Tier 3 Consolidated Junior A Rankings Post 4
The Steel Surprise
The Chicago Cougars added four more USPHL Midwest Division wins to their record the past two weeks and are now a perfect 13-0-0 in the Western Conference. They keep the #1 spot in YHH’s rankings this week but have to keep looking over their shoulder at #2 ranked North Iowa. The Bulls won four more road games (their first 9 games are on the road) to match the Cougars record this past two weeks to take first in the NA3HL Central Division. They are in first place with an 8-0-1 record with their only mark on their record an OTL to the Wisconsin Whalers. The two top teams are being threatened by a late to the party but unbeaten Twin City Steel team (8-0-1). The #3 ranked Steel’s lone mark on their record is an OTL to Alexandria. The Cougar look unstoppable next weekend playing the Decature Blaze twice, but will have their hands full when they the Western Conference #2 team (and #4 ranked) Dells Ducks in two weeks in a home and home series. North Iowa ends their travels this weekend with a single game at Rochester. The Bulls return home to open against the Wisconsin Whalers and look unstoppable until they play the Steel. If the Twin City Steel can survive three tough games (two with Granite City and one with Breezy Point), that will set up a home and home series between the two top ranked NA3HL teams November 13 and 14. The plot thickens as the Junior A Tier 3 season starts to roll.
A Great Conversation
The St. Croix Valley Magicians just moved into the Vadnais Sports Center. Tuesday morning, tucked away in a corner office at the end of a row of locker rooms, was the General Manager and head coach of the SCV Magicians Jake Hindermann. Hindermann had been busy the past two months with the Magicians move from Hudson to Vadnais Heights and coaching the team on ice. The Vadnais Sports Center’s two sheets of ice combined with training facilities and a 100,000 square foot state-of-the-art sports complex would be part of the Magicians new home and help. But General Manager Jake was still busy. He was in the process of searching for players. The NAHL Tier 2 Magicians had just called up three SCV Magicians, defenseman Kyle McKinzie/Duluth Marshall HS, forward Peter Karavos/Rolling Meadows IL and Ben Falk/St. Francis HS. He was looking for potential replacements. Potential, because one or all three may return to his SCV Magicians in time for games this weekend. He didn't mind the search. As much as he would like to keep the players, it was part of his job to move players up, one of the best parts.
St. Croix Valley Coach and General Manager Jake Hindermann
Still, play in the Midwest Division goes on. The SCV Magicians were coming off a winning weekend, but had three tough games to play this weekend. Karavos was his #2 scorer and had posted 6 points in the Magicians two wins over the Decatur Blaze three days ago.
Coach Hindermann took time to talk with YHH about hockey in Minnesota and his Junior A team. He is a product of Minnesota hockey having played and coached at the youth and high school levels. A goalie, he was part of an Iowa State initiative to go Division 1 in college hockey 15 years ago. An injury turned him into a golfer and golfer instructor. We spent an hour discussing hockey around the state and touched on issues from association boards, coaching peewee and bantam teams, status of Minnesota High School hockey, and the physical impact to a body from playing goalie (he knows the body’s physiology).
But mostly we talked about the SCV Magicians. We agreed on one point immediately, their 3-1 win over Forest Lake was important. Goalie Tim Grounds/White Bear Lake MN had a great game holding Forest Lake’s high scoring offense to a single goal. But Friday, the Magicians would have to play the Lakers again. A second win over the Lakers sets up a five game series with Steele County. If the Magicians can continue to roll beating the Lakers a second time, they could win enough games in the coming two months to contend and exceed their goal of a .500 record this season before heading East to play USPHL’s Midwest Division’s Eastern Conference leading Tri-City Icehawks and USPHL’s USP3 South Conference leading Richmond Generals and Carolina Eagles. Despite the potential loss of three players, the coach felt he had the talent to compete. Hindermann had a point. Conner Raes/Urbandale IA, Tyler Vehrenkamp, and team leading scorer Yannick Zehnder all skated well against Forest Lake two weeks ago.
