Girl’s Section playoffs get going tonight. I think I’ve thrown out odds for Gopher recruits making it to State the last couple year so I’ll try it again.
Northfield (Ayla Puppe) 55%
Northfield is the top seed in 1AA. Lakeville South is #2 and the top threat. Northfield has the edge in top end talent. South probably has the edge in depth and goal tending. The teams did not meet this season. #3 seed Farmington has some interesting young talent and might be an outside threat to come out of the section.
Minnetonka (Kendra Distad and Layla Hemp) 85%
Tonka is the prohibitive top seed in 2AA. Eden Prairie is #2, but I think #3 Holy Family might have the better chance for an upset. The Fire is not the top team they’ve been the last few years, but a couple of top end players and nice goaltending might make them a bit of a threat.
Elk River (Carley Humphrey) 1%
Elk River is the 6th seed in 7AA. It’s very hard to come up with a scenario where Andover doesn’t win this section.
Moorhead (Kate Kosobud) 75%
Moorhead is the top seed in 8AA. Roseau is #2 and Brainerd #3. Moorhead hasn’t lost to a section rival this season, but there have been close games.
Primerano will be an interesting one to watch in regards to the PWHL. Would a team throw enough money at her to leave college early or skip it altogether? She's already considered one of the best players in the world.
Primerano will be an interesting one to watch in regards to the PWHL. Would a team throw enough money at her to leave college early or skip it altogether? She's already considered one of the best players in the world.
There's a good chance you don't get her here for 3 years either. I would assume she is set to come in 25-26 but with 26 being an Olympic year, she easily could push her enrollment off one more season.
Primerano will be an interesting one to watch in regards to the PWHL. Would a team throw enough money at her to leave college early or skip it altogether? She's already considered one of the best players in the world.
Actually I must admit similar thoughts had crossed my mind also.
International teams will not be holding centralization for the 2026 Olympics, so we'll get her in 2025-26. As for whether she leaves early, I won't believe anyone leaves before graduating (even if they don't use all of their college eligibility) until I see it. Not that kind of money in the league yet.
International teams will not be holding centralization for the 2026 Olympics, so we'll get her in 2025-26. As for whether she leaves early, I won't believe anyone leaves before graduating (even if they don't use all of their college eligibility) until I see it. Not that kind of money in the league yet.
Missed that. Is there a reason for that?? I can't imagine the international federations are thrilled about trying to put a team together in 3 weeks like the men have been doing.
Totally looking forward to these new recruits coming in next year and the one after especially. Might be able to compete better with the likes of Wisconsin and Ohio State or better yet...leap frog over them!
International teams will not be holding centralization for the 2026 Olympics, so we'll get her in 2025-26. As for whether she leaves early, I won't believe anyone leaves before graduating (even if they don't use all of their college eligibility) until I see it. Not that kind of money in the league yet.
Missed that. Is there a reason for that?? I can't imagine the international federations are thrilled about trying to put a team together in 3 weeks like the men have been doing.
I'd guess it's so the PWHL isn't hurt too much by having ~40 players missing.
A friend who hears things occasionally asked last night if I’d heard anything about a new Canadian recruit for next season. This is apparently the rumor he was hearing.
This is super awesome news for the women's program. I'm already excited for next year! Hoping Abbey Murphy sticks around for next year...would be a totally awesome top line combo.
This is super awesome news for the women's program. I'm already excited for next year! Hoping Abbey Murphy sticks around for next year...would be a totally awesome top line combo.
Murphy will stick around. She's not leaving at least until she graduates.
Here's an interview from January where she talked about her college future. "I still have two more years of college… I'm not ready to leave yet. I'll tell you that. I'll take as many college years as I can."
I try to do some digging on the Manness situation every couple days, but no luck. They are still listed on the Burlington site as Gopher recruits, but that could easily be inattentive web site management. No mention of them heading elsewhere that I’ve found.
Moorhead is the top seed in 8AA. Roseau is #2 and Brainerd #3. Moorhead hasn’t lost to a section rival this season, but there have been close games.
This one didn’t follow the script. Moorhead takes a 3-1 lead into the third period of the Section 8AA championship. Roseau doesn’t go away and pulls out a 5-4 victory.
Northfield is the top seed in 1AA. Lakeville South is #2 and the top threat. Northfield has the edge in top end talent. South probably has the edge in depth and goal tending. The teams did not meet this season. #3 seed Farmington has some interesting young talent and might be an outside threat to come out of the section.
This one did follow the script in what seemed to be a barn burner. Thought about going down to Owatonna for the 1A, 1AA doubleheader. Went to Aldrich for 4AA instead.
