Section 7AA Playoff Preview
My pick: Duluth East
Home arena advantage, a stingy defense, and nice goaltending will be all that the Greyhounds need to advance. The shots against average of only 21 against arguably the most difficult Class AA schedule in the state impressed me the most. In their last 13 games, Duluth East have a goals against average of just 1.23. Those 13 games included battles with Duluth Denfeld, Grand Rapids, Brainerd, Blaine, Edina, Cloquet, and Superior (WI). The Greyhounds still need to find a way to score though. In their last seven games, the Hounds have averaged 2.57 goals per game.
The Hounds did lose to both Elk River and Cloquet earlier in the season. They found revenge against the Lumberjacks defeating them 2-1 in early February. Lastly, Duluth East shut out the 2nd seed Anoka earlier in the year 4-0. Duluth East can be beat but, in a Section that lacks scoring punch, it will be difficult to score on them let alone defeat them.
If any team has a shot, the Cloquet Lumberjacks have the best opportunity feeding solely on the heated rivalry and knowing that they defeated them once already during the regular season.
Anoka, like Edina, is top heavy in scoring. Cory Belisle, John O'Neill, and Berkeley Scott score almost 69% of the Tornadoes goals this season. That means those three players score 2.56 of their team average 3.72 goals per game. Anoka's defense and goaltending has allowed just 2.4 goals per game. Even though Anoka has a strong team, it is difficult for me to pick them as the team to beat when a strong defensive team and/or strong goaltending should be able to stop their three-man offensive threat.
Statistically, Grand Rapids and Anoka match up very well EXCEPT the Thunderhawks scoring is much more spread out. If both teams make it out of their quarterfinal games, keep an eye on this match-up.
