The Heart O Lakes Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Perham and DGF relied on talented veterans to finish as top ten teams in Minnesota last year each going 11-1 in league play. What will the league look like this winter? We dive into the Heart O Lakes 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 Contenders</strong>: Hawley, Perham, Barnesville, Pelican Rapids</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hawley won 17 games last season and they are the one team with a star ([player_tooltip player_id='1419970' first='Brevin' last='Stoa']). They also have some key reserve back which should make them a favorite alone with Perham (who will contend but belong in the rebuilding paragraph too). Hawley could win 20 games this year if things go right. Barnesville was whooped by Perham twice last year, and then pulled off the upset against Perham in the playoffs. Barnesville returns two all league talents this year although they did graduate four of their top six guys. Pelican Rapids has quite the sable of guards and it will be even better if [player_tooltip player_id='1284216' first='Timmy' last='Guler'] is ready to roll. Tough to know where exactly he will be but even at 75 percent of his former self he's one of the best couple players in the league. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: Frazee</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With their best two players back Frazee should be more competitive in this league than they were a season ago. Just one win in the league last year but seven wins overall and those numbers should improve. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: DGF, Perham, Breckenridge</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>DGF has always been a good program, and we don't see them taking some terrible dive, but they only bring back two players from the rotation last year so this will be a reset, especially with a guy like Owen Leach having moved on to UMD. Perham not only lost all their all league players and four/five senior starters, Coach Cresap also moved on to the college level so they have a new coach as well. Starting over but not in a way where they will fall flat as they do have upcoming talent and some guys back from last year. Breckenridge won four games a season ago and they lost their best two players and four starters so this is a rebuild. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>23-24 Conference Prediction</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Hawley</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Barnesville</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Perham</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Pelican Rapids</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>DGF</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Frazee</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Breckenridge</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Heart O Lakes Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brevan Stoa of Hawley (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1948328' first='Gannon' last='Bolgrean'] of Barnesville (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Zach Bredman of Barneville (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Charlie Larson of Pelican Rapids (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1284216' first='Timmy' last='Guler'] of Pelican Rapids (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2109850' first='Carter' last='Sonnenberg'] of Frazee (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mason Happel of Perham (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2109857' first='Ashton' last='Detloff'] of Perham (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Noah Nelson of Hawley (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Austin Anderson of DGF (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blaiz Schmidt of Perham (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Landon Bakke of Hawley (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Alex Helmers of Frazee (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cayson Bergee of DGF (jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jacob Kunkel of Breckenridge (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gage Aanenson of Perham (sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->