The Section 8A Boy’s Hockey coaches tend to believe it will be the Big Three again although they are not quite sure who the Big ONE will be! It could be Warroad with some very good young players, or maybe East Grand Forks who to many coaches are loaded including their ‘new coach’ or maybe it will be the defending champion? When people say, Thief River Falls lost almost everybody, their JV wasn’t that good and their Bantam’s weren’t winning, they ALWAYS add, coach Bergland will have them ready for the playoffs in February!!!
That’s the consensus again in a Section 8A Boy’s Hockey Poll conductedby KROX RADIO in Crookston. Â Warroad took six of the 10 coaches votes as the top dog in Section 8A with many voting for Warroad, but at the same time talking about how deep East Grand Forks appears to be and will be tough to beat! Will Crookston and Detroit Lakes climb another rung in the seeds and slip by the ‘top three’?
Five of the 10 teams will open up this weekend with the other five going the following week. Â
All of the 10 Section coaches responded to the poll:
1. Warroad (6)                     13
2. East Grand Forks (3)        15
3. Thief River Falls (1)          24
4. Crookston                          32
5.  Detroit Lakes                    41
6. Kittson County Central   55
7.  Lake of the Woods          58
8. Park Rapids                       63
9. Red Lake Falls                   68
10. Bagley-Fosston               81
Warroad
The Warriors lost their first six games to start the season last year and ended up 14-6-1 the rest of the way, losing a 6-4 shootout to Thief River Falls in a Section semi-final. Warroad returns two All-Section 8A performers as sophomores last year, Grant Slukynsky (19g-21a) and linemate Owen Meeker (10g-28a). They do lose a couple from their second unit that was expected back with Cameron Skappel (not in school) and Jaron Moyer, a two-year starter who could miss the season because of a football injury. Add graduation which claimed half their roster and they do have some spots to fill up front and also defensively after losing All-Section Max Marvin. Hunter Pelland (1g-6a) and Gage Wilmer (0g-7a) return on the backside. Max Gausen saw seven varsity games last year in goal (1.49ga-92%). The Warriors are not deep with a number lacking varsity experience, but when has that stopped them? Jay Hardwick is in his seventh year coaching his alma mater and at some time this season will pick up his 100th win as a head coach as he’s starting the season with 90 in Hockey Town U.S.A.
East Grand Forks
Scott Koberinskicoached East Grand Forks for the past three seasons to a record of 48-32-6. His Green Wave teams played in the Section 8A championship all three years, won it two years ago and lost the consolation championship in the State Tournament! After Coach Koberinski sat down with his Activities Director, which happens to be Scott Koberinski, they decided that being Activities Director and coaching a winter sport put a lot on his plate, so Coach Koberinski handed in his resignation as head boy’s hockey coach to Activities Director Koberinski. A.D. Koberinski didn’t have to go too far to find his hockey replacement! Enter Tyler Palmiscno! Coach Palmiscno was the head coach previous to Koberinski and Palmiscno retired after winning back to back Minnesota State Class A State Tournaments!!! In other words, Koberinski kept the coaching seat warm for Coach Palmiscno and handed off what many would term a loaded Green Wave team!
All Section 8A center Carter Beck (12g-12a), All-Section 8A center Tanner Mack (6g9a) will lead up front as all three centers are back along with Landon Parker, who as a freshman last year, played only 11 games before he was sidelined the rest of the year with an injury and the ‘phenom’ had 7g-5a in that time. Defensively, only two of the six blueliners return led by big Luke Vonesh (7g-9a) and Josh Nelson (0g-4a) who are two of the better ones in the Section. Goalie Tucker Brown was the starting goalie that played in all the Green Wave games two years ago and led them to State. He lost his job last year to transfer Carter Krier, did play in seven games and now is back and is ready to try and get the Green Wave back to State again with what appears to be a very deep East Grand Forks team!
Thief River Falls
The Prowlers sported the best line in Section 8A last year, one of the top defensemen and an All-Section goalie. They used that talent to win the Section 8A Tournament and go on to take the Consolation Championship at the State Class A Tournament! Thief River Falls lost 47 goals and 43 assists from two on that top line, Aaron Myers and Brady Anderson. Tucker Skime (8g-31a) is the lone holdout back after a terrific sophomore season and he’s back along with three other forwards off the top three lines that include Kaleb Flaagen (2g-5a) and Ethan Janisch (2g-2a). So returning scoring will be an early question mark for Thief River Falls and head coach Tim Bergland in his 12th season as the Prowlers head coach and his alma mater. Defense is what the Prowlers will rely on to start the season with all four returning defensemen back including All-Section 8A Evan Bushy (11g-22a). Bushy has verbally committed to St. Cloud State, where his brother Brendan is a freshman. They lost All-Section 8A goalie for the past two seasons, Nick Corneliusen, to graduation and the youngster that wins the job this season will have no varsity experience. So you lose more than half your scoring and an All-Star goalie, this is just where Coach Bergland excels!!
