Tier 1/2 Junior A Consolidated Rankings Post 3
We curse the refs at times, but hats off to this ref who makes the right call at a critical time
This is the third post focusing on ranking Junior A teams regionally and is linked to the Tier 3 rankings posted earlier this week. The two posts complete YHH's ranking of Junior A hockey teams for the current week. To summarize, YHH has ranked all three tiers of Minnesota based or regionally based Junior A teams in these two posts. Twenty five Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams are ranked 1-9. This ranking ignores the Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 designations given to the teams. Basically all the teams are ranked based on how they play over the season. Hockey is a team sport and the ranking is for teams not players. All Junior A teams consist of the same age (17-20) and players that age are still developing. Hockey players usually mature when they are around 21-22 years old (although some parents might think that it will never happen).
Sam Wenner scores the buzzer beater in The Bulldogs 6-5 win over Hutchinson last January. Wenner is playing for the Coulee Region Chill in the NAHL this season. The puck can be seen crossing the goal line with less than a second to play.
Goalie Josh Kuehmichel deflect this shot off a 2-on-0 rush wide left in Hopkins win over Apple Valley 3-0 last December. Kuehmichel has found a home this season in the nets for the NAHL's Brookings Blizzard.
The post combines Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams in a single ranking. On paper, the only difference between the two tiers is money. A player playing for a Tier 1 team does not have to pay. The Tier 1 team pays for the all the hockey related costs (ice, coaches, travel, and equipment) and the team pays for the players room and board. A Tier 2 team also pays for all the hockey related costs (with some equipment exceptions) and the player pays for his room and board. After that, there is no rule that says Tier 1 is better than Tier 2. All the teams rosters are governed by the age of the player (generally 17-20 years old).
Tier 1 teams are in the USHL and Tier 2 teams are in the NAHL. There are no Tier 1 or Tier 2 teams outside those two leagues this season. What has evolved is a system where the USHL has gotten first choice of the players eligible for Junior A hockey and the NAHL gets the second choice. The USHL draft goes first usually in early May. The NAHL draft is usually held in early June. That has a resulted in the idea that the better players get picked first hence the USHL teams are stronger than the NAHL teams. This corner of YHH contends it is not possible over a 60+ game season for all the USHL teams to be better than all the NAHL teams. For that to happen, all the USHL teams managers and coaches would have to be psychic in their roster selections and moves.
That is the basis for this poll, to provide a ranking that is based on a USHL and a NAHL team’s performance over the 2015-2016 season. Since the USHL and the NAHL teams do not play each other, trips to the rink are needed. But unlike other rankers, YHH has followed a large number of players over the past years. We have seen Keiffer Bellows/Edina MN and Joey Anderson/Roseville MN skate many times from peewees through high schools through juniors. Both are on the USA U18 team and both are ranked in the NHL’s top 5 forwards for the NHL draft next June. A number of Minnesota players are on the Tier 1/Tier 2 teams rosters. Unlike other rankers YHH can apply that knowledge as part of this ranking.
YHH’s ranking will be posted each week to 10 days and will end when the last regular season game is played. Unlike other rankings, YHH will not rank during the playoffs and have this ranking end up with one of the two teams on top that play in the postseason championship game. One more important item to note, in this ranking the top Tier 3 ranked team (this week it is the Chicago Cougars) is included automatically at #10. This is done to recognize the other 19 or so Junior A teams that play Tier 3. They consist of players the same age 17-20. Hockey is a team sport and a Tier 3 team can improve over the season. If a top ranked Tier 3 team does, it can move up. But it will be an exceptional team.
One final note, Anderson and Bellows are not the only Minnesota players that potentially can go high in next June’s NHL draft. Jake Oettinger/Farmington MN and Dayton Rasmussen/Holy Family Catholic HS are ranked in the top 5 in goalies and Lakeville defender Ryan Lindgren/Shattuck-St. Mary’s is ranked in the top 25 defensemen. All have been featured on YHH since peewees.
