BOYS - Chanhassen
Moving on to #2 in the LaxNumbers rankings on the boys side… Chanhassen.
2023 Record
14-2. Section 2 Runner-up
Lost Notables?
Carter Van Holland: 48 G, 34 A, Mr. Lacrosse 2023
Cade Reding: 53 GB, 37 CT
Grant Pentinnen: .633 SV %, Mr. Goalie 2023
Joey Schmidt: 74% Face-Off, 135 GB!
Returning Notables?
Daxton Bush: 48 G, 34 A
Jaden Theile: 46 GB, 46 CT
Tyler Burton: 44 GB, 25 CT
Kade Bush: 25 G, 8 A
Nick Patka - 7 G, 16A, looks to have taken some face-offs, expecting him to take on that role
Instant Reaction
Chanhassen is an anomaly for me. They were not super senior heavy last year, but, the players who did graduate were extremely important players. Van Holland was a varsity attackman since 2019 and had 25% of the teams goals. Starting goalie, Starting FOGO, and arguably the second best LSM in the state last year have also moved on to the next level. These are KEY roles in any team’s success and Chanhassen will need to figure out who fills those shoes.
That being said, they have a lot of good players returning, a strong 2024 class, and a lot of underclassmen that has varsity experience. There is stability in their coaching staff so there should be no issue on their end figuring out who the next man up will be. Chanhassen has been a “reload” program for years and I don’t expect that to change. Like mentioned in the previous BSM post, when you have a super star, you can go far, and Chanhassen has that with Daxton Bush. He is matchup proof and will get his points. The one thing that concerns me, simply looking at the stats, is that they did not have a lot of offensive production from the midfield. However, most of their midfielders were underclassmen, so, that could have played a part in last year’s team really relying on Bush and CVH to produce. Maybe this year, with the middies being year older, they will be able to be more balanced.
They get 2 of their 3 close defensemen back so that is nice, but, will need to do it in front of a new starting goalie. Penttinen was a top goalie in the state for the last three years and provided a ton of stability for them. Chanhassen has been strong defensively over the past few years and could win close, low-scoring games. We will see if the identity changes this year.
The Future
Kade Bush - 32 Points as a freshman last year. He will most certainly be relied upon to replace Van Holland. Will be fun to watch him and his brother, Dax, do their thing for the storm.
Jack Carlson - another freshman who played varsity minutes, I expect him to play a lot more offense for them this year
Riley Syverson - another freshman, very talented pole that got minutes last year and had to wait his time. He will most likely be the one to replace Pinnamonti on the back end. Awesome athlete that I think rounds out that close defense nicely.
2024 Schedule
They will get BSM and Jefferson in their metro west schedule. Along with a rising New Prague team and pesky Orono squad. Chan has always loaded up their OOC schedule and I expect that to continue. Last year, their OOC opponents were: CDH, Mahtomedi, Minnetonka, Maple Grove, STA, Buffalo and Stillwater. All strong teams that were in the state tournament or close to it.
In Conclusion
I think a Chanhassen continues to chug along - maybe they see a dip due to the key players they lost, but, I still expect them to run as a “top 10” type team. I think, however, the most notable piece of information regarding Chanhassen is that the section re-alignment helped them a TON. With Shakopee and Eden Prairie moving over to section 6 - they have basically removed two very strong section opponents from their path to state. We will see if any of the new additions to section 2 make the leap, but, don’t expect that to happen immediately.
Next Week: Lakeville North
