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2013 Select 15 Top 54 Forwards (Part 4 of 5)

By frederick61, 05/14/13, 7:15AM CDT

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00236 Austen Long (green center of picture) holds off the District 12 defense while taking a shot on the net at the Festival. The snow covered puck can be barely seen by the goalie’s stick blade. The shot grazed the goalie’s left leg pad and went off left

This is part 4 of what was to be four posts on this site covering the Select 15’s.  Because Part 4 was becoming a long post, YHH has decided to divide the post. Part 4 covers select 15 players going to St. Cloud by high school sections 5A, 6A, 6AA, and 7AA.  The new Part 5 will cover Sections 7A, 8AA, 8A, and Shattuck-St. Mary’s.

Both posts are focused on northern Minnesota.  Part 4 covers the sections in eastern and northeastern Minnesota.  Part 5 covers the sections in western and northwestern Minnesota.

At a rink last week, YHH mentioned writing a post about northern Minnesota.  A person listening asked why YHH was writing about his hometown.  Evidently there is a Northern, Minnesota.   And of course, it is just north of Bemidji.
Note: If a player is a freshman, sophomore or junior on the junior varsity, the size of the senior class will likely affect his chances of moving from jv to varsity the following year.  That would seem obvious to most people.  What is not obvious is that most high school coaches consistently will fill their roughly 18 skater varsity roster with 14 seniors and juniors and not draw bantams and jv freshmen beyond four or so unless there are exceptions.

In these posts we are talking about players evaluated by Minnesota hockey who have made the top 100 or so 15 year old players in the state.  They are the potential exceptions usually playing last season as eighth or ninth graders.  Those select players have to overcome the tendency for varsity coaschs to select returning varsity players (sophmores/juniors) plus players from the previous season’s junior varsity to fill out 14 the varsity skaters.  Openings for the 4 to 5 of last season’s eighth and ninth grade players on the varsity team is tough to make.

Since YHH is on the topic of bantam numbers, in the 2011-2012 season, Wayzata Association evenly split their peewee A’s and both peewee teams had good seasons.  Two years later (this fall) Wayzata is abound with bantam aged talent on their high school team and they skated eight bantam teams at the youth level totaling around 120 bantams.

Last season Wayzata went to uneven split (AA and A) and had about 120 kids playing on 9 peewee teams.

Hermantown had 43 bantam players last year.  About 20 players will move to the high school team.  This has been a regular stream from the association.  The varsity coaches have been managing the incoming bantams well resulting in almost all of their varsity players the last few years coming from the association.  They take advantage of their limited resources and even use Hermantown’s zip code in their press briefings.

Wayzata and Hermantown Associations have two contrasting approaches.  It will be interesting to watch how these two high schools (Wayzata and Hermantown) do in the next year.

One quirk (there is always a quirk), the Trojans and the Hawks wear the same colors and have very similar uniforms.  That drives the YHH camera mad.

Section 5A

00212.  D4 (#18 Gray) Conner Gagnon (5’9″/133lbs)/R/Spring Lake Park Bantam A)-Gagnon took the District 4 route to St. Cloud.  That usually means he didn’t make the District 10 select 15 team and tried out for District 4 selects because D4 was short players.  He is not the first to do this.  Gagnon had a good Festival and having a good St. Cloud Camp will help back at Spring Lake Park.

From an YHH perspective, Gagnon is a bonus to the Spring Lake Park.  Gagnon skated with Nick Heid, Deven Sunell, Noah Bormann, and goalie Jonathan Albers/Centennial on the Spring Lake Park peewee team.  He was always a player that had possibilities and his emergence, like peewee A teammate Austen Long, just demonstrates what is often posted on this site, youth hockey is about development and that often takes the good kids time to become players to be watched.

00236.  D10 (#28 Green) Austen Long (5’10″/165lbs/R/Spring Lake Park Varsity)-YHH has watched Austen play many games as a peewee.  He was not that good.  His play was lost among Panthers who simply had better skills.  At the Festival, Long not only belonged on the ice, he was easily one of the top forwards there.  In District 2’s Select 15 team’s first preliminary game against a good District 3 team, Long (and his line of 00238 Cody Mclean/Centennial and Ryan Johnson/Totino Grace) dominated play when they hit the ice, locking up D3 in the White’s zone for minutes at a time.

If a fan visualizes where a center should be to counteract the opponent or to take the initiative and projected that on to Long’s play in that game, Long would have scored a 95 out of a 100, meaning he was where he should be 95% of the time and he was effective.

