Tuesday, November 20, 2007

MN High School Preview: Class AA

Here's my preview of Class AA. You can view a map of all the schools in Class AA here.

Section 1

Last year, Rochester Century came out of this section, and surprised everyone by upsetting Hill-Murray in the first round of the state tournament, and then coming back to beat Burnsville in the third place game to finish third at the state tournament.

It’s unlikely that the Panthers will have another magical run though. They lost perhaps the best duo in school history in forwards Garrett Grimstad and Joe Knoepke, and forward Ryan Knutson, who looked like he would play a starring role for the Panthers this year, is playing Midget AAA hockey for the Russell Stover program in Kansas.

Lakeville North usually has a pretty strong team, and I wouldn’t be surprised if their success continues and they won this section this year.

Section 2

This should be the most competitive section in the state. It features some great programs, including Edina, who is widely regarded as the best metro-area team, and Holy Angels, who has had some great teams over the past few years, and sent nearly 30 players on to play Division I hockey. Burnsville is also in this section, and has proven themselves capable of pulling off the big upset when they defeated Holy Angels in last year’s section final.

Chaska was the only team in the state to lose a player to the National Development Program this year when Nick Mattson moved on to Ann Arbor. It may seem weird for many old-time high school hockey fans that Bloomington Jefferson isn’t mentioned much, but the Jaguar program has fallen on hard times recently and probably won’t be able to compete with powerhouses like Edina and Holy Angels.

It’s hard to imagine Holy Angels going three straight years without making the state tournament given the talent they’ve had, but I think Edina will just be too good this year.

Section 3

Cretin-Derham Hall is the perennial favorite out of this section, though they were upset by Woodbury last season. There seems to be a fair amount of hype surrounding Rosemount’s team heading into the season, and Eastview should be competitive with two future D-I players on their roster in Corey Fienhage(North Dakota) and Rob Maloney(Providence). But I’ll pick the Raiders to avoid the upset.

Section 4

This section features the classic Hill-Murray/White Bear Lake rivalry, and thanks to the re-sectioning of the state, Centennial is no longer in this section to compete.
If the Bears had Jake Hansen and Taylor Johnson for their senior years this year, I’d be tempted to pick the Bears, but now, I think Hill-Murray has too much raw talent for anybody in the section.

Section 5

Blaine has dominated this group over the past few years, but Centennial, which usually boasts one of the strongest youth programs in the state, is now in this section, and should provide some stiff competition for the Bengals. This section boasts a number of talented 11th graders, including Centennial’s Tyler Pitlick and Dustin Lovick, Rogers’ Nick Jensen, and Maple Grove’s Tom Malone and Josh Gross.

It’s hard to pick against Blaine, but I think the group from Centennial that won youth hockey state championships will finally make some noise on the high school level and win the section.

Section 6

This section is noteworthy for some of the talented defenseman playing in the section, specifically Minnetonka’s Jake Gardiner and Anthony Raiola, and Eden Prairie’s Alec Rush and Nick Leddy. Armstrong is also usually fairly strong, and Cory Thorson could have a big year as a senior. I think Minnetonka will come out of this section.

This isn’t the strongest section this year, but in a few years, I expect this to be one of the toughest sections in the state. There are a lot of families with young, hockey-playing kids moving into the southwestern suburbs, and it’s only a matter of time before those numbers translate into hockey success.

Section 7

This is usually one of the deepest, and most exciting sections in the state, and this year will probably be no exception. The teams in this section don’t seem to be as strong as last year, but it the section semifinals and finals in Duluth should still be great games.

Grand Rapids has come out of this section the past two years and advanced to the state championship game. Their run of success looks like it will end this year though. The Thunderhawks lost their two best players, who are now playing college hockey in Pat White and Joe Stejskal. They also lost starting goalie Reidar Jensen, who was fabulous in the state tournament last year. Grand Rapids really struggled in the first half of last year while White was hampered by an injury, and I think they’ll really struggle without him this year.

