Class AAAA….A Taste
Who are the sleeper picks for this season in Class AAAA? NHR runs you through a good candidate in each section.
1AAAA. I go with Owatonna. Lakeville North is always the favorite, JM is always top 10-15, we know of the Lakeville South talent, and Rochester Mayo has jumped on the scene. The Huskies went 18-9 last year plus bring back four starters in Dalton Kubista, Andrew Jackson, Nolan Malo, and Alex Raichle not to mention Jason Williamson will step in and have an impact (Jason was a 16u first team all state player). That all said, Lakeville South beat them by 30 in the playoffs last year and the Huskies have to find a way to beat JM or Austin.
2AAAA. Minnetonka. My thoughts on the Skippers have totally flipped. Jalen Dearring is entering his upperclassmen years with a lot of experience under his belt and he’s very talented. I love the way Jon Martens played for WOTN this 17u season. There are some good young players coming up in the program, some solid role players are back from a year ago, and Andy Stafford transfers into a good position. They will be better than people think.
3AAAA. Eastview. No they are not shocking the world in Team USA 1980 Hockey style taking out Apple Valley. There is some really good talent in this program though. Dan Swedin, Jon Reinke, and of course Tate Machacek are all entering their sophomore seasons with experience to their games. Now junior Izaak Raspberry got time as a sophomore so he can handle the ball and then there’s constantly growing sophomore center Steven Crowl who people should start to know.Will Barry and Essam Ibrahim are the seniors with experience.
4AAAA. Sleeper? Tartan fits it. East Ridge, Cretin-Derham Hall, North St Paul, and Woodbury have the expectations while the Titans have only one experienced player back, Antwann Kimmons. Kimmons will lead the team into the next two seasons while the Titan staff will grab this underdog role and run with it as their younger programs feed the varsity with players that have won a ton of games.
5AAAA. This feels weird, but Champlin Park. The Rebels have Josiah Strong and Bennett Otto who are capable of scoring 20 and 15 per night respectively. That’s a great start plus we’ve spoken in the past about how the Rebels have young talent. The Rebels have size with 6-foot-8 Carlston McKenzie and 6-foot-7 Alex John in the post as upperclassmen. Sophomores Alex Severn and Kato Seley played on the JV a year ago and the Rebels always have a couple seniors come from nowhere and play a key role.
6AAAA. Tough to call somebody a sleeper with Hopkins and Wayzata having loads more talent than anybody else in the section. St. Louis Park has the best chance to beat one of the Lake teams but they are hardly a sleeper or surprise as we know very well who their players are. Armstrong? Could be, but we know little about what their JV has. Washburn? They are searching for a coach. Simply put, I got nothing with this one.
7AAAA. I think this is the year that Cambridge takes a nice step. Forest Lake is the favorite, but Cambridge has a chance. Sure they lost their leading scorer/rebounder in Luke Johnson, but everyone else is back. Henry Abraham has a flame thrower and is about to be a 20+ scorer. Levi Wylie, Western Olson, and Alex Ledahl all are back in a big senior class.
8AAAA. Rogers. After a 24-5 season that included six seniors in the rotation graduating the Royals have slipped the minds of people. Northern State committed Jordan Belka will lead the team and have an excellent season plus watch for Brandon Vazquez as well as Trevor Banning to have around double figure scoring seasons. If the spots are filled around them as key role players the year should go well.