1. Sioux Falls Stampede-The defending USHL champs will struggle this season, but still keep the #1 spot this week after playing only two games. The Stampede caught fire at the end of last season and won the USHL championship. The Clark Cup holders finished fourth in regular season last year and qualified as the last team from the Western Conference for the playoffs. Then the Stampede got hot and went on to win the title.
This season, the Stampede roster has taken some big hits and it is still unsettled at this posting. At forwards, the Stampede return Park Tumoie/Hassfurt GER and Lawton Courtnall/Westlake Village CA, two of last season’s top scorers along with veterans Collin Peters/Sheboygan WI, Jack Suter/Omaha NE, and Daniel Warpecha/Burr Ridge IL. Aaron Miller/Superior WI, one of the NAHL champs Minnesota Wilderness’s top scorers last season, joins that group. Two Minnesota players Jack Becker/Mahtomedi MN and Josh Passolt/Maple Grove MN are in the mix along with Eric MacAdams/Salem MA. All three will be playing their first season at junior hockey. Ryan Brushett/Verdun QC could be the sleeper for the Stampede. The 1998 born player grew up playing hockey in Quebec and has been a goal scorer. Brushett will be playing college hockey at Providence in two years.
The Stampede are re-building their defense with veteran players. One player, Chaz Switzer/Muskegon MI returns. Switzer is joined by Tristan Rostagno/Pewaukee WI, Joe Rutkowski/Crystal Lake IL, and Nolan Nicholas/Thunder Bay ON. All have Junior A experience. Rostagno and Rutkowski played in the NAHL last season, Nicholas in the SJHL. Alex Stevens/Wayzata MN will be playing his first season in Junior A for the Stampede defensive corps. Stevens posted 17 points/6 goals in 23 games with the Trojans last season. Ales Stezka/Liberec CZE looks to be the Stampede’s main goalie. He was drafted by the Minnesota Wild last June after playing on the Czech Republic U18/U19 teams. Last season, he played for Bili Tygri Liberec. In 47 games, Stezka posted a 2.5 goals against average while stopping 92% of the shots on net. Zack LaRocque/Rocky Mountain Roughriders and Stefanos Lekkas/Elburn IL will be battling Stezka for the starting spot. The view here is that the teams, once they have earned their spot, keep it until they lose. The Stampede are #1 this week.
2. Cedar Rapids Roughriders: Cedar Rapids is the early favorite to top YHH’s Consolidated Junior A Poll once the season gets rolling. The Rapids were the #2 team at the end of last season in the Eastern Conference, but was knocked out of the playoffs by Dubuque losing 2 of 3 games in the first round playoffs. But they should be back this year with a better team that returns the makings of two veteran lines combined with some physical forwards new to Junior A. They should be deep in offensive lines and add to that two solid goaltenders and a Minnesota oriented defense and Cedar Rapids is the pre-season favorite. The Roughriders have a defensive corps has five Minnesota players (Jack Ahcan/Burnsville MN, Ben Foley/Edina MN, Riese Zmolek/Rochester MN, Mitch Reinke/Stillwater MN, and Logan Von Ruden/Northfield MN) in the early season. Ahcan has already racked up four assists in the first three games. Reinke was the #2 defensive scorer (21 points/19 assists in 55 games) for Cedar Rapids last season. Both Roughrider goalies return for their second season at Cedar Rapids. Ryan Larkin/Clarkston MI played in 28 Rapids games giving up an average of 2.4 goals a game while stopping 92% of the shots on net. He has posted two wins in the early season. Ben Blacker/Oakville ON was in the nets for 36 Roughrider games. He gave up an average 2.7 goals a game stopping 91% of the shots on net and has won his only game this season. Blacker will play next season for Western Michigan; Larkin will play for Miami (Ohio).
