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H.S. Football picks | Week 5

FELDY: Beep ... beep ... beep ...

That's you on life support, Phersy. I went 6-1 last week; Phersy 3-4. Overall records: Feldy, 18-3, Phersy, 12-7.

This week's games, if Phersy doesn't pack it in:

BIG NINE
Mayo at Mankato East
Owatonna at Winona

HVL
Byron at Lourdes
Winona Cotter at Kenyon-Wanamingo

THREE RIVERS CONFERENCE
Kingsland at Fillmore Central

SOUTHEAST CONFERENCE (9-MAN)
Grand Meadow at Houston
LeRoy-Ostrander at Mabel-Canton

***

PHERSY: Ugh. It makes me literally sick to my stomach to lose to Feldy at anything. You have no idea how much I wanted to skip the picks this week, knowing this thing is obviously fixed since Feldy is actually winning this year. Knowing Feldy, though, he'll pick all the same as me this week.

Good news: I'm still better at math. I'm actually just 12-9. So I've got the math thing on Feldy.

Here are this week's garbage picks:

BIG NINE
Mayo 28, Mankato East 21: If Feldy has any guts, he'll pick against his Spartans.
Owatonna 35, Winona 15: Owatonna bounces back with a victory over the Winhawks.

HVL
Lourdes 42, Byron 26: Lourdes proved a lot to me last week by beating up on a very good La Crescent team.
Winona Cotter 28, Kenyon-Wanamingo 6: Joe Koll leads Cotter to a big win.

THREE RIVERS CONFERENCE
Fillmore Central 19, Kingsland 13: I like some of Kingsland's offensive weapons, but FC is better than people think.

SOUTHEAST CONFERENCE (9-MAN)
Grand Meadow 39, Houston 29: Grand Meadow's offense is too high powered.
Mabel-Canton 29, LeRoy-Ostrander 12: This one seems like a no-brainer to me, but anything goes in nine-man.

* * *

FELDY: Math was always my worst subject. As far as my math goes, the Vikings are 3-0.

BIG NINE
Mayo 27, East 12: Not taking Phersy's bait on this one. Mayo needs to put a full game together, cut down on penalties and turnovers. Its linemen, on both sides of the ball, gained confidence last week. They need to carry that over to tonight's game.
Winona 23, Owatonna 20: A few years ago I would've been automatically eliminated from this contest for making this pick. Winona is much better than a few years ago, though. And Owatonna is not what it's been in recent years.

HVL
Lourdes 38, Byron 22: Byron has a very nice team, but Lourdes looks like one of the best Class AAA teams in the state.
Kenyon-Wanamingo 16, Cotter 14: I'll take the Knights in an upset on the road.

THREE RIVERS
Fillmore Central 26, Kingsland 16: This could be one of the better games of the night. FC's lone loss came to state-ranked Lewiston-Altura. Kingsland's losses are to Southland and P-E-M.

SOUTHEAST CONFERENCE
Grand Meadow 38, Houston 16: Sorry Canes fans, but no team has come within 20 points of the Superlarks all season.
LeRoy-Ostrander 13, Mabel-Canton 12: Time for the Cards to get in the win column.

Colin Stuart sent down by Sabres

FELDY: On Wednesday, the Buffalo Sabres made official what was expected when they signed Colin Stuart in August -- he will at least start the season with the AHL's Portland Pirates.

Stuart, 28, was one of 14 players cut from the Sabres training camp roster on Wednesday. He must pass through waivers today before he can be assigned to Portland. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound winger was a fifth-round draft pick of the Atlanta Thrashers in 2001. He has 8 goals and 5 assists in 51 career NHL games, all with Atlanta in the 07-08 and 08-09 seasons.

MEDPL | Century's Travis has big game for South

Posted by Feldy

Team South, which includes mostly Big Nine Conference and other Rochester-area players, fell to 1-4 in the Minnesota Elite Prep Development League (formerly the Elite II League) with losses in two high-scoring games this past weekend.

South fell to Metro Southwest,7-4, on Saturday and fell to Metro Southeast, 7-5, on Sunday.

