canada who have developed under many different programs.  Out of that comes opportunity for those qualified, to skate Junior A.

Last Sunday morning at Edina’s Braemar Arena, 18 of the 20 teams entered in the 2019 Capstone Tourney played their fourth and final games of the tourney.  Two teams played a fifth championship game at the end of the day’s schedule.  For many of the players and coaches Sunday’s realism was replacing Friday’s opening tourney day optimism.  In the three days, players from all different programs were judged twice, once by coaches evaluating them and once by scouts in the stands.  Players may not have made the team they came with, but often get invites from other junior teams.  All want to play beyond high school.  That meant for most playing junior hockey.  To get to that next level, one had to be asked.  The Capstone sets the stage for the asking.

2. Tourney Sunday Games-August 4, 2019

Fifteen minutes before the championship game, the Rochester Vipers and Warriors White played for tenth place in the Capstone on Braemar’s South Rink.  The Warriors White beat the Vipers 5-1.  The Vipers tourney team consisted of younger players mostly high schoolers from Southeastern Minnesota. The Warriors White skated an older team drawn from players throughout the US and Canada.  There was no significance to the win or loss in the tenth place game, participation was the real issue.  The Braemar parking lot, full of out-of-state license plates, demonstrated that.  Most were there for the love of the game.

The championship game matched the Minnesota Magicians against the Hawkeyes.  It matched a team of potential Junor A players still skating high school against a team anchored by six older players who had skated in the North American Hockey League (Junior A-Tier 2).  Those six combined with their contingent of potential Junior A players proved to be the toughest team in the tourney.  Like the Warriors White, most of the Hawkeyes played for teams from Alaska to Florida. Like the Vipers, most of the Magicians were Minnesota players who skated for high schools throughout Minnesota last season.

The players at the Capstone come from a hundred different feeder streams, from USA hockey developed programs, from Minnesota Hockey developed programs, from High School hockey teams developed by high school coaches.  After Sunday’s games, most will return to a team or move on up for the upcoming season.  For the USA junior teams, that season starts in four short weeks.  For most of the players, the dream will go on, but for some others it will end.  The mix of skill levels, teams, and coaching drives a hard reality to player aspirations; the confluence of all skill levels tests both players and coaches harshly.  The Capstone Tourney is new to hockey in Minnesota.  It is in its second year, but it has the potential to become an important tourney for talented hockey players and coaches by being a "mega" camp for Junior A hockey.  

3. Who won the tourney?

The Hawkeyes won the championship beating the Magicians 4-2.  One could see that the Magicians were more organized as a team, but skated younger players born in 2001-2002.  The Hawkeyes skated older players born in 1999-2000.  Both teams had won their semifinal games Sunday morning.  The Hawkeyes beat the North Iowa Green 11-3 and the Magicians beat Heimel Sports Navy (Montana team loaded with Providence College hockey players) 4-1.

The first period of Championship play was wide open, end to end, hockey that pressured the goaltenders.  It ended in a 0-0 tie.  Ten minutes into the second period, the Magicians went on the power play.  Unfortunately, that resulted in the Hawkeyes’ Luke Mobley scoring a shorthanded goal putting the Hawks up 1-0.  Two minutes later, Magician defenseman, Tommy Broten, tied the game 1-1.  It remained a tie game 1-1 going into the final period.  Both teams were tiring as the third period opened.  It was a fifth game in three days for both.  Still, the pace picked up.  Half way through the third, the Hawkeyes’ Lucas Erickson scored putting the Hawks up 2-1.  After the Magicians had tied the game 2-2, Erickson scored again.  Erickson’s second goal proved to be the game winner.  It came with four minutes left on the clock.  The Hawks added an empty netter in the final minute of play to win the Capstone Championship game 4-2.  The pace and playing five games in three days, slowed the Magicians team.

Hawkeye players Jonathan Sorenson, Lucas Mobley, and Lucas Erickson skated for the Fairbanks Ice Dogs in the NAHL last season.  Both skated for St. Louis Park high school two years ago.  Last season Sorenson led the Ice Dogs in scoring posting 56 points/17 goals in 60 games; Mobley was second posting 47 points/19 goals in 59 games; and Erickson posted 12 points/2 goals in 40 games.  Sorenson and Mobley have committed to play DI.  Sorenson has committed to Minnesota and Mobley to Clarkson.  The Ice Dogs finished second in the NAHL playoffs last season.

The Magician team skated high schoolers.  Shane Donovan had a good tourney.  He returns for his fourth season with the Northern Lights High School season if he doesn’t play juniors.  In three seasons with the Northern Lights varsity, Donovan has skated 74 regular season games posting 79 points/ 42 goals.  Tommy Broten scored one of the Magician goals.  He graduated from Mahtomedi last season skating for the Zephyrs state tourney team that placed third.  Mackie Zabinski skated center for the Magicians and has shown improvement over last season skating for Holy Angels.  If Zabinski returns to the Stars for his senior year, he and returning senior Owen Neuharth will likely drive the Holy Angel offense loaded with sophomores.  Neuhart is a product of Prior Lake Association hockey; Zabinski skated for the Minneapolis Association.  Two Blake High seniors to be, Will Svenddal and Gavin Best, skated for the Magicians.  Blake is a pre-season favorite to make the Minnesota State High School Class AA tourney next March.

4. The payoff

The players and teams at the junior level come together in a test that is a precursor to next season.  The junior teams have three short weeks to finalize their rosters.  The Capstone helps in the sorting process.  The teams benefit from the  confluence of talent. But instead of the flow of players broadening like the Mississippi, after Sunday it narrows and flows more rapidly for those who move up with the sport.

The teams playing in the championship and tenth place game had parents and supporters oohing and awing as they played Sunday’s games.  The players and their supporters may not realize it, but they were scouted-some twice with trying out for the team they skated for and by scouts in the stands. The kids tried out twice during the tourney once for coach that brought him there and once for the scouts in the stands. They also came away knowing their own skill level. That is important for it sets the direction each player must go to improve if they are to move to the next level if they listen.

The tourney organizer, Joe Dibble, knows that.  Like most, he is involved with hockey because he loves the sport. Dibble is the General Manager for the Janesville Jets. He organizes the Capstone around coaches from different levels of potential Junior A and college teams.  Dibble leaves it for coach to work their magic. Some use the Capstone as their main final camp. Some coaches use the tourney as a recruiting tool up build their programs, others use it to evaluate their players before starting the finalizing of their rosters September 1st.

Dibble looks at the tourney as a means to get the kids to achieve and understand the sport at the next level. When a player moves up and Dibble sees the young man realize their own limitations, improve, and excel, that makes him happy-especially when he meets them 10 years later.  Dibble leaves it to the coaches to put the confluence of players together.  The coaches, with help of their organizers and supporters, provide the feeders for the tourney.  For most, it is not a money maker.  It takes hard work.

Not all organizers and coaches are there to see the benefits of their hard work.  Two of the hardest workers are Brian and Patty Hanson.  They organize and run the Red and Black league.  This fall’s league is coming together in the south with players from numerous high school varsity programs combined with bantam players from Minnesota Hockey Associations getting their first experience playing high school hockey.  Brian is spending this summer setting up a 14 team Red and Black Fall South league that will involve players from Holy Family, Mound/Westonka, Woodbury, New Ulm, Litchfield, Prior Lake, Gentry Academy, Holy Angels, Lakeville North and South, Eastview, Minnehaha Academy, and more.  The Fall League usually includes around 80 players from MN Association Hockey getting their first high school hockey experience.  The league mixes bantams with returning varsity and JV creating their own confluence of hockey talent.  There is no benching of players, you show up you play every shift.  It is a person challenge to each player including the newly baptized.  But the reward is great from just getting the opportunity to play games.  More than two dozen (YHH count) Red and Black Alumi skated in the tourney.

5. Notes:

1. Junior A at the Capstone: Eleven Junior A teams were represented on the ice.  North Iowa, Dell Ducks, MN Magicians, Steel County Blades, Rochester Grizzlies, Wisconsin Whalers, Minnesota Moose, Minnesota Mullets, Hudson Havoc, Fairbanks Ice Dogs, and the Coolee Region Chill all had players skating.  University of Providence (Great Falls MT) had players participating.

2. NHL draft rules can be a factor: The NHL may seem a reach for many players, but the eligibly rule for the entry level draft has an impact on junior hockey.  Players who will be seniors and will be 18 after September 15th this year will not be eligible for the 2020 NHL entry draft next June.  They will become eligible for the 2021 draft.  After skating this season, those players will have a “free” season 2020-2021 to prove themselves.  If you are a senior in high school this season and will be 18 before September 15th, you will be draft eligible in 2020 and your performance this season guides any decisions.

3. Red and Black Alums: Red and Black players Max Peichel/Edina, Michael Nelson/Edina, Zack Simon/Orono, Austin McNeil/Shakopee, and Noah Williams/Apple Valley skated on the North Iowa Bulls teams.  All have skated a 65-70 game schedule last season (40-45 in Red and Black and 25-30 in Minnesota High School).

4. North Iowa: North Iowa showcased talent at the Capstone.  They used the Capstone as a final camp to set up their roster for the 2019-2020 season.  The North Iowa Red team placed fifth in the 20 team tourney, the North Iowa Green made the semifinals.  North Iowa is one of the premier Tier 3 Junior A programs in the Upper Midwest.

5. Orono’s Zach Simon: Orono senior Zack Simon skated for the North Iowa Red team and had a good tourney.  Simon was Orono’s leading scorer last season. 

6. Owatonna /New Prague: The Champion Hawkeye team had Landon Peterson at defense and Aiden Dorzinski at forward.  Both will be juniors this fall at New Prague.  The Hawkeyes also had two Owatonna forwards skating, Dominic Valento and Casey Johnson.  Both will be juniors next fall on the Owatonna varsity.  Valento led Owatonna in scoring posting 36 points/19 goals; Johnson was second with 24 points/12 goals.

7. Red and Black League players: Twenty four players from the Red and Black League skated in the Capstone.  Don’t tell Brian, but Patty is the real power behind the league-she likes flowers.

8. AC Wings to Chill?: Five AC Wings players skated for the Coulee Region Chill including three Campions (Joe, Jack, and Teddy?).   Joe and Jack will be seniors on the AC Wings next season if they return.  Jack posted 30 points 12 goals for AC varsity last winter and 41 points/26 goals in the Red and Black 2018 Fall League.  The AC Wings will be moving to  MSHSL Section 2A hockey this season.

9. The Carls move to Centennial: Tommy and AJ Carls skated for the Magicians in the Capstone.  They are moving to Centennial from Coon Rapids this year.


The Hawkeyes celebrate winning the 2019 Capstone Tourney

MONDAY April 29, 2019 Red and Black 2019 Spring League Breakdown

The 12 teams playing in the Red and Black Spring are two weeks into their season.  The Spring League is designed to fit with Minnesota High School hockey programs filling in the gap from end of the regular season in March to the start of the high school hockey’s Summer Training Programs (STPs).  Each high school under MSHSL league rules can run a two month (June/July) summer program for players in grades 9-12 who intend to try out for high school in the fall.  The Spring League runs April/May and provides the same players grades 9-12 an opportunity to play at a Minnesota high school level.  The Spring league is often the first introduction for players who are moving from association hockey to high school.

2019 Spring League Overview

There are 12 teams in the 2019 Red and Black Spring League.  After a week of getting together as a team, league play starts with an 18 game, six weekend schedule with each team playing three games a weekend.  The games are tough consisting of two 25 minute stop time halves with a short break between halves (done at the request of the players).  Once a player tries out and makes the league, he has a spot on the roster and will skate regardless of his play.  No hard checking is allowed, players get kicked out for a hard check especially along the boards.  This post introduces the players on each team, reviews their first two weekends of play, and has a team roster for each of the 12 teams.  Fans can match the player on the ice by number using the rosters posted here.

The 12 teams are listed in order of finish after the first two weekends of play.  The league organizers have come up again with a balance Spring League.  After the first two weeks of play, there is no unbeaten team and each of the 12 teams have won at least one game.  There is an eight team playoff (Tier 1) and a four team playoff (Tier 2) at the end of the season.  The top 8 teams will play in the Tier 1 playoff, the bottom four in the Tier 2 playoff.  The Orange Team looks to be the best and the strongest candidate to make the Tier 1 playoff (top 8 teams in the league).  After two weeks of play, no team is out of the Tier 1 playoff.

There are 279 players rostered on 12 teams for the 2019 Spring League.  They will be trying out for 64 high school programs.  Both Class AA and Class A high schools have potential players in the league.  The Orange Team has the most number of high schools (11), the Grey team has the least with three different high schools (Prior Lake, Shakopee, and Providence Academy).

This spring, of the 279 players skating, 162 will be juniors next fall with most of those players having skated on junior varsity last season.  Of the 279, 15 players are skating who will be graduating this June.  They will be showcased in later posts.   There are 74 players skating this spring who will likely be seniors on their high school varsity next fall and there are 73 players skating who will be sophomores next fall.  Most of the 73 are moving from association hockey to high school hockey.  Not to be overlooked are a number of players who skated junior gold last season.

1. Orange Team:  The Orange Team on paper looks to be a mix bag of players from 11 different programs (Litchfield, Jefferson, STMA, Orono, St. Agnes, Armstrong, Minnehaha Academy, Apple Valley, Mound/Westonka, Minnetonka, and Eagan).  But it is not a group of players unfamiliar with each other and after two weekends of play has turned out to be a strong team.  With six players from Litchfield augmented by four seniors from other high school programs who will graduate this year, and Minnehaha Academy’s top varsity line last year (look for the red helmets), the Orange Team swept the opposition winning 5 of their first 6 games easily.

The Litchfield players are likely be the core of the Dragons varsity next season led by returning goalie Darby Halonen.  Halonen will be a junior next year and has already amassed impressive totals.  He has played in 55 regular season, section tourney, and state tourney games as a sophomore/freshman posting 2711 minutes in the nets.  In the last two seasons, Halonen has amassed a 27-22-3 record, held his opponents to 2.5 goals a game, and stopped 90% of the shots on net.  His play in the 3A sectional tourney two years ago carried the Dragons to the State Tourney.  This past year, he lost in the Section 3A Tourney Semifinals in a 2-1 goalie dual with another alumni of the Red Black League, New Ulm’s Jack Raymond.

Halonen is joined on the Orange Team by Mason Schroeder who will be a senior next season, Litchfield players, Tristen Pieti and Logan Benson, who will be juniors next season and by two Litchfield players who will be sophomores (Keyton Johnson and Gavyn Lund).  The Litchfield varsity will graduate seven players this spring.  Three were in their top 6 scorers this past season were Benson and Schroeder.  In the first weeks of the season, Lund has been skating wing with Benson and Schroeder.  That line has been a surprise.  Their play combined with the experienced graduating seniors, the Minnehaha line, and experience on the fourth line gives the Orange Team offensive depth.

The Orange Team skates four seniors (Noah Williams/Apple Valley, Carter Hansen, Zach Simmons and Britt Courneya/Mound-Westonka).  These four have skated together before.  Hansen led the Mound/Westonka varsity in scoring last season posting 25 points/8 goals in 26 games played.  Courneya was not far behind with 21 points/9 goals.  Simmons skated varsity last season.  Williams swung between varsity and jv at Apple Valley.

The Orange Team has five Minnehaha Academy varsity players on the team.  AJ Beugen led the Redhawks in scoring posting 18 points/8 goals; Connor Nelson was the #2 scorer with 17 points/8 goals, Rutger Hoekstra and Leo Kloos skated on the second and third lines most of the varsity season.  All will be juniors next fall.  Redhawk Henry Deinema, who will be a senior next season and is the fifth varsity player from the Redhawks.  These five will be the core of the Redhawks’ offense next season.  After struggling last season (3-22-1) Minnehaha Academy should be better this season.  They split with Gentry Academy (the Stars went with their own varsity program) last season and that slowed the program.  With the return of these five, the Academy should have a better shot at the Section 4A title next year.   Their principle competition should be Mahtomedi and Gentry Academy (re-alignment has moved Totino Grace out of Section 4A to Section 5AA).

The depth of the Orange Team offense shows when you have three players who can swing between forward and defense; George James/Orono, Griffin Lennes/St. Paul Academy, and Will Korfhage/Eagan are players who can skate offense and defense.  James will be a senior at Orono next season, Lennes will a junior at St. Paul Academy, and Korfhage will be a sophomore at Eagan.  Forward Hillary Makori will be a senior at Jefferson next season.  Minnetonka’s Max Herrnberger skated in the Skipper Association’s bantam program last fall.

The Orange defense will need those swing players.  The team is thin on defense.  They have quality but not quantity.  Carter Hansen and Martin Olson/Jefferson return.  Hansen captained the Mound/Westonka varsity last season; Olson will captain the Jefferson varsity this season.  Both anchored the Orange defense last season and were instrumental in the Orange making the Fall league championship game.  Armstrong’s Ryan Anderson fills out the defensive corps.  He will be a junior next season and swung between varsity and jv last season.  Armstrong goalie George Peterson will share the net with Halonen.  Peterson will be a junior next year.

Through the first two weeks of play, the Orange Team has posted a 5-1-0 record and is in first place.  They swept their first five games out scoring their opponents 39-12 before tumbling to the second place Royal team 9-4.  The Redhawks Connor Nelson scored the hat trick in the 8-7 win to open their Spring season.  Redhawk teammate Ruger Hoekstra scored.  Litchsfield’s Schroeder and Keyton Johnson each scored; Mound/Westonka defenseman, Carter Hansen, and Zach Simmons  each scored.  Nelson posted a four point game; Hansen had three points scoring the game winner late in the second half of play.

Eight players scored in the Orange’s second win 9-1.  Nelson scored twice.  Nelson scored twice with Lund, Williams, Simmons each getting one goal in the 5-0 win over Pink.  Halonen got the shutout.  The Litchfield line of Lund, Schroeder, and Benson went wild in the Orange 10-2 win over Green.  They scored six goals with Schroeder getting the hat trick.  The line posted 12 points in the game.  Hansen continued his steady defensive play scoring twice, Orono’s James and Jefferson’s Makori each posted a three point game.  James scored once.  Six players (Tristen Pieti, Williams, Lennes, Nelson, AJ Beugen, and Makori) scored in the Orange 7-2 win over White.  Easter Sunday, the Royal Team handed the Orange their first defeat of the season 9-4.

Orange Team Roster (Spring 2019)

Nate Cheney 3 STMA  10
George James 4 Orono HS 11
Keyton Johnson 5 Litchfield HS 9
Gavyn Lund 6 Litchfield HS 9
Griffin Lennes 7 St. Agnes HS 10
Ryan Anderson 8 Armstrong HS 10
Connor Nelson 9 Minnehaha Academy HS 10
Logan Benson 10 Litchfield HS 10
Noah Williams 11 Apple Valley HS 12
Zach Simmons 12 Mound HS 12
Britt Courneya 14 Mound HS 12
Rutger Hoekstra 15 Minnehaha Academy HS 10
AJ Beugen 16 Minnehaha Academy HS 10
Tristen Pieti 17 Litchfield HS 10
Hillary Makori 18 Jefferson HS  11
Henry Deinema 19 DeLaSalle HS 11
Mason Schroeder 20 Litchfield HS 11
George Peterson 33 Armstrong HS 10
Leo Kloos 91 Minnehaha Academy HS 10
Max Herrnberger 92 Minnetonka HS 9
Will Korfhage 93 Eagan HS 9
Carter Hansen 3 Mound HS 12

2. Royal Team: The Royal Team consists of 18 players who skate in the Mound/Westonka program, 4 SW Christian varsity players, one Holy Family player, and one New Ulm player, goalie Joe Gag.  Six of the White Hawks will be seniors next fall (goalie Darby Miller, Michael Schroeder, Cooper Curti, Alex Flemal, Jake Gutekunst, and Trey Madsen); eight will be Juniors (Ashton Breyer, Aidan Mjelstad, Jackson Studebaker, Louie Timberg, Ivan Sunder, Trent Bowe, Tyler Thompson, and Ethan Wagner); and four will be sophomores (Joel Howarth, Cooper Kantola, Ethan Dominy, and Alec Hruby).  Miller is off to great start this spring in the Royals’ net.  Most of the 18 White Hawks skated between varsity and jv last season and will likely form the bulk of the Mound/Westonka varsity next season.

There are four SW Christian players who will be skating for the Royals this Spring (Jeremiah Konkel, Jackson Olimb, and Ryan Odefey).  Konkel will be a senior this fall and last season led the SWC in scoring posting 50 points/16 goals in 23 games.  Olimb and Odefey were tied for the #4 scorer spot on the SWC varsity.  Each posted 25 points.  Olimb had six goals and Odefey had 13 goals.  Olimb and Odefey will be juniors on a team that graduated only three players last year.  That SWC varsity went 16-7-0 on the season and lost to the Section 2A champions Delano.

This is Abraham Melek’s second summer in the Red and Black League.  He skated in the Fall league and played Shakopee bantam AA last season.

The Royal Team is in second place after the first two weekends of play with a 4-1-1 record.  They opened the season with a 6-2 win over Red.  The SW Christian line of Odefey, Olimb, and Konkel each scored a goal; White Hawks’ Ethan Dominy, Ivan Sunder, and Michael Schroeder scored for the Royals.  After losing 6-5 to White in their second game of the opening weekend, the Royals beat Light Blue 3-0 with the two SW Christian players, Odefey and Konkel, each scoring.  MWT’s Trey Madsen scored the third goal.  The Royals tied Neon 5-5 in their first game of the second weekend with MWT’s Ivan Sunder scoring twice and Odefey, Konkel, and Olimb each scoring a goal.  They beat Pink 8-2 with Konkel, Olimb, and Odefey each scoring a goal; MWT’s Alex Flemal and Trey Madsen each scored twice, and Jacob Gutekunst scored once.  On Easter Sunday, the Royal’s upset Orange winning 9-4.  Olimb scored twice and Odefey once in the win; MWT’s Trent Bowe scored twice with Sunder, Alec Hruby, Flemal, Simmons, and Dominy each scoring once.

Royal Team Roster (Spring 2019)

Darby Miller

1

Mound HS

11

Ashton Breyer

2

Mound HS

10

Joel Howarth

3

Mound HS

9

Aidan Mjelstad

4

Mound HS

10

Jackson Studebaker

5

Mound HS

10

Louie Timberg

6

Mound HS

10

Cooper Kantola

7

Mound HS

9

Jackson Olimb

8

SW Christian

10

Ivan Sunder

9

Mound HS

10

Micheal Schroeder

10

Mound HS

11

Ryan Odefey

11

SW Christian

10

Trent Bowe

12

Mound HS

10

Cooper Curti

14

Mound HS

11

Tyler Thompson

15

Mound HS

10

Alex Flemal

16

Mound HS

11

Trey Madsen

17

Mound HS

11

Ethan Dominy

18

Mound HS

9

Jacob Gutekunst

19

Mound HS

11

Alec Hruby

25

Mound HS

9

Joe Gag

33

New Ulm HS

10

Jeremiah Konkel

91

SW Christian

11

Ethan Wagner

92

Mound HS

10

Abraham Melek

93

Holy Family

9

 

3. Yellow Team: Ten Eagan players are skating for Yellow this spring along with six Henry Sibley players, five Hastings players, one Eastview player and one White Bear Lake player.  Eagan goalie Graeme Edmund returns.  Edmund skated Red and Black last season and skated for the Eagan Varsity as a sophomore.  Joining him in the Yellow nets will be Eagan teammate Victor Henk.  Ben Wilary returns with Edmund and will likely be playing for the Wildcats’ defense with four of the top six Wildcats’ defenders graduating.  Wilary will be a senior next fall.  Cody Rehder, another Eagan defender last season, is on the Yellow Team.  Rehder will be a junior.  Nicholas Boor, goalie Victor Henk, Sam Anderson, and Joshua Alexander skated for the Eagan varsity/jv.  Boor, Henk, and Anderson will be juniors and Alexander a senior this fall.  Edmund, Wilary, Rehder, Boor, and Alexander all skated for the Yellow last fall.  Aidan White skated two seasons ago (2017-2018) for the Eagan jv.  Rowan Phillips skated in the Eagan Association’s bantam program last year.

The Yellow Team has three Henry Sibley players who will be graduating this June.  The trio (Owen Stotts, Jack Greeley, and Mikhail Greeley) skated varsity for Sibley last winter.  Defenseman Jack Greeley was Sibley’s #2 scorer (14 points/8 goals) and Mikhail was the #4 scorer (10 points/4 goals)s.  Ryan Blake, Kaidden O'Conner, and Harison Van Siclen all skated on the Warriors varsity team last winter.  Blake and O’Conner will be seniors and Van Siclen will be a junior.

Hastings has five players on the Yellow.  Chase Freiermuth, the Red and Black League’s top scorer last year is gone.  Freiermuth will be skating with the Minnesota 18 team in the CCM NIT tourney this weekend along with Drew Eid.  Eid tuned up for the tourney by substituting for the short-handed Red Team last week.  Eid was impressive putting goals in the net and assisting on two more in the first four minutes of one of the Red’s Weekend 2 games.

Two of the Hastings varsity young guns return for the 2019 Spring League, Matt Zaruba and Kyle Bauer.  Both will be juniors next fall.  Both played in the Fall League with Bauer posting 50 points/22 goals and Zaruba posting 27 points/12 goals.  Both played in 21 games in last year’s Fall League.  Both skated for the Hastings varsity/jv last winter.  They with Freiermuth should be the Raiders’ top line on the varsity next winter.  The line of Freiermuth, Bauer, and Zaruba could be on one of the top line in the state.  Jordan Costello will be a junior next fall; Luke Savage and Ben Zaccardi will be sophomores.  The three complete the Hastings contingent on the Yellow Team.  Savage and Zaccardi skated for the Hastings Bantam A team last season.

Sean Symthe/White Bear Lake and Joe Sigel/Eastview complete the Yellow Team roster.  Symthe skated for the White Bear Lake junior gold team last season; Joe Sigel skated in the Eastview Association’s bantam program.  Symthe will be a junior; Sigel a sophomore.

The Yellow Team went 4-2-0 in the first two weekends.  They won their opener beating Green 14-6 in a wild game.  Bauer, Zaruba, and Jack Greeley each had a four point game with each scoring twice.  Stotts scored twice and Van Sicien once in the win.  After losing to Orange in their second game, the Yellow came back to win their third game beating Red 6-1.  Zaruba scored the hat trick with Bauer, Alexander, and Van Sicien each getting a single goal.  The second weekend, the Yellow edged the White 2-1 with Victor Henk in the nets.  Luke Savage tied the game with seven minutes left to play and Ryan Blake scored the winner with 28 seconds left in the game.  Yellow beat Neon 9-4 for their fourth win with Kyle Bauer getting the hat trick.  Jack and Mikhail Greeley each scored once.  Blake and Savage each scored once and Ben Wilary and Jordan Costello each scored.

Yellow Team Roster (Spring 2019)

Graeme Edmund

1

Eagan HS

10

Tony Asta

2

Eagan HS

11

Cody Rehder

3

Eagan HS

10

Kaidden O'Conner

4

Henry Sibley HS

11

Joe Sigel

5

Eastview HS

9

Aidan White

6

Eagan HS

11

Ben Wilary

7

Eagan HS

11

Jordan Costello

8

Hastings HS

10

Matt Zaruba

9

Hastings HS

10

Kyle Bauer

10

Hastings HS

10

Sean Smythe

11

White Bear Lake HS

10

Ryan Blake

12

Henry Sibley HS

11

Luke Savage

14

Hastings HS

9

Nicholas Boor

15

Eagan HS

10

Joshua Alexander

16

Eagan HS

11

Harison Van Siclen

17

Henry Sibley HS

10

Owen Stotts

18

Henry Sibley HS

12

Jack Greeley

19

Henry Sibley HS

12

Mikhail Greeley

20

Henry Sibley HS

12

Victor Henk

33

Eagan HS

10

Sam Anderson

91

Eagan HS

10

Rowan Phillips

92

Eagan HS

9

Ben Zaccardi

93

Hastings HS

9

 

4. Black: The Black Team will have a solid goalie in Zach Piehl.  Piehl will graduate this Spring and was the starting goalie for Becker/Big Lake two seasons ago and has actively been pursuing a career in hockey.  His brother,  Nicholas Piehl, is on the Black Team and will be a junior at Princeton this fall.

What makes the Black Team interesting is that it has a number of the Edina players on the Black roster skated in the Edina Association’s Bantam program last season.  In last Fall’s Red and Black League, the Vintage Team consisted mostly of Edina seniors.  Two ended up on the Hornets varsity/jv team.  Most of the Fall Vintage team ended up skating for Edina’s Junior Gold A team.

Of the ten Edina players on this spring’s Black Team, nine players will be sophomores next fall (goalie Bryce Hess, Wyatt Wurst, Alex Orthey, Andrew Joing, Sam Thorson, Caden Fritz, Camden Glass, Colin Dorsey, and Ryan Andor).  The tenth player from Edina is Quinn Peterson who will be a junior.  Hess, Wurst, Orthey, Andor, and Fritz skated for the Hornets Bantam AA team that lost to Chaska/Chanhassen in the state semifinals a month ago.  Joing and Dorsey skated for the Hornets Bantam B1 Green that won the State Bantam B tourney.  Camden Glass skated for the Edina Junior Gold U16 team.  Thorson skated in the Edina bantam program.  Peterson skated last season for the Edina Junior Gold B team.

Noah Misukanis/Eastview, Marshall Myers Beck/Woodbury, Nithin Ravikumar/East Ridge, Chris Fotopoulos/Woodbury, and A. J. Wang/Jefferson will also be sophomores next fall.  Misukanis skated for the Eastview Bantam AA team this past winter; Fotopoulos, Ravikumar, and Beck skated for the Woodbury Bantam AA team; and A. J. Wang skated for the Jefferson Bantam AA team.

The Black Team this spring consists mostly of next fall sophomores that will have their first impact on Edina, Woodbury, Jefferson, and Eastview varsities in the next three years.  The Black Team this spring is essentially a sophomore team backed by experienced players and is far different from the Vintage Team that played in last season’s Fall League.  That Vintage Team was loaded with Edina Junior Gold seniors who went on to place second in the Minnesota Junior Gold A state tourney a month ago.  That Vintage Team struggled playing .500 hockey in the Red and Black Fall League’s regular season play.    

The Black youths are backed by three Rosemount players who will be seniors next fall (Jonah Forshier, Emmett Durigan, and Matt Akemann), one Rosemount player will be a junior (Jack Buckenberger), one Jefferson player that will be a senior (Grant Dokken), and one Jefferson player will be a junior (Aran Daniels).  Forshier, Durigan, and Akemann skated varsity/jv for the Irish last season.  Daniels skated for the Jefferson varisty and Dokken skated between jv and varsity last season.

The Black Team is tied with the Yellow Team for third place after the first two weeks of play posting a 4-2-0 record.  Rosemount’s Forshier and Jefferson’s Wang hit the double digits after the first two weekends each posting 12 points/7 goals.  Edina’s Alex Orthey posted 9 points/3 goals.  Black lost their first two games of the season, won their third game beating Grey 10-3.  Jefferson’s Wang had a big day scoring four of the ten goals, Andor scored twice; Daniels, Akemann, Forshier, and Durigan each scored once.  The Black swept the three second weekend games beating Red 9-5 (Wang scored a hat trick and had a 6 point game, Orthey, Misukanis, Durigan, Glass, and Dorsey each scored once) in Friday’s game.  Saturday against Green, Black won 7-5 with Orthey and Forshier each scoring twice and Wurst, Thorson, and Akemann each getting a goal.  Andor scored twice in beating Light Blue 4-0 Sunday, Forshier and Joing each got a goal.  Becker/Big Lake goalie Piehl got the shutout win.  The eight week season may seem short, but it will get tougher as the 20+ games are played.

Black Team Roster (Spring 2019)

Wyatt Wurst

2

Edina HS

9

Alex Orthey

3

Edina HS

9

Andrew Joing

4

Edina HS

9

Sam Thorson

5

Edina HS

9

Noah Misukanis

6

Eastview HS

9

Jonah Forshier

7

Rosemount HS

11

Emmett Durigan

8

Rosemount HS

11

Caden Fritz

9

Edina HS

9

Quinn Peterson

10

Edina HS

10

Camden Glass

11

Edina HS

9

Marshall Myers Beck

12

Woodbury HS

9

Nicholas Piehl

14

Princeton HS

10

Matt Akemann

15

Rosemount HS

11

Jack Buckenberger

16

Rosemount HS

10

Colin Dorsey

17

Edina HS

9

Nithin Ravikumar

18

East Ridge HS

9

Ryan Andor

19

Edina HS

9

Chris Fotopoulos

20

Woodbury HS

9

Zach Piehl

33

Becker HS

12

Aran Daniels

91

Jefferson HS

10

Grant Dokken

92

Jefferson HS

11

A.J. Wang

93

Jefferson HS

9

 

5. Neon Team:Two weeks into the season and three teams are tied for fifth place in the 12 team Spring League with 2-2-2 records, Neon, Teal, and White.  The Neon Team is a combination of four Andover, nine STMA, nine Minnetonka players, and one Edina player.  All four Andover skaters will be seniors in the fall.  All four are returning to play in the Red and Black Spring league; Michael Clough, Nate Bauer, Gavin DeBettignies, and Hayden Masloski.  Clough swung between second and third line on the Andover varsity that lost to Duluth East at Duluth’s Amsol Arena in Section 7AA.  He posted 19 points/11 goals last season.  Clough and Hastings’ Chase Friermouth battled for the league lead in scoring last spring.  Clough finished second.  Friermouth will be skated for the Minnesota 18 team in the CCM NIT tourney last weekend at the Plymouth Ice Arena.

Bauer swung between varsity and jv posting 4 points playing defense in 22 games while growing.  He will be a 6+ footer at defense for the Huskies next season.  Two more Huskies are playing for the Neon this season, 6”1’ forward Gavin DeBettignies and Hayden Masloski.  Both will be seniors.  Both played for Andover varsity and jv last year.

Eight of the nine St. Michael/Albertville players (Devon Perron, Adam Spetz, Jake Roos, Dominic Neutgens, Joe Robinson, Jackson Bursch, goalie Charles Michaelson, and Carter Wise) on the Neon Team will be seniors next fall.  One Knight, Hunter Lucas will be a sophomore.  Two of the seniors, Roos and Robinson, skated for the varsity last season that will graduate three centers, one defense, two wings, and one goalie this spring.

Spetz, Wise, goalie Michaelson, Perron, and Neutgens skated for the STMA JV team last winter.  Four of the nine Minnetonka players (Quenten Kinney, Brady Caron, Brody Witta, and William Garry) will be seniors this fall; two players (Ryan Berchild and Cole Komisar) will be juniors, and three players (Matt Boberg, Jack Rausch, Max Dewing) will be sophomores.  Ryan Berchild skated for the Skippers JV last season.  Caron, Witta, Garry, and Kinney skated in the Minnetonka Association’s Junior Gold program.  Komisar, Boberg, Rausch, and Max Dewing skated for the Association’s Bantam AA team.      

The lone Edina player, goalie Joshua Mansky will be a sophomore next season.  Mansky skated in the Edina Association’s bantam program last season.

The Neon Team posted a 2-2-2 record in this opening two weeks of the Spring League regular season.  Their best win was a 10-4 win over the Black Team on opening weekend.  The Andover players led by Clough fueled the win.  Clough had a six point game scoring five goals.  Clough’s Andover linemate, Masloski, also had a six point game scoring two goals.  STMA’s Jackson Bursch scored twice and Minnetonka’s Ryan Berchild scored once.  The Neon Team rallied in the second weekend to tie second place Royal Team.  Playing without Clough, the Neon Team rallied behind four second half goals by the Minnetonka contingent (Roos, Robinson, Witta, and Caron) to tie the game 5-5 after trailing 4-1 at the half.  The Neon Team beat Grey 4-2 in their other win with the STMA’s Hunter Lucas scoring the game winner with three minutes left to play.  STMA’s goalie, Charles Michaelson, is off to a good start posting a 2-0-1 record.

Neon Team Roster (Spring 2019)

Joshua Mansky 1 Edina HS 9
Ryan Berchild 2 Minnetonka HS 10
Michael Clough 3 Andover HS 11
Devon Perron 4 STMA  11
Matt Boberg 5 Minnetonka HS 9
Cole Komisar 6 Minnetonka HS 10
Jack Rausch 7 Minnetonka HS 9
Brady Caron 8 Minnetonka HS 11
Gavin DeBettignies 9 Andover HS 11
Hayden Masloski 10 Andover HS 11
Brody Witta 11 Minnetonka HS 11
William Garry 12 Minnetonka HS 11
Max Dewing 14 Minnetonka HS 9
Adam Spetz 15 STMA  11
Jake Roos 16 STMA  11
Dominic Neutgens 17 STMA  11
Joe Robinson 18 STMA  11
Jackson Bursch 19 STMA  11
Nathan Bauer 20 Andover HS 11
Charles Michaelson 33 STMA  11
Carter Wise 91 STMA  11
Hunter Lucas 92 STMA  9
Quenten Kinney 93 Minnetonka HS 11

6. Teal: The Teal roster is loaded with Holy Family Catholic players (7) and Lakeville North players (6).  Armstrong is has three on the roster.  Hopkins, Owatonna, Blaine, Rochester Mayo, and Gentry Academy each have one player on the Teal roster.  The team is led by two defensive players who will graduate this spring, JJ Martin/Hopkins and Drake Gieseke/Owatonna.  Martin led the Hopkins varsity defense last season posting 14 points in 25 games.  Gieseke led the Owatonna varsity defense last season.  Max Cothern/Rochester Mayo will be a senior this fall.  Max and Tate Cothern who will be a sophomore this fall at Mayo are the Teal goalies this spring.  Max Cothern is the leading candidate to be Mayo’s starting goalie next fall, Tate Cothern who played for the Rochester Bantam A team last winter will be challenging Max for the starting spot.

Tanner Lykken skated for the Prior Lake Bantam AA team last season.  Gentry Academy’s Daniel Yusupoff returns to play Red and Black this spring.  He skated in the Fall League for the Purple Team that consisted of mostly Gentry Academy players who went on to post a 14-11-0 record in their first season of high school play.  Yusupoff posted13 points in the Fall League and had a good season with the Stars posting another 8 points.

Seven of the eight Holy Family Catholic players (Jack Barth, Tyler Winkler, Tommy Agerland, Tyler Heise, Ryan Ferguson, Mark Rahn, and Jackson Riley) will be sophomores next fall.  One, Petr VanVoorhis, will be a junior.  Barth, Agerland, Heise, Ferguson, Rahn, and VanVoorhis skated for the HFC jv last season.  Tyler Winkler skated for the Minnetonka Bantam AA team last season.

Three of the Lakeville North players (Gavin Moorhead, Nicholas Olson, and Sam Peterson) will be sophomores next fall and three of the Lakeville North players  (Matt Njaa, Tyler Johnson, and Jack Sellman) will be juniors.  Moorhead, Olson, Njaa, and Peterson skated in the Lakeville Associations North bantam program.  Johnson and Sellman skated for the Panthers’ jv.  Three of the Teal players skate from Armstrong.  Brandon Northrup, Mason Varian, and Ryan Badertscher will be juniors in the fall.  All three skated for the AC Wings (Armstrong/Cooper) varsity/jv last winter.

Teal posted a 2-2-2 record in the first two weeks of play.  Teal beat Light Blue 8-1 and Yellow 9-8.  Tyler Heise scored the hat trick in the win over Blue; Tommy Agerland posted two goals and Daniel Yusupoff, Ryan Badertscher, and Nicholas Olson each scored.  Max Cothern got the win.  Nicholas Olson scored the hat trick in the win over Yellow, Yusupoff, Badertscher, and Jack Sellman scored a goal each.  Max Cothern got his second win.  Teal tied Neon with Mark Rahn, Jack Sellman, and Sam Peterson each scored.  Tate Cothern was in the nets for the tie.  Tate was in the nets for the second tie with White 4-4.  Heise, Ryder Ferguson, Baderscher, and Mason Varian each scored in the tie.  Badertscher with 11 points/7 goals has been the early surprise.

Teal Team Roster (Spring 2019)

Tate Cothern

1

Rochester Mayo

9

Brandon Northrup

2

Armstrong HS

10

Gavin Moorhead

3

Lakeville North HS

9

JJ Martin

4

Hopkins HS

12

Jack Barth

5

Holy Family

9

Tyler Winkler

6

Holy Family

9

Drake Gieseke

7

Owatonna  HS

12

Matt Njaa

8

Lakeville North HS

10

Nicholas Olson

9

Lakeville North HS

9

Tyler Johnson

10

Lakeville North HS

10

Tommy Agerland

11

Holy Family

9

Tanner Lykken

12

Prior Lake

 

Jack Sellman

14

Lakeville North HS

10

Tyler Heise

15

Holy Family

9

Ryder Ferguson

16

Holy Family

9

Mark Rahn

17

Holy Family

9

Mason Varian

18

Armstrong HS

10

Ryan Badertscher

19

Armstrong HS

10

Jackson Riley

20

Holy Family

9

Max Cothern

33

Rochester Mayo

11

Petr VanVoorhis

91

Holy Family

10

Daniel Yusupoff

92

Gentry Academy

10

Sam Peterson

93

Lakeville North HS

9

 

7. White:  The White Team is balanced with three high school programs forming the bulk of the team.  Five of the White players are from Chanhassen (Brody Amrhein, Tyler Sammons, Joe Gerebi, Ben Gerebi, and Ryan Nicholson); five players are from Burnsville (Sam Keefe, Joe Tucci, Zach LaMotte, Dylan Reed, and Derek Reed); and six players skate for Monticello (Task Hill, Riley Ronayne, Wilson Dahlheimer, Gavin Brooks, Gunnar Sibley, and Braden Bitz).

All six Monticello players will be juniors next fall.  Brooks and Sibley skated for the Moose varsity last season; Hill, Ronayne, and Bitz skated jv last winter.  Dahlheimer skated for the Moose Bantam A team last winter.      

Chanhassen goalie, Amrhien, will be a senior this fall.  Amrhien skated for the varsity last season.  Ben Gerebi will be a senior and played varsity/jv last year.  Joe Gerebi saw significant time on the Chanhassen varsity at defense as a freshman and with four defense graduating is likely to be full time varsity this season as a sophomore.  Tyler Sammons, a six footer, skated defense for Chanhassen’s jv and was rewarded with the most improved player award by the coaches.  Ryan Nicholson will be a sophomore.  Burnsville’s Joe Tucci returns to the Red and Black.  Tucci, LaMotte, and Dylan Reed played varsity/jv for the Blaze last season; Derek Reed played varsity/jv as a goalie and will be battling for the starting position this season.

St. Louis Park has three players on the White, Jacob Favour, Michael Hoikka, and Fynn Hammer.  Favour and Hoikka will be sophomores next fall, Hammer will be a junior.  Lakeville North has two players on the team, Griffin Pehrson and Jude Weber.  Pehrson will be a junior and Weber a sophomore next fall.  Jackson Vogel/Shakopee who will be a sophomore and John Meskan/Blake who will be a senior this fall complete the White Roster.  Body Amrhein and Derek Reed are the goalies.

White handed the Royal Team their only loss beating the Royals 6-5 on opening weekend.  The Monticello players Dahheimer and Ronayne scored three of the goals in the win, Ronayne scoring twice.  Burnsville’s Tucci, LaMotte, and Dylan Reed each scored once.  LaMotte got the game winner with two minutes left to play.  Burnsville goalie Derek Reed got the win.  The White Team beat Pink 6-3 for their second win.  This time, the Monticello duo of Dahlheimer and Gavin Brooks each scored twice with Lakeville North’s Jude Weber scoring twice.  Derek Reed got his second win of the season.  The White tied Grey 5-5 in their opening game of the season behind Brooks hat trick and goals by Dahlheimer and Gunnar Sibley.  All five goals were scored by Monticello players.  Chanhassen’s Brody Amrhiem was in the nets for the tie.  They tied Teal in the second weekend of play 4-4 with with Ronayne, Dylan Reed, Braden Bitz, and Sam Keefe scoring.  Goalie Amrhiem was in the nets for the tie.

White Team Roster (Spring 2019)

Brody Amrhein

1

Chanhassen HS

11

Tyler Sammons

2

Chanhassen HS

10

Joe Gerebi

3

Chanhassen HS

9

Jacob Favour

4

St. Louis Park HS

9

Task Hill

5

Monticello HS

10

Jackson Vogel

6

Shakopee HS

9

Michael Hoikka

7

St. Louis Park HS

9

Riley Ronayne

8

Monticello HS

10

Wilson Dahlheimer

9

Monticello HS

10

Gavin Brooks

10

Monticello HS

10

Sam Keefe

11

Burnsville HS

11

Gunnar Sibley

12

Monticello HS

10

Joe Tucci

14

Burnsville HS

11

Zach LaMotte

15

Burnsville HS

10

Dylan Reed

16

Burnsville HS

11

Griffin Pehrson

17

Lakeville North HS

10

Jude Weber

18

Lakeville North HS

9

Fynn Hammer

19

St. Louis Park HS

10

Ben Gerebi

20

Chanhassen HS

11

Derek Reed

33

Burnsville HS

11

Braden Bitz

91

Monticello HS

10

John Meskan

92

Blake HS

11

Ryan Nicholson

93

Chanhassen HS

9

 

8. Pink Team: This spring, the Pink Team has 14 Woodbury skaters, 2 East Ridge skaters, 3 Hill Murray skaters, 3 Eastview skaters, and 1 Simley player on its roster.  Ten of the Pink skaters will be seniors next fall; seven will be juniors, and five will be sophomores.  One Pink skater will graduate this spring.  Woodbury will be graduating nine players this year.  Those fourteen players will be competing for spots next fall on the varsity.   

Seven of the Pink Team skaters from Woodbury (Logan Schwartzhoff, Tony Hoops, Dylan Felth, Andrew Selby, Nathan Porter, Karter Lee Anderson, and Conner Hansen) will be seniors; five will be juniors (Tyler Kulesa, Sam Olson, Joe Muerer, Tim Klett, and Dylan Chapman); and one (Joe Altman) will be a sophomore.  Ethan Wu is will be graduating this June.

With Woodbury losing two of their top four defensemen, Schwartzhoff and Hanson will likely move into the top four defense for Woodbury.  Tony Hoops, who has swung between defense and forward in the Red and Black last season, could be a swing player between defense and varsity.  Woodbury graduated five of their top 10 scoring forwards.  Early in this decade, the Woodbury Association fielded numerous youth teams that ended up playing in state tournaments.  In 2011, they send a record seven teams.    

The three Pink players from Hill Murray (Donovan O’Malley, Preston Kohl, and goalie Nathan Gist) skated for the Hill Murray junior gold U16 team last season.  The Pioneers JG-16’s took third place in the state tourney losing to St. Thomas Academy 1-0 in the semifinals.  They posted a 16-4-4 record on the season.  O’Malley and Kohls scored three of the seven goals the Pioneers put on the board in the three game state tourney.    Donovan O’Malley will be a sophomore next season skating for Hill Murray, Gist and Kohl will be juniors.

Two East Ridge skaters will play for the Pink this spring, goalie Zach Bierwerth and 6’3” defenseman Camden Newman.  Both skaters will be seniors in the fall.  With East Ridge graduating both goalies last season, senior Bierwerth will be in a battle with two senior goalies for a spot on the East Ridge varsity.  Eastview’s three players, Tyler Gross, Nathan Stephenson, and Andrewe Wagner will be sophomores next fall.  All skated in the Eastview association’s bantam program last season.  Simley’s Charlie Gustafson will be a senior next fall.  Defenseman Gustafson swung between varsity and jv last season and will be in a tough competition this fall with Simley graduating only one from the defense.

The Pink Team won their first two games on opening weekend beating Black 7-2 and Green 8-3 before losing to league leading Orange 5-0.  They struggled the second weekend tying Grey 6-6, losing to second place Royal Team, and losing to White 6-3.  In Pink Team’s 7-2 win over Black, the Woodbury players (Klett, Selby, Chapman, Kohl, and Porter) provided the offense scoring all seven goals.  In their second win, the same five players joined by Woodbury’s Joe Meurer and Joe Altman scored seven of the eight goals.  Hill Murray’s Donovan O’Malley scored the eighth goal.  In their 6-6 tie with Grey, Woodbury again provided the scoring punch but with different players.  This time Camden Newman, Kulesa, Chapman, and Karter Anderson scored five of the six goals with Hill Murray’s O’Malley scoring the sixth goal.  Pink goalies Zach Bierwerth and Nathan Gist each picked up a win; Gist was in the nets for the tie.

Pink Team Roster (Spring 2019)

Zach Bierwerth 1 East Ridge HS 11
Logan Schwartzhoff 2 Woodbury HS 11
Camden Newman 3 East Ridge HS 11
Tyler Gross 4 Eastview HS 9
Charlie Gustafson 5 Simley HS 11
Tony Hoops 6 Woodbury HS 11
Nathan Stephenson 7 Eastview HS 9
Tyler Kulesa 8 Woodbury HS 10
Sam Olson 9 Woodbury HS 10
Joe Meurer 10 Woodbury HS 10
Ethan Wu 11 Woodbury HS 12
Dylan Felth 12 Woodbury HS 11
Tim Klett 14 Woodbury HS 10
Donovan OMalley 15 Hill Murray HS 9
Andrew Selby 16 Woodbury HS 11
Dylan Chapman 17 Woodbury HS 10
Preston Kohl 18 Hill Murray HS 10
Nathan Porter 19 Woodbury HS 11
Karter Lee Anderson 20 Woodbury HS 11
Nathan Gist 33 Hill Murray HS 10
Conner Hansen 91 Woodbury HS 11
Joe Altman 92 Woodbury HS 9
Andrewe Wagner 93 Eastview HS 9

9. Light Blue: Players from Orono (7), Chaska (6), and Eden Prairie (6) dominate the Light Blue roster this year.  Two players from Holy Angels (Mitch Farnham and Mason Meyers) and single players from Lakeville South (defenseman Ray Smith), Minnesota River (Logan Throldahl) complete the Light Blue Spring League roster.  Throldahl posted a 19 point/11 goal season skating for the Bulldog’s varsity state tourney team. 

Six of the seven Orono players on the Light Blue this spring will be juniors next fall (Gabe Lewis, Jon Mugaas, Hunter Dawson, Nolan Tichy, Zach Fein, and Jacob Casey).  The seventh player, Aaron Brekken will be a senior.  Tichy skated for the Orono varsity last winter and returns to play Red and Black this spring.  He played in the league last summer.  Brekken swung between varsity and jv last winter.  With Orono graduating eight of the top eleven forwards this spring, Tichy is likely to skate on one of the two top Orono lines and Brekken is likely to make varsity.  Defenseman Gabe Lewis played jv.  Five of the eleven players graduating played defense (two seniors swung between defense and offense last season).

Two of the six Chaska players on the Light Blue (goalie Zach Hanson and Garrett Pritchard) will be seniors next fall; three will be juniors (Bryce Hansen, Ben John Chalusky, and Timmy LeRoy) and one (Tommy Blahoski) will be a sophomore.  Pritchard, Hansen, and Chalusky skated varsity last season.  The six Eden Prairie players on the Light Blue are led by graduating senior Nicholas Cooper.  Cooper skated for the Eden Prairie Junior Gold A team last winter that took third place in the State Tourney.  They lost to the Edina JGA team 7-0 in the semifinals, a team that consisted mostly of players from the Fall Red and Black Vintage team.  Ethan Peltier, Charles Shepard, Jacob Casey, and Oliver Jorgenson will be juniors next fall.  Peltier, Casey, and Jorgenson skated for Eden Prairie’s jv last winter.  Joe Koch skated in the Eden Prairie Association’s bantam program in the 2018-2019 season and will be a sophomore next fall.    

Chaska’s Zach Hanson and Holy Angels Mason Meyer will be in the nets.  Hanson had a great Fall League last year and was instrumental in leading the Orange Team to a second place finish in the playoffs.  Hanson skated varsity for Chaska last years.  Meyer played for the Holy Angels jv last winter.

Light Blue has a 4-2-0 record going into the third weekend of play.  They beat the Red Team in their Saturday opening weekend game 13-3.  Nicholas Cooper scored of the Light Blue’s 13 goals; Ethan Peltier and Hunter Dawson each scored twice; Mitch Farnham, Bryce Hansen, Ben John Chalusky, Charles Shepard, and Jacob Casey each posted a goal.  Goalie Mason Meyer got the win.  Light Blue beat the Grey in their Saturday weekend 2 game 6-5 behind balanced scoring.  Logan Throidahl, Oliver Jorgenson, Ethan Peltier, Garrett Pritchard, Charles Shepard, and Jacob Casey each scored the goal.  Zach Hanson got the win.

Light Blue Team Roster (Spring 2019)

Zach Hanson

1

Chaska HS

11

Gabe Lewis

2

Orono HS

10

Jon Mugaas

3

Orono HS

10

Mitch Farnham

4

Holy Angels

11

Ray Smith

5

Lakeville South HS

11

Bryce Hansen

6

Chaska HS

10

Tommy Blahoski

7

Chaska HS

9

Timmy LeRoy

8

Chaska HS

10

Logan Throldahl

9

Minnesota River

10

Hunter Dawson

10

Orono HS

10

Oliver Jorgenson

11

Eden Prairie HS

10

Ben John Chalusky

12

Chaska HS

10

Garrett Pritchard

14

Chaska HS

11

Nicholas Cooper

15

Eden Prairie HS

12

Ethan Peltier

16

Eden Prairie HS

10

Charles Shepard

17

Eden Prairie HS

10

Aaron Brekken

18

Orono HS

11

Nolan Tichy

19

Orono HS

10

Zach Fein

20

Orono HS

10

Mason Meyer

33

Holy Angels

10

Tyler Burns

91

Orono HS

10

Joe Koch

92

Eden Prairie HS

9

Jacob Casey

93

Eden Prairie HS

10

 

10. Green: The Green Team this fall is loaded with players who will be seniors or juniors next fall.  Eight of the Green will be seniors and 13 will be juniors when the November tryouts start.  Only two players, Benilde St. Margaret’s Mitchell Dokman and Elk River’s Jayce Hansen will be sophomores.

Seniors to be, Alex Toft, Toby Curtiss, and Nicolas Dokman, skated for the Red Knights jv team.  Dokman posted a 20 point season (6 goals).  Juniors to be, Toby Curtiss and Alex Toft led the St. Louis Park Junior Gold A team to the State Tourney last March.  Last summer, Cooper Gay, Jonah Mortenson, Jett Johnson, and goalie Jonnie Vitelli skated Red and Black and played on the BSM varsity last fall.   Michael Paulison will be a junior next fall at Benilde St. Margaret’s.  Paulison skated with Toft and Curtiss on the St. Louis Park JGA team last winter.  Green will be skating five BSM players this spring.

Maple Grove (goalie Carson Blumer, Kyle Sorrentino, Lucas Kiesow, and Brady Laurance)    and Wayzata (Mason Olson, William Van Aarem, Mason Moore, and Calvin Mathe) each have four players on the Green Team.  Kiesow played varsity/jv for the Crimson last season and will be a senior this fall.  Blumer, Sorrentino, and Laurance will be juniors.  All three skated for the Crimson jv last season.  Kiesow posted 16 points/10 goals in 22 games; Laurance posted 12 point/7goals; Sorrentino posted 13 points/5 goals; and Blumer had a 4-3-1 record giving up 1.3 goals a game while stopping 94% of the shots on net.  Mason Olson will be a senior next fall at Wayzata.  Van Aarem, Moore, and Mathe skated for the Wayzata Association’s Junior Gold B team that played in the State Tourney last March.  All three will be juniors.

New Prague’s Tyler Schmidt and Tanner Skluzacek will be skating for the Green.  Schmidt will be a senior and Skluzacek will be a junior.  Both skated for the New Prague jv last season.  Park of Cottage’ Alex Folsom and Josh Brown swung between varsity and defense last season playing both forward and defense.  Both are juniors next fall.  Minnehaha’s Ethan Lessard and Nick Coryell return to play Red and Black.  Lessard will be a senior next fall; Coryell a junior.  Lessard will be a starter at defense for the Red Hawks next winter with Coryell potentially ending up in the varsity defensive corps.  Prior Lake has two players on the Green that will be seniors next fall, Ethan Drew and Jonah Reed.  Drew skated varsity/jv last season; Reed skated for the Prior Lake Association’s Junior Gold team.  Kennedy’s Carter Lansdale will be a senior in the fall and is a strong candidate to skate first or second line varsity.

Green is tied with Light Blue in the standings after two weekends of play with a 2-4-0 record.  They beat Neon on the opening weekend Sunday game 4-2.  BSM’s Alex Toft scored twice in the win; Curtiss scored once.  Mason Moore scored the fourth goal.  Maple Grove goalie, Blumer, got the win.  The Green beat the Red Team last Sunday, 7-5.  Toft scored the hat trick (he had a 5 point game), Sorrentino, Mason Olson, Jonah Reed, and Nick Coryell each scored.  Calvin Mathe got the win.

Green Team Roster (Spring 2019)

Carson Blumer

1

Maple Grove HS

10

Kyle Sorrentino

2

Maple Grove HS

10

Alex Toft

3

Benilde St. Margaret's HS

11

Tyler Schmidt

4

NEW PRAGUE HS

10

Mason Olson

5

Wayzata HS

11

Lucas Kiesow

6

Maple Grove HS

11

William Van Aarem

7

Wayzata HS

10

Tanner Skluzacek

8

NEW PRAGUE HS

10

Ethan Lessard

9

Minnehaha Academy HS

10

Brady Laurance

10

Maple Grove HS

10

Toby Curtiss

11

Benilde St. Margaret's HS

11

Alec Folsom

12

Park HS

10

Mason Moore

14

Wayzata HS

10

Jayce Hansen

15

Elk River HS

9

Nicolas Dokman

16

Benilde St. Margaret's HS

11

Josh Brown

17

Park HS

10

Michael Paulison

18

Benilde St. Margaret's HS

10

Carter Lansdale

19

Kennedy HS

11

Mitchell Dokman

20

Benilde St. Margaret's HS

9

Calvin Mathe

33

Wayzata HS

10

Ethan Drew

91

Prior Lake HS

11

Jonah Reed

92

Prior Lake HS

11

Nick Coryell

93

Minnehaha Academy HS

10

 

11. Grey: Three high schools are represented on the Grey team this spring (Prior Lake, Shakopee, and Providence Academy).  Four of the Shakopee players are graduating this June (Austin McNeill, Josh Twardoski, Adam Kinsella and defenseman Jake Pakkala).  McNeill, Twardoski, and Pakkala all skated for the Shakopee varsity last season and were three of the five seniors on the team.  McNeill led the Shakopee varsity in scoring 25 points/19 goals skating 18 of their 25 games in the tough all Class AA South Suburban Conference.  McNeill is becoming more physically mature.  He skated in the Red and Black last summer.  Two more Sabers are on the Grey Team this spring, John Kettle and Ben Smith.  Both skated for the Shakopee JV team last season and will be juniors this fall.

Twelve of the players on the Grey Team skate in the Prior Lake program.  Two will be seniors next fall, Marco Bianchi and Joe Dueber.  Bianchi swung between varsity and jv last winter.  Defenseman Dueber skated jv.  Five of the Prior Lake players will be juniors, Colin Halstrom, Keegan Masser, Ryan Haghighi, goalie Zach Lavigne, and Ryan Hadlund.  Halstrom and Hadlund skated jv last winter.  Goalie  Lavigne skated varsity/jv last season and will have a shot a playing varsity this season.   Masser Haghighi and five will be sophomores, Bruin Allen, Richard Carsten, Blake Dicke, Riley Dueber, and Mitchell Lovett.  Dicke skated for the jv last season.  Riley Dueber, Carsten, Allen, and Lovett skated in the Prior Lake Association’s bantam program.

Providence Academy has four skaters on the Grey roster (Bobby Hughes, Nicholas Straszewski, Thomas Vos, and John Hughes).  Bobby Hughes, Straszewski, and Vos skated varsity last season for the Academy.  All three will be juniors this fall.  John Hughes also skated varsity last season, but will be a sophomore this fall.  All four are forwards and will be battling for top spots on the Lions varsity next fall.  Last season, the Providence upset Kennedy in the Section 2A tourney before losing to Orono.

The Grey Team has struggled in the first two weekends of play posting a 1-3-1 record.  They beat Teal 7-5 and tied White 5-5 opening weekend, but could salvage only a 6-6 tie with Pink Team.  McNeil scored the hat trick in the 7-5 win.  Dicke, Haghighi, Bianchi, and Carsten each scored once.  Goalie Lavigne got the win.  McNeil and Bianchi scored twice in the 5-5 tie with White.  Kinsella scored once.  Goalie Ethan Haglund got the tie.  Kinsella scored twice in the 6-6 tie with the Pink Team.  McNeil, Bianchi, Pakkala, and Kettle each scored once.  Goalie Lavigne got the tie.  McNeil is off to a fast start scoring 8 goals in the first six games (10 points).  Bianchi (8 points/6 goals) and Kinsella (7 points/6 goals) are not far behind.  This team will be tough before the season ends.

Grey Team Roster (Spring 2019)

Ethan Haglund 1 Prior Lake HS 11
Colin Halstrom 2 Prior Lake HS 10
Bruin Allen 3 Prior Lake HS 9
Keegan Masser 4 Prior Lake HS 10
Joey Dueber 5 Prior Lake HS 11
Richard Carsten 6 Prior Lake HS 9
John Hughes 7 Providence Academy 9
John Kettle 8 Shakopee HS 10
Bobby Hughes 9 Providence Academy 10
Nicholas Straszewski 10 Providence Academy 10
Thomas Vos 11 Providence Academy 10
Josh Twardoski 12 Shakopee HS 12
Adam Kinsella 14 Shakopee HS 12
Ben Smith 15 Shakopee HS 10
Blake Dicke 16 Prior Lake HS 9
Riley Dueber 17 Prior Lake HS 9
Marco Bianchi 18 Prior Lake HS 11
Austin McNeil 19 Shakopee HS 12
Ryan Haghighi 20 Prior Lake HS 10
Zach Lavigne 33 Prior Lake HS 10
Ryan Hadlund 91 Prior Lake HS 10
Mitchell Lovett 92 Prior Lake HS 9
Jake Pakkala 93 Shakopee HS 12

12. Red: The Red Team is a combo of thirteen players Minneapolis and seven Breck players.  The team has a balanced mix of five players who will be seniors next fall, ten players who will be juniors, and eight players who will be sophomores.  The Red Team is off to a slow start winning one game in their first two weekends.  When a team struggles, it is left to the players, especially the future seniors to find out how to lead; the future  juniors to find their varsity grove, and the sophomores to adjust to high school hockey before they hit the tryouts.

That makes this team an interesting team to watch.  The seniors are led by four Minneapolis players, Ryan Wagner, Sawyer Cirione, Levi Kyllonen, and Max Smith; and one White Bear Lake senior to be, goalie Ryan Dehling.  With 9 players graduating from the Minneapolis varsity team this spring (four off the defensive corps), all four “M” players are candidates for the Minneapolis Varsity team next fall.   

Joseph De Georgeo, defenseman Jackson Skogg, Jack Stock, Oliver Crowell, and Luke Gilbertson will be juniors next fall.  Stock skated varsity last season.  De Georgeo, Skogg, Crowell, and Gilberston skated jv.  Goalie Alex Lamont, Mason Cirone, Evan Grimm, and Reece Moore will be sophomores.  Grimm and Moore skated jv last season; Lamont and Cirone skated in the Minneapolis Storm association bantam program last season.  It was nice to see the Storm’s Bantam AA team wearing “throwback” jerseys with a big orange “W” against a blue background last season.  Here comes Washburn?

Breck has seven players on the Red Team this spring.  Five will be juniors next fall led by junior to be Beau Courneya.   Jacob Hanson, Zach Sellman, Cade Berman, and Quinn Rosenberg will also be juniors in the fall.  Courneya led the Breck varsity in scoring last winter (34 points/16 goals).  He has a quick accurate shot from almost anywhere on the ice.  Berman played varsity defense last season, Sellman, Jacob Hanson, and Rosenberg swung between varsity and jv.  Two Breck players will be sophomores, Josh Hanson and Nick Mikan will be sophomores.  Both skated for the Breck jv team.  Breck will be graduating nine players this June.  The Red Team Breck players will most likely be the core of the Breck varsity next season.  Two Red Team players, Juan Russy/St. Louis Park and Bjorn Lervick/Benilde-St. Margaret’s will be sophomores in the fall.

The Red Team posted a 1-5-0 record in the first two weeks of play.  They beat the Teal soundly 11-5 in their Saturday game.  Sawyer Cirione, Mason Cirone, Max Smith each got a goal.  Drew Eid, who skated last fall dropped in to skate for the Red and showcased his skill.  Eid is playing in the CCM NIT tourney this weekend.  He made the Minnesota Senior team.  The Seniors ended up losing the tie breaker to Wisconsin in pool play.  The Minnesota Senior team is selected from the Ted Brill Great 8 tournament played earlier this month.  Those graduating seniors who have not been selected, skate to showcase their talent.  Those players who are 18 but will not graduate participate in the Great 8.  The top 18’s are then placed on the Minnesota 18 team and they skate in the CCM NIT tourney.  The Minnesota 18 team placed third in their pool play.

Red Team Roster (Spring 2019)

Alex Lamont

1

MPLS

9

Zach Sellman

2

Breck HS

10

Cade Berman

3

Breck HS

10

Ryan Wagner

4

MPLS

11

Josh Hanson

5

Breck HS

9

Joseph De Georgeo

6

MPLS

10

Jackson Skogg

7

MPLS

10

Nick Mikan

8

Breck HS

9

Quinn Rosenberg

9

Breck HS

10

Beau Courneya

10

Breck HS

10

Sawyer Cirione

11

MPLS

11

Mason Cirone

12

MPLS

9

Evan Grimm

14

MPLS

9

Jacob Hanson

15

Breck HS

10

Reece Moore

16

MPLS

9

Juan Russy

17

St. Louis Park HS

9

Jack Stock

18

MPLS

10

Luke Gilbertson

19

MPLS

10

Max Smith

20

MPLS

11

Ryan Dehling

33

White Bear Lake HS

11

Oliver Crowell

91

MPLS

10

Bjorn Lervick

92

Benilde St. Margaret's HS

9

Levi Kyllonen

93

MPLS

11

 

Monday February 18, 2019 Class A Tourney Breakdown

Let it snow-its Xcel time!

The grind for 82 Minnesota Class A hockey teams ended last Saturday.  Seeds are out and Minnesota’s eight Class A Sectional play will begin in earnest this week.  The 16 week grind of practices interlaced with 25 games ends as the first round of sectional play begins.  Already some play-in games have been completed.  In Section 6A Breckenridge beat Wadena 6-3; in Section 7A, Hibbing beat Proctor 5-4 in OT and Ely upset International Falls 4-3 (go Timberwolves).

In two weeks, eight Class A teams will be headed to the Xcel wondering who they will play.  The eight winners will be seeded into the Class A State Tournament based on their regular season performance.  Class A will play their quarterfinal round on Wednesday, March 6th.  The quarterfinal round opens with the #2 seeded team playing a TBD seed (only 5 teams are seeded, the three unseeded teams are assigned their opponent) in the opening game at 11 AM.  The #3 seeded team will play a TBD seed at 1 PM to complete the upper bracket.  The #1 seeded team opens the evening session Wednesday night playing a TBD team at 6 PM.  The second game Wednesday night will match the #4 and #5 seeds.  That game starts at 8 PM.

Who will survive their sectionals and who will face who in the State Tourney quarterfinals on March 6th?  Here is my guess at filling in the blanks.  This post predicts who will play in the four quarterfinal Class A games.  It also lays out how they will get there by going through each sectional opponent that will likely compete for a ticket Class A quarterfinals.  Who will win the Class A title this year?  Everybody will have an opinion this year.  See you at the Xcel and let it snow!  Park in the ramps and have fun.

