Tier 1/2 Junior A Consolidated Rankings Post 4
The Wilderness winning goal in four overtime 5+ hour long championship game
Things went upside down the past two weeks in the USHL, but not in the NAHL. In the USHL, Sioux Falls and Sioux City struggled, but hung on. Cedar Rapids had a disaster the past two weeks (losing three games) and Tri-City lost also. Waterloo did not make a move and really slid. Into the gap, stepped the Lincoln Stars to lead the Western Conference with Omaha in second. The Eastern Conference "gap" was filled by Dubuque and Madison. In the NAHL, as expected, Fairbanks and the MN Wilderness won to turn the NAHL West Division into a two team race. In the NAHL Central, Minot rose to the top with Austin trailing in second and the other four division teams separated by a single point. It is a mess. Cedar Rapids was supposed to take over the top spot, but the RoughRiders are lucky to end up in sixth. They have the talent not the wins or they would have slid further. The #1 goes this week to Sioux Falls, but look who is #2 and #3.
NAHL leading scorer, MN Wilderness Tyler Cline, beats the MN Magician goalie Andrew Lindgren for this score. The Wilderness beat the Magicians 4-1.
NHL 2016 Draft Prospects (Forwards)
The following players are ranked in the top 200 forwards in North America prior to the 2016 NHL draft. These players are on teams ranked in YHH's Tier 1/2 Rankings: Joey Anderson/USA U18, Kieffer Bellows/USA U18, Clayton Keller/USA U18, Nick Pastujov/USA U18, Riley Tufte/Fargo Force, Ryan Brushett/Sioux Falls Stampede, William Fallstrom/Omaha Lancers, Matt Filipe/Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, Trent Frederic/USA U18, Matt Gosiewski/Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, David Keefer/Des Moines Buccaneers, William Knierim/Dubuque Fighting Saints, John Leonard/Green Bay Gamblers, William Lockwood/USA U18, Mitchell Mattson/Bloomington Thunder, Hugh McGing/Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, Graham McPhee/USA U18, Michael O’Leary/Dubuque Fighting Saints, James Sanchez/USA U18, Keenan Suthers/USA U18, and Garrett Wait/Waterloo Blackhawks.
North Iowa Bull Tommy Hall gets this shot past Rochester's goalie Zach Mains in the Bulls 7-0 win over the Ice Hawks last Saturday.
In last season's Tier 2 championship game, Austin's Jade Miller and Nico Sturm try to work a low 2-on-0 rush on the Wilderness goal. Miller is leading Austin in scoring this week, Strum is playing for the USHL Sioux Falls Stampede.
| # | Team | Leag. | W % | T | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Sioux City | USHL | 0.600 | even | Sioux City did stumble twice to Bloomington losing 2-1 and 1-0 at home. With that, they ended up #1 in this week's rankings. Simply it was because the four top teams from Post #3 (all USHL teams) fared worst. That left two NAHL teams as logical contenders for #1. But both NAHL teams are not there yet in the early season. The choices left were either Sioux City or Lincoln or Omaha. Both Omaha and Lincoln were coming off a good two week run. Lincoln lost 6-2 to Des Moines Tuesday. The Musketeers are #1 in Post #4. |
| #2 | Fairbanks | NAHL | 0.821 | even | A favorable schedule of the next month should result in few losses until the Ice Dogs make an eastern swing in mid December. Fairbanks has a deep offense and a strong defense. The Ice Dogs have the top scorer in the league Todd Burgess/Phoenix AZ and one of the top goalies Gavin Nieto/Yoba Linda CA. |
| #3 | MN Wilderness | NAHL | 0.700 | up | The Wilderness can match Fairbanks with Tyler Cline/Blaine HS as a top scorer in the league. They have depth behind Cline. But their forwards are younger then the Ice Dogs and they face a tougher schedule. That could move them up in the standings or down. |
| #4 | Dubuque | USHL | 0.778 | up | The Fighting Saints won their last four games. Their offense looks strong and likely to improve over the season. They have veteran goal tending and a good defensive corps that needs to improve. |
