These rankings reflect the games played through December 2.  This week the list  of unbeaten teams has shrunk to three.  Proctor/Hermantown lost to Thief River Falls at Thief River Falls 3-1.  The Mirage season record is now 7-1-0.  Austin lost two games (Faribault 4-3 and Willmar 6-5) and tied Rochester Mayo 3-3.  The Packers are now 6-2-2.  New Ulm (7-1-0) played at Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato and lost 2-0.  Only Dodge County (6-0-0), Eden Prairie (6-0-0), and Maple Grove (7-0-0) remain unbeaten.

Below, YHH has ranked the top 10 girls high school teams in the state without regard to class (Class AA and Class A).  After the rankings had been made this week, the Top Ten has three Class A teams and seven Class AA teams.   

1. Eden Prairie (overall 6-0-0, Section 2AA 0-0-0)-The Eagles opened their season posting impressive wins over Elk River 4-1, Hill-Murray 4-3, and Blake 5-2.  This week the Eagles will be taking a Northwestern Minnesota swing playing games at Thief River Falls and at East Grand Forks December 5th and 6th.  When the Eagles take the ice at the REA in Thief River Falls, they will be playing their first game in 15 days.  In hockey, that is an eon of time between games.  The Prowlers will be playing their fifth game in the same 15 days beating Proctor/Hermantown and tying Roseau.  After playing East Grand Forks the Eagles return home and next Tuesday play Holy Family Catholic/Wadena.  The Wildfire have been playing well the last two weeks.  Eden Prairie's tough schedule continues with three games the following week (Chaska/Chanhassen, Benilde-St. Margaret’s, and Hopkins) and two tough games the week after that (Wayzata and Cretin-Derham Hall).  At Christmas, the Eagles get to host an eight team tourney with a field that includes Minnetonka, Wayzata, Chaska/Chanhassen, and Roseau.  There are two Eagles fans who want to wager that Eden Prairie will go unbeaten in December.  Until the Eagles fall, no bets taken here.

2. Blake (overall 7-1-0, Section 5A 1-0-0)-While #1 Eden Prairie takes a Northwestern Minnesota swing this weekend, Blake takes a Northeastern Minnesota swing playing games at Proctor/Hermantown (7-1-0) and at Duluth (3-2-1).  The Mirage will be waiting for the Bears having been stung last week losing their first game of the season to #9 ranked Thief River Falls and falling out of the Top Ten.  Duluth will also be tough, but the Bears will have a few hours to gage the toughness of the Northern Stars.  Duluth plays Benilde-St. Margaret’s Friday evening before hosting the #2 ranked Bears Saturday afternoon at the Heritage.  The defending Class A champion Bears have only two more December games to play after their Northeastern swing, Minnehaha December 9th and Breck December 11th before opening play in the South St. Paul tourney over the New Year’s Holiday.  The game with Breck is key to the Section 5A seeding in February as the two top ranked teams vie for the #1 seed. 

3. Maple Grove (overall 7-0-0, Section 0-0-0)-Maple Grove extended their win streak to seven last week beating Andover 5-1 and, in the battle of unbeaten, handing Champlin Park their first loss 4-1.  The Crimson play three more conference games this coming week (Irondale, Totino-Grace, and Spring Lake Park) and will be favored to win all three games and go 10-0 in the Northwest Suburban Conference.   The Crimson will play their first non-conference game of the season when the Crimson plays Benilde-St. Margaret’s December 11th at the St. Louis Park Rec Center.  The Benilde game will be the first of eight games against Section 6AA opponents that will determine seeding for February Section 6AA tourney.  Section 6AA is a tough section to win every year.  This year there are seven tough teams in the section IWayzata, Minnetonka, Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Hopkins, Armstrong/Cooper, and North Metro).  The team seeded #1 gets a bonus, they get to skip the quarterfinal round and play the winner of the #4 and #5 seeds.  Maple Grove should be unbeaten and 12-0-0 when the Crimson play Edina in the Edina Tourney opener December 29th.

4. Dodge County (overall 6-0-0, Section 1AA 0-0-0)-Dodge County won the Prior Lake Thanksgiving Tourney last weekend beating North St. Paul 9-0 Friday and edging Holy Family Catholic/Waconia Saturday 2-1 in overtime.  The Wildcats ran into a hot goalie Saturday.  The Wildfire’s Lexi Hartmann stopped 37 of Dodge’s 39 shots to keep the game close.  The Wildcats’ Molly Shelton got the game winning overtime goal.  Dodge County will have a tough time remaining unbeaten this week as they continue their independent schedule with games at Orono and at Edina.  But the Wildcats’ position in Section 1AA seeding improved this week with Rochester Century (5-2) losing to New Prague 9-0, but Rochester John Marshall/Lourdes, Lakeville North, and Lakeville South are winning.  Section 1AA is looking tougher.  This is a rough week for Dodge County and December only gets tougher with games playing Buffalo, Rochester Century, at Hill-Murray, and at New Ulm before heading to Warroad for a four team event that includes Eastview and Lakeville North.  Dodge County’s schedule should ease in the first part of January, but have two tough games to end the season against Breck and Eden Prairie.