Cloquet-Esko-Carleton usually has a pretty good team. They lost star Tyler Johnson and the state’s best goalie in Reid Ellingson, but return one of the best power forwards in the state in Justin Jokinen. Anoka should have a strong team too, with seniors John O’Neill and Cory Belisle both scored over 20 goals last year.

The best team in this section should be Duluth East. After a couple quiet years, the Greyhounds should be back as one of the tougher teams in the state, led by Minnesota-Duluth recruit Max Tardy.

Section 8

This section has pretty much belonged to Roseau and Moorhead over the years, and it’s unlikely that that will change this year. Brainerd moves into this section, and will have the potential to upset one of the two powerhouses. This could be one of Brainerd’s better teams with two exceptional seniors in Joey Frazer and Drew Olson.

In the end though, this year will likely be all about Roseau. The Rams are the defending state champions, and return most of the talent off of that team, including the state’s best player in Aaron Ness, and one of the best goalies in Mike Lee.

The only potential pitfall for the Rams should be the pressure that will be on them this year. The Hockey News will be following the Rams on a weekly basis, scouts from the NHL and NCAA should be attendance at most of their games, and since they are defending a championship and favored to win it again, even more attention than usual will be placed on them in the tiny town with little else besides hockey.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Mr. Hockey Candidates

The Minnesota Mr. Hockey Award is given out annually to the top senior high school hockey player in the state of Minnesota. Here is a list of past winners and finalists.

This year's crop is looking a little thin right now, mainly because my top three choices for the award, Little Falls' Jared Festler, White Bear Lake's Jake Hansen, and Virginia's Nico Sacchetti, have all opted to spend their senior year of high school playing in the USHL rather than playing high school hockey. There are still plenty of great candidates though, and here is a look at a few of them.

1. Jake Youso, Forward, International Falls HS, Committed to Minnesota

Youso is one of the smoothest skaters in the skate, and displays a great understanding of the game. The Broncos will miss goalie Brady Hjelle who is playing in the USHL this year, but Youso should be one of the state's best players.

2. Jake Gardiner, Defenseman, Minnetonka HS, Committed to Wisconsin

Gardiner made the move from forward to defense, and now, as a senior, he is considered one of the best defenseman in the state. He's another very smooth skater that can jump into the rush at any time. He's considered an "A" prospect by the NHL's Central Scouting Bureau and some scouting sites have him listed as high as a first round pick, which is taken into consideration for this award.

3. Tyler Barnes, Forward, Burnsville HS, Committed to Wisconsin

Barnes has come out of nowhere ever since Burnsville's surprising upset of Holy Angels last season. He's a creative playmaker that works well with senior linemate Jake Hendrickson.

4. John O'Neill, Forward, Anoka HS, Committed to Minnesota-Duluth

O'Neill is one of the most complete players in the state. He may not stand out in any one particular area, but he does everything pretty well.

5. Adam Mueller, Forward, Roseville, Committed to Minnesota State

Mueller is one of the fastest skaters in the state, and has a great knack for picking up points. He was overshadowed a little bit last year by another Mr. Hockey candidate in Mike Dorr, but as Roseville's go-to-guy this year, Mueller could shine. At only 5'9" 160 lbs., he's at a little bit of a disadvantage with the NHL scouts, but that didn't stop another Roseville native, Marty Sertich, from taking home the award.

6. Drew Olson, Defenseman, Brainerd HS, Uncommitted

Olson is a talented defenseman that can do just about everything. He skates well, can play physical defense, makes nice outlet passes, and has a pretty strong shot. He, along with teammate Joe Frazer, should lead Brainerd to one of their stronger seasons in school history.

7. Justin Jokinen, Forward, Cloquest-Esko-Carleton, Uncommitted

Jokinen had a nice year last season playing alongside Colorado College's Tyler Johnson. This year, the big power forward will be on his own, but should do just fine. He's a very strong goal-scorer that should be one of the best players in the Northland.

8. Joe Gleason, Defenseman, Edina HS, Committed to North Dakota

Gleason is a talented puck-mover that should rack up a lot of assists feeding scorers like Zach Budish and Anders Lee. It may be tough for him to stand out on such a talented team though.