What YHH likes best about Long’s great play at the Festival and making the trip to St. Cloud, it proves what our site has been saying and it is worthwhile repeating-youth hockey is about development and kids can develop at any time and sometimes, it seems, overnight.

Long should do well at St. Cloud.  Last season, he was the Spring Lake Park varsity’s leading scorer (42 points, 23 goals).  The Panthers had three players in the top 10 scorers in the North Suburban (Long, Pete Sienko, and Deven Sunell).  Their top eight scorers are returning, but they lose three defensemen through graduation.

Spring Lake Park has a number of hp players in their pipeline and with the re-alignment, Spring Lake Park comes up in the roses (Kentucky Derby influence).  They moved from Section 4A where they were seeded sixth last year behind St. Thomas Academy, Mahtomedi, Totino Grace, St. Paul Academy, and Chisago Lakes.  The Panthers moved to Section 5A where Hermantown, Rogers, and St. Cloud Cathedral had just left.  As a result, based on last year’s ratings, Spring Lake Park will start the season knotted for the #2 ranking in Section 5A with Chisago Lakes and Providence Academy not far behind Princeton.  But Princeton has only one HP player in the pipeline.  Chisago Lakes and Providence have none.

Princeton loses their top scorers through graduation this coming year plus key defensemen.  Look for the Panthers to make state this year.

Section 6AA

The real story in Section 6AA select 15’s is where are the Red Knights?  Benilde-St. Margaret’s has five HP-16 players but no players in the select 15 this year.  Wayzata has seven HP-16 players and seven in the select 15 this year.  Six of the seven Wayzata select 15 players are headed to St. Cloud.  As YHH said before, Wayzata will be loaded next fall.  With only six players graduating from last year’s Class AA state tourney, the seven tenth graders and one ninth grader plus the six returning juniors on that team will be joined by seven more select 15 players to battle it out for the 20 varsity spots.  That does not include any jv players who are likely to make the team next fall.

00208.  D3 (#37 White) Matthew Nelson (5’11″/150/L/Wayzata Bantam AA)-Nelson is another tough Trojan from their NOW ranked #1 bantam AA state tourney team last March.  From a peewee on, Nelson always seems to be in the middle in front of the net, usually controlling the puck, and trying to do something.  He had a good Festival and it is no surprise to see him going to St. Cloud.

00209.  D3 (#43 White) Luke Paterson (6’0″/155lbs/R/Wayzata Bantam AA)-Paterson uses his size and positions his body well especially in close contact.  He has that knack to get “open” to get the shot off or gain control of the puck.  Patterson is just a tough all-around player who has really improved over the last two years.  He should do well at St. Cloud.

00210.  D3 (#46 White) William Rooney III (5’7″/150lbs/R/Cooper Varsity)-“Trey” Rooney lead the Cooper Varsity in scoring as a ninth grader scoring 41 points (14 goals) last season.  He continued to score in the Festival.  Rooney is a smart forward that knows how to hang on to the puck and how to hang tough in front of the nets.  He is more of a position player, always anticipating puck movement, and setting up his teammates.

Cooper and Robinsdale Armstrong played the opening round of Section 6AA hockey, Armstrong won 9-2.  The Cooper Hawks are a young team, they graduate only two players, but their pipeline looks thin.

The Robinsdale Cooper have a shared youth program with Robinsdale Armstrong and are often referred to by YHH as Armstrong on this site.  The Armstrong team skated bantam A last season and finished second to the Wayzata Bantam A team (OMG and Wayzata bantam AA teams played in the same league but did not play a full schedule and could not have won the title).  They took the #2 seed to the West Regional, but could not get by Detroit Lakes to get to state.

With District 3 heavily dominated by Wayzata and OMG players at the Select 15 level and with Section 6 HP-16 team heavily dominated by Benilde-St. Margaret’s and Wayzata, no Hawk (or Falcon) made either those two teams.  Still the Armstrong/Cooper Association has produced some good players in the past.

The problem Cooper has is they are in a section that is top heavy with good high school programs (Wayzata, Benilde, Minnetonka, and Eden Prairie) so it is likely in the next few years, Cooper and Armstrong will continue to open Section 6 tourney play.

00211.  D3 (#47 White) Mark Senden (5’10″/165lbs/L/Wayzata Bantam AA)-Senden has been outskating or breaking down the opponent’s defense at the blue line since he was a peewee.  He is always the opportunist, looking for goal scoring chances and will often accelerate through a defensive pair and still control the puck to get the shot off and to score.  His scoring abilities are not his only attributes.  Senden is a solid skater, not easy to knock off the puck, back checks, and has the knack to set up teammates for goals.  He will pile up assists as well as goals over a season.

