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Sherman column: Lake girls hockey better than ever
BY john sherman - sun newspapers
Lake Conference girls hockey reached a milestone last season when both of its state tournament entries advanced to the championship game.
Minnetonka emerged with its first state Class AA title, beating Edina 3-2 at Xcel Energy Center.
Both teams have two players returning from the all-tournament team - Ali Austin and goalie Maddie Dahl for Edina and Sidney Morin and Amy Petersen for Minnetonka.
Tonka and Edina are favored to battle for the Lake title, but you have to also throw Wayzata in the mix.
The Trojans have former University of Minnesota player Becky Wacker behind the bench.
"There's no question the Lake is the best conference in the state," said Minnetonka head coach Eric Johnson.
"Becky does a great job at Wayzata and has a team that really forechecks," he added. "Laura Slominski has had Edina in the top three in the state three years in a row, and they have Maddie Dahl in goal. Eden Prairie and Hopkins are two more well-coached teams.
Hopkins has a total of five juniors and seniors, but coach Vin Paolucci is optimistic.
"We're very young, but there's some talent here," he said. "Mari Mankey and Alli Rolandelli are returning all-conference players, and we have a returning goalie, sophomore Erin O'Neil."
Corbin Boyd and Olivia Chase are two more Hopkins players to watch.
Paolucci sees the conference the same way Minnetonka's Johnson does.
"Top to bottom, you won't find a better conference in the state," Paolucci said. "As a coach, I'm just proud to be a part of it. Going into the season, we're the only Lake team that's not rated in the top 20."
Eden Prairie could be the wild card this year. The Eagles graduated only four seniors from last year's team and have a raft of seniors this year.
"Every team in the conference has great players," said Johnson. In addition to Morin and Petersen, the Skippers' head coach has experience at forward with Hadley Cookson, Kira von Steinbergs and Laura Bowman.
Sydney Rossman will get the nod in goal for Tonka.
Wayzata has prime talent and experience in its camp. Wacker has a three-way battle waging in goal, even though sophomore Paige Marcy started full-time last season.
All-Lake defensemen Jessie Smith and Ellen Rethwisch are two of the Trojans' premier players.
"A lot of the Lake teams lost impact players [to graduation]," said Wacker, perhaps referring to Sami Reber at Edina and Rachel Ramsey and Julie Friend at Minnetonka. "It looks like we have some young kids who will be fun to watch. We always look good against each other. Now we'll have to see how good we look against other teams."
In Lake hockey, the teams with the best farm systems usually have the most players.
Minnetonka has a big program with at least two traveling teams at every level, plus more than 60 girls playing 6- and 8-year-old Mite hockey.
"We have an excellent youth system from the ground up," said Johnson. "Sharon Morgan, past president of our youth hockey association, and all of the other volunteers have done a great job."
Johnson takes an active interest in youth hockey and so do his players.
"Our girls are big sisters to the girls in the youth program," he said. "They go to their practices and attend pizza parties with the younger girls. Our varsity players are great role models.
"My feeling as a varsity coach is the more athletes you have in the program, the more depth you will have."
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