The half hour interview ran more than an hour. Coach/GM Hindermann has gotten the SCV Magicians off to a good start showing an ability to assess talent and independently get things done at the same time. More importantly the conversation showed he understands hockey, Minnesota hockey. It was a great converstation.
Two Games To Watch
The St. Croix Valley Magicians game with Forest Lake Lakers at Forest Lake Friday is a good game to see, but Saturday's October 24th game between Forest Lake and Blaine (starting at 7:30 PM) could potentially match the Energy's goalie Blair Sanders/Kansas City MO against the Lakers goalie Aleks Zakirov/Moscow RUS. Sunday, the two teams play again with a potential repeat appearance by the two goalies. The Sunday game is scheduled to start at 4:30 PM. One or both of these games will likely match Sanders, the Energy's outstanding goalie, against the Lakers talented goalie Aleks Zakirov. Last Sunday, Sanders faced 95 shots in Blaine's 7-3 loss to the Dells Ducks. He stopped 37 of 39 Ducks shots in the third period.
Chicago Cougar's Gavin Nickerson/Corvalis OR celebrates getting the insurance goal in the Cougars' 6-4 win over Blaine. The #1 ranked Cougars are unbeaten and untied in their first 13 games and lead the USPHL Midwest Division's Western Conference.
In North Iowa Bulls main camp this summer, Jack Stang/St. Thomas Academy (left) scores on this shot. Stang is one of the Bulls leading scorers in this early season.
Twin City Steel's Joe Costello/Rochester MI scores this first period goal in Steel's 6-4 win over the Chicago Jr. Bulldogs
Forest Lake's Zachary Remers is leading the USPHL Midwest Division in scoring with 38 points/24 goals in 12 games.
Forest Lake's Brian Miller (#13 white) takes a St. Croix Valley Magician out of this play in the Laker's 4-2 win two weeks ago. Miller is the #2 scorer in the USPHL Midwest Division with 33 points/13 goals in 11 games.
Twin City Steel goalie 6'2" Gunnar Howg checks a Chicago Jr Bulldog and the puck into the end boards in the Steel's 6-4 win Friday.
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 |
Chicago Cougars (USPHL) |
13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 26 | The Cougars remain unbeaten and untied added wins over Blaine Energy and Steele County to run their unbeaten streak to 13. They continue to score an average of 6+ goals a game while holding their opponents to slightly under 2 goals a game. They host the Illiana Blackbirds next weekend before playing Western Conference's second place Dells Ducks. Cougars remain #1. |
| #2 | North Iowa Bulls (NA3HL) | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 17 |
North Iowa has played their first 9 games on the road. That ends this weekend with a single road game at Rochester. The Bulls should beat the Ice Hawks. Then they return home to play the Wisconsin Whalers and Alexandria the following two weekends. The Bulls roster is settling and should challenge the Chicago Cougars for #1, but their game at Rochester this week could be the tough one. The Ice Hawks defense is also settling down. |
| #3 | Twin City Steel (NA3HL) | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 17 | The Steel had a good game Friday against the Chicago Jr. Bulls and a better game Sunday. Only one of three unbeaten teams left in the rankings, the Steel move up to #3 this week replacing Granite City. The Steel plays Granite City this Friday. Things can change. |
| #4 | Dells Ducks (USPHL) | 13 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 22 | The Ducks should sweep their three game series against Decatur playing the Blaze in the friendly confines of Poppy Waterman Ice Arena. That will set up a big home and home series with the Chicago Cougars on Halloween. The Ducks David Kaplan continues to lead the team in scoring. He has posted 18 points/13 goals in 13 games this season. The offense shows depth with five players in double digits besides Kaplan (James Williams/16 points, Felix Conrads/15 points, Sherman Mowery/15 points, Alex Radcliffe/13 points, and Wyatt Nielson/10 points). Goalies Tyler Arneson (saving 92% of the shots on goal) and Jared Young (saving 96%) continue to impress in the early going. |
