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Grand Rapids Hockey Offseason News
-Sam Rendle, Tony Palkki, and John Skrbec have been named captains for the
2008-2009 season.
-J.R. Mackey has been awarded the 2007-2008 Grand Rapids Hobey Baker Award.
-Corey Kosak was named Player's Choice team MVP for the 2007-2008 season.
-Sam Sparen was named Player's Choice team Most Determined Player for the
2007-2008 season.
-Pat Rendle has been named Grand Rapids High School Athletic Director as Wayne
Pender is set to resign at the end of the school year.
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Do you have a question or idea for a blog? If you do, please send an
email to Tim.
12/6/2007-Tim from the Top-"Poll Climbing"
The Grand Rapids/Greenway Lightning
continue to climb the state AA polls. The Lightning are ranked sixth in the
state this week, that is their highest ranking ever. The Lightning will do
battle with #20 Bemidji tonight at the IRA Civic Center.
Tomorrow night we will see the rebirth of one of the greatest
rivalries in high school sports when the Thunderhawks invade the "Snake Pit" to
take on the Greenway Raiders. It is expected that this will be one of the better
games over the past three or four years. This will be the first regular season
game that I will be able to attend this season and I am thrilled about it. There
will be no updates on the website on Friday, but check back Saturday morning and
there will be a full summary as usual. Here is my prediction for the Lightning
game tonight:
Prediction: #6 Grand Rapids/Greenway 4, #20 Bemidji
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12/5/2007-Tim from the Top-"Firsts and Snow"
Congratulations to Grant Prokop and
John Skrbec on scoring their first career goals Tuesday night in Virginia. Also,
congratulations to Kyle Kleinendorst who scored his first two career goals on
Friday night vs. Forest Lake.
The massive amounts of snow have cancelled many local hockey
games recently. What looked to be a great matchup between Cretin-Derham Hall and
Duluth Marshall was snowed out Saturday, along with many other games. I was
excited to go see the Moorhead girls team play Fargo South on Tuesday but that
game was also snowed out, along with many others. Thankfully, Grand Rapids
hasn't had any snow issues yet. The boys will head to Greenway on Friday and the
Grand Rapids/Greenway Lightning girls will host Bemidji in Grand Rapids
Thursday, in what should be a great game, and Silver Bay in Greenway on Saturday.
Expect all of these games to be played as scheduled.
12/4/2007-Tim from the Top-"Toughest Places to Play"
The Thunderhawks will be heading to
Virginia today. Virginia is always a very tough place to play. Year in and year
out the Blue Devils have a very good home record. That got me thinking, what are
the five toughest places to play in Minnesota? There are several that are very
difficult for their own reasons. Some are loud, some are old, some are small,
some are big. Here are my top 5 most difficult places to play.
5. Hodgins-Berardo Arena, Coleraine, MN-Home of the Greenway Raiders:
Greenway has one of the most historic arena in Minnesota. The
mix of the old venue and the hard ice give a definite feeling of old time
hockey. When the Raiders are a top team, that arena can get very crowded and
very warm.
4. Moorhead Sports Center, Moorhead, MN-Home of the Moorhead Spuds:
The Sports Center takes on a much newer feel. Not only is it
the home of the Spuds, but it is the home of the Concordia Cobbers. The arena is
always full and Moorhead has some of the best fans in the state.
3. Elk River Ice Arena, Elk River, MN-Home of the Elk River Elks:
The new venue in Elk River is an olympic sized sheet of ice.
This means that there is a lot more open ice and a lot more skating. The Elks
are in the minority, as most teams in the state play on smaller sheets. The big
sheet mixed with the rowdy "Elkaholics" makes the ER Ice Arena a very tough
place to play.
2. Braemar Arena, Edina, MN-Home of the Edina Hornets:
Braemar is very similar in style to Hodgins-Berardo Arena in
Coleraine, MN. The old style with the green and white interior and a runway
opening onto the ice certainly gives you the feel of the St. Paul Civic Center.
In fact, Braemar is currently using the old boards from the Civic Center. Edina
also has one of the most feared student sections in the state. They may not know
the game all that well, but they are loud and mean.
1. Roseau Memorial Arena, Roseau, MN-Home of the Roseau Rams:
Defending state champions, long drives, crowded, small rink,
great fans, and much more makes the Roseau Memorial Arena the toughest place to
play in Minnesota. The underground, cold locker rooms give visiting teams very
little space. It is very likely that the opponent traveled 3-7+ hours just to
play the Rams. The bleachers are right on top of the action and even in a
sellout crowd nearly every word uttered can be heard in this building. Now throw
in defending state champions on top of all that. All that makes Roseau the
toughest town to play in.
12/3/2007-Tim from the Top-"Revenge is Sweet"
The Grand Rapids/Greenway Lightning
were able to avenge their 2-0 state quarterfinal loss to Benilde-St. Margaret's
on Friday night. The Lightning beat the Red Knights by the 3-2 score that I
predicted in the 11/30 blog entitled "Hornet Sting." The Lightning continue to
pick up big wins for the program and now hold a 5-1-1 record while playing one
of the state's toughest schedules. GRG will face Bemidji and Silver Bay this
week.
