Biggest Tourney upsets

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50in15
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Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by 50in15 » Sun Mar 08, 2020 11:09 am

With mahtomedi pulling off the shocker yesterday, it got me thinking about the biggest tourney upsets. Here are the biggest one from the last 10 years IMO.

1. 2012 Lakeville south over #1 Duluth East, 3-2. East came in with only 1 loss. This still gets the nod for me section 1 was really the laughing stock in the previous years and East was dominant against some of the toughest teams that years. Most people probably had East by 5 in this one.

2. 2020, Mahtomedi over Hermantown. Hermantown beat them 9-2 earlier in the year and looked unstoppable in its first two games.

3. 2015, Duluth East over 1 loss #2 Edina. Unseeded East had just upset STA but no one saw this coming. Edina was loaded and everyone was anticipating the Lakeville vs Edina Saturday showdown.

4. Big drop off hear but I go with 2017 MAML over Delano. Typically, no drama in A quarters for 1-3 seed matchups and here the 2 goes down.

5. 2018 - Alexandria beats Hermantown 6-1 to get to finals. A lot has to do with the names in all honesty.

Any that I am missing? MAML over Hermantown would have jumped to 1 if they had found the back of net in OT.

mulefarm
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by mulefarm » Sun Mar 08, 2020 11:13 am

Anoka over Holy Angels.

Sparlimb
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by Sparlimb » Sun Mar 08, 2020 11:17 am

mulefarm wrote:
Sun Mar 08, 2020 11:13 am
Anoka over Holy Angels.
Although to be honest, no one that watched the game thought it was an upset after the game. Anoka came out that tournament and flew up and down the ice and was clearly the best team. But yes, it was a big upset at the time.

And why oh why do I not remember Roseville making a state final? They do run together after a while...

BlueLineSpecial
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by BlueLineSpecial » Sun Mar 08, 2020 11:20 am

2007 was a really weird year for big upsets. 3 seed Hill lost to Rochester Century. I was driving and listening on the radio. When Century scores the game winner the announcers were just screaming at the top of their lungs. You couldn’t tell what they were saying. Then the announcer did his best Miracle moment and shouted “do you believe in Miracles?!?! Yeeeeeeess!!!!!” Sheesh, biased much?

That year I think every seeded team lost except for 2 seed Roseau. They went on to win it all, playing the northern championship against GR.
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north_bear
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by north_bear » Sun Mar 08, 2020 11:44 am

BlueLineSpecial wrote:
Sun Mar 08, 2020 11:20 am
2007 was a really weird year for big upsets. 3 seed Hill lost to Rochester Century. I was driving and listening on the radio. When Century scores the game winner the announcers were just screaming at the top of their lungs. You couldn’t tell what they were saying. Then the announcer did his best Miracle moment and shouted “do you believe in Miracles?!?! Yeeeeeeess!!!!!” Sheesh, biased much?

That year I think every seeded team lost except for 2 seed Roseau. They went on to win it all, playing the northern championship against GR.
GR took down top seeded Edina in the quarters in 2007.

I might also add GR win over Eden Prairie in 2017 as a big upset. The #5 seed over the #1 in the semis. Casey Middlestadt and company were the team to beat looking to avenge the finals loss the year prior.
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50in15
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by 50in15 » Sun Mar 08, 2020 12:29 pm

The 2000s had quite a few more upsets compared to the teens.

GR over EP has to be in the mix although, I feel like at the time we all know GR had the talent that they could pull it off. Definitely, one of the top games of the decade. So much fun!

Sparlimb
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by Sparlimb » Sun Mar 08, 2020 12:47 pm

50in15 wrote:
Sun Mar 08, 2020 12:29 pm
The 2000s had quite a few more upsets compared to the teens.

GR over EP has to be in the mix although, I feel like at the time we all know GR had the talent that they could pull it off. Definitely, one of the top games of the decade. So much fun!
You could probably say every game from the section semi's (Elk River) on to the state title were upsets for Rapids. That was a year where a struggling team put it all together at the end and went on a run for the ages.

