Langenbrunner played center on the Cloquet team that made it to the state tourney at Thief River Falls.  He is a bigger center that plays a tough inside game around the net.  Still developing as a skater, he has the strength, size, and an instinct to score that sets him apart.

In a bit of irony, Cloquet lost to Rochester Red 5-2 in the championship game of the Cloquet Barn Burner as the regular season ended.  After swepting the competition in the North Regional winning all three games, the Lumberjacks drew Rochester Red in the quarterfinals at state.  They lost again 5-4.

Langenbrunner was a significant part of the Cloquet offense all season.  He has a good shot and a good understanding of the game.  He often ends up with the puck at the edge of the crease.  Right, left or front he often puts the puck in the back of the net.  But it is his overall strength in his skates in traffic that makes him a top 50 player this year.

Often coaches get frustrated when a team starts slow, their players come together and show improvement only to fall back.  Eagan appeared to be one of those teams this year.  Their bigger players started slow, but came on strong in January.  They looked one step away from making to the AA State Tourney playing in the East Regional at Lakeville.   They beat Rosemount 4-3, but lost to Rochester Red, beat Lakeville South 3-2, but lost to Chaska/Chanhassen 4-3 to end their state tourney hopes.

Ethan White played wing for the Wildcats this season and was one of the bigger guys that just kept getting better.  White is a strong player who will hold his edges when tangling with an opponents' defenseman.  A hard skater with a strong shot and the ability to get the puck on the net quickly, White made this list by improving over the season.

At the Burnsville Thanksgiving Tourney it was hard not to notice Ben Doherty.  He was big, strong, and able to outskate and outshoot most of the kids on the ice.  He and Jack Westlind combined to put on a great offensive show leading the Cardinals to the Burnsville title.

The Cardinals went on to have an excellent season, winning District 15 regular season title and the D15 playoffs.  At the West Regional in Anoka, Alex opened with a win over East Grand Forks and then lost a hard fought battle to Spring Lake Park in the semifinals.  The Cardinals came back to win their next two games beating two D10 teams Princeton and St. Francis.  In the final elimination game the Cardinals beat Warroad to advance to the state tourney in Crookston.  At Crookston, the Cardinals lost to Armstrong in the quarterfinals and came back to beat Farmington and a good improving Edina A team in overtime to win the state consolation title.

Doherty played in every game in the sequence above with an injured arm that would have sidelined most players.  Against Farmington, Doherty (with linemates Westlind and Caleb Strong) figured in 5 of the 6 goals that Alex scored.  Doherty got two goals and three assists.  In the consolation championship game against the Hornets, Doherty scored both goals in the Cardinals 2-1 overtime win.  Doherty impressed at the start of the season and he impressed at the end of the season.  He is a top 50 player. 

If you want to understand what all-around hockey skills at the peewee level are, watch Pitlick.  A top 50 pick last season playing for the Wayzata AA's, he has gotten stronger and is an easy top 50 pick this year.  He is a great skater, has a good accurate shot, and has good hockey sense.

Wayzata struggled at times doing the year, but seemed to have turned the corner after losing to Edina AA 7-1 in the Edina Invitational Semifinals on New Year's Day.  The Trojans put together some impressive wins in January and when they swept the District 3 playoffs (beating the Minneapolis Storm 7-1 and Osseo/Maple Grove twice 2-1 and 3-2), they looked ready to make a run in the South Regional.

They opened at the South Regional with a tough overtime win over Champlin Park 3-2.  Pitlick assisted on the winning goal.  Wayzata then beat Prior Lake 5-2 with Pitlick getting a hat trick before running  into Edina AA 4-1 (Malmquist/Sillanoff scored three of the goals) in the South Regional championship game.  Pitlick assisted on the lone Trojan goal scored against Edina.  In the final elimination game, the Trojans lost a heartbreaker to Prior Lake 4-3 in triple overtime to end their season.  Pitlick assisted on two of the three Wayzata goals scored.

The Trojans came close to making the state tourney and played some great hockey in February.  Pitlick contributed to that success and will be another interesting player to watch in the future. 

