UMHSEL Opens Play Post 2
Ryan Peterson and Ash Altmann celebrate an Xcel game winning goal.
The real hockey season will soon be upon us as the process of fall league team selection ends and fall league play begins. Labor Day is late this year, occurring on September 7th shortening the time to the opening of the UMHSEL. The UMHSEL kicks off Minnesota's Fall and Winter hockey season. The league rosters were filled at the end of July and five days after Labor Day, at the New Hope Arena, the league opens their season with eight teams playing three games Saturday and Sunday. Time to put summer aside and enjoy the real Minnesota season-hockey.
The first post in this series covered the pre-season top two teams in the UMHSEL, the #1 TCF Bankers (Team Southeast) and the #2 Starkey's (Team Southwest). This post covers pre-season's #3 team, MAP (Team Northwest) and the #4 team, Luther's (Team Great Plains). The final two Minnesota teams preview will be posted this coming week.
Mahtomedi's Will Swanson gives up this goal to Luke Ranallo in the Zephyrs 5-1 loss to Hill-Murray in December. At the end of the season, Swanson was in the nets for a 4-0 shutout as the rivalry between the two schools heated up last year.
3. MAP (Team Northwest)-MAP’s strength will be in their offense. Most of MAP’s 12 forwards have shown up in the High Performance program and have played at top levels in high school. Five of the twelve skated for MAP last season (Chase Ellingson, Zach Sitarz, Henry Enebak, Ben Meyers, and Tyler Nyman). Meyers centered Enebak and Sitarz last fall and collectively scored 20 goals/37 assists. Ellingson and Sitarz skated wings on separate lines. Will Blake centered Ellingson and Grant Parish on Breck’s #1 line at the Xcel in March in the Class A tourney. Both Blake and Ellingson are likely to be paired again. The two posted 66 points/30 goals in 25 regular season games playing for the Mustangs last year. Mark Senden is a logical center for another line with Wayzata teammate Billy Duma and perhaps Jared Pederson at wings. Duma, Wayzata’s leading scorer last year, and Senden collectively posted 50 points/13 goals last season. Pedersen scored 37 points/18 goals last year for Litchfield. The final line would then be Jax Murray and Nolan Sullivan at wings with Maple Grove’s Sam Huff at center. Huff had a good HP-17 summer making the Final 54 and was the #2 scorer for the Crimson with 41 points/28 assists. Murray was Elk River’s #3 scorer last season and Nolan Sullivan, always a steady strong performer is coming off his best season at Eden Prairie. Sullivan played wing for the Eagles at the Xcel on their #2 line. Regardless of the final lines and how they change over the seven weeks, MAP this fall has great offensive firepower.
The defensive corps is anchored by Nick Leivermann and Connor Mayor, but Trevor Zins maybe the key to the corps solidifying over the season. Zins and Jake Johnson will be the only two seniors on the MAP’s defensive corps. Three juniors and one sophomore make up the other four. Fortunately, MAP will have two outstanding goaltenders in Will Swanson and Alex Schilliing. Swanson was on the ice for Mahtomedi at the Xcel last March. Schilling is coming off a strong season in the nets for the Trojans.
The MAP team should be competitive once their defense makes the adjustment and began to play together. In a short seven week season, it will have to happen quickly. The goaltending could carry them early on and their offense has a number of players with differing talent to keep the pressure on.
Elk River's Jax Murray scores on this shot against Eden Prairie at the Edina Holiday Classic last December.
Andover's Zach Sitarz goes for the score in this early season 2-2 tie with Duluth East last December.
STMA'sTrevor Zins (#7) blocks this Chisago Lakes pass attempt in the Knights 4-0 win last January. A veteran STMA will challenge Moorhead, Bemidji, and Roseau for the Section 8AA title in the coming season.
