Rogers announced itself as a team to be reckoned with last season with a 5-4 overtime victory over Minnetonka on Dec. 4 in Rogers. No such statement victory is needed this season, as the Royals (5-0-0) enter Saturday’s game with the state’s No. 1 ranking and all the elements of a championship-caliber team. Seniors lead the way at each position as forward Sam Ranallo, defenseman Chase Cheslock and goalie Cade Chapman are the savvy veterans providing leadership to a group of high-caliber sophomores.
No. 3-2A Minnetonka (5-1-0) lost a bit of its luster last week as it required overtime to beat Rosemount and fell 4-1 to No. 7-2A Chanhassen. The strength of the Skippers is in a junior class that includes leading scorers Alex Lunski (13 points), Sam Scheetz (10 points), Hagen Burrows (10 points) and Javon Moore (5 points). Expect the Pagel Activity Center to be packed with supporters for each team and high school hockey fans with no affiliation to either team seeking high-caliber entertainment. As early season matchups go, this one is about as juicy as they come given the teams’ rankings, records and arrays of stars.