White Bear Lake at Centennial
7 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 23

Has anyone had a more impressive start to the season than White Bear Lake?

The No. 13-2A Bears (8-0-0) have allowed just nine goals in eight games, while averaging 4.5 goals per game. Of course, the Bears haven’t yet arrived at the meat of their schedule, where they face eight ranked opponents. Centennial (4-3-0) is not ranked, but the Cougars aren’t your typical unranked pushover.

Centennial is coming off back-to-back Class 2A, Section 5 championships and has a solid lineup for third-year coach Ritch Menne. The Cougars dropped out of the rankings after losing to Maple Grove 4-3 on Dec. 18. It was the most recent of six straight games decided by two goals or less, a stretch in which Centennial is 4-2-0. But the Cougars won’t be unranked long, not with Tyler Nyman (4-5-9), Colton Berg (5-3-8) and Connor Lovick (2-5-7) leading the way offensively. Centennial also has a strong group of returning defenseman anchored by Ryan Meany (2-3-5).

White Bear Lake lost one of the potential Mr. Hockey favorites (Jake Wahlin) to early departure but may have found another in senior Tom Giller (10-14-24). Giller hasn’t had a huge game yet, but he’s been consistently putting up points, with at least two in every game and goals in six.