The Cedar Rapids offense in the early season has been led by Ross Colton/Robbinsville NJ. Colton returns to the RoughRiders this season after posting 33 points/18 goals in 58 games last season. John Snodgrass/Eastview HS and Matt Filipe/Lynnfield MA had a good game in the RoughRiders 6-1 win over Fargo. Snodgrass played for Minot in the NAHL last season. Returnees Callahan Burke/Boxborough MA (40 points/20 goals in 60 games) and Hugh McGing/Chicago IL (19 points/11 goals in 54 games) add to the offensive depth on the team. The 6'2" Filipe is new to junior A hockey as is high scoring 6’3” Justin Cole from Vermont Academy, 6’4” Matt Gosiewski (Millbrook School CT). Filipe and McGing played on the USA U18 team at the Hlinka Tourney this past August.
#7: Sioux City Musketeers: The big news for Minnesota fans is that defenseman Ryan Zuhlsdorf/Edina returns for his second year. He will captain this season’s Musketeers. Zuhlsdorf was picked by the Tampa Bay Lightning in last June’s NHL draft. After this season, Zuhlsdorf will play college hockey for the Gophers. In their first pre-season game, Sioux City beat their rival Sioux Falls 5-1, but like Sioux Falls still have not finalized their roster. Their defense seems fairly well set with Jack Ryczek/Ludlow MA (26 points/6 goals in 55 games), 6’5” David Trinkberger/Landshut GER, and Jacob Wilson/Baldwin MO (15 points/12 assists in 55 games) returning to join the Zuhlsdorf at defense. They are joined by Logan Gerstro/South Lyon MI. Gerstro skated with Honeybaked in the High Performance league and last season in NAHL's Corpus Cristi before joining Sioux Falls this season.
Offensively, the top seven Musketeer forwards from last season in scoring are playing college hockey this fall. The team’s #9 scorer, Jake Durflinger/Walnut Creek CA (22 points/15 assists in 58 games) returns. The most interesting new addition will be Eeli Tolvanen/Vihti FIN. Sioux City took Tolvanen early in the USHL’s Phase 1 draft. Tolvanen was a high scorer (84 points/39 goals in 41 games) playing Junior B hockey in the SM-sarja Jr. B league last season before jumping to play hockey for the Finish National U16 and U17 teams. He skated this past August for Finland’s U18 team in the Hlinka Tourney. A teammate of Tolvanen in the in the SM-sarja league was Teemu Pulkkinen/Kirkkonummi FIN. Pulkkinen, another high scoring forward, is likely to re-join Tolvanen on the Sioux City roster. The Musketeers picked up two NAHL from last season, Brian Rigali and Mitchell Fossier. Rigali played for the Springfield Blues and Fossier skated for Janesville Jets posting 50 points/35 assists in 59 games last season. Evan Smith/Parker CO who skated for Austin in the NAHL finals is one of the Musketeer goalies this year. After a great playoff with Austin, Smith was taken in the 2015 NHL draft by the Nashville Predators.
