20. D8 (#61 Orange) Ryan Lindgren (5’11″/190 lbs/L/Shattuck Bantam)-Lindgren was a prolific scorer for the Shattuck-St. Mary’s Bantam AAA team that was the USA Tier I AAA Runner-up at the National Tourney held this past March in Pittsburgh as a defenseman.  During last weekend’s Festival, Ryan showed why.  Lindgren is a powerful skater on the ice and hunts aggressively for the offensive opportunity.  He is just a solid player and the word is that Ryan may have been offered a ticket to play for the Gophers when he graduates.

22. D15 (#2 Maroon) Kiefer Miller (5’9″/185 lbs/L/Park Rapids Varsity)-Miller is a lanky looking defensemen that plays a solid game.  He is very much aware of his defensive positioning especially at the opponents blue line.  He has more speed to track down breaking wings than one would think watching Kiefer play in the defensive zone.

23. D3 (#11 White) TJ Moss (6’1″/184 lbs/L/Wayzata Bantam AA)-YHH keeps calling him TJ because we think he prefers that.  We hope that there isn’t a Tristan and a TJ Moss playing hockey somewhere in Wayzata.  Moss commands a big physical presence on the ice and has a powerful shot.

11. D2 (#3 Black) Brian Hurley (5’11″/180 lbs/L/Saint Thomas Academy JV)-YHH has watched Brian on and off.  He looks ready to step onto the Cadets’ Varsity team this fall and a good showing at St. Cloud will likely “seal the deal”.

14. D3 (#8 White) Jack Kelly (5’11″/175 lbs/L/OMGHA Bantam AA)-Jack is just a solid hockey player who is very comfortable at defense playing with occasionally charging the opponent’s net.  He is a YHH Top 50 pick from 2012.

36. D4 (#9 Gray) Mark Wilson (5’11″/175 lbs/R/Orono Bantam A)-YHH first saw him play in Orono’s Best of the West tourney in December 2010 and knew he would have size.  He has done well since and has taken a side route to tryout and make the D4 selects in order to get to St. Cloud.

21. D15 (#4 Maroon) Daniel Marod (6’2″/173 lbs/R/Little Falls Bantam A)-Tallest defensive player on the ice at the Festival with a style of play that surrounds the opposition.  With the Flyers’ high school team graduating 12 of their top players this year, Marod is going to be needed.

30. D3 (#14 White) Harmon Sorenson (6’0″/170 lbs/R/Wayzata Bantam AA)-Sorenson was one of three Wayzata Bantam AA defense men to make the trip to St. Cloud.  That is no surprise.  He is the biggest and YHH is still wondering how the NOW ranked #1 Trojans lost to Edina AA in state tourney semifinals.

1.  D16 (#4 Gold) Davis Beauchamp (6’0″/168 lbs/R/East Grand Forks Bantam A)-Beauchamp is a strong candidate for the Green Wave varsity next season.  Next season the Green Wave varsity is the favorite to take the Section 8A title and return to the XCEL (EGF’s Tanner Tweten (HP16 final 54 selectee) is just a powerful wing.  Beauchamp is likely to end up at state and will likely fit neatly into the EGF wide body defense.

16. D11 (#34 Light Blue) Ben Kidd (6′/167 lbs/L/Duluth Denfeld)-Kidd played in 15 games for the Denfeld Varsity team last year.  The Hunters had a good season finishing 19-9 and losing to Duluth Marshall 3-2 in the Section 7A championship game.  Defense was the key for the Hunter’s success last season.  The three goals that Duluth Marshall scored were the only three goals the Hunters gave up Section 7A play.  Denfeld returns most of their players this but will lose three senior defensemen; Kidd should fit right in to the Hunter’s future.

5.  D6 (#1 Red) Matt Denman (6’0″/165 lbs/L/Prior Lake Bantam AA)-Matt played defense for the Prior Lake Peewee A team the year before they won the Peewee A State championship and spent the last two years playing for the Lakers Bantam AA team.  He can play a tough, puck hawking, wing at times even when he is playing defense.

28. D8 (#2 Orange)Sam Rossini (6’0″/165 lbs/L/Burnsville Varsity)-A Rosemount peewee A player that made it to the Peewee A 2011 State Tourney played at Bloomington, Sam has grown and moved on to play varsity at Burnsville.  He saw action in 21 games for the Blaze and it showed at the Festival.  He is a defenseman first, but can score.

10. D3 (#5 White) Dylan Hewitt (5’10″/165 lbs/L/Wayzata Bantam AA)-The second of the three Wayzata Bantam AA defensemen to make the trip to St. Cloud.  The Trojans had 5 Select 15’s from last year Festival make the State Tourney varsity team along with two HP-16 players.  They grew the HP-16 count this year to 7 and can now claim 6 Select 15 players headed to St. Cloud.  Add to the 13 HP-15/16 players, three HP-17 players and three returning juniors from last season’s high school team.  Suddenly you have a full team of High Performance players.  If the Trojans don’t have a banner year next season, the HP evaluators will be under fire.