Here’s the first round matchups for the girl’s tournament
Class “A” (Wednesday) 11:00 a.m. Orono vs. Willmar 1:00 p.m. Dodge County vs. Fergus Falls 6:00 p.m. Holy Angels vs. Luverne 8:00 p.m. Warroad vs. Proctor/Hermantown
Class “AA” (Thursday) 11:00 a.m. Hill-Murray vs. Roseau 1:00 p.m. Andover vs. Rosemount 6:00 p.m. Minnetonka vs. Maple Grove 8:00 p.m. Edina vs. Northfield
Poster “Sparlimb” on the high school board did research on the State Tournament teams
Class AA
1AA: Northfield 27-1 (0-0 vs the field) 2AA: Minnetonka 25-2-1 (4-2-1 vs the field - losses to HM and Edina) 3AA: Rosemount 14-9-5 (0-1 vs field) 4AA: Hill-Murray 24-3-1 (5-2 vs field - losses to Andover and Tonka) 5AA: Maple Grove 20-7-1 (0-4-1 vs field - losses to Tonka, Andover, Andover, HM) 6AA: Edina 21-6-1 (2-3-1 vs field - losses to Tonka, Andover, HM) 7AA: Andover 21-4-3 (4-3-1 vs field - losses to Edina, Tonka, HM) 8AA: Roseau 18-10-0 (0-1 vs the field - lost to HM)
Class A
1A: Dodge County 21-4-0 (0-1 vs the field - lost to Orono) 2A: Wilmar 20-7-0 (4-0 vs the field) 3A: Luverne 17-10-0 (0-2 vs field - losses to Wilmar, Wilmar) 4A: Holy Angels 21-3-3 (2-1-1 vs field - lost to Orono) 5A: Orono 20-6-1 (3-1 vs field - lost to Holy Angels) 6A: Fergus Falls 15-11-1 (0-3 vs field - losses to Wilmar, Wilmar, Warroad) 7A: Proctor/Hermantown 18-8-2 (0-2-1 vs field - losses to Warroad, Orono) 8A: Warroad 19-8-0 (2-1 vs the field - lost to Holy Angels)
How long does Frost have left? Minnesota should not be losing recruiting battles to OSU and from reading the comments here the team is not even in the same class this year?
How long does Frost have left? Minnesota should not be losing recruiting battles to OSU and from reading the comments here the team is not even in the same class this year?
There are a few of us on here that have warned of the slow slippage of the program basically since Muzzy left for Ohio State. Not sure about my fellow naysayers, but my confidence has been buoyed by this first recruiting class under Frosty’s new staff. I am extremely curious if the upcoming recruiting cycle (class of ‘26) can keep that momentum going. It shows how spoiled we are here that top five is a disaster, but it does hurt the the gap is behind two schools representing states that turn out so little talent.
Great separation goal in tonight’s AA championship game by Edina sophomore forward Lorelai Nelson. I would think she will be one of the top local targets in this next recruiting cycle (class of ‘26). https://twitter.com/YouthHockeyHub/status/1761590827543904619?s=20
I’ve seen basically zero youth hockey this season so I can’t provide much insight on any of these players. I did see Alexandria’s Maya Dutton at last year’s 12A state tournament and was impressed. This is her second year as a finalists.
Jozie Kelzenberg is the daughter of Todd Kelzenberg who was the first winner of the Frank Brimsek Award his senior year at Blaine and went on to play at Mankato State.
Looks like there’s a good chance that Allie Callinan is related to former Gopher Jeff. He was the Wayzata 12A coach last season (but not this season).
I did a little update to the Women's Transfer Portal page. More names have been coming in lately but one interesting one was Natalie Mlynkova Vermont's leading scorer just entered. The Sr C 11-11-22pt with international experience should generate some interest from some schools.
Seems like there might some staff interest here. Another “maybe” possibility might be Clarkson defender Sara Swiderski. Frosty and the staff at that time recruited her as she was coming out of Western Canada. It will be interesting to see if the more aggressive recruiting style of the present staff carries over to the transfer portal.
USA Hockey Youth Nationals start tomorrow in various sites (the high school division has already taken place) around the country. You can follow things HERE. The girl’s tier I will take place in Wesley Chapel, Florida. I’ll take one division at a time and throw out a few names to keep an eye on from a recruiting perspective so the bulk of the players mentioned will be uncommitted players from the class of ‘26. With the fast tracking of Chloe Primerano and the decommitment of the Manness twins some new ‘25s might be coming, but the fact that the majority of the top ‘25s are already committed make any crystal ball gazing there difficult.
First the 19u division
BK Selects: Bella Fanale ‘25 is the lone player in any division here to already be a Gopher commit. Slovak forward Nela Lopusanova is seen by pretty much everyone as the top prospect for the class of ‘26.
Chicago Mission: Iris Cheng ‘26 is a smaller, very skilled forward who should be widely targeted.