| #5 | Sioux Falls | USHL | 0.556 | even | The defending Tier 1 champs struggled in the opening weeks of the season and then strung four wins together before losing to Cedar Rapdis 4-2 last weekend. The Stampede did beat Waterloo twice 3-2 and 4-2 but gave up 72 shots total in the two wins. That gives Sioux Falls an edge over Waterloo as the season plays out. It is also why the Stampede didn't drop out of the top 10 this week. |
| #6 | Cedar Rapids | USHL | 0.688 | down | 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 |
| #7 | Tri-City Storm | USHL | 0.500 | down | The Storm struggled the past two weeks but look solid enough to keep a spot in the top 10. Tri-City traded center Collin Rutherford to Cedar Rapids Tuesday for wing Sam Sternschein. Another team that is an enigma in the early season, Tri-City has four tough games ahead starting tonight (Thursday) hosting Waterloo in the first of two games. |
| #8 | Lincoln Stars | USHL | 0.800 | up | The Stars strung a six game winning streak together before losing to Des Moines Tuesday. Lincoln can score. |
| #9 | Madision Capitols | USHL | 0.667 | even | Madision moved into second place in the Eastern Conference beating teams that are struggling. They have lost to #4 Dubuque and #6 Cedar Rapids in their first two games and will play four more games against ranked teams in the next two weekends. They will be tested. |
| #10 | Chicago Cougars | USPHL Midwest | 1.000 | up | The Cougars are YHH's top ranked Tier 3 team. They are unbeaten and untied going into this weekend's play with a 15-0-0 record. They play the Dells Ducks and weekend and Forest Lake Lakers the weekend after. Their win streak will be tested. |
Rankings #11 to #20: #11 Omaha/USHL, #12 Minot/NAHL, #13 Waterloo/USHL, #14 Team USA U18, #15 Bismarck/NAHL, #16 Austin/NAHL, #17 Des Moinies/USHL, #18 Springfield/NAHL, #19 North Iowa/NA3HL, and #20 MN Magicians.
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | PTS | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dubuque Fighting Saints | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 14 | Dubuque lost twice to the Lincoln Stars (5-2 and 4-1) two weeks ago, but came back to win four straight games and keep first place in the Eastern Conference. They play four games against four teams over the next two weekends including a single game with Madison. Their offense is lead by twin brothers Evan and Mitchell Smith/Stouffville ON. Both will be playing for Yale next fall. only loss this season has been to the Western Conference leading Lincoln Stars 5-2. Dallas Gerads/Blaine and the 99 born 6'5" 225 lb Baron Thompson/Apple Valley MN are on the Dubuque's offensive. Andrew Kerr/Duluth East HS is part of Dubuque's defensive corps. Goalie Hunter Miska/North Branch HS has been the star of the team posting a 6-1-1 record stopping 92% of the shots on net. Miska will play for UMD next season. |
| Madison Capitols | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | The Caps went on a tear the last two weeks winning 6 of 7 games including two wins over USA U17 8-1 and 3-2 in overtime. Ryan Edquist/Lakeville North HS stopped all three USA shootout attempts to post the win for Madison. Four of the Capitols defensive corps and four of their offensive are Wisconsin players. The Capitols have a single game next week with Omaha and a single game with Dubuque the following week. Ryan Lohin/Chadds Ford PA and Haralds Egle/Liepaje LAT are leading the team in scoring, but the Capitols show depth in offense with 11 players averaging more than 0.5 points a game including the Caps leading defensive scorer, Tommy Muck/Eagan HS. Edquist remains a top 30 prospect in the next June's NHL draft and will play for Minnesota next season. |
| Cedar Rapids RoughRiders | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 11 | The RoughRiders' defensive corps (Jack Ahcan/Burnsville HS, Logan Von Ruden/Northfield MN, Trevor Zins/St. Michael-Albertville HS, Mitch Reinke/Stillwater MN, Riese Zmolek/Rochester Century HS, Ben Foley/Edina MN, and David Nemecek/Pizen CZE) has settled. Ross Colton/Robbinsville NJ and John Snodgrass/Eastview HS lead Cedar Rapids in scoring. Colton will play college hockey at Vermont. Snodgrass is uncommitted. Ahcan is leading the defenive corps in scoring. |