| #5 | Granite City Lumberjacks (NA3HL) | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 16 | The Lumberjacks drop from third to fifth after going 2-1 in their three games the past two weekends. What was disappointing was the way GC lost to Alex 5-2. Trailing 3-2, the Lumberjacks had five power play opportunities to win the game. Instead they gave up two goals and lost 5-2. Granite City is a veteran team and will have opportunities over the next two weekends playing Twin City Steel, Alex, and La Crosse, all good games but games they can win. |
| #6 | St. Croix Valley Magicians (USPHL) | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 17 | The Magicians won their three games this past weekend including a 3-1 win over Forest Lake with goalie Aleks Zakirov in the nets. SCV could win their next 20 games before playing Eastern Conference leader, the Tri-City Icehawks, just before Christmas. The real question for the Magicians will be endurance. The Magicians will play six games in 10 days starting with their October 23rd game against Forest Lake. |
| #7 | Forest Lake Lakers (USPHL) | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 18 | The Lakers won four out of five games and will play St. Croix Valley and Blaine this weekend at home. Their single loss was to the Magicians 3-1. Zachary Remers/Tampa FL leads the Midwest Division in scoring (38 points/24 goals) in 12 games. Brian Miller/Marlton NJ who centers the Lakers second line out is second in the league with 33 points/13 goals. Remers' wing Anton Minaev/Moscow RUS is fifth in the league with 23 points/16 assists. The single loss to the Magicians drops the Lakers in the poll this week. Despite dropping, the Lakers are still up They should win their next 3 games and be ready to challenge the Cougars November 6 at the Sears Center. |
| #8 | La Crosse Freeze (NA3HL) | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 16 | The Freeze split their four games with the Whalers and moved up a notch because the Wisconsin Riverkings had a tough losing series to Decatur. La Crosse will be challenged the next two weekends playing Breezy Point and Granite City. Four of the eight Freeze wins came against the Chicago Jr. Bulldogs and a good showing would at least solidify their spot in the top ten. |
| #9 | Breezy Point (NA3HL) | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 8 | The North Stars lost 4-0 and 4-3 to North Iowa and 3-1 to Granite City the past two weekends. They host La Crosse this weekend and play a split game series with Rochester the following weekend. Breezy Point is hanging on to its top ten spot this week because they lost to high ranked teams. Not so in the next post. |
|
#10 |
Wisconsin Whalers (NA3HL) | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 8 | The Whalers continue to play inter-divisional games. After splitting a two game series with the Midwest's #2 team,Peoria, earlier in the season, the Whalers play the Midwest's #1 team St Louis next weekend. Wisconsin then travels to St. Louis but have drawn top teams from split with North Iowa and Peoria then lost two to Granite City at Sauke Rapids Mn. They played the top team in their league, the top team in the West and the top team in the Midwest. They should beat the Freeze in their four game set and move up. |
| #11 | Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings (USPHL) | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 18 | The Riverkings stumbled aganst Illiana two weekends ago losing two of three games to the Blackbirds. Four of their wins came against the Marquette Royals currently seventh in the eight team Midwest Division Eastern Conference. The had a good game going with the Dells Ducks this Sunday but lost. It is hard to rank a team #11 with an 8-2 record, but their best win was an early season victory 4-3 over St. Croix Valley. The Riverkings are off the next two weeks. |
| #12 | Alexandria Blizzard (NA3HL) | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 12 | Alex beat Granite City and Minnesota the past two weekends and lost twice to North Iowa in between those two games. Now Alex get to play that same schedule all over again against the same three teams except they play at North Iowa. and the Minnesota Flying Aces the next three weekends. The series to see is when the Blizzard hosts North Iowa two weeks from now. |