The Grand Rapids boys team suffered a very tough loss on
Friday. They outshot the Forest Lake Rangers 51-24, but lost 4-3 in overtime.
Although Grand Rapids didn't win the game, many good things came out of Friday's
game. The Thunderhawks showed they can put up a lot of shots and there is little
doubt that the scoring will come. The highlight of the game may have been Kyle
Kleinendorst. Kyle scored two goals in his first career varsity game. Grand
Rapids will face IRC foes Virginia and Greenway on the road this week.
11/30/2007-Tim from the Top-"Hornet Sting"
Rochester Century was no match for
Edina last night on FSN hockey night. Century took a 2-0 lead in the first
period, but Edina buzzed back in a big way. Conner Gaarder scored twice and
Marshall Everson scored five times in route to an 8-2 win. Many times throughout
the game the announcers mentioned that Edina has something to prove after their
state tournament loss to Grand Rapids last year. This convincing win will help.
Wayzata lost to Hill-Murray 5-0 last night on My Fox Hockey's game of the week.
Hill-Murray looked every bit as good as advertised as well.
Trevor Tabaka will get the start in goal for the second
straight game tonight. Grand Rapids will host Forest Lake at the IRA Civic
Center at 7:30 p.m. in a big early season section 7AA matchup. Grand Rapids
ended Forest Lake's season in the 7AA quarterfinals last season.
The game of the week statewide in girl's hockey is tonight in
Spring Lake Park. The Grand Rapids/Greenway Lightning will try to avenge last
season's state tournament loss to Benilde-St. Margaret's. BSM (4-0) beat GRG
(4-1-1) 2-0 last year at the Xcel Energy Center. Tonight's game spotlights some
of the premier players in the state in Emily Erickson, Molly Arola, Kate Bacon,
Ashley Duffy, and many more. The Lightning have played a lot of hockey over the
past week and a half, but even so, my first bold prediction of the year is
coming your way right now.
Prediction: Grand Rapids/Greenway 3, Benilde-St.
Margaret's 2
11/28/2007-Tim from the Top-"Oh, The Drama"
What a dramatic start to the hockey
season for the Grand Rapids Thunderhawks. Down 2-1 late in the third period the
Thunderhawks called timeout and pulled goalie Trevor Tabaka for a sixth skater.
With just one second left on the clock Tony Palkki sent the game to overtime. It
was Palkki's second goal of the night and both Sam Sparen and Robb Roy tallied
their second assist of the night. The game would end in a tie. Each team was 1/6
(17%) on the power play in the game. Trevor Tabaka did all he could to
keep the job in the first period alone. Rapids was outshot 17-6 and only trailed
1-0. Tabaka would end up stopping 34/36 on the night. It also looks like Tony
Palkki is going to step up and have a big year. Grand Rapids will host Forest
Lake Friday.
Grand Rapids wasn't the only drama filled location for a
Grand Rapids-Cloquet battle on Tuesday. The Grand Rapids/Greenway Lightning did
battle with Cloquet at the CARC in Cloquet. After falling down 2-0 early, my
favorite girl hockey player to watch, Molly Arola scored short handed and on the
power play to tie the game. GRG trailed again, 4-3, late in the game when Kayla
Clafton netted the first goal of her senior campaign to send the game into
overtime. Dana Gallop ended things with one minute left in overtime. The
Lightning improved to 2-0-1 in overtime games this year and 4-1-1 overall. They
will travel south and play Benilde-St. Margaret's on Friday.
11/27/2007-Tim from the Top-"Season Preview"
Can the Grand Rapids Thunderhawks do it
again? This is the same question that everyone asked last year. It had been
fifteen years without a state tournament birth and now it has been back to back
state championship games. Grand Rapids, playing in one of the toughest sections
in the state, will again be hungry for a trip to the X in early March.
Of course, shoes will need to be filled. Four year varsity
players Joe Stejskal, Patrick White, Kyle Welliver, and Eric Glorvigen will be
gone. Two year starting goaltender, Reidar Jensen will also be gone. The
Thunderhawks lose a lot of points in Patrick White, and the 2007 AP Player of
the Year. He is now playing with the University of Minnesota. Defenseman Joe
Stejskal also plays division one hockey. He is at Dartmouth College.
Grand Rapids graduate 82 of 114 (72%) of goals from last year
and 196 of 276 (71%) of last years points. That means some younger kids will
need to step up. Robb Roy is the active points leader for Grand Rapids with 37
in two years. Roy, along with Sam Sparen, Tony Palkki, Jack Moore, and Shane
Greniger will need to put up a lot of points. The defense may be in a little
better shape. The biggest goal scorer from last year is still here. I don't
think anyone has forgotten the dramatic goal Sam Rendle scored against
Burnsville. Corey Kosak will be manning the blue line as well. He has played in
two state tournaments. Brad Horsmann, Eric Bishop, Nick Serratore, Jake
Leingang, and Kyle Kleinendorst will need to step up and help out as well.
