The Three Key Door for Minneapolis
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Every team in the state, whether it is a defending state champion or a struggling squad, starts their season out with a door that stands between them and success. Nonetheless, every team is just as capable of unlocking their potential…
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Continue ReadingEvery team in the state, whether it is a defending state champion or a struggling squad, starts their season out with a door that stands between them and success. Nonetheless, every team is just as capable of unlocking their potential through an interwoven combination of skill, strategy, leadership, and coaching. In this new series kicking up here for Prep Hockey, I will be taking a look at the three keys each and every team in the state needs to open up the door that stands between them and a great year by their unique standards. The final reigning conference champion, the Tri-Metro top dog Minneapolis, will be getting the spotlight today.
Key #1: A Better First Impression
Minneapolis was a team that put up a rock solid 16-9-2 record in 2022-2023, but the start of their season was a different story entirely. They struggled to get anything going initially, and were sitting at a 2-5-1 record a month into the season. To be fair, these games were all against highly competitive teams that ended up faring quite well, and even included three Class AA opponents. Nonetheless though, if Minneapolis wants to secure better seeding for playoffs and an easier path to the State Tournament, they have to start out stronger. Looking ahead to their 2023-2024 schedule, it looks like their first third of the season will be a good deal easier. They won’t clash with any Class AA opponents during this stretch, and besides a pair of tough matches against Duluth Denfeld and Rock Ridge, Minneapolis should have relatively smooth sailing heading into their first tournament of the year over in Roseau. If this team can win five or six games to open up the upcoming season, they should put themselves in a much better spot in terms of playoff seeding.
Key #2: The Shroat Shutout Effect
Mike Shroat Mike Shroat 6'1" | Goalie Minneapolis | 2024 State MN put up an astounding eight shutouts across his 2022-2023 campaign, a statistical anomaly that led the Tri-Metro by a wide margin ( Alex Sabev Alex Sabev 6'0" | Goalie Irondale | 2024 State MN from Irondale was next with only two shutouts in comparison). Considering Sabev won Conference Goalie of the Year honors and is among the top returning goaltenders in the state, it is safe to say that Shroat can hang with the best of the best in the net. However, just because Shroat can blank teams at the drop of a hat doesn’t mean he didn’t have his own struggles last season. When facing tougher Class A opponents like Duluth Denfeld or Orono, Shroat struggled to build up momentum chaining saves, and as a result, allowed six goals a piece in these contests. The guy has a boom or bust style of play in the net, with his ceiling being about as high as can be. If Shroat can iron out some kinks and up his overall consistency, Minneapolis might just have one of the state’s finest in the net come this fall.
Key #3: A Dozen in Double Digits
Minneapolis, like many up-and-coming Class A teams, didn’t really have a star in their lineup last season. Ozzie Snodgrass would likely be the skater that fits this “star” role due to his 44 points in 2022-2023, but even so, 28 of them came off assists, making the forward a pass first guy. Fortunately for both Snodgrass and Minneapolis though, it seems that the team thrives when this game plan is implemented. Last season, Minneapolis featured a high octane offense that averaged nearly four and a half goals per game. While these sort of powerful attacks at the prep level tend to primarily run through one to three guys, in Minneapolis’ case, everyone got in on the action. Last season, Minneapolis had a dozen skaters who racked up double digit figures for points, a whopping number that shows a constant sharing of the puck. The widespread attack featured a healthy dose of upperclassmen as well as newcomers, and seven of the 12 skaters who amassed 10 points or more will be back for another season. Retaining this much experience is a great sign for Minneapolis, and while the forwards got plenty of chances to zip the puck around to each other, there is one glaring issue that will need to be addressed. Of these dozen scorers, only two were defensemen, both of whom are now graduated, leaving a question mark as to who can both score and stop the puck next year for Minneapolis. Nonetheless, this team brought in a fresh batch of newcomers who got plenty of chances to show their stuff last season, and if they continue to run this same style of offense, odds are they will be just fine.
What Lies Behind the Door: Minneapolis may have been able to win the Tri-Metro Conference, but they also played more inter-conference games then the rest of their conference mates, so this stat is admittedly a bit misleading considering they had two more chances to build points than second place Holy Angels. Even so, none of this is obviously their fault, and at the end of the day their name still ended up at the top of the Tri-Metro standings. They ran into a very good Orono team just one win into the postseason, and just like that, Minneapolis’ State Tournament hopes were dashed. If this team can start out stronger, keep Shroat operating at 100 percent game in and game out, and spread the puck around, they should give themselves more of a fighting chance in those pesky early rounds of the playoffs.