Shattuck: Haley Box and Kylie Amelkovich are the lone sophomores on Shattuck’s Prep team. Haley is an Eden Prairie resident who played at Holy Family prior to arriving at Shattuck. She was on the U.S. team at the U18 World Championships in January. Kylie is from the Chicago area but is listed as a Faribault resident now.
Kind of slow getting back at this today. I’d blame it on old age, but I was lazy as a younger man also. A look at possible recruits at USA Nationals in the 16u division.
MN Magazine: This team, out of the Fall Girl’s Elite League, is mostly made up of high school juniors (class of ‘25) who are mostly committed to schools already. The one class of ‘26 on the team that will be highly recruited is Edina’s Lorelai Nelson.
MN Hardware: Another Elite League team, this squad is made up of top ‘26s and a group of ‘27s. It will be interesting to see how this young team competes in this tournament. They’ve been very good at other showings. I believe the most likely target of this team’s 26s might be Orono forward forward Maddie Kimbrel. Other 26s that should play D1 somewhere are Alaina and Brooke Gnetz (Woodbury), Mia Miller (Northfield), Ellie Stewart (Benilde), Katya Sander (Holy Family) and Samantha Angellotti (Andover). The ‘27s on this team are a group with bright futures and really too many to list.
BK Selects: I get the idea that the staff might be looking at a few from this team. The most likely target may be Shayla Beaudette, a ‘26 defender from Colorado.
Team North Dakota: ‘26 defender Kenleigh Fischer is a player I like a lot. Is she a player the Gophers might target? Not as sure about that. She has bucked the recent trend of North Dakota players heading to the greener grass of Minnesota high schools. She played on state champion Fargo North/South.
Assabet Valley: Getting top players out of Massachusetts is a long shot, but sisters Caroline (forward, class of ‘26) and Margaret Averill (defender, class of ‘27) are going to be on everyone’s list. Both played on the U.S. team at the World 18u tournament last January.
Shattuck: If the staff targets a goal tender for the class of ‘26 it wouldn’t surprise me if it is one of the tenders from this squad. Both Morgan Stickney (L.A. area native) and Mackenzie Sunderbruch (Dallas area native) seem to be highly regarded. Not sure if there’s a ‘26 skater here that is realistic. Top ‘26 target on this team is probably defender Sloane Hartmetz (Philadelphia area native) the sister of Hadley Hartmetz (Ohio State via Boston College). Other possibilities might be defender Tess Martin (Minnetonka native), forwards Jillian Klein (Maplewood via California) and Brooklyn O’Brien (Seattle). All three seem like long shots to me. The real “down the road” standouts of this team are all easterners - Mary Derrenbacher (North Carolina) ‘27, Kate Hall (Connecticut) ‘28 and Jane Daley (Massachusetts) ‘29. Derrenbacher played for the U.S. at the World 18u also.
I’ll look at the 14u division today. I don’t know a lot about players this young so I’ll make stuff up as I go along.
The two Minnesota teams here are from the Fall 14u Tier 1 league put on by Minnesota Hockey. The Lakers team that finished first in the league is not at Nationals. The second place team (Walleyes) and the third place team (Green Giants) are the teams representing Minnesota in Florida this week.
Walleyes: The Walleyes are the defending 14u national champions. Hadley Bakker ‘27 might be their top prospect. Strong girl and a powerful skater. A forward, Hadley put up a 9-18-27 line in her first high school season as a freshman at Maple Grove. Gabi Lopez ‘28 a good size forward went 8-9-17 in her 8th grade year for Orono. Brynn Heising ‘27 (Benilde) was the leading scorer in the Fall 14u league. Goalie Bella Prosser ‘27 was the tender on the all-tournament team at last year’s national championships. Her playing time at Maple Grove was limited as she was behind senior Dani Strom. She did have a 0.52 GAA and a .964 save percentage in 195 minutes. Maisy Tomlinson ‘27 and Fiona Gallagher ‘27 were regulars on a young defense on a solid Maple Grove team. Hopefully Fiona’s father isn’t named Frank
Green Giants: Couple of interesting younger players here. Taylor Hall ‘28 is a fun player to watch. Quick with slick hands she led a decent Breck team in scoring after playing at Rogers High School last year as a 7th grader. Amelia Sutch put up a 17-10-27 line as an 8th grader on a strong Centennial team. Jozie Kelzenberg is a Youth Hockey Hub girls youth player of the year finalist playing for the Centennial 12u team.
Can’t tell you much about other teams. The Minnesota 14u fall league hosted an NIT tournament in October that featured several of the teams at Nationals. Chicago Mission finished first in that tournament and a Philadelphia Jr. Flyers player named Rachel Steward was the leading scorer.
Another “maybe” possibility might be Clarkson defender Sara Swiderski. Frosty and the staff at that time recruited her as she was coming out of Western Canada.
Sara Swiderski to Ohio State. Hearing Sadie Lindsay probably ends up at St. Thomas.