Between the pipes is a completely different question mark. Both Reidar Jensen
and Tim How have moved on. Between the two of them they played every minute
last season. Trevor Tabaka and Kyle Figgins have been waiting in the wings, but
will now have to battle with A.J. Underwood. Underwood moved over from Greenway
for this season. He is a junior and he played in 17 games as a sophomore for
Greenway.
Even with all of the question marks, I expect this team to
compete in every single game. They will in all likelihood be in the race for the
section title again this year.
Prediction: Grand Rapids will finish with a 14-8-2
regular season record
11/26/2007-Tim from the Top-"Underdog?"
Grand Rapids has been deemed underdog
by the state of Minnesota in its season and home opener against Cloquet tomorrow
night. Grand Rapids is 5-1 vs. Cloquet the last two years. The Thunderhawks have
done battle with the Lumberjacks each of the last two years in the section
finals. It looks like Trevor Tabaka will get the first chance in goal for Grand
Rapids. He looked the most consistent in the scrimmages this past weekend. The
boys really played well in two scrimmage and really struggled in the other two.
In wins over Holy Angels and Champlin Park, the team looked very good. In losses
against Benilde and Holy Angels, the team looked sluggish. I think injuries play
a big part in that right now. Tony Palkki, Grant Prokop, and John Skrbec are all
questionable for this week.
Speaking of underdogs, the Grand Rapids Bantam A team beat #2
ranked Duluth East 2-1 on Sunday. It wasn't a pretty game, but it was a great
win for Trent Klatt's crew. It was a very physical, defensive game at the IRA
Civic Center. Congrats to the Bantam A's.
The underdog theme continues with the Grand Rapids/Greenway
Lightning. After tying a pretty good Duluth team 2-2 on Tuesday, the Lightning
were matched up with #5 ranked Alexandria. The Cardinals and Lightning were
scoreless after regulation. At the 4:15 mark of overtime, Jenae Hoeft banged in
a rebound to send the fans home happy. GRG would come back and beat Armstrong on
Saturday to improve to 2-0-1 in the week and 3-1-1 in the season.
All three teams mentioned above (GRHS, GRG, and GR Bantam A)
will play Cloquet on Tuesday. The Lightning will travel to the CARC while the
GRHS boys and the Bantam A's will play host to the 'Jacks.
Predictions: Bantam A's: Grand Rapids 6, Cloquet 1
GRHS Boys: Grand Rapids 4, Cloquet 2
GRG Lightning: Lightning 3, Cloquet 2
11/21/2007-Tim from the Top-"Jamboree Recap"
The IRC Jamboree is now complete and
teams are starting to have a better idea of what their team is like. Although
the scores are almost meaningless, Hibbing tied 2-2 with International Falls,
Virginia beat Grand Rapids 1-0 and Eveleth beat Greenway 3-1. The big story here
has to be Virginia. Many believe that this team will struggle mightily without
Nico. Grand Rapids will see them again in a couple of weeks, again. By that
time, the teams will be picked and it will be a full length game. After
scrimmages at Grand Rapids this weekend we will have a better understanding of
how good this Thunderhawks team can be.
My prediction did not quite hold in Grand Rapids last night.
Duluth scored early in the third to even the game at two and that is where it
ended. The Lightning outplayed Duluth for most of the night, but Laura Bellamy
stole the show in goal. She stopped 40 shots including three Emily Erickson
breakaways (one in overtime) and a glorious scoring opportunity by Molly Arola
with under ten seconds left in overtime. I was extremely impressed with the
level of play by both teams this early in the season. I believe that the 7th
ranked Lightning are as good as advertised. They will host a Turkey Trot this
weekend with (#5A) Alexandria and Armstrong coming to Grand Rapids to play Grand
Rapids and Hibbing. The Lightning will play Alexandria at 7:30 on Friday and
Armstrong at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.
11/20/2007-Tim from the Top-"Jamboree!"
Grand Rapids boy's will be heading to
the Miner's Memorial Building in Virginia this evening to take on Virginia in
the IRC Jamboree. Both teams are going to have to find a way to move on without
their top players from the past couple of seasons. Nico Sacchetti has gone to
play in the USHL and Patrick White and Joe Stejskal have moved on to the
University of Minnesota and Dartmouth College respectively. I believe that the
Thunderhawks have the best chance to have guys step up and fill those spots.
Players like Robb Roy, Sam Sparen, Tony Palkki, Sam Rendle, and Corey Kosak all
have the possibility of having very big years.
The Lightning girl's hockey team will host Duluth at the IRA
Civic Center tonight at 7:30 p.m. The Duluth girls look like they will be a
threat in the section this season. They opened their season by beating St.
Francis 9-1. Goaltender, Laura Bellamy is the key to their success tonight in
Grand Rapids. I believe that the Lightning are too powerful up front to allow
Bellamy to steal one tonight.
Prediction: Grand Rapids/Greenway 3, Duluth 2
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