The Edina Invite was played last weekend at Braemar Arena in Edina.  The tourney matched Edina (Section 2AA) and Eden Prairie (Section 6AA) against Section 7AA perennial powerhouses, Elk River and Grand Rapids.  Both 7AA teams lost to Edina and Eden Prairie and Elk River beat Grand Rapids 5-4.  The Edina Invite provides the basis for a YHH mid-season preview of what team could emerge from a tightly contested Section 7AA tourney next February with a ticket to the Xcel at stake.  After the holidays, these two perennial 7AA powers will have played half of their regular season schedule.  Elk River will have 12 regular season games left to play; and Grand Rapids will have 11 games left to play.  It is hard to believe that the high school hockey regular season is half over and there is no snow on the ground.

Andover (Overall 3-4-1, Section 7AA 0-0-1)-Andover’s 3-4-1 record is deceiving at this point in the season.  The one tie is an important 2-2 tie with Duluth East, the four losses are to top rated teams (Wayzata, Maple Grove, Centennial, and Elk River).  The Huskies are in a position where most prognosticators would have had them at this point in the season, except the Duluth East tie.  Most would predicted a loss.  What Andover does next will starts to affect achieving their season goals.  YHH has been following these players since they wowed everybody as peewee A's and made the peewee A state tourney taking the consolation title.  Will they repeat that this year and go to the Class AA state?  As Herb Brooks told his team “you were meant to be here.  This moment is yours”.  Only “this moment” for Andover starts January 2nd and can end beyond February 24th.

The Huskies are off over the holidays and will not play until January 2 when Grand Rapids arrives in Andover to play a game.  It is a game that has no favorite, but is a key Section 7AA match-up.  Andover’s offense this year is driven by the line of seniors Reece Tullbane and juniors Anthony Banack and Zach Sitarz.  But they are also getting scoring from the line of Colten Hughes and Brent Sears line.  A third line, Christian Ledin, Nick Haller, and Andy Feyo has played well.  Two of the Huskies top five scorers are defensemen; Tyler Vold (13 points/4 goals) leads the team and Dylan Holt (8 points/7 assists) is fourth.  Goalie Maddie Rooney has been in the net and has posted a 3-3-1 record giving up an average of 3.3 goals per game while stopping 90% of the shots on goal.       

Cambridge-Isanti (Overall 4-4-0, Section 7AA 0-3-0)-Last week, the Bluejackets lost to Duluth East 4-0.  It was their only loss in the last five games.  Cambridge is on a track to finish with 15-18 wins this season, but will struggle beating Section 7AA opponents and are likely to end the season with a 1-4-0 record against 7AA teams.  That costs them a higher seed.  The Bluejackets have struggled in the first period of their games.  They spotted Duluth East two goals in the first and lost 4-0.  Their offense is led by Collin Anderson, defensemen Austin  Schlenker and Jack Goodmanson, and Jared Konen.  Goalie Nate Muehlberg has been the in the nets posting 2-3-0 record giving up 4.4 goals a game while stopping 89% of the shots on goal.  Muehlberg was in the nets for the Duluth East game and stopped 47 of 51 shots on net.  Cambridge-Isanti defensive corps needs to improve for the Bluejackets to make a move.           