9. Chris Student, Defenseman, Benilde-St. Margaret's, Committed to Northeastern

Student is another talented puck-mover that got away from the WCHA when he committed to Northeastern last year. BSM lost some very talented forwards off of last year's team, which could hurt his offensive production, but he's one of the smarter defenseman in all of Minnesota.

10. Bryce Ravndalen, Forward, Warroad HS, Committed to St. Cloud

Ravndalen is a slippery stickhandler that made a name for himself last year playing with SCSU's Aaron Marvin. Marvin has graduated, but Ravndalen has improved to become one of the better playmakers in the state, and he should have a very big year.

Wildcard: Aaron Ness, Roseau, Committed to Minnesota

Ness is a bit of a wildcard in that he should be an 11th grader, but is accelerating through his senior year of high school to play for Minnesota next fall. It sounds like his academic progress will be monitored, and if he's deemed to be the equivalent of a high school senior, he will be eligible for the award. If he's eligible, Ness would have to be one of, if not the favorite for the award. He's a smooth skater and very smart hockey player that controls the game from the blueline.

MN High School Preview: Class A

The Minnesota State High School League re-configured all of the sections for hockey this year. Here is a helpful map of which schools are in which section.

For my preview, I'll go through section by section and give some thoughts, as well as some predictions, starting today with Class A, which is for the smaller schools in the state.

Section 1

With the redrawing of the sections, this became an incredibly interesting section. Red Wing and Rochester Lourdes are two programs that have been traditionally strong, but over recent years, hasn't been able to beat St. Thomas Academy. New Prague and Faribault were both fairly strong last year, but couldn't get past Orono. Those four teams no longer have to worry about those schools now, but do have to worry about Albert Lea and Mankato West, who were two of the strongest teams in the old Section 1.

Albert Lea made it to the state tournament last year and seems to have an unending supply of fast, strong skaters. Mankato West should have the section's most dangerous line in Corey Leivermann, Ricky Litchfield, and Ryan Anderson, but will need great goaltending from junior Tyler Bruggeman. Junior Tyler Lapic and freshman Seth Ambroz should give New Prague a talented scoring combo. Faribault returns some talented players, but lost superstar Seth Helgeson to the USHL.

Albert Lea and Red Wing are probably the favorites, but I'll go out on a limb and pick Mankato West to avenge last year's upset and finally earn their trip to St. Paul.

Section 2

This group is highlighted by the intense rivalry of Blake and Breck. Also in this section is Orono, who has made it to the state tournament the past couple of years. Orono is a scrappy team, but I think that without goalie Taylor Peterson, who graduated last spring, that tournament streak will end. Blake pulled off a couple upsets to make last year's state tournament, but I think their run will also end. Breck has some exciting young players in Joey Rehkamp, Riley Borer, and Tyson Fulton, and are my pick to make it to states.

Section 3

Blech. I would take the third seed in any other section in the state over any team from this section. The old Section 1 was a comparatively weak section to the rest of the state, but usually, at least the team that came out of it was respectable. The same can't be said here.

Still, as much as it pains me, I have to pick New Ulm to win the section. They do have two junior defenseman that are worth keeping an eye on in Cody Kohn and Beau Burgau.

Section 4

St. Thomas Academy has to be the heavy favorite in this section. They lost some very key players in goalie Aaron Crandall and forward Nick Larson to the USHL, but also return some good talent and are a very well-coached team. Ryan Walters will be back from a pre-season USHL stint and should score a lot of points.

St. Thomas should receive some competition from Totino-Grace, who has been rebuilding the past two years, but look ready to compete at a high level again. The Eagles are led by two big power forwards in Nick Nagel and Dan DeLisle. Mahtomedi had a great regular season last year, but was upset in their section playoffs.

Section 5

This section features the defending state champion Hermantown Hawks. The Hawks lost a lot of talent off of last year's team, including starting goalie Nate Hardy, top defenseman Chad Huttel, and top scorer Drew Leblanc, who is spending his senior year in the USHL, but Hermantown is such a strong program that they should be able to reload with a fresh set of talent and win the section.

