One benefit of playing a closed-loop South Suburban Conference schedule (the 10-team league isn’t playing non-league foes this pandemic-shortened season) is that three weeks and six games into the season, the top two teams have become as obvious as coyotes in a henhouse. Indeed, the damage Lakeville South (6-0-0) and Prior Lake (5-0-1) have inflicted on their opponents has been substantive.
Lakeville South, ranked No. 6 in the Class 2A coaches' poll from Jan. 27, has dialed up the dominance even more than No. 8-2A Prior Lake, winning its games by a combined score of 39-3. Four of the team's victories have been by shutout, and both of the Cougars’ goaltenders, junior Ethan Dahlmeir and senior Cody Ticen, rank in the state’s top-10 in goals-against average (GAA) and save percentage.
Senior Cam Boche, who scored five goals in Lakeville South's 7-0 season-opening victory over Eagan on Jan. 14, has 11 goals this winter to tie him with four other skaters for third in the state. Sophomore forward Tanner Ludtke’s 13 assists are tied for the fourth most in the state with Maple Grove's Kyle Kukkonen.
Prior Lake is outscoring its opponents 36-7 and has just come off a week in which it cruised to running-time victories over Eagan (9-1 on Jan. 28) and Eastview (7-0 on Jan. 30). Like last season, the trio of forwards — Will Schumacher (13 points), Sam Rice (11 points) and Alex Bump (9 points) — sit atop the team’s scoring charts, and junior Trevor Boschee (1.16 GAA, .933 save percentage) has been superb in goal.
The teams, which play out of different sections in the postseason, split their regular-season series last year with Lakeville South beating Prior Lake 2-1 at home, and the Lakers returning the favor in Prior Lake with a wild, score-from-everywhere 8-6 triumph.