Some association's teams seem to develop a character that is somewhat unique to Minnesota Hockey.  South St. Paul has a its own style of play, but not quite the East St. Paul style of Johnson-Como.  If you watch an Eden Prairie peewee AA/A game, expect to see defense played first.  Minnetonka has a style that is hard to define.  Each description of the Skippers' peewee AA/A teams over the seasons always start with words like "good" and "solid".

Last year, the Skippers set sort of a record losing to Edina AA more then 10 times during the season; but they came on strong in the state tourney looking to take on the Hornets in the championship game and lost a heartbreaker to St. Michael/Albertville in the state quarterfinals in overtime.  Jack Bayless was the only Skipper to return from the 2012-2013 team this year. He was one of the better players on last year's team.

He was noticable in the 2013 state tourney wearing #18 and he was noticable in this year's tourney wearing #7.  He has gotten stronger, bigger, and more polished.  His overall playmaking skills at forward improved from state tourney appearance to state tourney appearance.  So has his defensive skills.  But the irony this year is that the Skippers after having a great January/February that posted a 16-1 record, tying Edina AA 4-4 in a late February District 6 game, and winning a West Regional seed, Minnetonka opened the state tourney playing Edina AA and lost 8-3.  Bayless is a good player. 

Hale was a top 50 player last year on the Storm's Peewee A championship team and returned this year.  The Storm's Association opted to play peewee AA hockey and in a twist of fate, the Storm ended up in three straight tourney championship games during the season (Burnsville, Breezy Point, and Anoka) playing three peewee A teams.  They won two championship games (beating Spring Lake Park at Breezy Point and Anoka at Anoka and lost to Alexandria at Burnsville).

A nice size center, Hale is both a playmaker often setting up scores and a goal scorer.  In South Regional games at St. Cloud, Hale scored two goals and assisted on two goals in the Storms 5-4 overtime win over Andover in the quarterfinals and scored a goal and posted two assists in their 7-3 win over Woodbury.  Unfortunately, they couldn't get past Edina AA losing 10-0 to the Hornets in the semifinals (Sillanoff and Brinkman each posted hat tricks).  They were then eliminated by Prior Lake losing 3-1.  Hale assisted on the lone Storm goal in their loss to Prior Lake.   

Sometimes a player looks good on the ice, but always plays a little short of his potential.  Most parents can see the potential and struggle with why the peewee player can't do the most simpliest thing on the ice at times.  Heffron is among one of the biggest peewee AA/A players in the state this year.  His size at forward can dominate play in the offensive zone, but early in the season, Heffron often hesitated at times in his play.

As the season wore on, his play improved and started to smooth out.  His hard shot started to be more accurate.  His skating became less physical.  He skated with more finess.  Yet at the season's end, there was still that little bit of hesitation that kept him from making the outstanding play.

The casual observer would attribute that to his physical size, having to grow into his body.  But in fact he is a first year player and played squirts last season.  He should return to the Irish in the 2014-2015 season and if he matures during that season as most kids do, he should be an outstanding player.  He could be the best on the ice at the season end.  That is why he made this list this year.

Peewee hockey, no matter the level, is still about kids learning to play the sport.  The Red Wing peewee A team this year (as Eastview last year), had two good goalies.  After YHH saw Callstrom play an exceptional game at the Northfield tourney in mid-December in leading her team to a semifinal win over a tough Anoka team; we were surprised to see McGrath in the net for the championship game against Armstrong and Nikki Harnett.  McGrath turned in an equally outstanding game as the Wingers beat Armstrong.  Callstrom plays a solidly in the net and appears to never get excited.  Her play settled the Wingers down at critical times in the semifinals.  McGrath played an aggressive, in your face, style and came up with some outstanding saves to give the Wingers the title.

The Wingers had a good run in District 9 in January, but lost the D9 regular season title when they lost to Mankato 7-2 in a game that determined the league championship.  At the D9 playoffs, the Wingers could not get by Rochester Black and ended up taking the #3 seed to the East Regionals.  At the East Regionals, the Wingers lost to Farmington and to upriver rivals, Hastings, to end their season.

The Wingers defense struggled at times, but the solid play of McGath and Callstrom in the nets was one of the reasons Red Wing had a good season.  The team rallied around their goalies.

Chorske skated on the Edina B team that won the 2013 state tourney.  He improved and made the 2013-2014 Edina Peewee A team.  In November, one could see he had potential talent.  In the District 6 playoffs in February, one could see he was a top peewee player.  He played wing on the Edina's top line and often set up his center with a nice pass or could make that good move (not fancy) to beat the opponent's defense.