Rochester Century forward Wyatt Travis had an outstanding game on Saturday for South, showing exactly why the Century coaches have praised his skill level for two years. He had a goal and four assists in the 7-4 loss and was the only player on South with more than one point in the game.

Lourdes Jason Samuelson scored once, while JM's Matt Broman and Dodge County's Chad Mundy, both defensemen, each had an assist in the loss.

In Sunday's loss to Southeast, three Rochester players had two points each. Two Lourdes players -- Samuelson and Ryan Nicolay -- each had a goal and an assist. Mayo defenseman Jack Dingle had two assists. Another Mayo defenseman, Steve Serratore, also had an assist.

South is back in action Wednesday (tomorrow) at Shattuck-St. Mary's in Faribault.

Ice Hawks hit the road tonight, back Saturday

PHERSY: Sorry I didn't update you on here sooner, but your weekend Ice Hawks update actually ran in the print version of the Post-Bulletin today. Here's a link to the story, which includes updates on Tyler Roberg, Jordan Yaggy and Cory Volk.

The Hawks hit the road for a 7:30 p.m. game tonight in Maple Grove against the amazing Minnesota Wildcats. They return home Saturday for a 7:05 p.m. tilt against the Twin Cities Northern Lights.

Ice Hawks assistant to the GM (Dwight Schrute) Jeff Boehmer has a little contest going on his Facebook page (check it), so I won't rain on his parade.

 

Area players in Elite Development League

FELDY: The Minnesota Elite Prep Devlopment League (formerly Elite II) season opened two weeks ago, with a handful of Rochester/Big Nine players competing for Team South.

The southern boys opened with a split, thumping the North Dakota Starz, 10-2, and falling to Team North, 5-3, on Sept. 11. South was also scheduled to play against Norway on Sept. 12, but no results have been posted for that game.

Team South is back in action this weekend, with games against Metro Southwest and Metro Southeast on Saturday and Sunday.

Rochester John Marshall's Matt Broman, a junior defenseman, is tied for the team lead in scoring with three points through two games (he has three assists). Faribault's Sean Lipinski, Albert Lea's Eric Carlson, Northfield's Andrew Scofield and New Prague's Jordan Hollicky also have three points each.

Lourdes' Justin Dewitz is among four South players with two points each, while Chad Mundy of Dodge County, Steve Serratore and Jack Dingle of Rochester Mayo, Jason Samuelson of Lourdes and Blake Heroff of Rochester Century each have one point.

Other area players on Team South include Mike Stegora, Dayton Johnson and Marcus Noesen of Red Wing, and Century's Wyatt Travis.

Northfield junior Isaac Tjaden and sophomore Chris Amsden from LeSueur-Henderson/St. Peter are the team's goalies.

Here is a link to Team South's homepage. From it, you can link to the home page of the MEPDL, as well as get stats on all Team South players, as well as players from other teams. The MEPDL is a fall hockey league for the top high school players who did not make an Elite League roster.

Stuart bros.: Colin gets shot with Sabres, Mark wears "A" for Bruins

FELDY: When Rochester native Colin Stuart signed with the Buffalo Sabres back in August, it was considered by Sabres fans and Buffalo media as a move to strengthen the grit and depth of the Sabres' AHL franchise, the Portland Pirates.

While it's likely that Stuart will at least start the season in Portland, reports from The Buffalo News indicate he's at least being given a chance in camp to show what he can do. Stuart, considered a strong defensive forward and valuable penalty-killer, scored a goal in an intra-squad scrimmage over the weekend and he's listed as a fifth-line winger for the Sabres, who open their preseason at home on Saturday against Toronto.

Stuart is one of 22 forwards listed on Buffalo's roster, but from the looks of it, he'll get a chance at some point this preseason to show what he can do in a game against another team.

Here is a look at the Sabres line combinations heading into Saturday's game.

* In Boston, Colin's brother, Mark Stuart, will clearly be an every-night defenseman for the Bruins, barring the injury troubles he battled last season. In fact, Mark didn't dress for Boston's preseason opener on Wednesday, but he wore an "A" for the Bruins' game Thursday against Florida. Boston lost 3-2.

He was on the Bruins' second defensive pairing, along with Steve Kampfer. while Nathan McIver played with Zdeno Chara on the top pairing.

