Section 6A Top Players

The seedings for Section 6A have been released and Alexandria retains the top spot, with Fergus Falls and Northern Lakes at #2 and #3 in that order. I can’t picture any other teams making a run after #3 and it should be between the top 3 teams, especially the Cardinals and Otters. Nonetheless, whoever is in the championship game should make for a dandy of game. Let’s get started and feature the Top 5 Players in the section and provide our section predictions at the end.

 

Josiah Gronholz Josiah Gronholz 6'1" | Forward Alexandria | 2022 MN | Alexandria | Senior | Forward

I am very surprised that we looked over Josiah Gronholz Josiah Gronholz 6'1" | Forward Alexandria | 2022 MN when assembling our most recent Prep Hockey rankings for the senior class. Through the regular season, Gronholz leads the Cardinals in points with 52. Josiah has performed very well in many of the marquee matchups for Alexandria, including a recent 4 point performance vs Northern Lakes in a 6-4 victory. As of now, I would say Alexandria are the favorites, just because they ended the season very strongly. They are unbeaten in their last 9 games.

 

Sam Jacobson Sam Jacobson 5'9" | Forward Rochester Mayo | 2023 State MN | Alexandria | Junior | Forward | Prep Hockey #121 ’23’s

Junior Sam Jacobson Sam Jacobson 5'9" | Forward Rochester Mayo | 2023 State MN has been Gronholz’s sidekick this season, tallying 9 goals and notching a very impressive 30 assists in the regular season. I would assume that Kludt assisted Josiah on many of his 23 goals. Tyler’s biggest performance of the season came vs Little Falls in game two of the season series, where he had 4 helpers in a huge 5-1 revenge victory. Alexandria has proven to be a powerful offensive team at times and these two players have contributed much to that success.

 

Isaac Johnson Isaac Johnson 5'10" | Forward Fergus Falls | 2023 State MN | Fergus Falls | Junior | Forward | Prep Hockey #38 ’23’s

Isaac Johnson Isaac Johnson 5'10" | Forward Fergus Falls | 2023 State MN is a special talent on the Fergus Falls Otters. Isaac is in his 3rd season of playing high school hockey and really got under the radar last season, as he collected 36 points in the shortened season. This season, Johnson has made another leap posting an even 50 points in the regular season. Johnson and the Otters had a pretty nice season and were able to capture that #2 seed in the section. However, they did lose to Alexandria twice in the regular season and will need to figure them out in order to advance.

 

Michael DeBrito Michael DeBrito 5'9" | Forward Fergus Falls | 2022 State MN | Fergus Falls | Senior | Forward | Prep Hockey #92 ’22’s

As a senior, it seems like Michael DeBrito Michael DeBrito 5'9" | Forward Fergus Falls | 2022 State MN has been playing for Fergus Falls forever now. He did start with the team as a freshman, just like Johnson, and has continued to get better each season. Even in his 9th grade season, DeBrito tallied 24 points in 24 games played. This season, Michael sits behind Johnson in points with an also impressive 46 points. This player has been through the ups and downs on this team the last three seasons and I guarantee he is more hungry than anyone to make the state tournament.

 

Tyler Seeling | Northern Lakes | Senior | Forward

Tyler Seeling is another player that we overlooked when we updated our Class of 2022 Rankings here on Prep Hockey. Seeling is having a fantastic season with 48 points in the regular season. Tyler was apart of the Lightning team last season that made the trip to Xcel Energy Center and he contributed with 30 points that year. Seeling also participated in the Elite League on Team SIT Financial Services in the fall. Northern Lakes had an up and down regular season and will look for players like Seeling to lead this team through the playoffs.

 

Section Predictions:

Carter: Northern Lakes

Blake: Fergus Falls

Both of us go with underdogs as we don’t pick #1 Alexandria. This section will be interesting to watch come the semi-finals and finals for sure.