1.Class A Quarterfinal Game #1: # 2 Seeded Totino Grace (Section 4A) versus Litchfield/Dassal-Cokato (Section 3A):

Quarterfinal Game #1 Totino Grace (Section 4A) Section 4A have been posted.  Totino Grace was seeded #1 and Mahtomedi seeded #2.  Northfield earned the #3 seed and St. Paul Johnson the #4 seed.  There will be four play-in games with #5 seeded St. Paul Academy playing #12 St. Paul Highland Park and the winner playing St. Paul Johnson.  South St. Paul earned the #6 and will play #11 Minnehaha Academy with the winner playing Northfield.  Gentry Academy, in its first high school season, earned the #7 seed and plays Red Wing with the winner playing Mahtomedi.  Simley seeded #8 and Henry Sibley seeded #9 play each other with the winner playing Totino Grace.  All play-in games except the Simley/Sibley game will be skated at Aldrich.  All Section 4A quarterfinal games will be skated at Aldrich.  Semifinals and the 4A championship game will be skated at Roseville.

The blue and gold Eagles from Totino Grace have the big tough goaltender in senior Jon Howe, a strong senior core of skaters if they stay healthy, and a “moose” at wing in 6’5” junior Kyle Heffron.  Howe and Heffron have exploded this year on the hockey scene under the tutelage of head coach Adam Sharratt to lead the Eagles to the Northwest Suburban West Conference championship.  Totino Grace struggled last year under Sharratt’s first year posting 8-15-2 record, but that changed this season posting a 17-7-0 record.  A solid 5-1 win at Mahtomedi two weeks ago, established TG as the #1 seed in Section 4A.  But the Eagles will be challenged in their 4A run to the state.  This is Minnesota High School hockey and challenges will come from most likely #2 seed Mahtomedi, #3 seed Northfield, #4 seed St. Paul Johnson, and #7 seed wild card Gentry Academy.

TG goalie, Jon Howe is the best kept secret in the high school scene.  The Eagles have one of the best disciplined goaltenders in the state in Howe who has stopped an average of 32 shots per game this season.  Howe has posted over 1200 minutes in the net in regular season and if the Eagles make state, he will come close to posting a 1500 minute season.  The 6’2”, 180 lbs, senior has stopped 93% of the shots on net giving up an average of 2.5 goals a game.  Howe has faced 18 Class AA teams (in 22 games) this season.

Junior Kyle Heffron leads the team scoring with 45 points/20 goals and can be explosive crossing the blue line.  Few teams have stopped the big guy.  Those that have had top defenses like Andover.  Heffron is one stride away from becoming a terror on ice.  Senior Ben Palmer has posted a 40 point season (43 points/22 goals).  Palmer and Heffron are often paired with senior center Jack Bonfe (26 points/199 assists).  Bonfe has been the playmaker.  Senior Adam Johnson (16 points/8 goals), sophomores Luke Delzer (28 points/15 goals) and Sam Thelen (20 points/14 assists) have been paired at one line.  Seniors Caleb Meehan (13 points/9 assists), Steven Hand (4 points/2 goals), and Gavin Jeppesen and juniors Jack Gray (6 points/3 goals) and Darby Jones complete the Eagles offense.  Meehan scored the hat trick in the Eagles season ending 5-1 win over Breck. 

Defensively, Totino Grace is led by seniors Nick Sticha (17 points/12 assists), Jake Wacek (16 points/12 assists), Simon Belanco (14 points/13 assists), and Colin Neilsen.  Sophomore Stephen Golden and freshman Howie Moore (6 points/6 assists) complete the defensive corps.  Overall, the defensive corps has played a solid season.

The prediction here is that Totino Grace will win Section 4A and likely play Hermantown for the state title on March 8th at the Xcel.  To get there, they will need their defensive corps to step up and their second and third lines to play solid hockey.  If the TG skaters do that, goalie Jon Howe will take care of the rest.

Section 4A challangers: Many that predicted defending 4A champions Mahtomedi would be seeded #1 maybe surprised with the #2 seed.  The Section 4A finals at Roseville will likely match the Zephyrs with Totino Grace.  Both have similar records this season.  The Zephyrs are 18-6-1 on the season and finished third in the Metro East champs St. Thomas Academy and Hill Murray.  A senior dominated Northfield team could make a run at both TG and the Zephyrs.  The remaining three contenders, South St. Paul, St. Paul Johnson, and Gentry Academy are young.  Look for some upsets in this 12 team section in the early rounds.  TG, Mahtomedi, and Northfield are the only teams that are assured of a first round bye with South St. Paul and St. Paul Johnson most likely contending for the #4 seed and the fourth bye. 

Mahtomedi coach Jeff Poeschi tries to schedule tough opponents and posted an 18-6-1 record this season beating Hastings, Greenway, Orono, St. Cloud Cathedral, and Breck.  The Zephyrs tied Hill Murray.  The Zephyrs returned eight of their top ten scorers from last year’s tourney team.  All eight (Joe Paradise, Nikolai Dulak, Colin Hagstrom, Dylan L’Allier, Kory Pilarski, Noah Skillings, Tom Paradise, and Cole McCarver) lead the team this year with each posting 20+ point seasons.  Skillings is the top Zephyr defender and has posted 19 assists on the season.  He is joined by JD Metz and Tommy Broten both in double digits in scoring.  Ben Dardis and John Poirer have split the goal tending this season.  Freshman Dardis (10-4-1, 1.7 GAA, and 92% saves) has been in the nets for games against St. Cloud Cathedral and Hermantown.  Senior Poirer (8-2-0, 2.1 GAA, and 90% saves) skated in games against St. Thomas Academy and Orono.  Mahtomedi’s defense and goaltending will determine if they can contend with Totino Grace.   They will have to rely on their depth at forward to score against the Eagles Jon Howe.

The best of the rest of the Section 4A contenders are Northfield, South St. Paul, St. Paul Johnson, and Gentry AcademyNorthfield finished in the middle of the Big 9 Conference this season and has a 15-9-0 record.  The Raiders are a senior dominated team (13) led by top point getter sophomore Carson VanZuilen (53 points/33 assists) and seniors Devon Jink (51 points/24 goals) and Garrett Sawyer (35 points/20 goals).  Three seniors lead the Raider’s defense, Tuomas Kallioniemi, Cole Dack, and Zachary Kruger.  Senior goalie Wesley Lideen (8-8-0, 3.5 GAA, 88% saves) and junior Cal Frank (7-1-0, 2.0 GAA, 91% saves) share the net this season.  Jink has been skated well as the season ended.

South St. Paul has losing record (10-11-1) with two games left to play.  But last Saturday, they pushed Class AA Hastings (17-4-1) to overtime before losing 4-3.  The Packers’ have an offensive minded defensive corps led by juniors Jackson Luhrs (18 points/11 goals) and Owen Ramires (23 points/17 assists) and freshman Reed Kluender (9 points/8 assists).  Junior Cam Kluender (23 points/12 assists) leads the Packers in scoring. Juniors Jacobe Saver and Brandon Reynolds (9 points/6 goals) complete the top six scorers for the Packers.  Junior goalies Jacob Lissick (5-6-1, 2.6 GAA, 91% saves) and Brady Gallahue (3-6-0, 4.0 GAA, and 86% saves) have split time in the nets.  Lissick was in the nets in the Hastings loss.        

St.Paul Johnson posted a 15-10-1 record and finished their season with four straight wins including a 4-1 win over South St. Paul.  Johnson is a younger team this year.  Three of their top six scorers are sophomores Blayde Pogreba, Joseph Moberg, and Teddy Wilebski.  Senior Thomas Heesch and junior Drake Teal provide the experience on the offense.  Sophomores AJ McMahon, Sean Smith, and Alexander Woolsey lead the Governors defensive corps.  Senior goalie Aaron Lee has been the rock in the Govs net this season playing 1271 minutes while posting 14-10-1 record.  Longtime Governors’ coach Steve “Moose” Younghans has a good team next year.  Younghans earned more respect at the Blaine STP tourney in July skating all five lines in a tough battle with Breck narrowly won by Breck.            

Gentry Academy skates a young team with only two seniors forward Reed Bartelings and defenseman Jake Henthorne.  The rest of the players are sophomores and ninth graders.  Gentry won two of their last six games and may have hit that late season wall skating tired.  Still the sophomore Damon Furuseth finished the season with 62 points (30 goals).  Senior Reed Bartelings posted 53 points (23 goals).  The Stars skate four defensemen led by Brevan Grigus (24 points/10 goals).  Junior goalie Sam Fellows (7-5-0, 3.0 GAA, 89% saves) and sophomore Alex Timmons (7-6-0, 3.6 GAA, 89% saves) have split time in the nets this season.  The Stars have posted a respectable 14-11-0 season record and may have jumped stated their team when the core group played a 22 game fall season in the Red and Black league.             

1B. Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato (Section 3A): Section 3A seeding is out and there is no surprise.  Marshall is seeded #1; Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato is seeded #2, New Ulm is seeded #3, and Luverne/Hutchinson is seeded 4/5.  Section 3A quarterfinal games will be played at the higher seeds home ice on February 21st.

After playing nearly 25 games, Section 3A comes down to three teams, #1 seeded Marshall, Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato, and New Ulm.  LDC is the reigning 3A champs and plays in the Wright County Conference.  Marshall and New Ulm play in the Big South.  This section has become a test for Big South teams and they have fared well since the Big South was started a few years ago.  LDC will most likely have to play New Ulm and Marshall to get to the Xcel, two tough and improving Big South teams.

Last season, ninth grader goalie Darby Halonen led the LDC team through the 3A sectionals.  He returns as a sophomore this year and has posted 1142 minutes in the nets in regular season (10-10-1, 2.4 GAA, 91% saves).  Seniors Brandt Pederson (30 points/18 assists), Dylan Schutz (18 points/10 goals) and Blake Johnson (12 points/7 assists) lead the Dragons’ offense.  Juniors Alex Heinonen and Jake Johnson and sophomore Mason Schroeder are among the top six scorers.  The Dragons’ defense is led by seniors Paul Raisanen (21 points/14 assists) and Gavin Tormanen, juniors Terrell Grangroth (9 points/5 assists) and Patrick Benson, sophomore Ben Witt, and ninth grader Gavyn Lund.  LDC was shocked losing to Luverne at the Blue Mound Arena in late January, but has played well since.

Predicting that the Dragons will make state again is a mixed bag.  On one hand, if they play well and their goalie Halonen repeats last year’s performance, they look to be solid a pick.  On the other hand, that 5-1 loss to Luverne has to make the LDC coaches nervous.  The deciding factor is the overall depth of the Dragons compared to Marshall and New Ulm looks to make them the winner.  The Section 3A tourney will be a great one this year with great goaltending.  And the Section 3A finals played at Gustavus Adolphus is one game to see, packed with the feel of old-time high school hockey.  If you go, go early.

Marshall will be the #1 seed and will challenge LDC.  The Tigers are one of the few Class A teams to post a 20 game winning season (21-2-1).  They won the Big South title outright with a season ending 3-1 win over Waseca.  Marshall has the creds and have earned that top 3A seed.  They will likely play Wilmar and Hutchinson before meeting either LDC in the championship.  Marshall has a solid goalie in junior Dominik Caspers.  Caspers has played 1100 minutes in the net in regular season posting a 16-2-1 record giving up 1.8 goals a game while stopping 94% of the shots on net.  He is fronted by a defensive corps of four juniors and two seniors.  Junior defenseman Kaleb Welvaert is having a great year posting 27 points/20 assists in 20 games played.  Juniors Blake Kruse (9 points/9 assists), Jenson Meyer (5 points/5 assists), and Chase Beernaert and seniors Cole Remme and Trey Weber complete the Tigers’ defense.

Offensively, Marshall is led by the #1 scorer in Minnesota this year, senior Mason Plante.  Plante leads the team and the state in points (77) and goals (40).  Three juniors Brysson Whyte (34 points/21 goals), Joe Archbold (18 points/11 assists), and Landon Frost (27 points/13 goals) and sophomore Tristan VanDeVere (31 points/18 goals) are all in 20 point double digit scoring.  The Tigers’ top six forwards will score over a 100 goals this year.  Their defensive corps has scored only eight goals, but who cares?

New Ulm (14-8-1) is led by their senior goalie Jack Raymond.  Raymond played 1140 minutes in the nets this season posting a 13-8-1 record giving up 2.1 goals a game while stopping 91% of the shots on net.  New Ulm has some depth in their forward lines with seven forwards scoring in the double digits led by junior Glavine Schugel (45 points/26 goals).  Seniors Josh Seidl (29 points/14 goals) and Landon Strong (26 points/15 assists); ninth grader Braxten Hoffman (24 points/14 assists), sophomores Jace Addy (12 points/5 goals) and AJ Arneson (17 points/9 goals), and Kyle Tauer (10 points/7 seven goals).  Three seniors, Shane Esser (14 points/12 assists), Blake Tauer (8 points/7 assists), and Landon Depew lead the Eagles defense.  Junior Teddy Giefer, sophomore Kadon Strong (7 points/7 assists), and ninth grader Josh Gulden complete the Eagles defense.

Hutchinson has an outside shot.  Though the Tigers have a subpar season going, their duo at forwards senior Lane Glaser (37 points/20 goals) and junior Austin Jozwick (25 points/11 goals) are capable of pulling an upset or two. They beat Mound/Westonka 4-1 on home ice this week.

Quarterfinal Game #1 Summary: Totino Grace should pull away from LDC.  Halfway through the game, the wear and tear will be felt by the Dragons.  One thing that could happen is that the game could turn into a battle of goal tenders-LDC’s Halonen versus TG’s Howe.  If that happens, anything goes, but the game is not likely to reach that point.       

2. Class A Quarterfinal Game #2: # 3 seeded St. Cloud Cathedral (Section 6A) versus Mankato East (Section 1A)

Quarterfinal Game #2 St. Cloud Cathedral (Section 6A): Section 6A seedings were completed this week.  To no one’s surprise, St. Cloud Catherdral was seeded #1, but surprisingly Sartell who finished second in the Central Lakes Conference was seeded #2 over conference champions, Alexandria.  Little Falls was seeded fourth.  Quarterfinal games will be played at the higher seed home ice Tuesday, February 19th. 

Early in the season, it looked like a three team race for the Section 6A ticket to the Xcel.  At that time, St. Cloud Cathedral was considered the best Class A team in the state.  Cathedral was unbeaten and veteran coach Derrick Brown was at the helm.  To get to the Xcel this year, Cathedral has to beat Alexandria.  SCC lost to Alex in last season’s Section 6A tourney.

Cathedral has posted a 20 game season with one game left to play (20-4-0).  Alexandria has ended their season with an 18-5-0 record (two games were postponed).  The Cardinals finished the season with a 2-0 win over East Grand Forks.  They are the Central Lakes Conference Champs this year.  Sartell-St. Stephens is the third challenger in Section 6A.  They finished second in the Central Lakes Conference.  Cathedral finished up and down in regular season losing to Moorhead 5-2, Mahtomedi 6-2, and Holy Family 6-5.  That loss to Mahtomedi makes them a shaky pick over Alex; the 6-5 loss to Holy Family Catholic on the road makes them a strong pick over Alex.  That is hockey.    

From a Cathedral stand point, not much has changed from last season.  They have posted an 18-7-0 record then and are 20-4-0 with one game to play this year.  Cathedral has beaten most of the top contenders until their loss to Mahtomedi.  They have beaten Section 1A Mankato East 5-1, Section 2A teams Orono 9-6, Breck 6-1, and Delano 6-0, Section 3A defending champs Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato 5-0 and Luverne 8-1, Section 4A South St. Paul 5-2, Section 5A Chisago Lakes 9-0, Section 6A rivals Alexandria 3-2 and Sartell 5-1, and Section 8A teams East Grand Forks 7-2, Warroad 7-0, and Thief River Falls 3-2.  The Crusaders have lost to Section 7 favorite Hermantown 2-1 in OT.

This year the Crusaders are more of an offensive machine with eight forwards scoring in the double digits led by two juniors; Blake Perbix (56 points/38 assists) and Jack Smith (50 points/28 goals).  Seniors Jackson Savoie (28 points/14 goals) and Nate Martin (21 points/13 goals) provide the experience; juniors Reid Bogenholm (28 points/21 assists), Ethan Cumming (22 points/15 assists), and CJ Zins (23 points/17 assists) provide the depth.  Sophomore Cullen Hiltner (34 points/18 goals) has emerged as a threat in the late season.  Bogenholm, Bell, and Zins lead the Crusaders’ defensive corps.  Seniors Talon Lenzen (8 points/7 assists), Luke Schmidt (6 points/5 assists) and Zander Bieniek complete the defense.  Schmidt will swing between defense and wing.  Senior goalie 6’1” Noah Admunson will be finishing his career at Cathedral posting some impressive overall stats posting a 30-8-0 record giving up an average of 2.0 goals per game while stopping 90% of the shots on net.

Section 6A Challangers, Alexandria and Sartell, will make the championship game tough for Cathedral.  Alexandria is a team of home grown talent.  They won the Section 6A ticket to the Xcel last March beating the Crusaders 3-2 in overtime.  Jack Westlund scored the winning goal for Alex getting assisted by Ben Doherty and Caleb Strong.  Those three players have skated together since peewees.  Seniors Doherty (43 points/22 goals) and Jack Westlund (38 points/21 assists), and junior Strong (40 points/24 assists) lead the Cardinals in scoring.  They have done so since playing peewees.  Senior Zach Wosepka (14 points/6 goals), sophomore Joe Westlund (15 points/9 goals), junior Shane Birkeland (10 points/9 assists), senior Ben Jenson (10 points/7 assists), and senior Hunter Croonquist skated with the top three on the 2013-2014 team that played in the 2014 Peewee A state tourney.

The Alexandria defense is led by four players from the 2013-2014 peewee A team; senior Evan Lattimer (6 points/4 goals) and three juniors Andrew Revering (15 points/11 assists), Joseph Bigger (10 points/9 assists) and Matthew Carlsen (4 goals). Junior Derek Pesta and senior Wyatt Blahosky complete the Cardinal defensive corps.  Senior Bailey Rosch is Alex goalie.  Rosch has posted a 14-5-0 record giving up an average of 1.9 goals a game while stopping 92% of the shots on net.  Rosch was in the nets for the peewee team when they surprised everyone by winning the 2013 Burnsville Thanksgiving Tourney.

Alex with their home grown team will give St. Cloud Cathedral a tough game before surrendering the 6A title.  The Cardinal players have a history of skating through problems.  When Dougherty broke his wrist just before the 2014 Peewee A West Regional opened, he still played leading Alex to the state tourney. 

Alex will have to beat Sartell to get to the 6A championship game.  Sartell owns a 1-0 win over Alex this season.  Alexandria will most likely face the Sabers’ senior goalie Cole Bright (8-6-0, 2.8 GAA, 90% saves) again.  Sartell is a senior dominated team and skates two solid lines led by seniors Jack Henneman (40 points/18 goals), Maddux Hagy (24 points/11 goals), and Nick Plautz (21 points/11 goals).  Ninth grader Hayden Walters (21 points/11 goals), junior Ryan Zulkosky (21 points/10 goals), and sophomore Michael Webster (16 points/10 goals) are all scoring in double digits this season.  The Sabers defensive corps has an offensive bent.  They are led by seniors Connor Kalthoff (32 points/21 assists), Austin Adelman (19 points/13 assists) and Camerson Cromwell (11 points/8 assists) and Brock Boerger.  Junior Will Schiffer and sophomore Connor Hacker complete the defense.   

Quarterfinal Game #2 Mankato East (Section 1A): Section 1A seeding has been posted.  Mankato East has been seeded #1; Minnesota River #2; Albert Lea #3, and Rochester Lordes #4.

The prediction here is St. Cloud Cathedral as the #3 seed in the Class A State Tourney will play Mankato East the Section 1A winners.  Section 1A has four teams ranked in the top twenty as the season closes.  Mankato East is #11, Rochester Lourdes is #15, Albert Lea is #16, and Minnesota River is #20.  That is a narrow spread and makes Section 1A’s tourney wide open.  So who will drive Highway 14 to Rochester to challenge Lourds at the Rec Center this year?  Mankato East is the usual favorite in Section 1A.  They are the defending Section 1A champions and have posted a respectable 14-7-2 record.  Six of the ten Section 1A teams (Mankato East/Loyola, Mankato West, Winona/Cotter, Faribault, Albert Lea, and Austin) skate in the Big 9 conference.  Mankato East was contending for the Big 9 title last week before they were pummeled 6-1 by Owatonna Tuesday.  The loss dropped the Cougars into third place in the Big 9 behind Owatonna and Rochester Century.

Three teams will challenge Mankato East for the Section 1A title this year, Rochester Lourdes, Minnesota River, and Albert Lea.  Albert Lea is in fourth place and has one Big 9 game to play against Rochester Mayo.  A win over Mayo and Albert Lea can over take Mankato East in the Big 9 standings.  If they do, that will make the Section 1A seeding most difficult.   

Seniors Sam Schulz (37 points/20 goals), Nolan Michels (13 points/8 goals), Adam Megard (8 points/2 goals) lead a young offense that skated at the Xcel a year ago.  The three seniors team combined with four sophomores-Layten Liffrig (30 points/19 goals), Jacob Schreiber (11 points/6 goals), Jacob Kanzenbach (5 points/3 goals) , and Hayden Guillemette (7 points/5 assists) plus junior Matthew Salzie (24 points/12 goals) to form the core of the Cougars’ offense.  Seniors Parker Steindl (22 points/20 assists) and Jackson Keller (6 points/5 assists) lead a defensive corps that has posted an impressive 37 assists in 22 games.  Sophomores Brett Borchardt (19 points/11 assists), Daniel Bequette, and Ian Mueller plus junior Noah Homich and ninth grader Aiden Prochaska complete the defensive corps.  Mankato East goaltending has been split between freshman Caelin Brueske (6-5-1 record giving up 3.1 goals a game while stopping 89% of the shots on net) and junior JD Kragh (6-1-0 record giving up 3.0 goals a game while stopping 89% of the shots on net).

Six of the 10 Section 1A teams (Mankato East/Loyola, Mankato West, Winona/Cotter, Faribault, Albert Lea, and Austin) skate in the Big 9 conference. 

Section 1A Challangers: Rochester Lourdes and Minnesota River have emerged to challenge the favorite.  Lourdes has beaten Albert Lea 5-4, Breck 5-3, and Southwest Christian 5-2 in posting a 14-10-0 record.  Lourdes is dominated by seniors this year.  Six seniors Dustin Sorensen (46 points/21 goals), Jared Anderson (41 points/29 goals), Paul Hofbauer (26 points/14 goals), Kyle Hickey (26 points/11 goals), Ryan Fitzpatrick (9 points/4 goals), and Reuel Brumley (6 points/5 assists) form the core of the Lourdes offense that is averaging 4 goals a game.  Sorensen usually is paired with Hofbauer and Brumley.  Anderson, Hickey, and Fitzpatrick are a line.  The Lourdes defense is led by seniors Cort Buck (15 points/13 assists), Brady Kraling (7 points/3 goals), Coleton Swee, and Simon Ver Kullen.  Junior Harrison Albrecht (6 points/3 goals) and sophomore Dawson McLaughlin complete the Lourdes defensive corps.  Senior goalie Luke Alexander, sophomore goalie Samuel Decker, and sophomore goalie Griffin Becher have split time in the nets.  Alexander has posted a 7-5-0 record giving up 2.8 goals a game while stopping 88% of the shots on net; Decker has a 4-5-0 record with a 4.2 GAA and 87% saves; Becher has a 3-0-0 record with a 1.0 GAA and 95% saves.  Alexander was in the nets for Lourdes wins over Albert Lea, Southwest Christian, and Breck. 

Minnesota River skates in the Big South Conference and are in a battle with New Ulm for second place behind Marshall.  The Bulldogs are one of the big surprises this season in Minnesota Class A hockey posting a sparkling 18-4-0 record beating Luverne at the Blue Mound 11-1 this week.  Canceled games will keep the Bulldogs from posting a 20 game season.  Six of the top 10 Bulldog forwards are seniors; Hunter Wilmes (47 points/19 goals), Tyson Sowder (35 points/18 goals), Jade Reicks (20 points/7 goals), Ken Ringler (22 points/12 goals), Lane Schwarz (14 points/7 goals), and Blake Olness (7 points/4 goals).  Senior Danny McCabe (17 points/9 goals); juniors Shawn Lehtinen (13 points/5 goals), Zack Wendorff (7 points/3 goals) and Matt Fink (4 points/3 assists) complete the defensive corps.

The Bulldogs’ net is manned by senior goalie, Andrew Regner (13-4-0 record giving up 2.2 goals a game while stopping 92% of the shots on net and Gunner Domine (2-0-0 record giving up 0.9 goals a game while stopping 92% of the shots on net).  Minnesota River lost their opener to North Branch in the Simley Tourney 5-1.  They lost to New Ulm 6-1 and to Mankato East 4-3 in OT.  They had a good shot at finishing the season winning 20 games but the February winter stopped that.  A 20 game winning season would have made it tough to ignore the Bulldogs during the seeding.  The Bulldogs are a coop team representing five high schools (Cleveland, St.Peter, Belle Plaine, Tri-City United, and LeSueur-Henderson).

Section 1A Dark Horse: Albert Lea is unbeaten in their last four games beating Northfield 5-4 and tying Hastings 0-0 at Hastings.  That may seem like a small streak, but it shows that the Tigers maybe gearing up for a run through Section 1A.  Albert Lea is certainly the dark horse in Section 1A this year.  They contended for the Big 9 title, but will have to settle for a runner-up slot.  Class AA Rochester Century will be the likely champs.   The Tigers end their season playing Rochester Century.  The Tigers’ offense is led by four seniors; Cole Wentzel (24 points/13 goals), Carson Goodell (14 points/9 assists), Jack Edwin (9 points/6 assists) and Colby Peterson.  Sophomores Blake Ulve (24 points/15 goals), Marcus Dempewolf (14 points/11 goals), and Isaiah VanRyswyk (15 points/8 goals) have scored 20 of the Tigers’ 54 goals this season.  Juniors Jacob Prihoda (8 points/4 goals) and Culley Larson (10 points/4 goals) complete the core of the Tigers’ offense.     

The Tigers defense is dominated by three juniors and two sophomores.  Only one senior, Griffin Gonzalez, provides the experience.  Juniors Campbell Cichosz (28 points/20 assists), Danny Chalmers (12 points/8 assists), and Hayden Johnston form the core of the defensive corps.  Sophomores Spencer Clark and Caden Severtson complete the Tigers’ defense.  Johnston (6’4”) and Clark (6’1”) have size.  The Tigers’ nets are manned by three senior goalies.  All have played.  Jacob Ball has posted a 3-4-0 record giving up an average of 3.3 goals a game while stopping 89% of the shots on net; Jaxon Hellman (6’1”) has a 8-3-1 record giving up 1.6 goals a game while stopping 94% of the shots on net; and Erik Hareid has posted a 2-0-0 record giving up 2.0 goals a game while stopping 92% of the shots on net.

Section 1A is becoming predictable in that four teams (Rochester Lourdes, Mankato East, Minnesota River, and Albert Lea) most likely will be in the semifinals. What is not predictable is which of the four will make the trip to the Xcel.  When dealing with unknowns, resort to experience and that is defending champs Mankato East this year.  But Mankato East’s late season loss St. Cloud 6-2, Minnesota River’s impressive 11-1 win over Luverne at Luverne indicates that Section 1A is a wide open affair for one of those four to make it to the Xcel.

Quarterfinal Game #2 Summary: St. Cloud Cathedral will play a solid game and Mankato East will either come to play or choose to struggle.  Both teams have players who skated in the Class A tourney at the Xcel in previous seasons.  Hard to believe Cathedral will lose.     

Quarterfinal Game #3: # 1 Seeded Hermantown (Section 7A) versus Monticello (Section 5A):

Quarterfinal Game #3: Hermantown (Section 7A): Hermantown is the cream of Section 7A.  Two weeks ago, they were the cream of Minnesota Class A hockey, but that soured a bit last week when they edged  Mahtomedi in overtime 2-1 on the road, edged Virginia 5-3 at home, and tied Cloquet 2-2 only 20 miles down Highway 33.  That tie cost the Hawks the Lake Superior Conference championship.  They have to settle for being co-champs with Cloquet.

Still the Hawks have posted a 20-3-2 record beating Grand Rapids 5-2 in their final game.  A 20 game winning season in Section 7A literally hands the Hawks the ticket to the Xcel.  The Hawks ended the season on a 15 game unbeaten streak (which includes a 3-3 tie with Minnetonka).  At the Class A tourney in three weeks from now, Hermantown should rise to the top.  Hawks holds wins this season over nearest challengers to their title chase, Totino Grace 4-1 at home and St. Cloud Cathedral 2-1 in OT on the road.  Hermantown’s three losses were to Class AA teams-Wayzata 4-3, Rosemount 3-2, and Benilde-St. Margaret’s 3-2.  They have beaten Class AA teams Eden Prairie 5-3, Lakeville South 1-0, before tying Minnetonka 3-3.

The Hawks look to be shoo-ins to add another state title flag to hang above their home ice.  From afar though there are some weaknesses.  What curdles their cream a little is that Mahtomedi lost to Totino Grace 5-1 in a home game played a week before the Hawks overtime win on the same ice.  Then last week, they had to work hard to earn a 5-3 win over Virginia on home ice.  Virginia was not on the radar in the 7A title chase before that game.

Hermantown has a young team (six seniors).  Offensively, the Hawks are led by junior Blake Biondi (54 points/24 goals) and sophomore Joey Pierce (35 points/17 goals).  Four senior forwards; Justin Thomas (31 points/14 goals), Brady Baker (19 points/14 goals), Elliot Peterson (21 points/17 assists), and Ben Siljendahl provide the veteran offensive leadership for the perennial state tourney entrants.  Sophomores Ethan Lund, Aaron Pionk, and Cole Antcliff; junior Drew Sams; and Aydyn Dowd complete the Hawks’ offense.

Defensively, two seniors led the Hawks; Sam High (23 points/14 assists) and Darian Gotz (21 points/15 assists).  Two juniors, Indio Dowd (11 points/11 assists) and Zach Carson (6 points/5 assists), plus one sophomore (Jackson Lucia (13 points/11 assists) and one ninth grader Jack Glockle (4 points/3 assists) complete the Hawks defense.  Senior goalie Cole Manahan has played over 1200 minutes in the net posting a 19-3-1 record giving up an average of 1.7 goals a game while stopping 92% of the shots on net.

Section 7A Challengers-Three teams are playing above .500 hockey in Section 7A.  Besides Hermantown, Eveleth/Gilbert (12-11-1) and Duluth Denfeld (13-8-3) have posted winning seasons.  Denfeld has a 7-1-1 record against Section 7A foes.  Greenway is a third contender and has an 9-2-0 Section 7A record, but has a losing record 12-13-0.  And then there is dark horse Virginia.  As the high school hockey season ends, players tire.  Players can feel fatigue early in the games.

Denfeld and Greenway ended their seasons on an up note winning in the last three weeks; Eveleth ended on sour note losing in the last three weeks.  attrition and fatigue sets in.  It is the nature of the sport.  Hockey is more of marathon race than a mile or a sprint.

Denfeld offense skates two solid lines built with four seniors.  Senior Payton Budisalovich (38 points/22 assists) and junior Griffin Lehet (38 points/24 goals) are leading the team in scoring.  Three seniors, Zach DeCaro (27 points/16 assists), Jacob Eskola (26 points/18 assists), and Logan Jasper (15 points/11 assists) provide the depth.  Sophomore Kade Shea (30 points/10 goals) completes the top six.  Lehet anchors a line with Jasper and Eskola and provides the offensive spark for the Hunters.  Two seniors, Darren Shykes (19 points/17 assists), Dominic Klaas, and Matt Rukavina lead the Hunters’ defensive corps.  Junior Dylan Jouppi (13 points/12 assists) and sophomores Parker Ray and Jace Anderson complete the Hunter defense.  Junior Shawn Easty (6-4-2, 2.8 GAA, 90% saves) and sophomore Jacob Snyder (7-4-1, 3.4 GAA, 88% saves) have split the ice time going into the Section 7A tourney.  Snyder was in the nets for the Hunters 5-3 win over Duluth Marshall this week stopping 33 of 36 shots.

Greenway has played some great games this season and lost most of them.  Most notable is an early 5-4 loss in overtime to Class AA Chaska followed the next day by a 5-4 to Orono in overtime.  The Green Wave have lost to Blake, Moorhead, East Grand Forks, Mahtomedi, Denfeld, and Hermantown in close games.  Still, they are the unbeaten Iron Range Conference Champs this year with wins over Eveleth and Virginia.  They are capable of pulling an upset in the Section 7A tourney.  Five days separate the Section 7A semifinals from the championship game.  To get a shot at Hermantown, Greenway will most likely have to beat Denfeld and then wait those five days.

If the Raiders get to the Amsoil finals, they will be led by two senior forwards Donte Lawson (45 points/22 goals) and Nikolai Rajala (30 points/20 assists) and junior Ben Troumbly (28 points/13 goals).  Senior Tristan Birdsall (18 points/10 goals) and juniors Mitchell Vekich (19 points/10 goals) and Micah Gernander (11 points/7 assists) add depth.  Their defensive corps are anchored by senior Cameron Lantz (14 points/10 assists) and Christian Miller (14 points/12 assists).  Senior Aaron Elich, juniors Brock Trboyevich and Aiden Rajala, and sophomore Ty Donahue complete the defensive.  Senior goaltender Tyler Penny (6-10-0, 3.5 GAA, 88% saves) and junior Logan Wright (3-3-0, 2.2 GAA, 92% saves) split the game time this season.  Greenway ended their season with an 8-4 win over Eveleth.    

Eveleth/Gilbert emerged to take the Iron Range Conference top spot early in the season and figured to be the one team to challenge Hermantown in Section 7A.  But the junior dominated team faded in the past month.  Seniors Josh James (18 points/9 goals), Brendan Graves, and Gavin Maki (11 points/6 goals) lead the Eveleth offense.  Juniors Elliot Van Orsdel (38 points/20 goals), Cole Meyer (15 points/9 goals), Nathan Tassoni (12 points/7 assists), Hunter Levander (9 points/6 assists), Alex Haas (4 points/3 assists), Bryce Kopp (9 points/6 assists), and Cody Stanisich form the core of the Eveleth offense.

The Golden Bears’ defense is led by three juniors Will Troutwine (26 points/18 assists), Gage Everson (15 goals/12 assists), and Nick Beaudette (16 points/9 goals).  Senior Bobby Lind and sophomores Ty Mason complete the Golden Bears defensive corps.  The goaltending has been split between two seniors and two juniors.  Six foot two inch senior, Kodi Intihar, has a 1-1-1 record giving up an average of 2.8 goals a game while stopping 90% of the shots on net.  Six foot two inch junior, Noah Shuck, has posted a 5-4-0 record giving up an average of 2.8 goals a game while stopping 89% of the shots on goal.  Senior Baylee Grahek has a 3-0-0 record giving up an average of 1.7 goals a game while stopping 92% of the shots on net and 6’0” junior, Mack Lautigar, has a 1-3-0 record giving up an average of 2.8 goals a game while stopping 89% of the shots on net.

Section 7A is the domain of the Hawks.  No challenger has surfaced until that 5-3 win over Virginia.  But is that game a fluke or indication that the Section 7A teams have leveled after playing 25 games.  The Hawks should end up playing Virginia in the semifinals at Amsoil and then the winner of Denfeld/Greenway in the championship game.  Can Hermantown be beaten?  It does not look so. Hermantown wins Section 7A and gets the #1 seed to the Class A tourney.  They will likely play the winner of Section 5A.

Quarterfinal Game #3-Monticello (Section 5A): Section 5A seedings have been posted.  Monticello is the #1 seed; North Branch is the #2 seed; Princeton is the #3 seed; and Chisago Lakes and Pine City area are the #4 and #5 seeds.  Section 5A has the high seed hosting the game through the semifinals.  Only the final game is skated on neutral ice (Elk River).  Ten teams will be skating in the tourney.  Monticello and North Branch are clearly the favorites and will most likely be seeded #1 and #2.  Princeton and Pine City Area are the challengers.

Monticello (16-7-1) is the defending Section 5A champs and will be playing for their third straight Class A ticket to the Xcel.  Two years ago, the Moose pushed Hermantown to the end in the Class A State Tourney Championship game before losing 4-3.  Last year, North Branch posted a 20-5-0 record and lost to Monticello in the Section 5A finals 4-1.  But North Branch has struggled as the season ended this year.  The Vikings have posted a good winning season again 14-7-2 with two games left to play, but they have struggled losing 4 of their last 6 games including a 4-3 loss to Chisago Lakes.  Monticello ended their season losing to St. Cloud Cathedral 3-0.

Monticello’s offense is led by senior Troy Dahlheimer (51 points/25 goals).  Though Dahlheimer attracts a lot of their opponent’s attention, the offense goes deep with seven players in double figures.  Seniors Nick Foldesi (31 points/15 goals), Jake Friede (16 points/9 goals), and Dane Reimringer provide the core experience.  Juniors Jeff Henrikson (26 points/15 goals), Brian Cornelius (17 points/10 assists), Huntley Hinz (15 points/12 goals), and Matt Miller (11 points/7 assists) complete the Moose offense.  Juniors Chase Bocken (26 points/19 assists) and Jacob Sorenson (14 points/11 assists) lead the defensive corps; seniors Kaleb Holme and Justin Fobbe provide the experience; and sophomore Ben Miller (10 points/4 goals) and Jesse Dechene complete the defense.  Sophomore Nash Wilson (13-5-0, 2.8 GAA, 89% saves) and junior Riley Geyen Helget (3-2-1, 3.1 GAA, 85% saves) handle the Moose nets.

Challengers: North Branch has posted a winning season (16-7-2), but the Vikings maybe a year away from getting to the Xcel.  Still they will likely play the Moose in the finals at Elk River.  The Vikings lost 4-2 and 3-2 to the Moose this the season.  Junior goalie Jake Turek was in the nets for North Branch for both games.  Turek has skated every minute in the Vikings net this season and if they reach state, he will have played 1500 minutes.  Turek has given up an average of 2.4 GAA while stopping 92% of the shots on net.  In the Vikings’ narrow losses to Monticello, both Turek and the Moose goalie faced 50+ shots.  Goaltending will be a deciding factor in the Section 5A championship game. 

Turek’s has three senior defensemen skating in front of him, Justin Sachs (17 points/9 goals), Roger Thomas (5 points/5assists), and Andrew Osland.  Ninth grader Alex Langevin (6 points/4 assists), sophomore Jordan Axberg, and junior Zachariah Larson complete the Vikings’ defense.  Two seniors, one junior, and three sophomores lead the Vikings offense.  Seniors Jacob Richards (24 points/12 goals) and Matt Courtright (11 points/7 assists) and junior Dawson Johnson (7 points/4 assists) provide the offensive experience; sophomores Cody Croal (38 points/20 goals), Joey Kerchner (23 points/13 goals), and Tucker Sachs (18 points/11 goals) provided the scoring this season.

Pine City Area (15-9-2) is the dark horse in Section 5A.  The Dragons had played well this season beating Breck 7-4 early, tying Monticello 2-2, tying North Branch 1-1, beating Denfeld 4-3 and ending their season with a win over Gentry Academy 4-1.  Junior goalie, Alex Laven, has been the mainstay in the Pine City nets posting a 10-7-2 record with a 3.0 GAA while stopping 90% shots on net.  Senior goalie Logan Belau (4-2-0, 3.0 GAA, 85%) has played well in his starts.

The Dragons’ defense is led by four juniors Dusty Bergstrom (34 points/15 goals), Gabe Westbrook (21 points/6 goals), Luke Fabini (10 points/3 goals), and Justin Gamec.  Senior Dereck Trierweiler and sophomore Justin Carpenter complete the defensive corps.  Dusty Bergstrom has been a rock for the Dragons playing all 75 regular games since he won the starting position as a ninth grader.  The 6’1, 189 lb, Bergstrom has posted 98 points, 34 goals, and 64 assists in three regular seasons play.  The Dragons’ offense has eight players scoring in double digits this season led by junior George Miller (37 points/19 goals).  Four seniors anchor their top lines, Jordan Stich (25 points/10 goals), Tommy Ryan (15 points/11 assists), Joey Mikyska (18 points/11 goals), and Kyle Wiener (12 points/9 assists).  Sophomores Parker Sell (22 points/14 assists) and Peyton Smetana (10 points/7 assists) have scored in double digits in regular season play.  Pine City Area is the dark horse this year in 5A.

Princeton and Chisago Lakes are possible champs in 5A.  Princeton has a winning record (14-11-0) but has lost six Section 5A games (Monticello twice, North Branch twice, split with Chisago Lakes, and Pine City Area).  Princeton has two of the state’s top scorers in senior Matthew Swanson (65 points/24 goals) and Jack Southard (61 points/37 goals).  The Tigers have finished the season in a funk losing their last 7 games.  Chisago Lakes has posted a 14-11-0 record and beat North Branch 4-3 last week.  They followed that win with a loss to Monticello 5-2.  The Lakes have some depth at forwards in Thomas Overgaard (33 points/18 goals), Tate Swanson (25 points/11 goals), Jackson Waltman (24 points/11 goals), and Jonny Bodell (20 points/13 goals).  They have a senior goalie who has played over a 1,000 minutes in the nets this regular season in Brooks Stangl (13-7-0, 2.8 GAA, 89% saves); but outside of defensemen Justin Lawry (17 points/12 assists) and Sam Helland (13 points/11 assists), the Wildcats defensive corps struggle.

Quarterfinal Game #3 Summary: Hermantown’s depth should prevail; but Monticello is one of those teams.  This will be the third trip for a number of the Moose players to the state and that is matched by the Hawks.  If the Moose keep it close, thing could be exciting in the third period.

Class A Quarterfinal Game #4: #4 Seeded Warroad (Section 8A) versus #5 Seeded Delano (Section 2A)

Quarterfinal Game #4 Warroad (Section 8A): Section 8A seeds have been posted.  East Grand Forks has been seeded #1; Thief River Falls has been seeded #2; Warroad has been seeded #3; and Crookston/Detroit Lakes has been seeded 4/5.  Quarterfinal games will be played Thursday February 21st at the higher seed’s home ice. 

The Green Wave is ranked in the top five in the state among Class A teams posting a 17-8-0 regular season record and an 8-1-0 Section.  Thief River Falls and Warroad are their competitors.  The seeding reflects that.  Detroit Lakes (16-6-2) and Kittson Central (15-7-0) were surprises this season.  Crookston (8-16-1) being seeded fourth had to be based on head-to-head (the Pirates split with Detroit Lakes and beat Kittson Central in regular season play).  What Hermantown is to the rest of Section 7A; East Grand Forks is to the rest of Section 8A only narrower.  This year, EGF has backed into the Section 8A playoffs posting a losing 6-7 record since the start of the year.  The Green Wave beat TRF twice during those 13 games but lost big to Warroad on the road 6-3 two weeks ago.  Warroad has finished their season on an up note posting a 4-1-2 record tying Denfeld and Roseau and there is some history involved.  But the pick here is Warroad.

Most of the Warroad Peewee A state tourney team are juniors and sophomores on this year’s varsity.  Their top peewee A players for that 2016 team, juniors Grant Slukynsky (52 points/25 goals) and Owen Meeker (40 points/13 goals), and sophomore Anthony Foster (29 points/15 goals) lead the varsity in scoring.  Luke Johnson (13 points/6 goals), Sky Solig (10 points/6 assists), Cade Wallace (8 points/5 assists), and Saizha Norwegian (7 points/5 assists) complete the offense.

This season, Warroad split their goal tending between Zach Foster (7-3-2, 1.8 GAA, 91% saves) and Max Gausen (6-6-0, 2.9 GAA, 88% saves) and makes no bones about it.  The split was right down the middle with each goalie getting over 600 minutes in the net.  The Warriors skate four defensemen-senior Hunter Pelland (21 points/15 assists), junior Gage Wilmer (15 points/13 assists), sophomore Blake Norris (12 points/9 assists), and Cooper Cole (12 points/10 assists).  It is a defense that just plays steady and can trigger the offense.  Norris skated on the 2016 peewee A team.  Warroad has outscored their opponents 2-1 and are looking to make that run to state, this time to the Class A tourney.

The Green Wave’s offense is senior dominated.  Its top three scorers in regular season play are all seniors-Tanner Mack (37 points/18 goals), Carter Beck (29 points/18 assists), and Jake Hjelle (25 points/13 goals) will be graduating.  Three juniors (Cole Avery-18 points/11 goals), Mason Poolman (12 points/6 goals, Cooper Holm-10 points/8 assists) and one sophomore (Landon Parker-21 points/11 goals) all scored in double figures in regular season play.  Ninth grade defensiveman Trey Ausmus (23 points/16 assists) leads the Green Wave defensive corps.  Two seniors, Luke Vonesh (14 points/12 assists) and Ethan Trebil (8 points/8 assists); junior Josh Nelson (12 points/10 assists); and sophomores Logan Spencer (10 points/9 assists) and Brandon Anderson (4 points/3 goals) complete the defensive corps.  Senior Goalie Tucker Brown has been the ironman in the EGF nests posting over 1100 minutes played in regular season (15-8-0, 2.3 GAA, 87% saves).

Thief River Falls posted a 3-4-1 record in the last month of the season losing EGF twice, Roseau, and Bemidji by a single goal.  In six of those games, the Prowlers scored a total of 12 goals.  Offense scoring is needed and it appears that TRF has the firepower with seven players scoring in double figures in regular season led by four juniors Evan Bushy (33 points/18 goals), Tucker Skime (27 points/18 assists), Grant Hartmann (23 points/10 goals), and Brockston Masseth (22 points/15 assists).  Two seniors, Hunter Larsen (17 points/11 goals) and Daltyn Quam (11 points/6 goals) and sophomore Kaden Bakken (16 points/10 assists) complete the top seven Prowler scorers.  Bushy and Quam lead the defensive corps; Skime, Hartmann, Masseth, Larson, and Bakken lead the offense.  Quam is one of four seniors on the TRF defense.  Defensemen Kaeden Kempert (8 points/6 assists), Gunnar Fellman, and Kaleb Flaagen will be graduating.  Junior goalie Noah Rupprercht has been in the nets for most of the Prowler games playing over 1100 minutes posting a 13-7-2 record giving up 1.5 goals a game while stopping 93% of the shots on net.

Crookston posted a 7-12-1 record and are led by three seniors, forward Erick Delorme (40 points/20 goals), defenseman Logan Wardner (12 points/10 assists), and goalie Jack Ricord (6-10-1, 3.6 GAA, 88% saves).  The Pirates will play Detroit Lakes in the Section 8A quarterfinals.  The two teams split their two games this season each losing on home ice.  The big red “D” Lakers have had a good regular season posting 16-6-2 record.  The Lakers’ offense is led by five seniors, Roland Cormier (33 points/19 goals), Trey Seebold (31 points/13 goals), Will Stowman (25 points/13 goals), Jackson Carlblom (23 goals/15 assists), and Will Green (17 points/9 goals).  Junior Nick Lund (24 points/13 goals) and sophomore Jake Green (11 points/9 assists) also ended the season in double figures.  Sophomore Breaden Wimmer (16 points/12 assists) and junior Jackson Fields (15 points/11 assists) lead a defensive corps that skates no seniors.  Junior goalie Blake Itzen has posted nearly 1200 minutes in the nets for Detroit Lakes (16-5-1, 2.2GAA, 90% saves).  Kittson Central has played well this season posting a 15-7-0 record winning the Northwest Conference title.  They are a young team that can score.  Eight forwards ended the season in double figures.  Sophomores Calvin Hanson (47 points/27 goals) and Adam Gustafson (26 points/12 goals) led the Kittson in scoring.  Sophomore Hayden Hennen (25 points/10 goals) and senior Josh Rynning (12 points/7 goals) led the defense.  Sophomore goalie Wyatt Olsonawski posted over 11 00 minutes in the net (15-7-0, 2.6 GAA, 90% saves).

Section 8A summary: Most will favor East Grand Forks in this section, but the Green Wave has struggled through the last two months of the season where Warroad has ended its season on the positive side.  EGF should beat Detroit Lakes and Warroad should beat Thief River Falls to set up a Warrior win over the Green Wave.           

Quarterfinal Game #4 Delano (Section 2A): Orono drew the #1 seed in Section 2A; Delano, skating well at the end of the season drew the #2 seed; and Mound/Westonka who has struggled as the season ended was seeded #3.  Breck and Waconia were seeded #4 and #5.  Orono will play the winner of Bloomington Kennedy/Providence Academy play-in game.  Delano draws Southwest Cristian and MWT plays Minneapolis.

Section 2A was a two team race a month ago between Orono and Mound/Westonka.  In the last six weeks, both Orono and Mound/Westonka’s play consisted of upsets and inconsistent play.  Neither team could establish itself as the clear choice.  That created opportunity for the other seven Section 2A teams and Delano stepped up 6-0-1 in its last seven games including a 3-2 win over Orono at Orono. In sense it is no surprise to find the Tigers skating well at the end of the season, they skated well in the Red and Black leagues over the spring and fall last year earning respect from their opponents.  Today Delano is the pick to win Section 2A here.  The combination of being a steady team over the season and respect earned make them the favorite.

Delano ended their season with a 6-0-1 record.  Clearly their defense has emerged giving up just 10 goals in those 7 games and their offense has kept on scoring posting 26 goals in those seven games.  The late season run netted the Tigers the #2 seed.  The Tigers offense is led by seniors Hogan Williams (31 points/13 goals), Quinn Daly (24 points/12 goals), Joesph Blanchard (23 points/14 assists), and Tommy Peterson (18 points/14 assists).  Juniors Kory Dunnigan (13 points/7 goals) and Michael Weber (14 points/8 assists) and sophomore Adam Brown (28 points/15 goals) were all in double figures on the season.   

Delano has been skating five defensemen.  Seniors Luke Truax (12 points/11 assists) and Garrett Durst (8 points/3 goals) return along with junior Chuck Campion (7 points/6 assists) lead the defense.   Sophomores Jack Keranen (14 points/10 assists) and Colin Pettit (8 points/8 assist) complete the defensive corps.  Senior goalie Aaron Kruse (10-6-1, 2.9 GAA, 89% saves) returns.  Kruse has split time in the nest with junior Cade Lommel (4-3-1, 2.8 GAA, 89% saves) in the Tiger nets.

 

Orono is a team dominated by seniors and juniors.  Only one sophomore skates for the Spartan varsity.  They has size and strength and return a number of starters from last season’s Class A state championship team.  Orono is loaded at defense with seniors Daniel Eckerline (22 points/18 assists), Jack Kubitz (17 points/6 goals), Zach Adams (16 points/12 assists) leading the defensive corps.  Juniors Jack Anderson (14 points/11 assists) and Freddie Brophy and senior Anders Gulbrandson complete the defense.  Goaltenders senior Charles Carlsen (7-5-0, 3.5 GAA, 85% saves) and junior Finn Grandy (9-4-0, 1.9 GAA, 91% saves) have split the time in the nets.

Junior Zack Simon provides the spark in the Spartans’ offense.  Junior Nick Mohs-Messerli (31 points/15 goals) and Jamie Bazil (21 points/8 goals) have emerged to take over the #2 and #4 spots in Orono’s scoring.  Seniors Fisher Eiss (24 points/19 assists), Tyler Olsen (17 points/10 assists), Sam Antonenko (13 points/6 goals), Will Walz (10 points/7 goals), and Daniel Walker (9 points/4 goals) form the core of the Spartans offense and provides the depth.

Mound Westonka was on a roll for most of the season until Jan 15th.  The White Hawks beat archrival Orono 4-3 and then celebrated much too soon.  They won only one game going 1-6-2 the rest of the regular season and backed into the #3 seed.  What makes it strange is that the White Hawks have the scoring power, but they still lose.  Senior Ethan Vandenheuvel leads the offense scoring 25 points/11 goals.  Seniors Britt Courneya (21 points/12 assists), Alex Farwell (19 points/9 goals), Luke Holmen (16 points/8 goals), Zach Simmons (11 points/6 goals), and Blake Harmer (10 points/4 goals) give MWT two solid senior oriented lines.  Junior Alex Flemal, ninth graders Trent Bowe and Michael Doshan, and sophomores Ivan Sunder and Mitch Krebsbach complete the White Hawks offense.    

For the second year in a row, senior Carter Hansen has led the White Hawk’s defense this year posting 25 points/17 assists.  Carter is one of three White Hawk senior defensemen.  JP Oftedahl and Davey Peterson will graduate this year.  Juniors Adam Nobs and Jacob Gutekunst and sophomore Louie Timberg complete the defensive corps.  Senior goaltender, Noah Coley skated 1143 minutes in the nets for MWT posting a 12-8-2, 2.5 GAA, 90% save record.  Junior Darby Miller has played well posting 2-2-0, 4.4 GAA, 85% on the season.

Breck The Mustangs are the #4 seed in Section 2A this season.  The finished second in the IMAC conference and had a losing record on the season (12-13-0).  Breck ended their season playing three top ranked Class A teams losing to St. Cloud Cathedral 6-1, Mahtomedi 4-2, and Totino Grace 5-1.  The Mustangs skate one solid line led by sophomore Beau Courneya (34 points/16 goals).  Seniors Matthew Conroy (23 points/12 goals) and Will Surucu (10 points/6 assists) and sophomore Carter Oftedahl (20 points/9 goals) have scored in double figures.  Seniors David Ruiz (14points/12 assists) and Quinton Wormald lead the Breck defensive corps.  Junior John Blake (21 points/12 goals), sophomore Cade Berman, ninth grader Carter Theissen (11 points/11 assists) complete the defensive corps.  Junior goaltender Sean Reiling has been the Breck mainstay in the nets posting 1129 minutes with a 10-12-0, 3.0 GAA, 90% saves record.   

Waconia finished last in the Wright County Conference and posted a winning record on the season 12-11-2.  That was good enough to earn the #5 seed.  Six seniors form the core of the Waconia’s offense led by Zac Holm (32 points/14 goals) and Eli Bruellman (29 points/15 goals).  Tommy Lindstrom (27 points/11 goals), Jacob Gregor (12 points/11 goals), Adam Yanik (16 points/8 goals), and Ayden Rakos (10 points/8 goals) will be graduating.  Junior Chase Holcumb (12 points/9 assists) and sophomore Jack O’Brien (12 points/7 assists) scored in double figures in regular season play.  Defensively, seniors Nick Norling (14 points/11 assists) and Jack Jones lead the team.  Junior Max Grundhofer and sophomores Gus Leivermann and Danny Appelgren complete the Waconia defense.  Joe Huskey (6-6-1, 4.1 GAA, 84% saves), Cade Corbin (3-2-1, 4.3 GAA, 84% saves, and Mikey Behring (3-3-0, 2.8 GAA, 92% savers) have split the time in the nets.

Section 2A summary: For those who are sometime hockey fans, one way to understand the action on the ice is to watch for the “mini-races”.  A “mini-race” occurs when two players go for a loose puck.  Each race is less than 2 seconds.  They happen all the time and there can be three outcomes, either player gains control or the puck is tied up.  In games where teams are evenly matched, those races often determine the winner.  Section 2A consists of a 9 teams that can play well on any given night.  There is no automatic kind of win in the section this year.  This write-up focused on the top seeds, but Bloomington Kennedy, Southwest Cristian, Minneapolis, and Providence Academy have skated well and can pull the “upset”.  Mini-races are a sign that a team is ready.  Mound/Westonka beat Orono by winning the majority of those mini-races, but lost that drive in their season ending games.  Orono tries to use their size to win those races and in hockey size can be beaten.  Delano showed they had that drive at the end of the season, winning mini-races.  Delano should win Section 2A.     

Quarterfinal Game 4 Summary: Delano and Warroad have not played each other this season.  Warroad should be tough and ready to play; so will Delano.  Both teams have similar depth, but Warroad is a more of the gambler and the Tigers more patient.  Delano should win by turning Warrior mistakes into goals.

December 13, 2018: MN Boys High School Class A rankings by section


Mankato East versus Mound Westonka won by East 2-1

Class A Tournament

Believe it or not, after this week’s games, the Minnesota High School 2018-2019 hockey season will be a third gone.  With each team having played approximately 8 of their 25 regular season games.  This is a early look at the sectional races for seeds to the eight sectional tourneys.  The seeding will be done in mid-February 2019.  The eight Class A sectional tourneys will open February 16th.  For the 2018-2019 season, 82 high school teams have been registered by the MSHSL to play Class A this season.  The MSHSL has assigned the 82 teams to eight Class A sections.  The teams are ranked within these sections at the end of the year and seeded by the coaches.  Each section holds a single elimination tournament with the winner traveling to the Xcel Center in St. Paul MN to play in the Class A State Tourney March 6-9, 2019.  All eight sections have 9, 10, 11, or 12 teams and are grouped geographically.  Section 7A teams are located mostly in the Arrowhead country; Section 8A teams are from the Northwestern part of the state; and so on.  Sections 2A, 6A, and 7A will start earlier with their tournaments with play-in games.  All sections will be reduced to an eight team bracket play after any play in games with all play-in and quarterfinal games played on the home ice of the higher seed. 

Class A Sectional Rankings

This ranking is based on this corner of YHH's opinion and experience and is the result of watching some 200 high school games in the past Spring, Summer, and Fall and includes watching Summer Training Program Tourneys in Eagan,  Burnsville, and Blaine. 

Section 1A: Most of the teams in Section 1A are from Southeastern MN.  Six teams of the 10 teams (Mankato East/Loyola, Mankato West, Winona/Cotter, Faribault, Albert Lea, and Austin) skate in the Big 9 conference.  Typically Big 9 teams play half of their 25 games within the conference.  Albert Lea and Mankato East finished third and fourth last season in Big 9 play.  Minnesota River and Waseca skate in the Big South Conference.  La Cresent-Hokah and Rochester Lourdes/Dover-Eyota skate an independent schedule.  In Section 1A, Minnesota River is the surprise in the early season posting a 6-1 record.  The Bulldogs lost their opener to North Branch in the Simley Tourney 5-1.  They play Hutchinson this Thursday, New Ulm and Mankato East in back to back games December 20th and December 22nd, and Marshall January 5th.  That is a tough schedule and will determine just how good the Bulldogs are this year.  The Bulldogs are a coop team representing five high schools (Cleveland, St.Peter, Belle Plaine, Tri-City United, and LeSueur-Henderson).

Mankato East/Loyola is the usual favorite in Section 1A and the defending Section 1A champions.  The Cougars have posted a 3-2 record in the early going including wins over Hopkins (5-1) and Mound/Westonka (5-3).  They lost to Hudson WI 4-2 and Rochester Mayo in a Big 9 tilt 5-2.  Mankato East will be playing in a St. Cloud holiday tourney.  They will play three tough opponents back to back starting with Sartell-St. Stephens, then St. Cloud Cathderal, and then Monticello.  Rochester Lourdes has posted a 4-3 record with all three losses at the hands of Wright County Conference teams (Waconia 4-2, Hutchinson 4-3, and Mound/Westonka 4-3).

Section 1A Ranking: #1 Mankato East/Loyola, #2 Minnesota River, and #3 Rochester Lourdes

Section 2A is wide open with a third of the season played.  The defending Class A state champs, Orono, lost their first two games, won three including a 7-1 sectional win over Minneapolis, and to Chaska 7-1.  They have size on defense both in their defensemen and in both of their goalies, but the defense have been under the gun.  In their three losses, the defense has given up 128 shots on net and 20 goals.  In their three wins, the defense held the shots on goal to 51 giving up three goals.  Orono’s has to step up to keep the Section 2A title and a chance at a repeat.  The Spartans play Breck, Holy Family Catholic, and Bloomington Kennedy in their remaining games in 2018.  Mound/Westonka lost a Section 2A matchup to Bloomington Kennedy 4-3 Saturday.  That loss will hurt at seeding time in February.  The White Hawks have posted a 5-2 record in their first seven games.  Mound Westonka is young this year and have speed.  The White Hawks will skate five more games this calendar year starting with Minnehaha Thursday.  These five games will test the strength of the team and set the tone for how they are seeded in Section 2A in February.

Waconia is a surprise this early season posting a 5-1 record including Section 2A wins over Southwest Christian 4-0 and Providence Academy 7-6.  Waconia faces Bloomington Kennedy, Delano, and Minneapolis in their next three games.  All three games are against Section 2A opponents. Waconia will play Kennedy at home Saturday, a team that lost to Delano 11-1 and then beat Mound Westonka 4-3.  Delano has a 1-4-1 record losing all four games on the road.  The Tigers who skated in the Red and Black league this past year were players that most skaters from other schools wanted to skate with.  They host Holy Family this Saturday.  The Tigers “big chill” arena is funky and tough to win in.    Add Breck to the mix just because the school always competes well in hockey, and Section 2A is wide open but the surprise in 2A could be Southwest Christian. 

Section 2A rankings: #1 Orono, #2 Southwest Christian/Richfield, #3 Delano, #4 Waconia, #5 Mound/Westonka, and #6 Breck.  Why Southwest Christian is ranked #2?  Simple, they have senior Lucas Haugen in the nets.  Haugen has faced 201 shots in the Stars first six games posting a 4-2 record stopping 95% of the shots on net.  Haugen skated 717 minutes in the nets for Team Southeast (most high school goalies play 1100 minutes in a season) in the fall Elite League posting a 5-5-1 record giving up 3.7 goals a game while stopping 90% of the shots on net.    

Section 3A is not wide open.  Normally, the Section 3A playoffs are the domain of Big South Conference Champs Luverne who usually get upset by Hutchinson or Litchfield in the championship.  That 3A championship game is a great one to see.  But this seems to be the year of Marshall.  The Tigers are currently leading the Big South and are being challenged by Minnesota River that will skate in the 1A Sectinals in February.  Luverne is down and New Ulm lost to Marshall a week ago.  Two Wright County teams, Hutchinson and Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato, always contend, but Marshall has emerged at the top early in this season posting a 5-1 record beating Luverne 6-2, New Ulm 5-2, and Hutchinson 6-3 while losing to #3 ranked in ND, Fargo Davies 5-2.  Marshall is the favorite here to represent Section 3A at the Xcel.  The Tigers should win the Schwan Open Cup tourney played at Blaine over the Christmas Holidays.  If they win that tourney, they will likely beat the remaining teams on their schedule.  New Ulm appears to be the next best team led by senior goalie Jack Raymond and junior forward Glavine Schugel.  Both players played in the Red and Black league this past year.

Section 3A Rankings: #1 Marshall, #2 New Ulm, and #3 Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato. 

Section 4A: Since the 2012-2013 season ended and St. Thomas Academy moved to Class AA, the Section 4A starts each season with the same question, how good is Mahtomedi?  The Zephyrs have made it to the Xcel the past two years and three of the five past years since St. Thomas Academy moved.  Section 4A is becoming Mahtomedi’s domain.  The Zephyrs are 3-1 in the early season.  Their only loss was to Hill-Murray 4-3 in what has become an emotionally charged Metro East Conference rivalry.  The Zephyrs lost Bailey Huber to Holy Family Catholic this season.  Huber led the Zephyrs to the state semifinals with his play in the nets last March.  That leaves Mahtomedi with two goalies, senior John Poirier and freshman Ben Dardis.  The goalies have been alternated through the early games and both have played well.  Dardis has posted two shutouts in his two starts.  The Zephyrs host Hudson WI next Thursday before going to Hastings for a Saturday game.  Hastings, after a disappointing loss to Park of Cottage Grove in their opener, easily won their last three games beating Dodge County 10-0, Tartan 6-0, and Henry Sibley 7-1 to take first place in the Metro East.  Red and Black Fall League top scorers Chase Freiermuth and Kyle Bauer are both skating for Hastings.  Freiermuth is the Raiders #2 goal scorer.  How good Mahtomedi is this year will be at least partially answered after they play Hastings.  As a side note, Hastings’ sophomore goalie Tyler McCarville has given up just one goal in winning his three starts.  The game against Hastings could see a sophomore goalie in McCarville and a freshman goalie in Dardis playing in the nets.  The two goalies collectively have given up one goal this season.

Totino Grace will contend for the Section 4A title behind their big goalie Jon Howe (3-2 record/GAA 3.7/90% saves).  With Howe in the nets, TG has beaten Anoka, Elk River and Coon Rapids in their last three games after losing their first two.  The win over Elk River was big for the Eagles.  They play the AC Wings Thursday.  The Wings are led by Drew Eid, Spencer Volkert, and Jack Campion at the forwards and Carter Lucas, Jack Steinke, and Bjorn Jensen at the defense; all skated for the championship Teal Team in the Red and Black Fall League.  South St. Paul, St. Paul Johnson, and Minnehaha Academy could contend, but 5-6 games into the season it looks like Mahtomedi and TG fight it out “kinda” season with one outsider that could be in the 4A semifinals-Gentry Academy.  Gentry handed Section 5A favorite, Chisago Lakes their first loss of the season this week 6-3.  It was a quality win for Gentry who is skating their first season of MN High School hockey. 

Section 4A Rankings: #1 Mahtomedi, #2 Totino Grace, #3 Gentry Academy, #4 Minnehaha Academy, and #5 South St. Paul.

Section 5A: This section can be wide open enough that two new teams Pine City Area or North Branch could make that late season run through the 5A Sectional to get to the Xcel.  But in the early season, 6-1 Chisago Lakes is the current favorite.  The Wildcats had a big win over Monticello beating the Moose 5-3 a week ago and then loss to Gentry Academy this past Wednesday 6-3.  They will play at Pine City this Thursday in a game that will have impact on the Section 5A seeding in February.  North Branch plays Chisago Lakes in January and is a fourth potential contender.  The Vikings are 5-1 in the early season beating Princeton, another 5A contender 4-3.  If Chisago Lakes starts to slide, the Section 5A sectional tourney will become a donnybrook.

Section 5A Rankings: #1 Chisago Lakes, #2 North Branch, #3 Princeton, and #4 Pine City Area

Section 6A:  Section 6A also took a turn this week when Sartell-St. Stephen beat one of the top Class AA teams Chaska 3-1.  Until the Sabre’s upset win, Section 5A looked a duel between St. Cloud Cathedral and Alexandria.  St. Cloud Cathedral edged Alex 3-2 in a game played this past week at the MAC in St. Cloud.  Alexandria is the defending 5A champs.  They beat Cathedral 3-2 in the 5A finals in a four overtime game last March.  This season will be the last for a group of talented Alexandria players led by Jack and Joe Westlund, Caleb Strong, and Ben Doherty.  This group has skated together since peewees.  Cathedral’s win over Alex will have a big impact on the 5A seeding in February.  Sartell-St. Stephen posted a big win over Chaska last Saturday beating the Hawks 3-1.  That win puts the Sabres into the category of potential challenger to the top two teams.  Sartell plays Mankato East, Monticello, and St. Francis in the Granite City Boys Showcase over the Holidays; St. Cloud Cathedral plays River Lakes, Mankato East, and Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato in the same tourney.  Little Falls could contend, the Flyers held Alexandria close in an early 2-1 season loss.

Section 6A Rankings: #1 St. Cloud Cathedral, #2 Alexandria, #3 Sartell, and #4 Little Falls.  Sartell is the team to watch and look for the results of their play in the Granite City over the holidays.

Section 7A has been always an automatic ticket to the Xcel for Hermantown.  This year, the Hawks are 2-2 playing four Class AA teams (Eden Prairie (won 5-3), Benilde-St. Margaret’s (lost 3-2), Wayzata (lost 4-3), and Lakeville South (won 1-0).  They beat Duluth Marshall 8-3 earlier this week.  This coming four weeks they play tougher Class A teams like Totino Grace and St. Cloud Cathedral before playing a Section 7A opponent (Duluth Denfeld).  Unless Greenway-Coleraine or Denfeld can beat the Hawks, Section 7A looks like a lock for Hermantown again this season.  Hermantown has dominated the 7A Sectional Tourney since 2013-2014 when it returned to 7A after playing four years dominating in Section 5A.