| # | Team | Leag. | W % | T | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Sioux Falls | USHL | 0.667 | down | Last season, the Tier 1 champs went 2-5 in their first seven games and hung on to edge Waterloo for fourth in the conference. This season there is a good chance that the Stampede will be 4-1 before playing Waterloo at home in two weeks. Waterloo is also likely to also be unbeaten (only a SOL so far) for the Stampede series and are "up" going into this season. They will want to bury the Stampede and avoid a repeat of last season. The Stampede defense will find the Black Hawks tough to stop. Next key game: Waterloo 10/16 |
| #2 | Cedar Rapids | USHL | 1.000 | up | The RoughRiders won their first four games by an average score of 6-2. Things will get tougher when they play at the Tri-City Storm Saturday, but unbeaten conference rival Dubuque will be the real test. Next key game: Dubuque 10/17 |
| #3 | Tri-City Storm | USHL | 1.000 | up | The Storm beat the Chicago Steel twice and Omaha once to post a 3-0 record to start the season. The Cedar Rapids game this weekend will be a test, but the two Waterloo games played twice at the end October will be an indicator of where Tri-City is going this season. |
| #4 | Waterloo Blackhawks | USHL | 0.833 | up |
The Blackhawks are the one team that can really shake up this top 10 by winning in October. They can knock Sioux Falls out of #1, deliver a blow to #3 Tri-City and beat #7 Sioux City. On the other side of the discussion, the Blackhawks can lose in October and drop out of the top 10. Key game is October 29 @ Tri-City |
| #5 | Fairbanks Ice Dogs | NAHL | 0.850 | up | The Ice Dogs won their first 8 games and then stumbled last weekend at Janesville losing both games (the second was a SOL). They still have a healthy lead over the second place Jets and will be playing most of October and November in Alaska. Few teams win at the Big Dipper Arena. There is a good chance that Ice Dogs will not lose another game until they play Janesville again on home ice November 13/14. If the Ice Dogs win those two, they could go another month before being challanged. |
| #6 | USA U18 |
USHL |
0.429 | even | The U18's play a combination of USHL games and games against colleges. Their most interesting test will be this week end when the U18 play the USHL's Chicago Steel Friday and Notre Dame Sunday. In theory, the Notre Dame game should be tougher or weaker? |
| #7 | Janesville | NAHL | 0.625 | even | The Jets struggled in the early season going 3-3 and then last weekend beat #5 Fairbanks twice. They should roll through October. Next key game: MN Wilderness 11/6 |
| #8 | Sioux City | USHL | 0.667 | even | It is not likely that the Musketeers will stumble at home against Bloomington this weekend setting up another early season battle between the two South Dakota teams next Tuesday. Next key game: Sioux Falls 10/13 |
| #9 | MN Wilderness | NAHL | 0.625 | even | The Tier 2 champs lost twice to #5 Fairbanks in their season opener. A double win at Austin sets them up for a sweep of the Magicians the following week. The Wilderness can trend up or drop out in the next 10 days. Next key game: Austin 10/9 |
| #10 | Chicago Cougars | USPHL Midwest | 1.000 | up | This spot reserved for the best Tier 3 team. Last season, the North Iowa Bulls won everything, but in this early season, it is the Chicago Cougars. Next key game: Steele County 10/16 |
Hill Murray defenseman Mikey Anderson takes Lakeville North's Jack Poehling out of the play in this January 2014 game won by Lakeville North 3-0.
The puck comes at you off of Jake Oettinger's pads. Oettinger shut down Joey and Mikey Anderson in winning 3-0. Oettinger and Joey Anderson now play for the USA U18 and are considered a top 5 prospect in next June's NHL draft.
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | PTS | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cedar Rapids RoughRiders | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | The RoughRider offense looks deep, the defensive corps solid and offensive oriented, and veteran goaltenders. Cedar Rapids looks ready to roll. |
| Dubuque Fighting Saints | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | Dubuque beat Madison 6-5 and Green Bay twice (4-3 and 3-2) to win their first three games each by a single goal. They will have an tough series this weekend against the Lincoln Stars. A player to follow on the Saints is 16 year old, 6'5" 225lb Baron Thompson, a former YHH Top 50 pick as a peewee playing for Apple Valley. |
