FTP Notes: Friday, January 11th

Dan Cecka - Hill-Murray Pioneers

Hill-Murray won it's third straight game since losing to Minnetonka at the Schwan Cup in late December. Pioneers' Senior Dan Cecka continues to be scorching hot scoring the game winner against the #1-ranked in Class A St. Thomas Academy Cadets on Thursday night. The Pioneers won 4-2. Cecka has scored six goals in the last three games. He scored four goals in their win over Simley on January 5th.

Section 7AA: Will a front runner please stand up?

So, Duluth East defeated the Thunderhawks from Grand Rapids Thursday night, 4-2. Surprised? Not really. My problem is that I don't know what Greyhounds team will show up from night to night. I have the same feeling about most of the supposed talented teams in Class 7AA. With that said, will the best team in Class 7AA please stand up???

I really thought Grand Rapids would start making a run starting with East. I know Grand Rapids is 6-6-1 and have not stepped up when facing ranked opponents but something innate is telling me that the Thunderhawks are the ones that will come out on top when it matters, the playoffs. This comes from someone who has sentimental leanings toward Cloquet and likes Duluth East. But, consistently, the Hounds and the Jacks have been just as inconsistent this year.

The Hounds lost to Minnetonka, White Bear Lake, and Cloquet in a 3-game stretch and then dominated Moorhead, Centennial, and Anoka in the next three games. Before defeating a decent Denfeld team earlier this week and then Grand Rapids last night, Duluth East went 0-3-1 before that including 0-2-1 at the Schwan Cup.

Cloquet was on a roll in December going 4-1-1 for the month. They won their next two in January giving them a 6-1-1 run but then they were handed a crushing defeat by Brainerd, 2 to 7, on January 4th and then lost to Superior (WI) who, granted has a very good team, 1 to 4. If the Jacks would have won that game, I would have marked them as the front runner for the 7AA crown. Now, they move back into the other top but inconsistent teams.

Anoka is just as inconsistent but is just as viable to win it as Grand Rapids, Duluth East, and Cloquet. The Tornadoes (9-4-0) were on a four game winning steak and looking like they were in stride until they faced the Trojans of Wayzata Thursday night. Wayzata won 5-3.

Forest Lake is above .500 and has a 3-1 record against other 7AA opponents but their only quality win out of eight was against Grand Rapids in OT early in the season.

So, who will step up in this Section? Right now, I believe it is still very wide open.

Disrespecting the disrespected???

When I made the current poll, I forgot to add three other teams to the list who have great records that might feel that they are getting little to no respect:

Northern Lakes Lightning (8AA) (12-3-1) - Coach Shawn Chambers has the Lightning playing very well. The concern though is that they play only two games with Class AA teams. Northern Lakes is a Class AA team. They've played 8AA Becker/Big Lake/Milaca twice already and beat them both times. Becker/Big Lake/Milaca's record is currently 2-11.

La Crescent Lancers (1A) (13-2-1) - The Lancers play 15 games against Wisconsin teams and only 7 against Minnesota teams. They are 5-0 so far against Class A teams in Minnesota with four of the wins against Section 3A schools. They do not play any ranked Minnesota teams at all this year. Their schedule consists only of Wisconsin opponents the rest of the regular season. They did not and will not play any Section 1A teams in which they are apart of.

Mora/Hinckley-Finlayson Mustangs (5A) (10-2) - The Mustangs are playing well and have a strong goaltender in A. J. Martin. I think it is too soon to know what this team can do. They have yet to face a ranked opponent. They beat Northern Lakes once and also lost to them once. The game to look ahead to is way at the end of the year when they face the currently undefeated team of the Park Rapids Area Panthers on February 15th. If the Mustangs make a nice run in January, people might start to take notice.