Girls HP-16 Tourney (Lower Bracket: Section 5A/AA vs 8A/AA and Section 2A/AA vs 7A/AA)

The HP-16 Tourney Lower Bracket matches two teams from Minnesota's North Sections 7 and 8 against two teams from Minnesota's Twin Cities area Sections 2 and 5.  On the surface, it would appear to be a typical Northern Minnesota versus Twin City bracket.  But looking at the four teams’ rosters, it is more likely to become a battle of private school players augmented by Northwest Suburban Conference players (Section 5) versus players from two Lake Conference powerhouse teams, Edina and Eden Prairie (Section 2) where good goalie play could be the difference.  Section 5 has the edge in goaltending, but the other three section teams have goaltenders out to prove themselves.  Two skaters standout in this bracket, Grace Zumwinkle and Emily Oden and they could play each other in the semifinal game.  This should be a fun bracket to watch.    

Section 5A/AA: High schools that start with a “B” or “C” dominant the Section 5 team roster.  Blaine High School with five (defensemen Kenzie Wylie and Kirsten Ziegler and forwards Courtney Moser, Paige Ondov, and Gabby Rosenthal) has the most players on the team.  Wylie, Ziegler, Moser, and Rosenthal played on the Bengals’ Class AA team last March at the Xcel that won the Consolation championship beating Eastview 4-3.  That Bengal team was dominated by 14 sophomores and ninth graders.  Blake, Class A State tourney runner-up, has three players (forwards Sarah Chute and Sarah Levitt and goaltender Anna Kruesel) on the team.  Chute and Kruesel played for the Bears at the Xcel last March.  The final players from a “B” high school are two of the best in the state, Breck forwards Grace Zumwinkle and Gabby Billing.  Zumwinkle and Billing were two thirds of Breck’s top line, the “44’s” last season.  Both are outstanding players.  Zumwinkle was a 2014 HP-15 National Camp attendee last summer.  Billing was a YHH Top 50 peewee A/AA pick. 

Centennial and Champlin Park have five players on the Section 5A/AA team.  Centennial defender Alana Bordeaux and forwards Gabbie Hughes and Anneke Linser made the team.  Hughes was selected by Minnesota Hockey last season as part of the HP-15 program as a National Camp attendee.  Champlin Park defender Maegan Shuck and forward Kaylee Wood are on the team.  In all, the “B” and “C” high schools have 15 of the 20 players on the Section 5A/AA team this year.  Rogers has two players (defenseman Courtney Johnson and Paetyn Levis); Spring Lake Park has one (defenseman Hannah Schultz); Anoka has one (forward Cassidy Motter), and Mound/Westonka has one (goalie Emma Polusny).

Section 5 will have a strong line with Breck’s Zumwinkle (56 points/34 goals) and Billing (20 points/9 goals) leading the way.  Zumwinkle, a sophomore, has committed to play college hockey for the University of Minnesota.  Centennial had a great end to their season winning their last nine regular season games and then beating Anoka and Champlin Park in the 5AA sectional before losing to Blaine 3-2 in the championship.  The Cougars were led by Hughes and Linser.  Hughes, the Crimson’s #1 scorer, posted 54 points/29 goals; Linser, the #2 scorer, posted 40 points/17 goals.  Blaine’s Courtney Moser and Gabby Rosenthal had a good state tourney.  After the Bengal’s lost a tough 3-1 game to Lakeville South in the Class AA quarterfinals, Moser came back to post four points/two goals in leading Blaine to a Consolation Title.  Moser scored the winning overtime goal in the consolation championship game.  Blake’s Chute and Levitt will be interesting to watch.  Chute has been a steady performer for the Bears (and was a two time YHH Top 50 peewee A/AA pick). 

Paetyn Levis led Rogers in scoring last season posting 36 points/26 goals.  Levis and Breck’s Gabby Billing were teammates playing on Rogers Youth Hockey Association teams.  Kaylee Wood was Champlin Park’s #2 scorer last year with 16 points/5 goals and Cassidy Motter had a good season on the Anoka varsity team.

The Section 5A/AA defensive corps should be led by Spring Lake Park’s Schultz, Rogers’ Johnston, and Blaine’s Wylie.  All can score as well as defend.  The defensive corps can make some nice passes to set up scorers and defend well, but the play of the two Section 5A/AA goalies will be key.  Anna Kruesel was Blake’s starting goalie last season and was in the nets for all three Class A state tourney games.  Kruesel posted a 17-3-0 record giving up an average of 1.8 goals a game while stopping 93% of the shots on goal.  Mound/Westonka’s Emma Polusny was the only goalie selected by Minnesota Hockey as a 2014 HP-15 National Camp attendee last summer.  In the 2014-2015 season, Polusny was in the nets for every regular season game for the White Hawks posting a 13-11-1 record giving up an average of 2.6 goals a game while stopping 92% of the shots on net.