| #13 | Steele County Blades (USPHL) | 13 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 7 | Steele County was tested in the last two weekends losing five tough games (two to the #1 ranked Cougars, one to #7 ranked Forest Lake, and two to the #4 ranked Ducks. The next six games (one with Blaine and five with St. Croix Valley) can turn the season for the Blades. Except for the 7-2 loss to Forest Lake Sunday, the Steel were in their games with the Ducks and Cougars. Look for Steel County to move up. |
| #14 | Illiana Blackbirds (USPHL) | 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 4 | Illiana has lost six straight games. In the past two weekends, the Blackbirds lost to Forest Lake 6-1 and 5-1 and lost to Traverse City 6-3 and 5-3. In their games against Forest Lake Traverse City is contending for the Eastern Conference lead. Illiana is now 2-2 against Eastern Conference foes. The Blackbirds offense is struggling, but the Illiana defensive corps have played tough. They held Forest Lake to 42 shots on net in losing twice. The Illiana goaltending needs to improve. The Blackbirds have only two games to play in the next two weekends, but they will be tough. Illiana plays a home an home series with the Cougars. |
| #15 | Rochester (Mn) Ice Hawks (NA3HL) | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 6 | The Ice Hawks "got well" beating the Chicago Jr Bulldogs three times, but then lost to the Flying Aces. Rochester has a major home test this Friday when they host the #2 ranked Iowa Bulls in a single game play a home and home series with Breezy Point. Last year's MnJHL champs are riding on the fumes of that championship season. |
| #16 | Minnesota Flying Aces (NA3HL) | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 5 | The Aces have given up 44 goals in their eight games going into next weekend's games with Alexandria and the Twin Cities Steel. They will need to tightened up defensively especially against the #3 ranked Steel. |
| #17 | Decatur Blaze (USPHL) | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 4 | The Blaze beat the Wisconsin Riverkings twice in a three game series and lost twice to St. Croix Valley. After getting blitzed by the #1 Cougars early in the season, the Blaze will have their chance next weekend when they play at the Dells Ducks |
| #18 | Blaine Energy (USPHL) | 12 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 4 |
The Energy lost twice to top ranked Chicago Cougars and to ,,,, Dells Ducks. They will continue to play the top teams in this ranking starting next weekend with Forest Lake. Blaine is on an eleven game losing streak and need to get their defensive corps solidify. Their goalie, Blair Sanders/Kansas City MO, stopped 88 of 95 shots on goal in the Energy's 7-3 loss to the Dells Ducks this weekend. Blaine (and the Blair Sander's show) will play at Forest Lake this weekend. That series should match the Laker's goalie Aleks Zakirov/Moscow RUS and Sanders. |
| #19 | Chicago Jr. Bulldogs (NA3HL) | 14 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | The not so great start for the Jr. Bulldogs continued this past two weekends losing 5 more games (three to the Ice Hawks and two the TC Steel). Their 6-4 lost to the Steel game story has been posted separately. |
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Iowa Bulls | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 17 | Coach Todd Sanden has to be happy with the Bulls four road wins the past two weekends (beating Breezy Point and Alexandria each twice). Four Minnesota players (#1 Brett Gravelle/Forest Lake MN, #2 Marshall Barnes/Holy Angels HS, #4 Jack Stang/Highland Park MN, and #5 Tom Stang/St. Thomas Academy HS) lead the Bulls in scoring. Their goaltending has been sharp with Tommi Ahlgren/Tampere FIN and David Johnson/Kennedy HS alternating in the nets, they stopped 94% of the 105 shots that Breezy Point and Alexandria got in the four games on the Bulls' net. |
| La Crosse Freeze | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 16 | The Freeze traded with Twin City getting Culin Huffman/New Ulm MN. Huffman led New Ulm to the Class A state tourney beating Luverne 7-5 in the sectional finals in front of a packed St.Gustaves Adolphus Arena last February. Huffman scored one goal and had three assists. The Freeze split their last four games. They played the Whalers four times winning twice. La Crosse's goaltending (Andrew Wagner/East Lansing MI, Garret Matz/Albert Lea Mn, and Will Graves/Minneapolis Mn) had a good series against Whalers. The three goalies combined to stop 92% of Whaler shots in the four games. |
