UMHSEL Opens Play Post 3
Hill-Murray's Luke Ranallo will play for the Msp/St. Paul this fall
This is the third and final post previewing the Minnesota teams playing in the UMHSEL this fall. The UMHSEL season will open at New Hope Arena September 12th. Each of the six Minnesota teams along with Team Wisconsin. The past two seasons, the Colorado Rampage have opened their season at New Hope. The final two teams, Muscle Milk (Team North) and Mpls/St. Paul Magazine (Team Northeast) are previewed in this post. This is the fourth year that YHH will be covering the UMHSEL. A number of the players on the 2015 UMHSEL rosters have been part of our overall coverage. Since the 150 or so players on the six rosters starting playing youth hockey, YHH has covered them in some way. YHH offers the most comprehensive coverage of Minnesota Hockey of any site on the net.
Luke Notermann celebrates scoring the winning goal for Msp/St. Paul Magazine team in the 2014 UMHSEL Playoff championship game. Notermann returns to the Magaziners this fall.
5. Mpls/St. Paul Magazine (Team Northeast):
Twelve of Stillwater Association’s 2012 peewee A team made the 2013-2014 Bantam AA team. Those Ponies went on to place second in the 2014 State Bantam AA Tourney played in Rogers that March. Stillwater lost to Grand Rapids 3-2 in the championship. At the same time, Stillwater’s varsity team played at the Xcel in the Class AA State Tourney losing to Edina 6-1.
Noah Cates, Jesse Bjugstad, Matthew Stanton, Luke Manning, Gavin Holland, Jack Mapstone, Thomas Bruchu, TJ Sagissor, Michael Kaufman, and Joey Novalany, all Bantam AA players from 2014, saw action on the Stillwater varsity last season. Three of those Bantam AA players are on the Msp/St. Paul team this fall (Bjugstad, Noah Cates, and Manning). They will join three Stillwater seniors Jackson Cates, Simon Sagissor, and goalie Josh Benson who were on the ice at the Xcel in 2014. The Msp/St. Paul team will clearly have a Stillwater bend to it and if successful will serve notice in the Suburban East and in Section 4AA (that includes Hill-Murray) that the Ponies are back.
With four Stillwater forwards on the Magaziners roster and eight others from different schools, the Msp/St. Paul team will likely be skating a Pony line and scrambling to make the other three lines work early in the season. Luke Notermann/Blaine and Isaac Johnson/Anoka should be able to anchor a line each. Noterman had a good season last fall playing for the Magaziners 22 points/9 goals in 21 games. Johnson will be returning from playing for the USA U18 team in August. Connor Gagnon centered Spring Lake Park’s top line at the Xcel last March but will be tested along with Cade Gleekel/Benilde-St Margaret’s, Dylan Gast/White Bear Lake, Luke Ranallo/Hill-Murray, and Cole Ball/Brainerd.
In the defensive corps, the Magaziners also have six different defense men. Wyatt Newpower/White Bear Lake played on the Minnesota HP-18 team that won this spring’s CCM NIT tourney. Wayzata’s Hank Sorenson returns to the Magaziners for his second fall season. Sorenson is a defense man turned scorer (12 points/6 goals in 19 games) and will rush the puck. Nick Austin is a veteran defense man at Benilde and should stabilize a younger defense. Senior Tanner Vescio/Blaine and junior Brian Hurley/St. Thomas Academy both were on the ice for their teams at the Xcel. Jesse Bjugstad/Stillwater had a good first year playing high school hockey. The talent is there, but can they get it together in front of two veteran goaltenders, Jake Begley/Hill-Murray and Josh Benson/Stillwater. Both goalies are used to competing at a high level and should be solid in the nets, but as always, who controls the rebound?
Wyatt Newpower grimaces after this Stillwater score in the White Bear Lakes early season win of the Ponies. Newpower, the picture suggests, will be the "B" in the Bears in the coming season.
