Good vibes can only carry a team so far. The Duluth East Greyhounds put three rough seasons behind them with a confidence-restoring season in 2022-2023, going on a 19-1-1 run before a section final loss to an elite Andover offense, and there was good reason to think that would carry into the current campaign. Back came Thomas Gunderson, East’s finest pure sniper since Garrett Worth; he and sidekick Noah Teng had strong fall Elite League campaigns. Wyatt Peterson, the four-year varsity rock, rounds out a top line that can score some points; Caden Cole has the raw tools to bust out and be a high school star at some point, and Ian Christian can be a load to contend with. The defense was a total rebuild, yes, but they had a returning transfer in Luke Anderson to help shore things up, and some of the younger additions looked promising in summer action. The goaltending was back, too. This team, if not a top-ten force, was at least a legitimate contender, perhaps a chic pick to emerge from a winnable section.

A lot of that optimism unraveled during a very busy first few weeks of the 2023-2024 season. The Hounds are 2-6, winless against top 25 competition, down an early section game to Grand Rapids, humbled by an elite Wayzata squad. The crowning indignity came in a 6-0 defeat at the hands of Holy Family, a team that is capable but by no means overwhelming in its talent. The margin was bad enough, but the game degenerated into thuggery and post-whistle slop, and while said slop had plenty of instigation from the victors, in my time watching East hockey it is surpassed in ugliness only by the Duluth Denfeld debacle two seasons ago. I was left wondering where the swagger had gone, where the leadership might come from, and if there were any buttons to press that might invite a different outcome.

There are not many ways to sugarcoat a 2-6 start, but I will, at least, offer some cause for calm. Two of the losses were bad, but four were one-goal losses (one with an empty-netter) to top 15 teams, each one of them winnable if they had held a lead or finished on late opportunities. Their talent at forward is still arguably the best in the section, and Kole Kronstedt has shown he has the skills to carry a team in goal. Perhaps most reassuringly, there is very recent precedent for this situation: last season’s 18-6-1 season was only one win better than this team after eight games, sitting at 3-5 before a win over Andover spawned the memorable run.

Those same Andover Huskies await the Hounds in their next game after an ammonia leak at the Centennial Sports Arena postponed East’s visit to Circle Pines this week. (After this aggressive early schedule of road games, I am not sad to see a week off to regroup.) Andover is not the same team it was a section ago either, with its exceptional top line now a happy memory and a sub-.500 record of its own, albeit against first rate competition. The Huskies may not be a front-line superpower this season, but with their program depth and a collection of solid talents, they are the frontrunner in this section until someone beats them. East has the chance to prove it can do that next Tuesday.

Beyond that, 7AA is weak at the top, full of the intrigue built by balance. Grand Rapids is not going to overpower anyone with its offense, but between a few solid defensemen and its embarrassment of riches in goal, the Thunderhawks will be a nasty out. Rock Ridge is starting to emerge as a sleeper in its first 7AA season, with a deep core returning from a team that pushed Hermantown hard in the 7A final a season ago. The Wolverines haven’t been seriously tested yet, but the combined forces of Virginia, Mountain Iron, Buhl, Eveleth, Gilbert, Biwabik, Aurora, and Hoyt Lakes have some momentum as they build their program, at once the state’s youngest and oldest. Forest Lake lacks the talent of the top four here, but beat Rapids in spite of that, and looked plenty pesky in losses to other quality teams like East and White Bear Lake. And even Duluth Marshall, bolstered by a strong sophomore core, may now be on the upswing into relevance again.

What might move the needle for this East team? Consistent play and steady breakouts on the back end headline my list. But I am also looking for better chemistry out of the top two forward lines, a feature that appears in flashes but has yet to find the comfort zone that Gunderson and Peterson had with Cole Christian a season ago. Coolness under pressure is also part of the equation, and the ability to keep things from snowballing after the bad goals and sloppy periods that will inevitably happen this season. Last winter’s well-earned praise guarantees nothing, but it is a roadmap, and it is up to these players to step up and follow it.