14. #8 Cloquet AA-Mason Langenbrunner: Players on the Top 50 list are picked by how they perform on the ice.  Unlike scouts for Division I College teams, there is no follow-up to find out more about each individual off ice character.  When Mason Langenbrunner hit the ice at the Edina Invitational in a game played at Minnesota Made, to this corner of YHH he was #8 for Cloquet.  He played a tough forward that day against a tough Edina team.  Later, when it came time to put a name to #8 in this post, it was a surprise.  The Langenbrunner name is well known in Cloquet.  His father was raised there and played youth hockey.  His brother, Landon, was chosen as a Top 50 in 2014. His father came back to coach his (now two) sons in the Cloquet Amateur Hockey Association and believes that Minnesota hockey is the best way for kids to learn to play the sport.  Mason is a strong skater with size.  He plays within the concept of the game and never seems to get emotional on the ice when the play does not go Cloquet’s way.  Mason has good shot and the knack for getting it off in traffic. With the selection of his second son Coach Langenbrunner could be right.  Cloquet has done well the past few years and looks to be one of the best places to learn the sport.  Regardless, there is a great story developing in the Cloquet Amateur Hockey Association.  It will be interesting to see the Langenbrunners playing Duluth East and Hermantown at the high school level in a few years.  Is there a third hockey player with the Langenbrunner name in Cloquet?  Find out next year?    

16. #19 Inver Grove Heights A-Anthony Madigan: The last time Inver Grove Heights made a regional peewee A tourney was in 2007.  That team eventually produced top scorers for South St. Paul, Simley, Hill-Murray, and Shattuck/St. Mary’s.  This year, the Inver Grove Heights association fielded a younger looking team that struggled in Spring Lake Park’s Peewee A tourney in early December (beating Centennial A 2-1 then losing to Andover A and Shakopee A in the semifinals and third place games.  It is always a marvelous thing to see peewees develop from early November to February.  That is what made Madigan and his Spartan team something marvelous to see at the District 8 playoffs in February at the Apple Valley high school rink.  After finishing sixth in D8 regular season play, IGH upset #3 seeded Woodbury and beat #2 seeded South St. Paul.  Those two wins guaranteed Inver Grove Heights D8’s #2 or #3 seed to the East Regional.  They lost to Johnson/Como-North St. Paul in the championship game and came back to beat Lakeville North to claim the #2 seed.  At the East Regional, IGH was eliminated by Osseo/Maple Grove A 3-0.  The Spartans are a young team.  They had a core of players that should come back next season strong and ready to challenge to get to state led by Magidan.  Anthony is surprising physically strong, has hockey sense, and has a smart stick.  But he is a good playmaker most of all.  Against Lakeville North in the D8 playoffs, he made a neat pass to a breaking forward to setup a shot on the Panthers’ net.  Magidan is a smooth skater and was well-coordinated as a peewee this season.  He, along with teammates Andrew Bergum and Andrew Jeffers, should improve be ready for a “marvelous act" number two starting November 2016.  If they come back to play for the Inver Grove Heights Peewee A team, watch out in D8.

17: #9 White Bear Lake-Lleyton Roed: So out of the blue, two White Bear Lake forwards beat the Owatonna defense on a rush.  The puck bounces to one forward who has skated well, but not been that noticeable.  The forward explodes on the rebound driving the puck past a good goalie’s glove save attempt and suddenly you say to yourself, what just happened.  And you start to watch #9 more as he works the center position and constantly moves between positioning himself for the shot and pinching along the boards to trap the opponents on their breakouts.  Then you check and see that in the game you just watched, he scored all four goals.  Later in the season, Lleyton Roed repeats his play again.  A hard skater that handles the puck well in traffic, Roed is hard to ignore and is a Top 50 peewee A/AA pick this year.

In the picture right, Roed's buries this shot against a good Owatonna goalie.  The puck explodes off his stick and is in the net before the goalie can make the glove save.