There are some very talented individual players in this section including Duluth Denfield's Jake Johnson and St. Cloud Cathedral's Nate Schmidt, but I don't think any team will have the depth to upset the Hawks.

Section 6

Over the past three years, this part of the state has belonged to Little Falls, and the departure of Jared Festler to the USHL shouldn't stop that from happening again. The Flyers return a great team with some very talented players including the Hanowski brothers, forward Ben Nelson, and defenseman Izaak Berglund.

Potential threats for Little Falls include Alexandria, who could be extremely dangerous, especially if goalie Matt Hemingway gets hot in net, Fergus Falls, who have given the Flyers some trouble over the past few years, and St. Cloud Apollo, who is playing in Class A for the first time. The Apollo program, which has produced players like Kurt Sauer, Chris Harrington, Mike Howe, and Matt Hartman has fallen on hard times recently and was struggling to compete in Class AA.

Section 7

Technically this is the Iron Range section, but the new sections bring Class A powerhouse Duluth Marshall into this section, and the Hilltoppers should be the best team out of this section.

This section was hit by departures to the USHL, with goalie Brady Hjelle leaving International Falls and Nico Sacchetti leaving Virginia. I-Falls Jake Youso and Hibbing's Anthony DeCenzo are noteworthy players, but it's unlikely anybody will be able to keep up with Marshall's depth.

Section 8

Bemidji joins this section as the latest team to stop playing up in Class AA; a sad sign for those that remember the glory days of hockey in northwest Minnesota.

Warroad is the favorite in this section every year, if only on name alone. They've got a star in Bryce Ravndalen that should score a lot of points for them. I could see Zach Lehrke and his Park Rapids team giving Warroad a run for their money, but I think Warroad will return to the state tournament.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Fighting Words

I've been wanting to write a post about fighting in hockey for a while now, but I needed an extra little bit of motivation to put finger to keyboard. Thankfully, there's been a couple scenarios over the past few weeks that have given me that motivation.

The conventional wisdom from the pro-fighting bloc has always been about how fighting actually cleans up the game, and makes it safer for the skill players. Personally, I think it's completely unnecessary.

Example 1: Derek Boogard fights D.J. King

D.J. King tries a wraparound against the Minnesota Wild and takes a couple jabs at the puck before the whistle play. Derek Boogard who, not surprisingly, was out of the play, comes flying in and picks a fight with King.

I know the argument here. "But, if Boogard doesn't fight King, the Blues will keep whacking at Josh Harding all night!" Ok, so King hacks at Harding's pads a little bit there. Maybe next time he hits him a little harder. Maybe the next time he hits him too hard, and is called for a penalty.

It's nice of Boogard to try and police the game, but there's already like four guys out there on the ice to do that. What King did wasn't worthy of being called an infraction by the officials, so it wasn't.

It's also no coincidence that the guy Boogard just happened to pick was St. Louis' biggest fighter, who Boogard had just happened to fight two other times in the last year. That fight had nothing to do with policing the game and everything to do with a guy trying to justify his NHL paycheck.

Example 2: Junior Hockey Brawl


Boy, it's a good thing that Halifax had those enforcers or things might have gotten out of hand.

Example 3: Boulerice Cheap Shots Kesler

Of course the argument is that having a bunch of goons out on the ice is supposed to stop this type of stuff. But would this type of stuff even happen if there weren't a bunch of goons out on the ice?

Boulerice's NHL statline reads like this: 162 games, 8 goals, 2 assists, 319 PIMs. He's not in the NHL for his skill. Of course we don't know the whole story. Maybe Kesler had done something earlier in the game to provoke the attack, but I can guarantee you that whatever he did, getting cross-checked in the face was a disproportionate response. Again, that's why there are officials out on the ice to judge this type of stuff. Somebody that gets punched in the head for a living probably isn't the right choice to play judge and jury out on the ice.

And of course this isn't a rare occurrence. Look at the other players that have committed some of most atrocious cheap shots in recent memory: Chris Simon: 302 career points, 1772 career PIMs, Todd Bertuzzi: 542 career points, 1056 PIMs, Marty McSorley: 359 career points, 3381 career PIMs, Dale Hunter: 1020 career points, 3565 career PIMs.

