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2008-2009 Preseason Rankings
Courtesy of Let's Play Hockey
11/26/2008

Class AA

1. Edina
2. Hill-Murray
3. Duluth East
4. Centennial
5. Bloomington Jefferson
6. Roseau
7. Minnetonka
8. White Bear Lake
9. Eden Prairie
10. Blaine
11. Moorhead
12. Academy of Holy Angels
13. Benilde-St. Margaret's
14. Hopkins
15. Burnsville
16. Woodbury
17. Cretin-Derham Hall
18. Eastview
19. Wayzata
20. Grand Rapids

2008-2009 Preseason Rankings
Courtesy of Let's Play Hockey
11/26/2008
Class A

1. St. Thomas Academy
2. Duluth Marshall
3. Rochester Lourdes
4. Little Falls
5. St. Cloud Cathedral
6. Breck
7. Warroad
8. Mahtomedi
9. International Falls
10. Totino-Grace
11. South St. Paul
12. Alexandria
13. Orono
14. Duluth Denfeld
15. New Prague
16. Blake
17. Red Wing
18. Hibbing
19. Rogers
20. Bemidji

Grand Rapids @ International Falls
Bronco Arena, International Falls, MN-7:30 p.m.
2/8/2008

Game Preview:
The #20 Grand Rapids Thunderhawks will head north to take on the #3A International Falls Broncos in the Iron Range Conference Championship Game. Grand Rapids comes into the game with a record of 12-8-1 (5-1-0) and 14 points in the IRC. International Falls will host with a 20-2-0 (7-1-0) record and 14 points in the IRC. Each of the teams have suffered their lone conference loss to the hands of the Hibbing Blue Jackets. Hibbing defeated both teams in Hibbing, but each team beat Hibbing in their own barn. International Falls is 9-0 at Bronco Arena this season. The Thunderhawks will look to improve their 6-3 road record to 7-3 by handing the Broncos their first home loss and only third loss of the year. The Broncos other losses came at Hibbing and at Fort Francis, Ontario, Canada. International Falls is led up front by their top line of Jake Youso (Sr.), Jace Baldwin (Jr.), and Ladd Corrin (Jr.) Youso has 26 goals and 29 assists for 55 points, Baldwin has 15 goals and 31 assists for 46 points and Corrin has 23 goals and 21 assists for 44 points. Sophomore goaltender Mike Hart has been outstanding filling the shoes of future UMD Bulldog Brady Hjelle. Hjelle decided to forgo his senior year and play in the USHL. Mike Hart has a record of 20-2 on the season and has posted a 2.15 GAA to go along with a 91.0 save %. Grand Rapids is led offensively by Robb Roy (Sr.), Sam Sparen (Sr.) and Sam Rendle (Jr.) Roy has tallied 10 goals and added 20 assists for 30 points. Linemate Sam Sparen has added 8 goals and 17 assists for 25 points of his own. Defenseman Sam Rendle has scored just 4 goals, but has 20 assists for 24 points. A.J. Underwood has led the way in goal for Grand Rapids. Underwood is looking to pick up a career best sixth win of the season. His previous career high was five wins as a sophomore for Greenway. Underwood sits at 5-7 on the season with a GAA of 2.68 and a save % of 90.8. It is fairly rare to have two teams square off for the outright Iron Range Conference Title at the end of the season. This will be a rare treat for fans of both teams along with players and coaches. Grand Rapids has won a share of the title in each of the past two seasons. In the 2005-2006 season, Grand Rapids was aided by a Virginia-Hibbing tie in the last week of the season. The tie left the three teams tied for first place in the conference and they all celebrated the Tri-IRC Title. In last year's campaign, Grand Rapids and Hibbing tied both of their regular season meetings and tied atop the IRC standings. The teams were able to celebrate the title in a twosome that year. This year it is down to this final IRC matchup. The winner will be crowned IRC Champions. In the event of a tie, the two teams will split the conference crown. 

