FTP's Top 5 Games: Saturday, January 19th

Here are FTP's Top 5 Games for Saturday, January 19th:

1. #4AA Minnetonka (14-2-0) vs. #6AA Benilde-St. Margaret's (14-2-0), 7:00 PM

In the battle of two Section 6AA titans, the Skippers and the Red Knights will do battle in St. Louis Park on Saturday night.

While the Red Knights are where most people expected them to be as one of the top ten teams in the state this season, Minnetonka has surprised many, who at the start the season, did not envision the Skippers winning 14 of their first 16 games.

Head Coach Ken Pauly has the Red Knights playing well having won their last four games. Their only losses this season were to 5th-ranked in Class AA Hill-Murray, 3 to 1, and, at the time, the number one-ranked in Class A St. Thomas Academy Cadets, 6 to 4. Benilde-St. Margaret's is led in points by senior forward Matt Bergland with 43 points, 20 goals & 23 assists. Senior forward Steve Zierke and stand-out defenseman Chris Student are next in scoring with 37 and 33 points respectively. The Red Knights are solid in net having used three different goalies equally this season with only one barely of the 2.00 GAA mark. Junior Mike Shibrowski, sophomore Jacob Meyers, and junior Rob Ankeny are all worthy to start in goal.

Minnetonka also tends to be stingy when it comes allowing their opponents to score. In their first 16 games, the Skippers have only had one game where they allowed more than three goals and that was to 3rd-ranked Hopkins. Hopkins managed four goals in their win two weeks ago Saturday. Senior goalie Matt Buonomo has been the leading the way in goal for the Skippers. While offensively, junior Sam Coatta has been the leading goal scorer with 11 while senior Jake Gardiner leads the Skippers in scoring with 9 goals and 20 assists.

Head Coach Brian Urick is doing a terrific job in his first year at the helm of the Skippers. He'll now get his first opportunity to go head-to-head with Minnetonka's Coach from last year, Ken Pauly, who returned back to Coach his former team at Benilde this season.

This should be a tight game of two teams that are tough to score goals on. Benilde-St. Margaret's gave up only 1 goal to Edina & 3 goals to Hill-Murray, of which one was an empty netter to the Pioneers. In the end, I would not be surprised to see a 3-2 or 3-1 hard fought battle.

Fearless Prediction: Benilde-St. Margaret's

2. Acad. of Holy Angels (9-4-0) vs. #1 Catholic Memorial (MA) (7-0-1), 2:30 PM

The second best game of the day isn't being played even close to the Minnesota border. It is being played over 1300 miles away at Harvard University's Bright Hockey Center in Boston, Massachusetts at 2:30 PM Central Time (3:30 PM Eastern).

The Academy of Holy Angels Stars are making the trip out to the East Coast to face Catholic Memorial High School out of West Roxbury, MA on Saturday and then will head south to play Mount St. Charles Academy in Woonsocket, Rhode Island on Monday, January 21st before returning back to Minnesota.

The Boston Globe newspaper and the Boston.com rank the Catholic Memorial Knights as the #1-ranked high school team in Massachusetts in their latest top 20 poll. The Knights are led by sophomore forward Derek Colluci, junior defenseman Garrett Noonan, and senior defenseman Peter Starrett. Colluci has 7 goals in the eight games that the Knights have played so far this season.

The Academy of Holy Angels Stars are led by junior center Danny Mattson who has 14 goals and 19 assists on the season. Center sophomore Connor Reilly has 18 total points while sophomore Ryan Reilly, senior Austin Wetmore, and junior John Haeg have 16 points apiece. Junior goalie Michael Webb has handled most of the load between the pipes for the Stars winning 7 of 9 games with a 2.44 GAA. The Stars are currently unranked in the FollowThePuck.com Top 20 Rankings but are making themselves heard lately with a five-game winning streak including a huge win over 5th-ranked Hill-Murray this past Tuesday night.

Read about the Catholic Memorial Knights' last game against BC High on Tuesday at Boston.com and there is a little blurb at the end talking about the arrival of the Stars this weekend.

Fearless Prediction: Catholic Memorial (MA)


3. #12AA Centennial (9-4-2) at #19AA Anoka (11-4-0), 7:30 PM

Both teams are on the rise. Centennial has won four in a row. Anoka has won six of their last seven. Centennial defeated the Tornadoes earlier in the season winning 6-2 on December 8th. I don't see Anoka losing by four goals again BUT I think the Cougars surging offense will be too difficult for the Tornadoes to tame.

Fearless Prediction: Centennial


4. Moorhead (8-5-3) at #5A Warroad (12-4-0), 5:15 PM

Normally, this would be a great northwestern Minnesota battle. It still may be one, for at least two periods. Moorhead has been a little down as of late losing to Thief River Falls on Tuesday night but did tie 7th-ranked in Class AA Eden Prairie on Friday night, 2-2. I think having lost Tuesday night and then adding back-to-back weekend games with Eden Prairie and Warroad is going to take its toll on the Spuds. Eden Prairie is a very strong defensive team that may have wore out the Spuds Friday night. I expect the game to be close until the 3rd period and then some fatique may set in on Moorhead. Warroad should take advantage.

Fearless Prediction: Warroad


5. Wayzata (5-10-3) at #3AA Hopkins (14-1-0), 7:00 PM

This is a tale of two teams, two seasons that were expected to be vice versa. Wayzata is having a disappointing season so far having managed only five wins. Yet, four of their five wins have been over teams with winning records.

Hopkins, on the other hand, has already exceeded everyone's expectations having lost only once to 2nd-ranked Edina last week, 4-0. They did come back with a win against Robbinsdale Armstrong this past Tuesday, 5-4. However, this might be a time for a let down against the Trojans.

I am expecting a upset at the Hopkins Pavilion on Saturday night.

Fearless Prediction: Wayzata