Crookston
What can Section 8A Coach of the Year Josh Hardy to for an encore? The third-year coach led the Pirates to one of their best seasons in a number of years at 15-12 and a season where they beat the ‘Big Three’ (EGF, TRF, Warroad) once during the regular season. First, he’ll have to find a goalie to replace All-Section 8A Cade Salentine. Salentine, who was a red-shirt freshman for the University of North Dakota football team this year, played all 27 games last year with a 2.72 g.a. and 90 save percentage. Crookston had four players returning that scored in double digits last year, three of them return led by senior Eric Delorme (26g-18a), junior Ben Andringa (11g-11a) and senior Brock Heppner (10g-11a). Joey Doda was right there with eight goals. Defensively, the Pirates received a blow when the two-year starter, junior Leyton Salentine, blew out his knee in football and is out for the hockey season! Two defensemen are back with a couple years varsity experience, seniors Logan Wardner (2g-7a) and Jake Anderson (0g-4a) plus Noah Kiel, a sophomore up from Bantams should step right in. Crookston is expected to score some goals with a good portion of that side back along with an eighth grader, Jack Doda, who scored like crazy through the park board system. Another Jack, Jack Ricord is the only goalie back that has any varsity experience and that would be a couple of periods of varsity play. The senior along with some youngsters will battle that position out!
Detroit Lakes
The Lakers welcome back 11 seniors which certainly lends itself to experience with over half of your squad back. The Lakers did lose three of their top four scorers but will be led up front by All-Section 8A forward and leading scorer from last season, Trey Seebold (10g-17a) who is now a senior. Jackson Carlblom (10g-10a) and Will Green (12g-7a) will look to add to their totals from last year. Detroit Lakes coach Todd Dwyer is in his fifth season as head coach and he has three defensemen back including Reed Benson (1g-10a), Jackson Fields (6g-13). Blake Itzen played in 17 games as a goalie last year (3.11ga) and he will battle last year’s Bantam A goalie, Jack Hines, who led his team to 24 wins last year. Speaking of Bantams, sophomore Jack Green will lead a group looking for varsity spots.
Kittson County Central
Robert Carr is in his eighth year as head coach for Kittson County Central and sitting on 73 career wins as head coach. Will the Bearcats be able to build on those wins for the coach? They do have eight of their nine back at the forward position and three of their four defensemen back, but they are still young! With a good mixture of veterans with youngsters ready to hit varsity, they will be led by Calvin Hanson who led the Bearcats in scoring as a freshman (10g-12a) and Trent Peterson (8g-5a). Josh Rynning (8g-10a)Â is a solid senior defenseman along with Hayden Henning (5g-8a as a freshman). Opposing coaches are probably saying, ‘finally’ Ben Sugden graduated! Wyatt Olsonawski is heir apparent playing a period of varsity hockey last year as a freshman. How the newcomers will mix with the veterans will go a long way to how the Bearcats will go.
Lake of the Woods
The Bears have a new head coach. Brent Olson, a 2004 graduate of Lake of the Woods, where he was an excellent player who led Lake of the Woods to a 23-4-1 season, losing in overtime to Warroad in the Section championship. Coach Olson went on to play four years at the Air Force Academy!! Lake of the Woods has only six returning off last year’s squad with three top players electing not to go out this season including Kade Chapman (24g-20a)!! Totally, they lost 78% of their scoring from last season, but return seniors Jackson Arpin (15g-36a), McKale Risser (3g-8a) along with junior Blake Ferris (3g-3a). Gunner Ferrier (6g-6a) plays both defense and forward with Griffen Sonstegard (1g-2a) on the blue line. Goaltending will be new as All-Section goalie, Lemuel Carradice played 25 games last year with an outstanding 1.88 goals against with a saves percentage of 92%!. Aidan Tom did get in four games at goalie last year, won them all with a goals against under one and a lofty 95 saves percentage. Coach Olson will need the team playing together to compete and how can they overcome the lack of experience and channel the youthful energy!
Park Rapids
Panthers head coach Derek Ricke greeted 10 seniors back at his second year as head coach. They should be led by Carter Opheim (6g-10a), Nolan Pederson (9g-2a) and Brent Pinoniemi (5g-4a) for scoring to start the season. They do have three of their four defensemen back including Tom Melvin (5g-1a). Coach Ricke will be searching for a goalie as four year starter, Austin Jerger has graduated. Senior Brendan Kruchowski seen action in four games last year and they are hoping he can step in and not miss a beat in goal. The Panthers lost a couple starters who both moved to Bemidji, Bjorn Jorgenson (10g-8a) and Wyatt Halvorson (8g-8a) moved to Bemidji.
