MHM 2018 Oct-digital
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YOUTH HOCKEY<br />
YOUTH HOCKEY HUB:<br />
RINK VISION<br />
YOUTH HOCKEY HUB BREAKS DOWN THE TEAMS AND PLAYERS TO WATCH IN <strong>2018</strong>-19<br />
YOUTH HOCKEY HUB<br />
STARS OF THE NORTH<br />
Teams to watch<br />
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Hermantown Squirt A<br />
Rarely does a team at the Squirt level enter a<br />
season with proven talent that has competed on<br />
an international stage. This year, the Hawks will<br />
feature two of those talents, with Brick Invitational<br />
standouts Victor Plante and A.J. Francisco. With<br />
Plante powering the Hawks’ attack and Francisco<br />
taking care of the back end, the Hawks will be a<br />
strong-skating team that can move the puck.<br />
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Woodbury Peewee AA<br />
Yes, the defending Peewee AA state champions<br />
lose offensive firepower as players make the jump<br />
to the Bantam level. Yes, the Predators lose one<br />
member of the one-two goaltending punch in<br />
Bantam Elite League Minor Division netminder Jack<br />
Hodgins. Doesn’t matter.<br />
The Predators return one of the deepest<br />
defensive cores in the state, anchored by last year’s<br />
starting tandem Tanner Henricks and Will Skahan.<br />
Joining Henricks and Skahan this season will be<br />
defender Logan Hensler, rock-solid goaltender<br />
Andrew Lane, and speedy forward Lucas Mann.<br />
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Stillwater 12UA<br />
The team that went 39-0-1 two years ago as<br />
a 10UA is still intact, and with the growing year<br />
out of the way, the Ponies are primed for another<br />
dominant season. The 12UB Ponies won the state<br />
title last season with a record of 40-4-2. Leading<br />
scorer Brooke Nelson played her way into 12UB<br />
State Tournament Most Valuable Player honors,<br />
while Josie St. Martin led the Girls Major Division at<br />
this year’s Peewee Challenge with four goals and<br />
eight total points.<br />
Players to Watch<br />
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Max Plante, Hermantown Peewee AA<br />
Teamed with his brother (and Youth Hockey<br />
Hub Wiz Wyatt Award-Winner) Zam, Plante lit up<br />
opposing defenses last season for the state runnerup<br />
Hawks. In the summer of 2017, playing against<br />
the best Squirt Major competition on the continent,<br />
Plante led the North American Hockey Showcase in<br />
scoring with 13 goals and 27 points for the United<br />
States runner-up Great Plains squad.<br />
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Alexa Niccum, Orono-Westonka 12UA<br />
The Maple Plain native tallied five goals in this<br />
year’s Peewee Challenge, cementing herself as<br />
one of the top skaters in the state for the 12UA age<br />
group. Niccum’s performance was good enough to<br />
lead the Girls Minor Division in both goals and total<br />
points, despite playing in just four of five possible<br />
games.<br />
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Gavin McNeil, Apple Valley/Burnsville Squirt A<br />
Another North American Hockey Showcase<br />
standout, McNeil finished second in overall scoring<br />
at this summer’s version of The Show. McNeil, who’s<br />
skating and nose for the net allows him to routinely<br />
lead three-on-three tournaments in scoring, totaled<br />
10 goals and 18 points for Great Plains last June.<br />
Highlighting McNeil’s play in The Show was a threegoal,<br />
seven-point performance in a 10-2 win over<br />
Team North America.<br />
Joey Pierce, Hermantown<br />
Legends grow more rapidly in the northland, especially when it comes to<br />
hockey. Pierce is a curious case, a defenseman who played a season of varsity<br />
hockey for Ely as an eighth-grader before moving to Hermantown and playing<br />
for the Hawks’ Bantam AA team, keeping with the Hawks’ tradition of having<br />
ninth-graders play Bantams as opposed to varsity hockey right away. As an<br />
eighth-grader skating for the Timberwolves, Pierce finished second on the team<br />
in scoring with 14 goals and 34 points. As a member of a State Tournament<br />
participant Bantam AA squad, Pierce impressed again with his athleticism and<br />
strength on the blue line.<br />
Genevieve Hendrickson, Warroad<br />
On a team that returns an incredible amount of scoring, the sophomore<br />
forward could be the crowned jewel of the Warriors.<br />
As a freshman, Hendrickson led the state in assists during the regular season<br />
with 49 and added another five helpers as the Warriors took second at the Class<br />
A State Tournament, adding to her sparkling resume that included 13 assists and<br />
17 points as an eighth-grader.<br />
With career totals of 67 assists and 87 points, Hendrickson should eclipse the<br />
career 100-point mark very early in the <strong>2018</strong>-2019 season.<br />
Cameron Lantz, Greenway<br />
As a defenseman, Lantz’s seven goals and 22 points are modest totals. But<br />
when one of your seven goals forces overtime against longtime Section 7A rival<br />
Hermantown in the section finals, you’ve etched yourself in Minnesota High<br />
School hockey lore - at least until you help your team past that final hurdle at<br />
Amsoil Arena. Lantz scored with one second remaining in regulation during last<br />
year’s Section 7A final for the Raiders, sending the crowd (and press box) into<br />
a frenzied celebration heavy on wide-eyes and what-the-hell-did-we-just-see<br />
expressions. Lanz and the Raiders appear primed for another deep postseason<br />
run, returning several key pieces from last season’s team.<br />
OCTOBER <strong>2018</strong> MINNESOTA HOCKEY MAGAZINE MINNESOTA HOCKEY MAGAZINE OCTOBER <strong>2018</strong><br />
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