| 2/23/2004 CLASS A SECTION OUTLOOK Section 1A Two teams from the Big Nine Conference are the top seeds. Mankato East (16-6-2, #1 seed) received the top seed by virtue of a 9-5 regular season victory over Albert Lea. The Cougars are mostly offense, averaging a little over five goals per game. Senior forward Logan Wenzel was the #8 scorer in the state during the regular season. Seniors Cody Drysdale and Ross Grant round out the high-scoring line. Mankato East has had to battle through injuries on defense, losing top defenseman junior Ryan Riebel to an injury before the holiday season. Albert Lea (16-9-0, #2 seed) is very capable of winning Section 1A. The Tigers have two solid lines and a sturdy defense. Junior forward Jon Breuer is the leading scorer while juniors Travis McKinney and Dustin Trail man the blueline. Sophomore Evan Long has played well in net. New Ulm (11-8-3, #3 seed) and Marshall (13-10-2, #4 seed) are long shots but could surprise. New Ulm lost to Albert Lea, 2-0, during the regular season and Marshall was beaten by Mankato East last week. Section 2A Duluth Marshall (15-9-1, #1 seed) is definitely the top team in Section 2A and has played really well down the stretch. The Hilltoppers have played a tough schedule that includes close losses to Blake, East Grand Forks, Hermantown, Lake Of The Woods, and Rochester Lourdes. Duluth Marshall's biggest win may have been a 5-2 victory over St. Cloud Cathedral on Jan. 3. The Hilltoppers have two good lines of scorers and two good scoring defensemen in seniors Brandon Johnson and Dan Moline. St. Cloud Cathedral (22-4-0, #2 seed) has played well all season long and just notched wins at Eveleth-Gilbert and Virginia/Mountain Iron-Buhl. The Crusaders also have a large group of good scorers. Senior forwards Adam Koopmeiners and Eric Dahl, converted junior defenseman Mike Schmidt, and freshman defenseman Matt Crandell all have over 40 points. Juniors Joel Rindelaub and John Ziemann have rotated in goal. Mora/Hinckley-Finlayson (21-3-0, #3 seed) lost their first two games of the season but are 21-1 thereafter; however, the Mustangs were defeated by St. Cloud Cathedral and split with Princeton. Senior forward Shaun Corbett was the #5 scorer in the state during the regular season. Seniors forward Andrew Grabowski and Nate Horbacz can also put the puck away while junior Mark Horbacz in their top defenseman. Senior Kyle Bliss has played every game in net. Princeton (17-7-1, #4 seed) is the two-time defending Section champs and can't be counted out. The Tigers did not play Duluth Marshall during the regular season but did beat St. Cloud Cathedral and split with Mora/Hinckley-Finlayson. Seniors Travis Schneider and Charlie Ross lead with offense and senior Derrick Brown leads the defense. Sauk Rapids-Rice (8-15-2) is a long shot but they did upset Princeton during the regular season. Section 3A South St. Paul (19-5-1, #1 seed) looks like an overwhelming favorite in Section 3A. The Packers have a perfect 6-0 record against Section 3A opponents and South St. Paul would have been the #1 seed in Section 2AA if they hadn't made the switch from Class AA to Class A. Their only loss to a Class A team this year was to Mahtomedi. The Packers finished second in the Classic Suburban Conference. Junior Mike Pilot and senior Nick Stalock lead the offense while senior Mark Bernier heads the defense. Junior Alex Stalock is a top notch netminder. Red Wing (12-13-0, #2 seed) lost to South St. Paul, 4-2, two weeks ago. The Wingers played a tougher schedule with seven of their losses coming against Class AA teams. Red Wing was second in the Missota Conference. Sophomore forward Trevor Doden is the leading scorer for the Wingers and senior forward Joe Bluhm has come back from a pre-season injury. St. Thomas Academy (13-11-1, #3 seed) is another team from the Classic Suburban Conference, where they finished fifth. The Cadets lost twice to South St. Paul during the regular season but did defeat Rochester Lourdes, 4-3 in overtime, in one of their biggest wins of the year. Rochester Lourdes (9-12-3, #4 seed) has played most of the top Class A teams close this year, but the Eagles slumped in the last half of the season with a 1-6-1 record in their last eight games including four straight losses heading into the Section playoffs. Lourdes still has a team that could pull off the upset led by senior forward AJ Smith. Section 4A Wadena-Deer Creek (23-1-0, #1 seed) was a hot topic around the state all season. They were the last undefeated team, at 19-0-0, and got people asking how good they really were. The Wolverines were very close to an undefeated season with their only loss to Little Falls, 7-4, where the Flyers scored three goals in the final 5:15, including an empty netter. Wadena-Deer Creek split with Little Falls during the year and shutout Fergus Falls, 4-0. Senior forwards Tyler Neu and Andrew Murray were the top scorers during the regular season. Senior forward Brandon Currie missed seven games with a wrist injury but looks to be healthy again. Senior Travis Pettit, junior Dustin Postell, and freshman Jascha Pettit all contribute on the offensive end. Senior Kyle Dickhaus has had an outstanding season on defense and seniors Kyle Timm and Pete Miley have rotated in goal. The Wolverines won the Mid-State Conference. Willmar (13-10-1, #2 seed) finished fourth in the Central Lakes Conference, a much tougher conference than the Mid-State Conference. The Cardinals might be capable of defeating Wadena-Deer Creek. In comparison, Willmar edged Little Falls, in overtime, twice during the year. The Cardinals don't have any big scorers but have a good mixture of seniors and juniors with sophomore Tyler Wahl leading the team in scoring. Little Falls (12-13-0, #3 seed) was the sixth place team in the Central Lakes Conference. The Flyers get most of their scoring from three players, senior forward Morgan Cekalla and junior forwards Steve Festler and Mikael Lickteig. The defense is good with seniors Anthony Turk and Mark Hammerbeck. Senior Aaron Jorgenson plays every game in goal. Next page |