| Team USA | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | U18 and U17 teams share the Eastern Conference games. The U18 is 1-0 beating Youngstown 6-4; the U17 team is 1-1 beating Muskegon 6-3 and losing to Chicago 5-1 |
| Youngstown Phantoms | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | not part of YHH's consolidated rankings |
| Muskegon Lumberjacks | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | not part of YHH's consolidated rankings |
| Chicago Steel | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | not part of YHH's consolidated rankings |
| Bloomington Thunder | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | not part of YHH's consolidated rankings |
| Green Bay Gamblers | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | The Gamblers offensively are led in the early season by Sam Saliba, Joey Marooney, and Marc Michaelis/Mannhiem GER. Saliba will play for Michigan State. Marooney/Holy Family Catholic HS will play for Alabama-Huntsville next season. Michaelis, who played for the Magicians last season, will playing for Minnesota State-Mankato next season. Two players to watch on this team are Nick and Jack Poehling. Last season's Lakeville North Class AA champions team leaders will play for St. Cloud State. |
| Madision Capitals | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | The Caps leading scoring is likely to be Guillaume Leclerc/Franois FRA. Leclerc skated for Austin in 2013-2014 and in his second year at Madison. He should have a good year before playing college hockey at UMass-Lowell next season. Another Lakeville North star is Cap's goalie Ryan Edquist. Edquist is a top 30 prospect in the next June's NHL draft and will play for Minnesota next season. |
| Teams in bold part of the rankings |
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | PTS | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tri-City Storm | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | Austen Long/Spring Lake Park HS will be skating his first full year in juniors. Long skated the past two years at Omaha and will be playing for Colorado College in 2017-2018. Dan Labosky/Edina MN leads the team in scoring; Jake Wahlin/White Bear Lake HS will be joining the Poehlings at St. Cloud State next season, Jack McNeely/Lakeville North HS will play college hock at the Nebraska-Omaha next season, Jason Krych/Totino Grace HS is in his second season at defense for the Storm, and Nico Sturm/Augsburg GER, a scoring leader on Austin Bruin's Robertson Cup runner-ups last season will play college hockey at Clarkson next season. |
| Waterloo Blackhawks | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | Sam Rossini/Burnsville is a top 30 prospect in the next NHL draft and will play for Minnesota next season; Nick Swaney/Lakeville South will play at UMD next fall; Ben Newhouse/Benilde-St. Margaret's HS is headed for Union College; Mikey Anderson/Hill Murray will join his brother Joey at UMD in two years (Joey Anderson could be the top pick in next June's NHL draft if Kieffer Bellows does not get it); and Garrett Wait/Edina MN, another top prospect in next year's NHL draft, will play at Minnesota next fall. Dayton Rasmussen/Holy Family Catholic (YHH top peewee A player 2012) is in the nets for Waterloo this year. Rasmussen, along with USA U18's Jake Oettinger/Farmington (the only peewee A player to be picked three times as a top 50 peewee in three successive years) are both ranked in the top 10 prospects for next year's NHL draft. |
| Lincoln Stars | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | The Stars are 2-1 in their first three games and draw Dubuque this weekend in a series that will indicate how the Stars will do this season. In two weekends the Stars play the USA U17 team that is at the UMHSEL games this weekend at New Hope. The Stars have Henry Bowlby/Edina MN, Nate Pionk/Hermantown MN, Dylan Woolf/Holy Catholic Family HS, Lucas jaycox/Warroad MN,and Tye Ausmus/East Grand Forks MN on the team. Bowlby will play college hockey at St. Lawrence; Jaycox will play at Northern Michigan. |
