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H.S. Hockey: Red Wing, Lourdes ranked in preseason state poll

FELDY: The first poll of the boys high school hockey season is out and the two teams that faced off in the Section 1A championship game last season are the only two area teams in the initial rankings.

Red Wing, last year's Section 1A runner-up, is ranked No. 9 in the Class A poll. Rochester Lourdes, which won the section title and placed fifth at state, is ranked No. 14.

Defending state champions Eden Prairie (Class AA) and Breck (Class A) are ranked No. 1 in their respective polls. No other Section 1 teams are ranked, though I think Faribault deserves to be placed on equal footing with Lourdes and Red Wing right now. Those three teams are the ones to beat in Section 1 this year.

Here's a link to Let's Play Hockey magazine's polls. If you don't want to make that one click, here they are::

CLASS AA
1. Eden Prairie
2. Minnetonka
3. Bloomington Jefferson
4. Blaine
5. Hill-Murray
6. Edina
7. Benilde-St. Margaret's
8. Academy of Holy Angels
9. Duluth East
10. Woodbury
11. Centennial
12. Moorhead
13. Elk River
14. Cretin-Derham Hall
15. White Bear Lake
16. Wayzata
17. Roseau
18. Maple Grove
19. Apple Valley
20. Andover

CLASS A
1. Breck
2. Warroad
3. St. Thomas Academy
4. Hermantown
5. Mahtomedi
6. St. Cloud Cathedral
7. Virginia
8. Alexandria
9. Red Wing
10. South St. Paul
11. Thief River Falls
12. Duluth Marshall
13. International Falls
14. Rochester Lourdes
15. Little Falls
16. Mound-Westonka
17. Hibbing
18. Totino-Grace
19. Blake
20. Sartell-St. Stephen

H.S. Hockey: New teams coming to Kiwanis Festival

FELDY: The brackets for the 2009 Kiwanis/Wells Fargo Festival are posted already on the tournament web site, and a handful of new teams dot the schedule in both the Class A and Class AA field. You can find the brackets by clicking on the "scores and positioning" link on the left-hand side of the home page, or by following these links:

Class AA bracket

Class A bracket

Class AA JV bracket

In Class AA, defending tournament champion Fargo (N.D.) South is back, but last year's runner-up, Apple Valley, is not. Nor is Hastings, which I believe is just fine with tournament officials and fans. I haven't asked, but I got the feeling after the behavior of their coach at last year's tournament, they weren't going to be invited back. Buffalo is the third team not returning for this year's Festival.

In their places are Princeton (which has been to the Festival multiple times in the Class A bracket), Eastview and Brainerd. Brainerd draws defending champ South in the first game of the opening day, 12:30 p.m., Dec. 28. The Class AA tourney is at Graham Arena One.

Century faces Princeton at 2:45 p.m., followed by Mayo vs. Eastview at 5:15 p.m. and John Marshall vs. New Richmond (Wis.) at 7:30 p.m.

In the Class A bracket (all games at Graham Four), Mason City (Iowa), Dodge County and Duluth Central are new entrants. They replace Princeton (which moved up to the AA tourney), Minnehaha Academy and Holy Family Catholic.

Rochester Lourdes faces Dodge County in the final opening-round game of the day, at 7 p.m. La Crescent faces Richfield at 12:15 p.m., followed by Mason City vs. Duluth Central at 2:30 p.m., and Albert Lea vs. International Falls at 4:45 p.m.

I-Falls is the two-time defending Class A champion, having beaten Lourdes in an entertaining championship game last season, 3-2.

Another most wonderful day of the year is upon us

FELDY: No, Phersy and I are not still celebrating the Gophers football team's big win over hated rival South Dakota State on Saturday. While no one could blame us for that, I'm like the kid in the Disney World commercial ("I'm too excited to sleep!") today because ... drumroll ....... it's the opening day of the high school hockey season! Woo hoo!

The Mayo and Lourdes boys get going with practices in a couple of hours at Graham Arena, while Century and JM take to the ice at the Rec Center. I have a feeling my car will just drive me to one of those places when I get in it this afternoon.

A couple of our teams better get ready quickly. Defending Section 1AA champion Century opens its season at home on Nov. 28 against White Bear Lake. JM opens a few hours earlier that day at the Rec against Bloomington Kennedy (a 3 p.m. start). Mayo also opens on the 28th, but the Spartans are on the road that day at Roseville, their traditional season opener. Lourdes, and new coach Josh Spaniol, have a few more days to prepare. The Eagles open up at Owatonna on Dec. 3.