WestMetro
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by WestMetro » Sun Mar 08, 2020 1:15 pm

2012 had upsets in all 4 qfinals . And for that reason and others was one of my most enjoyable tournaments ever

(Spar-There was an unheard of Pio that year - I think his name was Jake Guentzel? Remember him?)

Brodziak Fan Club
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by Brodziak Fan Club » Sun Mar 08, 2020 1:56 pm

Fun thread. Edina lost Malmquist right before that 2015 East game. Not only was he their best player, he was their emotional leader. Still an upset, but I think that takes some of the luster out of it.

One major upset that hasn’t been brought up yet, 2009 Moorhead over Edina. Edina’s “Fab 5” never got their banner (although they were without Budish that year.)

DubCHAGuy
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by DubCHAGuy » Sun Mar 08, 2020 2:54 pm

BlueLineSpecial wrote:
Sun Mar 08, 2020 11:20 am
2007 was a really weird year for big upsets. 3 seed Hill lost to Rochester Century. I was driving and listening on the radio. When Century scores the game winner the announcers were just screaming at the top of their lungs. You couldn’t tell what they were saying. Then the announcer did his best Miracle moment and shouted “do you believe in Miracles?!?! Yeeeeeeess!!!!!” Sheesh, biased much?

That year I think every seeded team lost except for 2 seed Roseau. They went on to win it all, playing the northern championship against GR.
And it was the first year they seeded the tourney if I remember right. That didn't go as planned. #-o

Section 1 was 3-26 in the AA format up to that point and hadn't won a first round game since 1995, which was against WBL in the first round so it doesn't even count. :lol:

O-townClown
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by O-townClown » Sun Mar 08, 2020 3:20 pm

Brodziak Fan Club wrote:
Sun Mar 08, 2020 1:56 pm
One major upset that hasn’t been brought up yet, 2009 Moorhead over Edina. Edina’s “Fab 5” never got their banner (although they were without Budish that year.)
A HUGE upset for sure. Credit to the Spuds kids for a great game.

Other notable Edina losses:

1981 - Edina West lost to South St. Paul in the first round
1983 - Edina lost to Columbia Heights in the first round, a/k/a the Miracle on ice
Be kind. Rewind.

goldy313
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by goldy313 » Sun Mar 08, 2020 4:45 pm

DubCHAGuy wrote:
Sun Mar 08, 2020 2:54 pm
BlueLineSpecial wrote:
Sun Mar 08, 2020 11:20 am
2007 was a really weird year for big upsets. 3 seed Hill lost to Rochester Century. I was driving and listening on the radio. When Century scores the game winner the announcers were just screaming at the top of their lungs. You couldn’t tell what they were saying. Then the announcer did his best Miracle moment and shouted “do you believe in Miracles?!?! Yeeeeeeess!!!!!” Sheesh, biased much?

That year I think every seeded team lost except for 2 seed Roseau. They went on to win it all, playing the northern championship against GR.
And it was the first year they seeded the tourney if I remember right. That didn't go as planned. #-o

Section 1 was 3-26 in the AA format up to that point and hadn't won a first round game since 1995, which was against WBL in the first round so it doesn't even count. :lol:

Wasn’t Hill leading that game 5-1 or 5-2 entering the 3rd period? If I remember correctly the building was about half empty.

Sparlimb
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by Sparlimb » Sun Mar 08, 2020 4:48 pm

WestMetro wrote:
Sun Mar 08, 2020 1:15 pm
2012 had upsets in all 4 qfinals . And for that reason and others was one of my most enjoyable tournaments ever

(Spar-There was an unheard of Pio that year - I think his name was Jake Guentzel? Remember him?)
I was sitting at those games. It all went well until Besse stood on his head and single handily won a state tile for his school. An amazing accomplishment, but never one you like to see against your squad. But that Thursday was for sure one the most fun days I've had watching hockey. Especially the Lakeville South win (although I hate to bring it up).

goldy313
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by goldy313 » Sun Mar 08, 2020 4:59 pm

That Lakeville South team had the best player in the state in Justin Kloos, after being upset in the section finals the year before Kloos unexpectedly returned to South for his senior season. South was a good team all year and Kloos was not going to be denied a trip to state, they rolled through sections winning every game in running time.