5. Edina (overall 5-1-1, Section 2AA 1-0-0)-In the big game last week, Edina beat Breck 5-2 in a game that will match the Hornets’ Taylor Williamson and Emily Oden against Breck’s line of “44’s” Grace Zumwinkle, Gabby Billing, and Leah Schwartzman.   Williamson and Oden came out of the locker room in storming the Mustang goal.  The result was two quick goals (by Grace Bowlby and Williamson) in the first two minutes.  At the start of the second period, Williamson and company stormed the Mustang net again resulting in a single Williamson goal in the first three minutes of the second period putting the Hornets’ up 3-1.  But it was the shorthanded goal that Williamson scored two minutes later that was the game killer for Breck.  Williamson checked the puck off a Breck defenseman on the power play in the Edina zone, held on to the puck under fierce pressure from the Breck forwards and took off turning the play into a rink long solo rush on the Mustang net.  That goal put Edina up 4-1.  It was Williamson’s third goal in the game, a hat trick.  The Hornets move up this week and continue to face tough competition this week.  Thursday, they play Rosemount (0-6-0) followed by Hill-Murray and Dodge County before opening Lake Conference play the week after against Minnetonka.  All three games this week are at Braemar.  The Hornets do not shy away from competition and their schedule this year is one of the toughest in the state, but the two that will matter the most against Eden Prairie will not be played until January.  Those games could be the predictor for the Section 2AA championship game this season, a game that the Hornets lost last year to Eden Prairie.

6. Breck (overall 7-2-0, Section 5A 1-0-0)-The Mustangs looked unbeatable in the early season with a solid defense and a strong offense but last week was tough on them with losses to Chaska/Chanhassen (4-3) and Edina (5-2).  They came back to beat Orono at Orono 5-1 in a Section 5A game.  The Mustangs play Forest Lake this week and should have time to recover and re-group before taking on arch rival Blake and hosting a tough Red Wing team before the Christmas Holidays.  The Blake game will be the first of two games (the second game is played late in January) that will likely determine the Section 5A seeding.  The Chaska/Chanhassen loss cost Breck the top spot in this ranking last week.  The Edina loss drops Breck to sixth in this week’s rankings. 

7. Minnetonka (overall 6-2-0, Section 6AA 0-0-0)-The Skippers have been off since losing to Roseville 3-2 before Thanksgiving.  They play Mounds View (3-1-1) at Blaine this week before opening Lake Conference play the following week.  Mounds View will be tough.  Mounds View tied Cretin-Derham Hall 2-2 last week.  The Skippers will play their first two Lake Conference games at Edina and at Wayzata, but it would be dangerous for them to overlook Mounds View this week.  With no games played this past week, Minnetonka remains ranked #7.

8. Roseau (overall 6-1-1, Section 8A 2-0-0)-After an up and down trip to the Twin Cities before Thanksgiving (beating Edina 4-3 and losing to Breck 4-1), the Rams returned to Northwestern Minnesota hockey tying Thief River Falls 1-1 and last week beating Warroad 4-1 at Warroad (no easy feat, Warroad tied Edina 3-3 the same weekend the Rams beat the Hornets).  The Rams are favored to win their next five games.  They play Crookston and Moorhead this week; North Wright County, East Grand Forks, and Brainerd/Little Falls the week after.  Then Roseau returns to the Twin Cities to play in a tough Eden Prairie Tournament over the Christmas Holidays.  They should have an 11-1-1 record before playing Chaska/Chanhassen in the Eden Prairie Tourney opener.  The Rams remain on track to win the Greater Minnesota Conference Title and to get the Section 8AA #1 seed at the end of January. 

9. Thief River Falls (overall 7-1-1, Section 8A 4-0-0)-The Prowlers had a great week beating Proctor/Hermantown 3-1, Park Rapids 13-0, and East Grand Forks 7-2.  Thief River Falls is now in first place in the Greater Minnesota Conference, but the fun is just beginning.  The Prowlers have a big night at REA this Friday with #1 unbeaten Eden Prairie in town.  A win will move the Prowlers up, a tough loss will keep them on the Top Ten list but having lost a big opportunity.  In either case, their win over Proctor/Hermantown last week ended the Prowlers “sneaking” and established them as a contender this season.  Their tie with Roseau a week earlier adds to that.  After the Eagles leave town, the Prowlers host rival Warroad in a key conference game.  This is a big week for TRF hockey.

10. Hill-Murray (overall 2-2-0, Section 4AA 1-0-0)-Hill-Murray made the Top Ten this week and will make a splash this week.  By week’s end, either the Hill will be swimming in the fast lane or sinking.  They have played four games thus far this season(losing to Eden Prairie 4-3, losing to Lakeville North 2-1, beating Lakeville South 4-0, and beating Tartan 2-0).  The Hill’s defense is holding their opponents to an average of one goal a game.  They will be playing Edina and Andover this week. 

Teams to watch: St. Paul United (7-2-0), Proctor/Hermantown (7-1-0), Lakeville South (5-1-0), New Prague (5-2-1),  Chaska/Chanhassen (6-3-1), Warroad (5-3-1), Cretin-Derham Hall (4-1-2), Elk River (6-2-0), Wayzata (4-1-2), Grand Rapids/Greenway (6-2-0), Buffalo (5-1-0), Red Wing (4-1-0), and East Grand Forks (6-2-0).

St. Paul United, Protor/Hermantown, Lakeville South, and New Prague are new to this list.  SPU has won its last four games and plays Wayzata next Tuesday.  United has one of the top goal scorers in the state, sophomore Joie Phelps.  Lakeville South joins the list as a result of solid win over Eagan 6-0 despite losing to Hill-Murray 4-0 last week.  Proctor/Hermantown (7-1-0) lost to Thief River Falls 3-1 last week, fall out of the Top Ten, and end up on this list.  The Mirage beat Crookston 4-0 and has a chance to get back in the Top Ten this week when they host Blake.

New Prague’s impressive 9-0 win over Rochester Century puts them on this list this week.  Eagan (4-2-1) falls out of the teams to watch this week losing to Lakeville South 6-0.  New Ulm leaves as a result of losing to Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato.  Austin lost twice last week (Faribault 4-3 and Willmar 6-5) and drops out of the teams to watch.