Section 8A/AA: Mathematically, the Greater Minnesota Conference, the Central Lakes Conference, and the Mississippi 8 Conference split the Section 8A/AA roster 9-5-6.  That is not surprising.  But this year’s Section 8A/AA team has two surprises and they indicate last season’s Section 8AA playoff maybe a repeat in 2016 and Section 8A 2016 playoffs maybe wide open.  One surprise is that there are no Roseau players in the nine player contingent from the Greater Minnesota.  Moorhead with three players (defender Kara Werth and forwards Monique Aanenson and Marissa Herdt) has the most of any Greater Minnesota Class AA team.  Buffalo (the 2015 Section AA champs from the Mississippi 8) have four players (forwards Jamie Bryne, Jillianne Hovland, and Taylor Thompson and goalie Karly Schmidt).  Two other Class AA schools, North Wright County and St. Cloud each placed two players.  North Wright’s defender Paige Jensen and forward Lindsay Finnerty and St. Cloud’s forward Lauren Brettingen and goalie Emily Musielewicz made the team.  Four other Class AA schools have one player on the team; Bemidji forward Madison Schultz, River Lakes forward Alyssa Meed, Brainerd/Little Falls defender Mara Roberts, and Sartell/Sauk Rapids defender Megan Mohr.

What is scary about Buffalo is that Buffalo has six players on the HP-17 Section 8A team, Moorhead has two, and Roseau has none.  That means half of Buffalo’s potential varsity team next season is participating at the Spring Festival.  It would appear the Bison are gearing up for a repeat Section 8AA title next March.  With Roseau nowhere to be seen, Buffalo looks even stronger to repeat.

Four of the five teams in Section 8A play in the Greater Minnesota Conference.  The Mississippi 8 and the Central Lakes Conferences send none of their Class A teams to Section 8A.  The fifth team in Section 8A is Mid-State Conference's Park Rapids Area team.    Only two of the Greater Minnesota conference Class A teams placed players on the Section 8A/AA roster; the defending Section 8A (and Class A state champions) Thief River Falls and Warroad.  The Prowlers placed one player (defenseman Callie Fagerstrom) and Warroad placed four players (defenseman Jennifer Phillips, forwards Hannah Christian, Mariah Gardner, and Madison Oelkers).  Warroad lost to the Prowlers three times last season (1-0, 5-2, and 3-1). 

Section 8A/AA best offense may come from Warroad’s Gardner, Oelkers, and Christian.  Gardner led the Warrior varsity in scoring last season posting 50 points/18 goals; Oelkers Was #2 with 35 points/14 goals.  Christian was #6 with 11 points/5 goals.  Moorhead’s leading scorer Marissa Herdt (23 points/17goals) should work well with Bemidji’s Schultz (the Lumberjacks #2 scorer with 15 points/10 goals and River Lakes’ Alyssa Meed (17 points/7 goals).  Buffalo’s Thompson, Bryne, and Hovland should also work well together.  Thompson is a goal scorer and Hovland is more of the playmaker.  North Wright County’s #2 scorer Lindsay Finnerty (34 points/12 goals), Brettingen and Aanenson complete Section 8A/AA’s offense.

Sartell/Sauk Rapids defender Mohr (and their #5 scorer last season with 20 points/5 goals) and Moorhead’s Kara Werth (#3 scorer with 13 points/12 assists) should form the core of the Section 8’s defense.  Brainerd/Little Falls’ Roberts and Warroad’s Jennifer Phillips will contribute.  St. Cloud’s goalie Emily Musieleicz is one of the two goalies on the team.  Musieleicz posted a 3-4-1 record for the Icebreakers giving up an average of 2.7 goals per game while stopping 92% of the shots on net.  Musieleicz is joined by Buffalo’s Karly Schmidt.  Schmidt posted a 6-0-0 giving up 1.8 goals a game while stopping 89% of the shots on goal.

Section 2A/AA: If Section 5A/AA is the second of “B’s” and “C’s”, the Section 2A/AA is the “Big E” section with 11 of the 20 players on the roster from Eden Prairie or Edina.  These two high school teams battled for YHH’s Top 10 #1 ranking early in the season until Edina lost six of nine games around the holidays and dropped out of the Top 10 rankings of the best teams in the state.  While Edina was losing, Eden Prairie went unbeaten and remained at the top of the Top 10 rankings until the Eagles lost to Edina with three games left to go in regular season.  The 3-2 overtime loss ended Eden Prairie's hopes of an unbeaten season and cost the Eagles the Lake Conference title.  Minnetonka won and went on to finish second in the Class AA State Tourney at the Xcel.  The Eagles lost again to the Hornets 4-3 in overtime in the Section 2AA championship game missing the 2015 trip to the Xcel.