| Bloomington Thunder | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | not part of YHH's consolidated rankings |
| Youngstown Phantoms | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | not part of YHH's consolidated rankings |
| Team USA U18/U17 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | U18 and U17 teams share the Eastern Conference games. The U18s are 4-2-0 in six USHL games and 3-1-1 playing college hockey games. They lost to North Michigan 4-0 and tied Notre Dame 2-2. They will play only one game, the Chicago Steel, in the next three weeks. The U18's six games have been against Eastern Conference teams in the lower half of the standings. Their first game against a top USHL team will be November 20th at the Omaha Lancers. Kieffer Bellows/Edina MN is averaging a goal a game (11 games, 11 goals). Goalie Jake Oettinger/Farmington MN (and three time YHH Top 50 player) is 5-3-0 giving up an average of 2.9 goals a game while stopping 89% stops |
| Green Bay Gamblers | 8 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 7 | The Gamblers offensively are still led by Sam Saliba/Forest Lake IL, Joey Marooney/Holy Family Catholic, and Marc Michaelis/Mannhiem GER. But this week, Nick and Jack Poehling/Lakeville North HS have moved up in the Gamblers scoring. Green Bay has won three of their last four games breaking an opening season four game losing streak. The next two weekends they play two games at Youngstown and two games at Muskegon. All four games are winnable for the Gamblers and by winning Green Bay can move into the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference. |
| Chicago Steel | 10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 6 | The Steel are not part of YHH's consolidated rankings, but it is interesting to note that Jake Jaremko/Elk River HS has posted eight goals in nine games with the Steel. |
| Muskegon Lumberjacks | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | not part of YHH's consolidated rankings |
| Teams in bold part of the rankings |
Magician Nicholas McKeeby (#14) deflects this Wilderness shot over the crossbar (puck can be seen by the crossbar). McKeeby is a top defensive prospect in the 2016 NHL draft
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | PTS | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln Stars | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 16 | The Stars won their last six games before losing to Des Moines Tuesday 6-2. They have jumped to first place in the Western Conference will play three more games in the next two weeks. Their next six games are against Western Conference foes. The Stars goaltenders Peyton Jones/Langhorne PA and Patrick Lethemon/Vantaa FIN have been one of the keys for Lincoln's early season success. Jones leads the league in goaltending posting a 4-0 record stopping 96% of the shots on goal while posting two shutouts. Lincoln's scoring leaders are Ludvig Hoff/Oslo NOR and Grant Jozefek/Chester NJ. Hoff (13 points/6 goals in 9 games) leads the USHL in scoring this week. A Norwegian and a Finlander (Eeli Toivanen), and a German (Parker Toumie) are the top three scorers in the USHL this week. Christian Evers/Waukee IA leads the Stars defensive corp in scoring. The defensive corps is averaging two assists a game (18 total assists in their nine games but have yet to score a goal. Dylan Woolf/Holy Family Catholic HS and Tye Ausmus/East Grand Forks MN are part of the Stars defense; Henry Bowlby/Edina MN skates on the offense. Lucas Jaycox/Warroad MN has been placed on 45-day injured reserve. |
