September brings a chill in the air, fall colors, football and for a youth hockey writer a chance to cover a pre-season game or two that matters.  Well, on paper they don’t matter, but if you go to Velocity and see the rosters for their 3v3 tournaments, they matter.  Last fall, we saw some crazy action at the Bantam (Edina, winner), PeeWee (Edina, winner) and Squirts (Stillwater, winner).

Last weekend favorite Elk River took home the prized t-shirt, this will it will be Edina (no prediction this week for first, but rather who will finish second). The Edina team returns several second year players from an undefeated season at the PeeWee AA level (Silianof, Brinkman, Jungels, Jensen…), that alone puts that atop this pool of teams. The Hornets have experience (they won last year), speed (watch for water bugs Malmquist, Nevers and Vorlicky these 3 can fly) and a will to win.

Now that is out of the way, let’s focus on the other nine teams contending.  We examined the submitted rosters this week and have made some interesting observations that could affect the standings:
 
The Bottom Pool (Red)
 
Edina…see above.
 
Elk River a very big team two years ago, despite being very young. We expect this team to be better suited for the the full sheet.  Who knows, the Elks did well at the Bantam level last weekend.
 
Roseville  these guys could be very, very good this year. Nik Norman is a player to watch for the Raiders.  They are well coached and have a great supporting cast.
 
Stillwater - an unusually large roster will hurt this team. The Ponies have 13 skaters rostered, hopefully due to Fall commitments.  Look for Mitch Novak and Cody Berger to make some noise this weekend.
 
Minnetonka - a team that struggled early two years ago as Squirt but finished really strong.  With the addition of ’00 superstars Josh Leudtke and Jack Bayless, the Skippers may be a really good team this weekend at Velocity.  Had they not been in the wrong bracket, this team could make a case for the second best team in the tournament.
The Top Pool (Black)

Chaska/Chan, Eden Prairie, Mankato, Maple Grove and Rosemount.
A very deep pool with four teams that will battle for first, meaning each game has a lot of value.

Rosemount has a bunch of talent, both young and old.  They have size and speed and a group of gritty competitors. Watch for second year’s Noah Berg and Jackson Sabo to have good weekends.  Another “kid” to watch is Luke Levandowski, 3v3 was made for this little sniper.

Eden Prairie should be great this weekend.  They return second year kids Spencer Rudrud, Keegan Langfels, and Sam Wilhite.  These 3 should tickle the twine quite a bit for the Eagles. Having Robbie Wolfe in the nets will be a huge bonus for these guys down the stretch.

Chaska/Chan as Squirts two years ago, this was a tough group to predict…this team too will be hard to figure in 3v3.  This is a young roster. The CC PWAA team will be young but very talented.  YHH favorite, Bobby Brink, will be someone the other team will have to contain.

Maple Grove another team with a very young roster this weekend.  Second year PWAA returners Trevor Janicke, Trevor Kukkonen, Nick Latvala and Alec Zjedlik should carry the load for the Crimson. Janicke stood out late this Summer for the EuroAmerican Red AAA team.

The Call: Don the Car guy picked Maple Grove to finish second.  I’m going on record to say Rosemount will advance to the finals versus Edina.  This team is very strong with a lot of experience and skill top to bottom.