Section 7A Rankings: #1 Hermantown, #2 Denfeld, and #3 Greenway

Section 8A looks to return East Grand Forks to the Xcel.  The Green Wave are off to an impressive start posting a 6-1 record beating Orono, Delano, #2 ranked ND Grand Forks Red River, Totino Grace and Greenway.  Their single loss was to St. Cloud Cathedral.  The question then is who can beat EGF in Section 8A.  Three potential contenders are Warroad, Thief River Falls, and surprisingly Detroit Lakes.  Warroad lost big to St. Cloud Cathedral 7-0.  The Warriors were outshot 42-19 in the loss.  They beat Sartell the next day 4-3 winning in overtime.  TRF has posted a 4-3-1 record this season, beating Delano 5-1, St. Paul Johnson 2-1, and tying Roseau 2-2.  The Prowlers lost to St. Cloud Cathedral 3-2 and Farmington 2-1.  Five of their seven games have been decided by one goal.  Detroit Lakes are unbeaten posting a 5-0 record and will host Red Wing this Friday and play at St. Paul Johnson’s arena Saturday.  After the Johnson game, Detroit Lakes takes a 12 day holiday break before returning to skate in the Fergus Falls Invitational playing West Fargo ND, Providence Academy and Fergus Falls.  Detroit Lakes should be unbeaten at the start of the new year.

Section 8A Rankings: #1 East Grand Forks, #2 Thief River Falls, #3 Detroit Lakes, and #4 Warroad.         

December 4, 2018: Tracking Red and Black League Players (Teams 7-17)


Apple Valley opening game against Prior Lake (6-3 loss).

Tracking the Red and Black Players (Teams 7-17)

The previous post tracked Red and Black players who opened their season rostered on their respective high school’s highlighting those that have made initial contributions to their teams play.  1-Shakopee/New Prague, 2-Gentry Academy, 3-Minnehaha Academy, 4-Breck, 5-AC Wings, and 6-Andover were covered in the initial post.  The Red and Black players on the Hastings varsity and jv were covered in the introduction.  This post adds 11 more teams: 7-Eastview, 8-Edina, 9-Henry Sibley, 10-Prior Lake, 11-Eagan, 12-Chanhassen, 13-Apple Valley, 14-Minnetonka, 15-Minneapolis, 16-Bloomington Jefferson, and 17-Simley.

7. Eastview: The Lightning lost their first two games of the season 5-2 to Chaska and 3-0 to St. Thomas Academy.  Ben Malloy, Drew Carroll, Caden Berg, and Jake Kemper were on the ice for Eastview in both games, all played in the Red and Black this past fall.

8. Edina: The Red and Black Vintage Team in both the Spring and Fall leagues consisted of Edina players.  Three from that team, Drew Hatch, goalie Thomas Webert, and Brady Klemmensen made the Edina Varsity/JV roster.  Klemmensen skated for the Hornets against Burnsville and Holy Family.  Goalie Webert had a good Fall League in the nets for the Vintage and had a great game playing a Grey Team comprised of mostly Holy Family players now on the Holy Family Catholic roster.  It is worth mentioning that 14 of the Vintage players made the Edina Junior Gold A team that will return to defend their state title (Stefan Gullickson, Clayton Carlson, Anthony Schleck, Thomas Waterloo, Nick Branton, Tucker Canon, Nick Boss, Jack Miller, Peter Engelking, Max Psihos, Max Peichel, Sam Sherod, TJ Mahoney, and Ian Stentz).  The Vintage Team was coached by Brian Lawton.  The former NHL star and general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning ran a tight bench and treated all including other Red and Black players substituting for the Vintage equally.  His son, Nick Lawton, skated for the Vintage Team.    

9. Henry Sibley: Sibley opened their season with a come from behind tie with New Ulm 2-2.  Ryan Blake scored a power play goal last in the third period to make it a 2-1 game and Jack Greeley scored the tying goal with four minutes to play.  Jack Greeley scored in Sibley’s 3-1 win over St. Paul Academy.  Mick Greeley got an assist.  Jack Greeley scored a shorthanded goal in the 3-1 win over Gentry Academy.  Blake, Jack Greeley, Mick Greeley, and Owen Stotts are all skating for the Sibley varsity and all skated Red and Black this past summer.  Minnehaha Academy and Sibley will play each other this week.  

10. Prior Lake: The Lakers have rostered 21 players who skated in the Red and Black Spring and/or Fall League.  Six made the varsity and have skated in Prior Lake’s first three games (2-1-0).  The Lakers lost their opener to Eagan 5-1.  Nick Speltz assisted on the lone Laker score.  The Lakers top scorer, Jackson Jutting, went wild against Chanhassen posting a hat trick in a 5-1 win.  Brian Kallberg and Parker Long scored the other two goals in the win.  In their 6-3 win over Apple Valley, Jutting posted a goal and an assist. Matt Beaty and Charlie Kashmark each scored twice.  Wade Winter and Brian Kallberg each had an assist.  But it was Charlie Kashmark who stole the show scoring twice including a spectacular goal off a full-on rush to the left side of the Apple Valley goal.  Kashmark was an acrobatic goal scorer as a peewee and showed he still had that flare.  Against Valley, he somehow dropped the puck between his legs from the edge of the crease and batted the puck in behind his back and through his legs while inches away from the goalie.  Nick Speltz, Parker Long, Preston Lindholm, Wade Winter, Sam Emmerich, goalie Ethan Haglund, and Brian Kallberg all skated in the Red and Black League this past Spring and Fall.    

11. Eagan: The Wildcats opened their season with two impressive wins beating Prior Lake 5-1 and blowing Park of Cottage Grove off the ice is a 10-0.  The win over Park was impressive with Park beating Hastings soundly just three days before 5-0 and losing a tough game to Forest Lake 6-4.  Eagan’s may have a scoring trio in Max Meekin, Keegan Johnson, and Nick Sherek.  Meekin got the hat trick in the Wildcats win over Prior Lake; Sherek scored twice.  Meekin had a goal and an assist and Sherek three assists in their 10-0 win over Park.  Keegan Johnson has three assists in the Prior Lake and scored a hat trick against Park.  Aiden Byrne, Cole Gibson, and Ben Wilary played in both varsity games; Byrne, Gibson, and Wilary each had an assist in the Park win. All three players skated Red and Black last summer.  Ten Eagan players from the Red and Black League are skating on the Eagan varsity and jv teams this season.  Nick Boor, Joshua Alexander, Cody Rehdar, Gavin Gugino, goalies Graeme Edmund and Luke Conway, and Will Mason all skated Red and Black last summer in addition to Bryne, Gibson, and Wilary.  

12. Chanhassen: Chanhassen opened their season beating Waconia 7-3, losing to Prior Lake 5-0, and beating Hibbing 8-0.  Thomas Clauson scored twice in the win over Waconia and Hans Lovig had a three point game (1 goal/2 assists).  Both skated in the lost to Prior Lake.  Jack Willis joined them in the game against Hibbing.  Clauson scored his third goal of the season, Lovig got an assist, and Willis got three assists in the 8-0 win.  Clauson, Lovig, and Willis skated Red and Black along with Cam Martin, Aiden Hamre, Ben Gerebi, and Hayden Joynt.  All seven are rostered on the Chanhassen varsity/jv this season.     

13. Apple Valley:  The Eagles lost their opening game to Prior Lake last Saturday 6-3.  Blaise Cloutier scored one goal and assisted on the other two scores.  Cloutier, Robert Losby, Sam Nelson, Ben Rogers, and Noah Williams skated for the varsity.  The four plus goaltenders Andrew Knobel-Piehl and Carter Jensen, all played Red and Black last spring and fall.  Williams skated both Spring and Fall posting 21 points/7 goals in 37 games, Rogers skated in the fall posting 12 points/8 goals in 21 games, and Cloutier skated in the fall posting 9 points/5 goals in 16 games.  Williams skated multiple games in the Red and Black league against the 21 Prior Lake players who also skated in the Red and Black.  Losby skated on a Red and Black team that was rostered with Prior Lake players he faced Saturday. 

14. Minnetonka: Seven Red and Black players are on the Skippers’ roster this season (Graham Harris, Chad  Cousineau, Blake Anderson, Walter Johnson, John Manning, Jack Quinn, and Ryan Berchild).  Walter Johnson (32 points/22 goals in 19 games) led the Red Team in scoring; Graham Harris (18 points/8 goals in 19 games) was second.

15. Minneapolis: Minneapolis opened their season with a 5-1 win over Kennedy and then lost their next two games.  Tom Mullin scored against Kennedy and had an assist.  Mullins, Charlie Helm, and Joe O’Brien each got assists in the Kennedy game.  Minneapolis lost to Tartan 4-1 and to Thief River Falls 3-2.  Tom Mullin, Marty Keehn, Simon Weed, Robert Cross, Joe O’Brien, and Charlie Helm all skated for the varsity in those three games and all skated in the Red and Black leagues this past year.  In addition, Logan Schwartzhoff, Dylan Felth, Kevin Unwin, Ben Tschida, Dylan Chapman, Tony Hoops, Nate Porter, Andy Selby, and Tim Klett are on the Minnapolis varsity/jv roster for the 2018-2019 season.  In all 15 of the players on the Minneapolis team skated Red and Black.    

16. Jefferson: The Jags lost their opener to Rosemount 3-2 and beat Hibbing 6-1.  Three Red and Black League players from this past summer skated for Jefferson in those games, Ryan Maney, Colin Anderson, and Martin Olson.  Olson had a great fall season in the Red and Black.  He was one of the key players on the Orange Team that placed second in the 14 team league.  Anderson assisted on two of the Jags goals in their 6-1 win over Hibbing.  Red and Black skaters Aran Daniels, Tyler Noble, Grant Dokken, and Logan Bonney are on the varsity/jv roster.  In all, seven Jaguars skated Red and Black.

17. Simley: The Spartans posted a 2-2 record in the early going this season beating Dodge County 9-1 and Waseca 6-1; losing to North Branch 5-3 and Woodbury 6-0.  Shane Prifrel had a 5 point game against Dodge County getting a hat trick.  Carter Robinson had a three point game scoring twice.  Prifrel added two assists to his season point total in the 5-3 loss to North Branch.  North Branch’s sophomore Tucker Sachs posted a hat trick in the first 10 minutes of that game.  Prifrel picked up an assist in the 6-1 win over Waseca.  Robinson posted two points/one goal.  Anthony Tuccitto picked up his first point of the season on an assist.  Simley goalie Jacob Erickson was in the nets for the Spartans two losses and is scheduled to start against Hill-Murray this week.  Prifrel and Robinson are Simley’s #2 and #3 scorers in the early season behind Trent Peterson.  Prifrel, Robinson, and Tuccitto were on the ice for the Simley varsity in their first four games.  All three plus goalie Erickson skated Red and Black.

November 30, 2018: High School Hockey starts

Tracking the Red and Black Players: The top skater in the Red and Black Spring and Fall leagues was Chase Friermouth.  The junior from Hastings posted 145 points skating in 41 games.  He had a 100 goal season this year in the Red and Black.  Hastings opened their game last night against Park of Cottage Grove losing 5-0.  Friermouth skated wing on the Raiders’ starting line.  Friermouth was one of the biggest players on the ice and skated well in the loss.  Clearly, the Hastings’ varsity showed their rust from the off-season and missed Jonath Peine who did not skate.  Sophomore Kyle Bauer who finished second in the Fall League in scoring (21 games/50 points/22 goals) centering Friermouth’s line on the Pink Team did not skate in the varsity game.  The Raiders ran into a good goalie in their opener.  Park’s Conner Nelsen stopped all 31 Hastings shots on net. 

First in a series that tracks Red and Black League players through the Minnesota 2018-2019 High School hockey season.


Hastings Ice Arena was packed for the Raiders opener.

1.Shakopee opened their season with a 5-1 win over Wright County Conference’s New Prague.  The Sabers Doug Larson scored the opening goal assisted by Michael Morrow and Joseph Roder.  Luke Schmidt and Austin McNeil also scored in the 5-1 win.  Logan Hillman assisted on one of the Shakopee scores.  Larson, Morrow, McNeil, Hillman all skated the Red and Black Fall and/or Spring Leagues along with Josh Twardoski, Ben Stravos, Jackson Brosz, Jake Pakkala, and goalies Ben Titcomb and Soren Pederson.  All these players were on the ice for Shakopee’s opener.  Goalie Pederson was in the nets for the shutout win.

New Prague’s Wyatt Zack, Aiden Dorzinski, and Jake Lee all skated in the Red and Black League.  All were on the ice for the Trojan’s game with Shakopee and for their overtime win over Mankato West 3-2.  Against Mankato West, Zack assisted on the tying goal.  In an unusual finish to the game, New Prague’s Grant Yackly scored the overtime winner on a penalty shot. 

2. Gentry Academy opened their first ever high school hockey season losing to Mora/Milaca 5-3 and to Henry Sibley 3-1.  Damon Furuseth scored twice and assisted on the Academy’s third goal in the 5-3 loss to Mora/Milaca.  Barrett Hall scored the first Gentry goal in the opening period.  Furuseth and Isaiah Norlin assisted on Hall’s score.  Norlin assisted Furuseth on his first goal.  Furuseth, Norlin, and Hall all skated in the Red and Black Fall league along with Brevan Grigus, Chet Skinner, Daniel Yusupoff, Nate Furuseth, Nate Heiderscheid, and Reed Bartelings and all were on the ice for Gentry to open their first season.  Gentry Academy combined with Minnehaha Academy last season and split for 2018-2019.  Senior Reed Bartelings was the #2 scorer on the Academy varsity last season with 30 points/11 goals.

3. Minnehaha Academy lost to Denfeld 6-5 in their opener and beat Eveleth/Gilbert 3-2 in their opener.  Zach Roberts, Hunter Greshowek, Tommy Sedgwich, AJ Buegen, and John Diem scored in the first period to put Academy 5-1 going into the second period.  Henry Frisell, Josh Roberts, Connor Nelson, and Ethan Lessard all had assists.  Denfeld tied the game with under five minutes to play and won the game in overtime 6-5.  Frisell, Greshowek, Lessard, and Beugen skated in the Red and Black League along with the Red Hawks Connor Nelson, Bryce Becker, and Nick Coryell.  All skated for the Red Hawks against Denfeld.  Nelson scored a shorthanded goal in the Academy’s 3-2 win over Eveleth

4. Breck opened their season with a 4-1 loss to Marshall at Marshall.  They beat Pine City Area 7-4 in their second tourney game at Marshall and lost last Tuesday to St. Louis Park 5-1.  Beau Courneya scored the lone goal against St. Louis Park.  The Mustang’s Hudson Haecker scored a power play goal in Breck’s opening season loss to Marshall.  Carter Oftedahl scored twice and had an assist as Breck took a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period against Pine City Area.  Matthew Conroy scored the third goal in the opening period and assisted on the other two.  Beau Courneya had two assists.  Courneya scored in the second period with Conroy and Nick Mikan assisting.  After Pine City cut the lead to 5-2 early in the first period, Breck scored twice putting the game away taking a 7-2 lead.  Carter Oftedahl got one of the two goals assisted by Jake Hanson.  It was Oftedahl’s third goal of the game for a hat trick.  Mustang players on the ice Thursday (Carter Oftedahl, Alex Williamson, Beau Courneya, Nick Mikan, Cade Berman, Jake Hanson, and Zach Sellman) all skated Red and Black this spring and fall.

5. AC Wings (Robbinsdale Armstrong/Cooper):  The Wings opened their season with losing to Blaine 6-0.  Wing players Jack Campion, Drew Eid, Carter Lucas, Bjorn Jensen, and Spencer Volkert skated against Blaine.  All five played on the Teal Team that won the Red and Black Fall Title.  The Wings will skate better as the season progresses.  They have size and quickness and Jack Campion is a good player.

6. Andover: Andover beat Spring Lake Park 10-0 to go 2-0 in the early season to remain ranked #4 in the state in Class AA.  Andover’s top line of Charlie Schoen, Luke Kron, and Nick Dainty posted three of the ten goals.  Michael Clough scored twice and a 6’0” Nat Bauer played defense for the Huskies.  Clough was the #2 scorer in the Red and Black Spring league.  Clough also played a limited number of games in the Fall league.  Overall he posted 73 points/49 goals in 29 games.  Bauer played a full schedule at defense on two different teams.  In 38 games, Bauer scored 33 points/13 goals and grew an inch or two.

October 26, 2018 Week 7 Playoffs

The final games are played this weekend at the Richfield Ice Arena as the Red and Black Leagues Fall high school hockey season ends.  The Teal continue to march on playing Orange for the playoff title 3:45.  Third place and Tier II title games are played at 12:15 and 2:00.  


Red scores the tying goal against the Pink Team to advance to semifinal play losing to Orange 4-1

1-It’s Teal versus Orange for the playoff championship!

The first round of playoff games were played last Saturday and Sunday at Eden Prairie.  Two teams, regular season champions Teal and third place finisher Orange won their quarterfinal and semifinal games.  They will play each other in the league championship game Saturday at 3:45 PM at Richfield Ice Arena.  Teal (Minneapolis/Chanhassen/Armstrong/Prior Lake) beat Purple (Gentry Academy) 6-3 in their quarterfinal game and Light Blue (New Ulm/Waconia/Andover) 5-3 in their semifinal game.  Now Teal can sweep the Fall league championships winning both regular season and Tier I playoff titles.  Only the Orange Team can stop them.  The Orange (Mound/Westonka) beat Vintage (Edina) 5-2 in their quarterfinal game (the win over Vintage upset the coin’s prediction that Vintage would win in a close one, it is time to retire that coin).  Orange beat Red (Minnetonka) 4-1 in their semifinal game.

The two teams met in an October game two weeks ago with the regular season championship on the line.  Teal won 8-2.  The Teal Team in led in scoring by Armstrong junior Jack Campion (41 points/26 goals), Chanhassen duo Hans Lovig (38 points/22 goals) and Jack Willis (33 points/16 goals), and Prior Lake’s Brian Kallberg (28 points/12 goals).  Armstrong’s #3 scorer last season, Drew Eid, has become a force playing the corners.  Measuring 6’3” last season, winger Eid seems to be larger and stronger this year.   But it was the Teal defense led Teal in their 8-2 win.  The defense scored or participated in 6 of the 8 goals scored.  Teal defenseman Prior Lake senior defenseman Brian Kallberg posted 4 points/3 assists.  Chanhassen junior goalie Brody Amrhein was in the nets for Teal in the 8-2 win.  Amrhein had to make some tough early stops.  The Teal Team skates top players from four high school varsity teams (Armstrong, Minneapolis, Chanhassen, and Prior Lake). 

The Orange team is led by Mound/Westonka senior Carter Hansen (26 points/14 goals).  In all, 15 White Hawks skate for the Orange.  Mound/Westonka juniors Blake Harmer (24 points/9 goals) and Alex Flemal (14 points/7 goals); and sophomores Mitch Kresbsbach (19 points/8 goals), Ivan Sunder (13 points/7 goals), and Michael Schroeder (13 points/7 goals)   They are augmented by key players from Chaska (junior goalie Zach Hanson), Jefferson (junior defenseman Martin Olson), Apple Valley (senior forward Noah Williams), Orono (sophomore forward Jake Gherardi), and Minnehaha Academy (sophomore forward Ethan Lessard).  White Hawk seniors Hansen and Blake Harmer lead the Orange in scoring.  Teal and Orange have played twice this season tying 7-7 in a September game.

The Teal and Orange Teams play for the Tier I championship at 3:45 Saturday October 27th and Richfield Ice Arena.  The Pink Team (Woodbury/Eastview/Hastings) will play Purple (Gentry Academy) in the Tier I third place game Saturday at Richfield Arena at 12:15.  The Black Team (Mound/Westonka and Breck) plays the Neon Team (Eden Prairie/Shakopee) for the Tier II championship at 2:00.  All three games are free and the games are well played, fast, high school games.  

No need to make a prediction here.  It is the last game of the fall season for most of the players as their respective high schools captain’s practices accelerate getting players ready for tryouts.  Tryouts start November 12th.  It is time to just sit back and watch these three games play out and the drama unfold.  It has been a good fall season; now bring on the high school games.  Good luck to all the players in their tryouts.  Remember it is always a good day when at the hockey rink.  And remember Red and Black Spring League tryouts will be in March 2019.

2-Tier I Semifinal Game Stories

Game 1: Teal-5 Light Blue-3

The regular season Champs, the Teal Team, beat a season long surprising Light Blue Team to advance to the Tier I championship game.  It was a game that matched some of the best players that played for 11 different high school varsity teams last season.  The Teal Team is manned by players who skated for Armstrong, Minneapolis, Chanhassen, and Prior Lake.  The Light Blue was manned by players who skated for Blake, New Ulm, Andover, New Prague, Minnehaha Academy, Waconia, and Henry Sibley.  Most of these players are likely to end up being key players on their varsity teams in the 2018-2019 season.

In Sunday’s Tier I semifinal, Teal used their strength and size to edge Light Blue 5-3.  Armstrong junior and Teal’s leading scorer, Jack Campion scored seven minutes into the opening half to put Teal up 1-0.  Campion was assisted by Armstrong senior defenseman Carter Lucas and Prior Lake senior defenseman Brian Kallberg.  Two minutes later, Prior Lake senior Matthew Riley scored with Brian Kallberg getting his second assist of the game.  Teal led 2-0.

Light Blue has skated well together as a team and has improved their team play over the fall season.  The result is that they have a number of players that will step up.  In this game, Andover junior defenseman Nathan Bauer became the leader scoring a hat trick.  He scored unassisted to cut the Teal lead to 2-1; but 15 seconds later, Minneapolis senior Tom Mullin scored unassisted.  Teal led 3-1 at the half.

The second half was a scoreless battle for the first 12 minutes of play.  With 13 minutes left on the clock, Light Blue’s Bauer scored his second goal of the game.  This time he was assisted by Waconia senior defenseman Kaleb Roeser.  That made it a 3-2 game.

Over the next 8 minutes of play, the game went scoreless until with 5 minutes left, Teal goal scored Armstrong senior Drew Eid with an assist from Lucas.  The 6’3”+ Eid used his size well leveraging to gain position on the score.  Trailing by two goals, the Light Blue struck quickly with Bauer scoring his third goal for a hat trick to close the gap to 4-3.  Roeser got his second assist of the game.  The battle continued until Riley scored his second goal of the game an empty netter to end the scoring 5-3.  The regular season Champion Teal team plays Orange for the Fall Tier I playoff championship.

Game 2: Orange-4 Red-1

Orange took a 2-1 lead in the first half behind the strong goaltending of Mound/Westonka sophomore Darby Mills and added two more in the second half as Chaska junior goalie Zach Hansen shut down the Red offense.  Two minutes into the opening half, two Mound/Westonka sophomores combined to score the opening goal.   White Hawk Ivan Sunder flipped a saucer pass over the defense hitting breaking Michael Schroeder.  Schroeder scored the opening goal putting Orange up 1-0.  Sunder got the assist.  Ten minutes later, Minnetonka sophomore John Manning scored the lone Red goal of the game.  John Manning’s goal was a tap in after the Orange defensemen left the weak side wide open.  Minnetonka sophomore Andrew Hicks got the assist.  Manning’s goal tied the game 1-1.  Just as the first half was ending, Mound/Westonka senior Carter Hansen scored the game winner.  Hansen did a “chip and go” to himself to beat the defense out of his zone.  He then went end to end cutting to the front of the net and hopped to the middle beating the goalie low short side to make it a 2-1 game.  The first half ended with Orange up.  Chaska junior goalie Zach Hansen who has yet to be beaten played the second half and put another outstanding performance together in the net.  Early in the second half, the defense started to rush and left multiple 2-on-0 rushes for Hansen to clean up.  The Minnetonka dominated Red had their chances, but Hansen shut them down.

With 5 minutes left to play, a 2-on-2 rush by Orange created a melee in front of the Red goal that caught the goalie above the dots.  Orange had their shots, but a scrambling Red defense stopped the score.  The goalie drew a roughing penalty.  Seconds into the power play, Orange Orono sophomore Jake Gherardi scored with Jefferson defenseman Martin Olson getting the assist.  Olson figured in the final goal, drawing a penalty that set up Hansen on the power play.  Hansen buried a shot from near the blue line to end the scoring 4-1.  Mound/Westonka junior Alex Flemal got the assist.  Olson has played well at defense this fall season and is one of the reason that Orange made the finals.

3-Tier I Consolation Games

In Tier I consolation semifinal play, the Purple Team beat Grey 9-4 in a game that pitted players trying out for Gentry Academy varsity against players trying out for the Holy Family Catholic varsity.  Gentry Academy freshman Noah Heiderscheid scored the hat trick and added an assist to post a 4 point game.  Henry Sibley junior Ryan Blake also posted a 4 point game scoring 1 goals and earning 3 assists.  Gentry Academy sophomore Damon Furuseth scored the first two Purple goals with Holy Angels freshman Rick Nelson assisting on both scores.  Furuseth, an alternate, made the Minnesota HP-15 list and attended USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program camp last July in New York.  Holy Angels sophomore Jonah Slater scored two goals; Cretin-Derhem Hall junior Isaac Anderson scored once in the 9-4 win.  Grey fell behind 5-2 at the half.  Holy Family sophomore Ryder Ferguson and freshman defenseman Jack Barth each scored in the opening period.  Prior Lake junior Andrew Strom and Holy Family Catholic junior Gavin Lindermann each scored second half goals for the Grey.  Lindermann and Holy Family sophomore Jacob McPartland each had two point games.

In the second Tier I consolation semifinal was a wide open game with Pink beating the Vintage Team 15-6.  Chase Freiermuth and Caden Berg each posted a hat trick.  Berg added an assist and had a 4 point game.  Hastings sophomore Kyle Bauer posted a 4 point game (2 goals).  Freiermuth, Ben Malloy, Andrew Selby, and Dylan Feith had 3 point games.  Nathan Porter scored twice.  Edina junior Tucker Canon and Edina senior Max Peichel each posted a 4 point game (3 assists).  Edina senior Nick Boss scored twice in the 15-6 loss.

4. Saturday Tier I Quarterfinals

The Red and Black Fall League playoffs were last Saturday at Eden Prairie.  Teal (Minneapolis/Armstrong/Chanhassen/Prior Lake) lived up to expectations beating Purple (Gentry Academy) 6-3; the Red Team upset Pink 4-3; Orange (Mound/Westonka) beat Vintage (Edina) 5-2 in a minor upset; and Light Blue (New Ulm/Waconia/Andover) upset Grey (Holy Family Catholic) 3-1 in quarterfinal games.

 

Quarterfinal Game 1: Teal beat Purple 6-3.  Chanassen junior Hans Lovig scored the hat trick in Teal’s win.  Armstrong senior Drew Eid, Edina fresheman Caden Fritz, and Minneapolis senior defenseman Robert Cross each scored a goal in the 6-3 win.  Gentry Academy’s defenseman Brevan Grigus and Daniel Yusupoff and Apple Valley sophomore Sam Nelson scored for Purple.  Both teams came prepared to play and win.  The Purple Team skated with the stronger Teal team for the first 43 minutes of play.  The score was 4-3, before the Purple tired in the last minutes of the second half.

Quarterfinal Game 2: Red beat Pink 4-3.  The Red Team upset Pink 4-3 in an overtime shootout game.  Minnetonka sophomores Blake Anderson and Graham Harris combined for a neat passing play that led to Red taking a 1-0 with 10 minutes gone in the opening half.  Woodbury junior Andrew Selby fed Eastview junior defenseman Ben Malloy/Eastview in the slot to tie the game 1-1 with 5 minutes to play in the opening half.  One minute later, Red took a 2-1 lead on a goal by Minnetonka junior Nick Bonthius assisted by Shakopee sophomore Ben Smith.  Red led 2-1 at the half.  Hastings’ junior Chase Freiermuth scored a shorthanded goal 6 minutes into the second half by deflecting a shot from the blue line into the upper right corner of the net to tie the game 2-2.  Woodbury senior defenseman Jaxon Hill got the assist.  Pink’s Selby put the Pink team up 3-2 two minutes later putting a third rebound shot past the Red goalie to put Pink up 3-2, Malloy and Eastview junior Drew Carroll got the assists.  Red killed a 5-on-3 penalty followed by a single penalty sequence that started with 17 minutes left to play.  A minute after returning to full strength, Minnetonka sophomore Walter Johnson tied the game 3-3 forcing the overtime/shootout.  Johnson was assisted by Shakopee junior Lucas Blofield.  Red won 4-3 in the shootout.  Pink goalie Jacob Erickson had a good first half, goalie Zach Bierwerth had a good second half.  Both Red goalies are from Shakopee and both played well.  Soren Pederson started the game and Ben Titcomb played the second half.   

Quarterfinal Game 3: Orange beat Vintage 5-2.  In the Orange win over Vintage, two Mound/Westonka players freshman Michael Doshan and junior Blake Harmer teamed up to score three of the five Orange scores.  Mound/Westonka senior Carter Hansen opened the scoring against the Vintage (all Edina) Team.  He scored unassisted to put Orange up 1-0 eight minutes into the opening half.  With five minutes left in the half, Doshan and Harmer combined for their first goal to put Orange up 2-0.  Chaska junior goalie Zach Hanson continued his good play for the Orange in the fall league shutting Vintage down in the first half.  Mound/Westonka sophomore goalie Darby Miller took over for Hansen in the nets in the second half.  Miller got off to a shaky start when the Orange defensemen became aggressive and tried to pinch first in neutral ice and then in the Vintage zone.  The first pinch led to Edina senior Sam Sherod scoring on a solo rush to cut the Orange lead to 2-1 with 20 minutes left to play.  Edina senior Nick Lawton got the assist.  The second Orange defensive miscue led to Edina senior defenseman Clayton Carlson scoring off a 2-on-0 rush to tie the game 2-2.  The former Alaska U16 AAA goalie, Miller, settled down after that and played a strong second half.  Five minutes later, Doshan and Harmer combined again to put Orange up 3-2 and five minutes after that they combined again to make it a 4-2 game.  Mound/Westonka sophomore Mitch Krebsbach helped on the fourth goal scored getting an assist.  Doshan ended the game with a hat trick and Harmer posted three assists.

Quarterfinal Game 4: The Light Blue beat the Grey 3-1.  The Light Blue Team upset Grey 3-1 in the final Tier I quarterfinal game.  Minnehaha Academy sophomores AJ Beugen and Connor Nelson scored the Blue’s three goals.  Holy Family Catholic sophomore Jacob McPartland scored the lone Grey goal halfway through the opening period assisted by Charles Lindberg.  After that, the Blue’s goalie New Ulm senior Jack Raymond shut the Holy Family based Grey down.  Six minutes into the second half, Beugen scored assisted by Gavin DeBettignies to tie the game 1-1.  The tie held until Nelson scored the game winner to make it a 2-1 game.  Dylan Reed and Kaleb Roeser got the assists.  Beugen scored the icer assisted by Nelson in the last minute of the game.  Holy Family Catholic sophomore goalie Dylan Halliwill battled Raymond in a game that was dominated by the goaltending.  Four goal games are rare in the Red and Black, but as the Fall season progressed, the checking (with no hard hits) improved and the defenses got stronger.

2. Saturday Tier II Playoffs

In Tier II playoff games played Saturday, the Black Team (Mound/Westonka and Breck) beat Yellow (Eagan/Lakeville North/Burnsville/STA) 5-3.  Neon (Eden Prairie/Shakoppe) beat Green (Prior Lake/Delano/STMA) 5-2.  Neon plays Black for the Tier II championship 2:00 PM at Richfield this Saturday, October 27th.

The Black and Yellow Teams were tied 2-2 after the opening half of play.  Mound/Westonka senior Ryan Thompson scored the first goal to put Black up 1-0 seven minutes into the game.  Breck senior Alex Williamson got the assist.  Burnsville junior Mitch Drobnick scored twice late in the first half for Yellow to tie the game 2-2.  Eagan sophomore Nicholas Boor assisted on Drobnick’s first score; Drobnick’s second goal was scored shorthanded and unassisted.  Eight minutes into the second half, Mound/Westonka sophomore defenseman Trent Bowe scored to break the tie and put Black up 3-2.  He was assisted by Mound/Westonka junior defenseman Jacob Gutekunst and Breck sophomore Jacob Hanson.  Breck sophomore Beau Courneya scored the game winner five minutes later on a power play.  Black led 4-2.  Eagan sophomore defenseman Cody Rehder scored Yellow’s third goal with two minutes to play cutting Black’s lead to 4-3.  Drobnick got the assist.  Mound/Westonka freshman Ashton Breyer got the final Black goal in the last minute of the game to end the scoring 5-3.  Beau Courneya assisted.

The Neon Team has played well in the final month of the Fall League season.  The Neon won six of their last eight games and came close to making the Tier I playoffs.  They will play Saturday for the Fall League Tier II title.  Neon took a 4-0 lead at the half on goals by Eden Prairie senior Jacob Lillejord, Eden Prairie sophomore Ethan Peltier, and Griffin Lennes.  Shakopee senior Adam Kinsella assisted on Lillejord’s score; Shakopee senior Anthony Grabianowski and Shakopee senior Josh Twardoski assisted on Peltier’s first goal; Twardoski and Lennes assisted Peltier’s second score; and Shakopee junior Michael Morrow assisted on Lennes’ score.  Green scored 10 minutes into the second half to cut the Neon Team’s lead to 4-1.  Joe Dueber got the goal with Nate Cheney and STMA junior Jake Roos getting the assists.  The Green Team could not close that gap in the next 13 minutes.  Both teams scored in the final two minutes of the game.  Eden Prairie senior Nick Ladas scored the final Neon goal to make it a 5-1 game.  Lennes and Shakopee senior defenseman Jake Pakkala got the assists.  Prior Lake junior Nick Speltz scored the second Green goal in the final minute of play to end the scoring 5-2.  Prior Lake junior Marco Bianchi got the assist.

One of Neon’s six wins in the past month was an 11-1 win over Black.  That is not a good indicator for the Black Team as they go into the Tier II championship.  Shakopee junior Michael Morrow went wild in that game getting the hat trick and 5 assists.  Morrow participated in 8 of the 11 Neon goals scored.      

Saturday October 20, 2018: Week 7 Playoffs


Still the Teal march on. Can anyone stop them?

Tier I Playoffs: The Red and Black Fall League playoffs open Saturday at Eden Prairie.  Both Tier 1 and Tier II games will be played starting at noon on two rinks.  Teal (Minneapolis/Armstrong/Chanhassen/Prior Lake) beat White (Orono) in the final game of regular season to take the title and the first round seed.  Grey (Holy Family Catholic) finished second, Orange (Mound/Westonka) placed third, and Pink (Hastings/Woodbury/Eastview) finished fourth.

The Red and Black League is organized around the Minnesota high school program and draws players from high schools grades 9-12 this coming year who intend to try out for their Twin Cities high school varsity programs.  Those tryouts began November 12th this year.  The Red and Black playoffs end next weekend.  Teal won the regular season title skating lines from four different high schools who played varsity hockey last season.  Half of the Teal defense is from Armstrong and the other half is from Prior Lake.  Hastings junior Chase Freiermuth leads the Pink Team and the league in scoring (66 points/44 goals in 17 games).  Goaltenders Orange’s Zach Hanson, junior from Chaska; Teal’s Brody Amrhein, junior from Chanhassen; Grey’s Dylan Halliwill, sophomore from Holy Family Catholic; Vintage’s Thomas Webert, junior from Edina; Pink’s Jacob Erickson, senior from Simley; and New Ulm’s Jack Raymond, senior from New Ulm; all had good seasons.  Hanson went unbeaten in regular season play.        

1. Quarterfinal Teal versus Purple

#1 Teal/#8 Purple: This game could be tough for the Teal if Gentry Academy players show.  They did for last Sunday’s game against Vintage and led the Purple Team to a 4-3 win.  Teal has that depth and in their game against White, Prior Lake senior Matthew Riley played well scoring early against a White Team that skated well.  Teal is loaded with talent and has a defense that half will most likely skate for Armstrong varsity defense in the coming season and the other half likely to skate for the Prior Lake varsity defense.  Offensively, they are led by Riley, Armstrong junior Jack Campion and senior Drew Eig, the Chanhassen duo of senior Hans Lovig and sophomore Jack Willis, and Minneapolis seniors Tom Mullin and Martin Keehn.  All should challenge for the top line spots on the their varsity teams.  Thomas Walsh will likely be in the nets for the Minneapolis varsity.  The Teal’s second goalie Chanhassen junior Brody Amrhein has played well.  Amrhein will be competing for a spot on the Chanhassen varsity. 

Riley, Campion, Lovig, Willis, and Eig have impressed.  Riley has really showed quickness and good puck movement as the fall season ended.  Campion, Lovig, and Willis all have posted 30 point plus seasons.                        Eig has especially been impressively.  He skated this fall as an alternative and was large at the start of the season.  He has gotten bigger.

The Purple Team skates a Gentry Academy dominated defense that includes both Purple goalies (Gentry sophomores Sam Fellows and Corey Hendrickson).  Gentry Academy will skate 4A hockey this season.  They have scheduled 22 games for their inaugural season.  Their first varsity squad will be announced the week of November 12th.  Two candidates for the Stars varsity skate as alternates for the Purple this fall (sophomore Damon Furuseth and freshman Nate Furuseth).  Two other brothers, sophomore Chaz Lucius and freshman Cruz Lucius committed last year to play for the University of Minnesota.  The Purple Team struggled to make the top eight playoffs.  Offensively they are lead by Henry Sibley junior Ryan Blake (16 points/10 goals), Cretin junior Isaac Anderson (12 points/5 goals), St. Paul Johnson senior Michael Cudahy (11 points/8 assists), and Gentry Academy freshman Noah Heiderscheid (11 points/8 goals).  Blake is a candidate for the Sibley varsity, but has a tough road to get there with only one of the top 10 scorers graduated.  Cudahy has a better shot at varsity with the top 3 scorers graduating.  The Purple Team has won three of their last four games beating Black, Vintage, and Royal.

Prediction: Teal wins unless Purple alternates show.  That could make it an interesting game.       

Quarterfinal 2: Pink versus Red

#4 Pink/#5 Red: Think Pink and think Hastings.  Hastings junior Chase Freiermuth leads the league in points (66) and in goals scored (44).  Freiermuth and Hastings sophomores Kyle Bauer (37 points/17 goals) and Matt Zaruba (24 points/10 goals) skated as a line most of the fall season and dominated the play on the ice.  Freiermuth is leading the league in scoring and Kyle Bauer is tied for third.  Freiermuth was among the top 10 Hasting’s varsity scorers last season.  Four of the top 10 scorers have graduated.  Hastings will have a solid maturing team in their forwards.   The Pink Team won only one game against teams finishing in the top six in the league.  They split their two games with seventh place Red, winning 5-4 and losing 5-4.  Freiermuth, Bauer, and Zaruba figured in six of the nine goals scored by Pink in those two games; Woodbury junior Nathan Porter scored two and Eastview junior Drew Carroll scored once.   Dakotah Heimerl/South St. Paul senior has skated well.  Porter was an alternate in the spring league and has played full time this fall.  He has improved and has put points on the board in the last six Pink games.  Simley senior goalie Jacob Erickson and East Ridge junior goalie Zach Bierwerth are in the nets for the Pink.  Both Erickson and Bierwerth will be competing for a varsity spot in three weeks.

The Red Team has 15 Minnetonka players on their team, 5 Shakopee players, and one each from Minnehaha Academy and Prior Lake.  All six Red defenders will be competing spots on the Skippers varsity team and that will be tough with only three spots open on the defending Class AA varsity champs.  Offense is better with six players in the top ten having graduated.  Sophomore Walter Johnson has emerged this fall season and is leading the team with 21 goals (31 points).  Johnson scored 12 goals in the last six games.  Minnetonka sophomores Graham Harris (17 points/9 assists), Jack Quinn (14 points/9 goals), Andrew Hicks (14 points/7 goals) have all scored in double figures.  Shakopee junior Luke Blofield (11 points/8 assists) and sophomore John Kettle (12 points/7 assists) have skated well.  The Saber varsity has lost their top six scorers from last season.  Blofield, Kettle and sophomore alternate Ben Smith will have their chances.  Both Red goalies are from Shakopee.  Junior goalie Ben Titcomb skated varsity for Shakopee last season and will be returning.  Sophomore goalie Soren Pederson skated for the Shakopee bantams last season.   

Congratulations to Red freshman defenseman Michael Manning.  Manning made the Skipper’s Bantam AA team for the 2018-2019 season.

Prediction: This game is a coin flip, so I flipped-heads Red, tails Pink.  It came up tails.

Quarterfinal 3: Grey versus Light Blue

#2 Grey/#7 Light Blue: The #2 Grey Team looked to be in trouble early in Thursday’s game against Vintage, but the Fire loaded Grey (17 players) ended up winning 13-4.  The Grey still could not catch Teal in the standings.  The Teal Team beat White.  The Grey had to settle for second place playing the Light Blue.  This will be one of the more interesting games played in Saturday’s quarterfinals for it matches a Holy Family dominated Grey Team against a New Ulm/Waconia/Andover dominated Light Blue Team led by two Minnehaha Academy players.

The Grey Team’s Holy Family Catholic Fire contingent is led by sophomore Spencer Lewin (37 points/22 goals), Marc Lund (20 points/13 goals), freshman Nick Blood (12 points/7 goals), and Jacob McPartland (19 points/12 assists).  Both Grey goalies are from the Fire, sophomore Dylan Halliwill and junior Jake Caron.  One of Grey’s three losses came at the hands of Light Blue 5-1 in late September.

Light Blue Andover defenseman Nathan Bauer scored twice and assisted on a third goal in that win over Grey.  Bauer has posted 13 points/7 goals in 17 games this fall and he skated in the Spring League posting 20 points in 19 games.  Two Minnehaha Academy sophomores lead the Light Blue in scoring; Connor Nelson with 21 points/17 goals and AJ Beugen with 18 points/9 goals.  New Ulm junior Glavine Schugel has scored 10 goals (13 points) this season.  Schugel led New Ulm varsity in scoring last season.  Andover juniors Gavin DeBettignies (14 points/8 goals) and Hayden Masloski (13 points/9 assists) and Blake junior John Meskan (13 points/9 assists) have scored in double digits.  The Light Blue goalies are from New Ulm, senior Jack Raymond and sophomore Kyle Esser.  Both Raymond and Esser skated on the New Ulm varsity last season.  Raymond posted over 1200 minutes in the nets for the New Ulm team.

Prediction: The Light Blue Team has shown great improvement in their first month of play.  They all seem to click on this team and as a result they really can move the puck.  Their goaltenders have played well.  The Light Blue will skate four lines if they turnout for the game, the Grey has been skating 3 lines.  If the Light Blue defense can stop the Grey’s big guns in Lewin and Lund and the Grey goalie is not ready to play, the Light Blue could pull the upset.  No need for a coin on this one, Grey wins.           

Quarterfinal 4: Orange versus Vintage

#3 Orange/#6 Vintage: The Orange Team is a surprise this fall season, nobody picked them to finish in the top six let alone in third.  They have skated three lines in most of their games moving senior defenseman Carter Hansen from defense to forward.  His play has kept the team cohesive in their play with one exception.  Hansen has the sense to time his rushes from defense and the good sense to get back.  The younger Mound/Westonka defenders want to emulate Hansen, but lack the sense to know when to pinch, when to drop the rush and play defense.  That forces the Orange goalies to hold off solo and 2-on-1 rushes.  Hansen leads the Orange team in scoring posting 23 points/11 goals.  Mound/Westonka teammate Blake Harmer is second on the team in scoring with 21 points/12 assists.  Goaltenders Mound/Westonka sophomore Darby Miller and Chaska junior Zach Hanson are in the nets for Orange.  Hanson has yet to lose a game this season.

Vintage has had a snake bitten fall season.  The all Edina team has the talent and yet has failed at times to win key games.  They tied Orange in an early season game 3-3, but have managed to lose four of their last six games dropping to sixth place.  Who will show is one of their problems?  The Vintage is led by senior Jack Miller (25 points/16 assists), junior Tucker Canon (19 points/10 assists), senior Peter Engelking (15 points/9 goals), and senior Sam Sherod (14 points/9 goals).  Edina seniors Nick Lawton and and Clayton Carlson have anchored the Vintage defense with junior goaltenders Tom Hardie and Thomas Webert.

Prediction: The two teams tied and if this game goes in the same direction, the tie will go into the third and maybe into an overtime period.  Took out the old coin again and flipped tails for Orange, heads for Vintage.  Before I looked I thought maybe two out of three?  Nah.  Heads again.  Vintage wins.

Tier II Playoffs

Tier 2 playoffs will match Yellow (Eagan/Lakeville North) against Black (Mound/Westonka and Breck).  The second game has Neon (Eden Prairie/Shakopee) playing Green (Prior Lake).  The Yellow Team is led in scoring by Andover junior Michael Clough (27 points/22 goals), Lakeville North sophomore Jack Sellman (20 points/11 goals), Eagan junior defenseman Ben Wilary (13 points/9 goals), and Lakeville North freshman Jude Weber (13 points/10 assists).  The Black Team’s scoring leaders are Ethan Fetters Vandenheuvel (13 points/8 goals), Breck sophomore Britt Courneya (13 points/9 assists), and Mound/Westonka sophomore defenseman Trent Bowe (11 points/9 assists).  The Neon Team is led in scoring by Eden Prairie seniors Nick Cooper (21 points/13 goals) and Nick Ladas (11 points/8 assists) and Eden Prairie sophomore Ethan Peltier (13 points/8 assists).  The Green Team scoring leaders are Delano senior Hogan Williams (16 points/10 assists), Delano senior defenseman Joe Blanchard (13 points/7 goals, and Prior Lake sophomore Ryan Hadland (13 points/9 assists).  Black should beat the Yellow team and Green should beat Neon. 

The quarterfinals will be played Saturday, October 20th at Eden Prairie Ice Arena.  The tourney will be played on rinks 1 and 3.  Pink plays Red in the first game on Rink 3.  Teal plays Purple at 1:15 on Rink 1.      

Wednesday October 17, 2018: Regular season ends, playoffs begin!

Teal wins regular season title? Maybe? Should? Will know Friday.

Teal wins regular season title? Maybe? Should? Will know Friday.

Regular season ends and playoffs begin: Hockey is a simple game and fascinating to watch.  But hockey consists of many games played over one season.  Teams rarely go unbeaten.  It is the nature of the game.  Over the season, the game wears on most players especially those transitioning from association hockey to high school in Minnesota.  Most players transitioning to Minnesota High School hockey, at first, think that playing a high school schedule of 25 games should be easy after playing 50 or more at bantams.  It is not.  Soon the high school season becomes long.  By late January, many younger players start to tire and lose that step.  The 18-game schedule of the Red and Black League this fall demonstrates that.  With regular season in the fall league ending Thursday and playoffs starting this weekend, the teams and their players will be tested again.

There is one more regular season game to play is this fall’s high school league Thursday.  Things are not clear.  The Teal and Grey teams lead the league separated by one point.  Thursday at Eden Prairie in the early game, the second place Grey plays Vintage.  It a game they need to win to have a chance to overtake Teal.  Teal plays last place White in their final game.  One of those two will be the champions of the Red and Black Fall League regular season.  One could almost proclaim the Teal as champions but this is hockey.

In the second early game Thursday at Eden Prairie, Orange plays Yellow in a game both teams want to win.  Orange is tied for third with Pink.  Both Orange and Pink need to win their final game.  The team that loses could draw a tough Vintage team in the first game of the playoffs.  Pink plays Green but they have the fall league’s leading scoring Chase Freiermuth (66 points/44 goals) on their team.  The Green team has some of the top players who will be trying out for the Prior Lake varsity and have been playing tough as the fall season ends.  Losing puts either the Pink or the Orange in fourth place.  The fourth place team will likely play a tough fifth place team.

 Currently Light Blue and Vintage are tied for fifth.  Light Blue plays Red in their final game.  A Light Blue win puts them in fifth place.  A loss could put the Light Blue in seventh playing Grey.  Vintage needs to beat second place Grey or they could fall to seventh depending on the outcome of the Light Blue/Red game.  The Vintage team is an all Edina team that has just failed to click after having a foolish start.  Doing well in the playoffs would compensate for the start.  Yellow holds on to eighth place, the last playoff spot.  They have a one point lead over Purple and a two point lead over Neon and play third place Orange in their last game of the season.  Gentry Academy’s Furuseth brothers are alternates on the Purple team and they showed up to help lead Purple to a 4-3 upset win over Vintage.  Damon Furuseth posted a hat trick in that game.  The Purple team plays the 13th place Royal Team Thursday in a game they should win.  Neon plays Black.  Neon came to play beating Orange 5-3 in their final Week 6 game, but Black has played hard in the last few games.  Neon could be upset. 

Royal and White Teams were plagued by short benches often playing games with just 10 players.  They will finish 13th and 14th in regular season play and will play each other in the post season.  The Royal Team consisted mostly of players who will tryout for Benilde-St. Margaret’s varsity or St. Louis Park Junior Gold A teams starting November 12th.  The Royal team won four games during the season beating teams dominated by Prior Lake, Edina, Gentry Academy, and Eagan/Lakeville North players including a 10-5 win over Yellow on last Sunday.  Apple Valley sophomore goalie Carter Jensen was in the nets for three of the Royals wins.  Both Jensen and Benilde-St. Margaret’s senior goalie Jonnie Vitelli faced a lot of tough shots each game as the Royal defense gave up an average of 7.5 goals a game over the first 17 games played.  Offensively, two sophomore candidates for the St. Louis Park varsity led the Royal team (Lucas Hand 25 points/11 goals and Austin Amelse 18 points/6 goals.  Benilde juniors Toby Curtiss (18 points/9 goals) and Cooper Gay 16 points/9 goals); Holy Angels junion Nick Habino (15 points/8 goals); and Benilde freshman Gino Gatti (10 points/8 assists) have all scored in double figures.

The last place White Team consists of Orono players that will be trying out for varsity and were led by 2018 all-state defenseman Jack Kubitz.  But the White suffered also from players not showing and underperformed.  Orono junior goalie Finn Grandy was in the nets for the lone White win.  Both Grandy and Edina goalie sophomore Dominic Cook played well over the season giving up an average of 5 goals per game in the wide open play.  Orono junior Will Walz led the White Team in scoring (14 points/7 goals) and Orono senior Daniel Walker led in goals scored (12 points/8 goals).

The eleventh place Green Team and twelfth place Black Team will play in the Tier II playoffs.  Green plays Red in their final game of the season; Black plays Neon.  The Green Team is dominated by players who will be trying out for the Prior Lake team November 12th; the Black Team is dominated by players who will be trying out for the Mound/Westonka team.  Green beat Black 6-3 in Week 3 and should win.  The prediction here is that Yellow will lose to Orange and Purple will win in their final game.  If all this is correct, then the Tier II playoffs will match Yellow (highest seed) against Black (lowest seed) and Neon against Green or from a potential high school view Yellow (Eagan/Lakeville North) plays Black (Mound/Westonka) and Neon (Eden Prairie/Shakopee) plays Green (Prior Lake).

If the prediction that Purple wins and overtakes Yellow holds; then the seedings for the Tier I playoff would look like this: #1 Teal (Armstrong/Minneapolis/Chanhassen), #2 Grey (Holy Family Catholic), #3 Orange (Mound/Westonka), #4 Pink (Woodbury/Hastings), #5 Vintage (Edina), #6 Light Blue (Waconia/New Ulm/Andover), #7 Red (Minnetonka), and #8 Purple (Gentry Academy).

For most players, this weekend is their last chance to play competitive hockey before the high school tryouts.  No one is telling them not to show or to show for these games.  It is left to each player to decide and that represents one of their challenges as they move into the high school season.   

Top Four Teams

1.Teal (27 points): Teal swept all three Week 6 games beating Orange 8-2, Black 13-3, and Vintage 4-3.  A win over White in their last game Thursday and the Teal Team will be the fall league regular season champs and the #1 seed.  The Teal Team this fall is loaded with senior talent from Minneapolis, Chanhassen, and Armstrong varsity teams last season.  Their roster breaks down as follows:

Minneapolis (Robert Cross, Tom Mullin, Joe O’Brien, Martin Keehn, Sawyer Cirone, and goalie Thomas Walsh): All six Teal players are strong candidates for the Minneapolis varsity in the coming season.  Robert Cross, Tom Mullin, and Joe O’Brien played defense for Minneapolis last season swinging between JV and varsity.  With 5 out of 6 of Minneapolis defensemen graduating last year’s team, all three will likely end up playing defense for the varsity in the coming season.  With Minneapolis losing 6 out of 10 of their top scorers, the Teal’s Martin Keehn along with junior Sawyer Cirone are candidates for the varsity as forwards.  Minneapolis senior goalie Thomas Walsh skates for the Teal.  He split time playing last season for the Minneapolis varsity.

Chanhassen (Ben Gerebi, Thomas Clauson, Hans Lovig, Jack Willis, and Brody Amrheim: The Chanhassen varsity loses 7 out of their top 9 scorers.  Lovig and Willis were ninth and twelfth on that list from last season and should return skating in the top six.  Lovig has shown improvement in this fall season and is the #5 leading scorer (35 points/19 goals).  Willis is the #6 leading scorer in the league with 33 points/16 goals.  Ben Gerebi (9 points/3 goals) skated between the Chanhassen jv and varsity last season.  Chanhassen senior Thomas Clauson skated jv with Lovig in 2016-2017.  With only two returnees to their top three lines, all four Teal skaters are candidates to make the Chanhassen varsity.  Junior goalie Brody Amrhein has a tougher road to make varsity competing against three other sophomore or junior goals; but Amrhein was impressive in the Teal win over Orange at Ridder last week.

Armstrong (Bjorn Jensen, Carter Lucas, Jack Steinke, Drew Eig, Jack Campion, and Spencer Volkert): Armstrong’s top defender from last season was Bjorn Jensen.  Jensen scored 14 points/11 assists for the varsity team.  Jensen skated with two more Armstrong defenders, Carter Lucas and Jack Steinke.  Half of the Teal defense skated for Armstrong last season, a team that beat Hopkins in the Section 6AA quarterfinals before losing to Edina 5-1.  Teal forward Drew Eid posted 31 points/10 goals for the varsity last season.  Eid was the Armstrong’s #3 scorer.   Jack Campion was #8 on the Armstrong list is scoring with 11 points/7 assists.  Campion is currently the #2 scorer in the fall league with 39 points/24 goals.  Junior Spencer Volkert skated jv for Armstrong in 2016-2017.

Prior Lake (Matthew Riley, Brian Kallberg, Matt Kallberg, Brandon Burggraaff)): Three of the top seven Prior Lake defensemen graduated.  Brian Kallberg was the seventh on that list and should move up.  He will be competing with Teal teammate Brandon Burggraaff also playing for the Teal defense.  Both Kallberg and Burggraaff are seniors this coming year.  Prior Lake sophomore Matt Kallberg is also a defenseman on the Teal team and will be trying out for a varsity spot.  That makes the Teal defense potentially half Armstrong varsity and half Prior Lake varsity.  Prior Lake senior forward Matt Riley skated for the jv last season.  With Prior Lake losing 5 of their top 10 scorers through graduation, Riley should have a shot at skating varsity.  The Prior Lake contingent has stabilized the Teal team.

Armstrong junior Jack Campion is #2 in the league in scoring.  He leads the team in points (39) and in goals (24).  Chanhassen’s Jack Willis and Armstrong’s Drew Eig leads the team in assists with 17.  Campion, Willis (33 points/16 goals), Eig (19 points/17 assists), Chanhassen’s Lovig (35 points/19 goals),  Prior Lake’s Riley (26 goals/10 assists), Prior Lake’s Brian Kallberg (25 points/12 goals), Armstrong’s Bjorn Jensen (18 points/4 goals), Prior Lake’s Spencer Volkert (17 points/11 assists), Minneapolis’ Tom Mullin (17 points/9 goals), Minneapolis’ Martin Keehn (16 points/11 goals), Chanhasen Thomas Clauson (14 points/6 goals), Chanhassen Ben Gerebi (13 points/7 goals), and Armstrong’s Carter Lucas (11 points/7assist) have all scored in double figures for the Teal.

Edina freshman Caden Fritz is the lone player on the Teal team outside of the four high schools.  Fritz has posted 3 points (1 goal) on the season, but has spent significant time skating center with senior forwards in 17 games.  Congratulations to Fritz, he tried out and made the Edina Bantam AA team for the 2018-2019 season this past week.

The #1 Teal Team should beat White Thursday for the regular season title and the #1 playoff seed.

2.Grey (26 points): The Grey went 4-1-1 in the last two weeks of play.  They tied Black 7-7 and lost to Orange 6-1 but are still in contention for the title, but they have to beat a tough Vintage team.  That early Thursday game will be tough and it will be a test for the Grey to sustain their hard style of play against the Vintage knowing that all Teal needs to do is to beat White two hours after their game ends.  It will be a test for Grey.

In Week 5, both the Grey and Vintage teams showed up ready to play.  It resulted in one of the best high school hockey games played.  Both goalies had to play fortress in a fast pace that exceeded most high school hockey game.  When two powerful teams meet, playing a hockey game with limited checking rules, the game becomes a transitional game with the goalies manning fortress net.  That is what happened three weeks ago.  Both the Grey and Vintage teams would chip away at the other’s defense, find a crack in the defense, and turn that small opportunity into man advantage rushes.  Grey goalie Holy Family sophomore Dylan Halliwill was continuously pressured by Vintage forwards stopping 39 Vintage shots often second rebounds by proverbially standing on his head.  Edina junior goalie Thomas Webert made some equally great stops at key moments in the game as the two teams battled.  Halliwill, in a four minute onslaught after Grey scored the winning goal to take a 5-4 lead, had to come up big making eight tough stops off six continuous Vintage man advantage rushes.

The Vintage opened the scoring when Edina senior Jack Miller blew by the Grey defense at their blue line and ripped a shot from the slot that beat Halliwill straight on.  Vintage led 1-0 in the first minute of play.  That score held up for the next 17 minutes of play.  The Vintage forwards kept pounding the Grey net; but as the period wore on, the action started to shift to the Vintage defensive zone.  The Grey forwards started to pound the Vintage net.  The Vintage defense managed to keep the Grey forwards to the outside until, with 7 minutes, their defense slipped up.  No one back checked.  It started with a simple clearing of the puck by Grey from the neutral zone to the far right boards.  The feathered clearing shot slid to the right board and drew the right defenseman over as a Grey’s Like Roelofs caught up to the puck.  The Roelofs one-timed the puck through the defender to the weak side of the Vintage net to Gavin Lindemann who one timed the puck into the net.  The game was tied 1-1 as the half ended.  Webert ended up stopping 13 shots in the first half including some acrobatic saves made on close in Grey shots.  Halliwill stopped 18 Vintage shots including one where a Vintage forward soloed left to right across the crease drawing Halliwill to the right.  The Vintage forward somehow managed to use the blade of his stick to redirect the puck in mid-air on his shot back to the left from two feet out.  He forced Halliwill to recover and make the save in a split second.  Halliwill reacted changing enough of his momentum to kick the puck to the left of the net.  It was a great play by both players.

Second half opened with Vintage in control of the game.  Vintage Edina senior Max Peichel scored two minutes into the half on a nice play to take a 2-1 lead and then Nick Boss scored putting the third Vintage rebound shot past Halliwill to put the Vintage up 3-1 with 20 minutes left in the game.  Vintage then drew three successive penalties and skated off two including a minute of 5-on-3.  But the Vintage penalty kill could not kill the last minute of the last penalty.  Grey’s Holy Family sophomore Spencer Lewis scored from the left point to cut the Vintage lead to 3-2.  With 13 minutes to play, Vintage Edina senior Peter Engelking scored off a rebound beating Halliwill to his right to give Vintage a 4-2 lead.  Thirty seconds later, Grey tied the score 4-4 scoring two goals in 30 seconds.  Grey’s Charles Lindberg got the first assisted by Andrew Storm and Grant Limke got the second assisted by Storm again.  With 8 minutes left to play, Grey had tied Vintage 4-4.

Halliwill made a remarkable serious of saves over the next five minutes.  He came up strong.  He made three successive stops on three different forwards breaking down the slot in 10 seconds.  The first Vintage forward split the defense and hammered a shot on Halliwill the kicked hard off his pads back to a second Vintage forward in the slot who hammered a high shot the Halliwill managed to get his upper body pads on.  That puck rebounded back into the slot to a third Vintage forward who hammered a shot that Halliwill deflected to the right boards.  The next six minutes both goalies were tested and each made some great stops; but with less than 2 minutes to play, Holy Family sophomore Grant Limke picked up a loose puck in center ice, beat the defense on the left side and went right with his shot for the winning score.  A Grey penalty a minute later opened the door for the Grey and they pounded Halliwill in the final minutes but could not score the tying goal.  Grey eventually scored an empty netter in the last seconds of play to win the game 6-4.         

The Xcel could not have showcased a better high school hockey game.  Gavin Lindemann, Marc Lund, Nick Blood, and Spencer Lewin each had a four point game.

Spence Lewin leads the Grey team in all scoring stats with 37 points, 22 goals, and 15 assists.  Marc Lund (20 points/13 goals) and Lindemann (20 points/12 assists) are tied for second in the team lead.  Nick Blood (19 points/12 assists), Jacob McPartland (17 points/10 assists), Charles Lindberg (10 points/7 goals), Andrew Strom (14 points/10 assists), and Grant Limke (10 points/5 goals) all have scored in the double figures.  Halliwill and Holy Family Catholic junior Jake Caron have given up an average of 4 goals a game this fall.

Tie 3. Orange (23 points): Orange entered Week 6 needing to beat Teal on Thursday, Grey on Saturday, and Neon on Sunday.  Against Teal, the two of the three Orange lines could not beat the size and depth of the Teal lines.  Only one line centered by Blake Harmer (with Noah Williams and Ethan Dominy) could transition the puck from defense to attack, but they could not beat the Teal defense low.  The Orange Team lost 8-2.  Saturday, they played Grey.  Two days later, the Orange came ready to play and all the lines fired as they beat Grey 6-1.  Sunday, there was still a chance for Orange to regain the top, but they reverted to Thursday’s play and lost 5-3 and had to settle for a third place tie with the Pink Team.

In Week 5, the Orange beat the Pink 8-4.  It was the only meeting between the two teams in regular season.  It was a key win then allowing the Orange to maintain their run to the top.  Now it is a key win for it should be the tiebreaker if Pink and Orange remain tied for third after Thursday’s games.  Orange plays Yellow in a tough game; Pink plays Green.  In their win over Pink, Orange’s Mound/Westonka’s senior Carter Hansen, sophomore Mitch Krebsbach, and freshman Ethan Dominy each scored two goals.  Hansen continued his run playing center adding two assists to make it a four point game.  Krebsbach had an assist to post a 3 point game.  The White Hawks junior, Alex Flemal, posted a two point game (goal and an assist).  Pink took a 2-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of play before Hansen scored to make it a 2-1 game.  Pink scored again with five minutes left in the half before Dominy and Krebsbach scored to tie the game.  Flemal and Kresbach scored as the half ended to put Orange up 5-3.  Pink scored 8 minutes into the second half to make it a 5-4 game but goals by Dominy (assisted by Minnehaha Academy sophomore Ethan Lessard), Hansen (assisted by Mound/Westonka sophomore Ethan Wagner), and Mound/Westonka junior defenseman Cooper Curti (assisted by Apple Valley senior Noah Williams) scored to make it an 8-4 game.

The Orange Team consists of mostly younger players from Mound/Westonka led by senior defenseman/forward Carter Hansen.  Hansen has scored in five straight games and had four assists in the game against Grey.  The Orange skate three balanced lines that adjust well no matter who shows up to play for a given game.  Both goalies have played well.  Mound/Westonka sophomore goalie Darby Miller is adjusting to the overall speed of the game and has made some great saves.  Miller skated U16 in Alaska last season.  Chaska’s Zach Hansen remains unbeaten.  He was in the nets for the Grey win and has posted a 6-0-2 record on the season.  Hansen has given up 5 goals in his last three starts.  Orange’s Carter Hansen leads the team in scoring posting 23 points/12 assists.  Hanson leads in goals scored with 11 and is tied with Blake Harmer in assists with 12.  Blake Harmer is #2 in team scoring posting 21 points/12 assists.  The Orange has eight players scoring in double digits; Harmer, Hansen, Kerbsbach (18 points/10 assists), Flemal (13 points/7 goals), Oliver Jorgenson (11 points/6 goals), Williams (12 points/9 assists), Michael Schroeder (11 points/5 goals), and Ivan Sunder (12 points/7 goals).

Tie 3. Pink (23 points): Pink lost to Orange 8-4 may have cost them third place.  They tied Green 5-5 two weeks ago after losing to Orange and that dropped Pink out of contention going into the final week of play.  The Pink stormed back after tying Green to win 7 of their last 8 points, but need to beat Green and hope that Orange loses.  If that happens, a third place finish, then Pink could play either Light Blue or Red.  If they drop to fourth place, they will play a Vintage Team that will come to play intent on winning the playoffs.  There still is a possibility that Vintage, Light Blue, and Red could tie for fifth, then who knows what the fourth team will play.

The Pink’s top line centered by Hastings’ sophomore Kyle Bauer with junior Chase Freiermuth and Matt Zaruba at wings figured in all four Pink scores against Orange.  Freiermuth posted a four point game (two goals), Bauer posted a 3 point game (two goals), and Zaruba has an assist.  Against Green in Saturday’s game, the Hastings line scored the first three goals to put Pink up 4-2 at the half.  Bauer scored twice, Freiermuth scored once and got one assist, and Zaruba had a single assist.  Andrew Selby scored the tying goal in the last minutes of play shorthanded.  Selby was assisted by Jake Kemper on the goal.  Sunday, Freiermuth went wild posting 7 goals in Pink’s win over Neon.  Freiermuth got a hat trick that fit over an elephant’s head, ears and all.  He added three assists to post a 10 point game.  Bauer posted a 6 point game (2 goals) and Zaruba had two assists.  Defenseman Jaxon Hill had a 4 point game (2 goals) and Drew Carroll and Selby each posted three points.

In the Pink’s Week 6 game with Yellow that ended in a 6-6 tie, the Pink ran into buzz saw in Andover junior Michael Cough.  Cough scored four goals.  Freiermuth posted three points, but got help form Apple Valley junior Ben Rogers (two points, one goal).  Freiermuth went wild again in their 9-2 win over the Royal team posting 5 goals and 2 assists.  Hastings’ sophomore Matt Zaruba had a four point game (three assists).  Freiermuth scored twice in their 5-4 win over Red.  The Red’s Walter Johnson is starting to emerge on the Red team scoring 12 goals in the last six games.   

Pink will be favored to beat Green in their last game of the season, it will be a tough win.

Saturday, October 6, 2018-WEEK 4: Things get tighter


Vintage kills a 5 -on-3 penalty against Teal in their 6-6 Week 4 tie.

Red and Black Week 4:  Week 4 was hump week in the league and the only team to make it over the hump was Grey.  Going into Week 5’s weekend games, Grey leads the league holding a slim one point edge over second place Teal and Orange after tying Black 7-7 Wednesday.  Vintage is in fourth trailing the two second place teams by a single point.  Red is fifth place tied with Pink.  Yellow and Light Blue are tied for seventh.  Purple, Black, Green, Neon, Royal, and White make up the bottom six teams.

