From what I've seen this summer and fall, it looks like the Southwest Michigan High School Hockey League is going to be uber-competitive this season. Perennial powers PC and PN will be strong, and I've seen some talented kids in the fall league from Mattawan. Plus, the Blades looked pretty darn good at the Lakeshore Shootout in August. Both United and the Eagles (last year's surprising team) return a lot of players from last years teams. Plus, fans will be able to check the teams on a fancy new league website.
Here's the question: What do you think about the SWMHSHL this season? Who will be the teams to watch and the players that make a difference?
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
SWMHSHL Predictions
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Mattawan will dominate the league this year
PC & PN will be a little down from last year with the loss of key seniors. Mattawan & United will be much improved with the addition of several AAA players. Eagles will be slightly better with maturing of strong Jr. class & Blades should be about on par with last year. All in all, a much more competitive league this year.
Each of the top 5 teams in the league are returning 3 all conference players
Conference will be tighter this year foresure...lets see how the teams do outside of their conference...that will determine which team is really the leader. All in all there is no powerhouse in the SWMHL this year...may have to head north to find one!
1 Blades - senior laden team
2 Mattawan - new AAA additions and majority of team coming back which finished strong last year
3 PC - not as deep with talent in the past
4 PN - also talented but not deep
5 Eagles - a year away from moving up this list
6 United - with AAA additions should be much better.
Also, it's hard going against PC since they haven't lost a game in the league in over two full seasons. Year end league tournament should interesting, any of the top 4 teams could win it.
League touranment winner - Mattawan
Coach of the year - Doug Tucker, Mattawan
MVP - Simmons, Blades
Preseason first team:
Forwards Simmons-Blades, Ragains-PC, Wheelright-PN (could go as defense also)
Defense Sandmeyer-PC, Light-Mattawan
Goal Vandevelde-PC
The league is pretty talented this year. Look forward to a competive season.
1.Mattawan
2.PC
3.PN
4.Blades
5.Eagles
6.United
Mattawan seems to be the team to beat. Tryouts should be very interesting, with the new AAA kids and returning team members.
Light-D, O'Toole-F, and English-F are new kids that could really help. They've got some good talent from last years team returning. Rumor has it that there is another AAA player - Defense coming out for the team, Needer or Neederhood, something like that. Lot's of people talking about him. I've heard this kid and Light are like bookends (both 6'2 and 170+) and have game. The question is can they all gel together to make a team? The Eagles may have the best 92 class in the league and will be the team to watch next year, the Blades could be easily be the #1 team, good talent returning. PC and PN lost some key players, but don't count them out.
how good is PC? their have ragains, sandmeyer and vandevelde still but not much else?
1. Mattawan - addition of new aaa players will make Tucker look good. Team should be fast and physical. Discipline was an issue last year. I think that is the key this year. Pence, English, O'toole, should provide a solid offensive unit. Neiderhood and Light are solid on the blueline.
2. Blades - Top scorer Simmons and a strong group of veterans should put Blades 2 or possibly 1. I think the key here is Lloyd in net. If he can play up to his potential evey night then I think they could beat Mattawan.
3. Eagles - Top Goalie in league Ballmer and solid core of juniors. They did lose Smith to AAA but players like Hammond, Miller, Storch, and Watson should provide scoring as well as offensive dman Pavlack. Depth at d is an issue and Coach Brown spent alot of time putting guys in the doghouse last year for discipline. Just like Mattawan, if discipline is there Eagles could contend but may be a year away.
4. Portage Central - Raigans and Sandmeyer are 2 of the best players in league. Vandevelde is solid but how good is the supporting cast that is the question. Murray is a solid coach but on paper doesn't have the usual talent that he is used to.
5. Portage Northern - Not a very deep group after Wheelright and Tuma. Loss of Campbell and Braganini is huge. It doesn't look like they have anybody coming in that can fill their shoes. May be a down year for the Huskies.
6. United - Addition of AAA players is a plus but depth is still a big issue here.
COY: Murray
GOY: Ballmer
MVP: Simmons
1st Team D:
Sandmeyer PC, Neiderhood MA
1st Team Forward:
Raigans PC, Wheelright PN, Simmons KB
This could be the most competitive year in a long time. It will be fun watching from the stands this year. Good Luck to all.