| Name | P | High School | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Leivermann | D | Eden Prairie | Leivermann made the MEPDL All Star team last season that played in the UMHSEL playoffs. Nick was drafted two months ago by the USHL's Bloomington Thunder. |
| Dalton Weigel | D | Breck | In his first two seasons at Breck, Weigel has posted 43 points/9 goals in 50 games. Now a junior, he should be ready for "prime time". |
| Trevor Zins | D | St. Michael/Albertville | The Bjorlin brothers (6'5" Marshall and 6'4" Tucker) had a great NAHL tryout, but the 6'1" Zins plus other returning varsity (including Nick Putnam) and a number of players off their 2012 peewee A state tourney team are primed to win their new Section 8AA title and a ticket to the Xcel. |
| Grant Anderson | D | Wayzata | A quiet, solid defenseman, Anderson made Minnesota Hockey's HP-16 list |
| Connor Mayer | D | Benilde-St. Margaret's | Mayer is coming off a good summer and will be joining a veteran Red Knight's defense that could lead BSM to an Xcel ticket in the tough newly re-aligned Section 6AA. |
| Jake Johnson | D | Jefferson | Johnson had a good season posting 21 assists for the Jags in 25 games. The Jags have four of their top five scorers returning including #1 Ryan Graff, #3 Johnson, #4 Noah Ganske, and #5 AJ Robbel. They looked good in the high school summer tourneys. |
| Will Blake | F | Breck | Blake centered the Mustangs' #1 line at the Xcel last March (with Chase Ellingson and Grant Parrish at wings). The line produced 46 goals in 28 games losing to New Prague in the consolation finals. All three will be back along with 15 of the 18 players on the state tourney team. Look for the Mustangs to return to state. |
| Jax Murray | F | Elk River | With Matt Kierstad playing for the Chicago Steel this season, the Elks' junior and #3 scorer will likely join Jensen Zerban and be the offensive drivers on the team this fall. The Elks single problem in Section 7AA next year are the "rat rodders" from Duluth East. But it is a big problem. |
| Nolan Sullivan | F | Eden Prairie | Sullivan teamed with Casey Mittelstadt his first year on the Eagles' varsity team. Their #2 line produced 41 goals in regular season play for the State Tourney Eagles. |
| Billy Duma | F | Wayzata | Duma led the Trojans in scoring last season as a junior with 28 points/7 goals. Wayzata looked to be tough making the State in 2013 has lost key players to junior hockey and lost twice in Section 6AA. This year they have arch rival Edina moving into to Section 6AA and have lost Max Zimmer, the #2 scorer to the Chicago Steel. |
| Mark Senden | F | Wayzata | Senden is the likely candidate to replace Zimmer on the Trojans squad as the playmaker/goal scorer. Wayzata is a senior team this year and will face BSM, Cretin, and Edina in Section 6AA. |
| Sam Huff | F | Maple Grove | Huff leads a strong group of juniors returning to Maple Grove's varsity and with strong goaltending. Huff's Crimson team title hopes just got a boost with Blaine's Riley Tufte in Fargo. The Crimson should make a run to the Xcel next March if they can get by Centennial's defense. |
| Jared Pederson | F | Litchfield | Pederson has led Litchield/Dassel-Cokato in scoring the past two seasons. |
| Zach Sitarz | F | Andover | Sitarz will be skating in his fourth season at Andover (posting 97 points/47goals in 70 regular season games) and has been drafted by both the NAHL and the USHL. |
| Ben Meyers | F | Delano | The junior Meyers led Delano in scoring the past two seasons (85 points/36 goals) and made the HP-17 Final 54, but not the 2015 HP-15 list. He is a late 1998 and should his his stride playing for MAP this fall. |
| Tyler Nyman | F | Centennial | Nyman led the Cougars in scoring last season and had a good 2014 UMHSEL season skating for MAP with Cade Gleekel. Gleekel moved from Blake to Benilde last season. |
| Cole Lawrence | F | Eden Prairie | The bench clearing brawl in the Section 6AA semifinals resulted in 18 penalties and also resulted in Lawrence getting the opportunity to skate. Lawrence was on the ice for the Eagles 2-1 win over Minnetonka to get to the Xcel and scored the insurance goal in their opening game at the Xcel. |
| Chase Ellingson | F | Breck | Ellingson's return to Breck makes the Mustangs the pre-season favorite to win the Class A title. Just a great playmaker and goal scorer that will only get better. |
| Will Swanson | G | Mahtomedi | In the 2012 Burnsville Thanksgiving Bantam AA/A Tourney, the Zephyrs made it to the championship game beating Hermantown (Aamodt/Sandelin)2-1, lost to Lakeville North (Ryan Poehling/Max Johnson) 4-3, beat Andover 3-0 (Dylan Holt/Anthony Banack), beat Chaska (Patrick Reddin/Ben Bjecken) 5-1 and lost to Burnsville (Sam Rossini/Dalton Weigel) in the championship game 6-0. Swanson carried a team that was down to 10 skaters during the tourney. Last season, Mahtomedi punched their ticket to Xcel. |
| Alex Schilling | G | Wayzata | Schilling made the most of it when Jens Von Ahrens opted for the NAHL Magicians posting a 2.7 goals against and stopping 90% of the shots on net. The senior goalie looks ready to make a move this year. |
4. Luther’s Automotive (Team Great Plains)-It is hard to figure out the Luther team if one looks at their expanded roster. Because the team has players from Luverne to 460miles north to Roseau, practices can mean 1,000 mile trips. As result, the roster can vary from game to game significantly. In the UMHSEL 2014 season, the Luther’s settled down in their last 10 games and posted a 2-3-3 record beating Shattuck Prep team (USA U18 champs) 6-4. For those who think last year play does not matter, understand 10 of the players on that team have returned this year and this year’s team has upped the talent with new additions. The result is a much stronger team and one that should contend for the title.
