USA Hockey works off a calendar unlike Minnesota Hockey that sets milestones and lets districts and associations fill in the blanks.  First week of September is important on USA Hockey's calendar.  All junior teams have to finalize their rosters and submit their final rosters the first week of September to USA Hockey.  The Minnesota Magicians have to be down to 23 players this week.  Changes in the roster will occur after that, but each roster change has to be documented by the junior hockey club.

In July, a number of talented seniors in Minnesota high schools tried out for UMHSEL league teams.  In August and early September, the same players tried out for junior teams.  Those that made both teams will have to decide where to play this year.  Their decisions will become known in the next few weeks.  The movement of these players will affect high school play when the MSHSL opens high school hockey play in November.

The UMHSEL league opens play this week.  As those players decisions began to be finalized, those that have chosen junior hockey will not show on the UMHSEL hockey team.  For this 2014 UMHSEL opening weekend, six Minnesota based teams (TCF Bank, Starkey, Velocity, Mpls/St. Paul, Muscle Milk, and Luther’s) will be joined by Team Wisconsin (a permanent league team) and the Colorado Rampage, a perennial opening weekend guest.

Saturday and Sunday each team will play three league games.  Saturday’s games start at 9:00AM; the last game starts at 8:30 PM.  Sunday’s games start at 9:30 AM with the last game starting at 12:00 PM.  The Rampage and Team Wisconsin played in USA Hockey’s Tier I national tourney won by Shattuck last April.  Shattuck joins the UMHSEL play in the league’s third weekend.

This is the final post (Part 4) of this series.  The TCF Bank, Starkey and Velocity teams were previewed in the first three posts.  The Mpls/St. Paul team (sponsored by the Mpls/St. Paul Magazine) is previewed in this post.  Two Minnesota teams (Muscle Milk and Luther’s) have not been previewed.  These two teams will be featured in game stories on this site in the next few days (Muscle Milk/Colorado and Luther’s/Team Wisconsin games played Saturday).

Mpls St. Paul or Team Northeast Offense

Jack Becker/Mahtomedi was selected by the Sioux Falls Stampede in the 2013 draft after his freshman season with the Zephyrs.  Becker scored 27 points/10 goals in 25 games his freshman year and led the Zephyrs (33 points/20 goals in 25 games) as a sophomore in 2013-2014.  He played for Minnesota Blades at the Showcase last September and is a player to be watched in the UMHSEL this fall.

Blaine had a great offensive last season only to be upset by a stubborn Centennial defense in last season’s Section 5AA championship game 2-1.  The Bengals outshot the Cougars 19-4 in the first period on that championship game and trailed 1-0 at the start of the second period.  Centennial’s Connor Lovick assisted on that first period goal.

Lovick, Luke Noterman (25 points/12 goals in 25 games as sophomore), and Riley Tufte/Blaine (6’4” 200lb wing 35 points/17 goals in 25 games) played in that game.  All three are teammates on the Mpls-St. Paul team for the 2014 season.  Lovick posted 30 points/16 goals in 25 games for Centennial last season.  Both Centennial and Blaine have lost their top scorers.  Blaine loses their top four scorers who were responsible for scoring 64 goals last season (out of 138 total goals scored).  The Bengal’s #5 score was Tufte who seems poised to be among the top scorers in the state in the upcoming season.  Tufte was drafted #1 (#1 overall) by the USHL’s Fargo Force in the USHL 2014 draft and is currently on the Force’s affiliate list.  He has committed to play UMD in 2016-2017.  A tough wing in the offensive zone, his has only gotten better.  Noterman is starting to assert himself offensively.  A junior this year Luke played in the shadow of his older brother Brandon, one of the Bengals top scorers.  Luke will have his chances playing for the Bengals in the upcoming season.

Benilde’s Mark Kaske and Chase Jungels have been skating together throughout their youth hockey.  The two former Edina peewee A teammates (2009-2010 and 2010-2011 seasons) are seniors for the Red Knights in the 2014-2015 season.  Both have played summer hockey for on the same Minnesota Blades team.  Jungels has played the last three winters for the Red Knights and Kaske the last two seasons.  Jungels was Benilde’s #4 scorer last season (32 points/12 goals in 24 games) and Kaske was Benilde’s #6 scorer (19 points/11 goals in 24 games).  The two, along with Carter Roo, form the core of the Benilde’s offense in the coming season in the new Metro West Conference.  Jungels was drafted in 2013 by the USHL’s Chicago Steel. 