Week 5 first games were played early this week.  Grey’s tie with Black was the final one and was played Wednesday.  This post includes the results of Week 5’s first game.  There are two rounds of Week 5 games played at Richfield this weekend.  Of the top teams, Vintage has the opportunity to move up and over take one or all of the three teams in front of the team.  They play Grey Saturday and Red Sunday.  The league leading Grey plays Vintage Saturday and bottom dwelling White on Sunday.

Both the Holy Family Catholic based Grey and the Edina based Vintage need to win the Saturday game; Grey should beat the Orono based White Team.  A loss to Vintage and a win over White would put Grey in second or third place.  Second place Teal plays White and Royal and they are favored to win both.  If they do and Grey loses, Teal moves into first.   Orange has a more difficult pair of weekend games playing a surging Yellow Team and inter-school rival Black.  Two wins would also put  Orange in first place tied with Teal.  Vintage plays Red and sweeping their two weekend games would put them in second place with four games to go in the season.

Red plays Light Blue in addition to Vintage and two wins moves them into second or third one point behind the leader.  Pink, who is tied for fifth with Red should move into the top three after Week 5 ends.  They play two of the bottom six teams Green and Neon and will be favored to win both.  Light Blue and Yellow are tied for seventh and need wins also.  Their chances of jumping into the top three are not strong, but losses this weekend could drop them in the standings out of the top eight teams and into the Tier II playoffs.  Light Blue plays Yellow in addition to Red.  That makes the Blue’s Sunday game at Richfield against Yellow a key Week 5 game.  The New Ulm/Waconia/Andover based Light Blue continues to get numbers of players to show, they will be favored to beat Yellow.  Ironically, the three Andover juniors on the Light Blue could be playing against Yellow’s top point getter, Andover junior Michael Clough in that game.

The top eight teams could break away from the bottom six teams.  If Yellow and Light Blue struggle this weekend, the Black and Purple Teams could close their 2 point gap by sweeping their games.  Purple has the best chance to sweep playing Royal Saturday and Green Sunday.  Black pulled an upset tying league leading Grey on Wednesday 7-7.  The Black Team needed that, the tie may have pulled them out of their funk just in time for this weekend’s game.  They play Neon Saturday before playing rival Orange Sunday. 

1.Grey (18 points): Grey beat Red 6-3 in a Monday game at Orono to open Week 4’s play.  Holy Family sophomore Spencer Lewin scored twice for the Grey and had one assist.  Holy Family junior Brady Caron scored twice; the Fire freshman Nick Blood and sophomore Marc Lund each had a single goal.  Lewin scored the opening goal in the first 6 minutes to take a 1-0 lead.  Red came back scoring twice to take a 2-1 lead with seven minutes to go in the half.  Caron scored to tie the game in the last minute of play as the first half ended 2-2.  Caron scored the opening goal early in the second half to put Grey up 3-2.  Blood scored five minutes later to make it a 4-2 game.  Blood’s goal was the game winner.  Red scored to cut the lead to 4-3, but Lund and Lewin scored the final goals.  Goalie Jake Caron got the assist on Levin’s goal.  Grey won 6-3.  Week 4’s Saturday was homecoming and a number of players were getting fitted with tuxedo’s as the Saturday games opened play.  Both the Grey and Orange teams played with missing players.  Grey had a short bench, but a bench with their leading scorers on it; Orange had a longer bench but they were missing their leading scorers.  The game ended in a 4-4 tie.  Grey built an early 4-0 lead and held it until the final 4 minutes of play (clock now on running time).  The defense gave up four scores as the Orange team dominated the final minutes of play with the Grey defense constantly getting caught in neutral ice as Orange forwards peppered the net.  The Grey goalie stopped 43 shots in the 45 minutes of play, but could not stop the last four shots in the final 5 minutes of the game.  Sunday, the league leading Grey Team beat Green 3-2 in a tight well skated game.  Green held a 1-0 lead most of the first half before Grey’s Holy Family sophomore Ryder Freguson scored late in the half to tie the game 1-1.  Green again took a 2-1 led and held that until Holy Family sophomore Ryan Anderson scored with six minutes left to play to tie the game 2-2.  Lewin scored the game winner with two minutes to play.  Grey finished Week 4 play taking 5 of 6 points and in first place. 

Week 5: Grey tied Black last Wednesday 7-7 in their first game of Week 5.  They play Vintage Saturday in a key game that could ultimately determine the league regular season championship.  Sunday, they play White.  The Grey Team has a favorable schedule in the final four games of regular season play.  The two games with Vintage is their roadblock to the league title.

Tie 2.Teal (17 points): Teal broke open a 2-2 tie halfway through the first half of their Thursday game against Green scoring three goals in a five minute period to take a 5-2 halftime lead.  Chanhassen senior Hans Lovig scored two of those three goals and added two more the second half to post a hat trick plus. Lovig also assisted on Chanhassen sophomore Jack Willis’ score to post a five point game.  Prior Lake senior Brian Kallberg scored the opening goal of the game, assisted on the second score that put Teal up 2-0 before Green came back to tie the game 2-2.  Brian Kallberg assisted Bjorn Jensen on the game winner putting Teal up 3-2 in the first half.  Jack Willis had a three point game (1 goal and two assists), Armstrong junior Jack Campion had three assists; and Prior Lake defenseman Matt Kallberg scored a power play goal.  After giving up the first two goals to Green, the Teal Team led by Lovig’s 5 points, dominated the game.  Saturday at Richfield, Teal beat Black 11-3.  Black took a 1-0 lead and held that for the first 15 minutes of play, the Teal went on a run scoring 8 goals in the final ten minutes of the opening half to take an 8-1 halftime lead.  Amstrong junior Jack Campion scored four of those first half goals, Minneapolis senior Martin Keehn scored three, and Minneapolis senior Tom Mullin scored one.  Mullin and Keehn each scored in the second half, Chanhassen sophomore Jack Willis scored once in the 11-3 win over Black.  Sunday Teal tied Vintage 6-6.  The two teams swapped scoring.  Teal trailed 3-2 at the half and Chanhassen senior Thomas Clauson and Hans Lovig each scored.  Jack Willis scored twice in the second half and Minneapolis senior Robert Cross and Brian Kallberg each scored once. 

Week 5: Teal’s lines?  What lines?  The Teal Team is loaded with good scorers, nine players (Prior Lake senior Brian Kallberg 19 points/10 goals, Armstrong junior Spence Volkert 11 points/7 assists, Armstrong senior Bjorn Jensen 16 points/12 assists, Chanhassen sophomore Jack Willis 23 points/14 assists, Armstrong junior Jack Campion 29 points/17 goals, Chanhassen senior Hans Lovig 24 points /14 goals, Minneapolis senior Martin Keehn 10 points/7 goals, Prior Lake senior Matthew Riley 16 points/11 assists, and Armstrong senior Drew Eid 15 points/13 assists) are in double figures going into this weekend’s games  Jensen, Campion, and Eid skated for Armstrong’s varsity last season.  Willis and Lovig skated for the Chanhassen varsity last season, Martin Keehn (along with Teal players Tom Mullin, Robert Cross, Joe O’Brien, and goalie Thomas   In Week 5, Teal White and Royal after beating Purple earlier this week.  They are favored to win their two weekend games.  If they do, Teal will be in first going into the final week of regular season play.

Tie 2. Orange (17 points): In Week 4, Orange beat White 5-4 Thursday, tied Grey 4-4 Saturday, and beat Neon 3-1 Sunday.  In Week 5 first game played Tuesday at Prior Lake, Orange beat Pink 8-4.  In Week 4’s opening game, Orange took a 2-0 lead in the first half of the game against White only to have White rally scoring three straight goals to take a 3-0 halftime lead.  Orange forward, Oliver Jorgenson scored the team’s first goal.  Jorgenson picked up a loose puck in the right slot and beat the goalie on the left side for the score.  Mound/Westonka senior Carter Hansen scored the second goal.  Hansen has moved from defense to center/wing the past few games and has found a niche on the team posting 5 goals/4 assists in his last four games skated.  Hansen now leads the team in scoring (16 points/7 goals).  Orange has not lost in their last 10 games.    

Week 5: Orange draws two tough games this week playing a surging Yellow Team on Saturday, and rival Black Sunday in their second inter-school rivalry game.  Both Orange and Black are loaded with Mound/Westonka skaters who are improving in each game played.  Hansen leads the team in scoring, but Mitch Krebsbach (14 goals/8 assists), Alex Flemal (13 points/7 goals), and Blake Harmer (15 points/8 assists) have double digit point totals.  Chaska junior Zach Hanson has not lost a game posting a 4-0-2 record giving up an average of 3 goals a game.  Hanson has been solid in the nets for the Orange whose defensemen like to gamble on pinches deep inside their offensive zone. 

4. Vintage (16 points): Vintage took 5 of 6 points in Week 4 beating Black 5-3 Thursday, beat Purple Saturday 6-2, and tying Teal 6-6 Sunday.  Monday, a short bench Vintage Team beat White 4-2.  In their 5-3 win over Black, Edina junior Tucker Canon and seniors Jack Miller, Max Peichel, and Nick Boss scored.  Canon scored four goals in Vintage’s 6-2 win over Purple.  Miller scored one goal.  Against Teal, seniors Nick Lawton, Miller, Sam Sherod, and Max Peichel scored.  Vintage moved into fourth and seems poised to make that run to the top.  Canon (14 points/7 goals) and Miller (14 points/7goals) are tied for the team lead in points.  Sam Sherod leads in goals scored with 8; and Ian Stentz leads the team in assists with 10.

In Week 5 weekend game, the Vintage Team plays league leading Grey Saturday and fifth place Red Sunday.  The Red trail the Vintage by a single point.  The Vintage team is an all Edina with players from last season’s junior gold and junior varsity teams.  A number of the players played for the Vintage Team that finished last in this past Spring League.  This fall, when they show, the Vintage has been one of the toughest teams to beat.  Their game Saturday against Grey will be key to their chances to take the top in the last two weekends of play.

 

Tie 5. Red (15 points): In Week 4 games, the Red Team lost to Grey Monday 6-3, beat Neon 8-2 Saturday, and beat Pink 5-4.  The team of mostly Minnetonka players (and five Shakopee players) has skated.  Losing to the league leading Grey was tough.  Red led Grey 2-1 late in the opening half on scores from Minnetonka senior Quinn Schrepel and Minnetonka sophomore Walter Johnson.  Grey tied the game 2-2 just before the half ended and scored four more in the second half.  The Red defense could not stop the Grey offense.  The Red defense scored four goals in their 8-2 win over Neon.  Minnetonka sophomore William Garry scored twice, Minnetonka senior Liam Johnson and Minnetonka freshman Michael Manning each scored once.  Schrepel scored the winning goal in the Red’s 5-4 victory over Pink.   

Week 5: Tuesday, Red lost to a charging Yellow team that is moving up in the standings 7-4.  Liam Johnson scored twice; Minnetonka sophomores Graham Harris and Walter Johnson each scored once.  Saturday the Red play Light Blue and Sunday they play Vintage.  The Red struggled in Week 4 because of short benches, but still won four of a potential six points.  Their lost to Yellow hurts their potential run to the top and they face to two teams.  The Red needs wins or they could fall and be struggling to make the Tier I playoffs in the final Week 6 of play.  Walter Johnson leads the Red in scoring and goals (19 points/11 goals).  Defenseman Liam Johnson (12 points/6 goals), Blake Anderson (13 points/5 goals), Graham Harris (13 points/6 goals), Quinn Schrepel (11 points/7 goals), Jack Quinn (11 points/7 goals) and Andrew Hicks (12 points/7 goals) are all in double digits for the Red Team.

 

Tie 5. Pink (15 points): Pink beat the Light Blue 4-3 in Week 4’s Thursday game.  The all Hastings line centered by sophomore Kyle Bauer with junior Chase Freiermuth and sophomore Matt Zaruba at wings clicked for three of the four Pink goals including the tying and winning goals scored in the last six minutes of play.  After Light Blue scored the opening goal, Zaruba scored to tie the game 1-1 with 10 minutes left to play in the opening half.  Freiermuth and Jaxon Hill got the assists.  Ben Malloy scored in the final minute of the opening half with Dakotah Haimerl getting the assist.  Pink led 2-1 at the half.  After a scoreless opening 10 minutes of the second half, Light Blue scored twice in two minutes to put the Blue up 3-2.  Bauer got the tying goal with six minutes to play; Freiermuth and Malloy assisting.  Zaruba got the game winner in the final minute of play with Freiermuth and Bauer assisting.  Saturday, the Pink struggled at times in beating a stubborn Royal Team 7-5.  Freiermuth got the hat trick posting a 4 point game, East Ridge junior Camden Newman stepped in to post two points (one goal), and Woodbury junior Andrew Selby scored twice.  Freiermuth and the Hastings line continues score, but the lack of emergence of a solid second and third line is starting to hurt the Pink going into the final weeks of play.  Pink lost to Red 5-4 Sunday.  The loss to Red broke a 7 game Pink winning streak. 

Week 5:  Tuesday, Pink lost 8-4 to a surprising Orange Team in a battle for second place.  Pink dropped to seventh and the Orange tied for second going into Week 5’s weekend games.  The loss to Orange hurt, but the Pink Team should beat Green Saturday and Neon on Sunday to move back into contention.  The Hastings’ trio (Freiermuth-42 points-28 goals, Bauer 20 points-10 goals, and Zaruba 17 points-9 goals) are all in the league’s top 10 in scoring.  Freiermuth’s 42 points leads the league.  But where is the depth? 

Tie 7. Light Blue (11 points): The Blue lost to Pink 4-3 Thursday, lost to Yellow 6-4 Saturday, and tied Purple 6-6 Sunday.  It was a tough Week 4 for the Blue.  Thursday, they led Pink 3-2 with 5 minutes to play only to give up the tying and winning goals; Saturday they could not stop Andover junior Michael Clough.  Clough skates as #16 and posted a hat trick and three assists in the Blue’s lost.  Sunday, the Light Blue needed a last minute score from AJ Beugen to tie the game 6-6 for their only point from Week 4’s three games.  In Week 5’s opening game, the Blue came back to beat Royal 9-4. 

Week 5: The Light Blue Team play the Red Team Saturday and the Yellow Team Sunday.  The Blue Team has improved their play since skating their first game together a month ago.  Light Blue’s game against Red will be a good one to watch.  Against the Yellow Team, they will be potentially facing Clough again.  The Light Blue team is a fun team to watch.  They are playing better.  Their overall team speed has improved since the start of the season.  The team has players from Waconia, New Ulm, and Andover that really knows how to pick apart a team in the offensive zone, the Blue forwards play the short passing game combined with body position as well as any high school team.  Their forward lines are balanced.  The Blue really know how to play the game.

Tie 7. Yellow (11 points): Yellow swept their Week 4 games and moved into the top eight teams.  They beat Purple in their first Week 4 game Thursday 6-3, They beat Light Blue Saturday 6-4 and beat Royals 9-5 Sunday.  The three game sweep moved the Yellow Team into the top half of the league.  Yellow took a 3-1 halftime lead in their win over the Purple Thursday behind goals from Ray Smith and Sam Herman.  Smith scored one of the second half goals; Tyler Johnson and Jack Sellman scored the other two goals.  Smith’s second score of the game was the game winner.  He scored that goal unassisted.  Andover junior Michael Clough led the Yellow to a 6-4 win over Light Blue.  Clough was involved in all six Blue scores posting a hat trick in goals and in assists for a 6 point game.  In their 9-5 win over Royal, Clough posted a hat trick.  Ray Smith and Jude Weber each had three points.  In Week 5’s opening game, the Yellow surprised Red winning 7-4 behind the four goal scoring of Ben Wilary. 

Week 5 games: After losing their first four games, Yellow swept Week 4 games and has now posted a 6-1-1 record in their last eight games winning 13 out of the last 16 points (3-1-1).  If they continue to play well in Week 5’s two weekend games against the Orange and Light Blue, Yellow will climb into the top five teams in the league and most likely clinch a Tier I playoff spot.  Orange and Light Blue are tough teams.  Orange is loaded with Mound/Westonka skaters who are improving in each game.  They tied league leading Grey in Week 4 4-4 despite having their best players missing.  Against Light Blue, the Yellow will meet another team that started out the season play well and has improved over the past month.  The Yellow Team already started their move after losing their first four games in Week 1 and 2.  Since then Yellow has posted 13 points in their last eight games. 

Tie 9. Purple (11 points): The Purple Team salvaged only one point in Week 4.  They lost to Yellow 6-3 Thursday, lost to Vintage 7-2 Saturday, and tied Light Blue 6-6 Sunday.   The Purple lost to Teal in the opening game of Week 5 6-3.  They play Royal and Green in Week 5 weekend Saturday and Sunday games.  These games are winnable for the Purple and they need wins to move back into the top 8 teams.

Tie 9. Black (10 points): The Black Team managed to win one of their three Week 4 games.  The Black Team lost to Vintage Thursday 5-3, lost to Teal 11-3, and beat White 6-3 Sunday.  In their first Week 5 game, they tied league leading Grey which should be a good omen for Week 5’s remaining to games against Black Neon Saturday and arch rival Orange Sunday.  Black needs to beat Neon Saturday.  It is their key game of the fall season.  A loss will drop them into the bottom six needing points playing Purple, Teal, White, and Neon again in the final week of regular season play.

11. The Green Team (8 points): The Green Team showed up to play in numbers and skated hard in their three Week 4 games.  They got buried by Teal 9-2, but beat White 3-2 as expected and almost upset league leading Grey 3-2.  Unfortunately, in a key game where they should have won, they lost to Neon 5-4.  That makes their Week 5 game against Purple a must win.  They play Pink Saturday and can beat the Pink, but to make the top 8, the Green Team needs to beat Purple Saturday.   The Green Team’s leading point getter is Hogan Williams (13 points/5 goals), defenseman Joe Blanchard leads in goals scored with 6 and Williams leads in assists with 8.  Prior Lake junior Ethan Haglund has been in the nets for three of the four Green wins.  Week 6 will be tougher for the Green.  They will play three top teams in the league (Vintage, Grey, and Pink).  Their fourth game is with White.  The loss to Neon 5-4 in their early Week 5 Monday game at Dakotah in Prior Lake was a tough loss for the Prior Lake based Green.  That may have cost them a shot at the top 8.

12. The Neon Team (6 points):  The Neon had two critical Week 4 games that they could win (Royal and Orange) and one that would be tough.  They beat Royal 5-2, lost to Red 8-2, but could not beat Orange losing 3-1.  Then in Week 5’s first game, the Neon upset Green 5-4.  To get to the top 8 the Neon need to climb over four teams and that will take a minimum of 14 points.  They need to win 4 of their remaining 6 games.  That starts with the Neon winning first of two games left with the Black Team  this Saturday.  Beating Black twice means winning two of their other four games (Pink, Light Blue, Red, and Orange).  They have beaten Light Blue once already this season, can they beat one of the remaining three.  It is a tough way to move up, but the only other option is to prepare for the Tier II tourney.

Eden Prairie senior Nick Cooper leads the Neon in scoring and in goals scored posting 13 points/8 goals.  Three players, Eden Prairie junior Zach Bienkowski, Cooper, and Shakopee senior Adam Kinsella have each posted 5 assists to lead the team.   

13. The Royal Team (4 points): Week 4 was critical for the Royal.  They needed wins and lost all three games and the first game of Week 5.  The Royal defense is struggling.  They have given up 84 goals on the season.  They can turn their season around with wins over Purple and Teal this weekend.  They finish the season playing Grey, Pink, Yellow, and Purple.  Their defense continues to struggle.  The St. Louis Park sophomore duo of Lucas Hand (14 points/7 goals) and Austin Amelse (13 points/9 assists) now lead the team in scoring.  Camden Martin is tied with Hand for most goals scored with 7 each.  Amelse leads in assists with 9.  Basically the Royals started as Benilde-St. Margaret’s dominated team, but has become a St. Louis Park dominated team.  The question is how will the Royal end their season and that will depend on the Red Knight players centered around juniors Cooper Gay and Toby Curtiss.

14. The White Team (2 points): The Orono Spartan based White Team looks good in the warm-ups and fade in the games.  The Spartans have to realize that cannot send their small version of “the 300” to defend Thermopylae game after game.  They have talent, but it has not shown in the Red and Black league this fall.  They finish their season playing Teal (twice), Grey, Red, Green, and Black and are good enough to win any of those games if they show.  Orono junior Will Walz (11 points/7 assists) lead the team in scoring and in assists; Orono senior Daniel Walker leads in goals scored with 6.  Apple Valley senior Blaise Cloutier (8 points/4 goals) and Prior Lake sophomore Braydon Buckingham (9 points/6 assists) have played well for the White.  The real action Week 4 should have been between White, Black, and Green.  It was and Black emerged the better of the other two.

Thursday, September 27, 2018-Week 3: “Hump Week”


Light Blue Andover junior Hayden Masloski scores in their 5-1 win over Grey in Week 4.

1. Red and Black “Hump Week”: Just as every Wednesday signifies hump day, the Fall League’s Week 4 is hump week for the league.    Once through this week, the schedule will get more intense and compact as the league finishes regular season and starts playoffs.  This year, there will be a Tier I and Tier II playoff.  The top eight teams will play in the Tier I playoffs; the remaining six teams will play in the Tier II playoffs.

For the players, the league will be emulating the last month of the Minnesota high school season.  From the week after the New Year holiday to mid-February, the high school teams go through the intense part of their regular schedule as they prepare for their hockey sectionals with a chance to go to the Xcel.  There is a subtle shift in each high school team’s focus from playing games to winning games on a more intense schedule.  Then it is left to the varsity player to determine their commitment to the sport as they have to return often two or more times a week to play again intensely after practicing long hours.  The Red and Black Fall season after Week 4 will become long just as the high school season becomes long.  But there is some sunshine.  Once fall league play ends, deer hunting opens, followed the election, and then followed by the start of high school tryouts on November 12th.  

2. Week 3 Summary:  At the end of Week 2, there were no unbeaten teams in the 14 team Red and Black fall league.  Three teams were tied for first, Vintage, Grey and Black.  The top three played teams below them in the standings and all lost.  The Grey Team survived by losing only once going 2-1-0 on the week.  The Grey took sole possession of first place going into Week 4.  Vintage lost twice and salvaged one point by tying Orange; Black lost all three games.  In their Thursday game, the first place Grey eked out an 8-7 win by newly revived Yellow team led by Andover junior Michael Clough.  Saturday, the Grey Team showed up with a short bench and they were soundly beaten by Light Blue 5-1.  Sunday the Grey Team edged Royal 6-5 to keep the top spot posting a 6-2 record.

The Red and Pink teams moved into a tie for second place each posting a 5-2-1.  Red beat the Vintage Team soundly 8-2 in Thursday’s game, tied Teal Saturday 4-4, and beat White 10-3 Sunday to take 5 of the 6 Week 3 points.  Pink matched Red taking 5 points in Week 3 by beating Neon 10-3, Purple 3-2, and tying Yellow 7-7.

Light Blue and Purple ended Week 3 tied for fourth place.  The Light Blue Team consistently shows up with full benches for their games.  The Light Blue Team beat White 2-1 in their Thursday game and skating 15 or more forwards in beating the Grey Team 5-1 Saturday.  The Grey (mostly Holy Family based) showed with 10 players and they were never in the game.  With a chance to move in to first place with a Sunday win over Neon, the Light Blue was upended 6-5 losing to Neon.   It was the Neon Team’s first win of the season.  Purple won two of their three games beating Green 4-1 Thursday, losing to Pink 3-2 Saturday and beating Black 6-1 Sunday.  In the first half of the season, veteran leadership in the offense from strong players from Henry Sibley (Ryan Blake), Richfield (Ryan Odefey), Cretin (Isaac Anderson), St. Paul Johnson (Michael Cudahy), and Minnehaha Academy (Reed Bartelings) combined with a strong defense from Gentry Academy has moved the Purple into contention.

The Teal and Orange teams are tied for sixth place after Week 3.  In Week 3, the Black and Orange Teams’ Thursday game became an intra-school rivalry game (Black has mostly Mound/Westonka and Breck players; Orange has mostly Mound/Westonka players).  It also became one of the best games skated in the fall season.  Both teams wanted to win.  The Orange, led by Carter Hanson, beat Black 4-3.  The Orange Team went from playing a heated rivalry game to playing a tough Vintage Team that showed up and skated a tough tight checking game.  That game was fun to watch as the two teams each skated three lines and hammered on each other.  The game ended in a 3-3- tie.  Sunday, the Orange and Teal teams played a fast and loose game that ended in a 7-7.  Teal had an easy win beating the Royal Team 16-2 Thursday and played another good hockey game tying second place Red 4-4.

The Vintage and Black teams went from contending for first place after Week 2 to contending for eighth and last place for the season ending Tier I tourney.  Only the Vintage Team managed to post a point.  They lost big to the Red Team on Thursday 8-2 and had to come from behind to tie Orange in the last 4 minutes of their Saturday game 3-3.  They forfeited their Sunday game again.  The tie with Orange was the only Vintage point earned in Week 3, but it showed that the Vintage Team will be tough if they focus on hockey.   The Vintage Team is in eighth place and the Black Team is nipping at the Vintage heels.  After losing the rivalry game to Orange on Thursday, the Black Team went into a funk and lost to Green Saturday 6-3 and Purple 6-1 Sunday.  Their funk could continue into Week 4 with three tough games scheduled (Vintage, Teal, and White).  A win over the all Edina junior gold team would be a big win for the Black.  In Week 5’s Sunday game they will play the Orange Team and can avenge their loss this past week.  But if the funk remains, the win will have little meaning.

Black, Green, Yellow, Royal, White, and Neon all face a critical Week 4 set of games.  They need wins as noted below.

Week 3 Notes: Can the bottom six teams make the Tier I playoffs.  Yes, but they need to start playing now by going after winning their key games in Week 4.  Here is how.

Note 1 The Black Team: No team has been eliminated from finishing in the top 8.  The Teams finishing 9th to 14th will play in the season ending Tier II tourney, but it is too soon to say if any of the current bottom six will be there. The break between finishing in the top 8 historically has been to post around 9-10 or more points in the 18 game regular season play.  For the Black Team, they have the ability to do so the easiest of all the current bottom six teams.  The need just a two or three wins (out of their remaining 10 games).  That in theory, would put them into the Tier I tourney with 12-14 points.

Note 2 The White Team: The White and Neon Teams have each have one win or 2 points.  Both would need to win 4-5 of their remaining 10 games to move up.  White has four games with teams now in the lower six going into Week 4; two each with Black and Green.  The White Team is very capability of winning those four games and more.  The Orono dominated White should be another strong candidate to make the top 8 in the second half of the season; but both Black and Green will need to beat the White Team to have a shot at 10 points or more on the season.  White plays the Green Team in Week 4’s Saturday game and the Black Team in Week 4’s Sunday game.  Players on high school teams seldom consider the implications of the games they play and don’t listen to their coaches.  The real action Week 4 should be between White, Black, and Green.

Note 3 The Neon Team:  The Neon has two critical Week 4 games that will impact their upward movement by season’s end.  They play Royal on Thursday in a must win and Orange on Sunday in a can win game.  Those wins would set Neon up for a run when they play Green and Black in Week 5 and Orange and Black in Week 6 at season’s end.  Neon combines seniors, juniors, and sophomores from Shakopee and Eden Prairie programs.  Their line combinations started to roll in their 6-5 upset of Light Blue last Sunday.

Note 4 The Green Team: The Green Team has the tougher set of 10 games and they need to win three at least to climb into the top 8.  They will play White in Week 4’s Saturday game, Neon in an early Week 5 Monday game at Dakotah in Prior Lake, and White again at Richfield in the final Week 6 games.  But the Green Team has been historically a tough Prior Lake based team that competes very well.  Of current bottom six, they should make a run and be in the Tier I playoffs.  Last season, as the Orange Team, this same group of players well managed by Tony Bianchi on the bench, made a late season run to take second place at the end of regular season play.

Note 5 The Royal Team: This Royal Team is the enigma of the current season and seems to go up and down depending on what players show and the play of their defense including goalies.  Week 4 will be critical for the Royal.  They will two games they can win (Neon on Thursday and Yellow on Sunday) and one game where their defense will be tested by the Pink offensive machine.  The Royal offensively have had success skating two lines, one line centered the St. Louis Park sophomore duo of Lucas Hand and Austin Amelse and the second centered around Benilde-St. Margaret’s juniors Cooper Gay and Toby Curtiss. 

Note 6 The Yellow Team: The Yellow Team already has started their move.  After losing their first four games, Yellow has posted 5 points in their last four games.  Andover junior Michael Clough missed the Yellow Team’s first four games.  The Spring League’s #2 leading scorer (46 points/27 goals), has led the Yellow to a 2-1-1 record since his return with Clough posting 10 points/7 assists in the four games.  Clough will be skating for Andover varsity next season; the Huskies are pre-season favorites to pull a shocker and finally defeat a Northeastern Minnesota team in the Section 7AA finals at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.  This fall, look for Yellow to make a strong push to move into the top 8. 

Note 7 Pink Team’s Chase: Freiermuth continues to roar in Week 3.  Freiermuth added 8 more goals to build his league leading performance to 28 points/21 goals.  The Pink Team has not lost in their last 5 games going 4-0-1.  The Pink’s lone tie, 7-7 with Yellow, matched the #1 Freiermuth and #2 Clough leading scorers from the Spring League.

Note 8 An Intra-rivalry Game: The Orange team leader, Mound/Westonka senior defenseman Carter Hanson, led the Orange in beating Black 4-3 in Thursday’s Week 3 opener.  It was a heated rivalry game between Mound/Westonka and Breck players that dominate both teams and it was one of the best games of the season.  It was emotionally fueled from the start where to loser of the game was to miss school the next day.  The Black players may have or have may not, who knows.  Orange goalie Chaska junior goalie Zach Hanson had a great game and would follow that with another in the Orange 3-3 tie with Vintage.  Hanson posted a goal and an assist in the game; Mound/Westonka junior Blake Harmer got the game winner.  The two teams play again Sunday, October 7 at Richfield at 12:30.

Note 9 The Season Surprise: The Light Blue Team has been the surprise of the league in the first three weeks.  They consistently play with 15 or more players on the bench.  The Blues have 7 New Ulm players, 4 Waconia players, 3 Andover players, 2 New Prague players, 2 Minnehaha Academy players, 2 Blake players, and 1 Henry Sibley player on their roster.  Most show and they consistently skate an even game led Coach Jory McWilliams, a Red and Black leading scorer three years ago.  McWilliams runs the bench and has rolled the lines.  That combined with discipline and a strong defense has resulted in Light Blue posting a posting a 5-3 record.  The Light Blue have won five games scoring only 29 goals, but they have given up just 25 goals.  Light Blue won their first two Week 3 games beating White 2-1 Thursday and Grey 5-1 Saturday.  If the Blue had swept all three Week 3 games they would have been tied with Grey for first place.  Instead they were upset Sunday losing to Neon 6-5.

Note 10 Robert Louis Stevenson? The Teal Team has become the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in this fall league.  They overall are a strong team posting 143 points/60 goals in the first 8 games.  They are averaging 18 points a game and are scoring nearly 8 goals a game.  Depending on the mix of players that show, they are a meek Dr. Jekyll (scoring five goals or less) or a fierce Mr. Hyde (scoring 7 or more).  In either case, they are a tough team to beat.

4. Week 4: Week 4 games began Monday with league leading Grey playing second place Red at Orono.  Thursday, six league games will be played at the Dakotah Arena in Prior Lake.  The Black and Vintage Teams play in the early game (5:15 start) that will match last week’s two first place teams trying to recover.  The Black Team is led by Mound/Westonka senior Ethan Fetters Vandenheuvel (8 points/4 goals) and Mound/Westonka sophomore defenseman Trent Bowe (8 points/6 assists).  Vintage leadership has come from Edina junior Tucker Cannon and Edina senior Jack Miller.  The second early game Thursday matches a surging Yellow against Purple.  The two teams tied for fourth, Pink and Light Blue, will play at 6:45 PM.  That game will match a strong Pink offense against a good Light Blue defense.  An Orono based White Team plays a Mound/Westonka based Orange Team in the night cap game Thursday.  That game matches two interschool rivals.

Week 4’s Saturday games make their first appearance at the Richfield arena.  Six of the seven games will be played there, the seventh between Yellow and Light Blue will be played at Woodbury.  Vintage will play Purple in what will be the key game Saturday.  Vintage needs to string together some wins if they hope to make a run to the top.  A loss to Purple would drop the Vintage in the standings.  A Purple loss to Vintage would point them in the wrong direction.  White plays Green Saturday at Richfield in another game critical to both teams.  It is an opportunity to for White to move up or Green to move into the top 8.  Sunday’s opening game at Eden Prairie will be a challenge for the Green Team when they meet the Holy Family Catholic based Grey Team.  Green was ready to play last Sunday against Vintage and it would not be surprising here to see them win 2 or 3 games this weekend.  White, after playing Orange earlier in Week 4, plays Black in another inter-school rivalry game between Orono based White and Mound/Westonka-Breck based Black.

Saturday, six leagues games will be played at Eden Prairie and one game, Pink versus Purple, will be played at Woodbury.  That is a game for Hastings fans to see.  If the young Hastings line led by Chase Freiermuth continues to roll, they may be seeing future Raider varsity at work.  Woodbury arena is a short drive north on Highway 61 or the Bob Dylan road.  Take a right on Bailey Road.  At Eden Prairie, the Black versus Green Team is the most interesting.  It will be a MWT-Breck Black Team versus Green team loaded with Prior Lake and Shakopee players that should be ready to unload on somebody.

Sunday’s games are played at Eden Prairie with one game (Pink versus Yellow) played at Drake.  At Eden Praire, the 1:30 game between Grey versus Royal will match two disciplined teams, the Holy Family Catholic players versus the Minnetonka players.  This should be one of the best games of Week 3.

10. Team Reviews for Pink, Red, Neon, Green, and Teal

10.1 Pink Team: Hastings junior Chase Friermuth skated for the Pink Team in the Red and Black Spring League played last April-May.  The Pink team, led by Friermuth, lost only one of their last 10 games.  Friermuth ended the Spring League season leading the league in goals scored (40) and in points (60) posting 43 of those points in the last 10 games of the season.  In the 18 games he skated, Friermuth averaged 2+ goals a game and 3+ points.  In games played through Week 4, Friermuth has scored 21 goals and notched 28 points to keep his 2+goals and 3+points per game going.  Friermuth brings two Hastings teammates (sophomores Kyle Bauer and Matt Zaruba) to the Pink team this fall.  Overall, the Pink team will be dominated by Woodbury, Eastview, and Hastings players augmented by good set of forwards from South St. Paul, Apple Valley, East Ridge, and Simley.

10.1 Pink Games: The Pink Team split their Week 1 beating the Black Team 10-4 and losing to Vintage 6-4In beating Black 10-4, the Pink Team took a 3-0 lead in the first 8 minutes of play on scores by Hastings sophomore Kyle Bauer (East Ridge junior Camden Newman and Hastings sophomore Matt Zaruba getting the assists); South St. Paul senior Dakotah Heimerl (Woodbury juniors Andrew Selby and Kevin Unwin getting the assists); and Unwin (with Heimerl and Newman getting assists).  Black scored twice to cut the Pink lead to 3-2 over the next 10 minutes of the opening.  Then, Hastings junior Chase Freiermuth went to work scoring the fourth goal.  Unwin scored his second goal to put Pink up 5-2.  Heimerl and Woodbury junior defenseman Anthony Hoops assisted on Freiermuth’s goal.  Selby and Heirmerl assisted on Unwin’s score.  Late in the first half, Black scored twice to cut Pink’s lead to 5-4 halftime.  The Pink defense led by Simley senior goalie Jacob Erickson shut down the Blace Team in the second half.  Unwin’s second goal proved to be the game winner as Pink added five second half scores. Apple Valley junior Ben Rogers scored twice.  Rogers second goal was a power play score; Friermuth scored the seventh; Unwin the eighth for his hat trick, and Kyle Bauer the ninth goal.  Woodbury junior Nathan Porter, Eastview junior defenseman Ben Malloy (2 assists), Selby and Heimerl all got assists in the second half.  In Week 1’s second game, the Pink Team stopped playing hockey and let the trash talk on ice drive their game in a 6-4 loss to Vintage.  It resulted in a 6-4 loss to Vintage.  Freiermuth scored the hat trick as Pink built a 3-1 lead only to have Vintage come back to tie the game late in the half 3-3.  Freiermuth scored the opening goal of the second half, but the Vintage scored three times midway through the second half as Pink drew five penalties and gave up two power play Vintage goals in the loss.

The Pink Team opened Week 2, with a 7-5 loss to Teal then won their next two games to start their current win streak.  Goals by Kyle Bauer, Freiermuth (2), and Drew Carroll gave Pink a 4-2 lead over Teal at halftime; but Teal scored two quick goals at the start of the second half to tie the game.  In the last three minutes of the game, Teal scored three more to win 7-5.  Freiermuth score his third goal for the hat trick.  In Week 2’s Saturday game, Pink beat White 5-3 with Freiermuth scoring two goals in the opening half as Pink built a 3-1.  Kyle Bauer scored the third goal.  Freiermuth scored two more goals in the second half.  In the 5-3 win over White, Freiermuth scored four goals.  Sunday in Week 2, Pink beat Grey to hand the Holy Family based team its first loss of the season.  Pink took a 4-1 lead at the half behind scores by Selby, Zaruba (2), Woodbury sophomore Logan Schwartzhoff.  Freiermuth assisted on two of the scores.  Zaruba opened the second half with his third goal of the game putting Pink up 5-1.  Bauer and Freiermuth assisted Zaruba on his hat trick score.  Grey rallied to cut the lead to 5-3.  Bauer got the sixth Pink goal with Freiermuth and Malloy assisting for the game winner.   Freiermuth scored the seventh Pink goal with defenseman Jaxon Hill assisting posting 5 points in game.

Pink swept Week 3 games beating 10-3 in a game played at the historic Drake Arena, one of the first indoor rinks built in Minnesota.  Pink took a 6-0 lead as Chanhassen junior Camden Newman skated a good game.  Newman combined with Freiermuth to post a three point half (1 goal/2 assists).  Freiermuth scored twice.  Unwin, Zaruba, and Rogers each scored a goal in the opening half.  Rogers and Freiermuth combined on the first goal of the second half as Pink built the lead over the Neon Team to 7-0.  Rogers got the goal, his second of the game.  Neon rallied to cut the lead to 7-2.  Freiermuth scored unassisted his third goal of the game.  It was Freiermuth’s third straight hat trick game.  Bauer scored with Zaruba getting the assist to make it a 9-2 game; Zaruba scored the final goal of the game with Freiermuth assisting.  It was the second straight 5 point game for Freiermuth.  Saturday, Pink edged the Purple Team 3-2 Zaruba getting the winning goal in the final minute of play assisted by Freiermuth.  Sunday the Pink Team returned to Drake Arena and were tied 7-7 by a surprising Yellow Team.  Pink is making a run.

10.2 Pink Team Defense: Woodbury junior defenseman Camden Newman and Eastview junior Ben Mallory lead the Pink defensive corps.  They are joined by Woodbury junior Anthony Hoops who returns at defense for the Pink this fall.  Hoops played a steady defense in the last Spring season.  Woodbury senior defenseman Jaxon Hill skated for the Woodbury varsity last season.  Woodbury lost two of their six defensemen to graduation last season.   Two Eastview players, juniors Ben Malloy and Jake Kemper, will join Newman.  St. Paul Academy senior Zack Tipler will skate in the Pink defensive corps.  Tipler played varsity for the SPA Spartans last session and will be returning to a team went 4-20-1 last season, but graduated no seniors at defense or forward.  Kemper and Malloy will be battling for a spot on the Eastview varsity with the Lightning graduating three of six defensemen.  Both skated jv last year for Eastview.  With East Ridge losing four of their defensemen from last season, Newman will have a shot at the varsity.

Senior Simley goalie, Jacob Erickson, and junior East Ridge goalie, Zach Bierwerth, will be in the nets for the Pink this fall.  Erickson played steady goaltending for the Pink last spring.  Bierwerth played JV for East Ridge last season.  Both goaltenders will be contending for varsity spots in November.  

10.3 Pink Team Offense: Woodbury loses seven forwards from last season’s varsity team that went 5-19-1.  Four were in their top 10 scorers.  The varsity will need to improve on offense in the scoring department.  Last season they posted just 49 goals in the 25 regular season games.  The seven Woodbury forwards on the Pink team (juniors  Nathan Porter, Kevin Unwin, Andrew Selby, Tim Klett, and Dylan Feith) and alternates Logan Schwartzhoff and Dylan Chapman will have their chances to improve their offensive skills playing in a league where offense is the norm.  Feith and Selby skated in the Spring League for the Pink.  Selby posted 29 points (14 goals) and was the tied for the #2 scorer on the team behind Friermuth.  Feith posted 9 points scoring 3 goals.  Porter was an alternate on the Green team.

Two junior Eastview forwards, Caden Berg and Drew Carroll, will be skating for the Pink team.  Unlike last season where the Eastview varsity was set in their top players, this next season will be a rebuilding year with the coaches looking for depth from the #2 line to the #4.

The stage was set for the Hasting trio led by Freiermuth.  That line with Zaruba and Bauer is among the top lines in the league after three weeks of play.  That line will be backed by the return of South St. Paul senior Dakotah Heimeri (23 points/11 goals) to the Pink team and by the return of Apple Valley junior Ben Rogers to the fall league.

10.4 Pink Team Comments: The strength of the Pink team will be in their offense.  Friermuth really improved his play from the start of the Spring League to the end and has picked up where he left off.  In the first eight games played, Friermuth has scored xx goals and he is getting support from Bauer and Matt Zaruba.  Kevin Unwin and Camden Newman has showing offensive strength and Apple Valley junior Ben Rogers has played well enough but is nowhere near the level of play that he skated at the end of the high school season.  The return of Heimeri and Selby will add to the scoring punch.  The Pink defense will have to prove itself again.  The Pink team is coached by Austin Hill.  Hill skated three years for Prior Lake and spent two years skating junior hockey before becoming a coach.  His experience on the bench will be helpful to the kids as they move forward in their hockey careers.  He is known as a good communicator in talking to the players.  The Pink will challenge for the Fall title.

Thursday, September 20, 2018 Week 2 Summary: Vintage, Grey, and Black take the lead.


The Pink Team's Chase Freiermuth scores against Teal. After two weeks of play (5 games) Freiermuth has posted 17 points/13 goals.

Week 2 Red And Black Fall League summary

1.Week 2 Summary: After two weeks of play there are no unbeaten teams in the league.  Three teams are tied for first place with 4-1 records-Vintage, Grey, and Black.  Six teams have two losses each (Teal, Red, Pink, Purple, Light Blue, and Orange).  One team Royal has three losses and two teams have won one game and lost four (Green and Yellow).  The White and Neon teams are currently in last place with no wins.

The Vintage team beat Yellow 8-1 and Light Blue 8-2 in Week 2 play and lost by forfeit to the Royal team 1-0.  Edina senior Sam Sherod leads the team with 7 points/5 goals.  Three Edina senior Vintage players are tied for second on the team; Peter Engelking with 3 goals and 3 assists; Jack Miller with 2 goals and 4 assists; and Max Peichel 2 goals and 4 assists.  The Grey Team also posted a 4-1 record beating Purple 4-2 and Neon 6-1 and lost to Pink 7-5.  Holy Family Catholic sophomore Spencer Lewin is leading the Grey Team with 14 points (9 goals).  Lewin is the #2 point getter in the league going into Week 3.  He trails Pink’s Chase Freiermuth (17 points/13 goals).  The Grey Team’s Marc Lund and Jacob McPartland each have six points.  The Black Team is the third team tied at top of the standings.  The Black swept all three Week 2 games beating Light Blue 5-1, Royal 6-5, and Red 5-4  The Black are led by Breck sophomores Beau Couneya (6 points/4 goals) and Jacob Hanson (6 points/5 assists).  Mound/Westonka defenseman Trent Bowe is also tied for the scoring leadership with 6 points all assists.

The Vintage Team of mostly Edina Junior Gold B players has had the strongest skating team in the first two weeks of play.  When Vintage decide to play hockey they can win, but Vintage needs to be at the rink to play.  The Vintage Team is being reviewed in this post.  The Grey Team (led by Holy Family Catholic players) has played sound hockey and the Black Team (led by Mound/Westonka and Breck players) have been the early surprise team.  The three top teams will not play each other in Week 3.  Still, one or two of the three top teams will mostly likely falter in Week 3. 

After going unbeaten in Week 1, the Light Blue Team (a compilation of Waconia, New Ulm, and Andover players) lost their first two Week 2 games to two of the three league leading teams, Black 5-1 and Vintage 8-1.  They beat Teal 5-4 in Sunday’s game.  The Light Blue has been showing up with full benches and rolling four lines during the game.  If they keep doing that and their players improve, they will be tough in a month.  New Ulm varsity’s leading scorer last season, Glavine Schugel leads the Blue in scoring.  The Purple Team (a team with 9 Gentry Academy players on its roster) lost to Grey 4-2 and to Orange 4-3 before beating Neon 4-2.  Henry Sibley junior Ryan Blake (6 points/4 goals) and Cretin junior Isaac Anderson (6 points/2 goals) lead the Purple in scoring.  The Light Blue Team and the Purple team is are reviewed in this post.  Vintage, Yellow, and Royal are also reviewed.

The Orange Team won two of their three Week 2 games.  After losing to Red 8-5 in Thursday’s games, the Orange Team beat Purple 4-3 and Green 5-3.  The Orange Team offensively is led by the duo of Mound/Westonka sophomore Ivan Sunder and Apple Valley senior Noah Williams.  An all Mound/Westonka line anchored by Blake Harmer and Alex Flemal has skated well in the opening halves of their games.  Harmer (8 points/3 goals) leads the team in scoring and Williams (7 points/2 goals) is the #2 scorer.  Defenseman Carter Hansen has posted 5 points/4 assists playing injured (and missing one game) in the first two weeks.

In Week 2 games, Teal beat Pink 7-5, beat Yellow 11-1, and lost to Light Blue 4-3.  Teal’s top scorer is Armstrong junior Jack Campion (12 points/8 goals).  Prior Lake senior Brian Kallberg is the #2 Teal scorer with 8 points/5 goals and Chanhassen senior Hans Lovig is #3 with 7 points/6 goals.  The Teal offense is tied with the Red Team for most goals scored (33) after two weeks of play.  The Red Team won two of their three Week 2 games beating Orange 8-5, Green 8-5, before losing to Black 5-4.  Four Minnetonka sophomores lead the Red Team in scoring; Jack Quinn leads the team with 9 points/6 goals; Walter Johnson has posted 7 points/2 goals and is Red’s #2 scorer; and Blake Anderson and Graham Harris are tied for #3 with each posting 6 points/3 goals in the first five games.  The Red Team has 15 Minnetonka skaters and will get tougher as the season progresses.

The Pink Team won two of their three Week 2 games.  After losing to Teal 7-5, the Pink beat White 5-3 and handed the Grey Team their first loss of the season winning 7-5.  There are two stories developing on the Pink Team.  One is the emergence of an all Hastings line led by Freiermuth (17 points/13 goals) with sophomores Kyle Bauer (11 points/5 goals) and Matt Zaruba (8 points/3 goals) at the wings.  The second is the steady line play of Woodbury juniors Andrew Selby (5 points/4 assists) and Kevin Unwin (4 points/3 goals) centered by South St. Paul senior Dakotah Heimeri (5 points/4 assists).  The Pink Team could be in for another run as the Fall season winds down especially if a third line develops

The Royal Team won two of their three Week 2 games beating Green 6-5 and Vintage 1-0.  They lost to Black 6-5.  The Royal Team is centered around Benilde-St. Margaret’s players and augmented by a St. Louis Park trio.  They are led in scoring by Benide-St. Margaret’s junior Cooper Gay (9 points/5 goals) and a St. Louis Park duo of sophomore Lucas Hand (6 points/4 goals) and freshman Austin Amelse (8 points/6 assists).  The Royal Team is reviewed as part of this post. 

The Green lost all three Week 2 games to slide to 1-4 going into Week 3.  They lost to Royal 6-5, Red 8-5, and Orange 5-3.  The Prior Lake based Green Team is struggling for the moment but they are coached by Tony Bianchi who always gets into the semifinals.  The Green are led in scoring by Delano’s Quinn Daly (4 points/4 goals), Prior Lake sophomores Tucker Devos 4 points (2 goals) and Bennett Soderberg (4 points/3 goals).  Yellow Teams posted their first wins this past week beating White 5-3.  Lakeville North freshman Jude Weber leads the Yellow in scoring with 5 points/4 assists; St.Thomas sophomore Billy Kozlak is #2 with 4 points/3 goals.  The Yellow Team is previewed in this post.

Week 3 Games

2. Week 3 games began this Thursday with games played at Orono, Dakotah, and Drake arenas.  One game to watch is White plays Light Blue at Drake Arena home to St. Paul Academy.  If you go, note the trophies and commemorations that go back a 100 years.  SPA hockey is one of the oldest Prep/HS teams in the state.  Another  game to watch is the late one at Orono that has Orange playing Black.  That will be a game that matches Mound/Westonka based Orange against Mound/Westonka-Breck based Black.  Think there will be some trashing talking in this one fueled with rivalries.

Saturday, six leagues games will be played at Eden Prairie and one game, Pink versus Purple, will be played at Woodbury.  That is a game for Hastings fans to see.  If the young Hastings line led by Chase Freiermuth continues to roll, they may be seeing future Raider varsity at work.  Woodbury arena is a short drive north on Highway 61 or the Bob Dylan road.  Take a right on Bailey Road.  At Eden Prairie, the Black versus Green Team is the most interesting.  It will be a MWT-Breck Black Team versus Green team loaded with Prior Lake and Shakopee players that should be ready to unload on somebody.

Sunday’s games are played at Eden Prairie with one game (Pink versus Yellow) played at Drake.  At Eden Praire, the 1:30 game between Grey versus Royal will match two disciplined teams, the Holy Family Catholic players versus the Minnetonka players.  This should be one of the best games of Week 3.

3. Team Reviews for Purple, Vintage, Light Blue, Royal, and Yellow

3. Team Reviews for Purple, Vintage, Light Blue, Royal, and Yellow

3.1. Purple: In one of the best played games in Week 1, the Purple Team beat the White 3-2.  Gentry Academy goalie sophomore Sam Fellows was in the net for the Purple Team.  The Purple dominated in their offensive zone early in the game, but gave up the opening goal to White with 12 minutes to play.  Thirty seconds later, Cretin junior Isaac Anderson scored to tie the game 1-1.  Good work by Hill-Murray sophomore Ethan Lessard resulted in the Purple scoring the tying goal a minute later.  Lessard beat the defense off the boards scoring from the slot to tie the game 2-2.  Hill-Murray senior Jake Henthorne scored the game winner.  Playing defense, he trailed a Purple rush to the high slot, picked off the hard rebound off the goalie and drilled the shot for the game winner.  Purple went 2-0 beating the Red Team 5-4 in their second game Sunday.  Henry Sibley junior Ryan Blake scored the game winner, his second goal of the game.

The Purple lost their first two Week 2 games losing to Grey 4-2 in a Tuesday game and to Orange 4-3 in a Saturday game.  Sunday, they beat Neom 4-2.   The Purple Team’s loss to Grey was another good game.  Both teams showed with full benches.  Both teams skated well.  Grey took a 1-0 lead off an early rush and for the next 10 minutes they clung to that lead as the Purple dominated them controlling the puck in the Grey zone.  Still the Grey defense played hard enough to keep the shots on net down and the game evened out over the rest of the period.  Neither team could dominate after that 10 minute period.  Both teams had trouble establishing puck control in the offensive zone.  The first half ended with Grey up 1-0.  Purple goalie Gentry Academy sophomore Sam Fellows had 6 saves.  Ten minutes into the second half, the Purple Team tied the game 1-1 on an even strength goal scored by Daniel Yusupoff with Noah Heiderscheid and Michael Cudahy getting the assists.  Two minutes later, Grey scored to make it a 2-1 game.  The tight checking game was starting to open up.  Over the next few minutes, Grey scored twice to take a 4-1 lead in the game.  The fourth goal was scored with just under two minutes left to play and came off a two man rush.  Purple Richfield sophomore Ryan Odefey scored the final goal of the game with just over a minute to go.  The game ended with Grey winning 4-2.

In Week 2’s second game played Saturday at Orono, the Purple Team lost 4-3 to Orange.   A Orange goal with 2 minutes to play was the game icer.  When Purple’s Ryan Odefey scored 30 seconds later, it became a game winner.  The Purple stormed the Orange net, catching the Orange defense forward, in the last minutes of play.  They hit the pipe with the potential tying goal as time ran out.  Purple Ryan Blake and Ryan Odefey scored the first two goals with Cretin junior Isaac Anderson, St. Paul Johnson senior Michael Cudey, and Holy Angels freshman Ricky “Travlin’ Man” Nelson getting the assists.  Purple skated a tough game and learned a hard lesson in losing to Orange 4-3.  The Purple Team played the “stick and trip” too often behind the play in the first part of the game until a veteran Orange player took one of them out.  After that, Purple played hockey.  In beating Neon, Blake and Owatonna senior defenseman Drake Gieseke scored in the opening half to put Purple up 2-0.  After Neon scored early in the second half, Reed Bartelings, Minnehaha senior who led the Redhawks in scoring last season, and Gentry Academy freshman Noah Heiderschied scored to build a 4-1 lead before Neon got their second goal and final goal.  Gieseke, Gentry Academy sophomore Isaiah Norlin and Rosemount sophomore Zach Bade got assists.    

3.2 Purple Team Roster: This fall, the Purple Team is dominated by Gentry Academy players.  It is the first time nine Gentry Academy players will play games against top high school players.  They are sophomores now and will be competing as a high school team in 2018-2019.  The Stars had a cooperative agreement with Minnehaha last season.

Gentry has been successful in developing players.  Two Gentry players made news last fall, sophomore brothers Chaz and Cruz Lucius, when they committed last fall to play for the Minnesota’s Division 1 hockey program in 2022.  All nine Stars on the Purple Team will be experiencing their first real high school season in the fall league playing an 18 game schedule plus playoffs.  Two of the 9 Stars are another brother duo, the Furuseth brothers, who are making more news.  The Furuseths will be skating for the Purple this fall.  Damon Furuseth made MN Hockey’s HP15 list and traveled to New York as part of the National Team Development Program in July.  Besides the 9 Gentry players, the Purple Team has three Hill Murray players; two players each from Apple Valley and Holy Angels; and one player each from Owatonna, Cretin, St. Paul Johnson, Richfield, Sibley, Rosemount, and Minnehaha.

In their first 5 games played, the Furuseths have not showed.  The Gentry players that show are mostly playing defense; the Hill-Murray players and East St. Paulers are carrying the offensive load.  The defensive leadership comes from seniors Jake Henthorne Hill Murray and Drake Gieseke Owatonna.  Henthorne skated on the Pioneer varsity team last season and will likely be returning to lead a younger set of Hill Murray defenders which is exactly the role he is playing on this Purple Team. Gieseke skated on the Owatonna varsity last season and skated in the Spring League posting 23 points/9 goals.  He is likely to play varsity for the Huskies this season.  Gentry Academy sophomores Brevan Grigus, Chet Skinner, and Isaiah Norlin; and Apple Valley sophomore Sam Nelson make up the rest of the Purple defense.  Grigus skated in the Minnesota Bantam Elite League and with Gentry this past year.  Norlin has an older brother Bennett who after four years at Shattuck, has committed to the Airforce Academy in 2019-2020.  Nelson skated in the Apple Valley bantam program last season.  Both goalies on the Purple Team are from Gentry Academy, sophomores Sam Fellows and Corey Hendrickson.  Fellows should be a strong goaltender.  Hendrickson posted a 9-7-1 record giving up 3.3 goals a game while stopping 90% of the shots on net last season.  He played over 900 minutes in the net for the Minnehaha varsity last season. 

Offensively, Gentry Academy sophomore forward Damon Furuseth was selected by Minnesota Hockey to represent the state as part of the NTDP.  He joined Holy Family Catholic sophomore Trey Fechko.  Fechko skated in the 2017 Red and Black Fall league and led the league in scoring.  Gentry Academy’s sophomore Daniel Yusupoff and freshman Noah Heiderscheid are also on the Purple Team.  Yusupoff skated in California before joining the Academy.  Senior leadership for the Purple offense will come from Minnehaha Academy senior Reed Bartelings.  Bartelings has played the past three years for the Redhawks posting 89 points/34 goals in 76 games.  Hill-Murray freshman Kenny Davis, Cretin/Derham junior Isaac Anderson, St. Paul Johnson senior Michael Cudahy, Southwest Christian sophomore Ryan Odefey, Henry Sibley junior Ryan Blake, Rosemount sophomore Zach Blade, and Holy Angels freshman Ricky Nelson and sophomore Jonah Slater complete the forwards.   

3.3 Purple Team Comments: Clearly the senior leadership on the team will come from Owatonna, Hill Murray, and Minnehaha Academy for this Falls Purple Team.  In the first 5 games, the Gentry Academy has formed the core of the Purple defense that has given up just 16 goals.  On offense, the Purple lines have been juggled and have not settled down at this point in the fall season.  The Red and Black league play is about speed and transition.  Checking is allowed but not the big hits in center ice or along the boards; rubbing a player off the puck along the boards is acceptable.  The grind of skating three games each week for six weeks shows playing against teams that cover a range of skills and experience.  It is what makes the Red and Black leagues unique.  The Purple Team will be interesting to watch how it does over the next month.  The initial assessment is that the Purple defense looks stable and the offense is yet to gel.

4. Team Reviews for Purple, Vintage, Light Blue, Royal, and Yellow

4.1 Vintage: The Vintage this fall is an all Edina team led by Tucker Canon, Jack Miller, TJ Mahoney, Brady Klemmensen, and Peter Engelking.  Most are returning from a disappointing Spring League season last place finish.  Canon (35 points/18 goals), Miller (18 points/12 goals), Klemmensen (16 points/11 goals), and Engelking (9 points/5 goals) led the Vintage in the scoring this past spring.  Max Psihos (4 points/3 goals), Nick Lawton (2 points), Miles Dorsey (3 points/2 goals), alternate Ian Stentz (15 points/9 goals) also skated for the Vintage.  This fall season, Klemmensen will be skating as an alternate.   Canon and Waterloo played on the Edina Junior Gold A team that represented MN in USA Hockey’s High School tournament held at Wayzata’s PIC last March.

The Vintage won their first two games of the season beating Neon 9-2 with Edina seniors TJ Mahoney getting the hat trick and Max Peichel posting 4 points.  Edina senior defenseman Nick Lawton had a good game posting 2 points.  Goalie Thomas Hardie got the win.  The Vintage game with the Pink team matched two of the better teams in the league.  The Vintage won in a roughly played second half holding the Pink Team’s Chase Freiermuth to a hat trick.  It was not good hockey.  There were some scouts at that game.  They will drop in since the Red and Black league is a target rich environment.

In Week 2 play, the Vintage Team beat Yellow 8-1, beat Light Blue 8-2, and lost to Royal (by forfeit).  Against Yellow, Vintage took a 2-0 lead at the half behind goals by Jack Miller and Anthony Schleck.  Miller scored the opening goal of the second half.  Five different Vintage players scored the last five goals in an 8-1 win.  The Vintage Team continued to use its power to beat the Light Blue Team in Saturday’s game.  Forwards Tucker Canon, Sam Sherod, and Jack Miller turned strong rushes into multiple shots on the nets to post a 5-0 lead at the half.

The Vintage Team scored three more in the second to win their fourth straight game 8-2 .   Vintage’s first score came 10 minutes into the opening half.  A light blue defensive error resulted in a loose puck going to Vintage forward Nick Boss on the weak side left.  Boss popped the puck over a sliding save attempt by the goalie to put Vintage up 1-0. It was a top shelter hitting just the crossbar.  Two minutes later, Vintage’s Sherod beat the defense going wide right, cut to the crease to score Vintage’s second goal. It was another top shelter beating a sliding goalie.  With just under 12 minutes to play, Peter Engelking blistered one from the right point to make it a 3-0 game. The fourth score in the half came off a melee in front of the Light Blue net.  On the third rebound, the puck ended up on Tucker Canon’s stick in the slot who one timed it for the goal.  With just under 7 minutes to play, a Vintage forward skating with strength beat the defense swinging into the slot from left to right to make it a 5-0 lead at the half.  Sherod scored twice in the second half to get the hat trick; Gus Johnson scored the eighth goal.  Sunday, the Vintage win streak ended via forfeit.   Except for three players, the VintageTeam went to the Vikings game and skipped the game.  They did not bother to tell anyone forcing the league to improvise.  They showed lack of commitment to the sport.  The Royal team did show and skated against a team of subs.  The Royal Team filled with Benilde-St. Margaret’s players had a good game.  They showed commitment to the sport.

4.2 Vintage Week 3: The Vintage Team plays Red Thursday September 20th a team loaded with strong Minnetonka players backed by a good experienced coach who has coached in numerous Junior A games and has experience on the bench.  The Vintage Team is off to a terrible start.  Despite posting a 4-1 record, they have been “league no shows” when it comes to hockey.  Saturday, the Vintage will face an Orange Team dominated by Mound/Westonka players who can skate.  Sunday, they will play a Prior Lake based Green team that plays a disciplined game and has another experienced coach who will “eat your lunch” if the Vintage players muck around.     

4.3 Vintage Team Comment: Most of the Edina players on the Vintage team skated in Edina’s Junior Gold program skating for the JGB Green or the JGB White team.  Normally, a team like the Vintage is a target rich environment for Junior A scouts.  In one afternoon they can see prospects from numerous area teams skating.  This Vintage Team should get some looks with players who most likely will skate some place in juniors if they continue to play after high school.  But scouts can’t watch a team that does not show nor can they see hockey when a team plays the fool rather than skating.  Not showing and playing the fool is something the Vintage Team has done in the opening two weeks of play.  The Royal game that they forfeited on Sunday would have been a good test for them since the Royal Team is loaded with high school talent and JGA players who skated for St. Louis Park in last season’s Minnesota Hockey Junior Gold A state tourney semifinals.  There are some players on this Vintage team that are dedicated themselves to improve and play hockey in the future.  And then there are those that simply don’t care. 

5. Team Reviews for Purple, Vintage, Light Blue, Royal, and Yellow

5.1 Light Blue: In Week 1, the Light Blue team moved the puck well in the offensive zone and beat the Orange Team 5-0 and the Green Team 5-1.  With players coming from Waconia, New Ulm, and Andover, the Light Blue beat an Orange Team loaded with Mound/Westonka hopefuls and a Green Team loaded with Prior Lake and Shakopee hopefuls.  It was a pleasant surprise to see that happen.  The Light Blue beat the Orange with quick puck movement to build an early 3-0 lead and held on behind strong goal tending by New Ulm senior goalie Jack Raymond.  Raymond shut down the Orange offense stopping numerous shots in the second half from close in.  He stopped 35 shots.  Two of the first three goals came on quick shots that beat the goalie from the slot.  Minnehaha Academy sophomore A. J. Beugen drilled the first goal with Waconia senior Adam Yanik and Minnehaha Academy sophomore Connor Nelson getting the assists.  Nelson got the second score with Beugen and Andover junior Hayden Masloski getting the assists.  The third goal came off a nice pass play timed to the lower right corner that Andover junior Nathan Bauer one-timed over the goalie into the roof of the net.  Orange defensemen were rushing the puck and not getting back into the play.  The Light Blue forwards knew how to take advantage of a team that rushes defensemen.  They quickly turned the puck and caught the Orange with two on one and sometimes two on none rushes.  In their second game in Week 1, the New Ulm leading scorer junior Glavine Schugel  scored twice in their 5-1 win over Green.  Beugen, Waconia senior Isiah Van Houtte, and Andover junior Gavin DeBettignies each scored with assists going to Blake junior Lachen Reid, Waconia senior Jacob Gregor, Waconia sophomore Dan Applegren, and New Ulm senior Shane Esser.

The Light Blue opened Week 2 with a pair of losses losing to the Black Team 5-1 and the Vintage Team 8-2.  The Light Blue Team has consistently skated with a good bench.  That allows more players to skate and pays off in the long run.  It will help at the end of the season.  In losing to Black and Vintage they skated four lines.  Against Black, they tied the game with ten minutes to play in the opening half, but trailed at halftime 3-1.  Isiah Van Houtte scored the lone blue goal with New Prague sophomore Joe Vacek getting the assit.  A LOT OF CREDIT goes to the Light Blue Team showing with a full bench and skating everybody against the Vintage Team skating three lines of strong Edina players.  The Vintage used their power to beat the Blue players in the races to the puck, combining size with strength of drive to win the race ties and out muscle the Blue. Blue loss 8-2, but learned and will get better.  In their next game, they beat Teal 4-3, a team also with strong players from Armstrong and Minneapolis.  After trailing 2-1 for most of the game, the Light Blues rallied to score three goals in the last five minutes of play to win.  New Ulim sophomore Allen Arneson scored the game winner with two minutes left on the clock.  Blake junior John Meskan assisted on the winning goal.  Nelson scored the first half goal with Debettignies getting the assist.  Yanik scored to tie the game 2-2 with Meskan and New Ulm sophomore Kegan Schiro assisting.  Arneson scored the third goal on a solo rush.

5.2 Light Blue Week 3:  The Blue has games against White (Orono dominated team that is struggling and has yet to win a game); Grey (a Holy Family Catholic dominated team that has lost once); and Neon (who like White has yet to win a game) in Week 3.  On the surface, one would say Light Blue should win at least two of three Week 3 games, but this is Red and Black.  The only thing certain is that three games will be played. 

5.3 Light Blue Roster: The Blue’s defense is anchored three veterans led by Andover’s Nat Bauer.  Bauer skated in the Spring League scoring 20 points/3 goals.  He is a skater with a proven pedigree.  With Andover returning 5 defensemen from last year’s varsity, Bauer will be trying out for that sixth spot on what will likely be a top 5 team in the 2018-2019 season.  New Ulm senior Shane Esser will likely anchor the New Ulm varsity defense in the coming season.  Blake junior Lachen Reid skated all 25 varsity games for the Bears last season and will likely be the Bears top defender.  Those three defensemen will skate with Joey Vacek who skated in New Prague’s bantam program last season, Waconia senior Kaleb Roeser, and Waconia sophomore Dan Applegren.  With Waconia losing three defensemen from last year’s team, both Roeser and Vacek will be candidates to skate varsity.  The real key will be the Light Blue goalies, a pair of New Ulm Eagles senior Jack Raymond and sophomore Kyle Esser.  Raymond was the go to goalie for New Ulm last season skating over 1200 minutes in the nets posting a 12-11-1 record stopping 91% of the shots on net while giving up 2.5 goals a game.  Kyle Esser skated on the Eagles varsity last year and saw action.  Esser has posted a 1-1 record in the first two weeks of play; Raymond has a 2-1 record. 

The Light Blue offense will be led by New Ulm junior and scoring leader Glavine Schugel (26 points/11 goals).  Sophomore Allen Arneson, sophomore Keagan Schiro, and senior Ryan Esser complete the New Ulm contingent.  Waconia seniors Isiah Van Houtte, Adam Yanik, and Jacob Gregor are part of the Blue offense.  Blake junior John Meskan, Minnehaha Academy sophomores AJ Beugen and Connor Nelson, and Andover juniors Gavin DeBettignies and Hayden Masloski complete the Blue forwards.  Blue alternates are Henry Sibley junior Owen Stotts, New Prague sophomore Aiden Dorzinski, and Dylan Reed.

