The Hiawatha Valley League Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Did you know that seven of the nine HVL teams finished at least four games over .500 last season? That's how good this league is, the third worst team was 16-12. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Last Year</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>On the Money</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We had everything in the league picked within two spots at their finish at the most. Byron won instead of our pick (Stewartville) who was second, but overall it was all very close</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Yikes</em> <em>RJ</em>!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Zumbrota-Mazeppa was much better than we were aware of. We had them picked second to last and they won 18 games and finished in 6th. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten in State:</strong> Goodhue, Lake City</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Goodhue went to state last year at Class A and with nearly everything back from last year's state team including two guys that are D2 level (or maybe even better for Loos) they could win a title with he right run. This is a team that plays AAA/AA teams all season and they will be battle tested. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lake City won't have the same amount of players back as Goodhue but they have four really good regulars back including a starting [player_tooltip player_id='2126464' first='Gavyn' last='Lorenson'] and they had a good year last season. The Tigers are another top ten team entering the season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>League Title Contenders</strong>: Byron, Stewartville</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bryon and Stewartville both lost a lot of pieces but they have a couple good guys back plus they are well coached teams that have up and coming talent. Can they win the league? I would look to Goodhue or Lake City first but the Bears and Tigers will be right there as well. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten in State Potential</strong>: Zumbrota-Mazeppa, Cannon Falls</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I have both Zumbrota-Mazeppa and Cannon Falls as top 20 area Class AA teams and that right there talks to the serious depth of this league. These are the teams that are five and six in the league predictions but yet they still are the type of teams we could see in the Class AA top ten! ZM brings back just about everything, the Bombers lost more but will still be very good.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The guy that could change everything? [player_tooltip player_id='2120492' first='Ethan' last='Miller'] from Zumbrota-Mazeppa. The future teammate of [player_tooltip player_id='1951088' first='Luke' last='Roschen'] of Goodhue, Ethan is a 6'7, 6'8 skilled, strong and agile player. Physically he is the guy that could be the most unstoppable in this league because almost nobody has somebody that can match-up with Ethan. Plus, his team has so much returning, they could have a special season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Kasson-Mantorville, Pine Island, Lourdes</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lourdes was pretty rough last year but they have a couple good players we like, especially [player_tooltip player_id='2833026' first='Isaiah' last='Williams']. The KoMets and Pine Island lost a ton of their line-up but they were competitive teams a year ago. This is a rebuilding here whereas Lourdes hopes to be taking the last rebuilding step this year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>25-26 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Hiawatha Valley Power Rankings</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Goodhue</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Lake City</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Byron </li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Stewartville</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Cannon Falls</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Zumbrota-Mazeppa</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Kasson-Mantorville</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Rochester Lourdes</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Pine Island</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All HVL</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2394170' first='Alex' last='Loos'] of Goodhue (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1951088' first='Luke' last='Roschen'] of Goodhue (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126464' first='Gavyn' last='Lorenson'] of Lake City (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2120492' first='Ethan' last='Miller'] of Zumbrota-Mazeppa (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Miles Rechtizigel of Cannon Falls (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560862' first='Fisher' last='Kruckeberg'] of Byron (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='2825741' first='Michael' last='Roschen'] of Goodhue (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Colton Hegge of Lake City (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hudson Ohm of Zumbrota-Mazeppa (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ryan Hjellming of Cannon Falls (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cayden Heidt of Stewartville (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2072414' first='Malik' last='Abdi'] of Stewartville (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2381754' first='Luke' last='Narum'] of Lake City (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2140680' first='Owen' last='Roschen'] of Goodhue (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2827220' first='Bakster' last='Arendt'] of Zumbrota-Mazeppa (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2411079' first='Aaron' last='Miller'] of Zumbrota-Mazeppa (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2833026' first='Isaiah' last='Williams'] of Rochester Lourdes (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560844' first='Abram' last='Tennessen'] of Cannon Falls (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2396393' first='Cody' last='Ryan'] of Goodhue (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2435185' first='Karsten' last='Miller'] of Zumbrota-Mazeppa (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2391109' first='Keaton' last='Hansen'] of Byron (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Grady Streit of Zumbrota-Mazeppa (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fifth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Vinicent Pocius of Kasson-Mantorville (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brooks Rechtizigel of Cannon Falls (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2569276' first='Tyler' last='Meyers'] of Cannon Falls (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ethan Gerhart of Pine Island (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2385471' first='Nolan' last='Lee'] of Kasson-Mantorville (Soph</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->