Spotlight: Boys Hockey

Minnesota's most storied high school season has begun anew and a fresh batch of talented clubs have girded themselves to seize the top title in state high school sports in the Class A and AA State Boys Hockey Tournaments this March. Last season, a pair of Classic Suburban Conference rivals, Hill-Murray and St. Thomas Academy, claimed their respective AA and A championships — a result that was foreshadowed with incredible accuracy on the cover of the March issue of this magazine, but not to brag... There will be no predictions coming forth from VYPE as of yet, with the contending field far too deep and talented to rashly call a victor at this point; however, here are a few teams you might want to keep an eye on as we continue the wild three-month ride to downtown St. Paul in early March. Edina The top-ranked metro team for most of last season, Edina was upset, 3-0, in the Class AA title game by the aforementioned Pioneers last March. Memories of a title denied in shutout manner could go a long way towards motivating these nasty Hornets in 2008-09. This team has the talent and experience to make that little chip on their shoulder go a long way. Edina's top four scorers were but juniors last season — Marshall Everson (43 goals, 25 assists), Anders Lee (32, 22), Zach Budish (26, 37) and Connor Gaardner (17,21). With last year's goaltender Derek Caschetta now graduated, Jack Trautz figures to inherit the starting job in net. The Hornets lost just three games last season and might be hanging their heads even less than that this time around. Hill-Murray One of hockey's old adages is that you can ride a hot goalie to playoff success. The Pioneers did just that last season as netminder Joe Phillippi earned two shutouts in three state tourney games to help propel Hill-Murray to the championship. While Phillippi and top goal scorers Dan Cecka and Ryan Furne have since graduated, the Pioneers return a quite fearsome squad to the ice this winter. As Phillippi's understudy, goaltender Kirk McGinley allowed an average of just one goal per game last season and looks to be capable of manning the net this season. A pair of 20-goal scorers from last year, Issac Kohls and Nick Widing, return for their senior campaigns, as does Tyler Zepeda, who logged 33 assists in 2007-08. Blaine Another routine state participant, Blaine, figures to again be the north metro's best bet for a trip to the "X" at the end of the year. While the Bengals lost 81 goals worth of punch with the graduation of Ryan Johnson, Steffen Hansen and Mike Schaber, they bring back an ample supply of replacements in Nick Bjugstad, Zac Frischmon, Luke Bayer, Matt Blomquist and Ryan Brockway — all of whom earned double-digits in either goals or assists last season. The Bengals were also well staffed in goal last season with senior Brent Hollerud (2.351 GAA) and junior Danny Harper (2.625) both scheduled to come back this season. Blaine, already among Class AA's leaders in tourney appearances with six, hope to add another championship plaque to the one they earned in 2000. St. Thomas Academy With leading point-scorer, Ryan Walters, slated to return for his junior season, along with classmate and fellow forward Christian Isackson, the Cadets appear to again be a strong bet to win their second-straight Class A title. Another junior, goaltender Kurt Altrichter, had a 2.172 goals-against-average last season as St. Thomas' starting goaltender. While the Cadets lost a number of top players to graduation — James Saintey and Conor Rooney to name just a pair — St. Thomas keeps on churning out the talent to make it a perennial contender in conference, sectional and Class A state competition. Blake A five-time Class A tourney participant, the Bears hope to make it an even half-dozen this year. Blake returns its top two goal scorers in Josh Birkholz (34 goals, 25 assists) and Nick Brunette (23, 15), as well as defenseman Blake Doerring, who tallied 24 assists last season. With last year's starting goaltender, Peter Johnson, graduated, the challenge will be to find a successor between the pipes as Johnson saw all but 105 minutes of action in nets in 2007-08.