Joe Miller scores for the Blades Friday in their win over Miracle Gold
AAA Season ends on High Note
Dating back to April the AAA season has been filled with a lot of exciting hockey for Minnesota youth players. Teams have traveled far for some good games. Our teams have won some impressive championships at both the boys and girls levels. The '03 Blades won the Chi Town Shuffle, the '06 Machine won the North American Hockey Classic in Winnipeg and both Team Minnesota '03 and the '02 Machine Girls have flexed their muscles all year all over North America.
Team Great Plains were the second best American team in The Show this past June, despite beating the top team in a pre-tourney friendly. Minnesota continues to impress on a national scale sending several players to the US National Team at the U17 and U18 level and several more to International events like the Ivan Hlinka and the Five Nations.
Cade Lemmer scores for the Blades Saturday...notice the puck skimming right past the facemask of Zach Wiese.
Ryan Mulrenin scores Saturday for the Machine
Back home, the Summer season came to an end for our top AAA teams as they battled for the final weekend in two tournaments, the Caribou Cup and the Summer Finale. Here are a few highlights from the weekend.
'01 Invite: The Machine Orange finished off their AAA careers with a 4-2 win over the TC Wolves to capture the Caribou Cup on Sunday.
'02 Invite: The Blades beat the Machine Orange 3-2 in Overtime to capture the Summer Finale. The Blades came back from 2-0 down and won in OT on a pretty goal by Ben Dexheimer. The Northern Wings won the Caribou Cup beating the Machine Black, 5-4 in OT after trailing going into the third.
Players to Watch: Cade Lemmer and Carson Bantle, both from Wisconsin, each were explosive and dominant for the Blades. Landon Parker and Jackson Kunz got it done for the Wings as they finished their season undefeated. Ryan Mulrenin from the '02 Orange is a treat to watch. Great skill...seems to create a scoring opportunity every time he hits the ice.
JJ Wiebusch scores for the '04 Blades Sunday
'03 Invite: The Steeledogs beat the '04 Blades 5-2 in the Caribou Cup final. Team Gradient knocked off the Machine Orange 6-2 to capture the Summer Finale.
Players to Watch: Tyler Haskins and Joe Palodichuk were hard to contain for the Dogs.
'04 Invite: The Machine Orange beat Euro Red 5-1 to capture the Caribou Cup in Richfield.
Players to Watch: Tyler Grahme and Attila Lippai were standouts for the Orange as they finished the Summer in the winner's circle.
'05 Invite: The Machine Orange beat the Blades 2-1 in one of the bigger upsets of the weekend.
'06 Invite: The Machine Orange beat the Blades for the second time on the weekend to win the Caribou Cup, 7-1.
The Steeldogs scored here Sunday to advance to the Caribou title game where they beat the '04 Blades 5-2 to win the Cup.
Sammy Walker Commits to the U
The University of Minnesota claimed its second big recruit this weekend when Edina Sophomore Sammy Walker pledged to play his college hockey in Dinkytown. Walker, coming off a red hot Spring/Summer season where he was selected to represent Team USA in the Five Nations Cup in Arosa, Switzerland where they won the Gold.
Walker is a dynamic forward with great hands and speed. Walker is a talent that seems to be getting better and more confident every time he hits the ice. He will likely log a lot of ice time this year for the Hornets as they look to rebuild after losing several top players to the USHL the past two years.
The Gophers also picked up a commit from Grand Rapids star Blake McLaughlin on Tuesday night. The 2018 class at Minnesota now consists of Jaxon Nelson (Luverne), Walker and McLaughlin...not a bad start to that class.
Sammy Walker scores in '14 Bantam State Tourney
Devils and Stars Split in Bantam Elite League
Judd Caufield scores one of his three goals Saturday in Bemidji
The two North teams squared off in the Bantam Elite League Saturday in Bemidji at the Nielson Reise Arena, AKA The City Rink. In the first game, the Stars beat the Devils 5-2. Grand Forks big man Judd Caulfield had a natural hat trick for the Stars as they outmuscled the Devils and converted on their chances to earn the victory.
The Devils got revenge in a big way thrashing the Stars 11-2 to win the second game Saturday night. Both Landon Langenbrunner and Elliot Peterson had hat tricks for the Devils...Langenbrunner had five total points to lead the Red and Black.
The Stars finished the weekend with a 3-3 record and will head to Bloomington to play four gams against the Metro next weekend. The Devils improved to 4-2 and could leapfrog several teams next weekend with an above .500 record.
Mark Strobel Accepts Job at Ohio State
Strobel pictured in his AHL playing days in Albany
YHH has learned that Mark Strobel will take the Assistant Head Coaching position with Ohio State this season in Columbus. Strobel a former Hill Murray Pioneer and Wisconsin Badger will take on his third Assistant job at OSU. he previously served at UMD ('00 to '02) and Nebraska-Omaha ('02-'04).
Strobel and his twin brother Mike both played for the Badgers from 1987 to 1991. While at Wisconsin they won a NCAA title in 1990. After his career in Madison, Strobel played two years professionally in the AHL.
Strobel currently lives in Hudson, WI where he is very active in youth hockey both during the Winter and Summer Seasons. His positive presence here in the local hockey community will be missed.
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