The Eagles have five players on the Section 2A/AA team for the Spring Festival (defenders Rebecca Berg and Crystalyn Hengler, forwards Emily McLaughlin and Naomi Rogge, and goalie Elizabeth Kubicek).  Rogge was the Eagles #4 scorer last season posting 23 points/12 goals in 25 games.  Defender Hengler was not far behind in the Eagles scoring stats posting 15 points/5 goals.  Last summer, Hengler was on Minnesota Hockey’s 2014 HP-15 National Camp attendee list.  Edina has six players on the team; defender Grace Webert and forwards Olivia Kilberg, Ellie Mahoney, Shannon Murray, Sophia Slattery, and Emily Oden.  Oden, a ninth grader, is one of the top players in the state and was a 2014 HP-15 National Camp attendee.  She was Edina’s #2 scorer last season posting 28 points/19 goals in 24 games.  Slattery improved over the season and finished fourth in the Hornets scoring with 22 points/10 goals.

Prior Lake has three players on the Section 2A/AA roster, defender Madelyn Primeau and forwards Katie Huntington and Leah Pavlish.  Huntington, a ninth grader, was the Lakers leading scorer last season posting 33 points/20 goals.  Chaska/Chanhassen has two forwards on the team, Emilee Anderson and Lydia Passolt.  Chaska/Chanhassen won the first Metro West Conference title ever.  The Hawk’s Passolt, also a 2014 HP-15 National Antendee, led the team in scoring posting 59 points/35 goals in 24 games.  Anderson had a good year on the Hawks’ varsity posting 12 points.  Chaska/Chanhassen beat Shakopee 3-0 and lost to Edina 3-2 in the Section 2AA playoffs.  Shakopee defenseman Tristen Truax led the Sabres in scoring last season posting 23 points/15 goals in regular season play.  It is rare that a defender leads a team in scoring.  Shakopee, playing in the tough South Suburban Conference for the first time, did well finishing fourth behind the two Lakevilles and Eagan.

Hutchinson finished with Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato tied for last place in the Wright County Conference.  The two teams turned their season around in late January and ended up in a battled for the Section 2A title and a trip to the Xcel.  The Tigers won beating LDC 6-3.  Hutchinson ran into Blake at the Xcel and lost 9-0.  The Tigers’ defenseman Ellie Larson and goalie Emma Barrick are on the Section 2A/2AA team.  Larson was Hutchinson’s #3 scorer last season posting 25 points/12 goals.  Barrick played on Hutchinson Association’s Bantam A team last season and will be one of two goalies in the lower bracket (joining Section 7A/AA’s Lori Huseby/Ely) who skated on boys teams last season.  Huseby skated for the Timberwolves’ varsity team.    Forward Ashlyn Rakos/Holy Family Catholic/Waconia is on the team.  Rakos best game for the Fire was against Hutchinson when she scored and assisted on three goals in the Fire’s 5-2 win over Hutchinson. 

Section 2A/AA is loaded offensively.  They will have Edina’s Oden and Slattery for one line combination, Chaska/Chanhassen’s Passolt and Anderson for another line combination, Eden Prairie’s Rogge and Mclaughlin for a third line combination, and Prior Lake’s Huntington and Pavlish for a fourth line combination.  Those lines could be augmented with three Edina forwards Kilberg, Mahoney, and Murray and one Holy Family Catholic/Waconia forward Rakos to balance the lines out.  Section 2A/2AA opponents' defense should be under constant pressure at the Festival. 

Defensively, Hengler, Truax, and Berg should lead the way, but the Section 2 goal tending duo of Barrick (transition from Bantam A) and Kubicek (moving into “prime time”) will be interesting to watch.  Shots on goal totals may or may not matter depending on how the two play.   

Section 7A/AA: The big letters in Section 7A/AA is “GG” for Grand Rapids/Greenway.  The Lightning varsity had a good season posting a 15-9-1 but could not get past Andover at Andover.  Grand Rapids/Greenway did succeed getting five players on this year’s HP-16 team, the most of any Section 7AA high school.  The Rapids placed two defenders (Lies Francisco and Talia Roth) and three forwards (Megan Dulong, Madison Illikainen, and Leah Madsen) on the team.  Illikainen (39 points/19 goals), Dulong (28 points/16 goals in 24 games), and Madsen (11 points/3 goals in 18 games) were all in the Rapids top seven scorers.

Seven of the players on the roster played high school on teams from the north and east suburbs of the Twin Cities.  Elk River placed defender Annie Dalton and forward Raelyn Korinek on the team.  Korinek was the Elk’s fourth leading scorer last season posting 18 points/11 goals in 24 games.  Dalton was a solid defender on that team that can score (9 points/3 goals).  Andover forwards Claire Butorac and Nicole Sedey made the team.  Butorac scored 22 points/7 goals for the Huskies varsity.    Madison Kolbow/Forest Lake, Haley Price/Cambridge-Isanti, and Sophia Zebro/St. Francis are on the roster.  Zebro posted 17 points/9 goals in 24 games for St. Francis.  Kolbow was Forest Lake’s #2 scorer posting 27 points/8 goals.