There was some good and some bad for Stuart in his first preseason action. He played on the second power-play unit, but he also had a couple of rocky shifts, including one in the final minute of the first period that led to a scoring chance for David Booth.

HS Football Picks | Week 4

PHERSY: Feldy, you didn't lose your lead ... of course, you decided to only pick two games differently, so it wasn't even possible. You aren't a risk-taker ... I get it. So, we both went 5-2 last week. Not bad. Those were tough games to pick. Feldy is now 12-2 this season, while I'm 9-5. Maybe Feldy will actually pick some upsets this week, so I can catch up. Let's get this party started:

BIG NINE

Rochester Century (3-0) at Owatonna (1-2)

John Marshall (2-1) at Mayo (1-2)

Albert Lea (1-2) at Faribault (2-1)

HVL

Lourdes (3-0) at La Crescent (3-0)

Zumbrota-Mazeppa (2-1) at Goodhue (2-1)

THREE RIVERS

Southland (3-0) at Lewiston-Altura (3-0)

SEC (NINE-MAN)

Glenville-Emmons (2-1) at Lanesboro (1-2)

• • •

FELDY: Yawwwwwwwwn. I'm gonna go with one typing hand behind my back this week. I've given myself enough rope to come back to Earth. I'm not used to being above .500 this far into the season. Almost time for me to panic. There are (what should be) some very good games this week, so here goes ...

BIG NINE
Rochester Century 63, Owatonna 22: OK, so the score won't get this out of hand, but it's the same score by which the Huskies thumped the Panthers in the playoffs last year, and Century has too much talent to not win this game.
Mayo 30, John Marshall 16: I know JM's size up front concerns Mayo, but the Spartans have a lot of confidence right now after rallying from a two-TD deficit to win at Winona last week. Mayo's passing game is taking shape and its defense is playing better, but there's still room for improvement.
Faribault 25, Albert Lea 20: This game could easily go the other way. Albert Lea had more than one chance to upset Owatonna last week, even after five turnovers. Faribault's home-field edge and its big playmakers will be the difference.

HVL
Lourdes 38, La Crescent 28: Lourdes will have some extra motivation, having not beaten La Crescent for a couple of years. The Eagles' offense has been tough to stop, and La Crescent's defense has given up 58 points.
Zumbrota-Mazeppa 18, Goodhue 16: Flipped a coin on this one. Give me the Cougs in the battle of the Cats.

THREE RIVERS
Southland 22, Lewiston-Altura 21: This could/should be the game of the night. Neither of these teams have played a close game yet. It'll be interesting to see how they react to a tight situation, if it comes about.

SEC (NINE-MAN)
Lanesboro 46, Glenville-Emmons 40: Burros on their home field in a shootout. Both teams have shown the ability to score a lot of points.

• • •

PHERSY: Feldy, I don't like you. Here are my picks:

BIG NINE
Rochester Century 24, Owatonna 13: Century does so many little things well, and this year the Panthers won't be beaten up at the point of attack.
Mayo 14, John Marshall 6: I think the sloppy conditions will make for an ugly crosstown rivalry game.
Albert Lea 12, Faribault 7: The Tigers proved to be good mudders last season when they upset Century. The upset bug strikes again.

HVL
La Crescent 27, Lourdes 26: Feldy, you're not giving enough credit to La Crescent. The Lancers are the real deal this season.
Zumbrota-Mazeppa 21, Goodhue 15: Toughest game of the week for me to pick. Goodhue runs the ball well, but I like the Cougars.

THREE RIVERS
Southland 40, Lewiston-Altura 20: Speaking of the real deal, Southland is a dangerous time. The Rebels can throw the ball all over the field, but this week they'll get the job done on the ground. They'll find a way to slow Jay Peoples.

SEC (NINE-MAN)
Glenville-Emmons 12, Lanesboro 8: Nothing would surprise me in the SEC.

Ice Hawks release four

PHERSY: The Rochester Ice Hawks released four players this week.

Early this week, the Ice Hawks released forwards Cody Block, Kevin Filthaut and Antonio Baccari, and goalie Brad Jerzewski.

With 35 players on the roster, a move like this had to be made. The playing time wasn't going to be there.

