Cathedral maintains top spot but teams are tight in this year’s field

St. Cloud Cathedral battled Warroad to a 2-2 tie in their season opener. The Crusaders entered the season as the top-ranked team after winning the Class A title a year ago and bringing back a load of talent including John Hirschfeld, considered one of the top players in the state. Hirschfeld had a goal and an assist after an 83-point season as a junior where he led the state in assists with 56. Trailing 2-1 late in the third Griffin Sturm got the equalizer. Sturm is also a top returning player for the Crusaders along with 32-goal scorer Joey Gillespie, making them still the team to beat in Class A.

They will take on No. 4 Hibbing-Chisholm on Friday. Hibbing-Chisholm defeated No. 6 Mahtomedi 3-2 last week in overtime. Benny Galli scored the game winner at 3:25 of the extra frame for the big win. Ethan Sundvall assisted on the OT winner and also had a goal. Isaiah Hildebrand also scored for the Bluejackets who climbed a spot from No. 5 to No. 4 this week. Hibbing/Chisholm’s Rex Walli had 33 saves in the win.

Ryan Lipovetz and Will Seevers scored for the Zephyrs.

Hermantown comes in this week ranked No. 2 and open up play this Friday and Saturday against a pair of top 10 Class AA teams. They face Cretin-Derham Hall Friday and then will battle Hill-Murray Saturday.

With the tie against Cathedral, Warroad jumps three spots to No. 3. They also beat Delano, who jumped from No. 7 to No. 5. Warroad’s Ryan Shaugabay tallied four assists, and Gavin Anderson netted a hat trick to lead the Warriors. Taven James and Broten Hontvet added a goal and two assists each. Delano got a goal and two assists form Mason Hartgarten and Daniel Halonen. Lance Halonen also scored.

Orono jumped three spots form No. 10 to No. 7 with a pair of wins in which they scored 16 goals. They defeated Hutchinson 9-1 in their opener and responded with a 7-4 win over No. 18 Alexandria. Jackson Knight already has six goals and three assists on the season and Trey Landa has two goals and five assists throughout the first two games. Knight is currently second in the state in scoring. Henry Lechner of Holy Angels leads with seven goals and four assists.

Cloquet/Esko/Carlton maintained the No. 8 spot with a 7-1 win over Bloomington Jefferson. The Lumberjacks got goals form seven different players. Karson Young and Hudson Snesrud each had three assists, and Grady Knutson and Bobby Thornton added a goal and two assist each.

East Grand Forks, who entered the season as No. 2 in the rankings, fell all the way to No. 9 after a pair of losses. They fell 6-1 to Class AA Gentry Academy and then lost a close 6-5 battle with Delano in overtime. They outshot the Tigers 39-31, showing just how close the top 10 teams in the state are, which means fans can expect plenty of fluctuations as the year goes on. EGF will try and get on the winning track, but will have to beat a strong Detroit Lakes squad who jumped from No. 17 to No. 14.

Northern Lakes rounds out the top 10 after defeating Prairie Centre Monday night 11-0. The win was a huge one for head coach Mike Randolph, making him the All-Time Wins Leader in state high school hockey history. Randolph’s win was No.  708 in his career (Story: Randolph Becomes All-Time Wins Leader)

Class A Boys Rankings – Presented by Tradition Companies (11/26/24)