Cloquet (Overall 3-6-0, Section 7AA 1-2-0)-The Lumberjacks lost last Saturday to Forest Lake 3-2.  That was their second Section 7AA loss.  They lost early in December to Duluth East 3-1.  Cloquet plays in the Lake Superior Conference and are the only Class AA in the Lake Superior.  That conference has become the battleground for Section 7A between Hermantown and Duluth Marshall.  With a shortened conference schedule, Cloquet has scheduled nine games against Section 7AA foes.  They will play Grand Rapids this week at the Northwoods arena.  The Lumberjacks then play St. Francis, at Grand Rapids, Andover, at Duluth East, and at St. Michael-Albertville.  In the first half of the season, the Lumberjack forwards, who have the offensive skills to get shots on goal, can’t find the net.  In three close games that they played this, they lost by identical scores of 3-2.  In those three games, the Lumberjacks out shot their winning opponents 139-61.  If Cloquet can find the net a little more by the end of the season and stiffen their defense to get the team save percentage nearer 90%, they could win by the end of the season.  But as of now, it looks like a repeat of last season.  Last season, Cloquet was 2-5-1 going into the Christmas Holidays and 1-2 in Section 7AA games beating Cambridge-Isanti, losing to Duluth East 3-2 and Forest Lake 3-2.  They drew the #7 seed in the Sectional tourney and lost a close game to Elk River at Elk River 4-3.    

Duluth East (Overall 4-2-1, Section 7AA 3-0-1)-The Hounds are one of this season’s enigma teams and for good reason.  They have put together an all junior line of Luke Dow, Ash Altmann, and Ryan Peterson and that line has potential and is beginning to roll (16 points/9 goals in 7 games).  Add to that lines' potential, the potental of ninth grade forward Garret Worth and ninth grade defenseman Luke Lamaster behind the leadership of senior Nick Altmann and backed by the defensive play of junior Shay Donovan and the Hounds have the makings of a strong offense by the end of the season.  In the nets for Duluth East is senior Gunnar Howg (posting 3-2-1 record while giving up 2.7 goals a game while stopping 88% of the shots on goal).  The Hounds defensive corps are already tough to beat.  Collectively, they have given up an average of 22 shots on goal.  The real question with the Hounds is how well they come together by season’s end. 

Forest Lake (Overall 3-4-2, Section 7AA 2-2-0)-The Rangers lost to STMA 2-1 and four days later lost to Grand Rapids 6-3. They have beaten Cambridge-Isanti 7-2 and Cloquet 3-2 to post a 7AA record of 2-2 with four 7AA games left on their schedule.  At the same point last season, Forest Lake had posted a 3-1 Section 7AA record.  The difference between this season and last season is that they beat STMA 5-2.  Last season, the Rangers went on to get the #5 seed in the section playoffs and travel to Grand Rapids where they lost 2-1.  They are on a similiar path this year, traveling to Grand Rapids or Duluth East.  To avoid a quarterfinal trip and stay home, the Rangers need to get to the #4 seed or better.  They are close with a tough defense that has held their opponents to under three goals a game.  But they need some Section 7AA wins.

Forest Lake has four Section 7AA games remaining with Elk River, St. Francis, Duluth East, and Andover.  They should beat St. Francis Rangers and this week will host Elk River.  They will need some 7AA wins to improve their position at seeding time.  The Rangers will have played all eight Section 7AA foes this season and could be used as a measuring stick for determining seeds.  But that would discount any Ranger improvement over the season.

Forest Lake has had a stingy defense, holding opponents in holding opponents to under 3 goals a game.  They had been scoring 4 goals a game.  However, in their last six games, the Rangers have matched their opponents in goals scored each scoring 15 goals.  The offense has fallen off and the Rangers need to find the net.  

Grand Rapids (Overall 4-6-0, Section 7AA 1-1-0)-It is hard to believe after watching the Thunderhawks play, that they have lost six games this season.  They hit the ice with a determination that can be seen from the stands.  That was emphasized in the Edina game Thursday when they physically drove the Hornets nets to score twice in the first period.  But Grand Rapids faded late in the second period and in the third period of all three Edina Invite games.