"All of them were really good kids and very good players," Ice Hawks coach Fatis said. "There are not too many other years that I could imagine those kids being released. It's a numbers game right now. We have more numbers than we have spots. I'm happier with the number now. I just didn't see these guys really fitting the mold, and it was better to get them moving now rather than in a few weeks."

The only move I really had a question about was dropping Block. He was fantastic in the tryout camp, and I thought he had the opportunity to be a top-end player for the Hawks.

Here's what Fatis had to say about Block: "He looked good in camp, but he kind of disappeared as systems were introduced. He seemed like the kind of kid who's been so talented that he had been able to do what he wanted to do, and he had just been able to use his talent to beat guys in the past. Honestly, he just needed more game time. That was our evaluation of him. He's extremely talented. But when you're a guy on the bubble, with all the players we have here, you're not looking at tons of playing time. And he needs to be playing somewhere."

Block has caught on with the newly formed Duluth Clydesdales of the Superior International Junior Hockey League, which is a Junior A league with teams in both the U.S. and Canada. Fatis said it should be a great spot for Block.

Baccari has caught on with Flint, Mich., of the Central States Hockey League, while Jerzewski and Filthaut are still weighing their options.

So, now that we have the business end taken care of ... the Ice Hawks also have their first Minnesota Junior Hockey League game at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Edina against the Lakers.

The Lakers are currently on top of the MnJHL, going 2-0 last weekend. The Ice Hawks opened up last weekend with a 9-3 non-league victory over the Quad City Flames.

Fatis said the Lakers are a talented team with several players who were in Ice Hawks camp.

"We know some of their players very well, like Jacob Wood and Luke Vogelgesang because they both attended our first camp," Fatis said. "They chose to stay closer to home. They still have Mitch Wynia, who we tried to tender last year. They definitely have talent on this team, there's no doubt about that. But at this time of year, we're not really focused on the other teams. We're just focused on what we're doing. Once we get through the league once or twice, then the coaching and scouting will start kicking in and we can start worrying about other teams. ... Right now, they're in first place. For all we know, they're the best team in the league. So that's how we need to approach it. We're definitely all excited to get things started."

The game can be seen view the internet (there is a fee) through fasthockey.com, Fatis said.

Fatis said he still wasn't sure who would start in net. It's down to two players, though: Corey Simons and Lawrence Dvorak. He said it will be a game-time decision.

Several players are out of tonight's game due to injury: Jake Sikkema (neck, nothing serious), Michael Owen (groin), Alex Whitney (concussion, cleared every step, good to go by Monday) and Morgan Sanchez (knee, resumed skating and should be back next week).

So, that's all for now folks. Drive safely those of you heading up to Edina. Bring back a W!

H.S. Football Picks | Week 2 (for us)

FELDY: One week into our picks and Phersy's already digging himself a hole. He went a ho-hum 4-3 last week, which puts him three games back of me already. How is that possible, you ask? Because a 4-3 record puts him three games back of someone who went 7-0. I won't mention who that was, because I don't like to make Phersy cry. But the person who does these picks and does not go by the name Phersy went 7-0 last week. ... On to Week 2, where I'll likely make my annual charge back to mediocrity. Phersy gets to pick first.

THIS WEEK'S GAMES

Big Nine Conference
Mayo (0-2) at Winona (2-0)
Mankato East (0-2) at John Marshall (2-0)

Hiawatha Valley League
Kasson-Mantorville (1-1) at Lourdes (2-0)
Winona Cotter (1-1) at Zumbrota-Mazeppa (1-1)

Three Rivers Conference
Wabasha-Kellogg (0-2) at Rushford-Peterson (0-2)

Southeast Conference
Spring Grove (2-0) at Mabel-Canton (1-1)
LeRoy-Ostrander (0-2) at Glenville-Emmons (1-1)

***

PHERSY: So Feldy, do you get one wrong this week for calling it Week 2? It's Week 3 of the high school football season ... don't you remember, we both went 7-0 on the opening weekend. Not a single one wrong.

Yeah, I was terrible last week. I should have gone with my gut ... I felt terrible about going against you Feldy. But usually it's a good strategy.