When senior-to-be Jake Wahlin (70 points/39 goals in 25 games last season) committed to St. Cloud State for the 2015-2016 season last April and to the USHL’s Tri-City Storm for this coming season, White Bear Lake’s offensive load switched to Tom Giller (39 points/12 goals in 25 games) and AJ Welch (14 points/7 goals in 25 games).  The two Bears' forwards will play for the Mpls/St. Paul team this season.  The two seniors played for the MEPDL Stars and the Msp-St.Paul teams in UMHSHL’s 2013 season.  Giller played on the White Bear Lake Association’s peewee A team in the 2010 State tourney at Faribault.  The Bears in that tourney, were on their way to beating Edina in the quarterfinals until penalties over took them.  They lost 7-4

 Christiano Versich/St. Thomas Academy was drafted by the USHL’s Chicago Steel in 2013 and should end up on the Steel’s roster for the 2014-2015 season.  If he does, he may join Mason Berg/Eden Prairie who played last season for the Steel.   Versich has committed to Colorado College for the 2015-2016 season.  Berg has also committed to Colorado College.  Versich skated on summer hockey teams with Austin Ramirez/Mounds View.  As a ninth grader, Ramirez played for St. Paul Academy posting 13 points/6 goals in 25 games.  As a junior for Mounds View last season, Ramirez was the Mustang’s #2 scorer posting 30 points/6 goals in 25 games for the Mustangs.  The Mounds View varsity should see the infusion of a number of good players from the Mounds View Association’s 2011-2012 peewee A team this fall.  Three players from the Mustang’s 2011-2012 peewee A (defensemen Spencer Ovshak, Colin Baird, and Owen Arfstrom) played varsity last season.  Another player from the 2011-2012 Mounds View Association's peewee A team, Willie Reim, made St. Cloud as part of the Minnesota Hockey’s HP-15 program this summer.  Reim played on St. Thomas Academy’s junior varsity last season.       

Zach Mills/Hill-Murray will be playing his third season for the Hill.  As a junior last season, Mills was Hill-Murray’s #3 scorer (44 points/21 goals in 25 games) behind Joey Anderson and Mitch Slattery.  Both Anderson and Slattery are gone.  Anderson will play for the USA U17 team this year and join UMD for the 2016-2017 season; Slattery graduated and is playing this year for the USHL’s Fargo Force and has committed to St. Cloud State for the 2015-2016 season.  Mark Senden/Wayzata will be a junior this year.  Senden has always followed Matt Freytag, Max Zimmer, and Rem Pitlick (when he was in the Wazata Association’s youth program) and always had that good season the year after the others had moved up.  Last season, Zimmer was Wayzata’s #4 scorer (19 points/5 goals in 25 games) behind Freytag and Zimmer.  This summer, Senden made the Minnesota HP-16 selects and went to New York in July and ended up playing for the USA U17’s (scoring 5 points/2 goals in 4 games) in the Five Nations Tourney in August.  He was drafted by the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers in last April’s draft.  With Zimmer (a junior this year) playing for the USHL’s Souix Falls Musketeers and Freytag (a senior this year) playing for the Tri-City Storm this season; Senden, Luke Patterson, and Alex Stevens along with junior goalie Alex Schilling will form the core of the Wayzata varsity.    

Mpls St. Paul or Team Northeast Defense

Some may wonder why a ninth grader this coming UMHSEL season will be a part of the Mpls/St. Paul defense.  The 5’10’ 185lb 15-year old Michael Anderson made the Minnesota Hockey HP-15 select team this summer and attended a USA hockey evaluation session five weeks ago.  Anderson as an eighth grader posted 6 points/1 goal playing 25 games for the Hill last season.  His brother, Joey, a ninth grader last season, led the Hill-Murray in scoring 50 points/21 goals in 25 games.  Joey will be part of USA Hockey’s National Team Develop Program and play for USA Hockey’s U17 team for the 2014-2015 season.  Both Andersons have committed to play college hockey for UMD.