5.4 Light Blue Comments: This Light Blue team will surprise at times.  It is clear, they will skate as many as show up and skate them evenly.  Against stronger teams, there will be mismatches at times.  But how will they be skating a month from now.  A number of the stronger teams on paper often show up barely skating 10 forwards.  Skating three tough games in a four day period can be wearing and with the Light Blue bench, that will be less wearing.  Clearly the defense will and has carried the load in the early season.  The offense loaded with seniors should kick in as they shake the rust and become more familiar with each other’s play.  In Week 3, they will play White (Orono) who has yet to win a game; Grey (Holy Family who will be tough); and Neon (an Eden Prairie/Shakopee team that has struggled).  Light Blue should win two of those and with those wins move close to being in the Tier I playoffs at the season end.  That is a surprise.   

6. Team Reviews for Purple, Vintage, Light Blue, Royal, and Yellow

6.1 Royal: The Royal lost their opening game of the fall season to the Red Team 9-4.  Benilde-St. Margaret Cooper Gay scored or assisted in all four Royal goals scoring two and assisting on two.  St. Louis Park sophomore Lucas Hand scored twice.  St. Louis Park sophomore Cam Donahue and freshman Austin Amelse assisted.  In their second game on the opening weekend, the Royal Team lost to Orange 7-3.  They tied the game at half time 2-2 on scores by Toby Curtiss (with Cooper Gay assisting) and Amelse (with Hand and Cooper Gay assisting).  Ten minutes into the second half the Orange Team scored to start a string of five straight goals.  Late in the game, Camden Martin scored the final goal with Amelse and Cam Donahue assisting.  The Red Team won two of their three Week 2 games beating Green 6-5 and Vintage 1-0.  Against the Green Team loaded with Prior Lake players, Royal’s Cooper Gay scored the opening goal as built 3-1 and 4-3 leads in the opening half.  Nick Hibino assisted on Gay’s score.  Jack Kelly scored the second goal of the game halfway through the first half to put Royal up 2-0 with Hibino getting his second assist of the game.  Hand scored the third goal with 10 minutes to play to make it a 3-1 game.  Amelse assisted on the score.  Camden Martin assisted by Gino Gatti scored the 3-3 tie breaker to put Royal up 4-3 at the half.  Nick Hibino scored in the opening minutes of the second half to give the Royals a 5-3 lead.  Green rallied late in the game to tie the score 5-5.  Amelse with Hand assisting got the game winner in the last minute of play.  Royals won 6-5.

 

In losing to Black 6-5, the Royal defense gave up the game winner in the last minutes of play.  That broke a 5-5 tie.  Cooper Gay scored the opening goal in the first minutes of play to take a 1-0 lead.  Amelse and Parker Davis assisted.  Black scored three straight goals and the Royal trailed 3-1 at midway through the half.  Cooper Gay got the second Royal goal with Hibino assisted to cut the lead to 3-2; Lucas Hand tied the game assisted by Amelse 3-3.  Nick Hibino scored unassisted in the last minute of play to tie the game 4-4 at the half.  Black scored in the opening minutes of the second half to take a 5-4 lead.  Black held that lead for most of the second half of play.  With five minutes left in the game, the Royal’s Jack Kelly scored to tie the game 5-5.  Black got the game winner with seconds left on the clock.  Royals lost 6-5.  Sunday the Royals won by forfeit when the Vintage Team failed to show.  The Royals played against a team of substitutes and three Vintages players.

6.2 Royal Team Overview: The fans watching the Royal Team play will be seeing a lot of red on the ice.  Eleven of the twenty players on the Royal roster are Red Knights from Benilde-St. Margaret’s.  They will be trying out for the BSM varsity in just 8 weeks.  But this Royal Team has three stories being played out prior to the start of the 2018-2019 season.  One story revolves around the BSM varsity which will be returning only three varsity forwards for the season.  Five of the Red Knights on the Royal are forwards that will be vying for a varsity spot led by Cooper Gay.  The second story revolves around Red Knights who skated Junior Gold A last season for St. Louis Park.  That team lost in the state semifinals to Edina 5-2 and creates an interesting scenario in the fall league since the Vintage Team is dominated by Edina Junior Gold players.  The third is the emergence of the St. Louis Park line centered by sophomore Lucas Hand with freshman Austin Amelse and sophomore Cam Donahue at wings.

 The Red Knights’ varsity needs forwards in the coming season.  They will have a strong defensive corps returning from last season’s varsity losing only two; but they lose six of their top nine forwards.  Two returning varsity players, Jett Johnson and Jonah Mortenson, skated in the Red and Black Spring League.  Jett Johnson is one of the best swing players in the state playing both defense and wing.  With the Red Knights returning most of their defensive corps and losing their top four scorers (55% of their total goal production last season), BSM’s offense this year will rely on how well Johnson combined with senior Ian Bahr and sophomore Jonah Mortenson can score.  Mortenson skated forward in the Spring League posting 33 points/21 goals and, like Johnson, skated defense and forward for the Red Knights last season.  Four Royal players, Toby Curtiss, Cooper Gay, Nicolas Dokman, and goalie Jonnie Vitelli skated JV for the Red Knights last season.  The Red Knights forwards in the coming season should have Red and Black alumni scoring goals for Benilde-St. Margaret’s.

For the scouts who drop in on the Fall league games, #6 Matt Kelly, #17 Everett Palmer, #18 Jack Kelley, and goalie #35 Michael Lothenbach are returning junior gold players from the St. Louis Park JGA team that made it to the JGA state tourney semifinals.  BSM senior defenseman #12 Nathan Anderson and sophomore #7 Gordy Johnson are also players to note.

The nine players are from St. Louis Park (3), Holy Angels (3), and Apple Valley (1).  Fans should not overlook the St. Louis Park trio of Lucas Hand, Austin Amelse, and Cam Donahue.  All skated in the St. Louis Park bantam program last season and will be moving up to high school hockey.  St. Louis Park graduated 7 of their top 10 scorers from last season’s team. 

6.3 Royal Team Defense: Apple Valley sophomore goalie Carter Jenson and Benilde-St. Margaret’s senior Jonnie Vitelli are the goaltending duo for Red Team this Fall.  Jenson skated in the Apple Valley bantam program last season; Vitelli split time in the BSM varsity nets two years ago.  In his junior season, he backed Carson Limesand.  Limesand skated initially for Orono before joining the Red Knights; he made the HP-16 Final 54 Roster this spring.  Jenson has been in the nets for the first two Royal wins posting a 2-1 record.  Holy Angels senior Caleb Scheer, Red Knight seniors Nathan Anderson, Michael Lothenbach,  and Matt Kelly, and Red Knight sophomore Gordy Johnson form the core of the Royal defensemen.  Scheer skated last season on the Holy Angels JV.  The Stars will lose five defensemen through graduation from last year’s team and Scheer should play for Holy Angels this coming season.  Benilde-St. Margaret’s seniors Nathan Anderson and Matt Kelly form a defensive duo.  Kelly skated last season for the St. Louis Park JGA team.  Lothenbach skated for the BSM JV two seasons ago.  Benilde sophomore Gordy Johnson and  St. Louis Park sophomore Cam Donahue fill out the Royal defense.  Donahue skates both wing and defense,

The Royal offense has seven Benilde forwards this fall; two St. Louis Park players sophomores Lucas Hand and Cam Donahue and freshman Austin Amelse; two Chanhassen forwards freshman Camden Martin and sophomore Aiden Hamre; and junior Holy Angels forward Nick Hibino.  The Royal’s offense looks to have strength.  BSM juniors Toby Curtis (23 points/8 goals), Cooper Gay (12 points/6 goals), and Nicolas Dokman (14 points/4 goals) skated in the Spring League.  BSM seniors Jack Kelley and Everrett Palmer skated for the junior gold A team.  Holy Angels Nick Hibino skated for the Stars’ JV team last season and skated for the Neon Team in the Spring League posting 10 points/7 goals.  BSM freshman Gino Gatti and Armstrong sophomores and alternates Ryan Baderscher and Ryan Anderson skated for Armstrong’s bantam program last season.  Chanhassen sophomore Aiden Hamre skated for the Storm’s JV team last season and Camden Martin skated in the Chaska/Chanhassen bantam program.

6.4 Royal Comment: The Royal defense looks fairly solid anchored by Holy Angels’ senior Caleb Scheer and BSM seniors Michael Lothenbach, Nathan Anderson, and Matt Kelly.  Cooper Gay and Toby Curtiss skated in the spring league.  Gay skated as an alternate for the Royal last spring and posted 12 points/6 goals not playing a full schedule.  Curtiss also skated in the Spring League posting 23 points/8 goals.  Two lines have emerged in the early season, a BSM line led by Gay and a St. Louis Park line led by Lucas Hand and Austin Amelse.  There is more offensive strength on the Royal roster in Holy Angels Nick Hibino (5 points/3 goals) and Chanhassen freshman Camden Martin.The Royal will have strengths and unknowns at the forwards, but overall the Royal Team should contend for the title.

7. Team Reviews for Purple, Vintage, Light Blue, Royal, and Yellow

7.1 Yellow: The Yellow Team lost their two opening week games (8-5 to Green and 4-1 Black).  Against Green, the Yellow team trailed 4-3 with 10 minutes to play in the game. They tired and gave up 4 goals in the next eight minutes of play. Trailing 8-3, with under five minutes left to play, Yellow mounted a mini comeback with Eagan junior defenseman Ben Wilary scoring twice with assists going to Burnsville junior Mitch Drobnick and Eagan junior Joshua Alexander.  Lakeville South junior Ray Smith scored the lone Yellow Team goal in the first half. Drobnick scored in the second half with Lakeville North Freshman Jude Weber getting the assist. Lakeville North Sophomore Jack Sellman scored the third Yellow Team goal with Weber getting his second assist of game.  Still, Yellow lost to Green 8-5.

In Sunday’s game, the Yellow played Black at Burnsville.  They lost 4-1.  Each Team showed up with full benches.  Trailing 2-1 at the half, Yellow was stopped cold on a 5-on-3 nearly two full minute power play. The great defensive stand at the start of the second half turned the game momentum to the Black Team.  The first 20 minutes were scoreless.  Yellow’s St. Thomas Academy sophomore Billy Koziak scored their only goal to tie the game 1-1 with five minutes left in the opening half.  A minute later, Black beat the Yellow defense scoring off a 2-on-1 rush to take a 2-1 lead at the half.  The first minutes of the second half turned critical for the Yellow Team. The Black Team drew two penalties in the first 30 seconds resulting in a Yellow 5-on-3 power play for nearly two minutes.  A Black defensive duo killed the penalties never leaving the ice.  The Yellow power play did not get one shot.  After that, Yellow could not beat the goalie.  Failure to get pressure on Black during the two man advantage power play set the tone for the rest of the half as the Black defense surrounded their senior goalie from MWT and stopped a relentless Yellow attack. Despite putting 21 shots on net in the second half, the Yellow Team lost 4-1.

In week 2 play, Yellow lost twice to two physical teams, Vintage 8-1 and Teal 11-1.  They beat White in the Sunday game 5-3 for their first win of the season.  Yellow trailed Vintage at the end of the first half 2-0 behind the solid goaltending of Eagan sophomore Graeme Edmund.  Edmund stopped 23 of 25 first half Vintage shots.  Burnsville’s Joe Tucci scored the lone Yellow goal with Burnville’s Mitch Drobnick and Lakeville North’s Jack Sellman getting the assists in the 8-1 loss.  After losing Saturday to Teal (Yellow defense could not stop Armstrong junior Jack Campion from scoring five goals), Yellow came back to beat White 5-3 for their first win with Edmund’s in the net.  White took a 2-0 lead at the half, but St. Thomas Academy sophomore Billy Koziak (2 goals), Lakeville North freshman Jude Weber (3 points),Lakeville North junior Sam Baratto, and Lakeville North senior John Dupont combined to score five second half goals to win the game 5-3.

In Week 3, Yellow plays Grey (Holy Family based team that is tied for the league lead at 4-1), a winless Neon Team that skates 10 seniors from Shakopee and Eden Prairie, and Pink (led by Chase Freiermuth).

7.2 Yellow Overview: Eagan has four defensemen on the Yellow defensive corps led by senior Nolan Cronkhite, junior Ben Wilary, sophomore Cody Rehder and Tyler Johnson.   Elk River junior Blake Zimmerman, and Lakeville South junior defenseman Ray Smith complete the Yellow six.  Cronkhite skated JV for the Wildcats last season and faces tough competition with the Eagan varsity returning 5 players (3 seniors) for the 2018-2019 season.  Zimmerman skated JV for the Elks and has a better shot at varsity with three of the top six Elk defenders lost through graduation.  Smith also skated JV for the Cougars.  He has a good chance at varsity with the top three Lakeville South defenders graduated.  Three Eagan defenders, junior Ben Wilary, and sophomore Cody Rehder complete the defensive corps.  Alternate White Bear Lake sophomore defenseman Sean Smythe skated last season for WBL’s JV team.  Goalie Graeme Edmund, sophomore Eagan, returns to play fall hockey for the Yellow.  Edmund had some good games and often played back to back as a substitute in the Spring League.  White Bear Lake sophomore goalie Nathan Gist will play for the Yellow. 

The Yellow offensive corps consists of seven Lakeville North players, two Burnsville players, two Eagan players, and one St. Thomas Academy player.  Two Lakeville North seniors Sam Herman and John Dupont lead the Panther contingent.  Dupont skated varsity as a defenseman and Herman skated JV as a forward.  Junior Sam Baratto joins two Panther sophomores, Matt Njaa and Jack Sellman, and one freshman Jude Weber to complete the Lakeville North contingent.  The two Burnsville forwards, Joe Tucci and Mitch Drobnick skated for the Blaze JV last season.  One Eagan player, Joshua Alexander, skated JV last season.  The second Eagan player Nicholas Boor skated in the Eagan bantam program.  Sophomore Billy Kozlak completes the Yellow forwards. 

7.3 Yellow Comment: The Yellow bench has experimented with their lines in the first two weeks of play. The two lines seemed to get the pressure; one an all Lakeville North line centered by senior varsity player John Dupont with sophomore Jack Sellman and freshman Jude Weber at the wings and one that paired Burnsville juniors Mitch Drobnick and Joe Tucci.  Tucci played Spring League hockey and posted 12 points/4 goals skating for the Spring League champs the Royal Team.  The Yellow Team changed lines in their win over White last Sunday.  The bench put Kozlak and Jude Weber together on one line and they produced three of the five goals.  The bench also combined two Lakeville North players, Sam Baratto and John Dupont and they produced two goals.  That creates a potential third line with the two Burnsville players, Tucci and Drobnick.  Yellow is trying to find that grove.  Once they do, they will be tough to beat.   

Tuesday, September 11, 2018-Week 1: Red and Black League Starts Regular Season Play:


Orange Team's Ivan Sunder (red helmet) sent this puck at the net shooting from behind his back as he was taken down by the Royal defense. Orange went on to beat the Royal 7-3

The Red and Black Fall League kicked off its season with opening games played at Orono, Woodbury, Burnsville, and Eden Prairie.  Four teams won both their games to go undefeated into Week 2; Light Blue (a compilation of Waconia, New Ulm, and Andover players), Vintage (an all Edina team of Junior Gold A/B players), Grey (a team of Holy Family players plus some Prior Lake), and Purple (a team with 9 Gentry Academy players on its roster).

Six teams split their opening two Week 1 games; Pink (a team of Woodbury/East Ridge/Eastview players augmented with the top scorer from the Spring League Chase Friermuth), Red (a team of mostly Minnetonka players augmented with Shakopee players), Green (a team of Prior Lake/STMA/Delano players), Orange (a team of mostly Mound/Westonka players), Teal (a team of Armstrong/Chanhassen/Minneapolis players, and Black (a team of Mound/Westonka and Breck players).

Four teams lost both games; White (a team of Orono players), Yellow (a team of Lakeville North/Eagan players), Royal (a team of mostly Benilde-St. Margaret’s players), and Neon (a team of Eden Prairie/Shakopee players).

Four Teams Featured in this Post (Grey, White, Orange, and Black)

There are 14 teams in the league.  Four are featured in this week's post.  The remaining 10 teams will featured in the coming weeks.  Games summaries will be a constantly part of these posts.  Posts will be grouped by Week 1 to Week 8 or end of the season.  Buried in the previews are game summaries from the opening weekend for each of the four teams previewed. 

Each game summary is written twice, from the perspective of the team being reviewed with attention given to the players on that roster.  For example, Grey beat White 3-2 on Saturday.  Under the Grey Preview, a game summary was written from a Grey point of view; under the White Preview, the same 3-2 game was written from the White point of view.

1. Grey Team Preview

1.Grey: Grey won both their games beating the Teal Team (mostly Armstrong players) 10-5 Saturday and a strong White Team (mostly Orono players) 7-5 Sunday.  Just how strong the Holy Family based Grey Team will be is yet to be determined, partly because both opponents, Teal and White, showed up with short benches; but the Grey Team will contend.  In the first week of action, two Grey power forwards emerged as scoring threats, one grey as a strong sophomore defenseman in development, and one grey as a potential playmaker.  Holy Family sophomores Marc Lund and Spencer Lewin powered the Grey offense.  Lewin scored a hat trick in the first game.  Holy Family freshman center, Tyler Heise, from Farmington is developing as a playmaker.  He has a quick burst of speed and posted 5 points in the first game played (4 assists and 1 goal).  Fire sophomore defenseman Noel Rahn has the size and skill and improved his game awareness in just two games.  He posted 4 points on the opening weekend. 

The Grey Team blew open a tight game against the Teal Team halfway through the second half to win 10-5.  The Grey Team consists mostly of Holy Family players.  Holy Family sophomore goalie Dylan Halliwill was in the nets for Grey in the opener.  Teal skated only two lines each having a short bench.  The Teal Team was dominated by Armstrong players have size and used it to take an early lead.  Grey trailed in the game 3-0 and did not score until 11 minutes were left on the clock.  Grey scored to make it a 3-1 game with Rahn and Fire sophomore  Jacob McPartland getting the assists.  Then with just under three minutes left in the opening half, Grey scored on a three bank lucky shot that just caught the inside of the right post.  Holy Family sophomore defenseman, Luke Roelofs, got the goal.  Heise and McPartland got the assists.  A minute later, Heise scored to tie the game 3-3 as the opening half ended.  The second half was dominated by Grey as the Teal Team tired.  Holy Family’s Spencer Lewin broke the tie with 17 minutes to go rapping a rebound past the Teal goalie to make it a 4-3 game.  Lewin would add two more to claim a hat trick.  Both Marc Lund and Lewin are strong in their skates and hockey smart.  They are formable opponents when paired on the ice.  Lewin was the star of the game; but he had help on from a strong driving Lund.

Fire sophomore Nick Strand scored the fifth goal putting Grey up 5-3.  Lewin scored unassisted to make a 6-3 game.  The Grey’s McPartland skipped a puck through the goalie’s 5-hole to make the score 7-3.  Holy Family junior Gavin Lindermann camped in the slot and buried the puck in the upper right corner to make it an 8-3 game. Lewin scored the ninth Grey goal to get his hat trick and Strand scored his second goal of the game to end the Fire scoring with a 10-3 lead.  Teal scored two goals in the last minutes to narrow the final score to 10-5.  Holy Family sophomore defenseman Noel Rahn used his size effectively to turn the puck inside the Grey zone against the White forwards, but scrambled at times in the opening game.

In Sunday’s game against the White, Grey’s McPartland scored in the first minute of what became a see-saw battle over the next 49 minutes of play.  Fire freshman Nick Blood and Rahn assisted on the score.  White tied the game at the 18 minute mark and then built a 3-1 lead with 12 minutes left in the opening half.  At the 7 minute mark, Lund scored twice to tie the game 3-3.  Lewin assisted on the first Lund goal.  The second score was unassisted.  Lund beat the goalie breaking in the right slot with a shot to the upper left corner and then beat the goalie breaking into the low left faceoff circle with a shot to the short side that found a gap between the goalie and the post.  That tied the game 3-3 as the half.

One minute in the first half, Lewin scored taking a strong shot cutting left to right across the dots.  Lewin’s score put the Grey up 4-3.  Lindermann and Holy Family sophomore Petr Vanvoorhis got the assists.  White bounced back five minutes later to tie the game 4-4.  With 15 minutes to go in the game, Fire freshman Blood punched in his own rebound to put Holy Family up 5-4.  Roelofs and Fire sophore Grant Limke got the assists.  White tied the game two minutes later 5-5.  For the next 10 minutes, both teams were locked in a scoreless duel, but the White was tiring.  With just under 2 minutes to play, Lewin scored the game winner hitting the back of the net with a hard shot from the right slot.  Lund got the assist.  Blood scored an open net goal as the game ended with the Grey winning 7-5.  Rahn assisted Blood on the final goal.

This week, the Grey team plays Purple Tuesday at Orono, the Neon Team (Eden Prairie/Shakopee) on Saturday in a 6:00 PM game at Orono, and the Pink Team in a Sunday 12:45 game at Eden Prairie.

2. White Team Preview

 2. White: In a very good game, the White Team lost to Purple 3-2.  The White Team skaters are dominated by Orono players and the Purple Team skaters were mostly Gentry Academy.  Gentry Academy will be playing its first high school hockey in the 2018-2019 season.  The White Team juggled their lines during the game and settled on only one in the second half centered by Hopkins senior Jack Hymanson with Orono junior Will Walz and Orono sophomore Gabe Lewis at wings.  For the White, all-state tourney defenseman Orono senior Jack Kubitz had an outstanding game.  The Purple Team dominated the play early in the game, but White’s Daniel Walker, Orono senior, got the opening score.  Apple Valley senior, Blaise Cloutier, assisted Walker on his score.  With 12 minutes left in the opening half Walker’s score put White up 1-0.  Purple scored 30 seconds later to tie the game 1-1 and scored again a minute later to take a 2-1 lead.  That held at halftime.  With four minutes gone in the second half, White scored from the slot to tie the game 2-2 with Orono junior Will Walz getting the assist.  The Purple game winning goal came with 12 minutes left to play in the second half.  A three man Purple rush resulted in a save that rebounded into the slot to a trailing Purple defenseman who rapped the puck past the goalie.  Despite pulling goalie Dominic Cook in the last minutes of play, White could not get the tying goal.  The game ended in 3-2 White loss.  Cook had a good game stopping 24 shots.

White played Grey in their second game of the season Sunday at Burnsville.  The reigning Class A champs faced a tough Fire team with few players on the bench.  At the start of the game, there were only nine Whites on the bench and one substitute from the Grey team-Andrew Strom.  Strom, a Prior Lake junior proved to be a good substitute and almost led the White to a win two assists and scoring one goal in the 7-5 lost.  A few more White players trickled during the first half of play forcing the coaches to configure lines on the fly.  The Holy Family based Grey team again showed with a good bench of 15 players and played with discipline in their second game.

Despite the White bench scramble Sunday, the White Team played well.  They gave up a quick goal to the Grey in the first minute of play in a game that see-sawed over the next 49 minutes.  Edina sophomore Dominic Cook was in the net for White had a good game.  The Grey sub Strom playing for White scored the first White goal to tie the game.  That opened a mini-floodgate.  White took a two goal lead on scores by Orono junior George James and Orono senior Daniel Walker.  James came from the blue line taking a pass in the slot and beat the goalie for the score.  James has size and plays smart. 

Walz got the assist on James’ goal.   Walker’s goal came from the point with Walz and Apple Valley senior Blaise Cloutier getting the assists.  White led 3-1 lead with 12 minutes left in the opening half.  But in the end, the White defense could not stop the Grey’s power line.  That Grey line scored twice with seven minutes left in the first half to tie the game 3-3 and scored the opening goal of the second half to take a 4-3 lead.  White’s Cloutier scored three minutes later to tie the game 4-4 with 15 minutes to go in the game with Mound/Westonka junior Aaron Brekken getting the assist.  The two teams battled over the next 5 minutes before the Fire scored to take a 5-4 lead.  Cloutier and Prior Lake sophomore Braydon Buckingham executed a nice passing combo to set up Walz for the fifth and final White score.  Walz one-timed a hard pass off the end boards past the goalie. The tight checking battle continued until with just under 2 minutes to play, Grey got the game winner.  An empty netter ended the scoring.  White lost 7-5.

In Sunday’s game, the White Team had a 10 forward bench at the start of the game and that forced players into positions they had to adjust to during the game.  One notable case was George James.  He is more a big center/wing then a defender and yet played a decent defense.  With the White missing defenders, including their best defender, all-State Tourney, Jack Kubitz.

White plays Neon (strength is Eden Prairie senior forwards Nick Cooper, Nick Ladas, Jacob Lillejord, and Peter Jannsen) in their first Week 2 game.  All four Eagle forwards will be contending for a EP varsity slot.  Saturday, White plays Pink (a Woodbury/Eastview/East Ridge team led by Hastings junior Chase Friermuth-5 goals opening weekend).  Sunday White plays Yellow (led by Lakeville North line centered by John Dupont).

3.Orange Team Preview

3. Orange: Orange team ran into a hot goalie and top players from New Ulm and Waconia losing their first game of the Fall season 5-0.  They had numerous scoring chances especially in the second half, but could not beat New Ulm’s senior goalie Jack Raymond.  Raymond was last season’s New Ulm starting goalie playing over 1200 minutes in the net.  The Orange offense was shut down despite getting over 30 shots on net in the game.  The Orange defense rushed the puck and got their shots, but often dawdled returning to position allowing the Light Blue team to turn the puck and create rushes with one or two man advantages forcing Orange goalie Darby Miller to make some big stops.  Miller ended the game with 21 saves.  The lack of defense to recover off solo rushes resulted in a 3-0 Light Blue lead before the Orange defense started to adjust.  One Orange defenseman Jefferson junior Martin Olson had an outstanding second half for the Orange moving and clearing the zone and setting up the rush, but the Orange could not catch the Light Blue.  They could not beat Raymond. 

Orange drew the Royal Team in their second game.  Both had lost their openers.  The Royal team is dominated by 10 Benilde-St Margaret players that played last season for the Red Knights JV or the St. Louis Park Junior Gold A team (that lost in JGA State Tourney to Edina last March).  The game was tightly played for the first half.  MWT freshman Ethan Dominy scored the opening goal beating the defense at the blue line and breaking left and shooting right to put Orange up 1-0.  MWT junior defenseman Cooper Curti got the assist.   It took just a minute for the Royals to tie the game 1-1.  With three minutes left in the opening half, each team scored.  The Orange scored first to take a 2-1 lead.  MWT sophomore Oliver Jorgenson tucked the puck in the left side of the net off of multiple shots kept the puck in the crease area.  Apple Valley senior Noah Williams and MWT sophomore Ivan Sunder got the assists.  Fifteen seconds later, the Royal Team tied the score 2-2.

Six minutes into the second half, Jorgenson scored again to put the Orange Team up 3-2.  Williams and Curti got the assists.  A minute later, MWT junior Alex Fleml fed MWT junior Blake Harmer at the top of the crease to make it a 4-2 game. Fleml got the assist. The game was evenly played over the next five minutes.  With 12 minutes left to play, Fleml scored putting a third rebound past the goalie to put the Orange up 5-2.  MWT sophomores Ethan Wagner and Mitch Krebsbach got the assists.  Junior Sunder and Williams combined to score the sixth goal, Sunder getting the goal.  MWT junior Cooper Curti also got an assist.   The Orange Team’s final score came at the four minute mark when MWT junior defenseman Curti scored from the center blue line unassisted.  With 6 seconds left on the clock, the Royals got the final score if the game.  The Orange Team won 7-3.  Goalie Zach Hanson posted 29 stops in the game. 

Mound/Westonka has 14 players on the Orange Team.  The Orange defense is led by MWT senior defenseman Carter Hansen, Jefferson junior defenseman Martin Olson, and Chaska junior goalie Zach Hanson.  Carter Hansen is coming off an injury, but Olson has stepped up playing sound defense.  Goalie Hanson had an outstanding first half in Orange’s win over Royal.  Offensively, the Orange Team is led by Apple Valley senior Noah Williams; MWT juniors Alex Flemal and Blake Harmer; MWT sophomores Oliver Jorgenson, a developing Ethan Wagner, and Ivan Sunder; and freshman Ethan Dominy.  MWT sophomore goalie Darby Miller is another player to watch in this fall.  Miller skated AAA U16 last season in Alaska and will making the transition from tiered hockey Alaska style to Minnesota High School hockey in the 2018-2019 season.

In Week 2, the Orange Team plays Red (Minnetonka/Shakopee), Purple (Gentry Academy), and Green (Prior Lake/Delano/STMA).  The Red Team showed balanced scoring led by Minnetonka sophomore Jack Quinn in Week 1 play; Purple played a tough defense in winning their first two games; and Green is a steady performing team that under coach Tony Bianchi whose teams play a disciplined game.

4. Black Team Preview

4. Black: Black opened the season getting blown out 10-4 playing Pink in a Saturday noon game at Woodbury.  The Pink Team took a 3-0 lead in the first 8 minutes of the opening season before Cade Berman scored on a power play assisted by Jacob Hanson.  Two minutes later Black got their second goal when Jackson Studebaker scored unassisted to cut the Pink lead to 3-2 with 15 minutes left to play in the opening half.  Five minutes later, Pink scored twice to re-build its lead to 5-2.  Black got back in the game as the half ended scoring twice.  Nick Mikan scored with Josh Hanson getting his second assist to make it a 5-3 game; Dominic Musel scored the fourth and final Black goal as the half ended with MWT sophomores Trent Bowe and Josh Hanson getting the assists.  That was Hanson’s third assist in the opening half.  The second half was all Pink as the Black defense tired and struggled.  Black lost 10-4.

Sunday, the Black faced Yellow at Burnsville and skated a solid game, but it took a great defensive stand at the start of the second half to turn the game momentum to the Black Team.  Each team showed up with full benches.  With each team, skating three full lines.  That made the first half of play a tightly skated game.  With 13 minutes left in the opening period, MWT senior Ethan Fetters Vandenheuvel beat the defense on a nice pass from MWT senior Britt Courneya.  Vandenheuvel scored on a solo rush breaking left and sliding the puck right to put Black up 1-0.  Two minutes later, Yellow scored their only goal to tie the game 1-1.  With just over 4 minutes to play in the first half, MWT sophomore defenseman Trent Bowe hit Courneya with a nice pass off a 2-on-1 rush.  Courneya took the pass at the lower right crease and tipped the puck into the net to score the game winner.  Black led at the half 2-1

The start of the second half turned critical for the Black team. They drew two penalties in the first 30 seconds resulting in a Yellow 5-on-3 power play for nearly two minutes.  The defensive duo of Bowe and MWT junior Jacob Gutekunst killed the penalties skating and never leaving the ice.  They did it keeping Yellow from setting up in their zone preventing the Yellow forwards from getting one shot on net.  That play set the tone for the rest of the half as MWT senior goalie Noah Coley took over.  Stung by failing to score on the double penalty, the Yellow team relentlessly attacked the Black net for the remainder of the game.  Coley came up with 21 stops.  Yellow could not score and with less than a minute in the game, Jackson Studebaker playing point on the penalty kill picked off an errant Yellow pass to score to ice the game 3-1.  Studebaker’s goal was scored unassisted.  Ten seconds later MWT freshman Ashton Breyer scored the final goal of the game assisted by Bowe.  Black won 4-1.  Despite putting 31 shots on net for the game, the Yellow Team lost 4-1.

In Sunday’s game, the Black Team’s offense skated three lines and were led by the play of seniors Britt Courneya and Fetters Vandenheuval with Noah Coley in the nets.  One of the top scorers from the Spring League, Beau Courneya, is also on the roster.  The offense will be potent if the players develop and show.  If they don’t, the defense will struggle until they improve.  With Coley in the net, the Black Team can compete.

The Black open Week 2 plays Light Blue in their Thursday game, the Royal Team in Saturday’s game, and the Red Team Sunday.  The Light Blue team with strong goaltending (given up only one goal in two games), combined with a defensive corps led by Andover junior Nathan Bauer and senior scoring from New Ulm’s varsity top scorer Glavine Schugel, Minnehaha Academy sophomore AJ Beugen, and Waconia senior Isiah Van Houtte are the early surprise in the Fall league.  They look like contenders.  The Royal Team has a potentially potent combo in development when Cooper Gay and Lucas Hand are on the ice.  The Red Team has balanced scoring from a roster of mostly Minnetonka players.

Week 2 Schedule

Week 2 Schedule: Play get off to a bang in Week 2 with games scheduled for Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday this week.

Tuesday, September 11, 2018: Two unbeaten teams, the Grey and Purple, play at 6:45 in Orono.  This game will match Grey, a team dominated by Holy Family players against, against Purple, a team loaded with Gentry Academy sophomore players but are led by Cretin junior Isaac Anderson, Hill Murray senior Jake Henthrone and sophomore Ethan Lessard; Rosemount sophomore Zach Blade; Minnehaha Academy senior (and last season’s scoring leader) Reed Bartelings; and Henry Sibley junior Ryan Blake.  If one watches closely, one will see how the younger Gentry players should adapt from tiered hockey to Minnesota High School hockey in the coming month.  It will be fun to see.

Thursday, September 13, 2018: Six games will be played at Prior Lake in the Dakotah Arenas.  Dakotah 2 is newly refurbished and shines brightly like a hospital operating room.  Games start at 5:15 on both rinks.  The top game on Dakotah 1 is likely to be the Light Blue versus Black matching Waconia/New Ulm/Andover against Mound/Westonka-Breck.  On Rink 2,  the top game is Pink versus Teal which matches the Woodbury/Eastview with Friermuth against Armstrong/Chanhassen/Minneapolis. 

Saturday, September 15, 2018:  There will six games played at Orono starting at 10:30 AM with the last game starting at 6:00 PM.  Two unbeaten teams, Light Blue and Vintage, play at 3:00 PM.  The game will match Waconia/New Ulm/Andover players against a Edina Junior Gold B/A team.  White and Pink play at Woodbury at 3:00 PM Saturday pitting Orona players against Woodbury and Friermuth.

Sunday, September 16, 2018: Sunday’s games will be played at Eden Prairie’s Rink 1 and Rink 2.  The first game starts at 10:30 AM and matches the White and Yellow Teams (Orono players against Lakeville North/Eagan players).  Fans at this game will see a potential North varsity line led by Johnny Dupont matched against Orono all-State Tourney defenseman Jack Kubitz.

September 8, 2018: Red and Black Fall League Opens Play

The Red and Black Fall league plays their first round of games in regular season at Woodbury Orono Ice Arenas.  Games will be played today (Saturday) all day at Orono with the last game starting at 9:00 PM.  Hockey players from 50 Class AA and Class A high schoools totaling 280 players will be participating.  There will be a second round of games played Sunday at Woodbury, Eden Prairie, and Burnsville Ice Arena.    

Red and Black Fall League Opens Play

Real hockey: Real hockey begins this weekend as the Red and Black Fall league opened play.  Now before all Tiered hockey fans get too excited, understand that MN hockey has been shaped by high school hockey and no matter who wants to admit it or not, tiered hockey ala USA Hockey will never put 18,000 fans in an arena-something the MSHSL has been doing for 50 years.  Where most summer hockey is geared to produce the best usually a group of 20 players representing the whole state, the Red and Black High School leagues are geared to high school hockey.   Red and Black Teams there are structured for players in grades 9-12 to prepare for them their high school varsity team tryouts under actual game conditions. 

The Red and Black teams are not grouped by age as is tiered hockey.  All players from grades 9-12 are mixed on teams where tiered hockey would divide them into U15, U16, and U18 teams, grouping teams by age.  To mitigate the physical difference in ages, the Red and Black league has instituted a ban on hard checks, but not checking.  A player delivering a hard check will be thrown out of the league.

The result is players aiming at tryout for their high school team will skate 18 plus high speed high school hockey games where it is left to the player to get the best out of his play.  It is a neat concept and one that is needed to sustain competitive levels in high school hockey.  Without the Red and Black league, few would find opportunities to skate competitively.  For those who participate in the Red and Black, they will likely form the core of their high school hockey teams in the next two years.

Gentry Academy will make its high school debut: One team to watch is the Purple Team that will have nine Gentry Academy players on the team, all sophomores and freshmen.  Gentry Academy was approved by the MN State High School League to play hockey for the 2018-2019 season.  The Academy is putting together a schedule and their first high school roster will be announced in mid-November.  They will play their first game November 24th against Mora-Milaca and they have scheduled a January game with Mound/Westonka that has players skating in the league in preparation for tryouts.  Gentry Academy drew attention when then 14 and 13 year old Chaz and Cruz Lucius gave their commitments to play for the Gophers in 2021 last August 2017.  The Lucius brothers are not on the Purple team, but the Academy’s Damon and Nate Furuseth are.  Damon was selected by Minnesota Hockey to be on the HP-15 list of players sent to New York to participate in a USA Hockey camp.

Red and Black League Fall 2018: This fall, fourteen teams, 20 players each, will participate in the next eight weeks in preparation for high school tryouts.  The league was open to all players in grades 9-12 to try out in August to be placed on a fall league team that will play a tough 18 game regular season schedule followed by Tier 1 and Tier 2 playoffs.  The top 8 teams after regular season play will participate in the Tier 1 playoffs; the remaining 6 will play in the Tier 2 playoffs.  All of the 280 players anticipate trying out for their respect high school varsity team in the first weeks of November.  Approximately a third will be preparing as freshmen and sophomores for their first high school tryouts playing among seniors and juniors that most likely form the core of their high school hockey team.

In all players from 50 high schools will be playing in the league.  Both Class AA and Class A high schools are represented.  Both state champions from last season are among the schools with large numbers participating.  This fall, 32 Class AA programs and 18 Class A programs will have players skating in the league including Class AA Champions Minnetonka (15 players on the Red Team) and Class A Champions Orono (14 players skating with most are on the White Team).

For the Parents and Players: The Red and Black Fall (and Spring) high school leagues are geared to high school hockey.  The leagues are structured to fit from the time the high school league ends play to the time high schools open the Summer Training Programs (June and July-Spring League) and from the time STPs end to the time High School league tryouts begin in November-Fall League).  The leagues rules out violent hits either in center ice or along the boards, but does not rule out other checking.  This provides an opportunity for players to adjust to greater then high school speeds and to give them more opportunities to handle the puck.  Players will have opportunities to score and their scores will be recorded.

But there is another set of lessons learned for the players and that is experience they gain on the bench in high school game conditions.  There are experienced coaches on the bench for these teams like Jamie Daugaard, Brian Lawton (former NHLer and GM for the NHL Tampa Bay team), Tony Bianchi, and Jake Hindermann.  They all know how to run a bench for games played at high school and higher levels.  It is not the same as association coaching.  For parents of younger players, understand that these coaches will teach bench during game.  Most have game experience beyond high school and higher experience that can be learned if the player listens.  There are little things are important to understand during the game and often the little things make the difference between winning and losing a Red and Black game.

Each player who is on the regular roster will play if they show for a game.  If they are struggling, it will be left to them to engage with coaches.  But playing a bad game does not result in a player being benched for the next game.  It will be up to the player to return for the next game.  The object is to learn, benching only happens if a player does something foolish.

Note also, the rink may seem empty at times, but scouts will drop by for these games at any time.  Basically it is a “target rich” environment.  One purpose of these posts will be to try and get some publicity for players that are skating well in the fall league so they can be noticed.  Though the seniors will have priority, the goal is cover all players who skate well.   

High Schools and Fall Teams: Mound/Westonka and Prior Lake have the most players in the league.  Each has 26.  MWT players are divided between the Orange and Black teams; Prior Lake has half of their players on the Green team with the remainder on the Teal, White, Orange, and Grey teams.  Holy Family players dominate the Grey Team with 18 players that are a mix of jv players and new comers to the Fire’s program.  Breck with 8 players and MWT with 12 players dominate the Black Team.  Armstrong (5 players), Chanhassen (5 players), Prior Lake (5 players) and Minneapols (6 players) form the Teal Team that will have size and strength.  Eden Prairie (8 players) and Shakopee (9 players) are the nucleus of the Neon Team.

The Pink team has 9 Woodbury and 2 East Ridge players combined with 3 Hastings and 4 Eastview players.  Single players from South St. Paul, Simley (Inver Grove Heights) and Apple Valley make the Pink Team an all MN Hockey District 8 team representing St. Paul and eastern Twin City suburbs.   The Vintage team is an all Edina team with a mix of returning junior gold players and Edina JV players.  The Royal team has 10 Benilde-St. Margaret players that will be competing for the Red Knights varsity or playing St. Louis Park junior gold A next season.

Congratulations to Brian and Patty Hansen, the Red and Black League founders.  There is a tremendous amount of work that had to be done to get the league going this fall and the work load will only increase this weekend and continue for the next 8 weeks. But high school hockey in this state will benefit greatly as this crop of fall players play their high school hockey careers over the next four years.  And that is something tiered hockey cannot do.

August 17, 2018: Red and Black Leagues Starts as STP's End


Andover forward complains to ref as no goal is called in a tight championship game. Andover won 2-1 over Eastview and remains a favorite to win the Class AA title in 2019.

1.Red and Black Fall League

Red and Black League Fall Tryouts: Tryouts for the Red and Black League will be held at Richfield Ice Arena next Thursday, August 23rd.  Fourteen teams will play an 18 game regular season schedule in September and October.  The high school league consists of players in grades 9-12 who are preparing to try out for their high school teams   The league does not allow for hard checking; instead emphasizing speed and stick handling played at speeds better than regular high school play.  The fall league play serves as a lead-in to high school team tryouts that will begin early November.  MSHSL has set dates for the 2018-2019 season.  First practices start November 13th this season and the first day games can be scheduled is November 22.  For those planning ahead, the state tourneys at the Xcel will be played March 6-9, 2019.  Orono is the defending Class A state champions and Minnetonka is the defending Class AA state champions. 

The Red and Black League spring and fall leagues fills in two gaps for high school players.  The spring league fills in the gap between the end of the high school season in March and the start of high school Summer Training Programs (STPs).  The fall league fills in the gap between the end of the STPs and the start of high school tryouts.

The fall league teams will be formed in the next few weeks.  Fourteen teams will vie for the championship in a game to be played in early November.  Each team will have 18 forwards and two goalies plus three alternates.  Each team is named after a color.  The Royal Blue team won the Spring League championship last May.  That team consisted of players who will be trying out for high school varsities at Minnetonka, Holy Family, and Chanhassen.

This fall league will have teams formed from players who will be trying out for Edina, Mound/Westonka, Orono, Prior Lake, Holy Family, Shakopee, Benilde/St. Margaret’s, Gentry Academy (Minnehaha/Gentry combo), Lakeville North, Woodbury, Eagan, Andover, Minneapolis, and Apple Valley. 

2. Summer Training Programs

Summer Training Programs: From March to June first, there are multiple opportunities for players to skate.  The draw of the top players away from their STP programs to these other programs make it difficult for coaches.  If anything, the July tourneys demonstrate the problems they will face in the fall.  Their STP program in June and July is the only chance the coaches have to get to know their team as players graduate and leave while new players migrate in from association hockey.  The coaches then have to sit on the sidelines from August first until November tryouts and usually have only one to two weeks to fully understand their team once selected before start of regular season play. 

3. Eagan Meltdown

Eagan Summer Meltdown:  Sixteen high school teams formed from their local STP programs played a three day tournament in mid-July at the Eagan Ice Arena.  Skating on two sheets of ice, the 16 teams were divided into four pools with the pool winners playing semifinal and championship games Sunday morning.  The games provide an indication of the 16 high school teams strength in the 2018-2019 season.  The Andover 1 squad, Burnsville, Eastview, and the Prior Lake 1 squad won their pool.

Andover entered two teams, splitting their STP players into two squards; Andover 1 and Andover 2.  The Andover 1 squad swept their pool beating Rosemount 4-1, the Prior Lake 2 squad 2-0, and Farmington 5-1. Burnsville won their pool beating the Eagan 2 squad 5-3, St Francis 1-0, and New Prague 4-1.

In the first Sunday semifinal game the Andover 1 squad played Burnsville.  Andover is an early 2018-2019 season favorite to make a run to the Xcel next March.  Last season Andover posted a 20 game winning season only to be edged by Duluth East 3-2 in the Section 7AA finals.  The Andover 1 squad beat three South Suburban Conference teams (Rosemount, Prior Lake 2, and Farmington) to get to the semis.

Burnsville finished in the middle of the South Suburban Conference last season and will lose seven players from last year’s team and their hockey coach.  Last season’s assistant coach Frank Senta was on the bench at the Eagan Meltdown.  Burnsville swept their pool winning all three games.  The Blaze beat the Eagan 2 squad 5-3, St. Francis 1-0, and New Prague 4-1.  But the Blaze were no match for the Andover 1 squad in the semifinals. 

Andover took a 2-0 at the half won 4-0.  Charlie Schoen, the Huskies top scorer from last season, scored the hat trick.  The Andover 1 squad skated four lines equally in the game and had too much speed and quickness for Burnsville.  They dominated the Blaze in the Blaze zone controlling the puck for minutes.

Junior Luke Kron centered seniors Schoen and Nick Dainty on the Huskies’ top line.  All three were among Andover’s top four scorers last season.  Michael Clough, one of the Red/Black leading scorers in the Red and Black Spring League skated on the Andover 1 squad.

Eastview played the Prior Lake 1 squad in the second semifinal game. Eastview ran the table winning all three pool games to advance to semis. The Prior Lake 1 squad edged the Andover 2 squad. Both squads won on Friday. After losing to the Andover 2 squad 4-3 Saturday AM, the Lakers beat the Eagan 1 squad 2-1.  The Huskies 2 squad lost to South St. Paul and lost the pool tie breaker (goals against 9-5).

Three minutes into the second semifinal game, Eastview senior Owen Dauk tucked a sliding puck into left corner of the Prior Lake 1 squad's net to put Eastview up 1-0.  Eastview went on to win 5-1.  The Lightning outshot the Lakers by 27-25 in the game.

It was a physical game played tightly.  Eastview just scored and Prior Lake could not find the net.  The Lakers were led by Marco Bianchi and a Laker contingent from last spring’s Red and Black Orange team.

In the Eagan championship game, Eastview took a 1-0 lead in the opening after being outshot by the Andover 1 squad 7-0.  Though outshot 18-5 at the half, Eastview still led 1-0.  Eastview is always a team that frustrates playing with just enough edginess to upset an opponent’s timing.

The Huskies finally tied the game with 15 minutes left to play when a shot from left point was tipped over Eastview goalie's shoulder into net. Shot count was 33-5 at that time.  The winning goal was scored on another tipped shot from left point.  The game ended with the Huskies winning 2-1 and outshooting Eastview 43-10.

4.Andover looks like the real deal

Andover: Andover split their squad for the 16 team Eagan Tourney played July 13-14 at the Eagan Ice Center.  The Andover 1 team beat Rosemount 4-1 in the opening pool game, beat Prior Lake 2 2-0 and Farmington 5-0 to win their pool.  The Huskies 1 team outshot the Lakers 2 squard 27-2 in the first half, but led only 1-0.  Things became chippy with three minutes remaining.  Prior Lake 2 pulled their goalie and Andover 1 won 2-0 to advance to Sunday’s semifinal rounds.

Andover 1 squad ended up in the semifinals with three STP teams (Eastview, Prior Lake 1, and Burnsville) that will play in the South Suburban Conference next season.  They beat three South Suburban STP teams (Rosemount, Prior Lake 2 squad, and Farmington) to make Sunday’s championship round.  In the first semifinal game, the Andover 1 squad led Burnsville 2-0 at the half.  Two goals by Charlie Schoen in the second half made it a 4-0 Huskies 1 win.  The Andover 1 squad had too much speed and quickness for Burnsville.

At Blaine, the Huskies entered a single squad and rolled through their pool competition beating Totino Grace 9-1, Hudson 5-1, Spring Lake Park 5-1, and Blaine.  They played Forest Lake for the title.  During the summer, a number of Huskies played in showcase tourneys.  Defenseman Wyatt Kaiser made Minnesota Selects HP-17 list and attended USA Hockey’s 2018 Boys Select 16 National camp.  He skated for the USA U17 team in the Five Nations tourney that opened play August 15th. 

Forward Charlie Schoen represented MN at the U17 National Camp this past July.  Senior forward Nick Dainty skated in the Ted Brille Great 8 Tourney this spring.  Dainty made the MN HP-18 team and played in the CCM NIT tourney this spring posting 3 points (2 goals) in four games.

The Huskies dominated both the Eagan and the Blaine tourneys.  This is why.  The Huskies have a solid first line with Luke Kron centering Schoen and Dainty that will likely be among the best in the state next season.  They also have a potential all junior line in Michael Clough, Harrison VanderMey, and Gunnar Thoreson.  Clough was one of the leading scorers in the Red and Black League last spring.  Hunter Jones, Kyle Nelson, and Holden Dunleavy add depth as another solid third line.  All nine forwards skated varsity last season and contributed. 

Defensively, Andover should be strong returning four defensemen led by senior Dylan Livgard.  Juniors Mitchell Wolfe, Wyatt Kaiser, and Eric Charter return.  All played varsity and all posted double digits in scoring playing 22-25 regular season games.  The Huskies return goalie senior Ben Fritsinger.  Fritsinger posted over a 1000 minutes in regular season play for the Huskies giving up 1.8 goals a game while stopping 93% of the shots on net.

With a talented and experienced 13 players at all key positions, the real question is can the Huskies beat a Duluth East or a Cloquet or a Grand Rapids team in Duluth in March.    

5. Benilde/St. Margaret's Struggles, But....

Benilde/St. Margaret’s: Benilde/St. Margaret's struggled at the Eagan Meltdown losing in pool play.  TRed Knights were stung by Eastview in the opening game of the Eagan Tourney.  They lost 4-1 and then next day, had to come from behind to tie a stubborn Apple Valley team 3-3.  They ended the tourney beating Owatonna 5-0.  BSM’s STP program had players coming and going as 8-10 potential varsity players were participating in June in Minnesota Hockey’s High Performance program.

Freshman Red Knight forwards Adam Marshall (Wayzata) and defenseman (Brady Yakesha) from Delano will likely play for the Red Knights this year.  Both Marshall and Yakesha made it to the HP-15 St. Cloud camp along with Peter Keese from last season’s varsity team.

Goalie Carson Limesand made to the HP-16 final 54.  Red Knight returnees Jonah Mortenson, Jackson Bisson, and James Callahan played for the HP-16 Section 6 team.  Jett Johnson and Charlie Bischel played for the HP-17 Section 6 team.  The Red Knight’s defenseman Nathan Schweitzer represented MN at the HP-16 National Camp this July.

Jett Johnson and Mortenson skated in the Spring Red and Black league along with five other potential Red Knight varsity players.  Johnson posted 15 points (5 goals) in the twenty game season; Mortenson posted 33 points (21 goals).

This summer’s STP program at BSM had to contend with the number of players juggling summer schedules.  That makes it hard for the coaches to focus their STP program.

6. The Little Sisters of the Poor-AV Eagles?

Apple Valley Surprises: Apple Valley graduated 13 from their 2017-2018 team.  They have eight juniors returning as seniors for the 2018-2019 season and a number of the returners chose not to skate in the AV STP program.  The Eagles played in the Eagan Tourney.  They skated 13 forwards mostly last season JV and bantam players.  They surprised by coming close to making it to the championship round.

The Eagles beat Owatonna 4-0 and tied Benilde-St. Margaret’s 3-3 before losing in their third game to rival Eastview 8-1.  The Eagles skated their returning goalies in the first two games and skated last year’s bantam goalie in the third game.  Apple Valley gave up 4 goals (in the first shots on net) in the opening minutes of play against Eastview before the defense settled.

The STP version of the Eagles did what no one expected.  They  scored.  One would think that a full squad would add and make Valley more competitive in regular season.

Last year’s team started well, but early injuries changed the Eagles game.  Apple Valley lost their last seven games.  In six of those losses, the forwards scored only two goals.  One score was a solo and one score was assisted.  Last season, the Eagles offense just could not connect on their passes.  This summer’s STP team passed the puck and scored seven goals in three games at Eagan and six more in two scrimmages against Irondale.

Will the surprise continue?

7. STP Tourney Winners and Rankings

Other STP Tourney winners: In addition to the Eagan Meltdown; Burnsville, Blaine, and Mound/Westonka held their own STP events.  At Eagan, the Andover 1 squad won a 16 team tourney.  At Burnsville Tourney, Eagan’s full squad beat the Burnsville 1 squad 6-1 in the championship game; at Blaine, Andover played Forest Lake for the championship after winning four pool games in the 10 team tourney;  and at the Mound/Westonka Festival, three teams (Mound/Westonka, Orono, and Chanhassen) entered split squads with no team dominating play (e.g. the Orono 1 squad beat the MWT 1 squad 3-0 and then lost to the Chanhassen 1 squad 4-0 who lost to the MWT 2 squad 3-1).

In all, 32 teams played in those four events.  All 32 will be ranked in a future post to get my version of the boys high school rankings started for the 2018-2019 season. 

 

2. A Different Minnesota Boys Ranking:  I will rank the boys top ten high school teams this year.  I used a format three or so years ago that ranked the girls top ten high school hockey teams. I plan to use the same format.  Basically, the top teams selected from all 150 teams will be ranked in a single poll.  The rankings will be posted Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday of each week.  A number of teams are then given honorable mention.  Most games are played between Tuesday and Saturday.  As precursor, a post based on the teams I saw play in four STP tourneys in July (Eagan, Blaine, Burnsville, and Mound/Westonka) will be posted in the next week.

 

May, 28, 2018: Final Notes from Red and Black Spring League (Part 1)


Royal Team celebrates winning the 2018 Spring League Championship

-Congratulations to the Royal Team winning the playoffs

-2018 season played 21 games in 8 weeks

-League focus is on high school hockey and augmenting high school summer programs

-Matches talent trying out for top Minnesota high school hockey programs

-League game format pushes individual skill development, did it succeed this spring?

A fun Spring League season was concluded last week when the Royal Team won the playoffs.  That game concluded an eight week season that started with a practice week followed by six intense weeks of game action.  Week 1 of game play started with a 10 inch snow storm.  The playoff week, Week 7, ended with a two inch thunderstorm.  In between was a lot of good hockey with most games matching or exceeding the level of play of an average high school game.  Minnesota is fortunate enough to have a pool of high school talent that is deep and that depth drives the competitiveness in the Red and Black Spring and Fall leagues.  Here is my part 1 of my notes for the Red and Black Leagues 2018 Spring Season on somethings that happened in a short eight weeks.

Does the league deliver-yes

1. Does the league provide a place for the individual to develop?: Did the 2018 Spring League succeed?  Yes.  Did the players have an opportunity to improve competitively?  Yes.  It is left to the individual to participate and players who took advantage competed and improved.  They had to or they would never touch the puck.  Each team rostered 20 players (two goalies) with 3 alternates and played three tough games each week for six weeks.  Because of conflicts, not all players show for each game and things happen.  In Week 2, two goalies were hurt playing lacrosse and two more had conflicts with other sports.  For the next 6 weeks, goalies were getting more ice time playing at the high school level than they would see playing varsity.  That same circumstance applied to forwards and especially the defense men.

The less the number of skaters showing for a game, the more opportunities were there for those who played.  If two teams showing had 13 or more players and skated three lines, that game was usually very competitive.  All three or four lines had rest, but also the players had to show maturity in pulling themselves off the ice.  If they over skated a couple shifts early in the game, they would be toast in the last stages of the game when it mattered most.  Most of the coaches rolled the lines each game and didn’t push changes to match lines.  Often it was left to the players on the ice to recognize time to change.

The depth of the Minnesota talent showed.  Not many places in the USA can produce 270 some players that can skate competitively at the Minnesota high school level plus.  The 2, 3, 4 lines games pushed all the players competitively to the end of each game.  That talent was there on all 12 teams.  Each game consists of two 25 minute stop time halves.  Often the players demanded to not clean the ice between halves.  If the ice was not cleaned at halftime, then the games became a 50 minute stop time marathons.  Play three of these games Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for seven weeks and it is grind.

If fewer than 13 players showed, then each player got more ice time.  A number of games pitted two lines versus two lines or two lines versus three lines.  Often they were the most were entering because most of the fans could see the line matches clearly and could see how their favorite players was doing.  If less than 13 players show, the skaters at the game often are rotated within a shift and would see around 25 minutes of high speed action.

Remember, it is competitive hockey but it is also developmental.  The competition is there and the individual’s desire to win drives him to improve.  If he has a tough game on Friday, he will be out on the ice on Saturday and Sunday.  No one is going to drop him to jv.  And it works because in Minnesota, the high school age developmental talent pool is deep.  Players that skated the bulk of this past season’s games saw more ice than a player sees in a normal 25-28 game high school season.  Add to that, each player has to adjust to different line mates game to game forcing them to play the game straight up and rely on their own instincts.

Believe or not, players grow during the seven weeks.  It is noticeable in the way a player improves.  They develop a presence on the ice because their play is noticeable to the average fan.  Often they are not noticeable when the season started.  In early games, they fit into the play and will make a good play on a various shifts.  But add another increment in personal growth and maturity and when that clicks in they can stand out and draw attention whenever they are on the ice.

Put this all together (personal growth, opportunity to skate, being challenged, and individual responsibility) and players will improve.  Most do so incrementally.  They improve when the player learns to shoulder his burden.  This spring there were a number players who improved, but in different ways.  The older ones showed their maturity and skill sets; those in the middle (mostly juniors next fall) improved their passing and taking a pass and relied less on head down drives to the net.  The younger ones (sophomores and ninth graders next fall) adjusted to the speed of the high school game coming out of bantams.  Most that went through the grind of an 18 game spring season emerged stronger without being ground up.    

Chaise Friermuth

2. One outstanding example: This past spring league season saw one outstanding example of player improvement.  There were others, but this one stood out.  His skill set jumped from being a jv player last season to the potential of being an outstanding high school player next winter and a possible D1 prospect.  The 2018 Spring League saw a strong change in the play of Hasting’s junior-to-be Chase Friermuth.  His presence on the ice in April was okay, in May dominating.  Through the month of April, Friermuth scored 9 goals and posted 15 points.  In May he started to dominate on the ice.  He led the Pink Team’s charge to the top of the standings scoring 31 more goals and posting 45 addition points.  In May he tripled his point total from April and ended up leading the league by a runaway total of 60 points and 40 goals.  In April, he had some presence on ice to the average fan; in last week’s Consolation Championship game, his presence on the ice was dominating.  That happens.  Players at the age of Red and Black league players grow and mature in a certain way that makes their hockey talent click together and suddenly they start to dominate.

Three Minnesota players in the past have gone through the same process.  These players in a short time span changed their on ice presence in a similar manner to what Friermuth did this spring.  Brock Boeser/Burnsville, Ryan Zuhlsdorf/Edina, and Keiffer Bellows/Edina all experienced that burst but at different times playing Minnesota youth and high school hockey.  They carried that talent forward in their careers.  In the 2015 NHL entry draft, Boeser was drafted #1 (23 overall) by Vancouver and Zuhlsdorf was drafted #5 (150 overall) by the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Bellows was drafted #1 (19 overall) by the New York Islanders in the 2016 draft. 

Boeser was a good player at Burnsville, good enough to make it to the Upper Midwest High School Elite League in 2013.  It was there that Boeser really shinned.  His team was struggling as they went into the locker room in one UMHSEL game.  When they came out, Boeser took over his line and dominated on the ice.  He did something he had not succeeded at before.  Much like Friermuth, he was an okay player and suddenly he started to carry the play on ice.  His presence changed and Boeser dominated.  With Zuhlsdorf, it happened when he was younger.  As a second year peewee A defensive player for Edina, the first half of the season Zuhlsdorf had an okay presence on the ice.  Note we are talking peewees.  Starting in January of that season, his presence became dominating.  In the 2011 Peewee A state championship game, Zuhlsdorf dominated play as the Hornets beat Farmington (with Jake Otteginer #1 26th overall in 2017 draft in the nets).  Zuhlsdorf carried his talents forward in his career.  Bellows skated with Zuhlsdorf that season and played strong, but did not have that dominating presence until the 2013 Bantam AA state tourney skated at Edina.  It was then a more mature Bellows, through strong skating, started to dominate on the ice leading Edina to a state championship.

People say a person literally grows overnight and the parents usually say that didn’t happen.  But it happens quickly often within 6-7 weeks.

Juniors next fall

3. Red and Black Younger players: There were 51 younger players skating this spring and at least three were eighth graders.  The rest were ninth graders.  This ninth grade class had some outstanding players led by Beau Courneya/Breck and Jonas Mortenson/Benilde-St. Margaret’s.  Both finished in the top ten in scoring.  Courneya posted 32 points; Mortenson posted 33 points.  Courneya skated on the Breck varsity last season and made the Breck sectional team that lost in the Section 2A finals to eventual state champs Orono. Mortenson skated with the Benilde-St. Margaret’s varsity last season and made their sectional team as forward and defense.  Both players had success early in the Red and Black Spring League.  Both missed games.  Both struggled at the end of the season.  Courneya played baseball for the Breck varsity and that may have slowed him at season’s end.  Both players have physical talent and were starting to add more game awareness to their play.  Top players have a feel for the game flow that drives their play.

The younger players in the Red and Black 2018 Spring League had to adjust their style of play to the speed of the game.  But players a year or two older also faced an adjustment from playing junior varsity or varsity to playing Red and Black.  In this spring league, fresh from high school, these players were getting free easier on the ice because of the relaxed checking rules.  They would often score solo goals early or late in the game or when they catch their opponent with fewer players.  But the defenses start to adjust and take that edge away.  As the spring season progressed, the ability to beat the defense at the blue line especially with graduating senior and senior-to-be players defending became tough.  A number of players in the Red and Black League that have the talent for the game, ended up being frustrated because they could not bust the defense for the solo goal.

Moving from bantam to high school

4. Eighth graders: Three of 51 younger players are in the eighth grade this spring.  There may have been more.  How does the experience of playing Red and Black help these players?  First note they had to tryout.  They had to have the skills to play.  Nick Blood is the most experienced of the three having played Red and Black last fall before playing one year for Holy Family junior varsity.  Blood looks to have grown this spring adding bulk.  He is becoming a strong player at the wing and was not out of place on the ice.  Blood also played on the Holy Family tennis team this spring and missed some league games. He still posted a 20 point season (eight goals) playing a YHH estimated 14 games.  Blood was a consistent player from the start of the season to the end of the season and is still developing.

Eighth grader, Matt Steussi, who intends to play for Hopkins was noticeable at the start of the season. Matt posted 14 points 5 goals for the spring season.  Most of his points were scored in his first four games and he, like Blood, missed a number of games.  Steussi missed some games, but skated well at the start and at the end of league play.  Steussi skated on the Black Team with his brother Jack who also skates for Hopkins.  Jack played varsity and the two brothers will be competing for a spots on the varsity next fall.  Despite missing games, Matt was consistent in his play.  He will be interesting to watch if he returns to play the Red and Black fall league.  If not then there is Hopkins in the winter.

The third player is Ethan Dominy.  A first year bantam last season, Dominy skated as an alternate on the Green Team and played in only two games for the Green Team.  But Dominy did sub in six other games skating with five different teams and posted a 13 point season (9 assists).  His made a quick adjustment to the speed of the game and grew an inch or two in the seven weeks.  Dominy has a quick pass release and seems to always find the open skater putting the puck on that player’s stick.  He has a hard accurate shot.  He will be a ninth grader at Mound Westonka next school year and another player to watch in the Red and Black Fall league.

Saying good-by

We will see them play again: Ten players in the spring league were graduating seniors meaning they were seniors who were skating their final season in high school hockey.  Most of these four year high school veterans had successful hockey careers and were playing one last high school season before graduating.  These players took time and wanted to play in the 2018 Spring Red and Black League.  By doing so, they challenged the younger players and left behind a little bit of a legacy.  They are listed below.  They all played with purpose and for fun setting a good example for others.   

Royals: Minnetonka defenseman Justen Williams, Tampa Bay Lightning Zach Puterbaugh, and MN Mullet Joe Fodstad.  Fodstad showed balance scoring goals at the same pace he got assists.  He set up teammates.  He led the champion Royal Team in scoring.  Fodstad like to overpower the goalie if he beat the defense.  Defenseman Williams scored 15 points (9 goals) playing about 14 games for the Green.  The Minnetonka Skipper played steady defense especially in the Royals championship game winning the league playoffs.  Puterbaugh was another 14-15 games played player that posted 12 goals (20 points) in the season.  What Puterbaugh did so well is play the body in open ice.  He never resorted to throwing his body into a check.  Instead, he used it to leverage position and maintain or gain puck control.

Green: Four Mound Westonka players skated for the Green: Michael Lindell, Brady Aufderheide, Aleksi Partio, and goalie Cole Broome.  Lindell and Broome played White Hawks varsity baseball and the late condensed season limited their play.  Lindell still posted 18 points.  When he skated, the line of Lindell, Parto, and Aufderheide dominated their opponents.  Aufederheide was more of the playmaker on the line often finding ways to set up low behind the net.  Aleksi Partio ended the season leading the Green Team in scoring.  He played like a pocket battleship that fired quick hard shots.  Partio is originally from Finland.  Manferd Mann had a hit song called the Mighty Quinn.  One Iron Range high school of Finish immigrants co-oped the song for their high school teams showing up to sing about the Mighty Finn at their games.  Partio has cannon for a shot and the White Hawks will be sad to see this Mighty Finn graduate.  Goalie, Cole Broome had some good games for the Green early in the season until varsity baseball slowed him.  He is, of course, a catcher White Hawks varsity.    

Vintage: Edina defenseman Nick Lawton skated with his father Brian coaching.  It was a great thing for the league that both participated.  For Nick, skating with other Edina players must have been a nice way to end his high school hockey. 

Neon: Delano’s Evan Sivets showed up skating for Neon in one game and scored five points leading Neon to 9-4 win over Teal.  Most wished the Neon alternate player skated more games.

Pink: Hudson Havoc Josh Storms

Thanks to all of the graduating seniors above for skating this spring.  They challenged 270 undergraduate players to play better. 

Crown the Royals

-The pre-season favorite Royal Team wins the 2018 Red and Black Spring League Championship

-Royal beats White 7-4 at Richfield Arena Thursday night

-Age before beauty (hockey wise) as older Royals prove stronger than the younger White Team

-Royal Team's Minnetonka defensive corps slows Breck/Prior Lake/Mound Westonka forwards

-As the Red and Black Spring Season ends, the skates stay on as Red and Black Leaguers head for local high schools camps for June/July

-Red and Black Fall League tryouts next August

-Eastsiders (Pink) win consolation behind Chase Friermuth’s five goal game.

Crown the Royals

-The pre-season favorite Royal Team wins the 2018 Red and Black Spring League Championship

-Royal beats White 7-4 at Richfield Arena Thursday night

-Age before beauty (hockey wise) as older Royals prove stronger than the younger White Team

-Royal Team's Minnetonka defensive corps slows Breck/Prior Lake/Mound Westonka forwards

-As the Red and Black Spring Season ends, the skates stay on as Red and Black Leaguers head for local high schools camps for June/July

-Red and Black Fall League tryouts next August

-Eastsiders (Pink) win consolation behind Casey Friermuth’s five goal game.


Royal's Ben Gerebi scores the fifth and wining goal beating Brooks Telecky on the glove side.

It wasn’t Das Boat, it was just a real good high school hockey game

The atmosphere shifted from the darken confines of Richfield’s Rink 1 to the lighter confines Rink 2.  When the #1 seeded White Team and the #6 seeded Royal Team took the ice, a quick moving storm made muffled sounds outside.  The teams may have been a little thunderstruck at the start of the game, but not at the end.  It was no Das Boat grinding out type of hockey with a closed in feeling that had been played in the quarter and semifinals.  It was just good high school hockey game between two good teams bent on winning.  It made one wonder what the fall league holds.