Stillwater's Jesse Bjugstad tangles with White Bear Lakes Dylan Gast last season. Bjugstad had a great year last season and will be playing with Gast on the Magaziners this fall as hockey in Minnesota starts to roll.
| Name | P | High School | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tanner Vescio | D | Blaine | Vescio is one of two Bengal defense men returning from last year's state tourney team. The 6'2" senior posted 11 points/8assists in Blaine's late season run to the Xcel. |
| Brian Hurley | D | St. Thomas Academy | A junior this year, Hurley, like Vescio, played at the Xcel last March for the Cadets and was the second line out. He like Vescio with be one of two defenders returning to his varsity team. Hurley has posted 38 points/9 goals playing 59 games for STA this past season and will be at Ohio State in the fall of 2017. He was drafted by the USHL's Fargo Force in 2014. |
| Jesse Bjugstad | D | Stillwater | Bjugstad scored 19 points/6 goals in his first 25 games on varsity last season. He did well enought to impress the USHL Green Bay Gamblers. They drafted Bjugstad last May. The 6'1" defense man made Minnesota Hockey's HP-16 Final 54 this past summer. |
| Wyatt Newpower | D | White Bear Lake | Newpower is a strong defenseman who will be in his fourth season for the Bears' varsity team. In three regular seasons, Newpower has posted 62 points/10 goals in 75 games. Newpower played defense for the Minnesota HP-18 team this spring that won the CCM NIT tourney. He was drafted last season by the NAHL Fairbanks Ice Dogs. |
| Nick Austin | D | Benilde-St. Margaret's | Austin was part of the Edina peewee A team (Bellows, Zuhlsdorf, Dornbach, and Wait) that in 2011 beat Farmington 7-3. Austin will be in his fourth year playing for the Red Knights. He has scored 22 points in 74 games.. |
| Hank Sorensen | D | Wayzata | Harmon (Hank) Sorensen will be in his second year as a sophomore on the Wayzata varsity led the team in goals scored (14 goals in 25 games). That was a definite change in his style of defensive play as freshman on the Trojan's varsity two years ago. This has the look of a breakout year for Hank. |
| Jackson Cates | F | Stillwater | Jackson led the Ponies in scoring last season with 41 points/23 goals in his second full year on varsity. He was impressive early on last season and appeared to be slowed by injuries. That didn't stop the USHL's Madison Capitals from drafting him in the third round last May. |
| Noah Cates | F | Stillwater | Noah has a good first season on the Stillwater varsity posting 30 points/13 goals in 25 games. He was also drafted last May by the USHL's Omaha Lancers. |
| Luke Manning | F | Stillwater | In his first year on the Stillwater varsity last season, Manning skated well enough to be drafted by the USHL's Madison Capitals. |
| Simon Sagissor | F | Stillwater | Sagissor skated between the MEPDL Metro and UMHSEL Starkey teams last fall. He then had a good season with the Ponies and is the third Pony forward to be drafted by the USHL's Madison Capitals. |
| Isaac Johnson | F | Anoka | Anoka youth teams have been of the enigmas of Minnesota Youth Hockey in that when one expects them to not do well, they come alive. Somewhere in that thought is Isaac Johnson. In March 2015, Johnson was coming off the ice for the Anoka Bantam AA team. Ten days ago (just 16 months after leaving the ice as a bantam) Johnson was coming off the ice at Arosa, Switzerland with USA on his jersey and gold medals in hand after posting a goal and an assist in USA's 8-1 win over Germany in the U17 Five Nations Tourney. |
| Cade Gleekel | F | Benilde-St. Margaret's | Gleekel skated the his freshman and sophomore years for Blake posting 82 points/43 goals in 48 regular season games. Gleekel led Blake in scoring in his sophomore year. Last season he moved to Benilde-St. Margaret's and struggled. Now a senior, he will be teaming up with Zach Risteau as the Red Knights core offense chasing a second Metro West title and a shot at the Xcel. |
| Dylan Gast | F | White Bear Lake | Gast was the Bear varsity's #4 scorer last season posting 30 points/14 goals in 24 regular season games. With WBL's top three scorers gone and with the Bears losing more forwards by graduation, Gast will be carrying the offensive load for the varsity. The Bears lost in double overtime to Stillwater in last season's Section 4AA semifinals and will be facing a two tough 4AA opponents this year in Hill-Murray and Stillwater. |
