Class A slate still unfolding in early goings

The shuffling deck that is Class A hockey continues to create a stack of cards as the early season gets going and teams shift up and down in our early rankings, presented by Tradition Companies.

This week the Warroad Warriors claim the top spot even though they didn’t play last week after a 5-3 win against No. 6 Delano and a 2-2 tie against pre-season No. 1 St. Cloud Cathedral during the season’s first week. Hermantown is a  close second after taking on a pair of Class AA powers in Cretin-Derham Hall (4-4 tie) and Hill-Murray (7-2 loss). The Hawks will play some of the top Class AA teams early on as usual. The Pioneers outshot the Hawks 49-18. Hermantown will play East Grand Forks this Friday in a good test that will likely shuffle the ranking cards once again.

Cloquet/Esko/Carlton makes the biggest jump, coming in at No. 3 after a 3-0-0 start, including an 8-5 win over No. 4 Hibbing/Chisholm. They entered last week at No. 8, but look to have a powerful offense with 25 goals in their first three games.

Hibbing/Chisholm stayed at No. 4 after beating No. 1 St. Cloud Cathedral 6-3 before dropping a 6-3 loss to No. 2AA Cretin-Derham Hall.

Cathedral, who started out No. 1 in pre-season rankings and hung on last week to the top spot, fell to No. 5 this week and are still searching for their first win.

Delano dropped a spot to No. 6 through no fault of their own. They defeated Class AA Buffalo 7-4 behind a hat trick from Brady Kangas. They will play Cathedral, Hermantown and Hibbing/Chisholm before the new year.

East Grand Forks comes in at No. 7 after finally getting on the winning track with a pair of wins over Grand Forks ND teams.

Monticello opened their season with a win over No. 7 Orono, who dropped to No. 9 after the loss. The teams matched up well, each firing 31 shots on goal in the game. Orono’s late comeback on goals by Jackson Knight and Trey Landa weren’t enough after the Moose built a 5-2 lead behind a pair of goals from Landon Scherber. Orono’s Knight currently leads the state in scoring with 17 points in four games.

Northfield rounds out the top 10 after their 3-0-0 start, including a convincing 7-3 win over No. 15 Proctor and a 5-2 win over No. 12 Minneapolis.

LPH Class A Boys Rankings – Presented by Tradition Companies