Red Lake Falls
Trevor Page graduated from Red Lake Falls Layfayette High School and for a decade now has been coaching his alma mater. For those 10 years he has battled numbers being the smallest school in the State of Minnesota that is playing hockey. (Kittson County Central is the second smallest by about 10 students when you add in the co-ops for the two teams). The Eagles lost only two off last year’s squad to graduation and hoping the experience will ramp up their scoring from 39 goals last year in 25 games! Fred Landman (16g-6a) had almost half their goals as a sophomore and Hunter Schmitz (9g-3a) is another veteran who should be counted on in his senior year. Defensively, Hunter Pahlen (1g-3a) and Logan Klipping (3g-1a) are returning on the blue line in front of junior goalie Brenden Larson who has played every minute in goal the last two seasons after season some action as an eighth grader! Red Lake Falls youth programs have been having some success and over the next few years will be feeding the Eagles high school program including a few moving up from Bantams this year in sophomores Zac Kennett and Nathan Huot plus Andrew Johnson has moved up to give Larson competition in goal. Coach Page likes the hard work his team is putting in and the great leaders he has on and off the ice!
Bagley-Fosston
The Flyers lost three off last year’s team and return the only player who scored in double digits last season, Griffin Brovold (22g-7a) who is now a senior. Brovold leads the way with what should be a very good first unit for Bagley-Fosston’s second year head coach Alex Jesness. Tanner Levin (5g-6a) will complement Brovold up front. Defensively, Bagley-Fosston has Jacy Benson (4g-2a) and Parker Gray (2g-3a) patrolling the back side again. Jakob Dukek played in goal for 17 games last year as an eighth grader and will battle Brycen Olson who along with four others have moved up from the youth program. These youngsters will see a lot of minutes for a young Flyer team that doesn’t have a lot of depth, so they have to stay healthy.
All-Section 8A players returning
Forward
Grant Slukynsky – Warroad
Eric Delorme – Crookston
Carter Beck – East Grand Forks
Trey Seebold –Â Detroit Lakes
Owen Meeker – Warroad
Tanner Mack – East Grand Forks
Defense
Evan Bushy – Thief River Falls
Goalies
None
Former Section 8A players still playing hockey (that we know of)
NHL
Brock Nelson – Warroad (New York Islanders)
T. J. Oshie – Warroad (Washington)
Tucker Poolman – East Grand Forks (Winnipeg)
Alex Lyon – Lake of the Woods  (Philadelphia)
AHLÂ (Heart Beat Away)
Paul Bittner – Crookston (Cleveland)
Zane McIntyre – Thief River Falls (Providence) (has played for Boston Bruins)
ECHL
Gage Ausmus – East Grand Forks (Utah)
WHL
Jared Bethune – Warroad (Prince George)
Division I College
Ethan Johnson – Thief River Falls (Mercyhurst)
Taylor Brierley – East Grand Forks (Union)
Kobe Roth – Warroad  (Minnesota-Duluth)
Colton Poolman – East Grand Forks (North Dakota)
Dixon Bowen – East Grand Forks (North Dakota)
Luke Jaycox – Warroad (St. Cloud State)
Brendan Bushy – Thief River Falls (St. Cloud State)
Grant Loven – East Grand Forks (Northern Michigan)
Canadian College
Jared Bethune – Warroad (Queens University in Kingston, Ontario)
Division III College
Michael Johnson – Thief River Falls (Concordia College-Moorhead)
Beau Wilmer – Warroad (Concordia College-Moorhead)
Eddie Eades – East Grand Forks (Concordia College-Moorhead)
Luke Krause – Lake of the Woods  (Concordia College-Moorhead
Brady Heppner – Crookston (St. John’s)
Jon Richards – Detroit Lakes  (Wisconsin-Eau Claire)
Ryan Bittner – Crookston (Wisconsin-Stevens Point)
Junior Leagues
Casey Kallock – East Grand Forks (Minot-NAHL)
Aaron Myers – Thief River Falls (Minnesota Wilderness-NAHL)
Nathan Poolman – Lake of the Woods (Minnesota Wilderness-NAHL)
Coby Stauss – East Grand Forks (Winnipeg Blues-Manitoba JHL)
Parker Orchard – Warroad (Cape Cod – NA3HL)
Braden Shea – East Grand Forks (Dryden-Manitoba Junior)
Kip Knutson – Warroad (Minnesota Iron Rangers-SIJHL)
Nick Corneliusen – Thief River Falls (Minnesota Iron Rangers-SIJHL)
Carter Pelland – Warroad (Thief River Falls Norskies – SIJHL)
Nolen Bushee – Red Lake Falls (Thief River Falls Norskies – SIJHL)
Bailey Schmitz – Red Lake Falls (Thief River Falls Norskies – SIJHL)
Grand Boldt – Detroit Lakes (Estevan – Saskatchewan Junior Hockey)