Grand Rapids played Edina Thursday night, Eden Prairie Friday night, and Elk River Saturday night.  The two Section 7AA teams played the same two top ranked teams in 24 hours and then played each other 24 hours later.  In Thursday game against Edina, Grand Rapids trailed the Hornets 4-3 one minute into the third period.  They had just scored and were in contention to win the game.  But the Thunderhawks lost 8-3 giving up four goals in the last 16 minutes.  Friday night against Eden Prairie, Grand Rapids scored with two minutes left in the second period to cut the Eagles lead to 3-1 only to give up five goals in the last 18 minutes of game play.  In Saturday’s game against the Elks, Grand Rapids arrived at the same point, one minute into the third period, that they had against Edina Friday.  This time they were leading Elk River 4-3 after scoring the third period goal.  They lost to the Elks 5-4 giving up two third period goals in the final 16 minutes.

The Grand Rapids offense seems to slow in the later in the game and it costs them wins especially against better teams.  The better teams created scoring opportunities from rushes that started in the Rapids side of the ice.  Their defense was faced with man advantages (2-on-1) that originated in the Grand Rapids offensive zone.  Their first four wins of the season reflect that.  Those four games were easy wins in which the Rapids outscored their opponents 11-3 in the first period, 12-2 in the second period, and 8-5 in the third period.  Thunderhawks are a solid team and should get better once they play three periods of solid hockey. 

St. Francis (Overall 0-7-0, Section  7AA 0-1-0)-The Fighting Saints lost Saturday to Buffalo 7-6.  Offensively, it was a step up scoring 6 goals against the Mississippi 8 conference leading Bison.  Lucas Carroll figured in five of the Saints six goals (2 goals/3 assists) to become the Saints scoring leader seven games into the season.  The Saints defensive corps has held three of their seven opponents to 20 or less shots on goal.  They gave up 41 SOGs in losing to Buffalo, the most shots they have given up in a single game.  The team has been stopping only 79% of the shots on goal. 

St. Michael/Albertville (Overall 5-2-0, Section 7AA 2-1-0)-It is always fun to take quick look back at some of high school teams to see how they ended up on the varsity team.  The Knights’ varsity this year is starting to see the impact of the STMA Association’s 2010, 2011, and 2012 (state tourney) peewee A teams.  Ten players on the 2009-2010 peewee A team play on this year’s varsity (sans Brandon Zajicek who played for Shattuck last season and is now playing defense for the Estevan Bruins in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League; Zajicek would have been a senior at STMA this year).  Seven of the STMA peewees from the 2009-2010 team are juniors this year and three are seniors.  The STMA Association’s peewee team burst on to the youth hockey scene that year posting a 37-14-1 record and coming up one game short of making the state tourney (losing a tough 5-4 overtime game to Orono after beating Osseo/Maple Grove 3-2).  The real question this season is will STMA burst onto the high school hockey scene in January and February as they did as peewees?  Or are they a year away?  

The Seeds

The #1 seed goes to Elk River at this point in the season.  The Elks are skating the best of the nine Section 7AA teams and their younger skaters have noticeably improved from the season opener giving the Elks added firepower.  The Elk defense is tough, and though the goaltending struggling at times, it will improve.  Halfway through the season, the Elks are the best in Section 7AA.

There are four teams bunched for the #2-#5 seeds.  One team is Grand Rapids.  The Thunderhawks should win their next four games and have a 8-6-0 record playing at the Andover Community Center on January 2nd.  Andover is off over the holidays and the Grand Rapids game will be the Huskies first game back.  The Huskies took four losses after tying Duluth East (Wayzata 5-1, Maple Grove 4-1, Centennial 5-3, and Elk River 4-1).  The Grand Rapids game will be a key one for Andover to win.  The Huskies schedule does not get easier after playing Grand Rapids.  Andover will play Blaine (twice), STMA, Elk River, Centennial, and Forest Lake; but a win over Grand Rapids could get them a coveted #4 seed.  A loss to the Thunderhawks on January 2nd will likely get the Huskies a #5 seed and a trip to Grand Rapids, an arena few city teams likes to play at.  For the Huskies, the Andover Community Center is home, has an unique venue combining fast food places, gyms, workout areas, swimming pools, and a rink.  The place is like a zoo and the parking lots are mostly full even if you arrive early for the game.  Most people go to the center for things other than hockey.  Huskies win on January 2nd and get the #4 seed.  Grand Rapids gets the #5 seed.  

