Photo: twitter.com/JFKEagles With the 2020-21 season still months out, it’s time to take a look at teams from all over the State of Hockey and examine what happened this past season and what’s ahead. The next team we’re breaking down…
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With the 2020-21 season still months out, it’s time to take a look at teams from all over the State of Hockey and examine what happened this past season and what’s ahead. The next team we’re breaking down is Bloomington Kennedy.
How last season went
Despite playing in Section 2A, Kennedy has to face a lot of AA talent throughout the regular season and understandably has trouble with said opponents, going 1-9 versus those teams last season. Otherwise, the Bloomington Eagles can go toe to toe with any Single-A opponent they face, as they were 6-8 against similarly ranked teams last season. They finished the regular season with a 7-17 record with big wins over Chanhassen, Waconia, and Minnehaha Academy.
Due to their harsh schedule and some injury trouble, the Eagles found themselves ranked #8 in Section 2A and were tasked a “Play-in-game” vs #9 seeded Providence Academy to advance to the Quarterfinals. Bloomington was up for the challenge, grinding out a 4-3 victory in overtime to get to their biggest challenge of the year: Orono. The Spartans from Orono played true to their #1 rank and won the game 5-1, ending Kennedy’s season.
Who’s back and who’s gone
This Eagles team doesn’t have a lot of depth, so every loss hurts. The biggest in terms of production will be seniors John Lane and Peter Vodovnik. Lane was 2nd on the team for goals scored with 12 last season, and Vodovnik started every game but two in net with a 4.71 GAA and .855 SV%.
The good news for the Bloomington squad is that they are returning their top two forwards Tyler Jost (20G, 16A) and Joseph Workman (10G, 18A), as well as their best defensemen Chase Beacom (3G, 21A) and Logan Dosan (4G, 16A). Beacom is committed to St. Cloud State for the 2022-2023 season and was drafted in 2019 (3rd round, #40 overall) by the Cedar Rapids Rough Riders.
What to expect next season
Bloomington Kennedy hasn’t made it past the quarterfinals since the first year they were moved to Section 2A in 2014. If they want to make it deeper into the playoffs they’ll have to improve on the defensive end in particular. Last season the Eagles averaged 4.8 goals against which makes it difficult to win no matter how talented skaters like Tyler Jost and Chase Beacom may be. If they want to be taken more seriously they will need a bounce-back season from returning netminder Luke Skophammer, who started only two games last season and finished 1-1 with a 4.88 GAA and a .833 SV%.