Eight players come from Duluth area and the Range.  Proctor/Hermantown has two players on the team, defender Mikayla Kero and Katelyn Mckinzie.  Kero was a 2014 HP-15 National Camp attendee last summer and a YHH Top 50 pick as a peewee AA/A player.  She posted 18 points/6 goals playing defense for the Mirage last season.  Cloquet/Esko/Carlton has two players on the team defender Ally Martin and goalie Erin Genereau.  Hibbing’s Mallorie Iozzo, a 2014 HP-15 National Camp Attendee last season, is on the team.  Iozzo led the Bluejackets’ varsity in scoring last season posting 36 points/14 goals in 24 games.  International Falls’ Lexi Edwards led the Bronco’s in scoring last season posting 38 points/25 goals in 24 games.  Duluth defender Ella Ierino is on the team.  Ierino played solid defense for the Stars last season.  Lori Huseby played for Ely High School boys’ varsity last season splitting the goaltending time.  Huseby posted a 2-7-0 record giving up an average of 6.6 goals a game while stopping 85% of the shots on goal.  Huseby’s Timberwolves struggled last season with a young team.  Huseby played in the last half of Ely’s 5-2 loss to Moose Lake in the Section 7A quarterfinals stopping 19 of 21 Moose Lake shots.  The young Timberwolves had a great second half in that game and outshot Moose Lake 38-34 after a slow start.  Huseby had an impressive game against St. Paul Como mid-season stopping 51 shots on net in two periods of play.

Girls HP-16 Lower Bracket Predictions

Both Section 8A/AA and Section 7A/AA teams are facing big offenses.  Section 5A/AA forwards will bring pressure on Section 8’s defense and goalies.  Section 5 will have the depth to maintain offensive pressure forcing Moorhead/Buffalo/Warroad forwards to the limits to generate offense.  The probabilities favor Section 5’s offensive breaking the Section 8 defense and getting them to scramble.  Section 8A/AA offense can be dangerous, but the duo goaltending of Section 5's Anna Kruesel and Emma Polusny will be tough to beat.  Section 5 beats Section 8.

Section 7A/AA faces even a tougher offense in Section 2A/AA than Section 8 does.  Section 2 can roll four tough lines led by Edina’s Emily Oden and Chaska/Chanhassen Lydia Passolt.  The Section 2 defensive corps should be strong and that is what makes the Section 2 goaltending duo interesting.  Both Emma Barrick and Elizabeth Kubicek will be playing at a new level and their performance can be the difference, but not for the opening game against Section 7.  Section 7 best chance for success will be in how well the defense controls the puck under pressure in Section 7's zone.  Their goaltending duo of Huseby and Genereau should make the initial saves, but the Section 2 lines will be opportunists looking to pound the rebounds into the back of the net.  Section 2 wins setting up what will be the second best game of the tourney between Sections 2 and 5.  In the semifinal game, the depth of the Section 2 offensive lines should prevail and should score.  But, in a high scoring game, the Section 5 goaltenders should stop Section 2’s forwards just enough to carry the day.  Section 5 wins.

In Sunday’s championship game, Section 6A/AA should play Section 5A/AA.  This will be the best game of the tourney.  The coin flip here took ten tries before this corner of YHH was convinced that the seven times came up Section 5A/AA came up made sense.  But who cares about the winning, the most interest at the Festival will be in how the teams skate.

An Observation-A Strong set of words

Girls’ hockey in Minnesota over the past five years is improving.  It is improving while girls hockey outside of Minnesota and our upper Midwest neighbors is struggling.    The level of play in Minnesota shows more skillfully played games and improving skills.  It also shows the girls are developing their own approach to the game.  Girls high school hockey in Minnesota has evolved and will continue to evolve.  It can't be thought of any more as simply girls playing a boys game.  Minnesota girls high school hockey is leading the way because of the number of teams playing competitive hockey remains high and as they improve, Minnesota girls are changing the game.  Their style of play can really grab a fan’s attention.

It will be interesting to see over the next five years how the Minnesota players are evaluated as HP National Camp attendees at the national level.  The belief here is that Minnesota will sustain interest and continue to develop a brand of play reminiscent of the European style of the 1970's and 1980's that focused on speed, fast puck movement, and constant adjustment in play during a game.  The belief here is that Minnesota girls hockey, the Dakotas, Wisconsin and our Canadian neighbors will continue to improve the sport.  In other parts of the USA, the sport will fragment, suffer from lack of competition, and remain a sport of girls playing a boys game.