| Connor Gagnon | F | Spring Lake Park | Gagnon's Panthers surprised Section 5A opponents and took the Xcel ticket with Gagnon centering SLP's top two scorers. With eleven Panthers graduating off the last season's team and SLP moving up to Section 5AA next fall, Gagnon should still do well as the infusion of talent from youth state tourney teams began to show up. |
| Luke Ranallo | F | Hill-Murray | Ranallo skated on the Hill's #2 line last March at the Xcel. With three of the Pioneers top six forwards graduating, Ranallo will be integral to the Hill's offense next season. |
| Lucas McGregor | F | Centennial | McGregor jumped from the Centennial Bantam AA team in March to attending a USA U16 National Camp in July. He made the Minnesota Hockey's HP-16 list this summer after leading the HP-16 Blue team in scoring in the Final 54. McGregor is now playing in the UMHSEL league with the top high school players in the state. McGregor has yet to play a high school hockey game. |
| Cole Ball | F | Brainerd | Ball will likely be playing on a senior line at Brainerd this coming season as the Warriors go after a Central Lakes Conference Title and the Section 8AA ticket to the Xcel. To win the Central Lakes title they have to beat Alexandria, last year's champs. To win the Section 8AA, Brainerd will need to beat STMA, Moorhead, and defending champs Bemidji. |
| Luke Notermann | F | Blaine | Notermann teamed with Riley Tufte on Blaine's #1 line at the Xcel last March. Last season, he scored 60 points/27 goals in 29 games and was drafted by the Sioux Falls Stampede. Notermann plays football and hockey at Blaine. |
| Jake Begley | G | Hill-Murray | Begley split the season in the nets for the Pioneers posting an 8-2-0 record giving up 1.6 goals a game while stopping 92% of the shots on net. He was in the nets for the Hill's 4-0 win over Stillwater in the 2015 Section 4AA finals last February and was in the nets when the Ponys lost 4-1 to eventual State Champs Lakeville North at the Xcel. |
| Josh Benson | G | Stillwater | Benson played over 1150 minutes in the net for Stillwater last season posting a 15-8-0 record giving up 2.5 goals a game while stopping 90% of the shots on net. Josh was in the nets for Stillwater in the Ponys' 2-1 win over Hill-Murray in the 2014 Section 4AA finals and was in the nets at the Xcel Class AA State Tourney. Last season, he was in the nets when the Ponys lost to the Hill and goalie Jake Begley. |
6. Muscle Milk (Team North): It is hard to picture Team North finishing sixth among the six Minnesota teams in this seasons UMHSEL. They have talent, but historically, the North team has struggled when playing weekend games outside of Moorhead, Grand Rapids, and Duluth arenas. It is amazing to see a league leading team from the cities getting beat at one of the these venues by the Muscle Milk. But such is hockey. The problem this year, is the talented North team is up against five talented teams with younger players. The MMers will find little solace playing in friendly northern arenas this fall.
One pair of players that will help the younger players along is Tanner Tweten/East Grand Forks and Alex Adams/Grand Rapids. That pair formed a tough line that led the Minnesota U-18 team to the CCM NIT title this spring. and they are back this fall. Tweten scored the winning goal in overtime that sent East Grand Forks home with their second consecutive Class A Championship and sent Hermantown home with their sixth consecutive runner-up banner. Adams had a great spring and really demonstrated an ability to power off the wing into the crease area setting up or scoring.
The MMers will have the top seven players from East Grand Forks and arch rival Hermantown on their roster this fall. One Musclemen line can be built around Green Wave returners Tweten and Grant Loven with Alex Adams. Hermantown's Tyler Watkins, Jesse Jacques, and Ryan Sandelin can form the nucleus of a second line. Sandelin is a versatile skater, he skated as a forward all last season until moved to third line defense for the Class A Tourney.