Iron Range Conference
International Falls               7- 1-0  14  20- 2-0
Grand Rapids                      5- 1-0  14  12- 8-1
Virginia/Mountain Iron-Buhl       5- 3-0  12  15- 8-0
Hibbing/Chisholm                  3- 3-0   6   9-12-0
Eveleth-Gilbert/Mesabi East       0- 5-0   0   5-17-0
Greenway                          0- 7-0   0   7-14-0
*Courtesy of www.geocities.com/dent0110

Last meeting: Grand Rapids 3, International Falls 2 (February 9th, 2007) International Falls goaltender Brady Hjelle nearly stole the show at the IRA Civic Center. Hjelle stopped 48 of 51 Grand Rapids shots, but it wasn't enough. Zach Morse scored all three goals for Grand Rapids. Morse was in the midst of a streak where he scored seven straight goals for Grand Rapids. Reidar Jensen stopped 21 of 23, but Jake Youso was able to score two goals to make the game close. Grand Rapids held on to beat the Broncos 3-2.

Notes: Grand Rapids has a record of just 2-3 in Friday night games this season. The Thunderhawks average 4 goals per game on 34.81 shots per game. They have allowed just 2.52 goals per game while allowing 26.62 shots on goal per game. Sam Rendle and Robb Roy lead the team with 20 assists a piece. Tony Palkki leads the team with 11 goals.

Special Teams: The Grand Rapids power play is 22/109 (20.18%) on the power play this season. Robb Roy and Sam Sparen are tied for the team lead in power play goals with five. The penalty kill is 82/98 (83.67%) on the season for the Thunderhawks. Nate Dumm has two short handed goals and Robb Roy has the other one. Robb Roy has the lone empty net goal for the Thunderhawks this season.

Line Score: Goals (top), Shots (bottom)

Box Score:

1st Period-1. GR, John Skrbec (Sam Sparen, Robb Roy) (PP) 5:33; 2. IF, Ladd Corrin (Jake Youso, Jace Baldwin) 12:40

2nd Period-3. GR, John Skrbec (Robb Roy) 10:47; 4. IF, Matt Youso (Matt Harder, Mike Demuth) 11:29

3rd Period-No scoring.

Overtime-5. IF, Ladd Corrin (Matt Harder) 7:20

Saves-A.J. Underwood (GR) 28, Mike Hart (IF) 32

Three Stars:
3. Mike Hart (IF)
2. John Skrbec (GR)
1. Ladd Corrin (IF)

Game Summary:
Official start time: 7:37 p.m.
Official end time: 9:47 p.m.
Official game time: 2 hours and 10 minutes 

International Falls improved their home record to 10-0 and their regular season record to 21-2. Grand Rapids and International Falls were knotted at two a piece after regulation in the Iron Range Conference Championship game. Grand Rapids falls to 0-2-1 in overtime on the season and 12-9-1 for the year. The Broncos improved to 5-0-0 in overtime this year and they have just two regular season games left, vs. Roseau and @ Two Harbors. Grand Rapids also has just two games left now. They will play @ Duluth Denfeld and @ Roseau. John Skrbec started the scoring on the power play in the first period. Sam Sparen and Robb Roy assisted on the goal. Ladd Corrin answered about seven minutes later when he slipped the puck past A.J. Underwood. Jake Youso and Jace Baldwin tacked on assists. John Skrbec scored his second of the game, fourth in the last two games, and eighth of the year just under eleven minutes into the third stanza. Matt Youso answered back for International Falls just 42 seconds later. Matt Harder and Mike Demuth were granted assists on the goal. There was no scoring in the third period and late in overtime Ladd Corrin provided the heroics. Corrin beat A.J. Underwood with just 40 seconds remaining in overtime to give International Falls the IRC Title. There were only three penalties in the game. Grand Rapids was 1/2 on the power play and International Falls was 0/1. Mike Hart was very sharp in the game. He stopped 32/34 shots to pick up the win. A.J. Underwood was again a tough luck loser for Grand Rapids. Underwood stopped 28/31 in the loss for Grand Rapids.

Photos are now up: Page One : Page Two

Photo of the game:

Courtesy of Shannon Merritt

News:                          The Princeton Tigers have been moved by the MSHSL into Section 7AA.  PrepHockeyNorth.com provides section wide coverage throughout the season.         

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