Riese Zmolek/Rochester Century and Griff Slightam/Rochester Lourdes played for the Rochester Association’s peewee A team in 2009-2010.  That peewee A team won the District 8 regular season title, won the District 8 playoffs, swept their pool in East Regional play, and were upended by Eden Prairie 5-0 in the championship game to come up one game short of the state tourney.  This is Zmolek’s first year with the elites (he played with the Southern Elites last season).  At Century, Zmolek has played the last three seasons for the Panthers scoring 59 points/23 goals in 73 games.  Among his accomplishments, Zmolek has an unique stat, he is one of few defensemen last season to lead his team in scoring.

Rochester Lourdes team took a big fall last season.  After posting an average of 21 wins in the previous five season and winning five consecutive Section IA titles, the Eagles managed only 7 wins last season and lost to Mankato West 5-2 in the Section 1AA semifinals.  Part of the reason for the Eagles woes last season was the loss of Slightam (football injury) that kept him out for part of the season.  In 2012-2013, then sophomore Slightam posted 17 points/6 goals in 24 games. 

Keith Muehlbauer/Eastview has been a steady performer at defense for the Lightning teams since playing for Eastview’s peewee A team in 2008-2009.  The Eastview Association was affiliated with District 6 at that time and the Lightning made a good run at the D6 regular season title led by a strong defense that featured Muehlbauer, defensive partner Mike Stillings, and goalie Zach Driscoll.  All three made the Eastview varsity in 2012-2013 and led the Lightning to the 2013 Class AA state tourney played at the Xcel.  This year, Muehlbauer will be the only one of the three returning to Eastview.  Driscoll will play for the NAHL’s Austin Bruins this coming season.  Stillings graduated along with seven other of the 2008-2009 peewees and will play college lacrosse in West Virginia.

Hank Sorensen/Wayzata has had a good year.  He played for the Wayzata varsity posting 8 points/4 goals in 24 games.  In April, he was drafted by the USHL’s Waterloo Black Hawks (#32 pick overall).  This past summer, Sorenson was selected to represent Minnesota Hockey  as part of their High Performance (HP-16) program.  Always a solid performing defenseman, Hank’s real first name is Harmon.

Seamus Donohue/St. Thomas Academy is another Mounds View Association product.  As a peewee A in 2008-2009, Donohue played center for the Mustangs.  A strong player, the only way to stop his shot from scoring was to keep the puck off his stick.  He tore up a number of good teams in the 2008 Bloomington Midwest Regional Tourney.  As a senior, Seamus will play his fourth season (41 points/4 goals in 71 games) for St. Thomas Academy.  Donohue has committed to play hockey for the US Air Force Academy in 2015-2016.  

Mpls St. Paul or Team Northeast Goaltenders

Andrew Lindgren/Eagan will be playing his fourth season in the nets for the Wildcats.  Lindgren started most of the Wildcat games last season posting a 15-9-1 record giving up an average of 1.8 goals a game while stopping 93% of the shots on net.  Overall, his record at Eagan is 54-14-2.  Last season, he was in the nets for the Wildcats run at the Class AA title.  He stopped 25 of 27 shots on net by Edina in the semifinal game that the Hornets won 3-1.  Lindgren played 13 games last season for the TCF Bankers in UMHSEL in 2013 and was drafted by the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede and the NAHL’s Corpus Christi Ice Rays in the 2014 drafts.

Jack Burkel/Rochester Lourdes drew attention last season as the Eagles fell from Section 1A grace and failed to make the state tourney for the first time in 6 years.  He posted a 6-14-1 record for Lourdes.  In those 21 games, Burkel saw 771 shots on net or an average of 37 shots per game.   His performance led to an invite to the HP-18 tourney played last April.  But Burkel drew YHH’s attention when he had an outstanding 2013 Class A quarterfinal game almost stemming a tough East Grand Forks Green Wave tide in a 3-2 loss.  In the first period of that game, Burkel stopped 15 of the Green Waves shots holding off a furious onslaught in the first nine minutes.  Even more impressive, he led Lourdes to a Section 1A title and the state tourney after spending most of the 2012-2013 season on the Lourdes bench.

                                                Mpls St. Paul Roster