All this talk about AAA players is hilarious. West Michigan AAA is AA Hockey. Detroit is where the real AAA teams are. S2 and GR AAA is a joke. A lot of kids in the SWMHSHL could play on these teams but why go get killed and never go anywhere. Face it we can't compete with Eastside AAA. High school hockey has fans and rivalries. To all so called AAA kids in West Mich, play high school or move east.
I agree, AAA is much stronger on the eastside and there are quite a few players from our league that could AAA on the westside. I also think there are a dozen or so players from around here that could play on the eastside. That all said, the AAA or AA players that are coming to play for their respective HS's should make the teams stronger and the league better. I for one, welcome them back. Having watched HS around here for quite a while, I believe this year will be one of the better hockey years and the games as a whole should be entertaining and competitive.
Mattawan- Should dominate with the deep bench and key offense such as Pence, O'Toole, English, and maybe Maltz. key on blue line. Needer, Light, Dault. Mattawan should be unstoppable. Eagles should give a good challenge but the Age of PC is gone and Mattawan is taking over.
Just wondering how one would know if a player is "key" if never seen him play in a High School game?
My opinion is that Mattawan will struggle trying to keep returning players and parents happy with Ice time. Also don`t forget about sportmanship points! Dumb rule but it will come into play.
Eagles
Pc
Matt
Blades
PN
United
Mattawan
Blades
Eagles
PC
PN
United
The top 3-4 teams have 1-2 lines that can keep eachother in check. The difference will be bench strength. On paper with returning players and the possibility of 4-6 new travel players, Mattawan should be deep on the bench at all positions. The goalies with Straub and cast may be their only weakness.
The Blades have a good portion of players returning, plus Simmons.
The Eagles by far have the best Junior Class as a group with Storch, Hicks, Ballmer, Hammond, Pavlok, and Miller.
PC has probably the top forward and defensman in the league, and an excellent goalie. What else at their skill level?
PN lost a lot of their top players and United picked up 2-3 travel players, but it won't be enough to stack up against the top 3-4 teams.
The drop off on talent from the 1st line to the 2nd or the 3rd, is usually huge, as you all have seen from House, HS, or Travel. If Tucker can pull his team together with discipline and checked ego's, he can have 3 solid lines. That will be the difference. If not the Blades or Eagles will be at the top.
As an outsider looking in, Mattawan seems from the posts to be the team to beat. Are they really that good? From the blog posts, it seems they are being compared to teams only in the league. Do they have potetnial to go to regions/states?
How good are the new travel players coming to Mattawan:
Neiderhood, Light, O'Toole, English, Maltz.....
Looks like half the team could be new, how good are the returning players?
I think I've seen the Neiderhood kid with the AAA Griffins, name sound familar. Good sized kid that can skate well, D-man I think that could score.
I'm from GR area and was just checking out the site. PC has always been a good team, they must have lost a lot of talent.
Just curious, best of luck to all this season.
Can someone provide a list of players to watch in SWMHSHL?
PC will dominate again. Every year people predict other teams and every year they are proved to be wrong. PC returns Ragains, Taylor, Vanderveen, Lassiter, Renda, Hoerle, Sandmeyer, Bergy, Vandevelde, and more. Question will be will PC win in a sweep.
PC
Mattawan
PN
Blades
Eagles
United
Good luck to all.
mattawan should take the league, could contend for state with GRCC and Powers losing some key players.
Everyone tends to write off PC.
They have had the best record in this league for at least 5 years running(if you throw out "sportsmanship points"
and they play a brutal non-conference schedule.
That being said, Mattawan will be excellent, with an infusion of new talent and lots of seniors.
This is a two team race, PC and Mattawan. The Blades and the Eagles will battle for third, and Kalamazoo United who picked up 3 from S2 AAA may push a rebuilding PN
into the cellar.
Mattawan and the Blades will be strong this year, but frankly PC has won the league the last two years and I have no reason to believe that they won't do it again.
