The Lake Superior Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Lake Superior was the haves and the have nots a season ago, five teams that had very good seasons, three teams that very much did not. How have things changed? We break down one of the better Northern Minnesota leagues today!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten in State Potential</strong>: Hermantown</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hermantown is the only team that returns a first team all conference player, and they are the only team in the Lake Superior Conference to return a second team all conference player. And this is from a team that won 21 games and played in the state tournament. Basically this is the only team that has a chance to make a run at the top ten in any respective classes in Minnesota, and they are in Class AA. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Duluth Marshall, Superior, Cloquet</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We told you that the Lake Superior has a chance to be one of the better leagues in Northern Minnesota year to year, and we meant it. But just know that this year won't be a top year. For example, there were 17 players honored in this league as all conference, and only three of them return. Superior, who of course is from Wisconsin, was 17-9 last year but they lost their top six guys. The only all league honored player back this year besides the Hermantown players, is [player_tooltip player_id='1139244' first='Brooks' last='Johnson'] from Duluth Marshall. Johnson will lead a Marshall team along with junior Carter Boos. Superior is going to have new talent as is Cloquet. Superior does have their 7th and 8th men back from last year's team while Cloquet has a tad more experience but not much. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding:</strong>  Hibbing, Duluth Denfeld, Proctor, Grand Rapids</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hibbing is in rebuild mode. They lost their star (Ayden McDonald), their coach (Joel McDonald), their future standouts (the Browns transferred), and most of their rotation (they have two guys back off last year's bench). Grand Rapids has a new coach and graduated most of their rotation from a team that was not very good so rebuilding again there. Proctor - if I am reading my research correctly - has a couple young guards that are underclassmen who played last year and should take a nice step forward. Denfeld was only 3-24 last season and they lost most of their line-up so it's a rebuilding group. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>22-23 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><li>Hermantown</li><li>Superior</li><li>Cloquet</li><li>Duluth Marshall</li><li>Hibbing</li><li>Grand Rapids</li><li>Proctor</li><li>Duluth Denfeld</li></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Lake Superior Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962316' first='Blake' last='Schmitz'] of Hermantown (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='962302' first='Keaton' last='Christianson'] of Hermantown (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1139244' first='Brooks' last='Johnson'] of Duluth Marshall (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tresean Saniger of Superior (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Abe Soumis of Hermantown (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dane Mammega of Hibbing (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1418945' first='Nathan' last='Hill'] of Hermantown (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Daynen Lull of Superior (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Carter Boos of Duluth Marshall (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Josh Synnott of Proctor (jr/soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Finley Carey of Hibbing (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ethan Florek of Grand Rapids (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Seth Rothamel of Cloquet (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560767' first='Ty' last='Nyberg'] of Proctor (fr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2104431' first='Marnaries' last='Ferguson'] of Duluth Denfeld (soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->