After watching hundreds of Bantam A and AA games this season, our group of writers and broadcasters easily agreed upon five kids that made an impact for their teams. We nominated four players (Mittelstadt, Jax Murray - Elk River, Luke Manning - Stillwater, and Scott Perunovich - Hibbing) in this article on March 13. We had a fifth player, Micah Miller from Grand Rapids on our final list, but ran into deadline issues. Miller showed why he was on our list when he helped lead his team to the state title in March. 

At the completion of the state tournament, we surveyed 17 coaches from all over Minnesota who had seen the 5 finalists perform. Thinking all five had a legitimate chance at winning, we were amazed that all 17 said Casey Mittelstadt was the best that they had seen. 

In 60 games, Mittelstadt racked up 91 goals. Of the 91, 11 were game winners in overtime (let that sink in for a minute) including his last goal in the Consolation final against Hermantown at the state tourney in Rogers. For a good portion of the season, Eden Prairie was ranked number 1 in Minnesota Bantam AA rankings. Casey was a big reason for their success, but not the only reason. Having a strong defensive corps lead by Nick Lieverman and forwards like Hunter Johannes and Nolan Sullivan to play with is a big reason for the Eagles gaudy winning percentage.

Since being named the Player of the Year, Casey was also selected to participate in the Final 54 at the HP 16/17 Spring Festival. On Monday, Mittelstadt was selected in the fifth round of the USHL Phase I Draft by the Green Bay Junior Gamblers for 1998 birth years. He was the 12th Minnesotan and first of only two Minnesota Bantam '98s taken (Grand Rapids D, John Stampohar).

What stood out most about Casey, besides his uncanny ability to score in bunches, was ability to carry the puck in tight spaces. One scout said of the Freshman Forward, "Mittelstadt could stickhandle his way out of a phone booth."