Bayside Chatter: Hockey season heats up

Talk about it

Hermantown’s 6-2 loss to Bemidji means there will be no undefeated high school hockey teams in Minnesota this season. Hermantown and Bemidji remain the only boys teams with one loss with Minnetonka the only one for the girls.

The No. 1 teams at this time are Eden Prairie and St. Thomas Academy for the boys and Minnetonka and Warroad for the girls. All but Eden Prairie have been No. 1 since day one.

Look for Eden Prairie to be replaced by either Benilde-St. Margaret’s or Hill-Murray this week. All three top teams for the boys in AA in Eden Prairie, Edina, and Duluth East lost at least once last week. Silver Bay came in at No. 5 in the local rankings last week put out by the News-Tribune.

Girls basketball

In girls basketball the season started out with Lakeville North, Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Braham, and Barnum as the No. 1 teams. Hopkins replaced Lakeville North early and Hill-Murray replaced Benilde at the same time and there has been no changes since. For the boys it started out with Hopkins, St. Paul Johnson, Plainview-Elgin-Millville, and Minnesota Transitions as the top dogs. The only change is that DeLaSalle knocked Johnson down to No. 2 and replaced them at the top in AAA. Duluth East and Barnum are the top ranked local teams and for boys it’s Duluth East and Esko.

Hockey

The Mariner girls host Grantsburg/Webster/Burnett Wis. tonight and are at Chisago Lakes tomorrow in a rescheduled game. Monday they are Cloquet in another  rescheduled contest and Thursday they host Superior to conclude the regular season portion of their schedule. The playoffs start Feb. 10 and the girls could end up being seeded anywhere from second to fifth.

Softball

Silver Bay will once again host a softball tournament this summer as they have been awarded the District VI Class EE men’s playoffs Aug. 5-7.

History

The Mariners nickname came via a contest held at the Campton School, now the Vets Home, just before the new William Kelley High School opened. The winning idea of the Mariners came from Tom Langley who went on to letter in three sports.

Tags: bayside chatter, sports, hockey