Luther’s has four good centers to build their offense around, Jaxon Nelson/Luverne (coming from the HP-15 national camp after playing two years of high school hockey at Luverne), Doug Larson/Crookston (last season’s Luther team leader in scoring), Chas Smedsrud/Luverne (last season’s #3 scorer for Luther’s, and Jon Richards/Detroit Lakes (last season’s #4 scorer for Luther). Add to that mix, Ethan Johnson/Thief River Falls and Brady Tatro/Bemidji who were in the top 10 scoring for Luther’s in 2014 and one has to go “wow”. Then add Chase Brand/Park Rapids coming from the USA U16 NTDP national camp where he posted 5 points in 5 games for a Columbia team that won 4 of their 5 games and Ryan Peterson/Duluth East who had an exceptional summer tourney playing on Duluth East’s top line with Lucas Dow and Ash Altmann and one has to go “wow”!
At defense, the Luther’s team will be equally strong with Cole Thompson/Devils Lake ND Brendan Bushy/Thief River Falls, and Nick Leitner/Bemidji returning from last year’s team. Add Spencer Meyer/Sartell, Chase Hartje/Bemidji, and Carson Kosobud who all had successful summers to the defense; and note that at goaltending they have a veteran in Nick Althaus/St. Cloud Apollo who has been through state tourneys and high performance with success at one goalie and a young gunner in 6’4” Karki Keegan/St. Cloud Catherdral who was the #2 goalie in save percentage of the 30 goalies at the USA Hockey HP-15 camp a month ago. This team is one to see play this year.
St. Cloud Apollo's Gina Lucia (#17) has his shot blocked by the Virginia defense in Apollo's 3-0 January win.
Luverne's Chaz Smedsrud (#20) stands tall on the attempted score by Great Plains against TCF Bank is last season's UMHSEL playoffs.
Duluth East's Ryan Peterson scores the game winner at the Xcel in the Hounds overtime win against St. Thomas Academy.
| Name | P | HS Team | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spencer Meier | D | Sartell | Meier is an offensive oriented defense man posting nearly a point a game (49 points/5 goals) in his two season playing for Sabres. The 6'2" junior was drafted two months ago by the USHL's Sioux Falls.. |
| Tanner Breidensback | D | St. Cloud Apollo | The 6'2" Breidenbach accomplished a rare feat last season leading Apollo in scoring with 33 points/9 goals in 25 regular season games. He skated two games for the Great Plainers last fall. |
| Chase Hartje | D | Bemidji | A ninth grader last season, Hartje has had a good year. Bemidji made the trip to the Xcel (Hartje was paired with Erik Fitzgerald as the #2 defensive duo), made Minnesota Hockey's HP-16 list this summer and had a good National Camp, was drafted by the USHL's Des Moines team in the second round, and will play this fall in the UMHSEL. |
| Carson Kosobud | D | Moorhead | Kosobud also had a good year only his team lost to Bemidji in the Section 8AA finals. Kosobud did not make the Spuds playoff varsity team, but did make the HP-16 list and had a good national camp. He was drafted by the Fargo Force in the USHL's future draft this summer and ends up playing in the UMHSEL this fall. |
| Brendan Bushy | D | Thief River Falls | Bushy will be a 6'2" 200 lb junior defenseman this fall for the Prowlers and has made Minnesota Hockey's HP-16 and HP-17 list the past two seasons. |
| Brock Montgomery | D | Grand Forks Red River ND | Montgomery returns for his second season with the Luther team. As a junior last year, he posted 6 points/4 assists in 17 games and made All-State in North Dakota. He should do better in the UMHSEL this fall. |
| Cole Thompson | D | Devils Lake ND | A sophomore last season in the UMHSEL, Thompson saw action in 17 games. Thompson was the Firebirds' #3 scorer last season (22 points/8 goals) and was drafted by the Sioux Falls this summer in the USHL draft. |
| Patrick O'Connor | D | Moorhead | |
| Nick Leitner | D | Bemidji | Leitner started for Bemidji at defense at the Xcel last March along with Brady Tatro. Chase Hartje was the second line out and Jack Johnson centered the third line. With only two skaters graduating, Bemidji should be back to the Xcel Class AA tourney if they can get by Moorhead and STMA. |
| Jack Johnson | F | Bemidji | Centering the third line for Bemidji gave the Lumberjacks the depth needed to make state. It also got Johnson on the Section 8A/AA team for the HP-17 Festival. |
| Jack Fahrendorf | F | Moorhead | Fahrendorf will be in his third year skating for the Spuds. He was the Spuds #2 scorer last year (28 points/20 assists). The 6'1" senior made the Section 8A/AA HP-17 this summer. |
