2024 AA tourney

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

CDH 100% deserved to win that game. They’ve completely dominated since Centennial took 3-0 lead in 1st period. Were it not for Centennial’s goalie, CDH would have won comfortably.

Centennial is one-line team. Not criticizing that, just stating fact. They got to tourney on that one line and power play success against Maple Grove. Was how they scored 3 goals in 1st period today as well—1st line capitalizing on power plays. But it was reason why after 1st period in this game, it was all CDH, too. Depth mattered in this one.

Looks like that one line only played a few shifts in the first period.

[kpryan888]

CDH 100% deserved to win that game. They’ve completely dominated since Centennial took 3-0 lead in 1st period. Were it not for Centennial’s goalie, CDH would have won comfortably.

Centennial is one-line team. Not criticizing that, just stating fact. They got to tourney on that one line and power play success against Maple Grove. Was how they scored 3 goals in 1st period today as well—1st line capitalizing on power plays. But it was reason why after 1st period in this game, it was all CDH, too. Depth mattered in this one.

Not sure if any of the fellow Pioneer grads connected the dots, but the Centennial goalie is the son of former Pioneer goalie Bill Cody. He played his heart out and kept them in it as long as he could. 45 saves is a great performance.

[Nostalgic Nerd]

GR 1, Urban Nothings 0. Not really feeling it, but the Bad News Bears did get a little sumpin going towards the end of the first.

[Nostalgic Nerd]

Will see if GR can run the table. They get a lot of sticks in their defensive end.

I meant sticks on pucks.

[Nostalgic Nerd]

Ok well 1-1. I lost my mind on the PP when the Bear passed it backwards when he had the shot.

[BlueLineSpecial]

Oh. My. God.

[SCBlueLiner]

It's like.twisting the knife. That was brutal.

[Doc Holliday]

The Hockey Gods.....

Show absolutely no mercy on White Bear Lake.

Probably would have preferred losing 2-0 on an empty netter. Instead, get their hopes up with the tying goal.....and then they jump off the top rope!

[Nostalgic Nerd]

It's like.twisting the knife. That was brutal.

No real surprise though I'm afraid. I was just glad the Bears scored one. The guy has a shot on the right circle and zings the pass across the rink backwards. I got so pissed. Anyway, GR will be tough. Very stingy in their own zone.

[east hockey]

So Rapids avoids being the answer to a very painful trivia question, and they join the following group who White Bear has faced in the quarterfinal round:

Duluth East, Hibbing, South St Paul, Eveleth, Moorhead, Roseau (2 ea), Blaine, Roseville, Anoka, Rochester Mayo, Duluth Denfeld, St Paul Johnson, Thief River Falls, Rapids

Ouch.

On the other hand, they've made it to State 20 times. Only seven other teams can say that. Eight if you include Warroad with their 16 Class A appearances.

Lee

[Nostalgic Nerd]

The Hockey Gods.....

Show absolutely no mercy on White Bear Lake.

Probably would have preferred losing 2-0 on an empty netter. Instead, get their hopes up with the tying goal.....and then they jump off the top rope!

Yeah I guess you are right. I will probably cry later.

[north_bear]

What a finish to the nightcap! Whew I'm glad we didn't go OT and have to deal with those nerves!

[Nostalgic Nerd]

What a finish to the nightcap! Whew I'm glad we didn't go OT and have to deal with those nerves!

Yuck.

[Nostalgic Nerd]

Cretin might have a real hard time getting anything by the Chanhassen goalie today. Also obviously the speed of Uhlkemp. I cannot remember his name.

GR vs Edina: I'm not really sold on the Edina goalie so not sure. As I said GR's zone defense is really sticky. Edina will buzz, but #7 and 14 for GR are real good skaters.

[BlueLineSpecial]

So Rapids avoids being the answer to a very painful trivia question, and they join the following group who White Bear has faced in the quarterfinal round:

Duluth East, Hibbing, South St Paul, Eveleth, Moorhead, Roseau (2 ea), Blaine, Roseville, Anoka, Rochester Mayo, Duluth Denfeld, St Paul Johnson, Thief River Falls, Rapids

Ouch.

On the other hand, they've made it to State 20 times. Only seven other teams can say that. Eight if you include Warroad with their 16 Class A appearances.

Lee

Interesting to see this list. I'm a little surprised by the opponents - lots of northern teams, only 5 metro teams

[O-townClown]

the following group who White Bear has faced in the quarterfinal round:

Duluth East, Hibbing, South St Paul, Eveleth, Moorhead, Roseau (2 ea), Blaine, Roseville, Anoka, Rochester Mayo, Duluth Denfeld, St Paul Johnson, Thief River Falls, Rapids

Whenever this seemingly impossible streak is mentioned it seems fitting to point out that White Bear Mariner was 1982 runner-up.