6.   D15 (#3 Maroon) Alex Erickson (6’1″/160 lbs/R/Moorhead Bantam AA)-Erickson looks to be the next in the pipeline to make the Varsity defense next year (the Spuds will lose two defensemen through graduation this year).  Erickson is tough defenseman and with his size and potential size, will fit into the Spuds team.  Alex is another player targeted to see the XCEL in March 2014.

8.  D16 (#18 Gold) Cole Hartje (5’10″/160 lbs/R/Bemidji Bantam AA)-If Alex Erickson gets to the XCEL, Cole Hartje does not.  Still Hartje is a strong candidate to make the Lumberjacks’ varsity.  Last season, the Bemidji varsity lost 5-4 to Moorhead, tied the Spuds 4-4, and lost 5-1 to the Spuds in the Section 8 semifinals.  But Moorhead placed no players on Section 8’s 2013 select team, Bemidji placed 6 players and three are making the trip to St. Cloud.  The Lumberjacks could make that trip to the XCEL is these players develop early.

9.   D10 (#9 Green) Matthew Hellickson (5’10″/160 lbs/L/Rogers Varsity)-For a young defenseman, Hellickson scored 14 points playing 25 games at defense for the Royals.  For a young defenseman, that is good and with three HP-17 players in the pipeline, Rogers was poised to make an appearance at the XCEL next March as Section 5A champs.  Hermantown and St. Cloud Cathedral, moving out of Section 5A, really made the “Royals” day.  A state appearance would really be a boom to the program that has been caught between St. Cloud based D5 teams and Norwest Suburban based D10 teams.  So the high school opted up from 5A to 5AA (Centennial, Blaine, Elk River, etc) this year.  What was somebody thinking?  It is like trying to build a tree house on sapling.  One more year at 5A would have really brought the Rogers Association’s program alive.

18. D11 (#15 Light Blue) Lane Krenzen (5’9″/160 lbs/L/Duluth Marshall)-Krenzen played a full season on the Hilltoppers’ varsity team and saw State Tourney action.  Duluth Marshall has all their defensemen back for the next season.  They held their opponents to an average of 2.5 goals per game.  The biggest problem they face this year is Hermantown, a five mile drive from the Duluth Marshall School.  The Hawks have returned.

35. D6 (#17 Red) Dalton Weigel (5’9″/160lbs/L/Burnsville Bantam AA)-Weigel took a step forward to making the Burnsville Varsity next year by making the trip to St. Cloud, but next year he will still be a ninth grader.  Nine Blaze defensemen saw action last season, eight played in most or all of the 25 regular season games.  Only two  of the nine will graduate and that leaves little room for Dalton to make the team.  A good showing at St. Cloud will help.

2.  D16 (#5 Gold) Brendan Bushy (5’9″/155 lbs/L/Thief River Falls Bantam A)-The Prowlers’ varsity will lose four senior defensemen that scored a combine 42 points last season in 25 games.  That is an average on nearly two points a game.  Bushy should make the jump to varsity and a good camp may help him replace some of that lost firepower.  The problem Thief River Falls has for the next few seasons is the power house that East Grand Forks has amassed.

31.  D12 (#32 Royal Blue) John Stampohar (5’9”/155 lbs/R/Grand Rapids Bantam AA)-Stampohar plays tough and has good balance in his skating.  Against D10 in the opening game, John was not afraid to mix it up down low using his body correctly in trying to drive forwards off the puck.  With the Thunderhawks’ Varsity losing three senior defensemen, Stampohar has a good shot at jumping to varsity hockey next year.

13. D8 (#40 Orange)Tyler Jette (6’0″/150 lbs/L/Farmington Bantam AA)-Jette along with HP-16 defensemen Devin Bernu and Erik Holmstrom formed the core of Farmington’s 2011 peewee A state championship team that was runner-up to Edina.  A broken leg knocked one of the three out in a district playoff game three weeks before the state tourney.

17. D10 (#17 Green) Matthew Kiersted (5’10″/150lbs/L/Elk River Bantam AA)-Kiersted played in the 2011 Peewee A state tourney for the Elks.  They lost a tough quarterfinal game to a Wayzata team 4-3 that had D3 players TJ Moss, Luke Paterson, Mark Senden, Harmon Sorenson, and Dylan Hewitt on its roster.

3.  D3 (#1 White) Gerald Calengor (5’9″/150lbs/R/Benilde-St. Margeret’s JV)-Calengor skated 17 games for the Red Knights JV team, scoring 4 points.  Calengor had a good Festival, playing solid defense; YHH looks for him to do well at St. Cloud.  Jerry (we think he prefers that version of his name) will have his hands full next season trying to make the varsity.  Only one Red Knight defenseman will graduate this year.

4.  D3 (#2 White) Myles Cunningham (5’9″/150 lbs/R/Blake Varsity)-A lanky defenseman that is a Fred Astaire to SSM’s Gene Kelly, Ryan Lindgren.  What makes Cunningham startling is his quickness especially attacking the net.  YHH is used to having blurred vision on a hard shot from the point, but not having blurred vision when Cunningham moves from the face off dot to the slot.   Like Astaire, he does fluidly.