| Sioux City Musketeers | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | The Musketeers were last season's Western Conference champs, but lost out in the first round of the playoffs. Sioux City is favored to win their next two games against the Bloomington Thunder, but have three tough games after that (Sioux Falls, Omaha, and Waterloo). Two weeks from now, this team should start to settle. |
| Omaha Lancers | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | Defenseman Michael Bigelbach/Red Wing MN and forward Josh French/Hill-Murray HS will play for Minnesota State-Mankato next season. |
| Sioux Falls Stampede | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | The defending champs should do well until Waterloo shows up. Their #1 ranking is shaky. |
| Fargo Force | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | This team has some talent and need to sort themselves out. They should be over .500 after playing Des Moines the first weekend of November. Blaine's Riley Tufte/Blaine MN along with Michael Graham/Eden Prairie MN and Zach Yon/Roseau MN should do well. Blake Lizotte/Chisago Lakes MN is coming off a good year in the NAHL and should fit in weel. Defensemen Ian Shied/Coon Rapids MN and Nolan Schaeffer/Marshall MN round out the Minnesota connections on the Force. |
| Des Moines Buccaneers | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Two Russians, Nikita Pavlychev/Yaroslavi RUS and Georgy Gorodetsky/Yekatennburg RUS are likely to lead the Buccaneer offense this season. Gorodetsky spent three years skating for Shattuck/St. Mary's before joining the Buccaneers last year and is likely to lead the team in scoring this season. Justin Howell who led St. Paul Johnson HS last season in scoring figures into the Buccaneers offense. Defensemen Chandler Lindstrand/Wayzata HS and defenseman Nick Wolfe/Eagan HS are in their second season for the Buccaneers. Lindstrand will play for Yale and Wolff will play for UMD next season. |
| All Teams Ranked |
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairbanks | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 17 | Fairbanks has seven Minnesota players on their roster (Reggie Lutz/Elk River MN, Adam Anderson/Centennial HS, Tyler Tomberlin/Andover MN, Ryner Gorowsky/Centennial HS, Alex Mehnert/Moorhead MN, Ryan Kero/Hermantown MN, and Marc Sullivan/Eden Prairie MN. Lutz led the UMHSEL in 2014 in goals scored. Gorowsky and Anderson were the #1 and #3 scorers on Centennial's 2014 State Tourney team. |
| Janesville | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 11 | The Jets have three Minnesota players on their roster (Kevin Dineen/Shattuck-St. Mary's, John Peterson/Holy Catholic Family HS, and Cullen Munson/Edina MN). Dineen and Munson are in their second season with the Jets. Peterson, the Fire's top scorer last season and one of Mpls/St. Paul Magazine's top scorers in the 2014 UMHSEL, is in his first season of Junior A hockey. |
| MN Wilderness | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 9 | The Wilderness are loaded with 13 Minnesota players on the roster as the season opens (Tyler Vold/Andover MN, Alex Trapp/Duluth East HS, Mitch Slattery/Shattuck-St. Mary's, Koby Bender/Cloquet MN, Kobe Roth/Warroad MN, Nick Altmann/Duluth East HS, Isak Bergland/Thief River Falls MN, Alex Toscano/Duluth East HS, Brian Hurley/St. Thomas Academy HS, Tyler Cline/Blaine MN, Dyllan Lubbesmeyer/Burnsville MN, Luke Seper/Lakeville North HS, and Austin Killian/New Prague MN. Bergland and Killian spent time in the NA3HL on moves last season in a new trend between NAHL and NA3HL/USPHL (Midwest Division) teams |
| Springfield Blues | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 8 | The .... have only one Minnesota player, Hunter Schneider/Willmar MN, on their roster this season. Schneider spent two years in the NA3HL before joining the Blues this season. |
| Coulee Region | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | The Chill are a mix of Wisconsin and Minnesota players this year. Five Minnesota players are on the roster as the season opens: Soren Colstrup/Owatonna HS, Sam Wenner/ LSHSPTCUC HS (YHH calls them by their nickname-The Bulldogs), Toby Sengvongxay/Luverne MN, Will Reedy/Prior Lake MN, Spencer Zwiener/Sartell MN, |
| Kenai River | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 2 |