Hermantown beat Grand Rapids badly last January 10-2 in front of 4800 hometown fans. Two days later, the Rapids beat Duluth East 5-0 in front of a packed Hound crowd at the Heritage. So something was up when the Rapids met East in the Section 7AA semifinals six weeks later. East hung on winning 3-2 despite being out shot 24-2 in the third period. Ash Altmann and Lucas Dow were magicians on the ice for the Hounds and that pair will form the core of a MMers third line. Duluth East's Thunderhawk rivals next season (veteran Jonah Bischoff combined with two Rapids bantam AA players Blake Mclaughlin and Gavin Hain) will likely form the a fourth line. Both Mclaughlin and Hain made Minnesota Hockey's HP-15 list this summer.
The Musclemen offense this season will have the core of two rivalries for next season embedded in their offense (East Grand Forks/Hermantown and Grand Rapids/Duluth East) and will spotlight high school hockey "up north" when the season opens in early November.
Defensively, there is no burgeoning rivalry among the northern schools on this year’s roster. Two Hermantown defensemen (Wyatt Aamodt and Eric Gotz) will likely be paired and two Duluth East defensemen (Shay Donovan and Alex Spencer) will likely be paired. But historically the two high schools have not played each other during the regular season. If they did, they could probably fill Amsoil Arena. But who needs easy money? The final two defensemen are Scott Perunovich/Hibbing and Lane Krenzen/Duluth Marshall. This defense six has strong talent, but will need to be strong physically in the corners. The six will front two goalies that will be tested as the season progresses. Denfeld goalie senior River Alander is the veteran and Zach Stejskel will be playing his first game at the high school level.
Duluth East's Shay Donovon (shown here at the Xcel last March) will be key for the Muscle Milk defense this fall in the UMHSEL.
Lukas Dow celebrates scoring to cut St. Thomas Academy's lead to 3-2 at the end of the first period in the Hounds 6-5 overtime win.
| Name | P | High School | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scott Perunovich | D | Hibbing | As a sophomore defense man last season, Perunovich led the Bluejackets in scoring (53 points/42 assists). Perunovich skated for the USA U18 team in the Hlinka Tourney this past month. He was drafted in 2014 by the USHL's Cedar Rapids team. |
| Shay Donovan | D | Duluth East | Donovan with Dow and Ash Altmann were the best Bantam AA line in the 2013 Bantam AA State Tourney at Edina. Donovan has since moved to defense and has succeeded. |
| Eric Gotz | D | Hermantown | Gotz and Wyatt Aamodt were the starting defensive pair for the Hawks at the Xcel last March. The two defense men combined for three of the four goals the Hawks scored in losing their sixth straight Class A championship game 5-4 in OT to East Grand Forks. With Duluth Marshall moving up to Class AA this year, the Hawks will roll through Section 7A like a DM&IR Yellowston Mallet rolling through the Proctor yards. Both should be at the Xcel and will likely meet Tanner and the boys again. |
| Alex Spencer | D | Duluth East | The 6'4" defenseman really shined dropping low in slot at critical times as the Hounds won the Eastview summer tourney. Spencer was on the #2 pair of Hound defenders off the bench at the Xcel last March. He should be on the #1 pair of defenders at the Xcel next March. |
| Wyatt Aamodt | D | Hermantown | Aamodt returns to the Muscle Milk team this fall. Last season, he led the Hawk defense in scoring with 39 points/29 assists in 28 games. He had a great state tourney and has been drafted by the USHL's Chicago Steel in 2014. Aamodt should have a good UMHSEL season this fall. |
| Lane Krenzen | D | Duluth Marshall | Krenzen returns for his second season with the UMHSEL Muscle Milk team and his fifth (senior) season playing for the Hilltoppers. Lane has posted 37points/12 goals in 74 regular season games. |
| Tyler Watkins | F | Hermantown | With five of the Hawks top nine forwards at the Xcel last March gone, Watkins leap from Bantam AA to the UMHSEL sets him up for a key role in one of the top two Hawk lines at the Xcel. Watkins and Jesse Jacques skated on Hermantown's Association's 2012 peewee A team that placed second in the state losiing to Prior Lake. Watkins is another player who's first high school game will be in the UMHSEL. Watkins, a finalist for YHH's Bantam Player of the Year last March, was drafted in May by the USHL's Waterloo Blackhawks. |