| Omaha Lancers | 11 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 14 | The Lancers split games the past three weekends ending with losing 2 out of three last weekend. This weekend Omaha travels to Madison for a single game with the Capitols Friday and then makes the return 7-hour bus trip home to play Lincoln Saturday. Omaha's top scorers are Mitch Perrault/Findlay OH and Brannon McManus/Newport Beach CA. Josh French/Hill Murray HS has moved into the top five in Lancer scoring this week. Defense man Michael Bigelbach/Red Wing MN, in his second season with the Lancers, is off to a slow start this season. |
| Sioux City Musketeers | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 | In the past few weeks, last season's Western Conference champs lost two games to Bloomington 2-1 and 1-0. Both games they should have won. The Musketeers were unable to beat the Thunder's goalie Hayden Lavigne/Brampton ON who was in the nets for both games. Still Sioux City recovered by winning their next five games scoring 5.5 goals a game against tough teams. Those Musketeer wins were questionable at last posting. Six of the Musketeers next 7 games will be at home. Their lone road game is on Halloween at Fargo. All 7 games are winnable. Sioux City's offense is led by the league's #2 scorer Eeli Toivanen/Nummela FIN (12 points/5 goals) and Teemu Pulkkinen/Kirkkonummi FIN. Defenseman Ryan Zuhlsdorf/Edina MN is Sioux City's #3 scorer this week. Ian Schied/Coon Rapids MN joined the Sioux City team this past week. Schied had been playing for the Fargo Force. The Sioux City team is starting to settle in. |
| Sioux Falls Stampede | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 10 | The defending Clark Cup holders had a solid two game sweep of Waterloo two weeks ago winning 3-2 and 4-2. Those to wins keep them in early season contention despite losing to Fargo (1-0) and Bloomington (4-3), games the Stampede should have won. The defending champs host Youngstown in a two game series this week and host Waterloo and play at Sioux City the week after. The Sioux Falls offense is led by Parker Tuomie/Hassfurt GER and Collin Peters/Sheboygan WI. Tuomie is the league's #3 scorer. Jack Becker/Mahtomedi HS and Josh Passolt/Maple Grove HS are off to a good start with the Stampede. |
| Tri-City Storm | 9 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9 | The Storm opened their season with 3 wins and then lost 4 straight home games before splitting their last weekend series beating Omaha 4-3 and losing to Sioux City on the road. They host Waterloo for two games this weekend and have a three game road trip the next weekend. Jake Kielly/Eden Prairie has been playing well in the nets for the Storm giving up less than two goals a game while stopping 93% of the shots on goal. Carson Meyer/Powell OH and defenseman Mattias Goransson/Grums SWE lead the team in scoring. Dan Labosky/Edina MN remains in the top 5 scorers and is joined by Jake Wahlin/White Bear Lake HS. Austen Long/Spring Lake Park HS has yet to get rolling in his first full year in juniors. Jason Krych/Totino-Grace HS and Jack McNeely/Lakeville North HS are playing well at defense. Former NAHL Austin Bruin star Nico Sturm/Augsbury GER is starting to score. |
| Des Moines Buccaneers | 10 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 7 | Des Moines has split their last three weekend series and need to find a team to sweep so they can move up in the standings. The Buccaneers host Dubuque and play at Cedar Rapids this week; the following weekend they host Fargo. The Russians, Nikita Pavlychev/Yaroslavi RUS and Georgy Gorodetsky/Yekatennburg RUS are #4 and #2 in scoring for the Buccaneer offense in the early season. Patrick Grasso/Ankeny IA leads the team in scoring this week with six points all goals. Justin Howell/St. Paul Johnson HS is in the top 10. Defenseman Chandler Lindstrand/Wayzata HS is playing well. Lindstrand will play for Yale next year. |