18. #17 Proctor-Vance Johnson: Proctor won the Spring Lake Park Peewee A tourney consolation title in early November.  After losing their quarterfinal game to host Spring Lake Park in first game 7-1, the Rails came back to beat Duluth East A 4-3 and Centennial A 4-2.  Proctor winger, Vance Johnson, had a good tourney The Rails would come back to beat Spring Lake Park in the North Regional Tourney, but would later be beaten by North Shore and Eveleth/Mesabi East to end their season two games short of a state tourney ticket.  Johnson is a good sized forward that switched between center and wing playing on a Rails team that skated only two lines.  He is strong at leaning into his opponents and using his body to protect the puck.  Johnson has good stick handling skills and sets up well in front of the net.

 In the picture left, Proctor's Vance Johnson has swept the right side of the Centennial A defense and attacked the Cougar's net.  Johnson led the Proctor team in scoring at the Spring Lake Park tourney that had four of the eight teams entered playing in the regions at the end of the year.  

20. #6 Osseo/Maple Grove-Chris Kernan: In a game played between the #1 and #3 YHH ranked teams at the start of February, #1 OMG beat #3 Eden Prairie 5-1.  Kernan scored one goal and had an assist in that game.  It was one of the most surprising peewee games this corner of YHH ever saw because it showed the level of play attained by OMG’s peewee’s that this corner of YHH had not seen before, ever.  The Crimson played so well as team that a fan in the stand could follow their play as a pattern of four or five OMG skaters controlled and moved the puck from one end of the ice to the other using the boards correctly.  It was a good thing to see and the mix of returners from last year’s peewee AA team combined with returners from last year’s peewee A team, showed what association hockey can achieve in Minnesota.  The positional play matched that of a college team.  Three weeks later, in Faribault in the South Regional, OMG did not reach the same level of play.  Led by Kernan scoring again, they just beat a good Wayzata team 9-3 and went on to win the state title.  It is hard to pick a top player out of a good balanced team, but Kernan stood out.  He has good hands, nice skating ability, and knows how to play the game.

In the picture right, OMG's Chris Kernan ends up with the puck at the top of the crease in this D3 playoff game, something that happened often as the OMG team moved the puck in the offensive zone.

22. #14 Apple Valley-Jack Novak: Novak is a good all-around hockey player.  In the mid-50’s, the NCAA restricted college football teams on substitutions.  There was no specialization then, a quarterback often became the safety when the other team went on offense.  It made the term all-around.  That is what Novak is as a hockey player-an all-around player.  He went wild in the Burnsville Tourney Championship scoring three goals and posting 3 assists in the Eagles 8-0 win over Eastview.  As the season progressed he became less a scorer and more of a setup player, but still maintained a hard quick shot often beating both the defense and the goalie from either faceoff circle.  One of the two ironmen on the Eagles bench, Novak often was on the ice more than 50% of the time in a game.

23.#15 Centennial-AJ LeMire: LeMire is a good sized wide ranging defenseman for the Cougars.  He has a good understanding of the play and has a hard shot from the point. LeMire is effective on the power play.  He will drop low, set up play in a corner, then work his way back to the point.  The Centennial Association’s peewee AA teams have struggled the two seasons before this past year posting losing records both seasons.  This year the Cougars cleared the .500 threshold with a 24-21-7 record.  In 28 of their 52 games, the Cougar defense led by LeMire held their opponents to two or less goals.  One of the signature things in LeMire’s play is that he often played good position with the other four skaters on the ice by adjusting his own position to compensate for one of his teammates play.     

 24. #10 Wayzata-Andrew Goetz: Goetz is a good sized forward that plays a consistent style of game.  He understands the game flow and works within that context.  A forward/wing, Goetz goes for the net.  When a teammate takes a shot, Andrew immediately attacks the goal looking to make something happen.  Wayzata Peewee AA team tired in the South Regional and found themselves playing #1 ranked and eventual state champions Osseo/Maple Grove for South’s #2 seed to the peewee AA state tourney two hours after losing in the in the South Regional championship to Prior Lake.  The Trojans made it a close game until giving up two late second period scores to fall behind 5-3.  Wayzata then gave up four third period scores to lose the state ticket game 9-3.  Goetz never stopped attacking the Crimson net on every shot in that third period.  Goetz seems to be the kind of player that "grows" on a coach.

In the picture right, Goetz just physically moves into a tough OMG AA defense at the opening of the third period of their South Regional game.  Below, Goetz turns in the left slot and starts to attack the opponent's net timing it to a shot from the right face off circle.