The Summer Festival at Braemar kicked off Friday on Ikola Way. The festival is always an entertaining sneak peek at next Winter's boys high school hockey landscape. Any bold predictions as a result of the festival would be folly. That said, an astute observer can learn a thing or two watching teams form for the first time without 2018-19 seniors, see new faces and see any transfers that trickle onto rosters. Here are five things we saw/learned Friday.

1. Transfer - Conor Mahony has left Shattuck-St. Mary's and will attend Blake. The highly skilled forward from Lakeville will add serious punch to the Bears already potent lineup.
2. New coaches - Besides seeing Trent Eigner (St. Thomas Academy) and Jake Taylor (Lakeville North), we saw former Wild star Stephane Veilleux behind the bench as an assistant coach with Holy Family.
3. Northern Exposure - Grand Rapids, Cloquet and Duluth East all won Friday. Section seven looks to be strong again this year.
4. Mr. Hockey Guys - Saw two Mr. Hockey finalist locks Friday. Matt Gleason (CDH) and Garrett Pinoniemi (Holy Family). 
5. Section 6AA - The best section title will again be 6AA. Blake will roll out its best team in years and could be a top 10 team. Couple the Bears with section finalist Benilde, Wayzata and defending state champ Edina and Cretin, 6AA will be a fun one to follow this winter.