Slate Breakdown - 4/13
Alas! Real games are finally here! The last month has felt like a lifetime but we are finally looking ahead to real games on the schedule. Here are a couple that catch my eye for the first night of the season.
Shakopee @ Jefferson - 5:30pm
What a way to kick off the 2023 season! Shakopee is coming off a section 2 runner up season and even spent some time in the top 5 last year. They have established themselves as one of the state’s premier programs and are looking to build on last year’s great season. Jefferson seems to always be in the mix and has their best core group in years. A team that will be relying on mostly underclassmen, has been receiving a ton of hype and their 5-6 loss to PL in the section semi’s last year opened some eyes.
Shakopee returns goal scoring machine Linus Toward and starting midfielder Zane Orchard back on the offensive end along with poles Tanner Bachelor, Samuel Zovac and goalie Weston Brosam on the defensive end. They also get their Face Off Specialist Jadon Hellerud back who was 58% from the X
A couple key losses on the offensive end for the Sabres are leading point getter Luke Whitbeck who was the QB of their offense and Colton Maskevich who was their third leading scorer. They lost Kellogg, Laden and Wamsley at midfield as well and will be in search of some new guys to step up.
Jefferson touted one of the better defenses last year as one of the only teams to slow down the high powered offenses of Prior Lake and BSM. It starts with their goalie Bennett Lindman, only a junior this year, who sported a 4.65 GAA and .658 save percentage! Jefferson’s big question marks come in the form of a couple huge losses in top goal scorer Cody Ringquist, secondary scorers Charlie Gilbert & Kyler Dawson and defenseman Gordy Gombold. However, a solid handful of secondary scoring does return along with defensive starters Dane Miller and Owen Baker.
This game should be highly competitive - I think Jefferson does have a future window to make a run at a state championship but I do think Shakopee is the better team today. I am taking the Sabres by 2 in a low scoring 7-5 game.
Maple Grove @ Centennial - 7:00PM
The premiere matchup in the Northwest Suburban Conference over the past few years. This game, many times, decides the conference champion. A game we’d love to see late in the year but kind of fun to have it kick off the season in night 1. I expect the intensity to be extremely high in this one with a lot of physical play.
Centennial is coming off an awesome run to the state semi-finals last year with a notable upset of #2 ranked Chanhassen in the quarters. Last year they were led by three, now graduted and current division 1 lacrosse players in Sam Rodriguez, Matt Everson and Noah Berger. I think his is the biggest question mark for Centennial is replacing the production of those three.
Maple Grove gave BSM everything they had in the section final and even held a 3-2 lead at half time. Unfortunately, the fire power and depth of the red knights was too much in the end, but, Maple Grove cemented a lot of collective respect for the game they gave BSM that night. They are navigating a head coaching change but many of the staff stayed the same.
Centennial won last year’s contest 11-5. For Centennial, 7 of those 11 goals were scored by seniors that are no longer with the program. Maple Grove lost Josh Steinkopf who was a phenomenal 2 way midfielder, but returned pretty much everyone else.
Centennial pros-
Brol Scherman(‘24) and Logan Adams(‘24)- Brol and Logan know each other’s game very well. If Adams can balance out the other side a bit more, these two will carry Centennial this season.
Gavin Jorud(‘24)- Stuck behind some great midfielders last year and the coaches chose to leave him at JV to season up a bit. If he’s put in any work on his dodging, he’ll be lethal. Athletic.
Easton Cody (‘25), Zach Delemdico (‘25), Gavin Krage (‘25?), Kellen Krumweide (‘24), Lars Goerlitz(‘25), Solomon Marshall (‘25) are all young kids that will grow and fill roles as the season goes on (but, it could be rough against MG to start the season).
Centennial cons-
Did they lose Brock Carls (‘23) and Alex Clampitt (‘24)? If rumors are true, then a potential 1st line midfielder and a starting pole didn’t come out this year.
Young close D and new goalie. They’re athletic, but raw.
FOGO??????
