Tuesday Night Observations | December 16, 2008

Centennial 2, Duluth East 2 - TIE

I watched the game on Fox Sports North between Duluth East and Centennial which ended in a tie 2-2. The action was back and forth the whole night. The teams were evenly matched. The goaltenders, Matt Cooper and Brett Larsen were solid in goal saving 33 and 30 shots respectively. Tyler Pitlick scored both goals for Centennial and he now is the only one to get a puck by Matt Cooper so far this season. Cooper and the Hounds shutout their first three opponents. Both teams are very good.

However, I am still suspect about the weaknesses of both teams. I know it is early but both teams seem to me to be the same exact teams as last year. Centennial's high powered offense could be slowed down by a good defense and a good goaltender. And, Duluth East is struggling to score goals against good opponents.

The Cougars gave up four goals to a low-scoring Roseville team and three goals to 0-4 Coon Rapids. Both are season highs in goals for each team. Yet, Duluth East could only manage two goals against the Cougars. Since their 11-0 win against Duluth Central to start the season, Duluth East has averaged just two goals per game in their last three. The Hounds were good at shutting down teams last year too. They did not have the firepower to come back in games where they may have had an off night on defense or in goal. Elk River is becoming last year's Anoka and Grand Rapids or Forest Lake could easily become last year's Cloquet. Remember the Cloquet that had a 12-11-2 going into the playoffs? I'm sure the Hounds do.

Don't get me wrong. These are still two of the top teams in the state. It is early in the season and my observation on that game alone gave me flashbacks to last year for both teams.

Overtime woes

I'm starting to feel for Bloomington Kennedy. In their last four games, they lost three of them in overtime and the other one by one goal in regulation. Ouch. Heads up Eagles!

Young guns

Red Lake Falls defeated Kittson Central Tuesday night, 6-2. Five of the six goals were scored by three freshmen and one sophomore: Adam Skala (9) 2 goals, 2 assists, Andrew Jahnke (9) 1 goal, 3 assists, Dylan Zutz (9) 1g, 1a, and Robbie Glass (10) 1 goal.

Was it a fluke???

Against Bagley/Fosston, 7-0: Skala 2 goals, Zutz 1 goal, 2 assists, and Glass 4 assists.

Still not convinced???

Against Wahpeton, ND, 8-0: Skala 4 goals, 1 assist, Glass 4 assists.

Could the Eagles be on their way up???

Four goose eggs

Trey Flesch of Northern Lakes recorded his state-leading fourth shutout of the season in the Lightning's 6-0 win over Becker/Big Lake.

When the Saints go marching in to Isanti....

The Bluejackets were waiting for them. On Tuesday night, Cambridge-Isanti stopped the St. Francis win streak at six by stopping Joey Benik and the Saints, 4-1. TJ Belisle scored the Saints only goal.

Class A Top 3 roll on .....

Sartell-St. Stephen gave Ben Hanowski and the Little Falls Flyers a scare but Flyers senior Ben Nelson broke a 3-3 3rd period tie scoring a goal with only 1:16 remaining in the game to put their fears to rest winning the game 4-3.

#2 Warroad and #3 Hermantown are scary good right now. Warroad dominated Bemidji 7-1 while Hermantown manhandled Superior (WI) 7-2. Superior is currently ranked eighth in Wisconsin's Top 10.

Power shortage in Roseau

Moorhead went into Roseau's building Tuesday night and left with a 5-0 victory over the Rams. The absence of Lee and Hess plus the injury to Oliver may be just too much for the Rams to recover from this year. Meanwhile, the Spuds are soaring right now. That is four straight dominate wins for Moorhead since their tie with Fargo South to start the season. Logan Marks stopped all 22 of the Rams shots while the Spuds got production from five different goal scoreres.

Mark down 12/23/08 on your calendar. Duluth East travels to Moorhead. Let's see which team is for real in this early part of the season.