Nate’s Puck Notes Section 5AA Edition: Osseo vs. Centennial
CHAMPLIN– Game two at Champlin Ice Forum we watched a classic hockey rivalry in the Flames vs. Oilers (kidding, but both teams jerseys are so similar to what they wear in Calgary and Edmonton). The 3 seed Centennial Cougars made the…
Access all of Prep Hockey
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingCHAMPLIN– Game two at Champlin Ice Forum we watched a classic hockey rivalry in the Flames vs. Oilers (kidding, but both teams jerseys are so similar to what they wear in Calgary and Edmonton). The 3 seed Centennial Cougars made the 6 seed Osseo Orioles their worst enemy on Thursday night, and the scoreboard showed. Here are some of my notes from this one in game 2 of section 5AA in Champlin.
KEYS TO VICTORY
- Osseo showed a lack of discipline in this one by the amount of the penalties in the game, which as you know in hockey is the equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot. The Orioles got most of their shots in the 3rd period but also had most of their penalties in their 3rd period which were caused mostly by two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties by Orioles forward Daniel Ellingson (2020) which had him sitting for 12 of the 17 minutes in the 3rd period. All in all, the Orioles has sat in the penalty box for now over 6 hours on the season if you include sections, which showed last night in Champlin.
- What impressed me again about the Cougars in my second viewing of them this year is their ability to build momentum on the ice and off the ice with their chirping student section, who was very active all night in chirping at Osseo goaltender Cooper Olson (2020). They controlled the time of possession and got some of their players to lay big hits like Jake Pierson (biggest hitter of the night), Carter Korkowski, AJ Lemire, Henry Bartle, and others. When you can lay the wood without a penalty, you’re doing it right and that disciplined aggression for Centennial I think has a good chance against Maple Grove today.
THREE STARS
Tied: Tommy Carls and AJ Carls, Forward, Centennial, (2020), (2022)
-Tommy I really thought was going to have a multi-goal game based on how he was shooting the puck last night but only ended up with 1 assist. You could see his senior leadership in this one blossom with the discipline the forwards of the Cougars have. As for his little brother AJ, he also tallied an assist and laid a big knock-on an Orioles player that stood out to me during the game in Champlin last night. This kid has loads of potential to watch over the coming years. These two transferred from Coon Rapids this year to add additional force to this Cougars roster.
Connor Thompson, Forward, Centennial (2021)
Star two goes to a player I know we talked about last night when these stars came out and that is Connor Thompson. Thompson was just a consistent force on Thursday night. What impressed me most was his poise when he was near the net, as he didn’t have a whole lot of shots but tallied two goals on the night for the Cougars. This kid is going to hopefully keep playing strong in sections and has the capability to be a Division I prospect in the future.
Henry Bartle, Forward, Centennial (2021)
The kid is a forward’s dream size at a strong 6’2 190 pounds and just skates so well up and down the ice and wrecks havoc. He’s had some multi-goal games this season but Thursday night was his first hat trick of the season. Bravo to Bartle, you should see a move for him in our rankings soon!
Centennial will play 2 seed Maple Grove today in the 5AA section semifinals from Champlin Ice Forum.
Osseo graduates 6 seniors including goaltender Cooper Olson and 2 of their 3 top points leaders in Jackson Dwyer and Kamron Cline but will get top goalscorer Jack Pojar back as a senior. With the number of underclassmen on this roster, it’ll be tough to see who’s on the line with Pojar.