OK, so before the rain starts soaking me up at Century tonight, I better get these picks done:

Big Nine Conference
Mayo 30, Winona 20: Mayo is better than its 0-2 record, while Winona isn't as good as its 2-0 mark. I'll take the Spartans to get going back in the right direction.

John Marshall 19, Mankato East 14: The Rockets offense sputtered a little last week, and I'm guessing this weather isn't going to help. But I see the Rockets grinding out a victory behind the running of A.J. Johnson and newcomer Nick Haglund.

Hiawatha Valley League
Lourdes 24, Kasson-Mantorville 7: The Eagles just keep reloading. They're the real deal again this year.

Zumbrota-Mazeppa 14, Winona Cotter 13: Both of these teams are solid, but not outstanding. I'll take Z-M at home, though this will be a barn-burner ... toughest game to pick this week.

Three Rivers Conference
Rushford-Peterson 7, Wabasha-Kellogg 0: Hopefully R-P can bounce back after that 4OT loss last week. I'll take R-P at home.

Southeast Conference
Spring Grove 26, Mabel-Canton 14: Spring Grove has two quality wins, and it will keep rolling this week.

Glenville-Emmons 12, LeRoy-Ostrander 8: Well, G-E beat Lyle/Pacelli and L-O didn't ... so, we can never pick Nine-man games right, and I'm guessing I will be wrong on this one.

* * *

FELDY: The only good news for me is that I can't drop below .500 this week. That will likely happen by next week.

Big Nine Conference
Mayo 23, Winona 21: Mayo's pass defense needs to step up this week against a Winhawks team that threw for more than 290 yards a week ago. The Spartans had a good week of practice this week and I think the players got the frustrations of an 0-2 start out of their systems. Still, Winona has playmakers who can change a game.

Mankato East 26, John Marshall 20: The Rockets offense sputtered a little last week, and I'm guessing this weather isn't going to help. But I see the Rockets grinding out a victory behind the running of A.J. Johnson and newcomer Nick Haglund.

Hiawatha Valley League
Kasson-Mantorville 24, Lourdes 23: Lourdes has a ton of confidence right now. This will be their toughest test so far, though. K-M has played two strong teams so far, edging Byron by a point last week after losing by one score to Triton in the opener.

Zumbrota-Mazeppa 26, Winona Cotter 8: Big home opener for Z-M, coming off a three-score win at Pine Island.

Three Rivers Conference
Rushford-Peterson 19, Wabasha-Kellogg 6: R-P has lost to two good teams so far. W-K has had trouble scoring points.

Southeast Conference
Spring Grove 36, Mabel-Canton 34: I went with Spring Grove last week against Lanesboro and they came through. Let's stick with 'em this week

Glenville-Emmons 23, LeRoy-Ostrander 12: L-O has scored just eight points in each of its first two games, so I'll go with G-E on its home field.

NAHL | Kautz plays well, takes loss in his Jr. Hockey debut

FELDY: Seven former Rochester-area high school players are competing in the North American Hockey League showcase in Blaine this week.

Among them is former Rochester Century goalie Brock Kautz, who is in his first season of junior hockey, with the Owatonna Express. Kautz left Century after a strong sophomore season, forgoing his final two seasons of high school hockey.

Kautz and the Express suffered a season-opening loss to Wenatchee on Wednesday, falling 5-3. Kautz played well, though, stopping 28 of 32 shots he faced. Two of the goals he allowed were power-play goals, and Wenatchee's fifth goal was an empty-netter late in the third period.

Red Wing's Blake Schammel also plays for the Express, as does former International Falls defenseman Matt Youso, who played in the Kiwanis Festival in Rochester three times as a high school player.

Three former Rochester players are playing way up north this season, with Fairbanks. Former Lourdes standouts Tyler Voigt, a forward, and Pete Spratte, a defenseman, as well as former Mayo standout Charlie Thauwald, are all playing for Fairbanks.

Austin native John Kirby (D, Austin Bruins) and Red Wing's Bryan Mitchell (D, Amarillo) are also in this week's Showcase.

I'll do my best to update how each of these players does this week, though I likely won't be able to post stats from every game.

All of the information on the Showcase, and the NAHL throughout the season, can be found on the nahl web site.