The USA U17’s are hungry for their first win of the 2014-2015 season.  They are 0-4 losing to the USHL Muskegon Lumberjacks 1-0 and 5-2, to the NAHL Michigan Warriors 6-3 and to the USHL Youngstown Phantoms 5-2.   The U17’’s will play the top two UMHSEL teams, league leader TCF Bank Saturday and second place Starkey on Sunday.

Goalie Jake Oettinger/Lakeville MN, defensemen Matt Hellickson/St. Louis Park MN and Ryan Lindgren/Lakeville MN, and forward Joey Anderson/Roseville are on the USA U17 team.  Oettinger is the youngest player on the U17 team and a half inch short of being the tallest.  Former Shattuck U16 players, James and Jordan Greenway are the tallest.  The MEPDL Stars play on the weekend.  They will play Luther’s and MAP.  The MEPDL team will likely be the team chosen to represent the MEPDL league in Minnesota U16 District Playoffs next March.  The USA U17 and MEPDL games are played at the New Hope arena.

Week Five results

TCF Bank took 5 of 6 points on the weekend beating MAP 6-3 and Starkey 4-2 and tying Team Wisconsin 3-3.  Before losing to the Bankers, Starkey beat MAP 6-2 and Team Wisconsin 5-2 taking 4 of 6 points.  Wisconsin’s tie with the Bankers was the only point won by the Badgers last weekend.  They also lost to Mpls/St. Paul Magazine 5-4.

The Badgers downfall at Onalaska WI and the Banker’s near sweep last weekend puts TCF in charge.  Going into the last two weekends of play, the Bankers hold a six point lead over Starkey and Team Wisconsin.  That is nearly an impossible lead for either team to overcome with only six games left on the schedule.  The Banker’s play three league games this weekend, USA U17’s and Luther’s Saturday and Shattuck on Sunday at Shattuck.  That is three tough games, but if they do well, they can clinch the season title by Sunday.

Starkey lost to Shattuck in a Wednesday night game 5-2.  They play Muscle Milk and the USA U17 team on the weekend.  Starkey should beat MM’s Saturday, they own two wins over them this season 6-3 and 5-1; but they cannot afford a Sunday loss to the U17’s.  Team Wisconsin was challenging the Bankers for the league lead going into last weekend and they lost.  They need to make up some ground on the Bankers this weekend playing Shattuck at Shattuck, Mpls/St. Paul Magazine, and Muscle Milk.  The Badgers edged Shattuck 3-2 two weekends ago and then lost 7-3 to the MSPers.  They, like Starkey, need wins this weekend and they need the Bankers to lose.

A game that would have been fun to watch last week was Luther’s beating Shattuck 6-4 in front a Luther fan friendly crowd in Moorhead.  Alexandria’s Ryan Marciniak scored with two minutes left in the second period to tie the game 4-4.  Then, somehow, Bemidji’s Jake Leitner scored the game winner one second into the third period.  How do you score from center ice on a faceoff in one second?  Jacob Dittmer/Moorhead stopped 37 of 41 Sabre shots to earn the win.

Luther’s will open their weekend play against the MEPDL Stars, a team that will likely play in the Minnesota District U16 tourney next March to represent Minnesota at USA Hockey’s Tier I U16 National tourney.  They will have to beat Shattuck’s U16 team to get there.

Week Six Early Games

Tuesday night, Mpls/St.Paul Magazine and MAP played at New Hope.  Both teams were tied for fourth place four points out of third.  A win by either team would put that team back into a run for second or third place and avoid the possibility of playing the #1 TCF Bankers in the semifinals in the upcoming league playoffs.  Tuesday, the two teams tied 5-5.  The MSPers had a 5-3 lead going into the third period and gave up two early third period goals (Cade Gleekel and Alex Stevens) to tie the game. 

Wednesday evening, Shattuck rebounded from a tough trip to Moorhead (tying Muscle Milk 3-3 and losing to Luther’s 6-4) and beat second place Starkey 5-2.  It was an extremely well-played game.  Both teams pushed themselves to the edge and it resulted in quick puck movement where any slow play resulted in the other team gaining some advantage.

Shattuck scored three minutes into the game.  Ryan Norman got the goal.  That was the only first period score.  Both teams scored in the second period.  Two minutes into the second period, Starkey’s Josh Laven came up with the puck in the right end boards of the Sabres’ zone and fired from the end line.  The puck beat the goalie to tie the game 1-1.  After seven more minutes of hectic up and down play, Shattuck’s Jordan Hank scored.  Hank picked up a rebounding puck as he came flying in from the right corner and buried the puck on a one-timer.  The period ended with the Sabres up 2-1.

Two minutes into the third period, Starkey’s Matt Masterman came out of a scrum on the left side of the Sabres’ net and swung the puck right behind the net and beat the Sabres’ goalie on a wraparound to tie the game 2-2.  The Sabres came back strong after Masterman’s score and tied up the puck in the Starkey zone, continually pinning the puck behind the Starkey net until it bounced lose to Vincent de Mey.  De Mey was open at the right crease.  He buried the puck to put Shattuck up 3-2.  It was the game winner, but Starkey fought on pressuring Shattuck over the next five minutes until the Sabres scored their fourth goal.  A hard shot on the Starkey goal resulted in a hard rebound into the slot to the Sabres’ Hank who one-timed the puck into the net to put Shattuck up 4-2.  The fourth goal took the edge off Starkey’s game and was the game buster.

Norman scored the final goal with four minutes left in the game to end the scoring 5-2.  It was a very good game between two teams that wanted the victory.

What is next?

Week Seven, the last week of play, is next and with it ends regular season league play.  But the teams still have to fight to give themselves the best position in the league playoffs played in Week Eight.  TCF Bank could sew up the title this weekend.  Week Seven would then only be played for the Bankers’ pride.  Starkey’s loss at Shattuck Wednesday leaves them with five games to play and trailing by six points.  Two wins on the weekend by the Bankers, and Starkey is out.  Team Wisconsin is tied with Starkey and needs to win all three games in Week Six to hang close to the Bankers.  The Badgers remain in a battle with Starkey for second place. 

Where a team finishes in regular season determines where they play in the playoff the following week.  Looking ahead to the playoffs, Shattuck does not play in the playoffs (the Sabres later returns to play in the CCM-IIT Tourney in Weekend Nine).  The MEPDL Stars replace Shattuck for the playoffs and will be seeded eighth playing the #1 seed most likely TCF Bank.  MAP and Mpls/St. Paul Magazine, after their tie Tuesday, are likely to end up in either fourth or fifth place and playing each other in the opening round of the playoffs.  One of these two teams will likely play the Bankers in the semifinals.  Starkey and Team Wisconsin should end up in second or third place.  The second place winner is likely to play Muscle Milk and the third place winner plays Luther’s.

After the playoffs are over in Week Eight; the league hosts the CCM International Invitational Tourney at New Hope in Week Nine.  Two UMHSEL all-star teams are formed; the Minnesota White and the Minnesota Red.  Both teams are entered in the CCM II tourney.  They will be joined by teams from Northwood School, EC Red Bull Slazburg, Czech U17, and a Michigan U18 all-star team.

The UMHSEL season is winding down.  With November approaching, hockey in Minnesota kicks into “high gear”.