[BlueLineSpecial]

Only long-suffering WBLers and their sympathizers will bring up Mariner. It was a separate high school, with a separate mascot, and a separate team that existed for a whopping 11 years. But if hanging onto Mariner's 'amazing' State tournament experience (which is, admittedly, more than the Bears have done since 1945) makes everyone feel better, then have at it!

My advice? Embrace the streak. There will never be another one like this in MN HS hockey in any of our lifetimes. Or our kids lifetimes. And probably not ever. It's WB's birthright. Don't turn your back on your birthright!

[stpaul]

What do the Hockey gods have against White Bear Lake? Did the ghost of Moose Goheen steal the Chief god's wife and is holding her hostage? How can anyone explain 80 years and 20 tournaments of torture? Not to mention 50 years and the dozens of close section losses to Hill-Murray. How about Hockey Day MN just a year ago?

It reminded me of a quarterfinal loss in 2005 to Duluth East. WBL was ranked #1 and DE was just a 17-11 team. DE won 3-2 with two 3rd period goals and WBL couldn't score 6 on 4 in the last 2 minutes. One example of many torturous losses.

WBL players kneeling on the ice in agony has become a rite of the coming of spring. Perhaps if WBL won a state title, we would have a summer of ice, cold and snow. Tim Sager can no longer take all of the blame. One explanation for last night was that horrible penalty by #20 with 3 minutes to go. Can't get away with that one with 4 officials and many replay cameras. I agree, WBLers should embrace the pain. Also, encourage your players not to take stupid boarding cross-checking majors in the closing minutes of huge games.

[O-townClown]

Only long-suffering WBLers and their sympathizers will bring up Mariner. It was a separate high school, with a separate mascot, and a separate team that existed for a whopping 11 years. But if hanging onto Mariner's 'amazing' State tournament experience (which is, admittedly, more than the Bears have done since 1945) makes everyone feel better, then have at it!

My advice? Embrace the streak. There will never be another one like this in MN HS hockey in any of our lifetimes. Or our kids lifetimes. And probably not ever. It's WB's birthright. Don't turn your back on your birthright!

Legacy.Hockey is the official site for box scores and stats. They list 1982 as a state tournament appearance. Ditto Edina for all East and West appearances. It's fine if people don't count it, but acting like a Mariner appearance somehow isn't representative of the community and school district is going of the way to discredit White Bear Lake.

It's really weird they haven't won at least one somewhere along the way.

[BlueLineSpecial]

Only long-suffering WBLers and their sympathizers will bring up Mariner. It was a separate high school, with a separate mascot, and a separate team that existed for a whopping 11 years. But if hanging onto Mariner's 'amazing' State tournament experience (which is, admittedly, more than the Bears have done since 1945) makes everyone feel better, then have at it!

My advice? Embrace the streak. There will never be another one like this in MN HS hockey in any of our lifetimes. Or our kids lifetimes. And probably not ever. It's WB's birthright. Don't turn your back on your birthright!

Legacy.Hockey is the official site for box scores and stats. They list 1982 as a state tournament appearance. Ditto Edina for all East and West appearances. It's fine if people don't count it, but acting like a Mariner appearance somehow isn't representative of the community and school district is going of the way to discredit White Bear Lake.

It's really weird they haven't won at least one somewhere along the way.

For sure it's representative of the community and school district. But it wasn't da Bears in '82. It was da Dolphins. Bears are 0-20.

You can actually get some solid throwback retro clothing items for Mariner at a downtown WBL store. I don't recall the Mariner logo/color scheme/etc... was a bit before my time. But the clothes look pretty cool!

[Nostalgic Nerd]

Whew Cretin getting blitzed.

[SpreadOut!]

Just seed the AA field from top to bottom at end of regular season and throw geography out the window already. Chanhassen and Edina are so much better than the other six teams in the tourney this year. Too many of the state’s top AA programs are all packed in 2-3 sections. Time for change. This is ridiculous.

[Gov78]

Just seed the AA field from top to bottom at end of regular season and throw geography out the window already. Chanhassen and Edina are so much better than the other six teams in the tourney this year. Too many of the state’s top AA programs are all packed in 2-3 sections. Time for change. This is ridiculous.

Too bad Minnetonka and Wayzata not there as well.

[Nostalgic Nerd]

Just seed the AA field from top to bottom at end of regular season and throw geography out the window already.

If you want travel to be a nightmare in sections.

[The51]

Truly embarrassing what a waste of a night

Between the 2 classes 7 of the 12 games so far have been horrendous