The first half of the championship game ended in a 3-3 tie.  Zach Puterbaugh (graduating senior/Tampa Bay Juniors) scored the opening goal five minutes into the game.  Ben Gerebi (Chanhassen/junior) fed  Puterbaugh a nice lead pass to setup a breakaway goal.  Puterbaugh buried the puck from the top of the crease to put the Royals up 1-0.  Royal defenseman, Holy Family junior Wilson Feltmann’s got the assist for the breakout pass from inside the Royal zone.  Three minutes later, Beau Courneya beat the Royal defense and soloed in to score the tying goal.  With the game tied 1-1, the next seven minutes the was just good hard skating hockey.  What made it remarkable was the level of defense played by both teams considering they were playing a limited checking game.  The puck moved fast, but the Royal’s Minnetonka defense showed for the game and they were ready to play.  They made the White Team forwards work to set up every rush and were starting to control the play inside the White’s defensive zone.  White did scored when a pass by Beau Courneya took a different bounce from the left Royal defensive corner and ended up on Quinn Rosenberg’s stick.  Rosenberg didn’t hesitate; he got off a quick shot that found a hole in the goalie to put White up 2-1.  Beau Courneya got the assist.

The Royals tied it a minute later when Burnsville senior Jake Inskeep setup low and scored.  Brady Caron Minnetonka junior got the assist.  White defenseman Cooper Curti (Mound Westonka/junior) picked off a Royal breakout pass and one timed a shot that beat the goalie to put White up 3-2 with two minutes left in the half.  Curti’s scored unassisted.  Ten seconds later, Holy Family junior, Gavin Lindemann scored on a solo to tie the game going into halftime.

The Key was an early second half 5-on-3 White power play with White trailing by 2


Royal coach Jake Hindermann vocalizes on key 5-on-3 penality kill in second half.

The White Team lost the game in the opening two minutes of the second half.  Ten seconds into the period, graduating senior Joe Fodstad (MN Mullets) scored to put the Royals up 4-3.  Fodstad in the slot was fed a pass from Thomas Clauson (Chanhassen senior).  His first shot was stopped, but the puck rolled loose on the ice back to Fodstad who rapped it into the net.  Clauson got the assist.  A minute later, Gerebi scored.  He skated in from the left side, took a pass and beat the goalie on the glove side to make it a 5-3 game.

White had a good chance to get back into the game.  With just under 20 minutes to play, Royal drew back to back penalties giving White most of a 2 minute 5-on-3 power play.  After some initial pressure, the White Team lost control of the puck and struggled to re-establish control in the Royal zone.  They went scoreless on the penalty. 


White coach Jamie Daugaard drills the team with we need a goal here.

The Royal defense took over after that by controlling and turning most White attempts to organize a rush through center ice into the Royal zone.  The Royal defense forced the White forwards to dump the puck and then took the puck away setting up their forwards for a counter rush.  For most of the second half, the game settled until Joe Inskeep picked off an errant White pass inside the White zone and roofed the puck for the sixth Royal score.  A minute later, White’s Rosenberg hit Holy Family senior Quinn Pausche to cut the Royal lead to 6-4.  With less than 10 seconds on the clock, Nick Blood (Holy Family sophomore) scored with Puterbaugh assisting to end the game 7-4.

Skating in the Red and Black high school league is tough.  Players must be prepared to play 3 games a week for roughly six weeks plus playoffs.  The White Team skated six games in the last seven days of play, the Royal team skated seven games in that same time.  Both teams came into the championship game determined to win with filled benches.  Both played great high school hockey.


The Royals are the champs. Crown the Royals and wish graduating seniors Justen Williams Minnetonka defenseman, Zach Puterbaugh Tampa Bay Juniors, and Joe Fodstad MN Mullets well as they move on.

Pink Team led by St. Paul eastsiders wins the consolation title

In the consolation championship game, the Pink Team consisting of St. Paul eastsiders from Simley, Sibley, and Woodbury continued to win and surprise beating regular season’s champions Orange 11-5 behind league leading scorer Hasting’s junior Chase Friermuth’s five goals (one assist) game.  The Pink team was the surprise of this spring season.  With players who will be trying out for Simley, Sibley, and Woodbury varsities, it will be interesting to watch how those teams do next winter.  The Pink’s Simley contingent of juniors Charles Gustafson, Carter Robinson, Anthony Tuccitto, and Shane Prifrel all skated in the Section 4A championship last March.  They lost to Mahtomedi who finished third in the state.  They will be back.  But the guess is they would like to take Friermuth with them.

Chase Friermuth really improved over the short season.  After starting slow, he fueled Pink’s rise from the bottom to a second place finish in the league regular season play.  Friermuth led the league in goals and points (40 goals and 60 points).  The Pink played 22 games; YHH stats have Friermuth skating in 20 of those games.

Orange had a great season.  They were the runaway team holding a big lead on the rest of the field going into Week 6's four game play.  Orange fell to third and struggled during the playoffs.  The team comprised of Prior Lake and Shakopee players played well, but could not get critical mass at the games.  They were a fun team to watch.                                                                    

Red and Black Spring League Championship Tonight (Thursday)

It is the White (Prior Lake/Breck/Mound Westonka) versus the Royal (Minnetonka/Chanhassen/Holy Family)

Tonight, the Red and Black Spring League conclude with the league championship for Spring 2018 on the line.  In a game starting at 6:45 PM, the regular season champions, #1 White Team, play the #6 seeded Royal Team in what should be a barnburner for the Championship.  Both teams won their semifinal games Wednesday by rallying to win.  Both semifinals featured comebacks as the White beat the Red 7-5 after trailing the Red 5-0 at the half.  The Royal, the preseason favorite that struggled all season, staged a comeback beating Black 7-5 after trailing 3-1 at the half.  It was another pair of tense Das Boat games with four teams hammering away at each other.  Some the best high school games of the year were played at Richfield last night.

Red ran up a 5-0 on White at the end of the first half.  Benilde-St. Margaret’s junior defenseman Jake Hankinson scored the opening goal unassisted.  Benilde-St. Margaret’s junior Toby Curtiss scored the second goal assisted by Red Knight teammate sophomore Jonah Mortenson and Shakopee junior Ben Stavros.  Hankinson and Mortenson combined to get the fourth Red goal with Hankinson getting the goal, Mortenson the assist.  Stavros scored the final Red goal with Curtiss and Mortenson getting the assists.

The second half was all White as they rallied to score seven goals while shutting down the Red offense.  Breck sophomore Jacob Hanson and Mound Westonka junior Blake Harmer each scored two goals in the White comeback.  Harmer’s second goal scored with less than two minutes left to play was the game winner.  Prior Lake seniors Jean Marc Johnson and Matthew Riley assisted Harmer on the game winner.  Mortenson ended up with three assists for the Red in the game; Mound Westonka senior Zack Simmons posted three assists for the White Team.

The Black Team took a 3-1 lead into the second half in their semifinal game with the Royals.  Hopkins senior Jack Stuessi scored the opening goal to put Black up 1-0.  Hopkins sophomore Dominic Valentini and eighth grader Matt Stuessi got the assists.  Eden Prairie senior defenseman Austin Krebsbach scored the second Black goal with Eden Prairie sophomore Riku Brown getting the assist.  Eden Prairie junior Jalen Henkel scored the third Black goal with Eden Prairie senior Tyler Sweeney and Jack Stuessi assisted.  The Royals Nick Blood (Holy Family freshman) scored the lone Royal first half goal Wilson Feltmann (Holy Family junior defenseman) assisting.  After Black’s Canyon Pergande (Eden Prairie/junior) scored to make it a 4-1 game, the Royal Team went to work.

The Royal Team got scoring nine different players in the game.  They scored six straight goals to take a 7-4 lead with just under 7 minutes remaining to play.  Graduating senior Joe Fodstad (MN Mullets) led the team with three assists; graduating senior Zach Puterbaugh (Tampa Bay Lightning) had two goals in the game; and Gavin Lindemann (Holy Family junior) posted a goal and an assist.  Graduating senior defenseman Justen Williams (Minnetonka) and Chanhassen junior Ben Gerebi each scored a goal.

The championship match has the #1 seeded White Team playing the #6 seeded Royal Team.  Advantage goes to White?  Not necessarily.  The Royal Team was an early favorite to win the league.  Tonight’s game should feature Royal power against White Team finesse.   The top scorers for White are #11 Beau Courneya (sophomore/Breck), #20 Britt Courneya (senior/Mound Westonka), and #18 Matt Riley (senior/Prior Lake).  #2 Quinn Pausche (Holy Family senior) and #92 Zach Simmons (Mound Westonka/senior) continued to skate well in Wednesday’s game.  Blake Harmer and Jacob Hanson provided the offensive power in that semifinal.  If the Breck forwards don’t have conflicts and can play and the Minnetonka defense hold up, then it will be a close game.

The Royal’s top scorers are #9 Joe Fodstad (graduating senior/MN Mullets), #10 Thomas Clauson (senior/Chanhassen), and defenseman #2 Justen Williams (graduating senior/Minnetonka).  They are also strong players.  They don’t give up.   #14 Zach Puterbaugh (graduating senior/Tampa Bay Juniors), Gavin Lindermann (Holy Family/junior), and #7 Brady Caron (Minnetonka/junior) played well in the Royal Team’s semifinal win.  Depth will favor the Royals.  The White will need to control the puck in the Royal defensive zone.

It is another rumble in Richfield 6:45 PM tonight.  Congratulations to both teams.  It has been a fun spring season. 

Red and Black 2018 Spring League Semifinals Tonight (Wednesday)


Orange's #19 Blake Dickie attacks the Royal goal in Monday's quarterfinal game.

Tier 1 Semifinals-Are You Ready to Rumble? Wow.  Walking into the Richfield Arena to watch the Tier 1 quarterfinals, it caught one’s breath.  Over the six week season, there was a lot of good high school hockey played.  Better than most high school games because it matched top lines and players from some forty high schools.  With the season ending with Week 6’s Sunday’s games, the Orono Arena had a light airy feel as the teams skated foolishly at times their final games.  Twenty four hours later, that changed.  The game dynamic Monday night in the darker Richfield Arena had an intense atmosphere of a submarine with the ice in front of two warring sweaty groups of submariners.  Sunday’s atmosphere in Week 6’s final games was like the movie Clueless.  Monday quarterfinals atmosphere was like Das Boat.  The skating was intense and all a matter of pride.

#1 White plays #7 Red: White was missing their top scorer Beau Courneya (baseball?) and found themselves in a tough battle against the Teal.  Britt Courney stepped in scoring twice.  His first goal put White up 1-0 with assists going to Jean Marc Johnson and Quinn Pausche.  Johnson assisted Blake Harmer on the second White goal.  Teal struck back scoring twice to tie the game.  White ran away with the game in the second half.  Matthew Riley broke the 2-2 tie five minutes into the second.  His game winner put the White up 3-2.  Three minutes later, Pausche scored the game icer with Alex Farwell and Harmer getting the assist.  Britt Courneya scored the last goal unassisted in the White 6-2 win.

In their win over Pink, Red fell behind early trailing the Eastsiders from Woodbury, Henry Sibley, and Simley 3-1 with eight minutes to play in the first half.  Then Shakopee seniors Austin McNeil, Adam Kinsella, and Josh Twardoski took charge combining to score three times to put Red up 4-3 at the half.  McNeil scored twice and assisted on the third goal, Twardoski posted the third goal and assisted on one, and Kinsella assisted on all three scores.  The Red Team’s Benilde-St. Margaret’s players and Jefferson players kicked in with Benilde’s Jonah Mortenson scoring twice in half.  Mortenson’s second goal was scored in the last 30 seconds to ice the game 8-6.  But it Shakopee Ben Stavros who got the game winner assisted by Jefferson sophomore Aran Daniels and Minnetonka senior Chad Cousineau.  Daniels scored also in the second half.

The White versus Red semifinal game will be a tough for either team to win.  White should have most of their team for Wednesday’s game at Richfield.  Red had most of their team skating in their win over Pink.  If both teams show, the edge could go to the Red.  The Red Team has a core of Benilde-St. Margaret’s player that are really a buzz saw in the offensive zone especially with defenseman Jett Johnson holding the blue line.  White will be rely on the Breck players centered around Beau Courneya to carry the offense, but the winning scores are likely to come from matchups of White’s Mound-Westonka/Prior Lake/Holy Family players versus Red’s Jefferson/Shakopee contingent.  This will be a good game.

The top scorers for White are #11 Beau Courneya (29 points-sophomore/Breck), #20 Britt Courneya (23 points-senior/Mound Westonka), and #18 Matt Riley (21 points-senior/Prior Lake).  #2 Quinn Pausche (Holy Family senior) and #92 Zach Simmons (Mound Westonka/senior) have skated well in the past few games.  The Red Team’s leading scorer is #17 Jonah Mortenson (27 points-sophomore/Benilde-St. Margaret’s), #14 Toby Curtiss (19 points-junior/Benilde-St. Margaret’s), and #8 Austin McNeil (17 points-senior/Shakopee).  The Shakopee contingent of McNeil, #9 Adam Kinsella, and #7 Josh Twardoski skated well in Monday’s quarterfinal game.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

#4 Black plays #6 Royal: Black was forced to overtime to beat Green 4-3.  Jalen Henkel (Eden Prairie/junior) scored the game winner.  Grey took a 2-0 leading scoring twice in the first 10 minutes of play.  Nick Ladas (Eden Prairie/senior) scored the first Black goal to cut the Grey lead to 2-1 at halftime.  Five minutes into the second half, Grey scored again to make it a 3-1 game.  Black rallied to score twice to tie the game and send it to overtime. Tyler Sweeney (Eden Prairie/senior) scored to make it a 3-2 game with Dominic Valentini getting the assist.  Reagan Shepard tied the game 3-3 with one minute left to play assisted by Henkel and Canyon Pergande.

The Royals upset Orange winning 8-2 behind the strong play of Zach Puterbaugh (4 points/1 goal), Joe Fodstad, and Jake Inskeep.  Orange showed up missing some of their key scorers but hung with the Royal Team through the first half trailing by a goal 3-2 at half time.  In the end, Preston Lindholm scored twice for the Orange off of solo rushes.  The Royal depth was too much for the Orange in the second half.  The Orange line of centered by Marco Bianchi with Parker Long and Nick Speltz at the wings could maintain pressure in the Royal zone, but could not beat the goalie.  Bianchi had a good game showing great puck control in traffic around the Royal net.  But the Royal forwards could not be contained and scored off of numerous rushes in the last half of play.

The Black versus Royal semifinal game is in some respects the same as the first semifinal game between White and Red.  Both Red and Black teams have a core of players that are strong candidates to be skating varsity for two top AA high school teams next season, Benilde-St. Margaret’s and Eden Prairie.  Red’s core of Benilde-St. Margaret’s forwards can really grind and control the offensive zone.

Black has a similar core of Eden Prairie players that can grind and control the offensive zone that will challenge the Royal defense composed of mostly Minnetonka defensemen and Minnetonka goalie (Jake Caron) if he is in the net.  The Royal Team’s offense has been the slash and burn type where they work hard to break out with a slashing style that plays the long pass and then burn with multiple passes down low never giving up position in front of the net.  Royal’s defense of Eden Prairie and Hopkins players have tended to play up behind the attack exposing them to the longer pass in center ice putting added pressure on the Royal goalies.

The Royal’s top scorers are #9 Joe Fodstad (33 points-graduating senior/MN Mullets), #10 Thomas Clauson (18 points-senior/Chanhassen), and defenseman #2 Justen Williams (14 points-graduating senior/Minnetonka).  #14 Zach Puterbaugh (graduating senior/Tampa Bay Juniors) and #93 Joe Inskeep (senior/Burnsville) played well in the Royal Team win Monday.  The Black Team is led by #11 Canyon Pergande (35 points-junior/Eden Prairie), #3 Riku Brown (25 points-sophomore/Eden Prairie), #10 Jalen Henkel (25 points-junior/Eden Prairie), and #6 Nick Ladas (22 points-senior/Eden Prairie)

This game, played tonight (7:30 PM Wednesday) at Richfield will be a good one to see.     

Red and Black 2018 Spring League Playoffs begin Today (Monday) at Richfield

The 2018 Red and Black League finished regular season play Sunday.  Monday, the opening round of the Tier I playoffs will began with the top eight teams competing for the league championship.  The Orange team, a combination of Prior Lake and Shakopee hockey players that will be juniors and sophomores next school year, lost their big hold on first place after Week 5 falling to third place.  A White Team consisting of Breck, Mound Westonka, and Holy Family players that will be seniors, juniors, and sophomores next school year won the league.  The Pink Team consisting of Woodbury, Simley, Henry Sibley seniors and juniors next school year had a late regular season charge that fell short of catching the White.  Pink finished in second place.

#1 White plays #8 Teal (8:45 PM): This game could be a preview of next March’s  Section 2A semifinal game potentially between Breck and Minneapolis.  Monday’s playoff game will match players who will be trying out for Breck, Mound/Westonka, Prior Lake, and Holy Family varsities next fall against players who will be trying out for Minneapolis and Andover varsities.  Breck players Beau and Britt Courneya lead the team in scoring.  Going into Week 6’s play, Breck sophomore Beau had posted 24 points (14 goals) and Mound Westonka senior Britt posted 18 points (7 goals).  Prior Lake seniors Matt Riley (18 points/10 goals) and  Nate Whittier (14 points/7 goals) had a successful spring season.  Both White goalies, senior Brooks Telecky (Litchfield) and senior Noah Coley (Mound Westonka) have played well.  Teal is led by Andover junior Michael Clough who led the league in points and goals (38 points/23 goals) going into the final week of play.  Andover teammates junior Nathan Bauer (18 points/15 assists) and junior Hayden Masloski (17 points/7 goals) provide the firepower for one Teal line.  But Minneapolis seniors Martin Keehn (18 points/9 goals) and Tom Mullin (17 points/9 goals) and Minneapolis junior Ryan Wagner (12 points/6 goals) provide the firepower for another line.  The Teal Team is dominated by Minneapolis players that will be trying out for the Mpls varsity. 

#4 Black plays #5 Green (7:15 PM): This game will match Black’s Eden Prairie/Hopkins mix of lines against Green’s lines of graduating Mound Westonka seniors, Mound Westonka seniors next fall, and Minnehaha Academy sophomores.  Black’s line of junior Canyon Pergande, Jalen Henkel, and Nick Ladas has been a terror inside their opponent’s zone as the season ends.  Pergande led the Black in scoring going into Week 6 with 30 points (13 goals).  Ladas led the team in goals with 15 while posting 21 points and Henkel had posted 14 goals and 20 points.  The Hopkins contingent led by the Stuessi brothers form another strong line.  Jack Stuessi has finished strong in the league posting 13 points (7 goals).  Brother Matt posted 11 points (4 goals) and the two brothers are joined by Dominic Valentini (9 goals/7assists).  The Green line of Mound Westonka graduating seniors, Alexis Partio (25 points/13 goals), Michael Lindell (18 points/8 goals), and Brady Aufderheide (23 points/15 assists) dominated play in the early season.  Partio has cannon shot and plays a strong physical game.  He should end up playing hockey in his future.  Sophomore Ivan Sunder (13 points/6 goals) leads a Minnehaha contingent that forms another strong Green line with Hunter Greshowak (14 points/7 goals) on the wing.  Returning Mound Westonka junior Michael Schroeder (22 points/13 goals) leads a Mound Westonka line.  The Green team has depth on offense.  This will be a game that matches potential varsity teams from Eden Prairie/Hopkins against Mound Westonka/Minnehaha Academy.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

#2 Pink plays #7 Red (5:45 PM): Pink came on in the last two weeks of play to take second place.  The team had 11 players scoring double figures in the first 14 games of regular season play including Hastings junior Chase Friermuth (35 points/23 goals).  The Greeley’s (Jack-11 points/6 goals and Mikhail-15 points/7 goals) and Ryan Blake (12 points/5 goals) from Henry Sibley, the Simley contingent of Carter Robinson (18 points/11  goals, Anthony Tuccitto (6 points/5 assists), and Shane Prifrel (11 points/6 goals); the Friermuth line with Woodbury’s Ben Tschida (10 points/6 goals) and Andrew Selby (19 points/8 goals) and Zack Kuyava (12 points/7 goals) provided depth over a tough 18 game season.  The Red Team has a core group of Benilde-St. Margaret’s players led by sophomore Jonah Mortenson (23 points/16 goals) and junior Toby Curtiss (16 points/10 assists).

The Red Team Shakopee contingent of seniors Austin McNeill (10 points/7 goals) and Andy Kinsella (7 points/5 goals) and junior Ben Stavros (11 points/8 assists) provided depth for the Red Team.  The Jefferson players when they show really add depth to the Red Team led by Jag seniors Collin Anderson, Chad Cousineau, Aran Daniels, and Ryan Maney.  One of the keys for the Red Team in the playoffs will be the senior defensive duo of Benilde’s Jett Johnson and Shakopee’s Jake Pakkala.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

#3 Orange plays #6 Royal (5:45 PM): The Orange was on top going into the final week of play.  They had the title wrapped so tight, that if they looked down at next teams the chasm was deep enough to hear the echo.  But the Orange can still recover and win the title, but they have to beat a tough Royal Team that plays a steady game.  Orange finished the season with five players scoring 20 or more points.  When the final stats are posted, Orange could have seven players scoring 20 or more points.  Prior Lake junior Preston Lindholm (29 points/16 goals), Prior Lake junior Parker Long (23 points/8 goals), Shakopee junior Luke Schmidt (23 points/11 goals), Prior Lake junior Marco Bianchi (22 points (17 assists), and Shakopee junior Michael Morrow (20 points/9 goals) lead two of the Orange lines each game.  Riley Dueber (14 points/9 goals), Nick Speltz (16 points/10 goals), and Jake Rubbelke (10 points/6 goals) gives Orange depth.

The Royal Team was a favorite early and fell to last place two weeks ago.  The Royals have a Minnetonka defense (5 of 6 are Minnetonka) and a Holy Family, Chanhassen, Burnsville offense that is led by two graduating seniors ; Joe Fodstad/MN Mullets and Zach Puterbaugh/Tampa Bay Jr.  Fodstad led the Royal Team in scoring with 30 points (20 goals) and Zach Puterbaugh/Tampa Bay Jr who posted 11 points(7 goals).  The Holy Family contingent is led by Holy Family ninth grader Nick Blood (15 point/10 assists), Holy Family senior Logan Rasmussen, and Holy Family junior Gavin Lindemann (16 points/10 assists).  Chanhassen’s senior Thomas Clauson (18 points/11 assists), junior Ben Gerebi (11 points/8 assists), junior Tollef Kohrman, and senior Brandon Bunger usually form Chanhassen Royal line.  Burnsville junior Joe Tucci and senior Joe Inskeep are core to another  Royal line.  A late season rally puts the Royal in sixth place.  The Royal and Orange Teams have split this season.  After an early 8-3 loss, the Royal beat the Orange 6-3 in Week 6’s Saturday game from Chanhassen’s Clauson and Ben Gerebi.

All the first round games will be played at Richfield Ice Arena.  Opening round of the Tier 2 playoff games matching 10th place Neon against 11th place Yellow and 9th place Grey against 12th place Vintage will also be played at Richfield tonight.    

Week 5: Red and Black 2018 Spring League games

Orange hung on to first place and will likely set a 25 point total for the season if they win two of their remaining four games.  If they win three or more, they will likely win the title outright.  Black and White, tied for second place after Week 4, can catch Orange at 25 points.  White can win it outright.  If Orange wins only one game in Week 4, Pink, as well as White and Black, can catch Orange.  With the teams being up one week and down the next, anything goes as the Red and Black 2018 Spring League regular season play ends.

There is a second race going on besides the race for #1 at the end of regular season play.  There is a race to avoid the bottom four and only Orange is exempt from dropping into the bottom four and playing for the Tier 2 trophy.  The remaining 11 teams can all end up in the bottom four.  The Royals proved that in Week 5.  They entered Week 5 play in the 12th place and ended Week 5 tied for 7th place.

Week 6 Saturday will be the big day with 8 games all played at Orono from 8:45 AM to 10:00 PM.  Green, Pink, Orange, and Teal will each skate two games.  Regular season ends with Week 6’s Sunday games.     

Week 5: Despite losing Orange remains #1 for the third straight week

1.Orange (10-3-1): Orange struggled in Week 5 losing to Pink 6-3, beating Grey 4-1, and losing to Black 12-8, held on to first place.  The loss to Pink was a tough one for Orange.  A win would have clinched one of the top two spots given that they beat Grey also.  The game seemed to be going Orange’s way in the first half.  Jake Rubbelke (Shakopee/junior) scored twice in the first eight minutes of play to put Orange up 2-0.  Doug Larson (Shakopee/junior) assisted on the first Rebbelke score; Luke Schmidt (Shakopee/junior) and Parker Long (Prior Lake/junior) assisted on the second.  Pink tied the game with two quick goals at the halfway mark of the first half.  Then Jackson Brosz (Shakopee/junior) assisted by Long and Michael Morrow (Shakopee/junior) scored to put Orange up 3-2.  After that the game became a Chase Friermuth game as the Pink player from Hastings pounded in 4 goals (three unassisted) to give the Pink a 6-3 win.

Against the Grey Team Saturday, Orange took a quick lead with Park Long scoring in the first minute of play.  But the Grey skated evenly with Orange for the rest of the period until Nick Speltz (Prior Lake/junior) scored late in the half to make it a 2-0 game.  Marco Bianchi (Prior Lake/junior) got the assist on Speltz’s goal; Speltz and Bianchi got the assists on Long’s goal.  After Grey scored three minutes into the second half, Riley Dueber (Prior Lake/sophomore) scored a power play goal assisted by Luke Schmidt and Preston Lindholm (Prior Lake/junior).  Orange’s Larson scored late unassisted to make it a 4-1 game.

Sunday, Black and Orange had a seesaw battle in the first half that had Black leading 6-4 become a runaway in the second half with Black winning 12-8.  Orange took an early 2-1 lead behind scores by Luke Schmidt with Long assisting and Morrow with Lindholm assisting.  Lindholm scored the third goal to make it a 3-2 Orange lead with Morrow and Riley Dueber assisting.  Joe Dueber (Prior Lake/junior) scored near the end of the half with Bianchi assisting to make it a 6-4 game.  Riley Dueber and Lindholm combined two minutes into the second half to make it a 7-5; Dueber got the score.  Lindholm scored with Morrow assisting to make it an 8-6 game.  Lindholm and Morrow combined again with Lindholm scoring to make it 10-7 game.  Lucas Blofield (Shakopee/junior) also got an assist on Orange’s seventh goal.  Lindholm scored the final Orange goal in the 12-8 loss with Morrow again assisting.  Lindholm posted a six point game with four goals; Morrow posted a five point game with four assists.      

Prior Lake’s Preston Lindholm leads the team in points (27) and goals (15) with one week of regular season play to go.  Prior Lake’s Parker Long leads the Orange with 15 assists.  The Orange plays Grey, Royal, Teal, and White in the final sixth week of play.  Theoretically, five teams could overtake Orange for the 2018 regular season title.  But Orange plays Grey, Royal, Teal, and White and should post four additional points as a minimum.  That puts Orange at 25 points for the season and leaves only White and Black as potential teams to overtake Orange.  White would need to win three of their four final games; Black would need to win all four just to tie Orange.  If Orange can only win two points, then Pink plus Black and White can contend by winning their games.

Week 5: White and Black tied for second

2. White (9-4-1): The collapsing of the high school baseball schedule has probably hit the White team the hardest.  With a number of players on the team also playing high school baseball, the late winter has forced a normal 10 week baseball season scrunched to five weeks.  Still, White playing with a short bench in Week 5 won 5 of the 6 points, held on to second place, and cut the Orange Team lead to two points with four games to play.  Friday, White beat Yellow 6-3; Saturday they held off Red 3-1 in a key game, and Sunday they tied Green 8-8.  In Friday’s 6-3 win, Zach Simmons (Mound Westonka/senior) scored the first two goals of the game with Britt Courney (Mound Westonka/senior) assisting.  Sam Reigert (Holy Family) scored with 10 minutes left in the half to make it a 3-0 game.  Nathan Whittier (Prior Lake/senior) assisted Reigert on his score and Whittier assisted Matthew Riley (Prior Lake/senior) on the final score of the first half.  White led 4-1.  Whittier scored two power play goals in the second half.  Ethan Drew (Prior Lake/junior) and Beau Courneya (Breck/sophomore) assisted on the first score.  White won 6-3.  White goalie Brooks Telecky (Hutchinson/senior) got the win. 

Saturday, the White Team beat the Red 3-1 in one of the key matchups in Week 5.  In a rare Black and White League game where no goals were scored in the last half, White took a 3-1 lead at half time.  Zack Simmons opened the scoring assisted by Britt Courneya to make it a 1-0 game; Beau Courneya scored unassisted to make it a 2-1 game and Zack Simmons got the second goal of the game with Riegert assisting to end the scoring 3-1.  The final 33 minutes were played scoreless.  Noah Coley (Mound Westonka/senior) got the win.  Sunday, the White tied Green in a more typical Red and Black League game 8-8.  The game was tied 7 times.  White led 5-4 at the end of the first half.  Beau Courneya had a hat trick in the game posting 4 points; Matthew Riley had a 3 point game (two goals); Quinn Pausche (Holy Family/senior) had a 3 point game (one goal); Jacob Hanson (Breck/sophomore) scored twice; and Blake Harmer, Aidan Mjelstad (Mound Westonka/sophomore), Britt Courneya, Zach Simmons, and Alex Farwell (Mound Westonka/senior) each got an assist.  Brooks Telecky got the tie. 

Going into the final week of play, Beau Courneya leads the team in points (24) and in goals (14).  He is tied with Britt Courneya for assists (10).  Eight White players are in double figures.  Besides Beau and Britt Courneya, Quinn Pausche (11), Jacob Hanson (11), Jean Marc Johnson (10), Nathan Whittier (14), Matthew Riley (18), and Zach Simmons (13) have all scored in double figures.  White has a tough four games to finish out the regular season in Week 6.  They play Red, Neon, Grey, and Orange.  Grey may be the toughest team of those four in Week 6.  To the White Team’s credit, they rarely skate a game with less than 10 players and it shows.  Despite being a younger team in the league, they have competed all season for the #1 spot.   

2. Black (8-5-1): Black swept their three game Week 5 set beating Neon 11-8, Yellow 9-3, and upsetting Orange 12-8.  Black took a 4-0 lead at the end of the first half.  Ethan Dominy (Mound Westonka/eight grader) subbing for Black scored the opening goal on a shot from the slot.  Dominy was set up by Matt Stuessi’s hard forechecking behind the net.  Jack Stuessi (Hopkins/senior) scored a shorthanded unassisted goal to make it a 2-0 game.  Canyon Pergande (Eden Prairie/junior) scored to make a 3-0 game unassisted and Nick Ladas (Eden Prairie/senior) scored a power play goal with Zach Bienkowski (Eden Prairie/junior) getting the assist.  Black led 4-0 at the end of the first half.  The last three Black scores were made in one minute just as the first half ended.

In the second half, Ladas scored again with Pergande getting the assist; Riku Brown (Eden Prairie/sophomore) scored with Bienkowski getting the assist; and Jack Stuessi scored again with Dominic Valentini (Hopkins/sophomore) getting the assist.  The second half was all Black for the first 15 minutes as built a 9-1 lead.  The shortbench Black team tired in the last minutes of the game but managed to hang on to win 11-8.  Ladas, Brown, and Stuessi each scored a goal in the first five minutes to build the Black lead to 7-0.  Pergande assisted on Ladas’s score; Bienkowski assisted on Brown’s score; and Dominic Valentini on Jack Stuessi’s score.  After Neon scored to break the shutout, Pergande scored 30 seconds later with Dominy assisting to make it an 8-1 game.  Brown scored a power play goal with Jack Stuessi and Zach Bienkowski assisting to give Black their biggest lead 9-1.  After Neon scored twice to cut the lead to 9-3, Ladas scored his third goal of the game for a hat trick with Jack Stuessi and Dominy assisting.  Jack Stuessi scored the final Black goal in the 11-8 win unassisted.  Jack  Stuessi posted a 5 point game with his hat trick; Nick Ladas had the hat trick, and Canyon Pergande (2 goals) and Ethan Dominy (1 goal) each had three point games.

The Eden Prairie forwards dominated Yellow in the first half of Saturday’s game.  Jalen Henkel (Eden Prairie/junior) scored the hat trick in the first 20 minutes of play and Pergande scored the fourth goal as Black took another 4-0 lead at the half.  Ladas had two assists, Brown had one assist, and Reagan Shepard had one assist.  In the second half, Yellow scored three times in the first three minutes and they were threatening to make it a game until the EP players went to work.  Ladas scored three goals to post his second hat trick game in a row; Henkel added his fourth goal of the game, and Pergande scored his second.  Black won 9-3.  Henkel, Brown, Austin Krebsbach (Eden Prairie/senior), and Michael Gretsch (Eden Prairie/sophomore) each got assists.  Nick Ladas (3 goals) and Jalen Henkel (4 goals) both had 5 point games.

Sunday, the Black Team really help themselves by hammering Orange 12-8 win.  They took a 6-4 lead at the end of the first half on scores by Jalen Henkel, Riku Brown, Canyon Pergande, Austin Krebsbach, and Jack Stuessi (two goals).  Bienkowski, Valentini (2 assists), Brown (2 assists), Pergande, Matt Stuessi (Hopkins/sophomore), and John Martin assisted in the six goals.  Henkel (2 goals), Brown, Pergande, Valentini, and Shepard scored in the second half as Black won the game 12-8.  Pergande posted a six point game (2 goals), Henkel posted his second straight hat trick game (5 points), Riku Brown posted a 5 point game (2 goals), Dominic Valentini posted a 4 point game (3 assists), and Jack Stuessi posted a 3 point game (2 goals).  Goalie Zach Hayes (Hopkins/sophomore) got the win.            

Eden Prairie’s Canyon Pergande leads Black in scoring with 30 points and in assists with 17.  Eden Prairie’s Nick Ladas leads in goals scored with 15.  Ladas has 21 points on the season.  Riku Brown (17), Zach Bienkowski (14), Matt Stuessi (11), Tyler Sweeney (13), Reagan Shepard (10), Jalen Henkel (20), Jack Stuessi (13), and Austin Krebsbach (13) are the 10 Black skaters in double figures after Week 5. The Eden Prairie forwards on the Black team are playing strong hockey and that bodes well for the team in Week 6.  Black finishes the season playing Yellow, Grey, Pink and Vintage and are favored to win all four.      

Week 5: Pink takes fourth place

4. Pink (6-5-3): Pink opened Week 5 with an upset win over Orange 6-3 then beat Green 9-3 and an improving Grey team 9-5 to sweep Week 5 games and move from Tier 2 territory to fourth place.  Pink fell behind league leading Orange 2-0 early in their Friday game, but after Ben Tschida (Woodbury/junior) scored to narrow the deficit to 2-1, Chase Friermuth (Hastings/junior) went to work.  Friermuth scored three Pink goals in a row and added a shorthanded unassisted score late in the game.  Friermuth scored unassisted to make it a 2-2 game and scored late in the second half to tie the game 3-3.  Tschida got the assist.  Friermuth scored the game winner unassisted ten minutes into the second half.  Carter Robinson’s (Simley/junior) score iced the game at 5-3 with Tschida and Charles Gustafson (Simley/junior) getting the assists.  Friermouth’s fourth goal ended the scoring.  Grey upset Orange 6-3 at the start of Week 5’s games.

Pink took a 4-1 first half lead against Green behind two goals by Jack Greeley (Henry Sibley/senior).  Tschida got the first Pink score two minutes into the opening half to make it a 1-0 game.  Friermuth got the assist.  Greeley then scored twice for the Pink to make it a 3-1 game with two minutes left in the period.  Anthony Tuccitto (Simley/junior) and Dakotah Heimerl (South St. Paul/senior) assisted on Greeley’s first score, Friermuth and Andrew Selby (Woodbury/junior) assisted on the second Greeley goal.  Jack Greeley assisted Zack Kuyaya (White Bear Lake/junior) on the fourth goal of the first half.  Friermuth scored unassisted with three minutes gone in the second period to make a 5-1 game.  Green came back with two scores.  With 12 minutes gone in the second half, the Pink Team scored three quick goals in two minutes to put the game away.  Friermuth scored again unassisted ; Kuyaya scored with Selby and Tyler Barry (Woodbury/junior) getting the assists, and Jack Greeley scored unassisted on a power play.  The fourth goal was scored by Heimerl on a power play unassisted to make it a 9-3 game.

Pink scored twice in the first 5 minutes to take a 2-0 lead in Grey’s Sunday game.  Goals by Simley junior Shane Prifrel (Selby assisting) and Henry Sibley junior Ryan Blake (Kuyava assisting) put the Pink up 2-0.  After Grey tied the game 2-2 with 13 minutes left to play in the opening half, Mikhail Greeley scored unassisted to break the tie 3-2.  Jack Greeley scored 10 seconds later to make it a 4-2 game with Friermuth getting the assist.  Kuyava scored to make it a 5-2 game on the power play.  Blake got the assist.  Prifrel scored unassisted to end the first half with Pink leading 6-2.  Prifrel’s score was the game winning goal.  Grey rallied in the first ten minutes of the second half to cut the Pink lead to 6-5.  Then Friermuth got busy again scoring a shorthanded goal unassisted and the final goal of the game assisted by Jack Greeley.  Selby scored the eighth goal as Pink won 9-5 to sweep Week 5 games.  Friermuth had a 3 point game (2 goals).        

The Pink sweep was led by Chase Friermuth.  Friermuth has been on fire in the last five games posting two four goal games and three two goal games along with four assists.  The Hastings junior leads Pink in scoring with 35 points, in goals scored with 23, and in assists.  Friermuth is one of 10 Pink players in double figures.  Dakotah Heimerl (11), Drake Gieseke (14), Ryan Blake (12), Carter Robinson (18), Zack Kuyava (12), Jack Greeley (11), Mikhail Greeley (15), Shane Prifrel (11), Andrew Selby (19), and Ben Tschida (10) are all in double figures going into the final week of play.  The Pink Team is playing well after Week 5 and will finish the season playing Vintage, Green, Black, and Red.  A sweep of all four games and a few losses to Orange, White, and Black and the Pink could finish first.

Week 5: Neon and Red are tied for fifth place

5. Neon (7-7-0): Neon won two out of three games in Week 5 to slow their fall towards Tier 2 playoffs, but they will have their hands full in the final week of play to keep one of the top eight spots in leagueplay.  After losing to Black 11-8, the Neon Team beat Vintage 11-8 and Teal 9-4.  Black took a 4-0 lead at the end of the first half in Friday’s game and stretched it to 7-0 with 18 minutes to play in the second half.  Hogan Williams (Delano/senior) scored to make it a 7-1 game with Dylan Lewis (Wayzata/sophomore) getting the assist.  After Black scored two more goals, Nicholas Buiceag (Sartell/senior) scored with Caeden Phelps (Holy Angels/junior) and Lewis getting the assists.  With 10 minutes to play, Neon trailed 9-2.  Dylan Lewis scored assisted by Nicholas Buiceag and Noah Willams (Apple Valley/senior) to make it a 9-3 game.  Black scored to make it a 10-3 game.  With 8 minutes left to play, Neon went on a five goal run to cut Black’s lead to 10-8.  Jake Mumm (Sartell/senior) scored to make it a 10-4 game assisted by Hagy.  Buiceag scored assisted by Noah Williams and Lewis scored assisted by Hagy and Mitch Farnham.  With two minutes to play, Neon had cut the lead to 10-6.  In thirty seconds of play, Hagy scored twice.  The first goal was unassisted and Lewis got the assist on the second goal.  With just under a minute to go, Neon had cut the Black lead to 10-8, but they could not score in the final seconds.  Black won 11-8.

Saturday, halfway through the opening period, Neon trailed Vintage 3-1.  Hajiani had the only Neon goal.  He scored that goal unassisted.  Then Neon’s Henry Frissell (Minnehaha Academy/senior) scored twice to tie the game in a 90 second stretch.  Nick Hibino (Holy Angels/junior) assisted on the first score; Hagy and Jack Jones (Holy Angels/junior) assisted on the second score.  Vintage scored to take a 4-3 lead, but Neon’s Hajiani scored to tie the game again with Farnham getting the assist.  Each team scored to end the first half with a 5-5 tie.  Vintage scored five minutes into the second half to break the tie, but Neon quickly struck back with two quick goals.  Caeden Phelps scored to tie the game 6-6 with Caleb Scheer (Holy Angels/senior) and Lewis getting the assists.  Hibino scored to put Neon up 7-6 with Jack Jones and Lewis getting the assists.  After Vintage tied the game again 7-7, Neon’s Hagy scored assisted by Farnham and Mark Longhenry (Holy Angels/junior).  Leading 8-7, Hajiani scored the game winner putting Neon up 9-7.  Lewis scored twice late in the game with Jones assisting on the first and Longhenry on the second.  Neon won 11-8.  Dylan Lewis had a 5 point game (2 goals), Dante Hajiani got the hat trick, and Jack Jones posted a 3 point game.

Sunday, Neon blew open a tight game with Teal scoring three goals in the first minutes of the second half to take a commanding 6-2 lead and go on to win 9-4.  The first half was a tightly skated game that ended with Neon up 3-2.  Caeden Phelps scored the first Neon goal with Evan Sivets (Delano/graduating senior) getting the assist.  Sivets scored the second goal shorthanded and unassisted to put Neon up 2-1.  Bryce Becker (Minnehaha Academy/junior) got the third Neon goal with Chase Halonen (Delano/senior) and Scheer assisting.  Lewis scored to open the second half unassisted.  Sivets scored twice to make it a 6-2 game.  Both goals were unassisted.  After Teal scored to make it a 6-3 game, Neon’s Mike Farnham (Holy Angels/junior) scored with Lewis assisting and Hogan Williams scored with Becker assisting.  Noah Williams got the final Neon goal with Sivets assisting.

Sartell’s Maddux Hagy leads the Neon Team in scoring with 35 points and in goals scored with 24 goals.  He is tied with Holy Angels defenseman Mitch Farnham in assists.  Each has 11.  Farnham has posted 15 points this season.  Caeden Phelps (10) and Dante Hajiani (10) are also in double figures for the season.  Neon plays Vintage, White, Yellow, and Royal in the Week 6 finale to league play.  The Neon struggled losing 7 of 9 games played before righting themselves winning their last two game.  The Neon offense has shifted with the emergence of Dylan Lewis (Wayzata/sophomore).  Lewis is beginning to dominate on his shifts.  Basically, Neon has played with short benches missing most of their defensemen.  They will need some wins to keep a spot in the Tier 1 playoffs and could be missing most of the Sartell players.    

5. Red (6-6-2): Red is tied with Neon and is the same spot.  They need wins but they lost all three Week 5 games, losing to Royal 4-2, White 3-1, and Vintage 5-0.  They have been getting their defense on the ice led by Jett Johnson but are struggling offensively.  The Red Team scored twice in the first half and led 2-0 at halftime.  Toby Curtiss (Benilde-St. Margaret’s/junior) scored the opening goal with Jonah Mortenson (Benilde/St. Magaret’s/sophomore) getting the assist.  Mortenson got the second goal with Curtiss and Aran Daniels (Jefferson/sophomore) getting the assists.  Royal scored four goals in the second period to win 4-2.  Grant Dokken (Jefferson/sophomore) scored the lone goal against the Red with Dokken  getting the assist.  Red goalie Jonnie Vitelli (Benilde-St. Margaret’s senior) was in the net for all three Red losses in Week 5 despite giving up an average of 4 goals per game.  In the high scoring Red and Black League, holding the opponents to five goals per game or less is playing great goaltending.

Benilde-St. Margaret’s sophomore Jonah Mortenson leads the Red team in scoring with 21 points and in goals scored 15.  Benilde-St. Margaret’s junior Toby Curtis leads the Red in assists with 9 after Week 5 play.  Curtis has posted 14 points.  Austin McNeil (10) and Ben Stavros (11) are two more Red players in double digit scoring.   The Red Team offense has been running two effective lines one comprised of Benilde players and one comprised of Shakopee players.  These games are intense 25 minute periods and often the teams will opt not to clean ice.  Instead they will take a two minute break and return to play the final 25 minutes.  Without some third line or more relief, a team will wear down in the second half sooner as they play from Friday to Sunday.  In Week 5, Red scored just three goals.  They play four games in Week 6, White, Yellow, Green, and Pink and need to find some depth at offense.

Week 5: Royal moves up and creates jam tied in seventh place with Teal and Green

7. Royal (6-7-1): It is no surprise here that the Royals won all three Week 5 games and move from last place to tie for seventh.   After beating Red 4-2 Friday at Richfield, the Royals beat Teal 5-3 and Yellow 7-6.  Red jumped to a 2-0 lead at the end of the first half against the Royals, then the Royals stormed back in the second half scoring four unanswered goals to win 4-2.  Cooper Gay (Benilde-St. Margaret’s/junior) scored twice, Brady Caron (Minnetonka/junior) and Nick Blood (Holy Family/ninth grader) each scored once.  Zach Puterbaugh (Tampa Bay Jrs/graduating senior) assisted Gay on his first score; Gay scored the second unassisted.  Gay assisted Brady Caron on the second score.  Blood got the game winning goal assisted by Logan Rasmussen (Holy Family/senior).

Saturday, the Royals took a 2-1 lead at the half behind scores by Blood with Ben Gerebi (Chanhassen/junior) assisting and Thomas Clauson (Chanhassen/junior) scoring unassisted.  Clauson scored a quick goal to open the second half with Gavin Lindemann (Holy Family/junior) getting the assist.  Teal tied the game 3-3 with nine minutes to play.  Joe Fodstad (MN Mullets/graduating senior) assisted by Blood got the game winner with six minutes to play.  Clauson assisted by Fodstad scored in the last minute of the game to get his hat trick.  Royal won 5-3.  Sunday’s game had a wild first half that ended with the Royal’s leading 5-4.  Liam Johnson scored unassisted to put the Royals up 1-0.  John Manning (Minnetonka/sophomore) assisted by Brady Caron and Gerebi made in a 2-1 game.  The Royals trailed Yellow 4-2 with three minutes to play in the half when Lindermann, Tucci, and Brady Caron scored in the last two minutes to give Royal the 5-4 halftime lead.  Clauson assisted Lindermann on his score; John Manning and Jake Inskeep (Burnsville/senior) assisted Tucci.  Brady Caron scored the fifth Royal goal unassisted.  Fodstad scored a power play goal with 18 minutes to play unassisted to put the Royals up 6-4.  They hung onto the two goal lead until Yellow struck twice to tie the game with 7 minutes left to play.  It was Puterbaugh who got the game winner in the last minute of play assisted by Fodstad.  Royals won 7-6 and sweep all three games in Week 5.

Graduating senior Joe Fodstad leads the Royals in all three scoring categories (29 points, 18 goals, and 11 assists).  Justen Williams (11), Cooper Gay (12), Brady Caron (10), Gavin Lindermann (13), Zach Puterbaugh (11), Nick Blood (10), and Joe Tucci (11) have all scored in double figures through the first 14 games.  The Royal Team was building to a big Week 5 and they got it sweeping all six points and jumping from last to a seventh place tie.  Now can they build on that success in Week 6?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

7. Teal (5-6-3): Teal salvaged one of their three Week 5 games upsetting Green 6-2 in Friday’s opening play.  Teal then lost to Royal Saturday 5-3 and Neon  Sunday 9-4.  Teal’s leading scorer posted a hat trick in the first 20 minutes of the Teal’s upset of the Green team.  That gave Teal a 3-1 lead at halftime.  Hayden Masloski (Andover/junior) assisted Michael Clough (Andover/junior) on his first score; Martin Keehn (Minneapolis/senior) assisted on the second; and Tom Mullin (Minneapolis/senior) and Masloski assisted on the third goal.  Clough scored with Mullin’s assisting five minutes into the second half to make it a 4-1 game.  Sawyer Cirone (Minneapolis/junior) scored to make it a 5-1 game assisted by Brody Witta (Minnetonka/junior) and Clough.  Ryan Wagner (Minneapolis/junior) scored the final goal for Teal with Keehn and Clough assisting.  Andover’s Michael Clough figured in all six Teal scores posting four goals and two assists.

Saturday, Tom Mullin scored the only Teal goal in the first half as Royal took a 2-1 lead.  Clough scored the second Teal goal with 10 minutes remaining in the game to make it a 3-2 score.  Nathan Bauer (Andover/junior) assisted.  Cirone scored the final goal with Robert Cross (Minneapolis/senior) and Ellis Garton (Minneapolis/junior) assisting.  Teal lost 5-3.  Sunday, Mullin scored the first Teal goal again three minutes into the opening half.  Masloski assisted. He scored the final goal of the first half with Masloski and Clough assisting.  Teal trailed Neon 3-2.  Neon scored three straight in the opening minutes of the second half to build a 6-2 lead.  Teal’s Gavin DeBettignies (Andover/junior) scored assisted by Bennet Walden (Minneapolis/junior) to make it a 6-3 game.  Mullin scored the final goal of the game assisted by Clough and Masloski.  Teal lost 9-4. 

Michael Clough leads the Teal Team and the league in scoring with 38 points.  The Andover junior leads Teal in goals scored with 23 and he is tied with Andover teammate Nathan Bauer in assists with 15.  Bauer has posted 18 points for the season.  Martin Keehn (18), Tom Mullin (17), Hayden Masloski (17), and Ryan Wagner (12) are all scoring in double digits.  The Teal play the Royal, Vintage, Orange, and Grey in the final week of regular season play.

7. Green (5-6-3): Green salvaged a tie with White on Sunday for their only Week 5 point.  They lost to Teal Friday 6-2 and to Pink Saturday 9-3.  Green has managed only two ties in the past two weeks sliding from overtaking Orange to fighting to keep a Tier 1 playoff spot.  In Friday’s loss to Teal, Green’s high powered offense could manage only two scores against Teal goalie Thomas Walsh.  Luke Holmen (Mound Westonka/senior) scored the lone Green goal in the first half with Jacob Gutekunst (Mound Westonka/junior) and Michael Schroeder (Mound Westonka/junior) getting the assists.  That made it a 3-1 game.  Ethan Fetters Vandenheuvel (Mound Westonka/senior) scored the last goal of the game with Trent Bowe (Mound Westonka/sophomore) and Dylan Stocker (Prior Lake/senior) getting the assists.  Green lost 6-2.  Saturday against Pink, Green again fell behind big trailing 4-1 at the half.  Michael Lindell (Mound Westonka graduating senior) got the lone Green score with Brady Aufderheide (Mound Westonka graduating senior) and Trent Bowe getting the assists.  Green, on goals scored by Aleksi Partio (Mound Westonka/graduating senior) and Luke Holmen, cut the Pink lead to 5-3.  But the Green defense could not stop the Pink as they scored 4 straight goals in 5 minutes to put the game away 9-3 with 7 minutes to play.  Sunday, the Green tied White 8-8.  After trailing early in the opening half, Partio and Lindell scored to tie the game.  Aufderheide assisted on both scores.  Hunter Greshowak (Minnehaha Academy/junior) assisted on Lindell’s score.  Partio scored his second goal to tie the game again 3-3 with Aufderheide getting the assist.  Greshowak scored late the half to tie the game 4-4 unassisted, but Green still trailed 5-4 at the break.  Holmen scored twice in the opening minutes of the second half to tie the game again 6-6.  Greshowak assisted on the first goal.  Holmen scored the second unassisted.  Partio scored to put Green up 7-6 with Lindell assisting and Partio scored the final Green goal unassisted for the hat trick.  With 5 minutes to play, Green held a 8-7 lead but could not keep White off the board.  The game ended in an 8-8 tie.                                             

The big scoring early season games have evaporated faster than the snow delivered by the late April snowstorms.  Graduating senior Aleksi Partio leads the team in points with 25.  Partio has subbed and posted an additional 9 points (4 goals) skating for other teams.  Partio and Mound Westonka junior Michael Schroeder are tied for goals scored with 13 each and Mound Westonka sophomore Trent Bowe leads in assists with 16.  Bowe (18), Schroeder (22), Jayce Hopia (17), Ivan Sunder (13), Hunter Greshowak (14), Michael Lindell (18), Brady Aufderheide (23), Luke Holmen (10), Ethan Fetters Vandenheuvel (16), and Carter Hansen (14) have all scored in double digits.  Green plays Royal, Pink, Red, and Yellow in the final Week 6 round of games.      

Week 5: Grey and Vintage ties for tenth place

10. Grey (4-8-2): Grey has been skating better in the past two weeks.  After beating Vintage 8-1 in Week 5’s opening game Friday, they lost a tough game to Orange Saturday and Pink handed them a tougher 9-5 loss on Sunday.  Still Grey will be dangerous team in the last week of play.   So much of the Red and Black League play is leans to the offense with checking limited.  So the goal tenders have to be good just to hold their opponent to less than 5 goals a game.

Grey’s 4-1 loss to Orange Friday in Week 5 was unique.  Both goalies worked hard especially Grey’s Finn Grandy.  Grandy had a great first half holding Orange to two goals.  He had a better second half.  An unofficial YHH count had Grandy stopping 18 shots in the first half; 27 shots in the second half.  Orange won 4-1, but it took an equally great effort by Orange Goalie Ben Titcomb to hold Grey to one goal.  Titcomb stopped 35 shots on net and shutout Grey in the first half.  Orange led 2-0 .  Grey’s Andrew Strom (Prior Lake/junior) scored the only Grey goal at the opening of the second half.  Orange scored twice in the second half, the second score was and open netter in Grey’s 4-1 loss.  Shea Anderson (Orono/junior) and Gus Hendrickson (Orono/junior)  assisted on Strom’s score.

Against Pink, Nick Strand scored one of two Grey first half goals as Pink took a 6-2 lead.  Will Walz got the assist.  Strom assisted by Jonah Reed scored the second goal to tie the game 2-2, but Pink put four straight on the board to lead 6-2 at the half.  Grey scored a three goal burst in a two minute period early in the second half to cut the Pink lead to 6-5.  John Kettle scored with Strom assisting to cut the lead to 6-3.  Nick Strand (Shakopee/sophomore) scored his second goal of the game with Kettle assisting to cut the lead to 6-4.  George James (Orono/junior) scored the third unassisted to cut the lead to 6-5.  Pink then went on a three goal burst to put the game away winning 9-5.

Tampa Bay Jr Lightning’s Brody Horoshak leads Grey in points (17) and assists (14).  Prior Lake’s Corey McNally leads the Grey in goals scored with 10.  McNally (16), Will Walz (13), and Jamison Bazil (10) are all in double digit scoring.  Grey plays the top three teams in the league in Week 6, Orange, Black, and White.  Their fourth game is against a tough Teal Team.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

10. Vintage (3-7-4): The Vintage Team had a good Week 4 and appeared ready to make a move by beating Grey in their Friday game at Richfield.  They lost 8-1 and lost Saturday to Neon 11-8 before coming back to upset Red and knock them out of contention for first place.  Vintage fell behind 3-0 in the first half.  Ben Rasinski (Lakeville South/junior) scored the lone Vintage goal to make a 4-1 game early in the second half, but Grey was too much in this Week 5 game.  Vintage lost 8-1.  A day later, Vintage played Neon to a 5-5 tie in the first half.  It was a donnybrook in the second half.  Vintage made a tough stand and still lost.  Goals from Jack Miller (Edina/senior) unassisted, Adam Spetz with assists from Jack Buckenberger (Rosemount/junior) and Jacob Lee (New Prague/junior), and from Tucker Canon (Edina/junior) put Vintage up 3-1.  Miller scored again in the first half.  Carter Wise (STMA/junior) assisted.  Brady Klemmensen (Edina/junior) scored the fifth goal shorthanded with Miller and Canon assisting.  The game remained tight for the first 15 minutes of the second half.  Klemmensen scored a quick goal with Canon assisting; Miles Dorsey (Edina/senior) scored unassisted; and Jacob Lee  scored a power play goal to make it a one goal Neon lead 9-8 going into the last ten minutes of play.  Neon scored two late goals to ice the game 11-8.

After struggling in the first two Week 5 games, Vintage won 5-0 shutting down a good Red Team.  Klemmensen score the first goal and the game winner eight minutes into the opening half.  Jack Miller (Edina/senior) and Buckenberger got the assists.  Miller score the second goal with Tucker Canon getting the assist.  Louie Timberg (Mound Westonka/sophomore) scored a power play goal with Klemmensen assisting to put Vintage up at half 3-0.  Max Psihos (Edina/senior) and Jacob Lee scored in the second half as Vintage beat Red 5-0.     

Edina’s Jack Miller leads the Vintage in goals scored (11) and Edina’s Tucker Canon leads the team in assists (11) and points (21).  Vintage’s three wins have happened when Miller and Canon are both on the ice.  Miller is an alternate player and has only skated in six games, but Miller is a physical terror on the ice.  Once he gets rolling, he plays a very strong game.   Canon is a regular for Vintage and more of the goal scorer.  He has missed a few games also.  But when the two are on the ice, the Vintage is a tough team.  Miller with 17 points and Cannon are the only two Vintage players in double digit scoring going into the last week of regular season play.  Vintage ends their season with four Week 6 games against Neon, Pink, Teal, and Black.  They will need some wins.   

Week 5: Yellow falls to twelfth place

12. Yellow (4-9-1): The Yellow Team went from contending to struggling losing nine of their last ten games.  In Week 5, Yellow lost to White 6-3, Black 9-3, and Royal 7-6.  Tom O’Neill (St. Thomas Academy/junior) scored the Yellow’s lone first half goal unassisted.  Yellow trailed White 4-1 at the half.  Max Finkel (Lakeville North/sophomore) scored two goals in the second half to cut Yellow’s lead to 5-3 with 10 minutes left to play.  O’Neill assisted Finkel on both of his scores.  Yellow fell behind Black 4-0 at the end of the first half and rallied scoring three goals in the first three minutes of the second period to cut the lead to 4-3.  Brandon Roloff (South St. Paul/senior) assisted by Sam Lehmann (South St. Paul/senior) scored the first goal; Corey Rehder (Eagan/sophomore) assisted by Roloff and Lehmann scored the second goal; and Lehmann assisted by Roloff scored the third goal.  Black put on their own rally scoring three times in three minutes to take a 7-3 lead and win 9-3.

In Week 5’s Sunday game, the mostly Eagan contingent were schooled by the more experienced Royal team.  The Yellow fell behind 2-1 in the first ten minutes of play 2-1 as the Royal defense turned the Yellow forwards at center ice.  Yellow’s Aidan White (Eagan/sophomore) managed to beat the Royal defense to score unassisted.  Triggered by an unassisted power play goal scored by Ben Wilary (Eagan/sophomore), Yellow took a 4-2 lead when Corey Rehder with Aidan White (Eagan/junior) assisting and Jackson Luhrs (South St. Paul/senior) with Roloff assisting.  Royal scored three in a row to end the first half taking a 5-4 lead.  Aidan White (assisted by Rehder) and Luhrs (assisted by Roloff) got the final two scores.  Yellow lost 7-6.    

St. Thomas Academy’s Tom O’Neill leads the Yellow in points (17) and assists (9).  O’Neill is tied with Eagan’s Aidan White in goals scored.  Each has scored 8 goals.  Aidan White has posted 14 points on the season; Cooper Schumacher has posted 10 points.  Yellow finishes the season playing Black, Red, Neon and Green, all tough teams looking for wins, but the Yellow team consistently skates with a short bench and it shows.  They won early in the season and appeared to be a contender.  But a team skating a tough 18 game schedule in six weeks needs to skate with depth from game to game.  Yellow went undefeated in their first four games and going into Week 6 they have won only once losing nine times.  They will be finishing their season playing tough teams to avoid a last place finish


Royal's Jake Inskeep (Burnsville/senior) looks for the rebound from Yellow goalie Graeme Edmund (Eagan/sophomore)

Red and Black League Week 4

The Prom Weekend is gone and the Red and Black Spring League have a potential runaway champion.  The Orange team won Thursday’s game beating Green 8-2 and went on to sweep Week 4 games.  The sweep extended Orange’s first place lead to 5 points over White and Red Teams with 7 games to play.  If Orange gets just half of the remaining points in regular season play, they will finish with 26 points forcing White and Red to win 12 of their 14 points to tie Orange.  White has a tough remaining schedule playing Red twice and Orange once.  Red has an easier schedule playing on Green once beside their two games with White.

While Orange, White, and Red vie for the top spots, the bottom nine teams are all in shouting distance of fourth place.  Green, Teal, Neon, Black, Yellow, and Pink are separated by 3 points and the bottom three (Vintage, Royal, and Grey) cannot be counted out.  With the Prom over and with Week 5 and Week 6 to play, all 12 Red and Black Teams can “dance”.  It just depends on who shows up.  With the snow finally gone, high school baseball games are being played “en masse” including Saturdays as the high schools try to get their season games played before sectional play starts in two weeks.

At the end of Week 3, there was some distance between the top 8 potential Tier 1 teams and the four Tier 2 teams.  This week, the Black and Teal are tied for fifth but lead the next 5 teams by three points.  They lead the last place Royals by a scant four points.

Week 4: #1 Orange continues to roll

1. Orange (9-1-1): The Orange extended their win streak to 9 games and have not lost since Week 1.  After beating Green 8-2 Thursday, The Orange beat Red 7-3 Saturday and Sunday, they beat Neon 10-4.  In beating Green, Orange took a 3-1 lead at the half and broke open the game 10 minutes left to play in the second taking a 5-1 lead on scores by Lucas Blofield (Shakopee/junior) and Jake Rubbelke (Shakopee/junior).  Parker Long (Prior Lake/junior) assisted on both those scores; Michael Morrow (Shakopee/junior) and Preston Lindholm (Prior Lake/junior) got assists.  Doug Larson (Shakopee/junior) scored to tie the game early in the first half 1-1.  Logan Hillman (Shakopee/senior) and Long assisted on Larson’s goal.  Luke Schmidt scored the second goal unassisted.  Rubbelke scored the game winner in the last two minutes of the opening period.  Schmidt assisted Rubbelke on the game winner.  After build a four goal lead, Orange scored three goals in two minutes as the game ended.  Jackson Brosz (Shakopee/junior) scored with Nick Speltz (Prior Lake/junior) and Schmidt getting the assists; Schmidt scored with Speltz assisting; and Lindholm scored with Logan Hillman assisting.  In a match-up where Orange needed a win to break from the pack and strengthen their hold on first place, Orange won.

In beating Red 7-3, Orange scored three first half goals to take a 3-2 lead, built that lead to 5-2 early in the second half and won going away 7-3.  There was never any doubt in the final result.  Orange got first half scoring from Ryan Hadlund (Prior Lake/sophomore) with assists going to Connor Guillemette (Prior Lake/junior) and Lindholm.  Lindholm figured in all three first half scores score twice to add to his assist.  Lindholm’s first goal made it a 2-1 game; his second goal made it a 3-1 game with Speltz and Marco Bianchi (Prior Lake/junior) getting the assists.  Luke Schmidt scored in the first minute of the second half to make it a 4-2 game with Guillemette and Dueber getting the assists.  Schmidt’s goal was the game winner.  Lindholm and Bianchi assisted Speltz on the next score to make it a 5-2 game.  Lindholm scored to get his hat trick and Blake Dicke (Prior Lake/sophomore) scored to make it a 7-3 game.  Rubbelke and Blofield assisted on the Lindholm’s goal and Long assisted on Dicke’s score. 

After giving up two goals in the first two minutes to Neon, Orange went on a five goal scoring spree in the first half of play to take a 5-3 lead at halftime.  Lindholm scored the first goal unassisted and Morrow scored the second to tie the game 2-2 with Lindholm and Schmidt getting the assists.  Schmidt and Long added two unassisted goals and Dueber scored a power play goal with Brosz and Morrow getting the assists.  Riley Dueber (Prior Lake/sophomore) scored three times for Orange in the second to post a hat trick plus one.  Morrow scored twice in the second half to post a hat trick as Orange won easily 10-4 and avenged their only Spring League loss at the hands of the Neon team 3-2.  Both Morrow and Dueber had 4 point games.  Preston Lindholm had a 3 point game.

The Spring League’s leading team held their opponents to their season average of under 4 points a game in Week 4 and pushed their goals per game up 1.5 goals for the season in Week 4.  That is a dangerous sign for the rest of the league.  Seven Orange players have double digit point totals in the 11 games played.  Prior Lake’s Preston Lindholm and Shakopee’s Luke Schmidt lead the team in points (20); Lindholm leads in goals scored (11); and Prior Lake’s Parker Long and Marco Bianchi are tied in assists (12).  Prior Lake’s Riley Dueber (11 points), Long (18 points), Shakopee’s Michael Morrow (14 points), Bianchi (16 points), and Prior Lake’s Nick Speltz (11 points) are all in double figures besides Schmidt and Lindholm.  In Week 5, Orange plays Pink, Grey, and Black all teams that Orange should beat.  If they do, they may have clinched the regular season title before they play the opening game of Week 6 Monday at Orono.

Week 4: White and Red are tied for Second Place

2. White (7-4-0):  The White team managed to lose two of their three Week 4 games and keep second place for the second week in a row.  Pink showed up primed and ready to play Friday handing White their worst loss of the season 11-4.  Still reeling from that game, White lost to Teal 6-4 Saturday and beat Black 7-4 Sunday.  Friday, Pink jumped to a 5-0 lead in the first half of play before Quinn Pausche (Holy Family/senior) scored with 4 minutes left in the half.  Cooper Curti (Mound Westonka/junior) added a goal a minute later to make a 5-2 game.  Ten seconds later Aidan Mjelstad (Mound Westonka/sophomore) scored to cut the lead to 6-3 at halftime.  Pink blew the game open in the second half scoring five more times.  White lost 11-4 with Wade Winter (Prior Lake/senior) getting the lone White goal.  Pausche got the assist.

In Saturday’s loss, White gave up the first two goals of the game and then rallied.  Matthew Riley (Prior Lake/senior) scored to cut the lead to 2-1.  Cooper Curti got the assist.  Beau Courneya (Breck/sophomore) scored to tie the game 2-2 with Riley and Ethan Drew (Prior Lake/junior) getting the assists.  Cade Berman (Breck/sophomore) scored to put White up 3-2 at the half.  Britt Courneya (Mound Westonka/senior) and Jacob Hansen (Breck/sophomore) got the assists on Berman’s score.  With 12 minutes left to play, Teal scored to take a 4-3 lead, Matthew Riley responded to tie the game 4-4 with Beau Courneya getting the assist.  But then Teal’s strength led them to a 6-4 win scoring two goals in the last minutes of play.

In Sunday’s 7-4 win, White build a 4-0 lead in the first half behind scores from Riley and Nathan Whittier (Prior Lake/senior).  Each scored two goals.  White led 4-1 at the half.  Riley’s two goals were scored unassisted.  Whittier’s first goal was assisted by Curti; his second score was assisted by Riley and Jean Marc Johnson (Prior Lake/senior).  Whittier got his hat trick scoring with 15 minutes to play to put White up 5-2.  Johnson got the assist and then scored to make it a 6-3 game with Whittier and Riley assisting.  Whittier scored the final White goal in the 7-4 game with Johnson getting the assist.  Whitter ended up with a hat trick plus one to lead the White in scoring with 5 points in the game.  Jean Marc Johnson had a 4 point game (3 assists); Matthew Riley also had a 4 point game (2 goals).

Breck’s Beau Courneya lead the White Team in points (18) and goals (10).  Courneya and Breck’s Jacob Hanson are tied for the lead in assists with 8 each.  The White team has five players in double digits for the season.  Prior Lake’s Matthew Riley is in double digits with 14 points (7 goals).  Mound Westonka’s Britt Courneya has posted 12 points (6 goals) and Prior Lake duo of Jean Marc Johnson and Nathan Whitier have posted 10 points.  White is tied with the Red Team for second place.  Each has 14 points.  In Week 5, the two teams will meet and they will meet again in the opening game of Week 6.  Second place and possibly first place will be on the line in those two games.  White opens Week 5 with a Friday game against Yellow and will play fourth place Green Sunday.  Both will be tough games for the White Team.

