Mid-Term Picks

With half of the season essentially over, I am going to review my picks to win the state titles and the Sections.

CLASS AA

Preseason pick: Hill-Murray
Mid-term pick: Hill-Murray

Eden Prairie looks great and seems to be gaining strength since their loss to Eagan. I still like Hill-Murray's depth on offense and defense, their experienced goaltender Tim Shaughnessy, and Head Coach Bill Lechner.

CLASS A

Preseason pick: St. Thomas Academy
Mid-term pick: St. Thomas Academy

My pick of St. Thomas Academy is about at 90% confidence. With Hermantown playing very well, Breck School and Blake School strong, and the Cadets stumbles of the last two years in the Sections against Mahtomedi, it's not easy picking a team that I think is not as good as they were the last two seasons.

My mid-term picks for the Sections:

CLASS AA

Section 1AA

Preseason pick: Rochester Century (Underachieving)
Mid-term pick: Lakeville North (Riding on the back of goaltender Charlie Lindgren)

Section 2AA

Preseason pick: Edina (Returning state champs)
Mid-term pick: Edina (Not dominant but finding ways to keep winning)

Section 3AA

Preseason pick: Apple Valley (AJ Michaelson, Hudson Fasching, Aaron Gretz)
Mid-term pick: Eagan (Do the Wildcats want it more?)

Section 4AA

Preseason pick: Hill-Murray (Returning depth on both sides)
Mid-term pick: Hill-Murray (May not lose another game this season)

Section 5AA

Preseason pick: Maple Grove (Returned the most in 5AA)
Mid-term pick: Maple Grove (They have a little more overall than the contenders do)

Section 6AA

Preseason pick: Eden Prairie (Kyle Rau's return was important)
Mid-term pick: Eden Prairie (The players around Rau are getting better)

Section 7AA

Preseason pick: Duluth East (Did not know what to expect, went with coaching)
Mid-term pick: Duluth East (Beware: Jrs and sophs make up most of these scary Hounds)

Section 8AA

Preseason pick: Brainerd/P/P (I went completely with their first line, else question marks)
Mid-term pick: Roseau (Solid on O and D but goaltending was bad, not anymore says Strand)

Class A

Section 1A

Preseason pick: Rochester Lourdes (Solid defense & goalie, a lot of returning players)
Mid-term pick: Rochester Lourdes (Solid D & G, O is led by Funk, Samuelson & Farrell)

Section 2A

Preseason pick: Blake School (Lots of good returning players, Breck lost a lot to grad)
Mid-term pick: Blake School (Breck is STILL tough. Blake/Breck battles coming)

Section 3A

Preseason pick: New Ulm (Returning the most, returning 3A champions)
Mid-term pick: New Ulm (Litchfield good, Hutchinson okay, New Ulm heads above)

Section 4A

Preseason pick: St. Thomas Academy (Coaching, ability to replenish, strong base returned)
Mid-term pick: St. Thomas Academy (Good O, great D, rising, better G)

Section 5A

Preseason pick: Rogers (Had most returning, experienced goal scorers. Underachieving?)
Mid-term pick: Hermantown (SHOCKED by their ability to replenish and dominate)

Section 6A

Preseason pick: Little Falls (Great core of returning underclassmen)
Mid-term pick: Little Falls (Playing even better than I expected with a young team)

Section 7A

Preseason pick: Virginia/MIB (I thought the returning players had potential to be dominant)
Mid-term pick: Virginia/MIB (Not playing as well as thought, still like over Hibbing & Marshall)

Section 8A

Preseason pick: Thief River Falls (Good core returning, Warroad lost a lot of scoring)
Mid-term pick: Warroad (Not 100% confident but like slightly over TRF due to Foster)