SECTION 8A GIRL’S HOCKEY COACHES POLL AND SEASON PREVIEW
The Warroad Warrior Girls Hockey team has been tabbed the favorite in the KROX Radio Section 8A Girls Hockey Coaches poll and season preview. Warroad went 26-1-1 on the year with a 6-1 loss to Breck in the state championship game last year. Warroad received three first-place votes, while Thief River Falls and East Grand Forks each received a first-place vote. The coaches poll results and the season preview for all five teams are listed below –
- Warroad – 5 (3)
- Thief River Falls – 9 (1)
- East Grand Forks – 13 (1)
- Detroit Lakes – 20
- Crookston – 23
WARROAD – Coach David “Izzy” Marvin (13th Season)
Warroad remains the standard-setting program in Section 8A going into the 2019-20 season. The Warriors are coming off a 24-0-1 regular season with their lone tie coming against Section 8AA Roseau 1-1. Warroad’s season ended in heartbreak for the second straight year as the Warriors lost in the state championship game against Breck 6-1. While Warroad loses starting goaltender Olivia Kuntz (Ohio State) and defender Kaitlyn Kotlowski (Wisconsin), the Warriors still return more than enough talent to make a third straight trip to the state championship game.
Top returners – senior Hannah Corneliusen, 42-30-72; junior Genevieve Hendrickson, 19-27-46; junior Karlie Meeker, 6-20-26
Season preview – (Provided by Coach Marvin) – “We have a lot of returning players.”
THIEF RIVER FALLS – Coach Brett Johnson (3rd Season)
Thief River Falls returns a talented nucleus of players from a team that finished 15-9 in the regular season. If the Prowlers were in any other section, they would likely be a consistent State tournament team, however Warroad ended Thief River Falls season in the section championship game last season 4-1 after the Prowlers fell to East Grand Forks in the previous two Section tournaments. With most of the Prowlers scoring back this could be the year Thief River Falls takes back the section title.
Top returners – Shelby Breiland, 24-12-36, Khloe Lund, 13-20-33; Lexi Huot, 2-7-9; Gabreilla Steele, 1.86 GAA and .923 SV%
Season preview – (Provided by Coach Johnson) – “With TRF this year fans are going to see a well-rounded team. Speed up front and a solid D core. This group has many returning players from the last two seasons when I took over the head coaching position. There is a lot of Varsity experience on the bench. It all starts with our goalie. Gabriella Steele is a 3-year starting varsity goalie. Gabriella went 8-4 last year splitting time with Senior Faith Porte. On the blue line, we are also returning a large majority of our girls. Khloe Lund and Lexi Huot will anchor the blue line. Khloe is an all-around defenseman. Lexi is steady on the blue line. Upfront we have a good bunch of forwards who put in the time over the summer to get bigger faster and stronger. Shelby has good speed and plays a physical game overpowering many of her opponents. Bella Amiot is another forward that has made great strides over the summer. She is showing a lot of strength on the ice with her skating and shooting abilities. Haylie Rogalla, Bella Nelson, and Kia McGlynn are a few other forwards the Prowlers are looking to have a big year. Rachel Georgeson and Jayden Breiland are two of our younger girls who we think will be able to step in and help our team out.”
EAST GRAND FORKS – Coach Brian Larson (2nd Season)
The East Grand Forks Green Wave are coming off a 15-9-2 season that ended in the Section 8A Tournament semifinals with a 1-0 loss to Thief River Falls. East Grand Forks has some big skates to fill with the graduation of Madison McDonald who scored 29 goals last season with 42 points total. The Green Wave also graduated starting goaltender Megan Birkholz. It could be a rebuilding year for East Grand Forks, but they have enough returning talent to compete with the top of the section if they can fill the void of their two biggest losses from last year’s team.
Top returners – sophomore Kendra Emery, 10-21-31; sophomore CJ Mack, 10-19-29; freshman Kate Johnson, 11-4-15
Season preview – (Provided by Coach Larson) – “I think for us to be in the games we will have to have balanced scoring from our top 3 lines, and we will have to play good defense in our own end. we will have 2 goalies that will be good for us if we can play solid defense for them. seniors Ellie Mcdonald, Lynnsey Hartwig, I like what I’ve seen in practice so far I think we will be more balanced this year if you shut down one line I think the other 2 lines can score.”
DETROIT LAKES – Coach Scott Piepkorn (2nd Season)
The Detroit Lakes Lakers have long sat atop the bottom half of the section consistently beating Park Rapids and Crookston earning home Section Tournament play-in games during back-to-back seasons. Detroit Lakes beat Crookston 6-1 in a play-in game last season at Detroit Lakes in the Section tournament before falling 16-0 against Warroad in the Semifinals. With Park Rapids cutting their program following a winless season and Detroit Lakes losing five seniors it could be a rebuilding year for DL in which wins are hard to come by.
Top returners – Sophomore Emma Coley 9-6-15 and Senior Madyson Melgard 4-7-11
Season preview – (Provided by Coach Piepkorn) – “Detroit lakes lost 5 productive seniors to graduation. This season we need to replace most of our scoring from last year. We are returning a very young squad with only three seniors in our lineup. The Lakers will be lead by captains senior forward Madyson Melgard, junior defenseman McKenna Burhans, and senior defenseman Payton Schiltz. Junior Leah Honer will return to the net for her second starting season. Leah has put some hard work this summer to better herself and we believe she will be a big factor to the team this season. Leah will be backed up by newcomer and JV goalie, Anna Jones. The Lakers have added eighth-grader Haley Stattelman to our defensive corps. She is coming out of the youth program with very good skills and will contribute immediately. Defensive positioning and great effort will be the keys to a successful season for the Lakers. The kids will put in the effort and it will show as we go on through the season. Ramping up for the toughest section tourney in the state is always a challenge. Hopefully, the Lakers will be ready.”
CROOKSTON – Coach Tim Moe (2nd Season returning as HC, 7th season total)
The team most impacted by the shuttering of the Park Rapids hockey team is Crookston, which earned two of its four wins over the Panthers last season (the other two wins were both against Morris/Benson). Since 2015 the Pirates only Section wins have all come against Park Rapids, but Crookston returns all of their scoring from last season with the top of their roster unchanged over the past three seasons. Crookston’s depth will be stretched once again as they have another sizable contingent of underclassmen that they’re hoping will not only contribute at the varsity level this year but will continue through the program through graduation.
Top returners – All-Conference honorable mentions coming back: Catherine Tiedemann 14-9-23, Nora Peterson 7-7-14, Rylee Solheim 2-3-5, Grace Koshney 20 GP 87% Save Percentage 5.22 Goals Against Average
Season preview – (Provided by Coach Moe) – “I think Crookston will be more competitive this year. The numbers crunch we have been in the past couple of years looks to be over as we should have 33 kids on our roster. There has also been an influx of young talent from the youth level who have had good success over the past few years. We didn’t graduate any points off of last year’s varsity team so we have a lot of experience and points coming back, but we are still young with only 4 Seniors and 4 Juniors playing this year.”