| Fargo Force | 9 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 7 | The Force lost twice to Dubuque at home last weekend managing only one goal in each game (6-1 and 2-1). Lack of scoring has been a problem for the Force. In their first nine games, they could only score 1 goal. Winning 1-0 is not a recipe for success. The Force's leading scorers are Brody Stevens/Ann Arbor MI and Denis Smirnov/Moscow RUS. Riley Tufte/Blaine MN, Michael Graham/Eden Prairie MN, and Zach Yon/Roseau MN round out their top 5. Blake Lizotte/Chisago Lakes MN is struggling. Defenseman Ian Shied/Coon Rapids MN was let go and joined the USHL Sioux City team. |
| Waterloo Blackhawks | 8 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 5 | Last season, Sioux Falls barely edged Waterloo for the final spot in the Western Conference playoffs. They beat the Blackhawks early in the season to get the tie breaking edge. Two weekends ago, the Blackhawks lost three tough games to Sioux Falls and six valuable conference points that creates a 12 point gap between the two teams. Waterloo has some catching up to do. and it will not be easy. They play at Tri-City this weekend and at Sioux Falls the following weekend for a single game before returning to home to host Omaha. David Cotton/Parker TX and Yuri Terao/Tochigi JPN lead the Blackhawks in scoring. Nick Swaney/Lakeville South HS is Waterloo's #3 with six goals. Sam Rossini/Burnsville had a good opening weeks in the new season is a top prospect in June's NHL draft; Ben Newhouse/Benilde-St. Margaret's HS is headed for Union College; 99 born Mikey Anderson/Hill Murray HS is playing well (a +1 in 8 games) and will likely have a three year career in the USHL; Forward Garrett Wait/Edina MN, a top prospect in the June 2016 NHL draft and goalie Dayton Rasmussen/Holy Family Catholic HS are off to a slow start. Rasumssen is a top five prospect in the NHL's 2017 draft. |
| All Teams Ranked |
Bureau of Standards-weights and measures: In the USHL this season, the Green Bay Gamblers are the oldest team (18.6 years old) and the Tri-City Storm is the youngest (18.0 years old). The Sioux Falls Stampede is the tallest team (6’0”) and the Madison Capitols are the shortest team (5’11”). The Lincoln Stars are the heaviest (187 lbs) and Madison Capitols are the lightest (176 lbs). The Minnesota Wild average age is 27 years old. The Wild average height is 6"1' and their average weight is 199 lbs. In the NHL, the Winnipeg Jets are the heaviest (208.4 lbs) team.
NHL 2016 Draft Prospects (Defensemen)
The following is a list of defense men that are top prospects in the 2016 NHL Draft. All these players are playing on teams ranked here: James Greenway/USA U18, Chad Krys/USA U18, Ryan Lindgren/USA U18, Michael Campoli/USA U18, Simon Butala/Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, Derek Daschke/Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, Adam Fox/USA U18, Griffin Luce/USA U18, Nicholas McKeeby/Minnesota Magicians, Andrew Peeke/Green Bay Gamblers, and Samuel Rossini/Waterloo Blackhawks.
Chicago Cougar Gavin Nickerson (22 points/14 goals in 15 games) celebrates getting a score. Nickerson leads the Cougars in scoring.
Forest Lake's Zach Remers/Tampa Fl leads the USPHL in scoring with 44 points/28 goals in 15 games.
Spencer Zwiener (#20) goes for a score in the CCM NIT tourney this past spring against Team Wisconsin. Zwiener played for the Minnesota Seniors in the tourney. He is playing for the Coulee Region Chill in the NAHL this season.
Joey Anderson fires on goalie Zach Driscoll in the Minnesota 2013 Class AA State Tourney. Anderson is skating for the USA U18 this season and is a potential first round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft. Driscoll is playing for the Pentiction Vees. Driscoll w
Brock Boeser (#11) and Matt Freytag (#53) battle in the Minnesota HP-16 Festival game in 2013. Boeser was a first round draft choice after leading Waterloo in scoring last year. Freytag plays for Wisconsin and is a top prospect for the 2016 draft.
USA U18 goalie Jake Oettinger as a Farmington Association peewee A making a save against Eastview Association's peewee A's in Minnesota District 8 playoffs in 2012
Kieffer Bellows (white jersey) turns the corner after missing his shot on goal in the HP-15 St. Cloud MN Camp in 2013.