I think people just overlooked how good South actually was because they came from 1AA, pagestat had them at #10 showing that it wasn’t like South came out of nowhere to win that game.

DubCHAGuy
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by DubCHAGuy » Sun Mar 08, 2020 5:44 pm

goldy313 wrote:
Sun Mar 08, 2020 4:59 pm
That Lakeville South team had the best player in the state in Justin Kloos, after being upset in the section finals the year before Kloos unexpectedly returned to South for his senior season. South was a good team all year and Kloos was not going to be denied a trip to state, they rolled through sections winning every game in running time.

I think people just overlooked how good South actually was because they came from 1AA, pagestat had them at #10 showing that it wasn’t like South came out of nowhere to win that game.
True about Kloos he was an amazing HS player. But that East team was arguably their most talented ever to include the mid 90's, or at least the deepest. And they were also on a mission, basically returning the entire team that lost the 3OT thriller to EP team the year before. It was quite the upset. Not like this year where 1 & 10 weren't separated by much.

On the flip side 2015 Duluth East may have been the least talented Hounds tourney team I've seen over the years, but it was fun watching them knock off STA and Edina. It would have been crazy if that team would have been the one to break through and break the Hounds title drought, but they ran into one of the best teams of all time in the final. That was some of Randolph's finest work.

chester1991
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by chester1991 » Sun Mar 08, 2020 5:59 pm

1988 Edina a #4 seed in section knocks off an undefeated Warroad team in double OT in the semi's and defeats Hill Murray for #8 in 88!

hockey59
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by hockey59 » Sun Mar 08, 2020 5:59 pm

goldy313 wrote:
Sun Mar 08, 2020 4:59 pm
That Lakeville South team had the best player in the state in Justin Kloos, after being upset in the section finals the year before Kloos unexpectedly returned to South for his senior season. South was a good team all year and Kloos was not going to be denied a trip to state, they rolled through sections winning every game in running time.

I think people just overlooked how good South actually was because they came from 1AA, pagestat had them at #10 showing that it wasn’t like South came out of nowhere to win that game.
South was good Goldy, no question...but that 2012 DE team returned almost everyone from the 2011 team that took Rau & EP to 3OT & had only one loss going into the tourney...that’s what made it an epic upset ☝️

xy
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by xy » Sun Mar 08, 2020 6:22 pm

I realize the discussion so far has been about state tournament play, but I think RIchfield's upsets of Edina and Minnetonka to get to state in 1986 were the most unexpected wins I've ever seen. Edina was loaded that year.

karl(east)
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by karl(east) » Sun Mar 08, 2020 9:00 pm

The three biggest in my time following closely are almost certainly Moorhead over Edina in 09, Lakeville South over East in 12, and East over Edina in 15. East/Edina had the biggest ranking gap, and probably the biggest skill gap, though on the flip side the team that pulled the upset was a power program with some legitimate young talent that had just reeled off three upsets leading up to that one, so I at least wasn't stunned when they pulled it off.

South over East wasn't a huge ranking gap, but that East team was so loaded and it came at a time when 1AA had only won one quarterfinal (Century over Hill) over a 15+ year stretch, so it felt perhaps more dramatic than it would have if, say, that South team had been wearing Moorhead jerseys or something. That one sure hurt, though as an East fan, if I could have one game back over the past decade, it would be the 2018 final against Minnetonka. That was the group I was most confident in over my years as an East fan; with the 2012 group, you could tell the nerves were slipping in, and they weren't playing their best hockey at the end of the season.

Moorhead/Edina 09 shouldn't be overlooked, though. That Spuds team only had one D-I player, and it was a freshman backup goalie, while that Edina team was (at the time) the most impressive collection of talent to come through in a very long time, maybe since the Spehar/Locker East teams. (They've since had some teams that surpassed that, as did Lakeville North.)