Interesting posts on PC. Rumor has it that their best forward, Ragains, is out the first five games of the season. That will hurt them for sure if it's true. They have a great group of 5-6, but will they be able to compete against the depth of the bench for the Blades and Mattawan? I wouldn't bet against PC, but they have their work cut out for them this year to repeat the last few years of success. One loss for any of the top 3 teams could take them out of the league race.
Did anyone see the try-outs for the teams? Thoughts? Some good talent on all the teams, United will fool some people this year, PN doesn't look strong, Eagles could be the number 2 or 3 team, Blades, PC looked strong, and Mattawan looked strong and talent deep. We'll all find out how good or bad our predictions are in a week or so. Let the games begin!
I watched most of the tryouts for SWMHSL. Mattawan looks good but will they jell as a team? Blades have 9 seniors, best pure shooter (Simmons)in league,and look much deeper than last season.PC looks thin and small from what I saw. PN is very young. United has three kids that can play with anyone. Eagles do look a season away.
I also saw the teams in tryout. The last post is a good recall of the week.
Blades have Simmons and a host of returning players. Mattawan, looked to have the most talent, thanks to the 6-7 returning cast and the 6-7 new travel kids. Good question, if they can gel as a team they could be very tough. Eagles will win their share and gain some well deserved respect, could be a #2. Both Portage teams looks small in numbers and over-all talent. United does have the three kids, but I don't think they can keep up the intensity for an entire game vs the top 3 teams.
Pre-season rank:
1. Mattawan
2. Blades
3. Eagles
4. PC
5. United
6. PN
i agree, i think it will be the same as last year tho as far as the bottom two teams, except i thimnk the eagles will finish last this year, i have a feeling they will fail to meet expectations
mattawan looks good, but there AAA players arent as good as ppl say. Just because they played AAA, doesnt mean they will dominate the league.
The blades and eagles both look strong offensively, but could be weak defensively. The blades goalie is cocky, but for no reason. Hes is probably the 4th-5th best goalie in the league, maybe 6th. Ballmer is by far the best goalie in the league.
PC and PN lost very good seniors that strongly helped them last year. And with nobody good coming up, they dont look as good as last year. Plus ragains is out for the first 5 league games.
prediction:
1. Blades
2. Mattawan
3. Eagles
4. PC
5. United
6. PN
for the person who wanted a list of players to watch.
Blades - Simmons, Mercle, Hatfield, Skinner
PC - Ragains, Sandmeyer, Vandervelde
PN - Tuma, Wheelright
Eagles - Miller, Hammond, Storch, Ballmer
Mattawan - Pence, Needer, Light, O'toole, Straub
United - Fink, Noyes, another AAA player (seen him, not sure of name)
Thanks for the player's to watch list. I wasn't able to see any of the games this week. I understand these were scrimmages, but curious as to how the teams and player's mentioned to watch played. Any surprises? Thoughts?
I don't understand why everyone puts Mattawan at the top of the league. Untill someone proves that they can beat PC, they're still the team to beat. Great game last night between the two teams, but PC showed that they are still superior. Mattawan and PC are definately a teir above the rest and will finish 1)PC 2)Mattawan. The other four spots are up for grabs with no one team showing any real advantages.
some other players to watch that weren't mentioned are Lloyd (G) for the Blades, Naylor (G) PN, and the AAA player for United is Halpin
Three weeks into SWMHSHL play and some things apparent. Eagles are surprise team and could contend with best goaltender in the league. Bobby Miller can move the puck and his teammates are very physical. PC's small size isn't hurting them and they can skate with anyone in Kazoo area thanks to their non-league schedule. Mattawan needs AAA kids to jell and jell fast, too many errors in their own end. United will win some squeakers, that Halprin line can skate. They do have short bench to count on though. Two of PN's best players should actually be Blades (Naylor and Wheelright transferred) but Huskies in trouble depth wise other than Tuma,Fender. Blades skill drops after Simmons line and the D seems to be unsettled. Their biggest 2-3 kids are slow skaters which could hurt as the league looks faster this season. This year could produce a champion with 2-3 losses.
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