| Wisconsin Whalers | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 8 | The Whalers top four scorers (#1 Peter Henderson, #2 Nathan Viberg, #3 Ben Ratner, and #4 Russel Barone) are from Illinois. The past two weeks they acquired Matt Resch/Alexandria MN from Alexandria and Clayton Brown/Virginia MN from Granite City. Goaltending is settled in one way. Max McConnell/Madison WI started all four games against La Crosse stopping 95% of the shots on net, but the second goalie position is up in the air. |
| Rochester Ice Hawks | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 6 | As expected, the Ice Hawks beat the Chicago Jr. Bulldogs three times but were upended by the Flying Aces 5-3. Nick Paulson/Rochester MN and Trey McMillen/Grapevine TX return for their third season with the Ice Hawks. They are joined by Dominyk Bogdziul/Lithuania and Jiri Trubacik/Chesterfield MO. The four are the Ice Hawks leading scorers in the early season. With the trade of goalie Sam Nelson/Eau Claire WI to the Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings, Zach Mains/Holy Angeles HS and Kyle Plantz/Winsor CO will share the goaltending duties. |
| Chicago Jr. Bulldogs | 14 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | The Jr. Bulldogs are off the next two weekends. They will need time to recover after struggling through their first 14 games without a win. When Chicago returns, they will play a four game series with the Whalers and then play Eastern Conference teams St. Louis and Peoria. crossover games with Eastern Conference teams. Goalie Jimmy Smith/Allen TX continues his good play. His record is 0-7 with a 6.3 goals given up average while stopping 88% of the shots on net. |
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twin City Steel | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 17 | The Steel has another good goaltending duo in Gunnar Howg/Duluth East and John Albers/Centennial HS. The Steel have a balanced offense in the first six games with balanced scoring from from six players. |
| Granite City Lumberjacks | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 16 | The Lumberjacks slip to second place in the West Division this week. bout half of the Lumberjacks roster this season are players from the St.Cloud area (Minnesota Hockey District 5) and they are off to a good start lead offensively by Lucas Carroll/St. Francis MN and Michael Piehler/Piano Tx with good goaltending from Robbie Goor/Anoka MN and Mac Berglove Elk River MN. |
| Alexandria Blizzard | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 8 | Half of the Blizzard's 2015-2016 roster draws talent from West Central Minnesota and North Dakota. Goalie Evan Bisek/New Prague Mn has been the strength of the Blizzard. |
| Breezy Point North Stars | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 8 | The North Stars slip to a tie this week with Alex for third place. The lost all three games the past two weekends. Josh Laven/Hopkins MN continues to lead the team. Breezy Point picked up defense man Alec Hopper/San Jose CA. In their first 10 games,the North Stars have given up an average of 34 shots on net; North Iowa in nine games is averaging 20 shots on their goal. |
| Minnesota Flying Aces | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 5 | The Flying Aces pushed the Twin City Steel before losing 6-5 in overtime two weekends ago. The Aces gave up 59 shots in that game. Kyle Wendorf/Richfield MN and Jacob Aberwald/Champlin MN had a good week for the Aces. Minnesota will need more of that, three of their next four games are against division leading Twin City Stee. |
The clock says it all as Twin City goalie Gunnar Howg skates back to the net on this faceoff in White Bear Lake's Arena. The Steel won the game 6-4.
Blaine Energy's goalie Blair Sanders makes a tough stop against the Chicago Cougars.
SCV Magician Peter Karavos (#18) battles Forest Lake's Zach Remers (#27) and goalie Aleks Zakirov in this 4-2 Magicians loss. The Magicians and Lakers are 2-2 this season going into Friday's game. Karavos may not play in that game.