So, we have about 12 days until our three Class AA teams hit the ice for real, in games that count. Up until Nov. 28, I'll try to post something related to our boys hockey teams daily. We'll try to take a look back at last season for each of our Rochester teams (as well as Dodge County and a new addition to our coverage area this season, Red Wing). We'll also look at some of the games to watch this regular season and players to watch. I have a preseason all-area team waiting in the wings, but I'll tweak that up until right before the first pucks drop.

I'll post more tonight or tomorrow after I watch a couple of practices today. Let's play hockey!

Ice Hawks Friday update ... Flying Aces

PHERSY: Hey Hawks fans ... they're back!

The Ice Hawks return to action at 7:05 tonight at the Rec Center against the Minnesota Flying Aces (3-13-0-2).

Coach Fatis has been out sick most of the week, though he said he's finally starting to feel a bit better.

I caught up with him this morning, and he said the team had a bit of a "coming to Jesus" meeting yesterday. "The guys have made a little change regarding their work ethic," Fatis said. "There was a lot of uncertainty about where we were at after the Lumberjacks series. We know we can be a top team, and we don't feel it's a lack of talent that's keeping us from that. I think everyone felt it was a matter of work ethic. So that's something we had to change. Practice today was a lot more intense, and that's a good thing. There were a lot of big hits, bodies strewn everywhere. I really think you'll see a different brand of Ice Hawks hockey this weekend."

When I spoke with coach, one quote stuck out ... and I couldn't agree more. I think it's something that should have been said a while ago. I asked coach about his lines for tonight and going forward, and he's what he said:

"We're going to throw four lines out there tonight, and we'll see if the effort is there. If there's a lack of effort from anyone, it's going to be a real easy choice going forward. I'm past the point of caring how many points a kid COULD score. Now I just want kids who are going to go out there, put their noses to the grindstone and lay it on the line for every shift. The message has been sent. If you can't play like that, with that work ethic and that intensity, you can't play here."

Like I said, I couldn't agree more. That's the attitude this team has to have right now. It's an attitude I know they'll have when Justin Phelps comes back, but it would be nice if they got there even before Phelps returns in a few weeks.

INJURY UPDATE: The team is as healthy as it has been all season. Fatis will have pretty much everyone but Phelps and Myles Flott at his disposal this weekend. Yes, Andrew Fairbanks has been cleared to play! Fatis said Fairbanks will see action in one game this weekend, though he wasn't sure which game.

Everyone else is available and could see action ... of course, Fatis said he has not yet decided who will dress and who will be in the stands. Those decisions are tougher with that full lineup available.

GOALIE: Jordan Yaggy will start in net tonight. Fatis hasn't made a decision regarding Sunday's game in Hudson.

"We've got three goalies right now who are all playing well, so it's tough. The three-headed monster is an odd situation, but that's where we're at right now until we see one guy really grab that No. 1 spot," Fatis said.

One other side note ... this is the final weekend the Ice Hawks will have their high school players before they must decide whether they will return to high school. Both Truex and Mundy are playing well, and Fatis said he's seen growth in both players since they joined the team.

That's it for now. Go Hawks!

H.S. Football picks: State quarterfinals

FELDY: We're down to four area teams, Phersy, so you have some work to do this week; you're 42-35, while I'm 44-33. Maybe we should both just be happy to be as far above .500 as we are and call it good for this season. But, we're down to four teams, so let's pick 'em:

CLASS AAA
Kasson-Mantorville (11-0) vs. Waseca (7-4), at Lakeville North

CLASS AA
Caledonia (11-0) vs. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown (10-1), at Roch. Regional Sports Stadium

CLASS A
Blooming Prairie (10-1) vs. New Ulm Cathedral (11-0), at RRSS

NINE-MAN
Grand Meadow (10-1) vs. Nicollet (8-2), at RRSS

••••

PHERSY: Well, if Feldy had any guts, any spine at all, he'd stick with his "do the opposite" theory and pick against me on every game. But I already know he doesn't have a spine. He's up by two games, so let me guess, he'll pick just one game different, so he can't lose. I'm just going to call him out in advance ...

Class AAA

K-M 33, Waseca 13: The Bluejays haven't played a team as big, power and fast as the KoMets. They'll roll behind that balanced ground game and opportunistic passing attack.

Class AA

Caledonia 27, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 14: Caledonia had a tougher time last week with Z-M than I expected. I think they'll bounce back this week and continue on toward another Class AA state title.