All guys that were supposed to be "policing" the game with their fighting and instead, they ended up giving the game of hockey a black eye.

Example 4:Junior Hockey Fight

I was at a junior hockey game at a tournament a few weeks ago, and I don't want to use names, but Team A wasn't having a great game. It was fairly early in the third period and they were getting blown out. Player X wasn't having a great game for Team A. All of a sudden, a player from Team B got tripped up and slid into Team A's goalie. Player X jumped on the player and got into a fight with him. The referees finally pulled the two players, and it took 5-10 minutes for the referees to straighten out the mess and get the game started again. While they were sorting it out, most of the scouts in the rink had gotten up and wandered off to watch a different game. The funny thing though, is that as Player X was being escorted to the box, everyone on Team A got up and cheered for him. Why? They were still losing by a lot. They had lost out on a nice opportunity to be scouted. Maybe they were just happy that one of their weakest players wasn't going to be playing anymore. In any case, I fail to see what that accomplished other than positively reinforcing stupid behavior.

Fighting Words

I've been wanting to write a post about fighting in hockey for a while now, but I needed an extra little bit of motivation to put finger to keyboard. Thankfully, there's been a couple scenarios over the past few weeks that have given me that motivation.

The conventional wisdom from the pro-fighting bloc has always been about how fighting actually cleans up the game, and makes it safer for the skill players. Personally, I think it's completely unnecessary.

Example 1: Derek Boogard fights D.J. King

D.J. King tries a wraparound against the Minnesota Wild and takes a couple jabs at the puck before the whistle play. Derek Boogard who, not surprisingly, was out of the play, comes flying in and picks a fight with King.

I know the argument here. "But, if Boogard doesn't fight King, the Blues will keep whacking at Josh Harding all night!" Ok, so King hacks at Harding's pads a little bit there. Maybe next time he hits him a little harder. Maybe the next time he hits him too hard, and is called for a penalty.

It's nice of Boogard to try and police the game, but there's already like four guys out there on the ice to do that. What King did wasn't worthy of being called an infraction by the officials, so it wasn't.

It's always no coincidence that the guy Boogard just happened to pick was St. Louis' biggest fighter, who Boogard had just happened to fight two other times in the last year. That fight had nothing to do with policing the game and everything to do with a guy trying to justify his NHL paycheck.

Example 2: Junior Hockey Brawl


Boy, it's a good thing that Halifax had those enforcers or things might have gotten out of hand.

Example 3: Boulerice Cheap Shots Kesler

Of course the argument is that having a bunch of goons out on the ice is supposed to stop this type of stuff. But would this type of stuff even happen if there weren't a bunch of goons out on the ice?

Boulerice's NHL statline reads like this: 162 games, 8 goals, 2 assists, 319 PIMs. He's not in the NHL for his skill. Of course we don't know the whole story. Maybe Kesler had done something earlier in the game to provoke the attack, but I can guarantee you that whatever he did, getting cross-checked in the face was a disproportionate response. Again, that's why there are officials out on the ice to judge this type of stuff. Somebody that gets punched in the head for a living probably isn't the right choice to play judge and jury out on the ice.

And of course this isn't a rare occurrence. Look at the other players that have committed some of most atrocious cheap shots in recent memory: Chris Simon: 302 career points, 1772 career PIMs, Todd Bertuzzi: 542 career points, 1056 PIMs, Marty McSorley: 359 career points, 3381 career PIMs, Dale Hunter: 1020 career points, 3565 career PIMs.

All guys that were supposed to be "policing" the game with their fighting and instead, they ended up giving the game of hockey a black eye.