St. Michael/Albertville should take the Schwan’s Bronze Tourney this coming week.  They open against Champlin Park and will be the favorites.  The Knights should beat the winner of Blake/Chisago Lakes (most likely Blake) and play Hopkins for the title.  If they win the Schwan’s, the Knights will have a good shot at posting 20 or more wins this season and will be hard to ignore at seeding time.  The one flaw the Knights have is a 4-3 overtime loss to Duluth East.

Duluth East will be playing a tougher schedule but are not likely to win the Schwan Gold Cup and could lose all three games.  After the Schwan Gold Cup, they still have Eden Prairie, Lakeville North, Roseau, Elk River, and Minnetonka on their schedule.  In most of those games, Duluth East will be considered the underdog.  The Hounds are headed for a .500 season losing to tough teams and beating teams that are likely the same teams that STMA will beat.  STMA gets the #2 seed; Duluth East the #3 seed.    

Seeds 6-9 have started to shakeout.  Forest Lake edges Cloquet for the #6 seed.  The Rangers are headed for a .500 plus season and a 3-5-0 Section 7AA record.  They will play mostly Suburban East Conference games the rest of the season.  The Lumberjacks have enough Section 7AA opponents (six including STMA) on their schedule that a few wins could actually push them into one of the top four seeds.  For the Lumberjacks, that starts this Tuesday (December 23rd) when they host a bruised Grand Rapids team coming off of three losing games in the Edina Invitational.  Cloquet gets the #7 seed.

Cambridge-Isanti plays in the Simley Holiday tourney and draws Albert Lea, Simley, and Farmington.  They will be the underdogs going against a tough young Farmington team that could challenge Lakeville North for the Section 1AA title, but should beat Simley and an improving Albert Lea team.  The Bluejackets are likely to win more than 15 games this season, but are also likely to end the season with a 1-5 Section 7AA record.  C-I gets the #8 seed.  St. Francis heads to the Iron Range Invite as the only non-Range team.  They draw Virginia, Grand Rapids, and Hibbing and will have chances to turn their season around, but today, the Fighting Saints get the #9 seed.

Section 7AA Tournament

If the projected seeding holds, Cambridge-Isanti would host St. Francis on Valentine’s Day next February.  The Bluejacks win and travel to Elk River to play the #1 seeded Elks February 17th and lose.  Three other quarterfinal games will be played the 17th; #4 Andover edges #5 Grand Rapids in a repeat victory at the Andover Community Center; host Duluth East edges Forest Lake; and STMA beats Cloquet in front of a packed Albertville Ice Arena that will remind the Lumberjacks of playing in the “The Barn”.

The four quarterfinal winners travel to Duluth’s AMSOIL on February 21st to play the Section 7AA semifinals.  Elk River beats Andover in one semifinal and STMA edges Duluth East in the other semifinal game.  The Elks beat STMA to win the Section 7AA title.

One final note, most of the Section 7AA teams’ roster consist of players from their association’s 2009-2010 peewee teams.  The association’s peewee A teams in 2009-2010 were ranked as follows: Elk River #3, Andover #6, St. Michael/Albertville #25, Duluth East #26, Cloquet #27, St. Francis #47, Forest Lake #54, Grand Rapids #59, and Cambridge/Isanti #80.  Elk River and Andover made the 2010 peewee A state tourney played in Faribault.  The Elks (led by Reggie Lutz, Jacob Jaremko, and Matt Kiersted) lost to Edina (led by Dylan Malmquist, Casey Dornbach, and Matt Mastermann) in the championship game 5-3. Andover (led by Tyler Vold, Reece Tullbane, and Maddie Rooney) beat Orono (led by David McCuskey, Joey Luedtke, and Jon Flakne) 6-4.   

What is next?

Merry Christmas!