Class A

NUC 37, Blooming Prairie 19: The Blossoms will need to get some big breaks to slow down this potent offense. In the end, NUC will be too much.

Nine-man

Grand Meadow 37, Nicollet 30: This should be a barn-burner. Given that I've gotten one nine-man game in a row correct, I'm sure this score will be way off. But I like the Grand Meadow offense to put up enough points for a win.

••••

FELDY: Well, Phersy, there's no way I'm going against the K-M machine, but what about the other contests? ...

Class AAA

K-M 40, Waseca 18: This K-M could compete with a lot of AAAA and AAAAA teams in our area.

Class AA

Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 22, Caledonia 21: Upset Special!

Class A

NUC 28, Blooming Prairie 16: Blossoms will hang for three quarters, but NUC will score a couple in the fourth to put it away..

Nine-man

Nicollet 34, Grand Meadow 32: I don't think I've picked a 9-man game correctly all season, so why start now?

Vikings: Talkin' 'bout Chili at the halfway point

FELDY: P-B Sports Editor Craig Swalboski drew my attention to this column by MinnPost's Jim Klobuchar today, regarding Vikings fans opinion of Brad Childress.

Up until late last season, I was fully on the anti-Chili bandwagon. I haven't completely ventured off of that wagon yet, but in the past three-plus years I've gone from "Childress is Satan" to "Childress stinks" to "Childress is trying to come around for the fans" to "cut the guy some slack."

Certainly, he has made his share of mistakes this season. No denying that. And I've lost my voice while screaming about several of them from the upper deck at Metrodome. As if he's going to hear me chastising him from 12 rows up. On the visitor's sideline. At the same time, he deserves some credit. Credit for bringing in Brett Favre in August, when some Vikings fans embraced the move and an equal number criticized it because Favre missed all of training camp.

I guess Favre is OK without having gone to Mankato, eh?

I liked Klobuchar's column because it does what a good column should. It gets you to stop and think, to analyze just why you feel the way you do about Childress and the Vikings after a 7-1 start, with three home games and a possible 10-1 record on the horizon. Here are some points to ponder:

• Klobuchar quotes Minneapolis businessman/Vikings zealot Tom Szarzynski as saying "... the other (question mark with Childress) is play-calling. In one sequence at Green Bay near the goal line, he kept running Adrian Peterson into the line until they failed on fourth down. That was a crucial game. They had to come away with a field goal." ... While I understand Szarzynski's frustration, two things come to mind: 1) had A.P. scored, Szarzynski wouldn't even be bringing it up and, 2) that's a no-win situation for Childress. If he kicks the field goal, or goes play-action pass in that situation, fans like Szarzynski are going to wail and whine that "we have the best back in the NFL and Chili isn't using him!"

• Klobuchar goes on to write: "(Childress) arrived in Minnesota four years ago after the previous coach, Mike Tice crafted a team that competed more strenuously for space on the police blotter than in the league playoffs. The coach before that, the enigmatic Denny Green, won games but later occupied himself filing fierce communiqués from his private bunker threatening to sue the owners." ... A former P-B colleague and die-hard Vikings fan put it this way to me when Childress was brought in to take over for Tice: Tice's legacy is that he gave the team back to the fans. Childress' legacy will be that he took the team back away from the fans. ... In essence, Chili again was in a no-win situation because he had to put the hammer down and bring in players who weren't going to end up in the police blotter. He had to be an anti-Tice, a coach who wasn't interested in having a love affair with the public, but rather a coach who was interested in building a winning team. When the Vikings went 6-10, then 8-8 in his first two seasons, that rubbed most fans the wrong way. Not only was the coach a stiff-looking jerk to the media and the fans, but the team wasn't winning. The fans could accept a coach who was tight-lipped if the results were there on Sundays. But Childress wasn't providing those results. This season he is, and fans seem to have, at the very least, started to thaw the icy feelings toward him.

