We are back today 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 a smaller conference as it is the IMAC. The IMAC contains Breck, Blake, Providence Academy, St Paul Academy, Minnehaha Academy. These schools are all private schools. Today we are covering three defensemen that are worthy of recognition in this conference for their returns. This conference lost a lot of forwards last year, but a lot of new ones should step up this season. A more in-depth article today is that this conference has some very strong defensemen.
1. Jack Kernan Jack Kernan 6'0" | Forward Maple Grove | 2023 State MN | 6’1 Defenseman | Junior | Breck
Morgan is ranked as the number 23rd player in the class of 2023 class. That put him as the number 6th defenseman in the state for his class. Morgan is the leader of this Breck team, and they will rely on him a lot this year- he is a very good offensive defenseman that can score when needed but also makes some great passes to set his teammates up. Morgan finished last season with 7 goals and 15 assists for 22 points. Morgan is for sure the top defenseman returning to this conference, and we should see him continue to make strides and keep getting better.
2. Carter Theissen | 5’11 Defenseman | Senior | Breck
Carter Theissen will most likely be the D partner for #1 returning player Jack Kernan Jack Kernan 6'0" | Forward Maple Grove | 2023 State MN . Theissen is one of the most efficient players on the powerplay in the state. He had 5 power play goals last season and 4 powerplay assists. This was out of his 6 goals and 14 assists, so a lot of his success came on the powerplay. He averaged 1.05 points per game, and his best game was when he had 2 goals and 3 assists against St. Paul Academy. Theissen is a pretty under the radar senior player, but now doing these conference player previews we noticed him.
3. Jake Svenddal Jake Svenddal 6'1" | Defense Blake | 2022 MN | 6’1 Defenseman | Senior | Blake
Jake Svenddal Jake Svenddal 6'1" | Defense Blake | 2022 MN rounds out the top returning defenseman in the IMAC conference. Jake is returning the most points for his Blake Bears squad from last year. The thing that Svenddal is so good at, is spreading the puck out to all of his teammates. He finished last year playing in 18 games, but finishing with 14 assists. Svenddal is the type of player you want on your team for sure, with his vision/ passing ability. Such a team player, as he only had 2 penalty mins all of last season. He also had a +16 on his plus minues- I wouldn’t be surprised if he played hockey after highschool just based on all of that. Svenddal is a very undderated player as well in the state of MN and we will be on the watch of him all season.