Before the 2015 Section 3A championship game, the New Ulm and Luverne fans crammed the hallway to buy tickets
The New Ulm fans (Colin Huffman #10 center) explode as the game ends with New Ulm going to the Xcel with a 7-5 win over Luverne.
Under the light of the White Bear Lake Arena, Chicago Jr Bulldogs' goalie Jimmy Smith makes one of his 55 saves stopping this solo rush in Chicago's 6-4 loss to the Twin City Steel.
Twin Steel's Marc Sahli/Switzerland chases a puck along the boards. Sahli is part of the depth the Steel have this year with 23 players posting 5 points or more while playing 7-9 games.
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Cougars | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 26 | The Cougar top line of Gavin Nickerson/Corvalis OR, Tom Stanislavski/Palos Hills IL, and Cody Hrabak/Palos Hills IL has posted 27 goals in their first 13 games. Their offense may reduce opponents shots on goal, but the defense corps led by Ryan Hutchinson/Chicago IL, Matt Olson/Totino-Grace HS, and Willy Doremus/Aspen CO has held the Cougars' opponents to an average of 22 shots. Hutchinson has posted 12 points/10 assists for the Cougars. |
| Dells Ducks | 13 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 22 | The Ducks are on a nine game winning streak after beating Wisconsin Rapids 1-0 Sunday. The Riverkings started recently acquired goalie Sam Nelson from the NA3HL's Rochester Ice Hawks in the nets. Nelson stopped 33 of 34 Ducks shots. Jared Young/Superior CO stopped all 27 Riverking shots in earning the shutout. David Kaplan/Vernon Hills IL leads the team in scoring with 13 goals in 13 games (18 points). Shutting out the Riverkings is a good sign the Ducks defense is developing. It will be tested especially on Halloween. |
| Forest Lake Lakers | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 18 | The Lakers have the top line in the Midwest Division with Brian Miller at center and Zachary Remers and Anton Minaev at wings. That line is averaging four goals a game. The second line centered around Caleb Santa Maria is sound, but fall off from the top line. It is difficult to match a line averaging 4 goals a game. The Lakers have a very good goaltender in Aleks Zakirov and a strong defense that has held opponents to an average of 20 shots a game, but they have split their four games with the Magicians. With one game this week against the Magicians and two against the Energy, the Lakers should win all three before playing the Cougars. |
| Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 18 | The Riverkings offense is led by Tyler Carey/Sun Prairie WI and Kevin Van Bokkelen/Hudson OH. With five games against Decatur and Marquette Royals in the next two weeks, the Riverking offense should roll. |
|
St. Croix Valley Magicians |
11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 17 | The Magicians are still transitioning after taking over the old Hudson Crusaders team. Their roster is still unsettled. They have done well considering the change over interruptions. |
|
Steele County Blades |
13 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 7 | The Blades Chase Lewis/Winston Salem NC leads the team in scoring. Wilson Anderle/Buffalo HS is a close second. Wyatt Ulrich/International Falls MN has been the mainstay in the nets for Steele County. |
| Decatur Blaze | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 4 | The Blaze offense is led by 6'3" Micah Young/Towanda IL, Justus Kree/Medford WI, and Ryan Redpath/Decatur IL. They are still unsettled in the nets. |
| Illiana Blackbirds | 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 4 | The Blackbirds are on a six game losing streak and playing the #1 ranked Cougars this weekend. The team is still unsettled. In the early season, Illiana's team scoring leader is Joe Starcevich/Saint John IN. |
| Blaine Energy | 12 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 4 | The Energy is surviving on the goaltending of Blair Sanders to remain competitive. That can't last. Niko Walsh/Chanhassen HS leads the team in scoring, but the defensive corps is giving up too much in front of Sanders and the Energy goalies. For Sanders, it has resulted in an average of 59 shots in 11 games. |