• Here's an interesting quote Klobuchar extracted from Childress last spring: "One thing I remember about Bill Walsh, a great man and coach, and I share it with players: 'Don't be the guy who doesn't get it,' Bill Walsh would say. 'Don't be the guy, when we travel, who buys a Playboy magazine in a news shop and pulls it out and stands there looking at the centerfold and there's a 4-year-kid looking at him. Don't be that guy.' Don't be the guy who walks out of this building and gets a DUI on Hwy 494. I can't be impressed about a guy's athleticism on tape if I'm worried that he's going to rob a store on his way home." ... This all sounds great, and I'm sure Chili uses this same speech every August in Mankato, and again several times during the season. The problem I have with it, as I'm sure other Vikings season ticket holders and die-hard fans have with it, is that it has to be applied in all situations. If Childress is going to hold guy No. 53 on the roster to these standards, he has to do the same when Bryant McKinnie or Dwight Smith gets in trouble with the law. When Childress wouldn't severely punish guys like Smith or McKinnie, it was another strike against him from a fan's perspective. He was talking out of both sides of his mouth and, again, the Vikings weren't winning when those guys got in trouble, so Chili's double-talk intensified the fans' angst toward him.

If you read the comments at the end of Klobuchar's column, you'll note that fans even now aren't willing to give Chili much credit, despite this team getting off to a 7-1 start. When the Vikings were losing, it was Chili's fault. Now that they're winning, it's because of Brett Favre and the other players, fans say. Try to sit back and look at Chili's situation in an unbiased manner. Forget the frustration you built up for him over his first two-plus seasons. He has loosened up. He has worked to get better, to make the team better (and he's had a lot of help from an ownership group that is willing to spend the money it takes to be successful). If you want to put all of the credit for the 7-1 start on Favre's right arm, that's fine, but you have to deflect some of it to Childress, who took a gamble on a 40-year-old guy who could've divided the locker room. Instead, at the halfway point, a second straight division title is within the Vikings sights. Mike Tice didn't accomplish that, and some fans still think he'd be a better head coach here. Thankfully, those fans have no say in the decision-making process.

College hockey: Serratore gets contract extension at Air Force

FELDY: Former Rochester Mustangs coach Frank Serratore has done such a fine job of building a Division I contender at Air Force, that his bosses have locked him up as the program's head coach for five more seasons.

Serratore agreed today to a five-year extension that will keep him on the Falcons' bench through 2013-14. He has a 200-216-32 record at Air Force and is in his 13th season. The Falcons have advanced to the NCAA tournament three consecutive seasons.

Former Austin High defenseman Tim Kirby is a sophomore for the Falcons this season. Kirby has played in all 10 games for the 4-5-1 Falcons. He has 1 goal and 5 assists this season after posting a 2-11--13 season as a freshman.

Air Force is not ranked in any of the national polls.

College hockey: Another blow to the Gophers' roster

FELDY: If it's not bad enough that star freshman defenseman (or is it defenceman? I like the "c" ... has a hockey feel to it) Nick Leddy and standout senior forward Jay Barriball are on the shelf for the Gophers hockey team, word on the Twitter-vine has it that 6-2, 205-pound sophomore defenceman Sam Lofquist has left the Gophers program and left school to sign with an OHL team.

As of now (8:30 p.m. Monday), I've only seen it on the Twitter feed from Grand Forks Herald hockey reporter Brad Schlossman, but it was posted twice by separate college hockey followers, so I imagine there is some merit to it.

If, indeed, Lofquist has left the program, what the heck is going on at Mariucci Arena? With Leddy on the shelf with a jaw injury for possibly another six weeks, the departure of Lofquist would leave the U with just six d-men. All six -- Fairchild, Fischer, Helgeson, Wehrs, Ness and Schack -- are capable every night players, but there is no room for another injury or a slump. 

The bigger question, though, is why did another player exit early, specifically one who was bound to see a lot of ice time? Phersy and I have questioned this before but we get laughed off because we're fans of other WCHA teams. Seriously, though, Gophers fans, do players really want to play for Don Lucia? If you read the message boards and the fans who comment on the stories in the Star Tribune, you know most fans are about at their wits end with the head coach. His grace period from two national championships has run out. He gets Minnesota's finest recruits every year, but that hasn't amounted to much, in terms of banners won in recent seasons.

Maybe Lofquist has a legitimate reason for departing. Maybe Jim O'Brien and Stu Bickel and Jeff Frazee did, too. Frazee apparently saw the writing on the wall after Alex Kangas' tremendous freshman season and didn't want to play second fiddle to the Rochester native. We know why guys like Erik Johnson, Phil Kessel and Kyle Okposo left. The NHL was calling them from the second they put on the "M." With top-notch talent like those three, you recruit 'em and just hope they hang on for more than a year. But when guys like Bickel and O'Brien -- and now Lofquist -- continue to exit the program without clearly reaching their full potential at the college level, you either have to question why the head coach recruited them in the first place, or you have to question what has happened since they came to Minneapolis that makes them want to leave.