Example 4:Junior Hockey Fight

I was at a junior hockey game at a tournament a few weeks ago, and I don't want to use names, but Team A wasn't having a great game. It was fairly early in the third period and they were getting blown out. Player X wasn't having a great game for Team A. All of a sudden, a player from Team B got tripped up and slid into Team A's goalie. Player X jumped on the player and got into a fight with him. The referees finally pulled the two players, and it took 5-10 minutes for the referees to straighten out the mess and get the game started again. While they were sorting it out, most of the scouts in the rink had gotten up and wandered off to watch a different game. The funny thing though, is that as Player X was being escorted to the box, everyone on Team A got up and cheered for him. Why? They were still losing by a lot. They had lost out on a nice opportunity to be scouted. Maybe they were just happy that one of their weakest players wasn't going to be playing anymore. In any case, I fail to see what that accomplished other than positively reinforcing stupid behavior.

Monday, November 05, 2007

Rising to the Challenge

Here’s a look at a few uncommitted college prospects that I think really helped increase their stock over the course of the Elite League season.

Jeff Costello, Catholic Memorial(Wis)

Most of the attention throughout the fall focused on his Team Wisconsin teammates Seth Soley and Nate Condon, who both committed to schools over the Elite League season, but Costello was almost as good as his teammates. But unlike Soley and Condon, Costello is only an 11th grader. There weren’t many inspiring Elite League performances from ’91 and ’92 birthdates in the Elite League this year, which could make Costello’s services highly-sought after by WCHA schools for 2009 or 2010.

Justin Jokinen, Cloquet

Jokinen got a little bit of attention last year, playing alongside Tyler Johnson, but this fall, he showed that he can be excellent on his own. He’s 6’3” 185 lbs., with a nice shot and good skating ability. It shouldn’t be long before he starts fielding scholarship offers.

Anthony Raiola, Minnetonka

I’ve always though Raiola was a fantastic player, and this fall, he helped cement that with 12 points, which was tied for 4th among defenseman in scoring.

Zach Lehrke, Park Rapids

Lehrke made the Select 17s this past summer as an alternate, and this year in the Elite League, he earned a reputation as a hard-working forward with pretty good skills.

Nick Nagel, Totino-Grace

Nagel was fairly unknown prior to this fall, but put up some big points in the Elite League thanks to being paired on a line with the speedy Adam Mueller. He’s a big guy with a fair amount of potential that was listed by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau as a “B” prospect.

Corey Leivermann, Mankato Western College Hockey

Leivermann has long been known as one of the best players in southern Minnesota, but with the exception of the Rochester area, being the best player in southern Minnesota is often about as big an honor as being the best football at Notre Dame. But Leivermann proved that he could play this fall by scoring a lot of points during the Elite League season and making one of the NIT all-star rosters. His skating isn’t the greatest, but he’s a hard worker and a very unselfish player that showed he has a knack for getting to the right spot at the right time to score goals.

Elite League NIT Recap

Here's my recap from the Elite League NIT. I saw the first two games on Saturday, and everything on Sunday. The teams are listed in order of finish the tournament, with their record in parenthesis.

1. Minnesota Red (3-0)

By far the best team of the tournament. They dominated everyone. Not only were they a talented team, but they moved the puck with remarkable ability for a team playing their first games together. They were able to keep a little continuity with the Wisconsin line of Seth Soley, Nate Condon, and Jeff Costello. All three players were fantastic. Soley has an incredible snap shot. On defense, Aaron Ness played fantastic. He really does a great job of controlling the play and moving the puck.

2. LA Jr. Kings (2-1)

Probably the biggest story for LA was Shane McColgan, who was born on January 1st, 1993. It’s pretty impressive for a kid that young to be playing at such a high-level, but McColgan didn’t look out of place at all. He’s an incredibly fast skater, with a pretty good shot. What surprised me most is that he didn’t look like he was the youngest player out there. He wasn’t afraid to play with an edge and get his nose dirty. He picked up two penalties in the second period of the championship game; one for driving hard to the net and poking at the goalie, and one for getting into a shoving match with a Minnesota player.

Tyler Maxwell is a player that had gotten some attention from USA Hockey, and he looked like a solid player. Garrett Taylor was supposed to be another top ’91 birthdate on their team, but he took a spearing penalty and got kicked out, so he didn’t play much.

3. Shattuck-St. Mary’s(2-1)

Shattuck was probably the favorite heading into the tournament, but was upset by LA on Saturday. They beat Malmo pretty soundly in the third place game.