24.  D2 (#8 Black) Spencer Ovshak (5’9″/150 lbs/R/Mounds View Bantam AA)-Ovshak was a key player on a Bantam AA team that ended the 2012-2013 season NOW ranked #6.  Ovshak will have his work cut out for him next season, the Mustang Varsity graduates five defensemen this year and don’t have many players in the pipeline except Spencer.

25. D9 (#63 Navy) Mason Palmer (5’9″/150 lbs/L/Shattuck Bantam AAA)-Palmer played in 56 games for Shattuck Bantam AAA team in 2012-2013 at defense, notching 16 points for the season.  His target next year is to make the Sabre’s U16 AAA team or jump to the Prep Team which is hard to do at Shattuck.

7.   D12 (#17 Royal Blue) Eric Gotz (5’8”/148 lbs/R/Hibbing Varsity)-Gotz played the 2012-2013 season for the Hibbing Varsity team.  He played in every game and racked up 13 points from the point.  Hibbing lost to Duluth Marshall 3-2 in Section 7A last March in their bid to make the XCEL.  Next year, the Bluejackets will face a major problem with the return of Hermantown to 7A hockey.  The Hawks have the players in the pipeline to build championship teams for the next four years.

19.  D16 (#3 Gold) Nickolas Leitner (5’8″/148 lbs/R/Bemidji Bantam AA)-Leitner, like team mate Cole Harjte, is likely to jumped to varsity next year.  He is a different kind of defenseman that Harjte, using leverage to compensate for size.  But he is likely to “fill in” over the next year or so.  When he does, he should move up on everybody’s radar.  Like Cole, how the current crop of Bemidji’s selects integrate with the varsity will determine how fast they can overtake Moorhead and head to the XCEL.

34. D10 (#34 Green) Tanner Vescio (5’11″/145 lbs/R/Blaine Bantam AA)-The question with Tanner is how will he fill out.  A lean defenseman, he plays aggressively.  His problem is Blaine has a young team with only three players graduating.  The Bengals won the Northwest Suburban Conference last year and should have made the state from Section 5AA.  They were the #1 seed in the section and lost to Champlin Park 5-4 in the semifinals.  None of the Bengal graduates played defense.

32.  D2 (#12 Black) Casey Staum (5’10″/145 lbs/L/Hill-Murray JV)-The former Roseville peewee A player just played a nice Festival, a good all-around player.  With three Murray defensemen graduating, Staum should make the varsity next year and with that, make the trip to the XCEL.

15. D5 (#18 Purple) Jack Kelly (5′ 8″/140 lbs/L/St. Michael-Albertville Bantam AA)-Kelly played wing for the STMA peewee A team in 2010-2011.  The Knights were eliminated in the West Regional by Wayzata with Moss, Sorenson, and the others 3-0 that year.  Wayzata’s peewees that year did a lot of eliminating other teams.

33. D6 (#13 Red) Zachary VanSant (5’7″/135 lbs/R/Minnetonka Bantam AA)-VanSant and Anthony Schmidt face the same problem.  It would appear with three defensemen graduating and no Skippers in the HP-16/17 pipeline at defense that a shot at the Varsity is there; but there is a “but”.  Wayzata and Benilde-St. Margeret’s dominated the Section 6 selections the past few years and there are good Skipper defense from the JV and Bantam teams.  A good showing at St. Cloud will help these two players.  Size maybe the issue in the coming year, but not the year after.

29. D6 (#3 Red) Anthony Schmidt (5’8″/130 lbs/L/Minnetonka Bantam AA)-(see above)

12. D10 (#12 Green) Erik Jamison-Ekeling (5’5″/130 lbs/L/Centennial Bantam AA)-Jamison-Ekeling is one of the smallest defenseman chosen and the one with the longest name.  With the Cougar’s varsity team graduating only two of their nine defensemen, Jamison-Ekeling will have to work to make the varsity.  A good showing at St. Cloud should help.

27. D6 (#7 Red) Louis Roehl (5’5″/120 lbs/R/Eden Prairie Bantam AA)-Roehl played defense for the Eden Prairie peewee A team in 2010-2011 that was also eliminated in the West Regional by Wayzata with Moss, Sorenson, and the others.  Only this was a tougher game, the Trojans won 4-3.  Roehl’s Eagle team had cut a 4-1 deficit to 4-3 with two minutes to go in the game.  They pulled the goalie but couldn’t tie the game.  The goalie they pulled was Dayton Rasmussen who played last year for the Holy Family Varsity and is on the select 15 list headed for St. Cloud.

The West Regional in 2011 was played in St. Cloud.

26. D12 (#1 Royal Blue) Scott Perunovich (5’3’’/115 lbs/L/Hibbing Bantam AA)-He is the smallest defense going to St. Cloud and like most “underdogs” he will attract attention and probably the most cheers.  He can play defense.

Four defensive alternates (Austin Brandecker, Reese Grailer, Joe Liberty, and Jason Smallidge) were selected.