Bahnemann notches first college point

FELDY: A good night for two former Rochester-area hockey players last night (Friday).

Former Lourdes standout forward Brandon Bahnemann notched his first college point, an assist, in Bentley's 3-3 tie against Air Force at Cadet Ice Arena in Colorado Springs. Bahenmann had the lone assist on Justin Kemmerer's goal at 7:28 of the second period. That goal gave Bentley a 3-2 lead, but ...

Austin native Tim Kirby had the first assist on a power-play goal by Kyle De Laurell at 3:41 of the third period to tie the score 3-3. That's how it ended, and Bentley is now 2-3-1 overall and 2-1-1 in Atlantic Hockey. Air Force is 3-5-1, 3-1-1.

From this account, it sounds like Bahnemann made a heady play on the goal, going for a wraparound, but firing a centering pass to Kemmerer instead.

From Air Force's perspective, they feel like an opportunity slipped away.

The teams are set to meet again tonight.

HS Football Picks: Section finals edition

PHERSY: Well, Feldy you picked up another game on me. This is getting embarrassing (or more embarrassing than it already was). I already knew I wasn't good at picking games, but I always felt good knowing that I was at least better than you. It looks like this is finally going to be your year. Feldy went 5-2 last week and improved to 38-32 and I went 4-3 to move to 36-34. Here we go with the section finals ...

1AAAAA

Owatonna vs. Lakeville North

1AAAA

New Prague vs. Northfield

1AAA

La Crescent vs. Kasson-Mantorville

1AA

Zumbrota-Mazeppa vs. Caledonia

2AA

Triton vs. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown

1A

Goodhue vs. Blooming Prairie

Nine-man

Houston vs. Grand Meadow

* * * *

FELDY: All good things must come to an end. That's likely to happen to my streak this week. The lead is nice ... while it lasts. Here goes:

1AAAAA
Lakeville North 35, Owatonna 21: Owatonna is playing really well right now, but we'll see how their offense fares against a metro school that is likely faster and more skilled all around than any opponent Owatonna has seen this season.

1AAAA
Northfield 33, New Prague 19: The Raiders win the section for a second straight season. Their offense is too talented and too unpredictable (in a good way).

1AAA
Kasson-Mantorville 31, La Crescent 20: This is a grudge match for La Crescent, but since the start of the season we've heard about how talented this K-M team is. They showed it last week against Lourdes and will do the same this week.

1AA
Caledonia 42, Z-M 26: No disrespect meant to the Cougars; Caledonia is just that good.

2AA
W-E-M 18, Triton 16: Speaking of grudge matches, I don't think there's a lot of love between these teams. Respect? Yes. Love? No. W-E-M in a squeaker on its home field.

1A
Blooming Prairie 23, Goodhue 20: Both of these teams are playing very well. It just feels like the Blossoms' time to get back to state after having so many very good teams that didn't.

9-MAN
Houston 24, Grand Meadow 22: If I've been consistent at anything this year, I've been consistently awful at picking Nine-Man games, so .... the coin came up heads for Houston, which means ... Grand Meadow, congratulations on your section title.

•••

PHERSY: Gee, thanks Feldy ... you didn't pick any upsets, so that means I really have to go out there to gain any ground. Looks like you're the champ ...

1AAAAA

Directional Lakeville school 35, Owatonna 13: Lake Conference vs. Big Nine ... I think we know who wins that matchup.

1AAAA

Northfield 21, New Prague 6: I wasn't impressed with Northfield last week, but I still think the Raiders will do enough to get past New Prague.

1AAA

Kasson-Mantorville 37, La Crescent 20: The KoMets have proved to be one of the best teams in the state. And they've proven you can move their game any where you want, and they'll still beat ya!

1AA

Caledonia 40, Zumbrota-Mazeppa 19: I'd like to see Caledonia play for the Class AAA state title. But I'll settle for watching it go for the AA crown. They're the best!

2AA

W-E-M 24, Triton 23: W-E-M plays on a horrible field, but it's home for the Bucs, so I'll take them by home-field advantage. Like I always say, though, never count out Don Henderson. This certainly isn't his most talented team, but he's gotten a lot out of this group.

1A

Goodhue 31, Blooming Prairie 25: G-Force! G-Force! G-Force! The Wildcats are purple hot, and that will continue.

Nine-man

Grand Meadow 32, Houston 29: Somebody once told me to never pick against Houston. Well, Feldy has forced me to do so. Sorry ...