Top Returning Forwards- Lake Superior

We are back for another conference preseason preview; where we highlight the top returning players at each position and also preview the best teams in the said conference. The conference this week will be the Lake Superior. We messed up the teams in the IMAC yesterday and had Gentry and Holy Angels in it, they were both in it last year. Our apologies, we now have the correct conference for the returning defenseman. Holy Angels and Gentry are both in the IMAC, we will update this article to honor that. For anyone following the IMAC predictions are messed up, and I have Gentry at 1 Blake and 2 and Holy Angels at 3. Now shifting past the mistake and now focusing on the new conference, the Lake Superior teams are Hermantown, Grand Rapids, Cloquet, Duluth Denfeld, Duluth Marshall, Proctor. This is a pretty top-heavy conference this year with Hermantown, Duluth Denfeld, and Grand Rapids. Today we are covering the three forwards that are worthy of recognition in this conference for their returns. This conference has a lot of solid forwards this year, and pretty hard to narrow it down to three but here we are.

#1  Sam Rinzel Sam Rinzel 6'4" | Defense Chaska | 2023 State MN  | 5’9 Forward | Class of 2023 | Hermantown High School

Arguably the best player in the state is returning for his junior season, to try and lead Hermantown to the  ’A’ title. Plante had one of the best recent seasons for underclassmen as I can recall. He finished last season averaging an astonishing over 3 points per game. Plante’s final stat line for the season was 29 goals, 32 assists, and 61 points. Plante was as dominant as can be, and he is the number one returning player in the state for a reason. Plante recently committed to UMD this summer and is currently with the USHL’s Chicago Steel. I am very excited to see what he can do that would be better than he did last season. It is Sam Rinzel Sam Rinzel 6'4" | Defense Chaska | 2023 State MN we are talking about, so anything is for sure possible. He is the easy favorite to lead the state in points this year. If you get a chance to watch him play this year, make sure to take it; because this is his likely last year in high school.

#2  Simon Davidson Simon Davidson 6'0" | Forward Duluth Denfeld | 2022 State MN | 6’1 Forward | Class of 2022 | Duluth Denfeld 

Simon Davidson Simon Davidson 6'0" | Forward Duluth Denfeld | 2022 State MN is the second-best forward returning to this conference. Davidson really helped Denfeld have a pretty solid season last year. He means a lot to his team, and he is for sure returning this year as he is in the high school elite league. Last season, Davidson averaged exactly 2 points per game and finished with 32 total points in 16 games. Davidson is a very clutch player, as he had 3 game-winning goals last year; that is almost 25 percent of his team’s games. Davidson has a knack for scoring but also can make a lot of plays moving the puck. Davidson is currently ranked as the 44th player in our senior class rankings. I am very excited to see what Davidson can accomplish in his senior year.

#3 Brendan Friday | 5’9 Forward | Class of 2023 | Duluth Marshall

Brendan Friday is ranked as the third-best returning player in this conference. Brendan is more of an underrated player because of the team he is on, hasn’t had much success recently. He put himself on the map last year with a 28 point sophomore season. He thrived in his scoring against weaker opponents, so I would love to see him start scoring against tougher opponents, like Grand Rapids and Hermantown, and that can come this year. Very solid first year for Friday, he will get put on these rankings if he has similar or improved stats.