Goalie Hunter Shepard makes a glove save on this 5 foot Starkey shot in a 2012 UMHSEL game. Shepard is in his second season in the nets for the Bismarck Bobcats.
MN Wilderness Robertson Cup Champs
Austin management put a good show for the Championship series. Here Austin takes the ice.
Wilderness celebrate scoring the game winning in game 1. The opening game lasted 5 hours and 15 minutes and ended with the Wilderness winning 2-1
Celebrating winning the cup
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairbanks | 14 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 23 | Fairbanks won three of four in the past two weekends beating Kenai River twice and spliting two games with East Division Aston. The Ice Dogs lead the Midwest, but the second place and defending Robertson Cup champs Wilderness are threatening. The Ice Dogs will play their November schedule (12 games) in Alaska starting with their two games against East Division Johnstown. Fairbanks is led in scoring by Todd Burgess/Phoenix AZ, Ryner Gorowsky/Centennial HS, and Logan Coomes/Northville MI. Tyler Tomberlin/Andover MN and defenseman Alex Mehnert/Moorhead MN are in the top seven Ice Dogs scoring. Reggie Lutz/Elk River HS and defenseman Marc Sullivan/Eden Prairie MN are playing well. Adam Anderson/Centennial HS and Ryan Kero/Hermantown MN are off to slow starts. |
| MN Wilderness | 15 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 21 | The Wilderness have won six of their last seven games. Forward Tyler Cline/Blaine HS has been on fire scoring 10 points/6 goals in the Wilderness' last five games. Koby Bender/Cloquet #2, Tyler Vold/Andover #3, Kobe Roth/Warroad #4, and Alex Toscano/Duluth East #6 are leading the Wilderness offense. The Wilderness goal tending is settled with Chase Munroe/Naperville IL taking over in the nets. Munroe has posted a 9-2-1 record giving up and average of 2.0 goals a game while stopping 92% of the shots on net. Luke Kania/Chicago IL won the backup role. Defensemen Alex Trapp/Duluth East HS and Isak Bergland/Thief River Falls MN have been playing well. Forwards Nick Altmann/Duluth East HS and recently re-acquired Aaron Miller/Superior WI are moving up on the offense. Miller was the Wilderness #2 scorer (60 points/21 goals) last season. Goalie Dyllan Lubbesmeyer/Burnsville MN, Luke Seper/Lakeville North HS and Austin Killian/New Prague MN have been released. |
| Springfield | 13 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 19 | In their next 18 games, Springfield will be playing only six against Midwest Division foes. They will need to feast on Topeka a team they will play 10 times in that 18 game stretch. In the middle of that run they will host the Wilderness for a two game set. Springfield and Topeka split two games two weeks ago winning 4-1 and losing 5-0. With 20 out of division points at stake, Springfield needs to win to remain in contention before heading to Alaska. The Blues offense is led by Trevor Stone/Pleasant Plains IL and Brady Tomiak/Oakland MI. Hunter Schneider/Willmar MN is having a good start to the season and is among the Blues top scorers. The Blues roster is reasonably set for the season. |
| Janesville | 13 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 16 | Janesville lost two key games last weekend to Springfield (5-2 and 2-1). The Jets host Coulee Region for a single game this weekend and the Wilderness twice the following weekend before they make a four game swing to Alaska. Their top scorers are players from Sweden; Martin Sunberg/Linkoping SWE and Adam Winborg/Stockholm SWE. John Peterson/Holy Catholic Family HS, and Cullen Munson/Edina MN. In the past month, the Jets have made five moves to reduce their rooster including trading Kevin Dineen/Shattuck-St. Mary's to the Minnesota Magicians. Their goaltending is set with time being split between Jack LaFontaine/Mississauga ON and Blake Weyrick/Malibu CA. |
