1. Holy Family (10-0) 

The Fire's charmed season continues with wins over top-10 teams Bemidji and Moorhead over the weekend on a northern swing. The gauntlet continues this week with a Wright County Conference game against Hutchinson, then top-10 tilts with Benilde-St. Margaret's and Centennial/Spring Lake Park. 

2. Hill-Murray (11-1) 

The best way to shake off the first loss of the season? Blitz a trio of overmatched conference opponents by a combined score of 24-3. Final scores aside, the Pioneers outshot Simley, Cretin-Derham Hall, and St. Paul/Two Rivers 208-20, including a 78-shot performance against the Raiders if box scores are to be believed.

Two side notes… 

Kudos to CDH's Grace Kemp, who stopped 72 of those 78 shots on goal. Double-kudos to St. Paul/Two Rivers, which scored as many goals (3) against the Pioneers as state powers Edina, Moorhead, and Holy Family. 

Is it time for Hill-Murray to explore an Independent schedule in girls' hockey? Will discuss further on this week's Her Ice. 

3. Centennial/Spring Lake Park (10-1-1) 

The Cougars leapfrog Minnetonka and Edina, given how their matchup against the common opponent, Edina, played out over the last week. 

The Cougars edged River Cities 4-3, then trounced Edina 5-1 and Eastview 7-1 to conclude the week with three wins. Robbinsdale Armstrong/Cooper and top-ranked Holey Family are on deck this week. 

4. Minnetonka (7-0-2) 

The Skippers beat Eden Prairie 8-1 and tied Edina 4-4 on Saturday, scoring twice in the last six minutes of regulation to force overtime and a subsequent tie with the Hornets. The Minnetonka power play, which converted twice in seven tries against the Hornets, is clicking along at a 35.5% success rate. 

5. Edina (5-3-1)

After losing to Centennial/Spring Lake Park and watching a 4-2 lead over Minnetonka be picked away by a pair of Skipper goals in the last few minutes of Saturday's games, the Hornets are 5-3-1 in their first nine games. That pedestrian record is only one game off the first nine games of their 2023-2024 season, when the Hornets went 6-2-1 and ended up winning the state championship.  

Long season, Hornets will be fine. 

6. Bemidji (7-1) 

I don't like promoting teams that lost the week before the current rankings, but I can't reward Maple Grove after losing to unranked Wayzata, and the Lumberjacks own the head-to-head metric after beating Benilde-St. Margaret's earlier in the season. 

Outside of a three-goal first period, the Lumberjacks hung with top-ranked Holy Family, sending 26 shots on goal and coming within one until Addy Cowan's empty-netter made it 4-2. Going 0-6 on the power play didn't help in the loss, but Bemidji should be considered the leader in Section 8AA, and is knocking on the door of the top five. 

7. Benilde-St. Margaret's (7-2) 

Down 1-0 after the first period, the Red Knights exploded for four goals in the second en route to a 5-2 win over Northfield in their lone (scored) game last week. The scheduled Saturday game with Proctor/Hermantown is mysteriously missing from the Girls' Hockey Hub, but Edina, Holy Family, and Farmington are scheduled for this week.

8. Wayzata (8-2-1) 

After hanging with top-10 mainstays Benilde-St. Margaret's and Minnetonka, the Trojans got their signature win, edging Maple Grove 2-1 in a fabulous goaltending clinic put on by Wayzata's Kylie Jaksha and Maple Grove's Bella Prosser. 

Jaksha stopped 40 of 41 shots in the win, improving the senior's numbers to a 1.56 goals-against-average and a .948 save percentage. 

Jaksha arrived at Wayzata this season after putting together a decorated career in Butte, Montana, where she played for a Boys High School Junior Varsity squad and guided the Montana Wolves (Girls 19U) to the 2025 Tier II USA Hockey National Championships. 

9. Maple Grove (7-3) 

A 3-0 win over Andover keeps Maple Grove in the top-10 this week, but by a skate lace. Edina comes to the Maple Grove Community Center this week, giving the Crimson an outside shot and moving back into the top five with a win. 

10. Andover (6-5) 

The Huskies bounced back after the loss to Maple Grove with a 4-1 win over Blaine, a game that was tied at 1-1 until the 4:33 mark of the third period. Northwest Suburban Conference rival Elk River and No. 2-2A Hill-Murray are up next this week. 