00219.  D6 (#32 Red) Brendan Skarda (5’7″/140lbs/R/Minnetonka Bantam AA)-The evaluators at the Festival must have liked tough, because Skarda fits right in with Nelson and Senden.  Similar skating abilities and plays with that same type of toughness in the offensive zone. Skarda should end up on the Skipper’s varsity next year, but a good St. Cloud camp could help him elsewhere.

The Skippers’ varsity team won the Lake Conference beating Class AA state champs to be, Edina, twice in conference play.  Then seeded #2 in Section 6AA, the Skippers lost to #3 seed Wayzata.  Twelve Skippers will graduate this spring including 9 of the Skipper’s top 10 scorers- leaving the door wide open for Skarda next fall.

The trouble is the Skipper Varsity will be facing a returning Benilde core that will keep the Red Knights strong, a potential super team in Wayzata, an always tough Eden Prairie team, and a young Holy Family team trying to move up when the Section 6AA tourney rolls around next March.

Their pipeline looks strong and has talented players but not in the near term.  The peewee talent is a couple years away and the Skippers bantam AA team struggled last season and was NOW ranked #23 behind Wayzata (#1), Edina (#2), and Eden Prairie (#13).

Skarda should be a scoring leader for the Skippers team next March, but if Skarda does well at St. Cloud, that could improve his options next year.

Section 6A

Section was impacted by re-alignment.  Morris/Benson and Willmar left for Section 3A; St. Cloud Cathedral and Sauk Rapids-Rice came from Section 5A.  Geographically, it makes sense.  Cathedral and SRR’s arenas are neighbors of the Sartell arena.  It should increase the rivalry “factor” and hockey interest in the St. Cloud area.

From a Sartell Varsity view next year, it was not a good move; Morris was seeded #8 and Willmar was seeded #6 in last year’s 6A Sectional and the new 6A schools were seeded higher in Section 5A.  St. Cloud Cathedral was seeded #2 and Sauk Rapids-Rice was seeded #6 in last year’s 5A Sectional.  Sartell has to now deal with two St. Cloud schools Cathedral and defending Section 6A champion Apollo.

It may have gotten tougher for the Sabres in Section 6A, but seeing two of their Bantam A players coming home to try out for the national teams has to lift their chances next year.  The Varsity will lose nine players through graduation, but none of their top scorers.  They will lose four senior defensemen and that will hurt; but having Lund and Moran in the pipe and others should soften that blow.

With the split into AA and A at the youth levels, Sartell’s Bantam A and Peewee A teams pulled a double last March making it to both A state tourneys and have more talent in the pipeline.

The Sabre’s Bantam A and Peewee A teams played in District 5’s Gold leagues during regular season 2012-2013 play.  They were the only D5 association do so and they played against bantam AA and peewee AA teams from other D5 associations.  At District 5 playoff time, Sartell played in the District 5 A level and made their way to the state A tourneys.  At this point, that looks like a good move.

00214.  D5 (#22 Purple) Keenan Lund (5′ 4″/120lbs/R/Sartell Bantam A)-Lund was one of the top scorers for the Sartell’s bantam A state tourney team in 2012-2013.  He looks small, but skates hard and plays a tough “in your face” kind of game.

00215.  D5 (#28 Purple) Matt Moran (5′ 7″/135/L/Sartell Bantam A)-Moran does not look lean on the ice, but tough.  He is a goal scorer and has the knack to be in the right plays at the right time.  He plays more ruggedly than one would think and has all the basic skills.  Moran along with Lund should be opportunists at the St. Cloud Camp.  They will be scrutinized and that could help their careers further on.

Section 7AA

00216.  D5 (#32 Purple) Mitch Bourgerie (5′ 8″/150lbs/L/STMA Bantam AA)-It is hard to think of District 5’s St. Michael/Albertsville as being a Section 7AA team, but they are.  The other Section 7AA teams come from Districts 10, 11, and 12.  Last year they were seeded #8 in Section 7AA and lost 15-0 to Duluth East.  That will change in the coming seasons and the Minnesota State High School League will have nothing to do with the positive change.  The MSHSL has been a negative by forcing the Knight’s association to overcome 15-0 losses in sectional play to develop their program.