| Jaxon Nelson | F | Luverne | Nelson was a great peewee A player for Luverne and has just kept growing and getting better. The 6'3" Nelson had a good USA Select 15 NTDP camp. The Magnolia MN native has posted 145 points/67 goals playing for the varsity the last two seasons as an 8th and 9th grader. He is more of play maker, but has a wicked hard shot. Nelson will be a Gopher in the fall of 2018. |
| Gino Lucia | F | St. Cloud Apollo | Lucia was Apollo's #2 scorer and skated second line wing at the Xcel in Apoll's run to Class A State Tourney. Lucia is the nephew of Gopher;s head coach Don Lucia. |
| Bryden Stoskopf | F | Roseau | Last season, the Rams lost their senior talent that led them to the Xcel in 2015 leaving sophomore Stoskopf to step in. He did and he led the Rams in scoring. Stoskopf went on to make Minnesota Hockey's HP-17 list. |
| Chase Brand | F | Park Rapids | A junior this fall, Brand has led the Panthers in scoring for the past two seasons (82 points/31 goals). He has also made Minnesota Hockey's HP-15 and HP-16 lists the past two summers. On a team loaded with offensive talent, Brand will be an interesting player to watch. |
| Grant Johnson | F | Grand Forks Central ND | Johnson was the #8 scorer in the state last season with 42 points/15 goals in 26 games as a sophomore. Central was the top team in regular season play in North Dakota but were upset by Minot 2-1 in the state championship game. |
| Riley Giauque | F | Fargo South ND | Giauque returns to the Luther's team this fall. Last year in the UMHSEL, Giauque skated 19 games scoring 4 points/2 goals. Skating for Fargo South last season, Giauque was the fifth leading scorer (48 points/21 goals) in North Dakota hockey last season. |
| Ethan Johnson | F | Thief River Falls | Johnson led the TRF varsity in scoring (27 points/12 goals) last season after having a solid season in the UMHSEL last fall. With Johnson, Brendan Bushy, and Blair Lindholm returning, TRF could be at state next March. |
| Chaz Smedsrud | F | Luverne | Smedsrud is playing his second season for the Luther's in the UMHSEL. He is on track to finish his high school career with Luverne in the top five scorers all time in Minnesota Hockey. |
| Doug Larson | F | Crookston | Larson is another great offensive player on the Luther's team. He returns for his third season after leading the team last fall in scoring (12 points/6 goals). Larson posted 57 points/30 goals last season for the Pirates. |
| Jon Richards | F | Detroit Lakes | Richards is a great center who presses the attack all over the ice posting 67 points/32 goals in 25 games for the Lakers last season. He continues to develop making the Lakers one of the principle challengers to Thief River Falls and two-time defenders champs East Grand Forks. |
| Ryan Peterson | F | Duluth East | Peterson looked impressive in the summer tourney's skating with Lucas Dow and Ash Altmann. The three formed the Hounds' #2 line at the Xcel last March. Peterson is a catch for the Luther team and one of the reason's the Great Plainers could make a run in the UMHSEL this fall. |
| Brady Tatro | F | Bemidji | A 6'2" junior, Tatro was the Lumberjacks' first line center at the Xcel last March and their #2 scorer. Tatro had a good summer making Minnesota Hockey's HP-17 list and attending USA hockey's national camp. This fall Tatro returns to a Luther team loaded with offensive talent. Not a bad year after playing bantams the year before. |
| Nick Althaus | G | St. Cloud Apollo | Althaus has posted an amazing 4334 minutes in Apollo's nets over the past three seasons with a record of 54-28-2 giving up and average of 2.4 goals a game while stopping 90% of the shots on net. He has made two trips to the state tourney. A senior this year, Althaus should end his career with more than 5800 minutes in the Apollo net and perhaps a state championship. |
| Keegan Karki | G | St. Cloud Cathedral |
The 6'4" Karki should be in the nets for the Cathedral joining new coach, Derrick Brown. Brown has coached at Luverne the past six years. Karki played for the St. Cloud Bantams last season. They will be challenging Apollo for the Section 6A title. Keegan has yet to play a high school game, but he made Minnesota Hockey's HP-15 list this summer and was ranked highly at the USA camp. Showing up in the UMHSEL means Karki's first high school game will at the top of the high school talent pyramid. |