Note: the Huskies have a 3-2 win over other No. 10-2A candidate Moorhead as a "tiebreaker" for this week's rankings. 

I will spare you, dear readers, from 700 words telling you what I can summarize in just a few lines. 

The top six will not change in Class A this week. 

Everybody (except Breck) did what they are supposed to do - win games. Additionally, Proctor/Hermantown’s win over 2-7-1 Hibbing/Chisholm is not enough to convince me that the Mirage should move ahead of the Mustangs, whose loss came against top-ranked Warroad by a score of 3-1.

1. Warroad (9-2) 
2. Dodge County (8-2) 
3. Blake (9-2) 
4. Orono (7-4) 
5. Breck (7-2) 
6. Proctor/Hermantown (6-3-1) 

Moving on… 

7. Albert Lea (7-2) 

The Tigers move ahead of Marshall after an 11-2 win over Mankato West and Marshall’s loss to Westonka/Southwest Christian, but these teams will likely be interchangeable for the rest of the season. 

A top-10 battle between the Tigers and Mankato East on Tuesday will be one of the marquee sporting events in southern Minnesota this year. Ignore your children’s Christmas pageants. They’ll forgive you if Santa brings enough down the chimney. Go to this game.

8. Marshall (11-2) 

Marshall comes back to earth after a less-than-challenging four wins over Fairmont, Luverne, South Central, and Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato, falling to Westonka/Southwest Christian 3-2 on enemy ice. 

No. 3-1A Blake and Minnesota River are on tap this week, with the Bears representing yet another chance for the Tigers to climb in the rankings. 

9. Mankato East (9-0-1) 

Don’t pound your keyboard just yet, Cougar fans. 24 hours after these rankings are published, the Cougars will get a shot at No. 7-1A Albert Lea. Should your beloved black-and-gold win that game, they’ll certainly rise in the rankings. 

10. Westonka/Southwest Christian (5-3-1) 

The win over Marshall is nice, but the loss to unranked Delano/Rockford stings. No. 4-1A Orono, No. 5-1A Breck are on this week’s schedule, and No. 9-2A Maple Grove is slated for next Monday. Chances to move on up to the east side, indeed.

We had some movement in the top-3 this week. Blaine-Rogers falls to OMG in the finals of the Grand Rapids tournament Sunday. The trade spots at #2 and #3. 

Moorhead falls to Thunder Bay in their home tournament yesterday. Thunder Bay knocks off two MN T10 teams, Moorhead and Duluth to grab a Spud trophy.

We have a relatively easy week this week. Teams did what they were supposed to or did not play. While we are still waiting for more data points in this division things are starting to shape up. While Chaska/Chanhassen may have lost this week, their body of work last week helps them retain this spot over others. Teams better be on the lookout as teams look to sneak into the Top 10 and we have our eye on Roseville/Mahtomedi who is coming in just outside the Top 10 with a 10-2 record.

Not a lot of movement this week in 12A. Number two Wayzata goes to Marshall and comes home with hardware. Adeline Joseph scores three in their championship win. 

Speaking of District three powerhouses, OMG won five straight to capture a Moose Goheen (white polar bear statue) trophy. Audriana King led the Leafbirds with six goals and seven points.

This one got a little tough to rank this week. The op spot was easy enough but after that we had to make some tough decisions. Orono/Westonka gets the bump to #2 after Hutchinson and Minnetonka Black stumbled in their games. Now #4 Cannon River slides up with their win over #5 Hutchinson this week. White Bear Lake picked up a nice win over Roseville/Mahtomedi Navy to move up 4 places.

Our first crack at the 10U level was tough. Still a lot of incomplete data points. Orono-Westonka has the strongest schedule and some high quality wins so far. 

Hopkins-Park took home some hardware this weekend from Brainerd. The Nordics went 4-0, outscoring their opponents 30-6 - they are #7 this week. 

Edina has two teams in the top-5 - if you see them on your schedule, buckle your chinstrap!

Well here is our first crack at the rankings. This will likely have a lot of shakeup within the next two weeks as more and more teams get games in. Waseca comes in at #1 in our first poll via a win over #2 Mankato on November 30th. Mankato wins the Cardinals Classic in Willmar with five convincing wins.

Inver Grove Heights/Eagan Blue comes in at #3 defeating a couple teams below them in the rankings. Rosemount joins them in the Top 10 from District 8 slotting in at #8.