| Coulee Region | 11 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 6 | The Chill have scored three or more goals in 3 games and they have been held to two or less goals in in 8 games. They have a 3-8-0 record. It is obvious that the Chill's defense is doing its job. The Chills two goalies (Hunter Vorva/Kalamazoo MI and Matiss Kivienieks/Riga LAT) have combined to post a 2.8 goals against average while stopping 92% of the shots on net. Michael Wilson/Fon Du Lac WI lead the Chill in scoring and the Chill have picked Alex Falconer/Kohler WI in a trade with Wichita Falls. Falconer scored 17 points/10 goals in 45 games last season with the Falls. are a mix of Wisconsin and Minnesota players this year. Spencer Zwiener/Sartell MN has some some offense in the early season. Soren Colstrup/Owatonna HS, Will Reedy/Prior Lake MN, and Sam Wenner/ LSHSPTCUC HS are playing. Toby Sengvongxay/Luverne MN has been part of the tough Chill defense. |
| Kenai River | 14 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 2 |
The Brown Bears are at the start of a fourteen game home stand and have a good opportunity to win some games. But the next five games (two with Aston and three with Fairbanks) will be tough. The Bears needs some wins. Their scoring is lead by Cameron Cook/Mendon NY, Jack Gessert/Novi MI, Joey Sardina/Red Oak Tx, and Justin Bofshever/Coconut Creek FL. Gunnar Goodmanson/Buffalo MN has contributed on offense playing 13 games. Kenai River's goalies have seen 545 shots in 14 games giving up 77 goals. The two first year junior A goalies are being hammered by the lack of defensive coverage in front of the them. Only one other Midwest Division team has exceeded 400 shots this year, the Springfield Blues with 405 shots. The Bears won't hit the road again till December 6th when they play at New Jersey. Their defense has a month of home games to gel. |
| All Teams Ranked |
Last season, Nick Altman(#19) led Duluth East in scoring. Altmann is playing for the Wilderness this season.
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minot | 13 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 20 | Minot strung an eight game winning streak together before splitting their two game series last weekend with the Wilderness (winning 3-2 and losing 4-2). That was enough to put the Minotauros into first place in the Central. They will be challanged over the next three weeks playing three divisional foes (Bismarck, Aberdeen, and Austin). If Minot survives that, they will draw the Wilderness the weekend after. Johnny Walker/Phoenix AZ, James LaDouce/Freeland MI, and Chase Springman/Elk River HS lead the Minotauros in scoring. Walker and Springman are playing their second year in the NAHL. LaDouce and Austin Martinson/Farmington MN (Minot's #4 scorer) are first year players. Christian Mohs/Andover MN, Sam Fuss/Edina MN, and Jacob Dittel/White Bear Lake HS are among Minot's top 10 scorers. Max Mettler/Mankato East HS and Derek Frentz/Mankato West HS are getting playing time; Colten Berg/Centennial HS and Cameron MCClure/Denfeld HS are off to a slow start. Owen Larsen/Holy Angels HS was traded to the Magicians. Minot may add Nate Pionk/Hermantown HS to their roster. Goalies Lucas Murray/Virginia MN and Jon Flakne/Orono HS continue to do well behind a solid defense. |
| Austin | 14 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 15 |
Austin has a key early season match-up with Minot this weekend at Minot. The Bruins trail Minot by five and losing both games will drop the defending Central Division champs in the standings. Minot would separate from the other five teams in the division. The last four teams are bunched together by one point going into next weekend's play and trail Austin by 5 points. Gilbert Gabor/Stockholm SWE and Jade Miller/Minot ND lead the team in scoring. Griffin Slightam/Rochester Lourdes HS and Travis Kothenbeutel/Sauk Rapids MN are doing well. Derek Olmschenk/Cretin-Derham Hall HS, Logan Haskins/Rochester Mayo HS, and Jason Koehn/Grand Rapids MN are off to a slow start. |
| Bismarck | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 10 |