Mostly, Chorske's skill moving the puck came low behind the opponent's net.  At the season's end, he just stood out.  More than once he surprised this corner of YHH with a key pass or nice cut that made sense to a fan only after it was done.  He has good size and a good, accurate shot and knows how to play a physical inside game along the boards or in front of the net.  At the Peewee A State Tourney in Crookston, Chorske scored two goals and set up the game winner in the Hornets upset win over Spring Lake Park. 

Brinkman is one of five players on this year's Edina AA team that won the state tourney and played on last year's unbeaten Edina AA state championship team.  In two years, Brinkman has skated off the ice winning over 100 times and losing only once.  For Brinkman any team he plays for starting next year can only go down; they are unlikely to go unbeaten.  But as a big forward that knows how to play a tough game in the offensive zone, his hockey fortunes can only go up.  He has a strong presence on the ice, but it is his ability to develop an attack low in the offensive zone that set him apart.

On the play in the picture below, Brinkman is scoring off a rush.  The puck can be seen just above Chaska's goalie, Justin Bach, right leg pad.  Prior to taking the shot, Brinkman had worked the puck out the right corner, turned in traffic in the right slot, and using the threat of the Edina wing on the left cleared himself off the defense.  He then stepped in front of the defense to create the rush from the inside edge of the right faceoff circle and in one stride put the puck in the goal.  That is hockey, using the space you have and your teammates to make something out of nothing and gain a scoring edge.  

For the past two seasons, Tyler Rollwagon has been one of the team leaders in scoring for Jefferson playing forward.  A good sized offensive player last season, he has developed into a more all-around player this season.  Rollwagon's play over the two seasons has led the Jags to two middle of the pack finishes in District 6's tough peewee AA league and to two regional appearances.

The Jags lost two tough games at the East Regional in Lakeville this year to end their season.  They lost 1-0 to Chaska/Chanhassen in the quarterfinal game and 3-2 to Lakeville South in the consolation round.  After getting beat by Edina AA 10-1 in their D6 regular season opener, the Jags defense settled down and proved to be one of the toughest to beat in the season.  Rollwagon was part of that with his aggressive backchecking from center and he continued to provide the Jags a significant scoring threat.   A good shot and skater, Rollwagon is a top 50 this year.

Who is that player?  Teammate and sometime linemate, Creighton McMahon, can easily draw attention with his play.  Zemicka just scores and often sets up the play, but does it so easily at times that it can be hard to be seen from the stands.  In St. Cloud's Center Ice Classic tourney in mid-January, Zemicka socred a goal and set up three goals in the Panther's first two pool wins 7-4 over St, Michael/Albertville and 4-3 over Burnsville.  He then exploded against Denfeld with a hat trick and an assist in the Panthers' 4-2 win over the Hunters.

Zemicka is a good sized player, can skate, and knows how to play the game.  He is a nice stick handler, can maneuver, and gets off that good shot in a crowd which is probably why he is sometimes missed on the ice until after he scores.

A lot of what this corner of YHH writes about is what is actually seen on the ice.  Rosemount had a good team this year and had good players and depth.  They won the District 8 regular season title, but seem to struggle at the end of the season.  In a late season game against Eagan, the Irish took a 3-0 lead halfway through the game and ended up with a 3-3 tie.

In the District 8 playoffs, the team that won the playoffs got D8's #1 seed to the regionals.  The Irish won their first game beating Apple Valley 7-4, lost to Lakeville South 4-1, and then came back to beat Woodbury 6-2, Lakeville North 4-3, and Lakeville South 5-0.  The Irish were on a roll and were back in contention for the playoff championship facing Sibley and Brandon McFadden.

In this corner of YHH, the Irish game plan had Goret tasked with shadowing and stopping or slowing down McFadden.  He did a good job, but McFadden plays away from the play often swooping in.  That took Goret out of the Irish offense.  Without Goret's offensive skills, the Irish lost 4-1.  What happend in the D8 playoff championship game explains why Goret in on this list.  He is just a good all-around player.  He has good size, plays the game well, can shoot, and can shoot accurately.  But he can focus and work hard to play a game for the team.