| Gavin Hain | F | Grand Rapids | Hain was YHH 2015 Bantam Player of the Year. He, like Watkins, made the jump to the UMHSEL before playing any high school games. |
| Jesse Jacques | F | Hermantown | Jacques was a winger (with two seniors) on the Hawks #2 line at the Xcel. Jacques should be on the #1 line for the Hawks at the Xcel next March with Cole Koepke. |
| Jonah Bischoff | F | Grand Rapids | Bischoff has posted 90 points/39 goals in 69 games for the Rapids team. Bischoff was the leader of the Rapids Association's peewee A team in 2010-2011 that went to the state tourney. That peewee A team included Alex Adams and Mitchell Mattson. They lost to Farmington 2-1 (John Siebenaler and Nate Knoepke) in the a three overtime quarterfinal game.and to Blaine 3-1 (Luke Notermann and Riley Tufte) in the consolation championship. |
| Grant Loven | F | East Grand Forks | Loven and Tweten were wings on EGF's top line at the Xcel last March. With center Dixon Bowen gone, the two will carry the offensive load for EGF next season. Loven has posted 89 points/37 goals in 95 games for the Green Wave over the past three seasons. |
| Ash Altmann | F | Duluth East | Altmann was wing on Dow's line as a bantam AA but has since found his stride. He had a good 2014-2015 season and set up line mate Ryan Peterson on the winning overtime goal in the Class AA semifinals at the Xcel. This year, Altmann should start to get some major attention. |
| Lucas Dow | F | Duluth East | Dow spent a year at Duluth Marshall after playing on Duluth East's Bantam AA state tourney runner-ups. Last year he returned to the Hounds' varsity and after struggling in regular season put everything together making the Class AA finals at the Xcel. Based on their play in the Eastview summer tourney a month ago, the "rat rodders" should be back to win the title. |
| Cole Koepke | F | Hermantown | Koepke has posted 64 points/34 goals in 50 games playing for the Hawks. He returns to lead the Hawks as they try to bring home their first Class A Championship Title in end their six year stretch as state tourney runner-ups. |
| Alex Adams | F | Grand Rapids | This corner of YHH is prejudiced when it comes to Alex Adams. Couldn't recognize him off the ice, but he is just a great wing on the ice. Can't wait to see him play in the UMHSEL opener. |
| Blake McLaughlin | F | Grand Rapids | McLaughlin was on the Rapids Association Bantam AA that went to state last March. He made Minnesota Hockey's HP-15 list this summer and the Muscle Milk roster this fall. Another young talent on the North that has yet to play a high school hockey game. If they all stick with the UMSEL and the North team for the next three years, the game to see will be their opener in the fall of 2018. |
| Ryan Sandelin | F | Hermantown | After skating defense in the Class A state tourney, Sandelin made Minnesota Hockey's HP-16 list this summer and the Muscle Milk roster this fall. He was also drafted by the USHL's Sioux City team this summer. That is a good first season for the high school sophomore. Things should improve in his junior season. |
| Tanner Tweten | F | East Grand Forks | Tweten will be looking for his third trip to the Xcel and a three-peat leading the Green Wave to their third Class A title in three years. Tweten has posted 93 points/39 goals in 74 games EGF and when teamed with Alex Adams, can rip the defense apart. Tweten was ranked in the top 200 North American forwards before the last NHL draft in June. |
| River Alander | G | Denfeld | In just under 700 minutes in the nets for the Hunters, Alander posted a 10-4 record giving up an average of 1.5 goals a game while stopping 94% of the shots on net. The 6'1" goalie should be Denfeld's defensive cornerstone next season. His problem next February will be in front of him this fall in the form of five Hawk skaters. |
| Zach Stejskel | G | Grand Rapids | Stejskel jumped from the Rapids Bantam AA team to the UMHSEL league to play his first high school game. With two returning goalies ahead of him and a new coach in Trent Klatt at Grand Rapids, Stejskel will have his opportunity to impress. |
Duluth East's Alex Spencer scores a key goal against Lakeview South in the Eastview Tourney last July. The 6'4" Spencer returns the MMers roster this fall in what should be the start of a great season for him and Duluth East.