The Brown Bears are off to a slow start and things will not get better this weekend when they travel to the Big Dipper to play Fairbanks. But there is relief of sorts. After returning from Fairbanks, the next 14 games are at home. The Bears won't hit the road again till December 6th when they play at New Jersey. This season, Kenai River has two Minnesota players on their roster, Tanner Dufault/Dodge County HS and Gunnar Goodmanson/Buffalo MN. Both Dufault and Goodmanson are in their second season with the Bears. |
| All Teams Ranked |
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 10 | The Bruins opened their season with seven Minnesota players on their roster (Derek Olmschenk/Cretin-Derham Hall HS, Griffin Slightam/Rochester Lourdes HS, Logan Haskins/Rochester Mayo HS, Zack Taylor/Mahtomedi MN, Jason Koehn/Grand Rapids MN, Travis Kothenbeutel/Sauk Rapids MN, and Jacob Berger/Minnetonka MN). The 6'5" Olmschenk is off to a slow start this season, but he did a yeoman's job in last season's final championship game moving up from defense to play wing for the Bruins after their bench was decimated following a tough four overtime (20 minutes each) period loss the night before. |
| Minot | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
Jon Flakne/Orono HS is off to a good start in his first season in Junior A posting two wins and a tie (SOL) in three starts. Virginia MN goaltender Lucas Murray is right behind giving up just 9 goals in his four starts. The Minotauros have 11 additional Minnesota players on their roster (Max Mettler/Mankato West HS, Grayson Gavin/Mankato East, Derek Frentz/Mankato West, Owen Larson/Holy Angels HS, Christian Mohs/Andover MN, Colten Berg/Centennial HS, Chase Springman/Elk River HS, Austin Martinsen/Farmington MN, Jacob Dittel/White Bear Lake HS, Cameron McClure/Denfeld HS, and Sam Fuss/Edina MN). Larson led Holy Angels in scoring last season with 52 points/37 goals in 52 games. |
| Aberdeen | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 8 | Goalie Peter Thome/Benilde-St. Margaret's has had a good start for the Wings and is one of the top five goalies in the NAHL going into this weekend's play. Thome left the Red Knights two years ago to play for the Chicago Fury. Other Minnesota players on the Wings roster are Tanner Okeson/Roseau MN, Gavin Payne/Minnetonka MN, Jake Leitner/Bemidji MN, Will Hammer/St. Cloud Cathedral HS, Carter Roo, Chase Jungels/Edina MN, and Ryan Murphy/Providence Academy HS. |
| Brookings | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 | Goalie Josh Kuehmichel/Hopkins MN has been the mainstay in the nets for Brookings in their opening two weeks of play posting a 2-2 record. The Blizzard have five additional Minnesota players on the team (TJ Samec/St. Thomas Academy, Connor Spetz/St. Micheal-Albertville HS, Parker Revering/Alexandria MN, Christian Canavati/Alexandria MN, and Colton Schmidt/Eden Prairie HS). Schmidt skated one year for New Prague HS and two years at Eden Prairie before joining the Blizzard last season. |
| Bismarck | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4 | Goalie Hunter Shephard/Grand Rapids MN was the mainstay for the Bobcats last season (1740 minutes in the nets with a 14-14 record and a 88% saves) returns this season. He joins six other Minnesota players (Willie Brown/Hill-Murray HS, Alex Strand/Roseau MN, Pieter Von Steinbergs/Minnetonka MN, Aaron Herdt/Moorhead MN, Kyle Sylvester/Warroad MN, Parker Mismash/Edina MN). A stronger Willie Brown is on fire in the early season leading Minot in scoring with 12 points in his second season in the NAHL. Brown led South St. Paul to its last peewee A (now AA) regional tourney in 2009. YHH felt Brown was the best peewee A forward in District 8 that season. |
| MN Magicians | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | The Magicians acquired goalie Andrew Lindgren/Eagan MN just before the season opened. Lindgren is in his second season in the NAHL. He had a good year at Corpus Cristi posting a 22-17 record playing over 2500 minutes in the nets. Lindgren should solidify the Magicians goaltending for the year. Another Minnesota player to watch on the Magicians this year is Trey Rooney/Armstrong-Cooper HS. Rooney led Cooper two seasons ago on Cooper's last hockey team and last season as a junior led Armstrong-Cooper in scoring. |
| All Teams Ranked |
Dayton Rasmussen makes this pad save in the 2012 State Peewee A tourney. Rasmussen skates in the USHL this season and is a top 5 pick in the coming NHL draft.