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A second look at our best guesses

By Star Tribune staff reports, 01/03/11, 10:43PM CST

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Preseason outlooks can be incomplete. Here, after the holidays, are the teams truly emerging as powers.

Full disclosure: When the Star Tribune staff puts together features previewing winter sports, there are basic pieces of information – top returning players, previous state tournament appearances, competition outside of high school – that help shape what we think will happen.

That said, now that we're several weeks into the winter action, and through some challenging holiday tournaments that featured some great matchups, it's time to take another quick look at some of the top winter sports to see how some teams stack up heading into the bulk of conference play and eventually the postseason.

Despite never having qualified for a state tournament, Minnetonka came into the season as a squad expected to not only contend for a spot at state but for a championship. At this point, the Skippers are living up to that billing.

Their only loss so far this season came to the Shattuck-St. Mary's Under-19 team, while the Skippers boast a number of impressive victories – including a pair over defending Class 1A champion Warroad, the most recent in the championship game of the prestigious Kaposia Classic on New Year's Day.

"We learned some things about what playoff hockey is like, and it was good for our team to come out on top," Minnetonka head coach Eric Johnson said after the title-game victory.

The next week should give an even better indication of where Minnetonka is headed. The Skippers have games Saturday against Eden Prairie (No. 9 in the Star Tribune metro rankings) and next Tuesday against Edina (No. 2).

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Other winter sports

Take a look at a the picks from our other top winter sports to see which teams are ready for a run at the postseason.

Boys hockey

Boys basketball

Girls basketball