But the Knights are coming.  In March 2013, at the Bantam AA State Tourney, STMA battled Duluth East in the semifinals before losing 4-2.  The Hound’s Bantam AA team has already lost players to Duluth Marshall including top scoring Lucas Dow.  In the Peewee AA State Tourney, the STMA team lost to Wayzata 3-2 in overtime in their semifinal game.  The Hounds Peewee AA team lost to Edina in the other state tourney semifinal.  The Hound peewees beat the Knights 7-1 for third place.

In two years, any Section 7AA game between these two programs should determine the Section 7AA winner.  In the 2013-2014 season, Andover should contend with the Hounds and Cloquet.  Grand Rapids would be the outsider along with a young STMA team.

The Knights varsity will lose 12 players through graduation including 7 of their top 10 scorers.  But they have a good pipeline between returning younger players and the Bantam AA team moving in.  Bourgerie will fit right in.  He is a good, rugged, scorer and plays with strength.  STMA’s Varsity will be strong in the coming years, the question is will they be strong in the 2013-2014 season.

One thing is certain, there should be no 15-0 losses in the coming years.

00235.  D10 (#23 Green) Jensen Zerban (5’7″/150/R/Elk River Bantam AA)-The Elk Varsity loses two of their top 10 scorers, but they are two of the top four and the Elks had trouble finding the net in the 2012-2013 season.  Zerban is a first year bantam that has improved greatly since the Peewee A state tourney in Alexandria a short 14 months ago.  His going to St. Cloud has to have some people re-thinking back at Elk River.  Zerban has the skills to potentionally get national attention.  If he makes the Minnesota selects, his stock will really go up.

He will need it, the Elks Varsity will be dominated by seniors and juniors next fall and it will be hard to find a spot for a freshman.  Zerban along with goalie Ben Meyers are the first of the Elk River Association’s two peewee A state tourney’s team players (from 2010-2011 and 2011-2012) to make it to the selects.  Having both make to St. Cloud is a plus for the Elk’s Association.

The association has four more players coming from those peewee teams including a group of forwards that specialize in puck movement and scoring around the net.  All six played as first year bantams on the NOW ranked #4 Elks’ bantam AA team last season.

The 2011-2012 Elk bantam A team struggled, finished the season ranked 18th and out of the money.  That makes next fall’s varsity tryouts tough on coaches.  They may not have the scoring power to get out of Section 7AA unless they go younger with kids like Zerban who can play another year at bantam AA; but most of their roster next year will likely be filled by returning juniors and sophmores.

00241.  D11 (#19 Light Blue) Ashton Altmann (6′/155lbs/L/Duluth East Bantam AA)-YHH likes Altmann.  He was impressive at the last March’s Bantam AA state tourney and could carry a line without Lucas Dow.  With Dow, they were exceptional.  But Dow heads to Duluth Marshall and Altmann moves on to the Duluth East varsity.  With the East Varsity graduating 13 players this year, next fall Altmann should end up playing for the Hounds.

This split of East bantam A players between Marshall and East has been going on for a number of years.  About half of the Hounds #15 ranked Bantam A team from the 2010-2011 ended up playing for the Hounds last season (three graduate including their #1 scorer).  At least four of the 2010-2011 players ended up at Duluth Marshall (one graduates).  Going into next season, Duluth East and Marshall will have approximately the same number of players from Duluth East’s 2010-2011 bantam A team that had a below “average” Hound season but still contended at playoff time.

That split will hurt the Hounds’ varsity chances to return to state next year with seven returning players, jv and split bantam A team to fill the pipe.  Next March, Section 7AA could turn into a battle between Cloquet, Elk River, and Andover leaving the Hounds to battle Grand Rapids and STMA for the #4 seed.
For Ashton Altmann, a good St. Cloud camp opens up multiple opportunities for him.

00247.  D12 (#28 Royal Blue) Mitchell Mattson (6’2″/165/L/Grand Rapids Bantam AA)-This year, the Thunderhawks’ bantam AA team made the state tourney and lost a tough 2-1 game to NOW ranked #1 Wayzata in the opening round.  The Rapids had a good season, but not a grand one.  Mattson played a hard forward game for the Rapids using his size well and continued that at the Festival.


The Rapids Varsity will lose six of their top ten scorers next fall through graduation.  Eight Rapids players besides Mattson made the District 12 selects and the D12 selects beat the D11 and D16 selects in the preliminary round and was competitive in the toughest pool at the Festival.  The nine Rapids players did well.  Add to those nine, three HP-16 players, one HP-17 player, and the return of their top scorer from last season’s varsity team and you have a young potentially

strong Rapids team next season.

For Mattson, the St. Cloud camp will be his time to shine and show off his hockey skills.

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