Shattuck’s top line of David Toews, Jordy Murray, and Derek Stepan was pretty dominant, though I don’t know that they racked up a ton of points. Jordy Murray really impressed me, just because he looks like he’s developed so much over the past couple of years. Toews was quietly effective. He didn’t do anything that screamed “first round draft pick,” but made a lot of really nice little plays.

It was my first chance seeing Alexander Fallstrom play, and I was pretty impressed. He’s got good size, and always seems to be causing trouble for the opposition. Seniors Brian Elser and Luke Grenier also played very well.

Stepan Novotny also seems to be developing quite well. His skating looked much better than it did at this time last year. His combination of size and skill kind of reminds me of Andreas Nodl. He just needs to work on getting better at finishing. I must have counted four or five scoring opportunities that he sailed over the net.

’92 Emerson Etem showed some flashes of great play, but still needs to get a little older, and add a little more muscle before he’s dominant at this level.

David Carle was another player that was quietly effective. He’s not very flashy, but plays very solid defense. I overheard one coach say that they were pretty sure he’d be playing college hockey next fall, rather than making a stop in the USHL. Defenseman Mac Williams and Ben Montgomery also played well on the point.

4. Malmo Redhawks (1-2)

It was a little tough to get a read on them. I saw them play against Minnesota Red and Shattuck, and they were way overmatched in both games. They had three ’92 birthdates on their team: goalie Fabian Sivnert, who played very well against Shattuck, forward Victor Ohman, and a 6’4” defenseman named Victor Mangs. Considering how young they were, they looked like pretty nice prospect, especially Mangs, who will be eligible for the 2011 NHL draft. It should be interesting to see if their trip to the US results in any NCAA scholarship offers.

5. Team Michigan (2-1)

As far as skill, they may have been the weakest in the tournament, but they brought an experienced, gritty team to the tournament that fought hard and was able to come away with two wins. They had a big upset over Minnesota White on Thursday. On Sunday, they had a dramatic win over the Dallas Stars to take 5th place for the second straight year.

Goalie Adam Janecyk started Sunday’s game for Michigan, and he was outstanding. He was probably the best goalie at the tournament. Defenseman Brock Carlston and Greg Merrill played close to every other shift for Michigan, and were solid, especially Carlston. At forward, Ryan Baratono scored a nice goal to open the game on Sunday, and Billy Balent looked like a speedy, talented player.

6. Dallas Stars (1-2)

’91 forward Anthony Hamburg played on Dallas’ top line, and he looked like one of their better forwards. Forward Trevor Gerling scored a pretty goal on Sunday, and also played pretty well. Defenseman CJ Ludwig was tabbed by NHL Central Scouting as a player of interest. I’d be surprised if he got drafted just because of the combination of playing midget hockey and that he’s not overly big, but he’s a nice player that should play college hockey somewhere. He’s got a powerful shot from the point, and plays nice defense.

7. Minnesota White(1-2)

Definitely the most disappointing team of the tournament. Conventional wisdom before the tournament was that they would be Shattuck’s biggest competition in the tournament. Instead, they lost to LA on Friday, and were then upset by Michigan on Saturday. There was a brief stretch in the second period on Sunday were they looked great and put together 3 or 4 goals, but other than that, they had a pretty bad weekend.

The two defenseman from Minnetonka, Jake Gardiner and Anthony Raiola both played very well. They’re excellent skaters. Tyler Barnes, Jake Hendrickson, and Danny Mattson played on a line, but they didn’t seem to get much going while I was there. Mattson left late in the third period on Sunday with a shoulder injury that hopefully isn’t too serious.

8. Team Illinois (0-3)

Team Illinois had some talented players, but not as much depth as the other teams in the tournament. Their most impressive players was ’91 forward Cody Murphy. He looks like he will be a star some day. ’91 defenseman Ben Hughes also played pretty solid on both days that I saw TI.

UNO recruit Fredrik Csisar looks like he has developed a lot over the past year. He didn’t do much on Saturday, but played pretty nicely on Sunday. I don’t think he’ll be a star in college, but should be a nice player.