Bismarck at this point in the season is in a tough battle with three other teams (Aberdeen, Brookings, and the MN Magicians) for the third spot in the division standings. They split with the Magicians last weekend and have four tough road games (Wilderness twice, Minot, and Aberdeen). The top scorers for the Bobcats are Aaron Herdt/Moorhead MN and Willie Brown/Hill-Murray HS. Alex Strand/Roseau MN is #4 in Bobcat scoring. The Bobcat defensive corps, led by Pieter Von Steinbergs/Minnetonka HS and Nick Wallace/Sun Valley CA, has held opponents to an average of 24 shots a game. Goalie Hunter Shephard/Grand Rapids MN in his second season in the Bobcats' net is having a good start to the season (giving up 2-1 goals a game while stopping 91% of the shots on net). Kyle Sylvester/Warroad MN and Parker Mismash/Edina MN are off to a slow start. |
| Aberdeen | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 10 |
The Wings lost their last four games, all games played at home. They have a single game next weekend at Brookings and then host Bismarck and Minot the following weekend. All three games will be tough and the Wings need wins to break the log jam of four tied teams. Tucker DeYoung/Lake Bluff IL and Gavin Payne/Minnetonka HS are the Wings top scorers. Payne played on Orono Association's peewee A team in the 2010 Minnesota Peewee A State held in Faribault MN. The peewee A team's goalie was Jon Flakne playing in the nets for division leader Minot. Defenseman Tanner Okeson/Roseau MN and forwards Carter Roo/Totino-Grace HS, and Will Hammer/St. Cloud Cathedral HS are off to good starts. Goalie Peter Thome/Benilde-St. Margaret's is emerging as the Wings #1 goalie giving up an average of 2.5 goals a game while stopping 92% of the shots on net. Jake Leitner/Bemidji MN and Ryan Murphy/Providence Academy HS are off to a slow start. Chase Jungels/Edina MN was released a week ago. |
| Brookings | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 10 |
The Blizzard play Aberdeen and the MN Magicians in their next four games as the battle in the Central Division heats up. Brookings opened the season winning four of their first five games, but have won only one of their last six games. They need some wins to break that downward trend. Brookings scoring leaders are Kane Durment/Kildeer IL and Mikael Hakkarainen/Espoo FIN. TJ Samec/St. Thomas Academy HS is leading the Brookings defensive corps that include Connor Spetz/St. Micheal-Albertville HS, Parker Revering/Alexandria MN, and Christian Canavati/Alexandria MN. The defensive corps needs to get the shots on goal down. Goalies Josh Kuehmichel/Hopkins MN and Eric Hancock/North Royalton OH have been struggling in the nets. Colton Schmidt/Eden Prairie HS has yet to play. |
| MN Magicians | 13 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 9 |
The MN Magicians also needs some wins. They are two points away from third place and if Aberdeen fails to win this weekend they could close on second place in the Central Division. They have a single game this weekend playing at Coulee Region, playing a Thursday home game at Richfield Arena against Austin and then splitting a weekend series with Brookings. The Magicians have been active trading. They have acquired forwards Kevin Dineen/Shattuck-St. Mary's from Janesville and Owen Larson, Holy Angels HS #2 scorer last season, from Minot. On the coaching front, Scott Meyers is returning to coach the Magic Men. The Magician scoring leaders are Alex Lambacher/Val Gardena ITA, Rico Ratajczyk/Berlin GER, and Connor Bucsis/Saskatoon SK. Brady Heppner/Crookston MN has played hard this season. Jerry Casey/St. Thomas Academy HS, Johnny Panvica/Jefferson HS, and Larry Jungwirth/Shattuck-St. Mary's are seeing action. The Magician goalie time has been split between Andrew Lindgren/Eagan MN and Will Ulrich/Bloomfield Hills MI but is still unsettled with Drew Hotte/Gwynedd PA on the roster. Trey Rooney/Armstrong-Cooper HS is off to a slow start this season. The Magicians released Vaughan Ahrens/Wayzata HS this week. Ahrens was on the injured reserve last season after a great start in the nets for the Magicians. |
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