2. Red (6-3-2): The Red Team beat Neon 8-2 in a Thursday game played at Orono, lost to Orange Saturday 7-3 and beat Teal 4-2 Sunday.  The Red Team’s Jonah Mortenson (Benilde/sophomore) scored twice in 49 seconds three minutes into the opening period to put Red up 2-0 in Friday’s game against Neon.  Toby Curtiss (Benilde/junior) assisted Mortenson on his first goal.  Mortenson scored the second goal unassisted.  Red added two more to take a 4-0 lead at the half.  Jett Johnson (Benilde/senior) got the third goal with Curtiss and Mortenson assisting.  Ben Stavros (Shakopee/junior) scored the fourth goal with Josh Twardoski (Shakopee/senior) assisting.  Red led Neon 4-0 at the half.  Mortenson scored to open the second to post a hat trick 18 seconds into the second half.  Curtiss got the assist.  After Anthony Grabianowski (Shakopee/senior) scored an unassisted power play goal to make a 6-0 game, Mortenson scored two more goals to post 5 goals and 1 assist in the 8-2 win.  Curtiss assisted on the first goal.  Mortenson scored the second goal unassisted.  Curtiss posted 4 assists in the game.

Saturday, Orange scored two quick goals opening the second to build a 5-2 lead and win 7-3.  Red’s Aran Daniels (Jefferson/sophomore) scored a power play goal to put Red ahead 1-0 early in the game, but Orange scored three times before Red’s Twardoski (Shakopee/senior) scored to make it a 3-2 game at the half.  Daniels was assisted by Nicolas Dokman (Benilde-St. Maragret’s/junior) and Jett Johnson (Benilde-St. Margaret’s/senior) on his score; Daniels assisted Twardoski on his score.  The Orange broke the game open with two quick goals in the second half and won 7-3.  Austin McNeil (Shakopee/senior) got the only Red second goal with Ryan Maney (Jefferson/senior) assisting.  Sunday, Red and Teal played a tight close checking game won by Red scoring two late goals.  Mortenson scored the only goal in the first half to put the Red Team up 1-0.  Jett Johnson and Dokman got the assist.  Grant Dokken (Jefferson/sophomore) scored 5 minutes into the second half to make it a 2-0 game with Grabianowski and Curtiss getting the assist.  Teal came back to tie the game 2-2 with 5 minutes left to play.  A minute later Curtiss scored the game winning goal with Dokman assisting.  Red won 4-2 with Blake Dokken (Jefferson/senior) scoring the final goal.  Adam Kinsella (Shakopee/senior) got the assist.

The Red Team has lost only to Orange the last two weekends.  The Red Team seems to skate best when they get some combination of the Benilde St. Margaret’s/Jefferson/Shakopee players on the bench for a game.  Benilde’s Jonah Mortenson leads the Red Team in scoring after Week 4 posting 19 points.  Mortenson also leads in goals scored (14); Benilde’s Toby Curtiss leads in assists (8).  Curtiss is the only other Red player in double figures (12 points).  The Red Team plays two key games with the White Team, one in Week 5 and the opening game of Week 6.  Starting Friday, the Red will play four straight games; the Royal Team Friday, White on Saturday, Vintage on Sunday, and White again on Monday.  They could sweep all 8 points if they get a good combination of players on the bench.

Week 4: Green struggled to hold Fourth Place

4. Green (5-4-2): Green managed to salvage one point in Week 4 and it was just enough to keep them in fourth place with two weeks to go.  In losing to Orange on Thursday in Orono, the Green fell behind 3-1 at the half with Ivan Sunder (Minnehaha Academy/sophomore) scoring the opening goal.  Carter Hansen (Mound Westonka/senior) got the assist.  Carter Hansen scored the lone Green goal in the second period in the 8-2 Green loss. 

Saturday, the Green tied Vintage 4-4.  Michael Schroeder (Mound Westonka/junior) scored to put Green up 1-0.  Dylan Stocker (Prior Lake/senior) got the assist.  Green took a 2-0 lead a minute later when Mitch Krebsbach (Mound Westonka/sophomore) scored.  Jack Sellman (Lakeville North/sophomore) got the assist.  Vintage scored three straight goals as the first half was ending to rally and take a 3-2 lead.  Before the half ended, Jayce Hopia (Minnetonka/senior) scored unassisted to tie the game 3-3 at the half.  Vintage took a 4-3 early in the second half and held that lead until the final two minutes when Sellman scored to tie the game with Trent Bowe (Mound Westonka/sophomore) and Ethan Dominy (Mound Westonka/ninth grader) getting the assist.

Sunday, Green lost to Grey 9-6 in a wild game at Parade.  Green could not get going and gave up 3-0 Grey goals in the first half to trail 3-0 at halftime.  Schroeder scored on the power play two minutes into the game with Bowe getting the assist.  Schroeder and Ivan Sunder (Minnehaha Academy/sophomore) scored again to make it a 4-3 game halfway through the last half.  Grey then scored five straight to put the game away taking a 9-3 lead with five minutes to play.  Green scored three goals in the final two minutes.  Schroeder scored twice.  His hat trick goal was assisted by David Goday Henderson (Mound Westonka/junior) and Sunder.  Green led 9-4 game.  Partio scored again with Hopia and Stocker assisting to make 9-5 and Schroeder got his fourth goal of the game with Partio assisting.

Schroeder performance in Week 4 put him in the lead in goals scored (13) and points (21).  Hopia leads Green in assists with 13.  Green plays Teal, Pink, and White this weekend.  Their offense slowed in Week 4.  Green averaged 8.5 goals in their first 8 games.  In Week 4, they averaged averaged 5.3 goals in their three games.  Week 5 is a make or break week for the Green.  A good Week 5 puts them in contention for first and a #1 Tier 1 seed; a bad week will find Green fighting to make the Tier 1 tourney.        

Week 4: Black and Teal tied for Fifth Place; but the Pack has caught them

5. Black (5-5-1): Four of the Black’s five losses have come at the hands of White (twice), Red, and Orange).  In Week 4, the Black tied Teal 7-7, and beat Royal 12-8, and lost to White 7-4.  In Wednesday’s 7-7 tie with Teal, Austin Krebsbach (Eden Prairie/senior) scored the first Black goal five minutes into the opening half. It was the only Black goal scored.  Black trailed 4-1 at the half.  Teal built a 5-1 lead in the first minute of the second half.  Black struck back with two quick goals.  Krebsbach scored his second goal of the game with Jalen Henkel (Eden Prairie/junior) getting the assist cutting the lead to 5-2.  Henkel scored next to make it a 5-3 game with Krebsbach getting the assist.  After Teal scored to make it 6-3, Black’s Nick Ladas (Eden Prairie/senior) scored to cut the lead to two again 6-4.  Teal scored again to take a 3 goal lead.  Thirty seconds later Henkel scored to make a 7-5 game.  For the next 10 minutes, the game went scoreless.  With three minutes left to play, Henkel scored again to get the hat trick and cut the Teal lead to 7-6.  Ladas got the assist.  A minute later, Zach Bienkowski (Eden Prairie/junior) scored the tying goal with Ryan Kleber (Chaska/sophomore) assisting.  The game ended in a 7-7 tie.  The Black offense was led by Eden Prairie players who dominated on their shifts.  Jalen Henkel finished the game with 4 points (3 goals).  Austin Krebsbach finished the game with 4 points (2 goals).

Against the Royal in Saturday’s game, Black went wild in the first half taking a 7-2 lead and then withstood multiple Royal Team rallies to win 12-8.  Tyler Sweeny (Eden Prairie/senior) scored the first two Black goals in the first five minutes to put Black up 2-1.  Sweeny’s first score was unassisted, Canyon Pregande (Eden Prairie/junior) assisted on the second goal.  John Martin (Hopkins/senior) scored to make it a 3-1 game with Ladas getting the assist.  Martin scored his second goal of the game with five minutes to play in the opening half to put Black up 4-2 with Sweeny getting the assist.  The Black team strung three goals together in the last minutes of the opening half to take a 7-2 lead.  Reagan Shepard (Eden Prairie/sophomore) scored with Riku Brown (Eden Prairie/sophomore) getting the assist.  Pergande scored with Sweeny assisting and Shepard scored his second goal of the half with Brown assisting.  The Royals came back strong in the opening minutes of the second posting three straight goals in the first four minutes of play.  But Pergande scored twice to rebuild the Black lead to four goals 9-5.  Pergande’s first goal was unassisted; Jacob Renier (Hopkins/junior) assisted on the second goal.  Royal cut the lead to 9-6 only to have Black’s Zach Bienkowski (Eden Prairie/junior) score unassisted on the power play.  Black led 10-6.  Renier assisted by Martin and Pergande scored to make it a 11-7 game and Bienkowski with Brown assisting scored the final goal of the game.  Black won 12-8.  Pergande finished the game with 5 points (3 goals); Tyler Sweeney posted 4 points (2 goals); and John Martin had a 3 point (2 goals) game.

Sunday, Black lost the opportunity to sweep Week 4’s games losing to White 7-4.  They gave up four straight goals in the opening half before Pergande scored to make it a 4-1 game at the half.  Black’s Nick Ladas (Eden Prairie/senior) scored twice in the first 13 minutes of the second half to cut White’s lead to 5-3.  Krebsbach assisted on the first goal and Pergande assisted on the second.  With 7 minutes left to play, White scored twice to regain a four goal lead 7-3.  Black’s Oliver Jorgenson (Eden Prairie/sophomore) scored in the last minutes to make it a 7-4 game and end the scoring.  Martin assisted on Oliver’s score.

Eden Prairie’s Canyon Pergande leads the Black in scoring (19 points) and in assists (12) after Week 4.  EP’s Nick Ladas leads in goals (9).  Ladas is one of six Black players all from Eden Prairie in double digits eleven games into the season.  Besides Pergande and Ladas (13 points), Eden Prairie’s Tyler Sweeney (13), EP’s Zach Bienkowski (10), Jalen Henkel (10), and Austin Krebsbach (11) are all in double digits.  In Week 5, Black plays Neon on Friday, Yellow on Saturday, and league leading Orange on Sunday.  Black forwards played a tough aggressive game in Week 4 and should be a contender at playoff time.     

5. Teal (4-4-3): The Teal Team mirrored Black’s play in Week 4.  They tied Black 7-7 and then upset White 6-4 and lost to Red 4-2.  Both Black and Teal ended the Week tied for fifth.  Teal’s Andover contingent of junior Nathan Bauer and junior Michael Clough led the Teal in the 7-7 tie with Black.  Bauer scored the opening goal with Clough getting the assist.  With the game tied 1-1, Clough scored twice with Bauer assisting to put Teal up 3-1.  Quinn Schrepel (Minnetonka/senior) scored with three minutes remaining in the half to make the score 4-1 at halftime.  Sam Moreno (Minneapolis/junior) assisted on Schrepel’s goal.  Clough scored his third goal of the game in the first minute of the second half with Bauer getting the assist.  Teal led 5-1.  Black cut the lead to 5-3 in the next two minutes of play.  That held until Joe O’Brien (Minneapolis/senior) scored with Bauer getting his fourth assist of the game.  With 13 minutes to play, Schrepel scored the final Teal goal to make it a 7-4 game.  The Teal defense could not hold the lead.  Black came back to tie the game getting the two tying goals in the last minute of play.

Saturday, Teal upset White in a game played at Parade.  The Andover players did not show, but Minneapolis junior Ryan Wagner did.  Playing on home ice, Wagner opened the game scoring two unassisted goals to put Teal up 2-0.  After White struck back to take a 3-2 lead at half time, Wagner scored his third goal again unassisted to tie the game 3-3.  Martin Keehn (Minneapolis/senior) scored unassisted to break the tie and put Teal up 4-3.  After White tied the game 4-4 with six minutes to play, Wagner assisted Tom Mullin (Minneapolis/senior) on the game winner and Keehn on the goal to ice the game.  Teal won 6-4 in a game that matched the potential core of the Breck varsity and the Minneapolis varsity.  In other words, this scene could be repeated next March at Parade in the Section 2A tournament.

Clough and Bauer were back for Sunday’s game but could not beat Red.  Red led by Benilde-St. Margaret’s and Jefferson players took a 1-0 halftime lead.  Took a 2-0 lead early in the second half before Clough scored with Bauer and Keehn getting the assists.  Mullin tied the game 2-2 with five minutes to play, but Teal gave up two late scores to lose 4-2.  Sawyer Cirone (Minneapolis/junior) and Thomas Walsh (Minneapolis/senior) assisted on Mullin’s score.

Andover’s Michael Clough and Nathan Bauer lead the Teal Team in scoring.  Clough leads in points scored (29) and in goals (18).  Bauer leads in assists (14) and has posted 17 points.  In all six Teal players are scoring in double figures through the first 11 games.  Martin Keehn (15 points), Tom Mullin (11 points), Hayden Masloski (12 points) and Ryan Wagner (11 points) join Clough and Bauer.      

Andover’s varsity will be strong this year losing only one of their top 10 scorers.  Most of the team that beat Elk River 6-5 in ot and lost to Duluth East in ot in Section 7AA last March return.  Clough was one of the 10 ten scorers and Bauer played defense between varsity and jv.  They are starting to drive the Teal offense and did so against a tough Black Team with a contingent of strong Eden Prairie upperclassmen.  Teal like Black appears to be poised to drive to contending for the playoff championship.  They play Green, Royal, and Neon in Week 5.  A sweep by Teal would really clog up the top of the league going into the final week of play.

Week 4: Neon slides to Seventh Place

7. Neon (5-6-0): Neon lost all three Week 4 games as their defense continues to struggle.  The Neon defense has been absent the past two weeks and it shows.  They lost to Red 8-2 Thursday, Grey 11-2 Saturday at Parade and Orange 10-4 Sunday in Week 4 final.  Against the Red, Neon fell behind 4-0 at the end of the first half.  Red built leads of 6-0 and 8-1 in the second half.  Maddux Hagy (Sartell/junior) scored the first Neon goal with 10 minutes left to play.  He was assisted by Jake Mumm (Sartell/senior).  Dante Hajiani (Holy Angels/junior) scored the second goal in Neon’s 8-2 loss.  It was a 2-2 game with 15 minutes to play.  Hajiani scored assisted by Hagy the lone Neon first half goal.  Mark Longhenry scored the second with Hagy and Bryce Becker assisting.  Then the proverbial roof fell in for the Neon.  Grey went on a 9 goal run averaging a goal a minute as Neon drew six consecutive penalties in the same 10 minute stretch of game play.  Grey won 11-2.  Sunday, Neon struggled again this time against league leading Orange.  Jack Voss got the first goal of the game.  Mitch Farnham and Becker got the assists.  Hogan Williams scored 30 seconds late and Neon led 2-1 in the first two minutes of play.  Mumm and Hagy got the assists.  Then Orange rapped in five straight goals to take a 5-3 halftime lead.  Orange scored five times in the second half as Neon lost 10-4.  Mark Longhenry scored the final Neon goal.  Mitch Farnham got the assist.

Sartell’s Maddux Hagy leads the Neon Team and the league in points (29) and goals (21).  Hagy and Mitch Farnham are tied in assists (8).  Neon opens Week 5 playing Black.  Saturday they play the Vintage Team and Sunday they play Teal.

Week 4: Yellow and Pink are tied for Eighth Place

8. Yellow (4-6-1): The Yellow Team opened Week 4 with a nice 9-5 win over Grey, then lost Saturday to Pink 9-0 and Sunday to Vintage 7-2.  Friday, Yellow blew open a 3-2 game against Grey in the last five minutes of the opening half scoring five goals to take a 7-3 at the end of the first half.  Max Finkel scored the first Yellow goal with Corey Rehder getting the assist.  Cooper Schumacher scored the second goal with Parker Swanson getting the assist.  Swanson started the five goal barrage tying the game 3-3.  Aidan White scored the game winner putting Yellow up 4-3.  Sam Lehmann scored twice including the game winner putting Yellow up 6-3.  Jackson Luhres and Brandon Roloff assisted on the first goal; Corey Rehder assisted on the second goal.  Gavin Gugino scored the last goal of the half.  Unassisted scores by Tom O’Neill and Jackson Luhrs put Yellow up 9-3 with 10 minutes left to play in the game.  Yellow won 9-5.

Saturday, Pink build a 4-0 first half lead and went on to beat Yellow 9-0.  Sunday, Yellow played Vintage to a standstill in the first half tying the game 2-2 behind goals by White and Luhrs.  Schumacher assist on White’s score and Lehmann assisted on Lurhs’ goal.  Vintage scored five goals in the second half to win 7-2.

At the end of Week 4, St. Thomas Academy’s Tom O’Neill leads the team in points (14), goals (7) and assists (7).  Two other Yellow players, Eagan’s Aidan White (11 points) and Cooper Schumacher (10 points) are in double figures after 11 games played.  Last week’s win over Grey was the only Yellow win in their last seven games.  This week they play White, Black, and Royal.  All three games are at Richfield.  Almost every team needs wins.  Yellow is no different and in losing their last six games, they had little offense especially playing in the Red and Black League.  They have averaged just 2.5 goals a game in losing those six.

8. Pink (3-5-3): Pink won two out their three Week 4 games; upsetting second place White 11-4, shutting out Yellow 9-0 and losing to Royal 13-7.  Pink scored the first five goals in their Friday win over White and then added one more to take a 6-3 half time lead.  In the second half, Pink scored five more in a runaway win.  It was “Greeleyville” on the game scored sheet as the senior duo from Henry Sibley figured in seven of the eleven Pink goals.  Seven minutes into the game, Dakotah Heimerl broke the tie scoring with Carter Robinson getting the assist to put Pink up 1-0.  Mikhail Greeley scored the second goal with Chase Friermuth and Andrew Selby getting the assists.  Jack Greeley got the third goal with Heimerl assisting to make it a 3-0 game.  Ben Tschida scored with Tyler Barry and Ryan Blake getting the assist.  Zack Kuyava scored the fifth goal with Jack Greeley assisting.  Late in the half, White scored twice to cut the lead to 6-2.  Andrew Selby scored to make it a 6-2 game with Mikhail Greeley getting the assist.  White scored as the half ended.  Leading 6-3 as the second started, Mikhail Greeley scored the first two Pink goals to build the lead to 8-3.  Friermuth and Selby assisted on the first goal.  Greeley scored the second unassisted for the hat trick.  Robinson scored to make it a 9-4 game with Dylan Felth and Barry getting assists.  Selby scored unassisted and Tschida scored the 11th goal with Jack Greeley getting the assist.  The Greeley’s posted collectively seven points (four goals) in the win.  Andrew Selby had a four point game (two goals).

Saturday was Hastings’ Chase Friermuth time to shine.  In beating Yellow, Friermuth scored four goals.  One of those goals came in the first period assisted by Mikhail Greeley and Anthony Hoops.  Shane Prifrel scored the first goal with Anthony Tuccitto getting the assist.  Prifrel scored a second goal in the opening half unassisted.  Jack Greeley assisted by Drake Gieseke scored the fourth first half goal for the Pink.  Friermuth scored three of the five Pink goals in the second half.  Heimerl and Robinson assisted on the first; the second was scored unassisted; and Kuyava and Blake assisted on the third Friermuth goal in the second half.  Heimerl scored one of the five Pink second half goals with Tschida assisting and Felth scored a power play goal with Gieseke and Prifrel assisting.  Jacob Erickson got the shutout, one of two shutouts posted in the Red and Black Spring League this season.

Sunday, Pink ran into a Royal Team that has been asleep since Week 1.  Pink was on a roll, but the Royals steamrolled the Pink defense posting 13 scores in a wild 13-7 Pink loss.  The game was a 2-2 tie after the first 10 minutes of play.  Pink’s Tuccitto (assisted by Kuyava and Friermuth) scored first and Kuyava scored the second goal.  The Royals scored twice to take a 4-2 lead, Friermuth scored with Gieseke and Mikhail Greeley getting the assist to make a 4-3 game.  Than the Royals steamrolled the Pink defense by scoring three times in three minutes.  Robinson with an assist from Felth managed to get one score in before the half ended.  Royal led 7-4.  The Royals scored three straight in the opening minutes of the second half to build a 10-4 lead.  Pink’s Gieseke scored a power play goal with Tuccitto and Prifrel getting the assists to make it a 10-5 game; Felth scored with Charles Gustafson and Kuyava getting the assist to make a 10-6 game.  But the Royals struck with three goals in the last minutes of play to go up 13-6.  Friermuth, assisted by Blake, got the last score in the 13-7 Pink loss.

Hastings junior Charles Friermuth leads the Pink in scoring with 24 points.  He also leads in goals scored with 15 goals.  Friermuth and Drake Gieseke are tied in assists with 9.  Friermuth and Gieseke with 14 points are two of the six Pink players in double figures after Week 4.  Carter Robinson (16 points), Ryan Blake (10 points), Mikhail Greeley (14 points) and Andrew Selby (14 points) are the other four players.  In Week 5 games, Friday, Pink plays lead leading Orange, Saturday they play Green, and Sunday they play Grey.  A sweep by Pink could really turn the league upside down.

Week 4: There are no Tier 2 teams, only teams that can rise

For the first three weeks of play, there has been a distinct distance in point totals between the top 8 teams in the league that will contend for the Tier 1 title and the last four that will contend for the Tier 2 title.  After Week 4, that distinction is gone.  Only five points separating fifth place from twelfth.  Here are the last three teams going into Week 5 play.

Week 4: Vintage and Grey are tied for Tenth Place

Week 4: Vintage and Grey are tied for Tenth Place

10. Grey (3-6-2): After losing 9-5 to Yellow on Friday, Grey swept their two games at Parade.  Saturday they beat Neon 11-2; Sunday they upset Green 9-6.  Grey took a 3-2 lead after eight minutes of play.  Corey McNally (Prior Lake/senior) scored with Shea Anderson (Orono/junior) assisting to tie the game 2-2 and Kyle Swanholm (Orono/junior) scored unassisted to give Grey their only lead of the game 3-2.  Brody Horoshak assisted on the first Grey score.  Yellow then went on a five goal streak to take a 7-3 lead into the second half.  Grey got two late goals in their 9-5 loss at the end of the game.  Nick Messerli (Orono/junior) scored unassisted and Horoshak assisted by John Kettle (Shakopee/sophomore) got the final Grey score.

To the Grey Team’s credit, they came back in Week 4 to win their weekend games beating Neon 11-2 and Green 9-6.  The Neon and Grey were tied 1-1 at the half in Saturday’s game on a goal scored by McNally assisted by Horoshak.  The game was still tied at 2-2 with 15 minutes to play when Will Walz (Orono/senior) scored on an unassisted power play.  That opened the door for the Grey offense.  After Walz scored the 3-2 game winner, the Grey posted eight straight scores in 10 minutes of play.  McNally scored twice and and assisted on another score; George James (Orono/junior) scored twice; Jamison Bazil (Orono/sophomore) scored twice and assisted on another; Messerli scored; and Kettle scored.  Horoshak assisted on three goals.  Swanholm had two assists.  Bazil, Horoshak, and McNally each posted 4 points.  McNally got the hat trick, James and Bazil each scored twice in the 11-2 win over the Neon.

Sunday, Grey took a 3-0 lead at the end of the first half over Green and skated even with the Green in the second half to win 9-6.  Jon Mugass (Orono/sophomore) assisted by McNally, Walz assisted by Horoshak, and Horoshak assisted by Mugaas and McNally score the three first half goals.  Green scored three goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half to make it a 4-3 game.  Messerli assisted by Aaron Brekken (Orono/junior) scored the fourth Grey goal.  As the Grey did against the Neon, they scored five straight goals this time in 5 minutes of play.  Nick Strand (Shakopee/sophomore) scored unassisted; McNally assisted Horoshak on the second; Mugaas scored the third by Walz and McNally; Walz scored the fourth assisted by Bazil and Jake Gherardi (Orono/sophomore); and Messerli scored unassisted.  Green scored the final three goals in the 9-6 Grey win.  McNally posted 4 points in his second straight game.  Walz, Mugaas, and Horoshak each had three point games.

Brody Horoshak, a junior next fall who played with the Tampa Bay Lightning last season, leads the Grey Team in points (17) and in assists (14).  Prior Lake’s Corey McNally leads Grey in goals (10).  Grey plays Green, Vintage, and Orange in Week 5; all tough games.

10. Vintage (2-5-4): The Vintage won their first two games of the season in Week 4 beating Royal 7-5 Monday, tying Green 4-4, and beating Yellow 7-2 Monday.  Against Royal in Monday’s game, Vintage had a short bench, but they had Jack Miller and Tucker Canon.  The two senior Edina players dominated on their shifts and scored 6 of Vintage goals in the 7-5 win.  Miller scored the first goal of the game unassisted beating the Royal defense on the right and crashing the net to score.  After Royal scored twice, Gavin Smythe (New Prague/junior) tied the game with Miller and Canon assisting.  Royal scored to end the first half with a 3-2 lead.  Royal upped the lead to 4-2 in the first minute of the second half.  Canon scored to cut the lead to 4-3.  After Royal scored to make it a 5-3 game, Vintage ran off four straight goals.  Miller scored and Canon assisted to make a 5-4 game.  Ben Rasinski (Lakeville South/junior) and Ethan Dominy (Mound Westonka/eighth grader) subbing for the Vintage assisted on the tying goal.  Canon scored the winning goal with just under a minute left to play.  Dominic Musel (Mound Westonka/sophomore) got the assist.  Miller got the hat trick on the final goal of the game with Canon assisting.  Canon posted a 5 point game (2 goals) and Miller posted a 4 point game (3 goals).

Saturday, Vintage tied the Green 4-4.  The game was tied 3-3 at the half.  Vintage got scoring from Adam Spetz (STMA/junior), Jacob Lee (New Prague/junior), and Brady Klemmensen (Edina/junior).  Spetz scored shorthanded with Louie Timberg (Mound Westonka/sophomore) getting the assist.  His goal made it a a 2-1 game.  Carter Wise (STMA/junior) assisted on Lee’s goal that made it a 2-2 game.  Klemmensen’s score put Vintage up 3-2.  Wise and Lee got assists.  Green scored to tie the game 3-3.  Klemmensen scored to give Vintage a 4-3 lead.  Vintage held that lead until Green scored in the final two minutes.  Ironically, Dominy assisted on the tying score for the Green.

The Edina duo of Miller and Canon returned for Sunday’s game with Yellow and were involved in 4 of the 7 goals scored.  Miller got the first goal of the game scoring unassisted on the power play in the fourth minute of play.  Canon scored unassisted to put Vintage up 2-1.  The game was tied 2-2 at the half.  Ethan Wagner (Mound Westonka/sophomore) scored to the game winner four minutes into the second half with Lee getting the assist.  The Vintage went on to win the game 7-2 with Peter Engelking (Edina/senior), Miles Dorsey (unassisted), Ian Stentz (Edina/senior), and Miller (unassisted) scoring.  Miles Dorsey (Edina/senior) and Stentz assisted on Engelking’s score; Canon assisted on Stentz’s goal.

Edina’s Tucker Canon leads the Vintage in points (17), goals scored (9), and assists (7).  Jack Miller is the only other Vintage player in double figures (12).  Vintage plays Grey, Neon, and Red in Week 5 and are favored to beat Grey and Neon.  If they do that and pull an upset over Red, Vintage could lock up a Tier 1 playoff spot.    

Week 4: The Royals maybe last this week, but not for long

12. Royal (3-7-1): The Royal Team finally broke an eight game losing streak beating Pink 13-7 in Sunday’s Week 4 game.  After losing to Vintage 7-5 on Monday and to Black 12-8, it was a good win that could turn the corner for the Royals in Week 5.  The Royals held 2-1 and 3-2 leads against the winless Vintage team in the first half of play.  Zach Purterbaugh (Tampa Bay Juniors) scored to tie the game 1-1 with Joe Tucci (Burnsville/junior) getting the assist.  Halfway through the period, Joe Fodstad (MN Mullets/graduating senior) scored with Wilson Feltmann (Holy Family/sophomore) to put the Royals up 2-1.  Feltmann scored late in the half to break a 2-2 tie and put the Royals up 3-2.  Puterbaugh scored 90 seconds into the second half assisted by Nick Blood (Holy Family/eighth grader)  The Royals led 4-2.  Brandon Bunger (Chanhassen/senior) scored with Brady Caron (Minnetonka/senior) assisting.  With 10 minutes left to play, the Royals led 5-3.  Then Vintage went on a scoring binge with four straight goals.  The Royals lost 7-5.

In Saturday’s game, Black blew the Royals off their throne in the first half taking a 7-2 lead at the break.  Fodstad scored one of the two Royal goals unassisted; Bunger with Fodstad assisting got the second Royal goal.  Fodstad scored twice in the first three minutes of the second half with Ben Gerebi (Chanhassen/senior) assisting on one of Fodstad’s goal.  Cooper Gay’s (Benilde-St. Margaret’s/junior) goal made it a 7-5 game.  After Black scored two more, Gay scored his second goal of the game with Fodstad getting the assists.  Black scored again to make it a 10-6 game with more than 18 minutes left to play.  Brady Caron scored with Fodstad assisting to make it a 10-7 game.  Fodstad scored the final Royal goal in the 12-8 loss with Gay assisting.  Fodstad had an amazing game being involved in all eight Royal scores (4 goals and 4 assists).  Gay posted three points (two goals).

Sunday, the Royals went on a scoring binge beating Pink 13-7.  Seven Royal players scored seven first half goals to put the Royals up 7-4.  Gay scored unassisted in the first five minutes to tie the game 1-1.  Brady Caron scored 90 seconds later to tie the game 2-2 with Tucci getting the assist.  Puterbaugh scored to the Royals up 3-2 with Gay getting the assist.  Justen Williams scored unassisted to break a 3-3 tie putting the Royals up 4-3.  Gavin Lindermann scored with Gay assisting to make it a 5-3 game.  Fodstad scored unassisted and Michael Manning scored with Brady Caron assisting to end the half with Royals leading 7-4.  Fodstad scored in the first minute of second half play to put the Royals up 8-4.  That was the winning goal.  Gay assisted by Blood and Blood both scored to make it a 10-4 game.  Blood’s goal was unassisted.  With 8 minutes left to play, Pink had cut the Royal lead to 10-6.  Fodstad assisted by Gay; Tollef Kohrman assisted by Gerebi; and Logan Rasmussen assisted by Gay each scored in the final minutes to clinch a 13-7 Royal win.

The Royals are not a last place team and if their win over Pink in Week 4 is any indication, they should be ready for a run that will really turn the Spring League standings upside down after Week 5.  Graduating senior Joe Fodstad emerged in Week 4 to lead the Royals in all three offensive catagories (29 points, 18 goals, and 11 assists).  Fodstad is one of 8 players in double digits after four weeks of play.  Justen Williams (11), Cooper Gay (12), Brady Caron (10), Gavin Lindermann (13), Zach Puterbaugh (11), Nick Blood (10), and Joe Tucci (11) are all in double digits.  Royals play the Red Team Friday, the Teal Team Saturday, and the Yellow Team Sunday and could sweep their Week 5 games.     

Red and Black League Week 3


Grey goalie Finn Grandy had a great Week 3 including stopping Neon's #7 Maddux Hagy in this 8-7 Red win.

Week 3: Orange took first place in at the end of Week 3 winning all three games and will face third place Green in what should be the key match in Week 4. Neon fell to fourth and White hung onto second.   The Proms start with Week 4.  For teams playing part of their Week 4 schedule during the week, that could be a significant advantage.  Orange and Green will play at Orono Thursday in the only regular season meeting of the two teams.  An Orange win Thursday followed by their sweeping their two weekend games will put Orange on top and open some distance from the field except for White.  Orange will become the odds on favorite to win the regular season title and #1 seed into the playoffs with a Thursday win.  A Green win will throw the top teams into a jumble with Orange, White, Green, Neon or Red all separated by potentially one game.  The second game at Orono Thursday will match Neon and Red.  The team that wins that game can still contend for the title, the team that loses will fall into the middle of the pack.  White should do well in Week 4 and be in contention going into Week 5 but still have to play Red, Green, Neon, and Orange.

After three weeks of play, Neon’s Maddux Hagy (Sartell/junior) and Teal’s Michael Clough (Andover/junior) lead the league in points (24).  Haggy leads the league in goals (19) and three players, all on the Green Team, are tied for the lead in assists.  Graduating senior Brady Aufderheide, Minnetonka senior Jayce Hopia, and Mound-Westonka sophomore Trent Bowe each have 11 assists.    

Week 3: Orange takes First Place

1.Orange (6-1-1): Orange beat Teal 4-2, Yellow 6-5, and White 5-4 to swept their Week 3 games.  After struggling in their first two games of the season (tying 6-6 and losing 2-3), Orange has won six straight games.  In beating Teal Friday at Richfield Arena, the Orange took a 2-0 lead on goals set up by Luke Schmidt (Shakopee/sophomore).  Parker Long (Prior Lake/junior) got the first and Nick Speltz (Prior Lake/junior) scored the second to give Orange a 2-1 lead at the end of the first half.  After Teal tied the game 2-2, Jake Rubbelke (Shakopee/junior) scored the game winning goal with Doug Larson (Shakopee/junior) assisting and Larson scored the fourth to ice the game putting Orange up 4-2.  Michael Morrow (Shakopee/junior) assisted on Larson’s score.  Orange needed a four goal rally late in their game against Yellow to win 6-5.  Schimdt scored in the first 15 seconds of the opening minute to put Orange up 1-0.  Then Orange did not regain the lead until the last two minutes of play to win 6-5.  Orange trailed Yellow 4-1 at the half.  Riley Dueber (Prior Lake/junior) scored a power play goal ten minutes into the second half with Lucas Blofield (Shakopee/junior) getting the assist to cut the Yellow lead to two 4-2.  Blofield got the assist.  After Yellow scored to take a 5-2 lead, Preston Lindholm (Prior Lake/junior) went to work scoring a hat trick in five minutes of game play.  Lindholm’s first score was on the power play, assisted by Long and Mason Olson (Wayzata/junior), cutting Yellow’s lead to 5-3.  His second score of the game came 90 seconds later and cut the Yellow lead to 5-4.  This time Schmidt and Marco Bianchi (Prior Lake/junior) got the assists.  Bianchi scored assisted by Cooper Kantola (Mound Westonka/sophomore) and Long to tie the game 5-5 with under three minutes to play.  Lindholm scored the game winner shorthanded assisted by Long.  Orange beat Yellow 6-5.

Sunday, Orange beat White 5-4 in the battle for first place.  Long assisted by Speltz scored first; Larson assisted by Rubbelke and Morrow scored the second.  Orange led 2-0 after the first 20 minutes of play.  White rallied with two late first half goals to tie the game 2-2.  Speltz scored assisted by Bianchi to take a 3-2 lead after the first half of play.  After White tied the game 3-3 in the opening minutes of the second half, Morrow scored unassisted to put Orange up again 4-3.  Two minutes later, Rubbelke scored what proved to be the game winner with Morrow assisting.  Michael Morrow’s play was critical in the game for first place scoring three points (2 assists).   

The Orange Team took first place playing tough defense.  The Orange have not skated in one double digit game and have their eight opponents to 3.8 goals a game.  That is a big achievement skating Red and Black style of hockey that limits checking and opens up the offense.

At the end of Week 3, Prior Lake juniors Parker Long and Marco Bianchi with Shakopee’s Luke Schmidt lead the Orange in points (12); Bianchi leads in assists (8). Schmidt along with Prior Lake juniors Preston Lindholm and Nick Speltz lead Orange in goals scored (6).  Orange has taken first place in the league playing defensively allowing just 29 goals in their 8 games.  The Prior Lake junior line of Long, Bianchi, and Preston Lindholm has skated well with Schmidt in the mix; but the Shakopee line of Jake Rubbelke, Doug Larson, and Michael Morrow led the Orange in sweeping Week 3 games.  Orange plays third place Green, and the two fourth place teams Red and Neon in Week 4.  This is their week to rise or fall. 

Week 3: White holds onto Second Place

2. White (6-2-0): White beat Neon in one of the key Week 3 match-ups 6-1 Friday at TRIA.  They edged Vintage 9-8 on Saturday and lost to Orange 5-4 Sunday.  White caught Neon with a short bench in Friday’s game taking an early 2-0 lead, leading 3-1 at the half, and winning 6-1.  Nick Mikan (Breck/sophomore) scored the first White goal beating the Neon goalie from the slot catching him playing low in the net.  Jacob Hanson (Breck/sophomore) and Caden Fritz (Edina/sophomore) got the assists.  Beau Courneya (Breck/sophomore) scored the second White goal to make it a 2-0 game.  Britt Courneya (Mound Westonka/senior) got the assist.  Matthew Riley (Prior Lake/senior) scored the third white goal unassisted giving White a 3-1 lead at halftime.  Quinn Pausche (Holy Family/senior) scored eight minutes into the second half to make it a 4-1 with Jean Marc Johnson (Prior Lake/senior) and Riley getting the assists.  Mikan figured in the last two White scores, scoring to make a 5-1 game and assisting Caden Fritz on a last minute goal.  White won 6-1.

Saturday, White got into a see-saw battle against winless Vintage.  After Vintage scored early in the half, White strung four goals together to take a 4-1 lead.  Beau Courneya got a hat trick.  Zach Simmons (Mound Westonka/senior) scored first to tie the game 1-1.  Jacob Hanson got the assist.  The Beau Courneya got busy scoring two goals unassisted to put White ahead 3-1 and getting his hat trick with 9 minutes left to play in the first half scoring to make it a 4-1 game with Simmons getting the assist.  Vintage then rallied scoring three time to tie the game 4-4 as the first half ended.  Vintage’s fourth goal came with 3 seconds left to play.

White scored twice in the opening minutes of the second second half to take a 6-4 lead.  Quinn Pausche scored to make it 5-4 and assisted on the 6-4 score.  Johnson and Caden Fritz assisted on Pausche’s score.  Vintage scored to make it 6-5; Jacob Hanson scored with Aidan Mjelstad (Mound Westonka/sophomore and Britt Courneya getting the assists to put White up 7-5.  Vintage scored again to cut the lead to 7-6 and White     

Beau Courneya leads White in points (16) and goals (9).  He is tied with Jacob Hanson in assists (7).  White’s lost to Orange last Sunday ended a six game winning streak.  White draws Pink, Teal, and Black in Week 4 and will be favored to sweep the all this week’s games.  Barring an upset, White should be contending for the league title after Week 4; it will just be a matter of who they are contending with.

Week 3: Green takes Third Place

3. Green (5-2-1): The Green Team’s offense continues to roll.  After losing two tight games in Week 2 to White and Black Teams, the beat Royal 11-8, Neon 8-7 and Yellow 10-3 in Week 3 to move into third place starting Week 4.  In another wild game, Green and Royal battled Friday at Richfield with Green winning 11-8.  Aleksi Partio (Mound Westonka/graduating senior) scored the opening goal one minute into the opening period.  Michael Schroeder (Mound Westonka/junior) and Michael Doshan (Mound Westonka/sophomore got the assists.  Hunter Greshowak (Minnehaha Academy/junior) scored in the second minute of the game and Green had an early 2-0 lead.  Ivan Sunder (Minnehaha Academy/sophomore) and Luke Holmen (Mound Westonka/senior) got the assists.  Twelve minutes into the period, after Royals had tied the game 2-2, Brady Aufderheide (Mound Westonka/graduating senior) scored the first of four straight Green goals to put Green up 3-2.  Michael Lindell (Mound Westonka/graduating senior) and Jacob Gutekunst (Mound Westonka/junior) got the assists.  Dylan Stocker (Prior Lake/senior), Doshan, and Ethan Fetters Vandenheuvel (Mound Westonka/senior) each scored.  Green led 6-2 at the half and managed to hold the off the Royal Team’s late rally to win 11-8.  Dylan Stocker got the hat trick and Schroeder was the leading point getter for the team with 4 assists.  Aleksi Partio and Vandenheuvel each posted 3 points (2 goals) in the win over Royal.

In beating Neon Saturday, Green had to overcome 3-0 and 5-3 leads and then hold off a late Neon rally to win 8-7.  Trailing late in the first half 3-0, Ivan Sunder scored late in the half to cut the lead to 3-1 and Carter Hansen (Mound Westonka/senior) scored to make it a 3-2 game at halftime.  Trent Bowe (Mound Westonka/sophomore) and Schroeder assisted on Sunder’s goal; Greshowak assisted on Hansen’s goal.  Schroeder scored in the opening minute of the second half to tie the game 3-3 with David Peterson getting the assist.  Neon re-took the lead scoring twice to go up 5-3.  Holmen scored with Jayce Hopia (Minnetonka/senior) and Venderheuvel getting the assists to cut the lead to 5-4.  Holmen’s goal was the start of five straight Green scores.  Bowe, Schroeder, Greshowak, and Vanderheuval all scored working the puck low in the offensive zone and moving the puck into the slot setting up goals catching the Neon goalie playing low in the net.  Green won 8-7 with Vandenheuval getting the game winning.  Trent Bowe led the team in scoring in the game posting 4 points (3 assists).  Schroeder and Vanderheuvel each posted 3 points.

Sunday, Green blitzed the Yellow team 10-3.  Schroeder, Vandenheuvel, and Hansen each posted a four point game.  Schroeder and Vandenheuvel each got a hat trick.

The Green have strung a 4-game win streak together but will open Week 4 playing league leading Orange Thursday at Orono.  Green has been averaging 8.6 goals a game and have posted a team total of 174 assists for a goals to assist ration of 1:2.5.  That says the Green Team moves the puck and that for every goal scored there are at least one or two passes setting up the score.  The Green Team is controlling their offensive zone.  In playing Orange, the Green Team will be facing a team that has limited their opponents to just 29 goals setting up a classic match-up.  Green finishes the week playing Vintage and Grey and will be favored to win those games.  The Thursday game with Orange is the only meeting in regular season between the two teams. 

Week 3: Neon and Red tied for Fourth Place

4. Neon (5-3-0): Neon showed up with a short bench Friday night and it cost them.  Down a line and half their defense, the lost to White in a key game 6-1.  Saturday, they battled Green leading most of the game only to lose in the late stages 8-7.  Sunday they beat the Royal Team 7-3.  Neon played with a short bench in Friday’s game and it cost them.  Nick Hibino (Holy Angels/junior) scored the lone Neon goal unassisted.  Saturday’s loss to Green came after Neon had built leads of 3-0 and 5-3.  Caeden Phleps (Holy Angels/junior) and Mitch Farnham (Holy Angels/junior) scored two of the first three goals.  Nicholas Buiceag (Sartell/senior), Hogan Williams (Delano/senior), and Bryce Becker (Minnehaha Academy/junior) got assists.  Sartell junior and league leading goal scorer, Maddux Hagy figured in all four second half scores.  Hagy scored two goals unassisted and assisted on the third and fourth scores.  Becker scored one goal aand Farnham got an assist.  Sunday, Hagy posted a hat trick in Neon’s 7-3 win over the Royals.  Phelps and Becker scored as Neon took a 5-1 lead at the half in the win.

Maddux Hagy leads the team in points (24) and goals (19).  Holy Angels defenseman Mitch Farnham leads the Neon in assists (7).  Neon has scored 42 goals in games played through Week 3; 19 were scored unassisted using their speed at forwards to beat the defense.  Delano’s Hogan Williams, Holy Angels’ Caeden Phelps, Apple Valley’s Noah Williams, and Sartell’s Hogan Williams have all been strong offensively.  The Neon play Red in a Thursday in critical match up this week to open Week 4’s play.  A Neon loss to Red will knock them out of the race for the regular season championship.  They play Grey Saturday and take on league leading Orange Sunday.  Neon beat Orange earlier this season 3-2.    

5: Red (4-2-2): Red had a good Week 3 winning 5 of 6 points and lost the one point in the last minute of play.  Red beat Yellow 5-4 and Black 9-5 in their first two games of Week 3.  Leading Pink 6-5 with a minute left to play at Eden Prairie Sunday, the Red gave up a tying goal.  In beating Yellow at Richfield Friday, Red got two second period goals to tie and win the game.  The first half ended in a 3-3 tie with Jonah Mortenson (Benilde-St. Margaret’s/sophomore scoring twice to give Red an early 2-1 lead and Ryan Maney (Jefferson/senior) scoring unassisted in the last minute of play.  Ben Stavros (Shakopee/junior) assisted on Mortenson’s first score and Martin Olson (Jefferson/junior) assisted on the second score.  After 15 minutes of scoreless play in the second half, Yellow broke the tie scoring to take a 4-3 lead.  A minute later Jake Pakkala (Shakopee/senior) scored unassisted to tie the game 4-4; Adam Kinsella scored the game winner with less than five minutes left to play.  Mortenson got the assist.

Saturday Red beat Black 9-5.  Mortenson broke open a 5-5 tie with 10 minutes left in the game scoring a hat trick.  Red and Black traded goals in the 40 minutes of play.  Red would score, then Black, then Red, etc.  Anthony Grabianowski (Shakopee/senior) opened the scoring six minutes into the game on a power play with Stavros getting the assist.  Blake Dokken (Jefferson/senior) scored the second Red goal with Chad Cousineau (Minnetonka/senior) getting the assist.  Nicolas Dokman (Benilde-St. Margaret’s/junior) scored the third Red goal with 2 minutes left in the half to put Red up 3-2.  Mortenson and Grabianowski got the assists.

The see-saw battle continued in the second half.  After Black scored to tie the game 3-3 with 3 minutes gone, Aran Daniels (Jefferson/sophomore) scored with Dokken getting the assist to put Red up 4-3.  Dokman scored his second goal of the game to give Red a 5-4 lead with five minutes gone in the second half.  Then Mortenson went to work scoring the game winner unassisted to put Red up 6-5.  Olson scored a minute later to make it a 7-5 game with Maney and Grant Kokken getting the assists.  Mortenson scored twice more to put the Red up 9-5.  Toby Curtiss (Benilde-St. Margaret’s/junior) assisted on the first goal and Stravos assisted on the last goal.  Mortenson finished the game with 5 points (3 goals).

Mortenson opened the game against Pink scoring unassisted in the first 5 seconds of play.  He assisted Curtiss on the second score, but Pink came back to tie the game 2-2 at the half.  Adam Kinsella (Shakopee/senior) broke the tie five minutes into the second half with Austin McNeil (Shakopee/senior)  getting the assist.  Pakkala scored 20 seconds later to make a 4-2 game with Kinsella and Jett Johnson (Benilde-St. Margaret’s/senior) getting the assists.  Pink then scored three straight goals to take a 5-4 lead with nine minutes left in the game.  Stravros and Jett Johnson scored the last two goals unassisted setting up the last minute drama that led to a 6-6 tie.

Benilde sophomore Jonah Mortenson continues to lead the Red Team in points (12) and goals (6).  Shakopee’s Ben Stavros leads in assists (6).  The Red Team plays a key game against Neon at Orono Thursday night.  The winner will likely remain in contention and the loser will likely drop in the standings.  After playing Neon, the Red draws league leading Orange on Saturday and Teal on Sunday.  Week 4 will be tough for Red.                                                                                      

Week 3: Black and Teal tie for Sixth Place

6. Black (4-4-0): The 9-5 loss to Red was the only blemish on Black’s Week 3 play.  The Black beat Grey 7-3 Friday and beat Vintage 7-2 Sunday.  Black took a 4-2 against Grey in the opening half and held that lead for most of the second half before scoring three straight goals in less than three minutes to break the game open and take a 7-2 lead.  Jalen Henkel (Eden Prairie/sophomore) scored the first goal of the Black’s three goal burst with Dominic Valentini (Hopkins/sophomore) getting the assist; Zach Bienkowski (Eden Prairie/junior) scored the second assisted by Riku Brown (Eden Prairie/sophomore); and Oliver Jorgenson (Eden Prairie/sophomore) scored the final Black goal unassisted putting Black up by five.  Grey scored near the end of the game to make the final score 7-3.

In the first half of play, Canyon Pergande (Eden Prairie/junior) scored twice in the opening minutes to give Black a 2-1 lead over Grey.  Tyler Sweeney (Eden Prairie/senior) assisted on the first goal; Bienkowski and Michael Gretsch (Hopkins/sophomore) assisted on the second Pergande score.  Reagan Shepard (Eden Prairie/sophomore) assisted by Brown scored a power play goal and Jack Stuessi (Hopkins/senior) scored to build the 4-2 halftime lead.  Henkel assisted on Stuessi’s goal.

The 9-5 loss to the Red Team was a tough one for the Black to lose especially playing at Eden Prairie.  It was a see-saw battle for most of the game in that Black would score and Red would tie the game.  That happened until the game was in the last 10 minutes of play with the game tied 5-5.  Brown tied the game 1-1 halfway through the first period with Pergande and Ryan Kleber (Chaska/sophomore) getting the assists.  Valentini tied the game 2-2 with Pergande getting the assist.  Black trailed 3-2 at the half.  Jorgenson tied the game 3-3 in the first minutes of the second half with Tyler Sweeney (Eden Prairie/senior) getting the assist.  Brown got his second goal to tie the game 4-4 with Pergande and Shepard getting the assists. Nick Ladas tied the game 5-5 with 11 minutes gone in the period and then Red went on a four goal run to pull away and win 9-5.  In Sunday’s 7-2 win over Vintage, seven Black players scored goals.  Black took a 4-1 at the end of the first half on goals by Bienkowski with Jacob Renier (Hopkins/junior) getting the assist.  Sweeney scored the second goal assisted by Henkel and Austin Krebsbach (Eden Prairie/senior).  Brown scored the third goal unassisted.  It proved to be the game winner.  Krebsbach scored the fourth goal assisted by Sweeney to end the first half with Black up 4-1.  Renier scored with Sweeney assisting in the first minute of the second half to make a 5-1 game.  Henkel and Jorgenson combined to make it a 6-1.  Henkel got the goal.  Late in the game Ladas scored assisted by Pergande to end the scoring 7-2.

The Black Team is dominated by players from the Lake Conference (Eden Prairie/Hopkins/Edina).  Eden Prairie junior Canyon Pergande leads the team in points (12) and in assists (9) after Week 3.  Eden Prairie junior Nick Ladas leads the team in scoring with 6 goals.  The Black draw three more tough games in Week 4 playing Teal, Royal, and White.        

7. Teal (3-3-2): Orange beat Teal 4-2 in Friday’s Week 3 game, but Teal came back to beat Pink 9-7 and Grey 12-1 to move their record to .500.  Teal’s Michael Clough (Andover/junior) scored both goals in the 4-2 loss.  Charlie Helm (Minneapolis/senior) and Thomas Walsh (Minneapolis/senior), the Teal goalie, got the assists on Clough’s first goal.  Martin Keehn (Minneapolis/senior) and Hayden Masloski (Andover/junior) assisted on the second Clough goal.  Clough and Keehn went wild against the Pink combining on five of the nine Teal goals.  Clough scored the opening goal in the first 20 seconds of play with Masloski and Keehn assisting.  Keehn scored the second goal assisted by Clough and Nathan Bauer.  Quinn Schrepel scored the tie breaker to put Teal up 3-2.  Brody Witta and Tom Mullin got the assists.  Keehn scored the fourth goal unassisted.  Team Teal led at halftime 4-2.  When Masloski scored in the opening minutes of the second half to put Teal up 5-2, it looked like the game would become a Teal runaway.  Clough and Bauer assisted Masloski on the score. 

But Pink struck back with three unanswered scores to tie the game 5-5 with 14 minutes left to play.  Back came Teal with Keehn scoring this time with Robert Cross assisting and Schrepel scoring a minute later to put Teal up 7-5.  With six minutes left to play, Pink struck with two quick scores to tie the game 7-7 with five minutes to play.  The game pace picked up and the transitions from end to end were quick.  Over the next five minutes, the score remained a 7-7 tie.  Then Keehn and Clough went to work again.  Keehn scored with just under a minute to play and added an empty netter to make the final score 9-7.  Clough assisted on both scores.  Keehn finished the game scoring 5 goals and having one assist.  Clough finished with 1 goals and 4 assists.

Clough went wilder in beating the Grey Sunday 12-1 posting 8 points (4 goals).  Masloski posted 6 points (3 goals).  Bauer posted 2 points (1 goal); Witta posted 2 goals; Mullin posted 3 points (2 goals); Sam Moreno had two assists; and Bennet Walden had one assist.

Andover’s Michael Clough leads the Teal in points (24) and goals (14) and assists (10).  He is tied with Sartell’s Maddux Hagy for the league lead in points.  Teal plays Black, White, and Red Week 4 and need wins and the favor of the hockey Gods in games they are not playing to make a run at the top.            

Week 3: Yellow falls to Eighth Place

8. Yellow (3-4-1): After making a run to the top in the league, Yellow lost their first two Week 3 games by a single goal.  Yellow lost to Red 5-4 and to Orange 6-5.  Green then hammered Yellow beating them 10-3 Sunday.  After 36 minutes of play, Yellow was beating the the Red Team 4-3.  Corey Rehder (Eagan/sophomore) scored two unassisted goals in the first half and Aidan White (Eagan/junior) scored one with assists from Tom O’Neill (St. Thomas Academy/senior) and Gavin Gugino (Eagan/sophomore) to make it a 3-3 score at halftime.  Nine minutes into the second 25 minutes of stoptime play, O’Neill scored on a power play to put Yellow up 4-3.  Red tied the game two minutes after O’Neill’s score and won by scoring the winning goal in the last 5 minutes of play.

Yellow jumped out to 4-1 lead in the first half against league leading Orange but ended up losing 4-1.  Matt Bernier (Lakeville North/junior) scored three of the four goals to post a hat trick in the first half of play.  Bernier was assisted by Bo Marvin (St. Thomas Academy/senior) and Max Finkel (Lakeville North/sophomore) on the first goal; Michael Cudahy (St. Paul Johnson/senior) on the second goal; and Rehder on the third score.  Ben Wilary (Eagan/junior) scored the fourth first half goal unassisted.  Wilary scored the lone Yellow goal in the second half assisted by Sam Lehmann (South St. Paul/senior) and Bernier.  But the Yellow defense could not hold off the Orange.  Late in the second half, the Yellow gave up four unanswered scores as Orange erased a 5-2 Yellow lead.  Yellow lost 6-5.

Sunday, the Yellow never got going until early in the second half.  Green led 4-0 at halftime and built a 7-0 lead before O’Neill could score to break the shutout.  Cole Gibson (Eagan/junior) got the assist on O’Neill’s goal.  Aidan White (Eagan/junior) got the second Yellow score with Gibson assisting again.  Gibson and Parker Swanson (Eagan/senior) assisted on the third goal scored by Cooper Schumacher (Hill Murray/junior).  Yellow lost to Green 10-3 and failed to post a single point in Week 3 play.

St. Thomas Academy junior Tom O’Neill leads the Yellow in all three scoring categories; in points (12); in goals (6); and in assists (6).  The Yellow team has shown strength in their games playing well, but after going unbeaten in their first four games, they have stumbled after losing big to Neon at the end of Week 2.  They will have a chance to move back into contention playing Grey, Pink, and Vintage in Week 4.  A six point sweep could put them into the top four in the league going into Week 5.  Then who knows what happens next.  That is competitive hockey.

Week 3: Royal, Pink, Grey, and Vintage are Tier 2 Playoff Contenders

The Spring League will have playoffs that will divide the 12 teams into Tier 1 (the top 8 teams) and Tier 2 (the bottom four teams).  Teal moved from the bottom four this week to a fifth place.  Royal dropped to ninth in Teal’s place.

Royal and Pink are tied for Ninth Place

9.  Royal (2-5-1): The Royal Team have failed to win a game since the opening week of play.  They have consistently loss games by three or four goals.  In Week 3 games the lost to Green 11-8 and to Neon 7-3 but managed a 3-3 tie with Grey.  In losing to Green in their first Week 3 game, the Royals tied the game 2-2 halfway through the opening period on scores by Joe Fodstad (MN Mullets/graduating senior) with Thomas Clauson (Chanhassen/senior) assisting and Justen Williams (Minnetonka/graduating senior) with Joe Tucci (Burnsville/junior) assisting.  Then Green hammered the Royal defense for four scores over a six minute period to take a 6-2 halftime lead.  In the first ten minutes of the second half, the Royals fought back to tie the game 7-7 with nine minutes left to play.  John Manning (Minnetonka/sophomore) scored with three minutes gone to make it a 6-3 game with Brady Caron (Minnetonka/junior) getting the assist.  Fodstad got his second goal of the game to cut the Green lead to two, 6-4.  After Green scored their seventh goal, Fodstad scored his third goal of the game with Williams assisting; Logan Rasmussen (Holy Family/senior) scored  with Williams and Fodstad assisting; and Gavin Lindermann (Holy Family/junior) scored to tie the game 7-7.  Liam Johnson (Minnetonka/senior) got the assist on Lindermann’s tying goal.  Then five minutes later, Green went on a three goal binge opening up a 10-7 lead with five minutes to play.  Williams scored his second goal of the game to make the score 10-8 with Clauson and Zach Puterbaugh (Tampa Bay Juniors/graduating senior) getting the assists.  The Royals lost 11-8.

Saturday, the Royals played the Grey to a 3-3 tie.  The built a 2-1 lead at halftime behind goals by Brandon Bunger (Chanhassen/senior) with Tucci and Rasmussen getting the assists and Rasmussen with assists going to William Manning (Minnetonka/junior) and Ben Gerebi(Chanhassen/junior).  The game remained a 2-1 battle deep into the second until Liam Johnson (Minnetonka/senior) scored for the Royals to make it a 3-1 game with Tucci and Lindemann getting the assists.  Trailing 3-1 with five minutes left to play, Grey scored twice in one minute to tie the game 3-3.  In Sunday’s game, Neon scored three times in the first five minutes and twice in the last five minutes to take a 5-1 lead at halftime.  Tucci scored the lone Royal goal assisted by Lindermann.  The second half was played to a 2-2 draw, but Royal lost the game 7-3.  Gerebi scored the second Royal goal assisted by Nick Blood (Holy Family/freshman).

The Royals managed to win a single point in Week 3 and have gone from contender to being a Tier 2 playoff candidate.  Former MN Mullet, Joe Fodstad, leads the team in points (12) and goals (8).  Holy Family’s Gavin Lindermann leads the Royals in assists (7).  Minnetonka’s Justen Williams has skated well for the Royals.  The Royals will have some opportunities to pick up points in Week 4 playing the Vintage, Black, and Pink teams.

10: Pink (1-4-3): The Pink seem to be on the “verge” of becoming one of the better teams in the league.  In Week 3 they tied Vintage 9-9 and Red 6-6 and narrowly lost to Teal 9-7.  In tying Vintage, both teams played a wild game.  The lead changed hands during the first half until Pink built a 6-2.  Andrew Selby (Woodbury/junior) scored twice getting assists from Kaidden O’Connor (Henry Sibley/junior) and Chase Friermuth (Hastings/junior) on the first goal and assists from Dylan Felth (Woodbury/junior) and Friermuth on the second goal.  Friermuth scored one of the six goals assisted Drake Gieseke (Owatonna/senior) and Selby.  Gieseke scored one of the six assisted by Friermuth and Felth.  Shane Prifrel (Simley/junior) scored with Anthony Hoops (Woodbury/junior) getting an assist.  Ryan Blake (Henry Sibley/junior) scored before the Vintage stormed back to take a 7-6.  Mikhail Greeley (Henry Sibley/senior) and Tyler Barry (Woodbury/junior) assisted on Blake’s goal.  Pink regained the lead 8-7 Gieseke scored to tie the game 7-7 with Greeley and Blake getting the assists.  Mikhail Greeley put Pink up 8-7 with Blake and Felth getting the assists; but Pink had to rally to tie the game late 9-9 on a goal by Blake with Gieseke and Mikhail Greeley getting the assists.  Friermuth posted 4 points and got the hat trick in the tie with Vintage.  Three other players (Gieseke, Mikhail Greeley, and Blake) posted a 4 point game

Saturday, Team Teal beat Pink 9-7 in another wild game.  Pink fell behind 4-2 at the half after tying the game 2-2 halfway through the opening period on an unassisted goal by Dakotah Heimerl (South St. Paul/senior) and a goal by Carter Robinson (Simley/junior)  with Blake getting the assist.  Three second half goals by Friermuth (with Gieseke and Mikhail Greeley assisting), Selby with Zack Kuyava (White Bear Lake/junior) and Charles Gustafson (Simley/junior) assisting and Blake with Ethan Wu (Woodbury/junior) assisting knotted the game at 5-5.  Trailing 7-5 with five minutes left to play, Greeley assisted by Selby and Robinson assisted by Friermuth scored to again tie the game 7-7.  Pink lost the game in the final minute to Teal when the Spring League leading point getter, Andover’s Michael Clough, set up two Teal goals to win the game 9-7.

Sunday, Pink got a last minute score from Robinson with Friermuth assisting to tie the Red 6-6.  Friermuth and Robinson led the Pink in this Sunday game.  Friermuth scored unassisted to cut an early first half Red lead to 2-1; Robinson scored unassisted to tie the game 2-2 at halftime.  In the second half, Felth scored assisted by Robinson to cut a 4-2 Red lead to a single goal and Friermuth scored unassisted to tie the game 4-4  on a power play.  With 10 minutes left in the game, Friermuth scored again to put Pink up 5-4.  It was Friermuth’s third goal of the game.  Josh Storms (Hudson Havoc/graduating senior) got the assist.  But the Pink defense could not hold Red.  They lost the lead and trailed 6-5 going into the last minute of play before Robinson and Friermuth combined for the game winner.

The Pink team is one of the few Spring League teams to have four players with points in double figures after 8 games played.  Hasting’s junior Chase Friermuth lead the Pink in points (15) and assists (9).   He is tied in goals scored with Owatonna senior defenseman Drake Gieseke (6).  Gieseke (10 points), Friermuth, Simley junior Carter Robinson (12 points), and Woodbury junior Andrew Selby (10 points) are the four Pink players in double digits.  Pink opens Week 4 play against second place White on Friday.  Saturday they play Yellow (Eagan/Lakeville North) in a match-up reminiscent of District 8 hockey; and Sunday they play Royal.  Not an easy task. 

Week 3: Grey and Vintage hold last two places at the end of Week 3

11. Grey (1-5-2): Grey took one point in Week 3 tying Royal 3-3.  They lost to Black on Friday 7-3 and lost big to Teal on Sunday 12-1.  In Friday’s game, Grey skated evenly with Black over the first 35 minutes of play before Black score three goals in three minutes to put the game away taking 7-2 lead.  Jamison Bazil scored the first goal of the game putting Grey up 1-0.  Will Walz got the assist.  Bazil scored his second goal to cut the Black lead to 3-2 with five minutes left in the half.  This time Jake Gherardi got the assist.  Bazil scored the third Grey goal to get the hat trick with Walz getting his second assist of the game.  In Saturday’s 3-3 tie with Royal, Grey fell behind 2-1 at the half and 3-1 early in the second half.  Brody Horoshak assisted on first half goal.  With just under five minutes to play, George James scored unassisted to tie the game and then assisted Andrew Storm on the game tying goal in one last shift on the ice.  Connor Mack also got an assist on Strom’s score.  Teal just blew Grey out of the game with eight first period goals.  Nolan Tichy aided by Horoshak scored the lone Grey goal in the 12-1 loss.

Will Walz continues to lead the team in points (7) and in assists (6).  Andrew Storm and Jamison Bazil are tied in the team lead for goals (3).  This Orono/Prior Lake team has played well defensively giving up just 26 goals in six games if one throws out their two 12 goal losses.  They struggle with getting goals scoring only 26 goals in eight games.  They have a tough Week 4 schedule playing Yellow, Neon, and Green.

12. Vintage (0-5-3): Vintage had a wild Week 3 tying Pink 9-9, losing a 9-8 game to second place White and losing to Black 7-2.  Tucker Canon (Edina/senior) got the first two goals of the game in Friday’s 9-9 tie with Pink.  Jack Miller (Edina/senior) assisted on both of Canon goals with Peter Engelking (Edina/senior) assisting on one and Ray Smith (Lakeville South/junior) on another.  That started a wild see-saw battle with Pink.  Pink scored six straight goals to take a 6-2 lead.  Vintage struck back scoring five straight to take the lead back 7-6.  Miller scored to cut the lead to 6-3 with Smith and Zack Wyatt (New Prague/junior) assisting on the goal.  Smith scored to make it a 6-4 game with Engelking getting the assist.  Engelking scored to make it a 6-5 game with Miller and Vintage goalie William Pinney (St. Louis Park/senior) getting the assist.  Max Psihos (Edina/senior) scored unassisted to tie the game 6-6.  Miller scored to put Vintage up 7-6 with Canon and Smith getting the assists.  Pink came back putting two scores on the board to take a 8-7 lead, but Vintage rallied.  Canon tied the game 8-8 with Zack getting the assist and Engelking scored to give Vintage the lead 9-8.  The Pink Team scored late to tie the game 9-9.  It was a fun game to watch.  Tucker  Canon got the hat trick posting 4 points in the game; Jack Miller posted a 5 point game (2 goals), Peter Engelking posted a 4 point game (2 goals), and  Ray Smith posted a 4 point game (3 assists).

Saturday against the #2 White Team, Vintage got into another see-saw game.  Ian Stentz scored five minutes into the game to put Vintage up 1-0.  White stormed back scoring four straight to take a 4-1 lead.  Vintage’s Ethan Wagner and Miller scored ten seconds apart late in the half to make it a 4-3 game.  Nick Lawton and Jack Buckenberger assisted on Wagner’s score.  Wagner assisted on Miller’s goal.  Ian Stentz scored his second goal of the game unassisted with 3 seconds left in the half to tie the game 4-4.  The see-saw battle continued in the second half.  White opened a 6-4 lead with two quick goals.  Vintage’s Adam Spetz scored unassisted to make it a 6-5 game.  White scored again to take a 7-5 lead only to have Ethan Vanden Busch strike back 10 seconds later to cut the White lead to 7-6.  Jack Buckenberg got the assist.  White scored again with just over 13 minutes left to play to make it a 8-6 game.  Vintage’s Psihos scored to cut the lead to 8-7 with Vanden Busch getting the assist.  Ben Rasinkski scored to tie the game 8-8 with a minute left to play.  Psihos got the assist.  With 13 seconds left on the clock, White scored to win the game 9-8.  Another fun game to watch.  Sunday, Vintage looked tired.  They let Black jump to a 4-1 in the first half and could not rally in the second as they had done in the first two games.  Carter Wise scored the first half goal with Spetz and Gavin Smythe getting the assists.  Wagner scored the lone second half goal with Rasinski getting the assist.  Vintage lost 7-2.

Edina’s Tucker Canon leads the Vintage in all three scoring categories; points (10), goals (6), and assists (4).  But what has emerged this week for the Vintage is the play of Lakeville South defenseman Ray Smith.  That play combined the Edina duo of Peter Engelking and Jack Miller can generate offense.  Miller is an alternate on the Vintage team, but when Vintage get Engelking, Miller, Smith, and Canon on the ice, they can score.  The four players were involved in scoring 12 of the 19 goals Vintage scored in their three games in Week 3.  Week 4 will be tough for Vintage because they will play their first game at Orono Monday night.  They play Green on Saturday and Yellow on Sunday.          

Red and Black League Week 2

It spring hockey and after a tense winter season, the Spring League kicked off with some teams playing strong and some not so strong and some in the middle.  By Sunday night of Week 2, some people were wondering what happened.  The Royals were not so Royal, the Neons were still there but tied with a surprising White Team, and the Orange Team seemed surprisingly strong.  The Neons continued to use speed to win their games based on Sartell/Delano/Holy Angles forwards.  A White Team consisting of Prior Lake/Holy Family/Breck/Mound-Westonka players had a good Week 2 winning all three of their games, but the surprise of Week 2 was an Orange Team consisting Shakopee and Prior Lake players who also won all three games in Week 2 to move into contention for the Spring League title.  Yellow jumped into fourth led by 12 players from the 2016-2017 Eagan Bantam AA team.  The Green Team of mostly Mound-Westonka and Minnehaha players marked time to keep fifth place tied with the Red Team consisting of Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Jefferson, and Shakopee players.  The Royals fell to seventh tied with Black.  The Royals were a preseason favorite here loaded with Minnetonka/Holy Family/Chanhassen players.

