Upper Midwest High School Elite League

Northeast captures regular season title

 

Team Northeast wrapped up the 2007 Upper Midwest High School Elite League regular season championship last weekend with a 2-0-0 mark against league opponents. With its 14-4-3 overall record, Northeast finished the campaign with 34 points, followed by Wisconsin (29), Southwest (25), Great Plains (19), North (17), Southeast (14) and Northwest (13).

Team Northeast owned at least a share of the league lead since the second weekend of play (Sept. 15-16). Northeast grabbed the lone spot atop the standings for the first time after weekend three and never looked back, building a season-high seven-point lead over Southwest and Wisconsin after the sixth weekend of games (Oct. 12-14).

Northeast was led in the scoring column by Burnsville High School standout senior forwards Tyler Barnes and Jake Hendrickson. Barnes, a University of Wisconsin recruit, finished the regular season third in points with 19 goals and 17 assists for 36 points. Hendrickson, a University of Minnesota Duluth recruit, followed in fourth place in the league points race with totals of 12-22--34. Roseville senior forward Adam Mueller closed out the regular season third on the team and eighth in the league with totals of 12-15--27.

Northeast also owned three of the top seven scoring defensemen in the league. Rosemount senior Luke McManus finished second in the league with three goals and 11 assists for 14 points, followed by Hill-Murray seniors Daniel Sova (3-10--13) in third and Bo Dolan (1-10--11) in seventh.

Among goaltenders, Northeast’s Joeseph Phillippi of Hill-Murray and Jack Hanna of Centennial finished the regular season as one of the top netminding tandems in the league. Phillippi posted a .921 save percentage and a 2.92 goals-against average, while Hanna owned a .886 save percentage and a 3.88 GAA.