Centennial questions-
Can Reese Littlefield (‘23) be a loud enough voice on the back end after losing the best pole in MN last year(Everson), and his replacement in Clampitt (‘24)?
Some people would put the coaching staff here, so that’s why I did…but they return many of the same coaches from last year, will most likely run a similar offensive style than last year, and I think they’ll do well
Maple Grove pros-
Ricky Peterson (‘25), Rory Scanlan (‘23), Tanner Brendon (‘23), Landon Bakke (‘24) are all returning and that’ll allow their offense to click right away.
Luke Margenau (‘23)- If he can pick up where he left off at the ‘X’ at 64% we’re talking a huge advantage.
Hale Farniok (‘23)- 65.8% save percentage is great. He can get them out of some sticky situations and allow their D to feel comfortable. Should be a solid back end unit as a whole.
Brady Marcus (‘26)- Kid started at pole as an 8th grader. Watch out.
Maple Grove cons-
No Josh Steinkopf- When MG needed a boost, it was Josh that gave it to them. Someone will step up, they’ve got the group to do it, but until then…this hurts a bit.
They start slow. It feels like this program takes a while to build into what they will be at the end of the year. I know that as a coach you want to build into sections, but they’ve been really lethargic in early going.
Maple Grove questions-
Coach Ficken- He gets heated like JoeBear, but is it more “pissed off” heated? He’s passionate, that’s for sure. Loves aggressive play and lets the kids loose. Time will tell on how the program responds. (Don’t kill me, Ficken)
Can they be adaptable? Short story- I’ve had (in the past) a bit of insider information from a coach that helps during their off season activities. The past few years I’ve sent him my scout of the MG players and systems prior to games and he replied that it’s right on the money. Now, I know that I’m pumping my tires a bit here on my ability to scout, but I want to know if they can be a little more free on offense? Less robotic, more of a ‘rules’ based offense.
-Coach B
Hill Murray v The Valley - 7:00PM
Hill Murray was a team that had some hype last year but a young team and supposed injury bug stopped them from competing against some of the top teams on their schedule. Returning most of their scoring from a year ago, and now a year older, they will be looking to establish themselves as a section 4 mainstay.
It’s hard to tell on LaxHub who is who with the lack of grad years posted and minimal stats. As mentioned above, a lot of their top guys missed games last year so some of their more talented players probably aren’t as obvious. Seniors Adam Millett and Jacob Illgen and Sophomore Anthony Millett look to be the top 3 middy scores from last year all returning in what I would assume would be their top line. Danny Morris and Caden Sampair are back at attack who were also leading the charge last year. At first glance, it does look like most of their production returns and should have 5 guys on offense that can produce. On defense it looks like they lost a couple of their top poles to graduation, but, if my research saves me correctly, it looks like they return a goalie who played half the varsity minutes and 56% save percentage last year as a 7th GRADER. If this is true, it seems like they will have consistency in the cage for many years to come.
The Valley, a new co-op last year saw many ups and downs on their way to a solid 9-6 season. A heartbreaking 4-5 loss in double OT to Rosemount in the section semi-finals was a tough way to go out but probably is the fuel to The Valley’s 2023 campaign.
Returning probably the most electric player in the state, Sam Arendt, on offense gives The Valley a chance to win any game. If you are a fan of high energy, creative offensive lacrosse, you will want to go catch a Valley game as soon as you can. However, they are not a one-trick-pony and have two other very good offensive players in Carter Harris and Alex Gilbertson. Both extremely skilled players that can lead the offense if a team opts to focus on Arendt. They also return all of their secondary scoring in Gabe Ottis, Zach Hood, Tyson Bell and Conor Coulson. This team should have NO problems scoring goals. On defense, they did lose a great LSM Tyler Jerstad and close D Jake Lynch but, return Jake Rossman and Aaron Bangh from their starting defense a year ago. As well as their goalie Jaymeson Zackery and face off specialist Jackson Gilmore. This team returns as much of their varsity team as anyone and should be a highly competitive group in 2023.
I could see Hill-Murray making this competitive for a while but I am taking the valley by 7 with a score of 12-5