Teams go up and down fast in the Red and Black League. 

Week 2: Neon and White are co-leaders

1. Neon Team (4-1-0): Neon opened Week 2’s three game set beating the Teal Team 8-1 Friday to run their league record to 3-0-0.  Their speed at forwards beat the Teal defense scoring five unassisted goals.  Maddux Hagy (Sartell/senior) kept up the good play getting a hat trick.  All of Hagy’s goals were assisted.  Mitch Farnham (Holy Angels/junior) also posted three points in the game assisting on two of Hagy’s goals and scoring one unassisted goal.  Four Neon players scored unassisted goals; (Henry Frissell/Minnehaha Academy, Dante Hajiani/Holy Angels, Brock Boerger/Sartell, Ethan Underhill).

Saturday night in a game played at TRIA, Neon ran into a tough goalie and loss 8-6 to Pink despite putting consistent pressure on the Pink defense launching 49 shots on the Pink net.  Substitute goalie from the Yellow Team, Eagan sophomore Graeme Edmund, was in the nets for the Pink win.

Neon’s defense had a letdown in the last ten minutes of the opening half giving up four goals to trail 6-3 at halftime.  Three of the four Pink goals scored were off nice plays set up by feeding an open Pink forward in the slot area from the boards.  Neon got scoring from Hagy (two goals), Farnham, Caeden Phleps (Holy Angels/junior), and Noah Williams (Apple Valley/senior).   Pink handed Neon their first loss of the season beating the fluorescent team 8-6.

After a slow start in Sunday’s game against Yellow, Neon’s Hagy starting the offensive show 10 minutes into the game by splitting the defense and beating the goalie low to put Neon up 1-0.  Neon went on to beat the Yellow 8-1.  On the first goal, Hagy beat the Yellow goalie, Graeme Edmund, by dragging his skates edges slowing just before the top of the key and letting the goalie’s momentum take him out of play.  Hagy then pushed the puck into the net.  Hogan Williams (Delano/senior) and Jake Mumm (Sartell/senior) got the assists.  Noah Williams (Apple Valley/senior) got the second Neon goal beating the defense at the blue line to score from the slot on a shot to the upper corner left.  Hagy scored the third Neon goal on another solo rush putting Neon up 3-0 at the half.  This time Mitch Farnham got the assist.

Neon led 3-0 at the half.  In the opening minute of the second half, Hagy scored his third goal of the game on a nice passing from Hogan Williams and Mumm to again open a four goal lead.  It was Hagy’s third hat trick in five games.  A major penalty on Neon gave the Yellow an opportunity to get back into the game, but Neon’s Brock Boerger (Sartell/senior) scored a minute into the major and Neon goalie, Devin Peterson (Sartell/senior) went to work and held Yellow over the next six minutes.  Peterson was forced to come up with multiple saves in a number concentrated Yellow attacks.

Watching Hagy and Peterson play, one Neon parent wondered out loud noting he had an extra room at his house; a second parent wondered if one of the Sartell players had an extra room at their house.

After six minutes of Yellow pressure, Hagy took a pass at the Yellow blue line, broke across the line and set up a breaking Hogan Williams with soft short lead pass that was just long enough to allow Williams to beat the defense for the score.  Twenty seconds later, Hagy scored his fourth goal.  Neon led 7-1.  Late in the game, Neon’s Caeden Phelps (Holy Angels/junior) made a nice move cutting from the right to the top of Yellow crease and managing somehow to hit Nick Hibino (Holy Angels/junior) breaking to the weak side for the 8th score.  Neon beat Yellow 8-1.  In doing, they beat the same Yellow goalie, Edmund, whose play in the nets in their Saturday game was responsible for Neon's first loss in the Spring League.

Heading into Week 3, Maddux Hagy leads the Neon team and the league in points (17) and goals scored (14).  Mitch Farnham leads the team in assists (4).  Neon has scored 33 points in their five games averaging 6.6 goals a game and will play three tough games in Week 3 three facing White, Green, and Royal.

 

1.White Team (4-1-0): White Team won all three Week 2 games and have strung a four game win streak together as they start Week 3 play.  The White got off to a bang beating the Green Team 5-4 in a game played at Orono Wednesday; Saturday they beat the Royal Team 6-3 and Sunday, White edged Grey 3-2 to end the second weekend tied for first place in the league.  The White Team shut down the Green in the second half to win their Wednesday game.  They trailed Green 4-3 at the half giving up two late goals and a 3-2 lead.  Zach Simmons scored two of White’s three first half goals.  He was assisted twice by Beau Courneya (Breck/sophomore) on each score and by Britt Courneya (Mound Westonka/senior) on one.  Quinn Pausche (Holy Family/senior) scored unassisted for the White’s first score.  Paushe tied the game 4-4 halfway through the final period scoring his second unassisted goal of the game.  Quinn Rosenberg (Breck/sophomore) got the game winner.

Saturday against the Royal, Team White took a 4-0 lead in the first half.  Four White players scored.  Britt Courneya scored with a minute gone to put White up 1-0.  Beau Courney scored 6 minutes later to make it a 2-0 game.  Blake Harmer (Mound Westonka/senior) scored on a power play and Caden Fritz (Edina/freshman) scored the final goal of the opening period.  After Green rallied to close the gap to 4-2, Britt Courneya and Cooper Curti (Mound Westonka/junior) scored to put the game away 6-3.   

In beating Grey, Nathan Whittier (Prior Lake/senior) and Beau Courneya (Breck/sophomore) combined to get the first two goals to tie the game 2-2 at the half.  Whittier scored first with Courneya assisting.  Courneya got the second goal with Whittier assisting.  The game winner was scored by Jean Marc Johnson (Prior Lake/senior) got the game winner with 5 minutes left to play.  Whittier and Blake Hammer (Mound Westonka/junior) assisted on the game winner.

Beau Courneya leads the White in points (12), assists (7) and goals (5) after two weeks of play.  Britt Courneya has posted 4 goals.  White plays a tough Week 3 schedule facing Neon, Vintage, and Orange. 

Orange and Yellow are tied for third after Week 2

3. Orange Team (3-1-1): Wednesday, the Orange won their first Spring League game beating Black 7-5.  After struggling at times in the second half in their opening weekend games, the Orange came from behind, trailing 3-1, to not only catch the Black but to put the game away in a solid 15 minute second half stretch scoring six goals to take a 7-4 lead.  Doug Larson (Shakopee/junior) got the lone first half goal for the Orange rapping in a short rebound off the goalie to put Orange up 1-0 early in the game.  Luke Schmidt (Shakopee/junior) got the assist.  The game was tied 1-1 at halftime.

Black scored twice early in the second half to take a 3-1 lead with 19 minutes left to play.  Then the Orange started to roll tying the game 3-3 in the next two minutes.  A minute after Black scored their third goal, Lucas Blofield (Shakopee/junior) scored with Logan Hillman (Shakopee/senior) getting the assist.  Sixty seconds later Michael Murrow (Shakopee/junior) scored a power play goal with Larson and Mason Olson (Wayzata/junior) getting the assists.   Morrow scored again putting a short rebound off the goalie into the back of the net to give Orange a lead 4-3.  Twenty seconds later Riley Dueber (Prior Lake/sophomore) set up Schmidt in the slot.  Schmidt hammered the puck into the back of the net for the game winning goal.  Orange led 5-3.  After Black scored to make it 5-4, Schmidt scored a power play goal with assists from Olson and Hillman.  Preston Lindholm (Prior Lake/junior) scored the sixth goal in the Orange second half run.  Lindholm scored unassisted putting Orange up 7-4 and icing the game with less than 4 minutes left to play.  The final score was 7-5.

In Saturday’s 6-1 win over Vintage, Nick Speltz (Prior Lake/junior), Parker Long (Prior Lake/junior), Marco Bianchi (Prior Lake/junior), and Riley Dueber (Prior Lake/sophomore) scored first half goals to give Orange a first half lead 4-0.  Speltz scored his second goal and Schmidt scored in the second half to make a 6-1 game.  In Sunday’s game, the Royals and Orange were tied at the half 1-1.  Bianchi scored the single Orange goal.  Then Orange broke open the game with three goals in the first five minutes of the second half to put Orange up 4-1.  Lucas Blofield (Shakopee/junior), Speltz, and Blake Dicke (Prior Lake/sophomore) each scored.  Dicke got the game winner.  Speltz, Bianchi, Lindholm, and Sam Emmerich (Prior Lake/junior) scored the final four Orange goals in an 8-3 victory.

Going into Week 3, Bianchi leads the Orange in points scored (9) and assists (6).   Schmidt leads in goals scored (5).  Orange plays Teal, Yellow, and White in Week 3 games ending April and hopefully winter.    

4. Yellow Team (3-1-1): The Yellow Team beat the Royals Friday night 7-3 in a game played at the TRIA Rink in St. Paul; Saturday, they beat Teal 6-5 in a game played at Orono; and Sunday in a game played at Eden Prairie, the Yellow lost their first game of the season to Neon 8-1.  Still, it was Yellow’s goalie Graeme Edmund who did the damage to Neon Saturday night at TRIA handing the Neon Team their first loss playing in the nets for Pink.  The Eagan sophomore subbed for the Pink team and stopped Neon’s speedy forwards 43 times in leading the Pink Team to a 8-6 win.  But after being instrumental in the win over Neon in Saturday’s game, he was in the nets for Yellow’s 8-1 loss to Neon on Sunday.  The Red and Black League is an up and down league for any team on any given game day.

Yellow blew the Royal off the ice in the first half of their win on Friday with four players scoring four goals.  Jackson Luhrs (South St. Paul/senior) opened the scoring with assists from Brandon Roloff (South St. Paul/senior) and Sam Lehmann (South St. Paul/senior); Cooper Schumacher (Hill-Murray/junior) got the second goal with Aidan White (Eagan/junior) and Tom O’Neill (St. Thomas Academy/junior) assisting; Ben Wilary (Eagan/junior) scored the third with Luhrs getting an assist; and Aiden White scored the fourth with Schumacher and O’Neill getting the assists.  With half of the opening period gone, Yellow led 4-0 and never looked back.  Yellow built the lead to 6-1 in the second half with goals scored by Bo Marvin (St. Thomas Academy/senior) and Roloff.  Aiden Byrne and Joshua Alexander got the assists on Marvin’s goal; Roloff scored unassisted.  With 17 minutes left to play and Yellow put it on cruise control to win 7-3.

In beating Teal in a Saturday game played at Orono, Matt Bernier (Lakeville North/junior) got the game winner with three minutes to go in the game.  Bernier’s score put the Yellow up 6-4.  The insurance goal became the game winner when Teal scored a minute later.  The first half of the game ended in a 3-3 tie with O’Neill, Corey Rehder (Eagan/sophomore), and Schumacher getting the three Yellow goals.  O’Neill and Marvin scored in the opening minutes of the second half to set up Bernier’s game winner.  Sunday, the Yellow lost their opportunity to take first place in the league after Week 2 by beating Neon.  They ran out of gas against a speedy Neon Team.  Yellow fell behind in the first half 3-0.  Early in the second half, they had an opportunity to get back into the game. Neon drew a 5 minute major, but Yellow could not be the Neon goalie Devin Peterson.  The five minute major ended with Neon leading 5-0.  Still the Yellow team has done well.  In the first part of the Spring League schedule, they are contending for the regular season title.

Tom O’Neill leads the Yellow in points (9) and goals (4) and assists (5) after Week 2.  Ben Wilary, Aiden Byrne, Aidan White, and Cooper Schumacher have all been strong contributors.  Yellow plays Red, Orange, and Green in Week 3 games. 

Green and Red tied for 5th place after Week 2

5. Green Team (2-2-1): The Green Team struggled in week two losing their first two games (to White on Wednesday 5-4 and to Black on Saturday 6-4) before beating Red Sunday 10-5.  Still the Green Team has scored double digits in three of their first five games.  Wednesday against the White Team, Green built a 4-3 lead at the half, but were shut down by White goalie Brooks Telecky in the second half.  Green’s Jayce Hopia, Michael Doshan, Ivan Sunder, and Hunter Greshowak scored in the first half of play.  Hopia’s score came on a shot from the left point to put Green up 1-0.  Doshan banged the puck in off a melee in front of the White goal for the second Green score.  Then White scored three times to take a 3-2 lead with just under five minutes left in the half.  Two Minnhaha players stepped in to score the last two Green goals.  Red Hawk sophomore Ivan Sunder and junior Hunter Greshowak scored in the last two minutes of the opening half to put Green up 4-3.

Saturday, Green fell behind Black 3-0, closed the gap to 4-3 with 10 minutes left to play, but lost 6-4.  Hopia scored twice for the Green and Mitch Krebsbach (Mound Westonka/sophomore) scored twice in the loss.  Hopia was assisted by Ethan Vandenheuvel (Mound Westonka/senior) on his first score and Greshowak on his second goal.  Krebsbach was assisted by Aleksi Partio on both his scores.  In the end, the Green could not stop Black’s Matt Stuessi.  The Hopkins sophomore scored a hat trick in handing Green the 6-4 Saturday loss.

Sunday, Green beat Red 10-5 with a balanced offense.  Seven players posted three points in the game, but two of the seven players (Ethan Vandenheuvel and Jayce Hopia) combined early in the second half to score three successive goals to break open a tight 3-2 game putting Green up 6-2.   Vandenheuvel scored two of the three goals.  Hopia assisted on all three scores.  Luke Holmen (Mound Westonka/senior) scored the third goal.  Green defenseman, Carter Hansen (Mound Westonk/senior) scored a goal and an assist in the early going to build the 3-2 lead.  Hansen would later get an assist to post his three points.  The Green’s graduating senior line of Michael Lindell, Aleksi Partio, and Brady Aufderheide had another good game collectively scoring 9 points and 5 goals.  Trent Bowe (Mound Westonka/sophomore) posted three assists in the game.  Minnehaha Academy junior Hunter Gresbowak posted two assists and Michael Schroeder (Mound Westonka/junior) scored one goal.

Graduating Mound/Westonka senior, Brady Aufderheide leads the Green Team in points (15) and goals (6) and assists (9).  After 5 games the high octane Green offense has four players in double digits points scored besides Aufderheide; Michael Lindell (13), Aleksi Partio (11), and Jayce Hopia (10).  Minnetonka senior, Jayce Hopia played well in Week 2.  Green plays the Royals Friday in their first game of Week 3.  They play league leading Neon on Saturday and third place Yellow on Sunday.

6. Red Team (2-2-1): Wednesday, Red beat Vintage in a game played at Orono 7-1.  They scored three goals in one minute five minutes into the game to take a 4-1 lead and then added a hat trick by Adam Kinsella (Shakopee/senior) in the second half to win the game 7-1.  Ryan Maney (Jefferson/sophomore), Josh Twardoski (Shakopee/senior), and Ben Stavros (Shakopee/junior) scored in the first half.  Maney scored twice.  Saturday, the Red beat Grey 5-3 scoring all five goals in the second half to overcome a Grey 2-0 lead at halftime.  Austin McNeil (Shakopee/senior), Jonah Mortenson (Benilde-St Margaret’s/sophomore, Collin Anderson (Jefferson/senior), and Aran Daniels (Jefferson/sophomore) scored in the second half for the Red Team.  McNeil scored twice.  Anderson got the game winner.

Red lost Sunday to Green 10-5.  Austin McNeill got the first goal with John Meskan (Blake/junior) assisting to put the Red up 1-0.  It was the only Red lead of the game.  Green tied the game 1-1 and took a 3-1 lead at halftime on two goals scored in the last two minutes before the break.  Josh Twardoski (Shakopee/senior) scored to cut the lead to 4-2 only to have Green put two quick goals in the net at the 15 minute mark.  Gordy Johnson (Benilde-St. Margaret’s/sophomore) assisted on Twardoski’s score.  Red’s Jonah Mortenson (Benilde-St. Margaret’s/sophomore) and Nicolas  Dokman (Benilde-St. Margaret’s/senior) scored quick goals a minute apart to cut the lead to 6-4. Toby Curtiss (Benilde-St. Margaret’s/junior) assisted on the first and Blake Dokken (Jefferson/senior) assisted on the second.  Green struck again with two more goals at the 10 minute mark to put the game away taking an 8-4 lead.  Red’s Twardoski scored the team’s fifth goal unassisted.  Red lost on Sunday 10-5.

After two weeks of play, Twardoski leads the team in points (5); three players (Twardoski, McNeil, and Kinsella) are tied in goals scored (3); and Stavros leads in assists (3).  Red plays Yellow, Black, and Pink in Week 3.    

Royal and Black tied for 7th place after Week 2

7. Black Team (2-3-0): Black lost twice on the opening weekend in the first round of Spring League games.  They opened the second round of games losing to Orange 7-5 in a Wednesday game played at Orono.  Both teams started slow drawing early penalties.  The game was scoreless until Orange scored with 6 minutes gone to make it a 1-0 game.  For the next 15 minutes, the game picked up.  The checking was tight.  The Black trailed until Orange drew a penalty and Black’s Jack Stuessi (Hopkins/senior) scored to make it a 1-1 game at the half.  Jack’s brother Matt Stuessi (Hopkins/sophomore) and Reagan Shepard (Eden Prairie/sophomore) assisted on the goal.  The first half ended in a 1-1 tie.  The Black built an early 3-1 lead in the second half on goals by Nick Ladas (Eden Prairie/senior) and Matt Stuessi.  Jack Stuessi and Zach Bienkowski (Eden Prairie/junior) assisted on the first; Matt Suessi scored unassisted.  Orange was inconsistent in the second half in their opening weekend games, skating well and not skating well in their first two games.  Trailing 3-1 in the second half, the Orange took off with a four goal run over the five minutes before Black’s Shepard scored to make it a 5-4 game.  Shepard’s goal was the result of a hard shot from the right slot with Ethan Dominy (Mound Westonka/freshman) screening both the defender and goalie just outside the crease.  Oliver Jorgenson (Eden Prairie/sophomore) set up Shepard with a nice pass off the right boards and got the assist.  A minute later, a Black penalty led to a sixth Orange goal followed by another Orange goal a minute after.  The second goal left the Black trailing 7-4 with under four minutes to play and put the game out of reach for the Black.  Black’s Jack Stuessi scored with two minutes left in the game to make the final score 7-5.  Nick Ladas got the assist. 

The Black Team, though playing with a short bench, skated better in their third game.  Would they continue to improve in their weekend games against Green and Pink.   The two Stuessi brothers plus Ladas, Jorgenson, Reagan Shepard, and Jalen Henkel all playing well and they account for two plus forward lines.  Matt Stuessi leads the team in points (8) and goals (4).  Canyon Pergande leads in assists (5).  The Black plays Grey, Red, and Vintage in Week 3. 

8. Royals (2-3-0): The Royal Team were upended in their first two games of the second week.  Friday the Royals lost big to the Yellow 7-3, lost Saturday to White 6-3, and were beaten by Orange on Sunday 8-3.  After a good opening weekend, the Royals struggled in week.  Against the Yellow in Friday’s game, The Royals gave up 4 goals in the first 12 minutes of play and could not rally to win the game.  After trailing 4-0 at the half, the Royals broke the Yellow shutout five minutes into the second half to make the score 4-1, but two quick goals in the next two minutes put the Yellow up 6-1.  Royal lost 7-3.  Burnsville senior Jake Inskeep scored two of the three goals in their loss to the Royals.  Inskeep scored the first goal unassisted.  Graduating senior, Joe Fodstad (MN Mullets) assisted on Inskeep’s second goal and scored the third Royal goal unassisted.

Saturday’s game, the Royals fell behind again 4-0 at the end of the first half against the White Team, tried to rally at the start of the second cutting the White lead to 4-2 behind goals by Gavin Lindemann (Holy Family/junior) and Joe Tucci (Burnsville/junior), but lost momentum when White scored on a shot from the right point that ricocheted a couple of times before ending up in the upper left hand corner of the Royal net.  Trailing 5-2, the Royals never mounted a strong threat after that, losing 6-3.  Three different Royal players scored.  Lindemann got the first Royal goal with assists from Brady Caron (Minnetonka/senior) and William Manning (Minnetonka/junior); Tucci (Burnsville/junior) got the second goal with assists from John Manning (Minnetonka/sophomore) and Lindemann; and Inskeep (Burnsville/senior) put the final Royal goal in the net with Toilef Kohrman (Chanhassen/junior) getting the assist.

Sunday, the Royals and Orange played played to a 1-1 tie in the first half of the game.  Justen Williams scored the first Royal goal unassisted.  Orange scored three straight goals to open the second half taking a 4-1 lead.  Sophomore defenseman William Manning (Minnetonka)  scored to cut the lead to 4-2.  Lindemann got the assist.  Fodstad scored the third Royal goal to end Week 2 of play for the Royals losing 8-3 and taking three losses.  The Royal Team plays three more games in Week 3 starting with Green Friday night at Richfield.  They play Grey Saturday and league leading Neon Sunday. 

Fodstad had a second good weekend and leads the Royals in scoring (7 points) and in goals scored (5).  Gavin Lindemann leads the Royals in assists (5).  The Royals play the Green, Grey, and Neon teams next weekend.  Royal with three losses needs some wins now to get into contention. 

Teal, Pink, Grey, and Vintage are Tier 2 playoff contenders

The Spring League will have playoffs that will divide the 12 teams into Tier 1 (the top 8 teams) and Tier 2 (the bottom four teams).  

9.  Teal (1-2-2): Teal struggled in Week 2 losing to Neon 8-1 on Friday, losing to Yellow in a close game 6-5, and beating Vintage 10-3.  Teal gave up two quick goals to Neon in the first minute of play.  Trailing 2-0, Quinn Schrepel (Minnetonka/senior) scored to cut the lead to 2-1 cutting across the top of the crease and beating the goalie on the near side.  Tom Mullin (Minneapolis/senior) got the assist, but Neon struck for two more first half goals to take the lead 4-1 at halftime.  The game ended 8-1.  Saturday against the Yellow team, Teal again gave up two goals in the first minute of play.  Michael Clough (Andover/junior) scored in the third minute of play to cut the lead to 3-1 as Teal battled to a 3-3 first half tie.  Clough was assisted by Nathan Bauer (Andover/junior) on his goal.  Nick Wombacher (Minneapolis/junior) and Simon Weed (Minneapolis/junior) each scored unassisted to tie the game at the half.  Yellow broke the tie in the first minute of the second half of play to take a 4-3 and added a goal six minutes later.  Trailing 5-3, Hayden Masloski (Andover/junior) scored to cut the lead to 5-4 with Martin Keehn (Minneapolis/junior) getting the assist.  After Yellow scored an insurance goal with four minutes to play, Clough scored his second goal of the game to end the scoring with Teal losing their second game of Week 2 6-5.  Keehn got his second assist of the game on the final score.

Sunday, Teal went wild against Vintage as seven Teal players scored eight goals in the first half of play to take an 8-1 lead at halftime.  This time, Teal’s Robert Cross (Minneapolis/senior) scored unassisted and Brody Witta (Minnetonka/junior) scored in the first minutes of play.  Bauer assisted on Witta’s goal.  Sawyer Cirone (Minneapolis/junior) scored with the assist to Tyler Noble (Jefferson/junior); Clough scored with the assist to Noble, Ayden Bernstein (Minneapolis/junior) scored with the assist to Wagner and Tom Mullins, and Wagner scored with the assist going to Cross.  Hayden Masloski scored twice.  Clough and Joe O’Brien (Minneapolis/senior) assisted on Masloski’s first score; Clough and Quinn Schrepel assisted on the second Masloski score.  Wagner (assists to Mullins and Bauer) and Wombacher (unassisted) got the second half scores in Teal’s 10-3 win.

The two Andover teammates lead the Teal in scoring after Week 2.  Michael Clough leads the Teal Tean in points (9) and goals (7) after Week 2.  Nathan Bauer leads in assists (6).  Minneapolis seniors Tom Mullins and Martin KeehnIn and Minneapolis junior Ryan Wagner all have posted points in the early going.  Week 3, Teal will play a tough Orange Team, Pink and Grey.

10.  Pink Team (1-3-1): The Pink Team lost to Grey 7-6 in their opening game of Week 2.  Saturday, the Pink won their first game of the Spring season and handed Neon their first loss winning a 8-7.  Sunday, Pink lost to Black 7-3 as the Black team posted their first win of the season.  Pink took an early 2-0 lead behind goals by Carter Robinson and Chase Friermuth.  Shane Prifrel assisted on the first Pink score; Andrew Selby on the second.  Grey rallied to tie the game 2-2, but with 10 minutes left in the opening period, Selby scored to put the Pink up 3-2 only to have Grey tie the game on a power play goal with one second left in the half.  Carter Robinson scored in the opening minute of the second period to put Pink up 4-3 with Prifrel and Dakotah Heimerl getting the assist.  Then Grey took over the game scoring four times to build a 7-4 lead.  Friermuth and Zack Kuyava rallied the Pink with two goals in the last minute of play to cut the lead to 7-6.  Pink lost.

Saturday with the game tied 1-1 and six minutes remaining in the first half, Pink broke the game open scoring five goals to take a 6-3 lead to the locker room at halftime.  Pink’s Selby rapped in a loose puck at the top of the crease to tie the game 1-1 and Heimerl scored off a big rebound shot from the lower left circle to put Pink up 2-1.  After Pink’s Ryan Blake scored to put pink up 3-2 with six minutes to go; the Pink got three nice scores on plays set up on passes off the boards to the slot or to the edge of the crease catching the Neon goalie playing low in the crease with opening on both sides of the net.  Kuyava scored to put Pink up 4-2; Robinson got the second to make it a 5-2 game; and Ben Tschida got the third to put Pink up 6-2.  Neon scored with two minutes left in the period to make it a 6-3 game.  Neon came out skating hard in the second half, but the Pink defense withstood the initial rush backed by Yellow goalie Graeme Edmund (Eagan/sophomore).  Edmund was subbing.  Neon did come back to close the gap to 6-4 only to have Tschida score on a breakaway off an errant Neon pass.  Two Neon goals cut the lead to 7-6 before Pink’s Friermuth got an open netter to end the scoring 8-6.

Pink held a 2-0 lead halfway through the opening half on goals scored by Prifrel (assist to Robinson) and Drake Gieseke.  Gieseke’s goal was assisted by Robinson and Selby.  Black wipped out the two goal lead scoring three times in the last four minutes of the half.  Trailing 4-2 halfway through the second half, Friermuth scored to cut the Black lead to one with Tschida and Tyler Barry getting the assist.  Black took over the game after that scoring three unanswered goals to win 7-3.

Carter Robinson leads the Pink team in points (7) and goals (4).  Robinson is tied with Shane Prifrel and Drake Gieseke in assists (3 each).  The Pink team plays Vintage, Teal, and Red in Week 3.       

11. Grey Team (1-3-1): The Grey Team beat Pink 7-6 in Friday’s opener for Week 2.  The lost to Red 5-3 Saturday and White 3-2 Sunday.  Grey tied Pink 3-3 at the half with Will Walz (Orono/senior) scoring one of the goals unassisted.  George James (Orono/junior) scored unassisted to lead a three goal rally late in the game to put Grey up 7-4.  Kyle Swanholm (Orono/junior) scored one of the three goals with John Kettle (Shakopee/sophomore) getting the assist.  Corey McNally (Prior Lake/senior) scored the game winner with Walz and Brody Horoshak (Omaha Lancers/junior) getting the assists.  Saturday, Grey took a 2-0 lead at the end of the first half with Horoshak scoring the opening goal.  Kyle Swanholm (Orono/junior) and Gus Hendrickson assisted on the play.  The Grey Team held the lead until Red scored three quick goals halfway through the second half.  Connor Mack (Prior Lake/junior) tied the game 3-3 with seven minutes left on the clock, but two late goals lost the game for Grey 5-3.  Sunday against the White Team, Hendrickson scored early in the game to put Grey up 1-0.  Mack scored halfway through the period to put Grey up 2-1.  Grey could not hold the lead as White scored a minute later and tied the game 2-2 at the half.  Late in the second half White scored the game winner as Grey lost 3-2.

Orono’s Will Walz leads the Grey in scoring (5 points) and assists (4) after two weeks.  McNally, Brekken, Storm, and Mack each have 2 goals.  The Grey play Black, Royal and Teal in Week 3.

 

12. Vintage Team (0-3-2): Going into Week 2, the Vintage tied their first two games and were winless and unbeaten.  But three tough outings, losing to the Red 7-1, the Orange 6-1, and the Teal 10-3 dropped them to last place in the league.  In their Wednesday loss to Red played at Orono, the Vintage Team fell behind early 4-1, skated evenly in the last 20 minutes of the half.  Tucker Canon (Edina/senior) scored the lone Vintage goal with Adam Spetz (St. Michael-Albertville/junior) and Carter Wise (St. Michael/Albertville/junior) getting the assists.  Two quick goals by Red in the first minutes of the second half broke the game open as Red won 7-1.  In Saturday’s game, Vintage gave up three late first half goals to trail 4-0 at the break.  Canon got the lone goal for Vintage again late in the game as an improving Orange team won 6-1.  Canon was assisted by Wyatt Zack (New Prague/junior) on his score.  Sunday, Teal jumped to a 4-0 lead in the opening minutes of play.  After Brady Klemmensen (Edina/junior) scored to cut the lead to 4-1 with under seven minutes to play, Teal scored four more times to take an 8-1 lead at halftime.  The second half was evenly played with Wise scoring shorthanded assisted by Ethan Vanden Busch (Lakeville South/junior).  Dominic Musel (Mound Westonka/sophomore) got the final goal of the 10-3 game with Jake Roos (St. Michael-Albertville/junior) and Jacob Lee (New Prague/junior) getting the assists.

Edina’s Tucker Canon leads the Vintage in points (6), assists (3), and is tied with Edina’s Brady Klemmensen in goals (3).  Vintage team has talent, but can’t get the team together.  In Week 3, they will   play Pink, White, and Black.        

Red and Black Spring League Opens Play


Teal's Quinn Schrepel beats Red goalie Zach Dosan to tie their game Sunday 1-1.

Opening Weekend Blizzard

There was a blizzard coming on and everyone was wondering why they were not home Friday and Sunday.  The Red and Black Spring League parents made to the Richfield arena those two days as twelve Spring League games were played.  But many who showed wondered if spring league was a misnomer as “spring” dropped a 14” inch snow driven by blizzard winds on their way to the Richfield Arena.  Saturday games were canceled in deference to the “spring” weather.

Royals and Neon Win Two

Of the twelve Red and Black Spring League games played last weekend at the Richfield Arena, five ended in ties.  One was a super tie as the Teal and Green teams battled to a 10-10 finish.  Two teams, the Royals and the Neon, escaped the spring weather and the gauntlet of ties posting a 2-0-0 unblemished record.  The Green and Yellow Teams each got a tie and win and two teams Teal and Vintage each posted two ties.  Only one team, the Black failed to gain a point in league play this opening weekend.  The league is balanced again this year.   

1.Royals (2-0-0): The Royal Team got scoring from four different players to beat the Red Team in Friday’s game 4-0.  Nick Blood (Holy Family/freshman), Justen Williams (graduating senior Minnetonka), Zach Puterbaugh (graduating senior Tampa Bay Lightning), and Jake Inskeep (Burnsville/senior) each scored a goal.    Goaltender Jake Caron (Minnetonka/junior) shutout the Red Team to earn the 4-0 win.  Thomas Clauson (Chanhassen/senior) posted two assists; Blood added an assist to his total; and five other Royals each got an assist as the Royals won with balanced scoring and playing tough defense supported by good goaltending. 

The Royal Team repeated that play beating Pink 6-2 on Sunday taking a 4-0 lead at the end of the first.  This time, Joe Fodstad (graduating senior MN Mullets) scored two quick goals in the first minute of play to put the Royals up 2-0.  Three minutes later, Williams scored to make a 3-0 lead.  Puterbaugh scored the fourth goal to end the first half with the Royals up 4-0.  Williams figured in three of the four goals, scoring one and assisting on two others.  After Pink cut the lead to 4-2 with 8 minutes left to play, Joe Tucci (Burnsville/junior) scored to put the game away 5-2.  Fodstad scored late in the game to get the hat trick.      

Williams scored once and added two assists to finish the weekend with four points.  Six Royal players put 10 goals in the net opening weekend.  Joe Fodstad (graduating senior MN Mullets) scored a hat trick.  Justen Williams and Zach Puterbaugh each scored twice in the opening weekend games.  Between the defensive play and the stingy goaltending by Caron and Litchfield sophomore Darby Halonen, the Royals gave up just 2 goals.

2. Neon Team (2-0-0): Neon’s Maddux Hagy (Sartell/senior) had a great opening weekend.  The speedy forward posted a six point game scoring four goals including two solo goals in leading the Neon Team to an 8-5 win over Black and Sunday scored the game winner in a 3-2 win over Orange.  Hagy scored two quick goals in the first minutes of the opening half to put Neon up 2-0.  The two goal held until the last five minutes of the half when the two teams traded off goals each team scoring twice to end the opening half with Neon leading 4-2.  Neon’s Caden Phelps (Holy Angels/senior) scored one of the two late first half goals unassisted and Jake Mumm (Sartell/senior) scored the second.  Hagy opened the second half with another solo goal in the first two minutes of play extending Neon’s lead to 5-2.  Black and Neon spent the last 20 minutes of the game trading goals ending the opening game with Neon ahead 8-5.  Magy scored his fourth goal of the game and assisted on the other two.  Ethan Underhill (Delano/senior) and Brock Boerger (Sartell/senior) each scored a goal.  Sunday Neon edged the Orange 3-2 in a defensive game that saw the Orange Team sending only one forward deep for most of the opening half.  But penalties and Hagy hurt the Orange and helped the Neon.  In a close game, one of the Neon goals came on a power play and the winner was delivered by Hagy on a solo rush.  After a shaky half of play in the warmup game, Andrew Knobel-Piehl (Apple Valley/junior) played a good game in the nets for Neon in the 3-2 win. 

Green and Yellow Win and Tie

3. Green Team (1-0-1): After tying Teal in a barnburner Friday 10-10, the Green beat Grey 12-5 on Sunday.  Scoring 22 goals in two games establishes the Green Team as a high scoring team, but can they beat the Royal and Neon Teams, the only other Spring League teams to win both games on opening weekend.  The Green Team senior line of Michael Lindell (6 points 4 goals), Brady Aufderheide (7 points 2 goals), and Aleksi Partio (6 points 3 goals) and scored 9 of the 10 Green Team goals.  The three players posted 19 points.  Ivan Sunder scored a single goal and Carter Hansen picked up a single assist in the 10-10 tie.  

In beating Grey, the Green Team took a 6-2 lead in the first half and cruised to a 12-5 win behind the scoring of Ivan Sunder (5 points/4 assists).  The Green’s Michael Lindell, Brady Aufderheide, and Aleksi Partio went wild in tying Teal Friday.  Sunday they cooled with only Lindell (two assists) and Aufderheide (two goals and one assist) posting points in the 12 goal win.

With Sunder leading the way, Green pulled out to a 5-0 lead.  Sunder assisted on two goals and scored one in the first 10 minutes of Sunday’s game.  Michael Schroeder (Mound Westonka/junior), Hunter Greshowak (Minnehaha Academy/junior), Mitch Krebsbach (Mound Westonka/sophomore), and Aufderheide each scored in that five goal run.  Jayce Hopia (Minnetonka/senior) posted four assists.  Aufderheide got his second goal as the clock wound down in the first period.  Grey scored to open the second half to cut Green’s lead to 6-3, but then Green went on another goal scoring spree netting four pucks in five minutes to put the game away 10-3 with 13 minutes left to play.  Greshowak scored to make it a 7-3 game; Trent Bowe (Mound Westonka/sophomore) scored 8-3 game; Schroeder scored to make it a 9-3 game; and Krebsbach scored to make a 10-3 game.  Jacob Gutekunst (Mound Westonka/junior) and Luke Holmen (Mound Westonka/senior) got the final two Green Team goals.

Brady Aufderheide, Michael Lindell, and Aleksi Partio are graduating seniors playing in the Spring League and doing well based on the opening weekend of play.  All three Whitehawks are debating their hockey futures while finishing their senior year at Mound Westonka.  Two Minnehaha players, junior Hunter Greshowak and sophomore Ivan Sunder, have added to the depth of the Green team tremendously.  Greshowak has a rifle for a shot and with his size plays a powerful wing.  Sunder combines the play of a hard checking center with a quick shot/pass that puts him in the action at either end of the ice.  Aufderheide finished the weekend leading the Green in scoring with 10 points 4 goals, Lindell posted 8 points 4 goals, Partio scored 6 points 3 goals, Sunder posted 6 points 2 goals, aqnd Greshowak scored twice with his cannon shot.       

4. Yellow Team (1-0-1): After beating White 6-5 Friday, Yellow tied Vintage 7-7.  The opening half of Friday’s game was played to a 3-3 tie.  Yellow’s Ben Wilary (Eagan/junior) scored three minutes into the game to put Yellow up 1-0.  After the White Team scored twice, Yellow’s Aidan White (Eagan/junior) knotted the game 2-2 scoring unassisted with seven minutes left to play.  Cole Gibson (Eagan/junior) scored a minute later assisted by 12 to give Yellow the lead.  A White goal with a minute left in the half tied the game 3-3.  Two quick goals by Tom O’Neill (St. Thomas Academy/junior) scored a minute apart with 14 minutes left to play put Yellow up 5-3.  O’Neill’s goals were unassisted.  White narrowed the score to 5-4, but with six minutes left to play, Cooper Schumacher (Hill-Murray/junior) scored what proved to be the game winner putting Yellow up 6-4.

In another high scoring game played Sunday at Richfield, Yellow and Vintage tied 7-7.  Yellow led Vintage 7-5 with less than five minutes to play.  Players are learning to adjust to playing the defense in the first sets of Spring League games.  Taking away the ability to use their body on hard checks leads to higher scores.  The defense will struggle until they learn the rubs instead of the hard checks along the board or how to defend against the rush in open ice by moving their skates first and not their upper body.  Yellow took a 7-5 lead late in Sunday’s game on a goal by defenseman Ben Wilary.  But the defense gave up two goals in the last minutes of the game and Yellow escaped with a tie 7-7.  Until the defenders catch up, the offense will have the advantage when game comes down to getting that last minute score.


Minnehaha Academy's Hunter Greshowak watches the puc,k billowing in the net on this goal against the Grey Sunday.

White, Teal, and Vintage Win 2 Points

5. White Team (1-1-0): White lost their opening game to Yellow 6-5 and won Sunday 6-3 beating the Black Team.  Beau Courneya (Breck/sophomore) posted two goals and one assist in the loss; Wade Winter (Prior Lake/senior) had two assists and a goal; and Matthew Riley (Prior Lake/senior) had two assists.  Max Emerson (Prior Lake/junior) and Britt Courneya (Mound Westonka/senior) each scored a goal and Zach Simmons (Mound Westonka/senior) had one assist.  White beat Black 6-3 on Sunday with Jacob Hanson (Breck/sophomore) assisting on four of the six goals scored.  After nearly 20 minutes of scoreless play, Britt Courneya scored to put White up 1-0.  Three minutes later, Jean Marc Johnson (Prior Lake/senior), scored unassisted to put White up 2-1 and to end the first half scoring.  Beau Courneya and Simmons assisted on the first score.  All of Hanson’s assists came in the second half of play.  Hanson triggered all four White scores.  He set up Riley for two goals halfway through the second half to put White up 4-2; set up Beau Courneya for the third score and Johnson for the final White score in their 6-3 win over Black.    

6. Teal Team (0-0-2): The Teal Team tied the Green on Friday 10-10 in a wide open high scoring game that broke even the norms of the league.  After the first 10 minutes of the opening half, the game was scoreless.  Four goals were scored in the next three minutes with Teal falling behind 3-1.  Nathan Bauer (Andover/junior) scored the first Teal goal unassisted.  Teal’s Michael Clough (Andover/junior) scored two quick goals to tie the game 3-3.  Tom Mullins (Minneapolis/senior) scored to tie the game 4-4.  Clough scored again with four minutes left in the half to put Teal up 5-4 only to have Green tie it with one second left in the opening half.  In the first ten minutes of the second half the Teal took a 10-8 lead on two goals by Clough and three three goals by Minneapolis players (senior Martin Keehn, junior Nick Wombacher, and junior Sam Moreno).  In the last minutes of the second half, the Green Team stormed back to tie the game 10-10.  Clough finished the game with four goals; Keehn posted two goals and one assist; and Ryan Wagner (Minneapolis/junior) had three assists.

In Sunday’s 3-3 tie with the Red, three different Teal players scored.  Quinn Schrepel (Minnetonka senior), Brody Witta (Minnetonka junior), and Tyler Noble (Jefferson junior) each scored.  Schrepel put the Teal up 3-2 with 15 minutes left in the game.

7. Vintage Team (0-0-2): Vintage tied Grey 2-2 and tied Yellow 7-7.  They joined Teal with two ties in their two games played on opening weekend.  The “Old Gold” tied Grey 2-2 Friday.  Vintage built a 2-0 lead in the first half on goals by Tucker Canon (Edina/senior) and Carter Wise (St. Michael/Albertville junior), but could not hold the lead in good up and down fast paced game with good goaltending.  Sunday, the Vintage trailed Yellow 7-5 late in the game and needed two last minute scores to tie 7-7.

Red, Grey, Pink, and Orange Win a Point

8. Red Team (0-1-1): After losing to the Royals 4-0, the Red Team tied Teal 3-3 Sunday.   In Sunday’s 3-3 tie with the Teal, Toby Curtiss scored twice including the tying goal with nine minutes left.  Curtiss will be a junior next fall at Benilde-St. Margaret’s.  Jefferson senior Ryan Maney had two assists in Sunday’s game with the Teal Team.  The Red defense played well in both games led by a combination of Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Shakopee, and Jefferson players who will be contending for varsity slots next fall.  Jake Pakkala (Shakopee/senior) used his size to dominate on defense in his defensive corner for the Red in both opening weekend games.  The Red defense played well and has good overall size, but the Red forwards struggled to mesh together.  Part of the reason is they were going up against a tough Royal team in their opener and a solid Teal team in their Sunday game.         

9. Grey Team (0-1-1): After tying Vintage 2-2 on Friday, the Grey showed up with a short bench in the first half of their Sunday game with Green.  In Friday’s game, Grey had to come back to get the tie.  After trailing 2-0 for most of the first half, Corey McNally (Prior Lake/senior) scored to cut the Old Gold’s lead to 2-1 at half time.  Nick Strand (Shakopee/sophomore) got the assist.  Nolan Tichy (Orono/junior) got the tying goal with 15 minutes left to play in the second half.  Will Walz (Orono/senior) and Kyle Swanholm (Orono/junior) assisted on Tichy’s score.  Sunday, the Grey lost to Green 12-5.  They fell behind 6-2 at the end of the first half and lost 12-5 to Green.  Most likely the third wave of the weekend blizzard got to the Grey players.  Eleven showed for the opening half of play at the Richfield Arena.  Andrew Strom (Prior Lake/junior) and Aaron Brekken (Orono/junior) each scored two goals in the lost to Green.  John Kettle (Shakopee/sophomore) got the fifth goal.  Will Walz picked up two more assists, Tichy added an assist, Connor Mack (Prior Lake/junior), and Jonah Reed (Prior Lake/junior) each got an assist in the loss to Green.      

10. Orange Team (0-1-1): Orange tied Pink 6-6 Friday and lost a tight game to Neon 3-2 Sunday.  Orange built a 4-1 lead in the first half against the Pink Team getting goals from four different players.  Parker Long scored first to put the Orange up 1-0 with Jackson Studebaker and Marco Bianchi getting assists.  The Orange scored three times within three minutes as the first half was ending with Michael Morrow and Riley Deuber scoring unassisted and Lucas Blofield scoring with assists from Connor Guillermette and Bianchi.  The Orange defense held on as the two teams traded goals through the first 20 minutes of the second half.  Morrow scored to keep Orange up by three 5-2 with Dueber and Ryan Hadland getting the assists.  Luke Schmidt with assists from Long and Thomas Wilkie kept the lead 6-4 until the final four minutes.  The Orange defense struggled in the waning minutes giving up two goals ending the game in a 6-6 tie.  Sunday’s game with the Neon turned into a defensive battle as Orange focused on a counterattack game turning the puck off Neon forwards rushes by defending four across in neutral ice.  It worked, slowing Neon’s speedy forwards in the neutral zone and turning their own forwards wide on attacks.  Orange lost by narrowest of margins 3-2 in a well-played game. 

11. Pink Team (0-1-1): After tying Orange 6-6 in Friday’s opener, Pink lost to the Royal Team 6-2.  Pink fell behind Orange 4-1 in the first half with defenseman Dakotah Heimerl (South St. Paul/senior) scoring the lone Pink goal.  Andrew Selby (Woodbury/junior) got the assist.  Led by Isaac Oleson’s two goals, Pink narrowed the gap to 5-4 in the opening minutes of the second half.  Drake Gieseke scored one minute into the second half to cut the Orange lead to 4-2; Mikhail Greeley scored to cut the Orange lead to 5-3 and Oleson scored his first goal to make it a 5-4 game with five minutes to play.  Orange got their sixth score to lead 6-4 with under four minutes to play.  That set up a last minute comeback by the Pink on goals by Oleson and Carter Robinson (Simley/sophomore) to tie the game 6-6.  Robinson’s tying goal came with one minute left on the clock.

After tying the Orange Team, Pink played the early season favorite Royal Team on Sunday losing 6-2.  Two Woodbury players scored the two Pink team goals.  Dylan Felth (Woodbury/junior) scored the first goal on the Royal team in league play and Ben Tschida, another Woodbury junior,. scored the second.  Both goals came late in the game.  Robinson assisted on Felth’s goal.  The two Pink goals were the only goals given up by the Royal defense in the opening weekend.              

Black Has Two Tough Games

12. Black Team (0-2-0): Black lost twice on the opening weekend; losing to Neon on Friday 8-5 and to White on Sunday 6-3.  Nick Ladas (Eden Prairie/senior) posted three points two goals in the 8-5 loss; Oliver Jorgenson (Eden Prairie/sophomore) scored a goal and posted an assist; Matt Stuessi (Hopkins sophomore) posted two assists.  Eden Prairie junior Jalen Henkel skated a good game against the Neon Team.  In Sunday’s loss to White, Henkel scored along with Reagan Shepard (Eden Prairie/sophomore) and JJ Martin (Hopkins/senior).  Canyon Pergande had two assists.     

2018 Class AA Preview

Kids today get diminished in many ways.  Adults get tired of pulling their heads out their earphones and getting blank stares.  But the kids then turn around and do something wonderful that touches all those around them.  Going undefeated is always a dream for any team.  For the 2012-2013 Edina PWAA team, that dream came true winning the state title and going undefeated 55-0.  In victory, the Hornet youngsters gave unselfishly.  After the win, the team visited a teammate’s dying brother.  The brother was the Hornet peewees biggest fan.  The team presented him with their state championship trophy that they had worked long and hard to achieve.  That made the whole Hornet team the top PWAA player for that season.

Introduction

The Class AA tourney opens Thursday with four quarterfinal games.  Edina seeded #2 plays Lakeville North in the first quarterfinal game; St. Margaret/Albertville play Duluth East in the second quarterfinal to close out the opening session.  Thursday evening, Hill-Murray plays #1 seeded Minnetonka and Centennial plays St. Thomas Academy.   When the Hornets take the ice to open the tourney, six Edina players from that unbeaten 2012-2013 PWAA team will be on the ice.  They will be closing out their high school careers.  My hat’s off to them.  Their presence at the Xcel Thursday makes the Hornets sentimental favorite in my book.  Their unselfishness five years ago created one good moment in time for Minnesota Hockey.

From Braemar to the Xcel, 5 years from PWAA to Seniors, they meet again

Edina’s PWAA team was not the only team from the 2013 tourney to make the Class AA trip to the Xcel this year.  Centennial, Duluth East, Minnetonka, and St. Michael/Albertville peewees also played in the 2013 PWAA State Tourney.  For years, Edina’s youth hockey association has been one of the largest with usually over 100 Edina peewee aged kids participating in their youth hockey program.  Osseo/Maple Grove, Wayzata, Minnetonka, Centennial, and Eden Prairie youth hockey programs have similar numbers.  Lakeville’s youth hockey program is also large, but splits its participants between Lakeville South and Lakeville North.  Both Lakeville high school teams were in the 1AA finals this year.  North beat South 4-3.  The Lakeville Hockey Association is being represented at the state this year.  North opens the Class AA tourney playing Edina at 11:00 AM Thursday in a match-up that is becoming a State Tourney classic.

In Thursday’s second game in the afternoon bracket, a smaller Duluth East program plays a growing St. Michael-Albertville program.  The Hounds have been a blue collar high school team that just finds a way to win.  The Duluth youth programs were the first to be started in this state.  Their peewee A team made the national tournaments in the late forties and early fifties.  In 2015, Duluth East beat Lakeville North to win the Class AA title in 2015.  This trip to the Xcel will be the first since that championship season.  East’s opponent is St. Michael/Albertville.  The two teams know each other well.  The Knights went from an unknown hockey association to a power house in 2011-2013.  Both Knights Peewee A (and Peewee AA) teams played in the State Tournament games.  The STMA youth hockey program has done a remarkable job.  Though few are likely to believe it, STMA is a strong threat to win the state this year fielding a team of strong seniors led by two sophomores.  They believe it.

These teams have been there before, more than once.

Hill-Murray plays Minnetonka in the opening game of Thursday's evening session at the Xcel.  The final game matches Centennial and St. Thomas Academy.  Eleven of Centennial’s varsity skated on the Centennial 2012-2013 PWAA team.  Most who on the Cougar varsity are seniors and will be graduating.  The Cougars are led by seniors Lucas McGregor and Hayden Brickner.  They were leaders on the 2013 peewee team.  The Centenial Peewee AA team, after playing well in the Regionals, lost to Duluth East in their quarterfinal game five years ago.  They are the hot team winning eight straight after losing 3-2 to Edina and have a hot goalie in Travis Allen who has shutout s in five of those eight games.

The last game of the quarterfinal round matches St. Thomas Academy and Centennial.  The STA team’s core is from the Sibley youth association’s 2012-2013 peewee A team and 2013-2014 peewee AA team.  Sibley's peewee AA team played in the 2014 State Tourney held in Thief River Falls.  Brendan McFadden, Danny Magnuson, Luke Herzog, Luke Williams played for that Sibley team.  Magnuson played for Cretin-Durham Hall this past season.  

Five of this years Class AA tourney teams are stacked with PWAA players who played for their youth hockey association’s PWAA teams in the 2013 tourney.  Lakeville youth association, which splits its players at the youth level between North and South high schools, played in the 2012 Peewee A state tourney.  STA, a private school, has core players on their varsity who played for Sibley in the 2014 PWAA tourney.  The Minnetonka PWAA team made the 2013 State Tourney despite losing around 10 games to Edina.  They played well at Braemar showing poise in holding together playing as a team.   

Only Hill-Murray, another private school, has players rostered from all over the Twin Cities area.  In the 2012-2014 youth hockey times, Edina dominated play.  Minnetonka struggled to beat the Hornets those years.  STMA had a solid team and most are in the state (and the Knights have been strengthened by a pair of strong sophomores. Duluth East peewees could not beat Edina either losing to the Hornets at Bramaer in 2013.  Centennial’s peewees played tough but lost to Duluth East, the Cougars have kept the core of that team intact.  So have things changed five years later?  Will Edina win again?

Preview Quarterfinal Games: Trading Seeds

Game 1: Lakeville North v Edina: For the last 10 years, these two teams have been in the tourney.  The seeding has found them playing each other often.  Both teams have been absent the past two years from the State Tourney.  Both played in the three tourneys before that.  The Hornets won in 2013 and 2014.  Edina drew the higher seed than North and beat the Panthers in both tourneys.  The two teams were on track to meet in the 2015 tourney as the Hornets went for a three-peat, but North got the higher seed and Edina was upset by Duluth East in the semifinals.  North beat East to win the 2015 state title.  This year North has struggled.  They placed third in the South Suburban Conference and are a low seed again with a season record barely above .500 playing a highly seeded Edina.  The rivalry renews.  The Panthers are back to playing Edina in the quarterfinals.

The Hornets may have lost their turbo chargers, but there is still a hemi under the green.

Edina is ranked #1 and has all the power.  The Hornets Demetrios Koumontzis (committed to Arizona State) led the UMHSEL last fall scoring 49 points.  His 33 assists also led the elite league in assists and his 16 goals placed him second in goals scored.  Sam Walker (committed to Minnesota) placed second in the league in points (41) and assists (25).  He finished in a tie with teammate Koumontzis with 16 goals scored.  A third Edina player, Mason Nevers, finished third in points (36) and assists (23).  Jett Jungels (27 points/14 goals) finished in the top six in the league.  Jungels is committed to play for Northern Michigan.  Walker, Jungels, and Lewis Crosby provided the firepower for the Southwest team that won the UMHSEL title last fall.  This past season, Koumontzis, Walker, Nevers, and Jungels are the top goal scorers for Edina with each posting 20 goal seasons (Walker led the team with 28 goals) playing 25 games.  Defenseman Jake Boltmann (committed to Minnesota), Ben Brinkman (committed to Minnesota), Mason Reiners, and Mike Vorlicky (committed to Wisconsin) formed the core defense for the Southwest team that won the 2017 title and are the core defensemen for the Edina team in their quest for a Class AA state title. Jett Jungels along with Liam Malmquist, Bjorn Swanson, Peter Colby, Evan Shoemaker, Max Borst, Mike Vorlicky and goalie Garrett Mackay skated in the Red and Black High School League.  Nevers, Walker, Jungels, Koumontzis, Boltmann, Brinkman, and Crosby were YHH Top 50 peewee A picks.  Koumontzis and Boltman were picked as a YHH Top 50 peewee A.

Edina went high performance last summer; Lakeville went for distance

The Panthers also have players who skated Red/Black and in the UMHSEL on their tourney roster.  Blake Brandt, Garrett Daly (committed to Bowling Green), Carson Sandwick, Gus Brown, and Johnny DuPont all skated Red/Black along with junior goalie Will Johnson.  Johnson was in the net for two of the Panthers Section 1AA wins.  Brandt and Daly each had an assist in the North’s win over South in the Section 1AA finals.  Brandt and Daly skated in the UMHSEL last fall.  Team scoring leader Spencer Schneider and the Panthers #3 scorer Shane Griffin skated for the Minnesota Blades U16 team.  Playing in the Red and Black focuses a player on skills.  No hard checking along the boards allowed-players will be thrown out of the league.  It becomes a wide open game.  Playing for the Blades means playing for a before and after team.  Under USA rules, a team like the Blades form a team and play summer and fall hockey (the before) and reform the team after high school play ends and play in the nationals (the after).  The Panther Red/Blackers may prove more competitive than expected against the Hornets.

The Panther defense is led by seniors including Daly.  During the season, North split the goaltending between Caleb Mayer and Johnson.  The Panther defense will be the decider in this game.  Their offense will struggle matching up to the Hornets depth.  To compete, North’s defense needs to play with discipline especially in the second period on their changes.  If the Panthers can hold it close, they could have a chance in the third to pull out an upset.  Hornets win.     

After an all North 2017 Championship final comes an all North 2018 Quarterfinal

Game 2-St. Michael-Albertville v Duluth East:  It is hard to think of STMA as a northern team, but they are.  After traveling to AMSOIL arena to play in Duluth East in front of a heated crowd to get to state for many years, the Knights were moved to Section 8AA.  STMA won 20 games this season and are on a 12 game win streak including beating Moorhead 6-5 at Bemidji’s Sanford Center.  Goalie Justin Damon was in the nets for that win stopping 28 of the Spuds 33 shots on net.  Sophomores Luc Laylin (44 points/12 goals) and Adam Flammang (47 points/25 goals) combined for three goals in STMA win over the Spuds.  St. Michael/Albertville went from an unknown hockey association to a power house in Minnesota youth hockey with back to back PWA and PWAA State Tourney appearances in 2012 and 2013.  Ten of those peewee A players are on the Knights varsity and play a hard solid game.  Three (Blake Spetz, Garrett Sandberg, and Zach Sjelin) were YHH Top 50 picks in 2013.   But where did the Knights get a pair of sophomores to lead the team in scoring Flammang and Laylin.  Laylin skated for the CCM team (Elite D league all star team) in the UMHSEL playoffs.  The 2013 PWAA STMA team had two goalies rostered.  One was Tyler Klatt and the second goalie was Damon.  Klatt is in the nets for Monticello in the Class A tourney.    

In 2013 State, the Hounds were the surprise but could not beat Edina

Duluth East is led by seniors Luke LaMaster (43 points with an astonishing 39 assists-committed to Wisconsin), Garret Worth (57 points/38 goals), Ian Mageau (46 points/16 goals), and Nick Lanigan (12 points/6 goals).  The 6’2” senior Lanigan was often the catalyst for East’s youth hockey teams.  Juniors Ryder Donovan (58 points/14 goals-committee to North Dakota), Ricky Lyle (34 points/19 goals), and Frederick Hunter Paine (25 points/4 goals) provide depth for the Hounds three lines.  Senior Parker Kleive leads the Hounds in the nets posting a 16-1-2 record stopping 91% of the shots on goal while giving up an average of 1.5 goals a game.

This game is going to be a wild one.  Both teams have depth at forward and defense.  Both teams have talented players that can get hot.  The Hounds should win, but the Knights will make a lot fans in the Thursday afternoon closer.    

The Hill makes the State with losing season record!

Game 3: Hill-Murray v Minnetonka: The people in Skipperland must be going wild over the idea of their #1 ranked team playing #8 ranked Pioneers.   The two teams met once in regular season play and the Skippers won 4-2 in a closer than expected game.  The Skippers were also led by a sophomore, Bobby Brink (committed to Denver) in scoring.  Jack Bayless tied Brink in scoring each with 44 points during regular season, but Joe Molenaar had a great year scoring 27 goals.  Luke Loheit (committed to UMD), Josh Luedtke (committed to Northern Michigan), Teddy Lagerback, Grant Doctor, and Matt Koethe all have had good years.  The core group of this Skipper varsity team also skated in 2013 PWAA tourney and played a solid team game beating STMA peewees and pushing Wayzata to its limits before losing a tough game.  Also pushing the Skippers is the competition they are getting from their association’s bantam AA  team winning the last two state titles.  Bayless, Brink, Molenaar, Doctor, Koethe, Luedtke, and Loheit played last fall in the UMHSEL.  Skippers Andrew Hicks, Koethe, Mitchell McGannon, Dylan Heiam, James Miller, Chad Cousineau, Ryan Elder, and Jayce Hopia skated in the Red and Black.

Where the Skippers have 12 players who have posted 20 points or more, Hill-Murray has three; Ben Helgeson, Michael Fleischhacker, and Brett Oberle.  The Pioneers focused on defense keeping the shot totals low to win Section 4AA.  They held their three opponents to 61 shots and sacrificed their own scoring opportunities.  The Pioneers went with sophomore Remington Keopple in the nets for the three sectional games, but things look bad for the Hill.  Despite that close 4-2 win in regular season, the Skippers win easily.     

Public versus Private

Game 4-Centennial v St. Thomas Academy: The Sibley association went Peewee A in the first split season in 2013 and then managed to lose in the Regionals.  In 2014 they skated Peewee AA and made the state tourney losing to Rochester in the semifinals.  Chase Foley, Brendan McFadden, Luke Herzog, Will Herzog, Luke Williams, and goalie Muzzy Morgan skated for those Sibley youth peewee teams.  Foley, McFadden, and Williams were YHH Top 50 Peewee A picks in 2014.  The Cadets offense has ten player who have posted 20 points or more in regular season play.  They are led by Payton Matsui (54 points/26 goals), Ray Christy (52 points/14 goals), Foley (38 points/17 goals), Rob Christy (30 points/14 goals), Blake Holmes (27 points/6 goals), Brandan McFadden (26 points/9 goals), Ryan O’Neill (23 points/10 goals), and Herzog (20 points/9 goals).  Matsui, Ray Christy, Rob Christy, McFadden, and Foley all skated in the UMHSEL last fall for Southeast.

Centennial’s state tourney team is truly a product of their youth hockey association.  This season’s scoring leaders McGregor (58 points/22 goals) and Brickner (42 points/19 goals) played on Centennial teams.  Carter Wagner (39 points/16 goals), Jack Menne (38 points/20 goals), William Francis (31 points/8 goals), Andrew Stuart (13 points/4 goals), and Luke Arends (12 points/4 goals) all played on Centennial’s PWAA team in the 2013 State Tourney.  From McGregor to Arends that lists the top seven scorers for the team.  Except for junior Francis, all are seniors.  After losing a 3-2 game to Edina, the Cougars have strung eight wins together that include five shutouts.  They will play tough against STA and will beat the Tommies in a great game.

Can #1 and #2 put it away

Semifinals: Duluth East versus Edina, Minnetonka versus Centennial: Edina will pepper goalie Centennial's goalie (most likely Travis Allen) with quick puck movement and weak side shots.  It will be up to the Centennial defense led by Francis and Brouillet to force the play to the outside.  The Cougars offense can move the puck and should be skating three veteran lines.  That provides depth, but is it deep enough to move the puck into the Hornet's zone consistently.  Sometimes keeping the game close can start to create doubt in a goodteam.  A team used to winning is not used to struggling and can fold, but not this Hornet team.  Edina wins.

Minnetonka and Centennial match up so well at the forwards that this game will be decided on pure desire to win.  It would be nice to see a team like Centennial that really represents what Minnesota Hockey, the organization, tries to achieve with its youth programs succeed.  But not Friday evening.  Minnetonka had such great desire to win as peewees and that desire has to exist in this team when they take the ice.  The thought of beating the Hornets for the 2018 state title will erase those 10 or more losses to the Hornets in the 2012-2013 season as peewees.                 

Hit the glass a couple times more and feel the force.  

Championship: Minnetonka versus Edina: At this point in the tourney, the Xcel will be packed.  Minnetonka Blue versus Edina Green; Skippers versus Hornets; Sailors versus Stingers; whatever one calls it, it will be a great game and every hockey fan will want to see it.  What they are most likely to see is an offensive game.  The most goals ever scored in a state championship game is 10.  That record seems low but this game could break it.  The Skippers have beaten the Hornets twice in their three regular season games so the teams know each other.  In each succeeding game played this season, the total shots on goal have gone up (51-58-69).  That happens more often than not in hockey.  Teams get familiar with teams the more they play each other and Edina’s Garrett Mackay and Minnetonka’s Charlie Glockner started all three regular season games.

Edina played that last game in February without Koumontzis and lost 5-3.  Saturday night at the Xcel, Brink and Bayless and Molenaar will come out firing and there goes the record.  In a wild finish, Edina strikes back this time with Koumontzis and wins.

In all the uproar of celebration and noise, for those who knew him, the brother who died, knew he was a Stars Wars fan.  He will be rooting on to win, 2013 State PWAA Championship trophy by his side.  Bang the glass one more time and feel the force.

Epilogue

The 2012-2013 Edina PWAA team was extremely talented.  Nine of the 15 players have moved on and did not play in this week's tourney.  Clayton Phillips left the Hornets after his sophomore season and plays for the Gophers this season.  Tyler Madden moved and is now ranked highly in the upcoming NHL draft playing in the USHL this season.  Grant Silianoff and Jack Lagerstrom are playing on Shattuck St. Mary’s prep team.  It was Jack's brother who died.  Silianoff has committed to play for Notre Dame.  Goalie Andrew Dietrich and Jack Jensen played for Eden Prairie this season; Jensen led Eden Prairie in scoring as junior this year and has committed to play for the Gophers.  Jerome Newhouse skated for Benilde-St. Margarets this season.  Peter Tabor is skating for Waterloo in the USHL.

That leaves six players; Jett Jungels, Bjorn Swanson, Mike Vorlicky, Lewis Crosby, Ben Brinkman, and Liam Malmquist playing for the Edina varsity this year.  My hat’s off to all of them.  Their presence on the ice in this tourney makes many feel better.  Their unselfishness created one good moment in time.    

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By frederick61 03/29/2016, 11:00am CDT

ND and Denver in Frozen Four, Minnesota talent leads the way

This past weekend, the NCAA 2016 Division I Men’s Hockey Championship tournament was played in four different locations the past weekend.  Sixteen teams (including four NCHC teams with Minnesota roots) competed for spots in the Frozen Four, four teams (#1 seeded Quinnipiac, #3 seeded North Dakota, Denver, and Boston College) advanced to the Frozen Four winning a ticket to Tampa.  The four NCHC teams had a shot at three of the Frozen Four spots and won two.  North Dakota beat Michigan 5-2 to win the Midwest Regional and Denver beat Ferris State 6-3 to win the West Regional.  Ferris State upset St. Cloud State 5-4 in overtime in the West knocking one NCHC team out of the running.  The fourth NCHC team, UMD, rallied from a 3-0 deficit to lost 3-2 to Boston College in the Northeast Regional finals.  The four NCHC teams had come within a single goal of sending three NCHC teams to the Frozen Four.  The two NCHC teams will play each other April 7 in the opening round of the Frozen Four assuring that NCHC will have one team playing for the 2016 NCAA national championship.  The NCHC rocks on.

Frozen Faceoff v Big Ten Playoffs

By frederick61 03/20/2016, 12:30pm CDT

Eyes on the prize; Frozen Faceoff slam dunk

This weekend, two college hockey conferences dueled in the Twin Cities.  The NCHC held their Frozen Faceoff at the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis.  The Big Ten Conference held their tournament semifinals at the Xcel.  Both tourneys are aimed at getting seeds to the NCAA big show.  It is a great weekend for Minnesota hockey fans.  Rivalries among the two Twin Cities and their marquee arenas have always existed.  They are part of the Twin Cities life.  But hockey rivalries exist only among the NCHC teams hitting the ice at the Target Center, not among the large Big Ten universities playing at the Xcel.  Though both conferences maybe new, only the Frozen Faceoff is stocked with old team rivalries bound by a small school stubbornness that comes from earning their way to the big time.  The true hockey rivalries remain in the NCHC’s Frozen Faceoff and do not exist in the Big Ten Championship where colleges put football or basketball first (except at Minnesota).  Put the NCHC rivalry fervor behind the Big Ten schools, the Xcel would have overflowed this weekend.  But the fact remains.  Hockey played at the Xcel is played by teams that have underachieved for the second year in a row playing each other where the hockey played at the Target Center excelled played NCHC teams that have excelled playing each other.  Who says so?  The NCAA Selection Committee.

PWAA State Tourney Preview

By frederick61 03/08/2016, 4:30pm CST

Henry Nelson (#12) leads OMG in quest for PWAA Title

The Peewee AA State Tournament field this year has four teams from the combined District 3/District 5/District 6 Peewee AA league (Edina, Osseo/Maple Grove, Eden Prairie, and Prior Lake).  One team (Cottage Grove) is from District 8 and one team (Elk River) is from District 10.  Two teams are from northern Minnesota’s District 11 (Cloquet and Duluth East).  The teams are ranked by YHH’s NOW ranking system in the following order: #1 OMG, #2 Edina, #3 Eden Prairie, #4 Cottage Grove, #5 Elk River, #8 Cloquet, #12 Duluth East, and #14 Prior Lake.  Prior Lake won the state peewee AA crown in 2015 and is the defending champion.  This post reviews the tournament that will open play at Grand Rapids’ IRA Civic Center this Friday, March 11.  The two top ranked teams in the state, OMG and Edina, will play each other in the opening game at noon (12:00 PM) Friday.  This post previews that tournament.

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