Section 2AA Preseason Prediction
| Team | Regular Season Wins in '10-'11 | More or Less Wins in '11-'12 | Section Rank |
| Burnsville | 17 | More | 1st |
| Edina | 15 | Less | 2nd |
| Prior Lake | 8 | More | 3rd |
| Bloomington Jefferson | 14 | Less | 4th |
| Chanhassen | 11 | More | 5th |
| Academy of Holy Angels | 16 | Less | 6th |
| Shakopee | 7 | Less | 7th |
| Bloomington Kennedy | 2 | More | 8th |
1. Burnsville
F Cory Chapman (12) - 44 pts (19g, 25a)F Mason Wyman (12) - 30 pts (14g, 16a)
D Hunter Anderson (12) - 27 pts (8g, 19a)
- The B's have a lot coming back on offense and they should have the best newcomer in Minnesota boys high school hockey this season in sophomore Tyler Sheehy.
- Goaltender Bodhi Engum will be missed in goal. A new goaltender will need to step up to Engum's level.
- Burnsville will also have to fill a couple of holes on defense.
- With 2AA down a little bit this year, Burnsville should stand a little taller above the rest and win the Section.
2. Edina
F Connor Hurley (10) - 36 pts (10g, 26a) - transfer from Holy Angels
F Lou Nanne (11) - 23 pts (11g, 12a)F Anthony Walsh (11) - 12 pts (2g, 10a)
- Edina has lost a lot to graduation and they recently found out that their best returning player, senior forward Ben Walker, will fore go his senior year and play in the Western Hockey League instead.
- I am putting in Edina in the second spot strictly on reputation. They have a lot of holes to fill and they will need to find a lot of new goal production.
- Only 39% of their goal production last year is returning. The transfer of Hurley to Edina helped that percentage otherwise it would have been 30%.
- Their experienced goaltenders graduated.
- Half of those returning will be juniors.
- Touted defenseman Parker Reno will return for the Hornets after a year off due to injury so that will help.
- This is EDINA. Curt Giles reloads his teams well.
- I am not completely comfortable giving Edina a second place ranking to start the season but, again, after Burnsville, the entire Section is not as strong as it has been in recent years.
3. Prior Lake
F Matt Crist (12) - 30 pts (11g, 19a)D Kyle Krueger (12) - 23 pts (10g, 13a)
G Kyle Miller (12) - 8 wins, 3.87 GAA, .882 save percentage
- Prior Lake???? Really?? Yes, really! I believe good things are happening in Prior Lake with Head Coach Joe Pankratz. The Lakers are starting to turn the corner in becoming a much stronger team in Section 2AA.
- In their last six regular season games, they went 3-2-1 and the two losses were in overtime to Burnsville and Lakeville South. They defeated Holy Angels in the 2AA quarterfinals, 4-3, but they succumbed to eventual 2AA champion Edina 5-0 in the semifinals.
- The Lakers will return 64% of their goal production, return a good core of defensive players, and senior Kyle Miller will be back in goal. The 64% return is the second most in the Section, second behind Chanhassen at 92%. All of the other teams have less than 50% of their goal production returning.
- This year, Prior Lake could surprise many and could be placed as high as second in the 2AA preseason rankings.
4. Bloomington Jefferson
F Austin Hunt (12) - 21 pts (8g, 13a)F Colin Hernon (11) - 21 pts (12g, 9a)
D Ian Janco (12) - 16 pts (1g, 15a)
- The Jaguars look like they will be returning only eight players from last season and 32% of their goal production.
- The defense might be okay with Janco, Weiss, and Roisum back but they will need to find more offense from the new incoming forwards.
- Senior goaltender Eric Fabano will be back and he will be counted on to have an exceptional season if they plan to go far in the Section.
5. Chanhassen
F Connor Kelly (12) - 43 pts (24g, 19a)D Eric Bigaouette (12) - 25 pts (5g, 20a)
F Logan Wilkinson (10) - 21 pts (6g, 15a)
- Chanhassen is an up-and-coming team.
- The Storm have most of their team returning from last year including 92% of their goal production.
- The majority of the Storm's schedule includes playing AA teams from the Missota Conference or Class A teams. They do not play a strong schedule and they went 11-13-1 last year during the regular season.
- Chanhassen played Holy Angels twice and lost both games by a 3-2 score and both were in overtime.
- The Storm have the potential to win more than 11 games this season.
- I can see Chanhassen defeating Holy Angels during the regular season but I do not see them upsetting any of the top four teams to make it into the semifinals of the Section 2AA playoffs.
6. Academy of Holy Angels
F Mario Bianchi (11) - 33 pts (14g, 19a)D Trevor Meador (12) - 22 pts (6g, 16a)
G Brett Pierce (12) - 12 wins, 3.32 GAA, .880 save percentage
- The Stars return just 24% of last year's goal production after losing CJ Smith to the NAHL, Connor Hurley transferred to Edina, Zach Hartley to the Colorado Rampage U18 AAA, and graduation.
- The Stars are a major rebuilding project.
7. Shakopee
F Lance Buchtel (10) - 12 pts (8g, 4a)F Andrew Long (12) - 9 pts (2g, 7a)
F Blake Busch (11) - 6 pts (4g, 2a)
8. Bloomington Kennedy
D Andrew Lamere (12) - 10 pts (4g, 6a)D Matt Benolkin (12) - 10 pts (2g, 8a)
G Tony Basil (12) - 2 wins, 6.19 GAA, .848 save percentage