Sparlimb
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by Sparlimb » Sun Mar 08, 2020 9:06 pm

chester1991 wrote:
Sun Mar 08, 2020 5:59 pm
1988 Edina a #4 seed in section knocks off an undefeated Warroad team in double OT in the semi's and defeats Hill Murray for #8 in 88!
Bonus Point. ChrisK can back me up because he went and looked. Warroad scored the tying goal (I think in the 3rd) to make it 1-1 and the play was 20 feet off sides. Edina cleared the zone, hit a player who was diving and came back into their defensive zone. Warroad player never clears the zone picks up the puck, walks in on goal and scores. Edina later wins in 2 OTs...

karl(east) wrote:
Sun Mar 08, 2020 9:00 pm
South over East wasn't a huge ranking gap, but that East team was so loaded and it came at a time when 1AA had only won one quarterfinal (Century over Hill) over a 15+ year stretch, so it felt perhaps more dramatic than it would have if, say, that South team had been wearing Moorhead jerseys or something. That one sure hurt, though as an East fan, if I could have one game back over the past decade, it would be the 2018 final against Minnetonka. That was the group I was most confident in over my years as an East fan; with the 2012 group, you could tell the nerves were slipping in, and they weren't playing their best hockey at the end of the season.
I know Kloos was on that team, but anyone watching the game knew it was a 1 in 50 kind of shot they had. East dominated the game. Shot totals were ugly. But they just couldn't score. Sorry to bring that game up though...
Last edited by Sparlimb on Sun Mar 08, 2020 9:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

50in15
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by 50in15 » Sun Mar 08, 2020 9:07 pm

I remember going to the X for the Schwann holiday tournament that year to watch Duluth East and Minnetonka play each other. Pretty sure it was 1 vs 2 matchup and East beat them like 7-1. It was crazy. They were a juggernaut.

Agreed, that at the time South was seen as a much better than typical section 1 championship. Remember, section 1 hadn’t scored a goal in the quarters since the century win in 2007. Feel free to read that again. For that reason, no one was giving south a chance even they had the odds on favorite to win mr. hockey (which he did). South put it together for 3 periods , held on for dear life and left the crowd speechless. Then, lost 10-1 24 hours later 😀

For those reasons, I think this game is pretty comfortably the biggest upset of the 2010s with everyone else fighting for the 2 spot .

WestMetro
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by WestMetro » Sun Mar 08, 2020 9:20 pm

xy wrote:
Sun Mar 08, 2020 6:22 pm
I realize the discussion so far has been about state tournament play, but I think RIchfield's upsets of Edina and Minnetonka to get to state in 1986 were the most unexpected wins I've ever seen. Edina was loaded that year.
Depends how far back you want to go , but Columbia Heights beat Edina in a state Trny qfinal not too long before the famous Richfield section upset

xy
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by xy » Sun Mar 08, 2020 9:25 pm

It's 8 years ago so all our memories differ, and I don't for a second dispute that East would have won a multi-game series, probably easily, but my recollection is that the Lakeville South-Duluth East game in 2012 wasn't really dominated by East. Shots were only 27-22 in their favor. South had played them very close in a scrimmage earlier that year, and for some reason matched up well with them. South had to play a pretty much perfect game to win, but give them credit for doing that.

xy
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by xy » Sun Mar 08, 2020 9:31 pm

Columbia Heights in 1983 was a bit of an upset, but those same CH players won the state bantam championship in '80, and Edina wasn't as strong in '83 as they often are, so it wasn't as shocking as it seems now. The awesome name of the Heights goalie is part of why it's so fondly remembered, along with the novelty of Heights being there - they haven't even had a team for almost 20 years.

ndirishfighting
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Re: Biggest Tourney upsets

Post by ndirishfighting » Sun Mar 08, 2020 9:41 pm

???Greenway over EP???

???Greenway over Mahtomedi???
They’re kids NOT PROFESSIONALS
It’s just a game!

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