7AA Quarterfinals

Post by **karl(east)** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 9:49 am

This is probably the most intriguing set of quarterfinals out there.

#5 Forest Lake at #4 Cloquet
-A good match-up on many levels: north vs. metro, front-end talent vs. a deeper team with no obvious stars. Cloquet cruised to a 7-1 win back in December, but they haven't been playing all that well lately, while Forest Lake had a relatively strong second half. The Jacks will almost certainly outshoot the Rangers, so the visitors will need some quality goaltending, and have do what they can to disrupt the CEC breakouts. The winner gets a crack at Duluth East, which might motivate both of them; obviously Cloquet will want to take down their archrivals, and the Rangers are likely sick of the Hounds coming out of this section, too.

#6 Andover at #3 Elk River
-The two NWSC rivals meet for the third time this season. The Elks won both regular season match-ups, but they were very different games; they cruised to a fairly easy 4-1 win in the first meeting, but the second game went to OT and shots were more or less even. The Elks have a few more horses, but the Huskies also have some depth, and they are also the more experienced team, having been to a section final last season. Most importantly, Andover has Chase Perry, and they've been playing reasonably well down the stretch. Elk River, on the other hand, has had some rough games against top teams, though they have taken care of all of their weaker opponents.

#7 St. Francis at #2 Grand Rapids
-It's not often that a 7-seed has beaten a 2-seed in the regular season, and that fact alone, despite the talent mismatch, makes this one interesting. For St. Francis, the task is straightforward, if not very easy: play sharp defense, get another 50ish saves out of goaltender Darion Hanson, and finish on the chances they do get. Rapids obviously has the superior talent here, and just needs to play smart and not get frustrated if St. Francis shows signs of hanging around again. Both teams have been playing pretty well of late.

#8 STMA at #1 Duluth East
-Uhh...yeah. (Though to be fair to STMA, their 6-1 regular season loss to East was closer than most 8-v.-1 games East has played over the years. But still.)

All games start at 7:00 on Tuesday. Who ya got?

Usthockey13 · Post by **Usthockey13** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 10:07 am

Flake
Andover
STF

DE

alcloseshaver · Post by **alcloseshaver** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 11:22 am

Cloquet
Elk River
Rapids
East
The only game I see as close is the ER/Andover game. ER was up 5-1 going into the third in the 2nd game and won 6-5 in overtime. ER goalie has posted 2 straight shutouts and if he is on they should win. Perry has not lived up to the preseason hype but is beleived to be still capable.
Cloquet will handled FL, they are battle tested. FL's conference overall is not that strong. Other 2 games are easy win for the favorites.

BodyShots · Post by **BodyShots** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 11:54 am

Top 4 seeds all advance. This section drops off significantly after the top 2. So it will be down to GR vs DE. I'm hoping for a change, and will root for GR to advance to state (in spite of DJ).

MHGr8ness · Post by **MHGr8ness** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 1:51 pm

I'll agree these are the most interesting quarterfinals around, but I still am taking all the top seeds to advance. If someone gets knocked off i'm thinking it'll be the Elks.

Metrohockeyfan · Post by **Metrohockeyfan** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 1:57 pm

I'm going to take Andover over the Elks, as I believe they are just the better team despite their two head-to-head losses.

Bronc · Post by **Bronc** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 2:46 pm

BodyShots wrote:Top 4 seeds all advance. This section drops off significantly after the top 2. So it will be down to GR vs DE. I'm hoping for a change, and will root for GR to advance to state (in spite of DJ).

Andover beats Cloquet in Cloquet very close to the end of the season and gets seeded two below.

I take Forest Lake to beat Cloquet and then a rematch to DE.

Bigcat99 · Post by **Bigcat99** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 3:46 pm

2 out of the first 16 votes go to East being most likely to be knocked out in quarters?

sticksave · Post by **sticksave** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 4:45 pm

How could you think Andover is the better team? The Elks beat them twice and Andover's record is worse. The Elks melted down in their last meeting but that was mainly due to the fact that they were so badly beating Andover that the Elks lost their concentration. Its hard to beat any one 3 times but the Elks should prevail.

allstatebenders · Post by **allstatebenders** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 5:24 pm

I think St Francis beats GR again, Flake beats the distracted Cloquet team, and Andover upsets ER and I think the DE-STMA game will be a lot close than people think.

Bigcat99 · Post by **Bigcat99** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 5:39 pm

allstatebenders wrote:I think St Francis beats GR again, Flake beats the distracted Cloquet team, and Andover upsets ER and I think the DE-STMA game will be a lot close than people think.

Ill go along with one of those four picks

old goalie85 · Post by **old goalie85** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 11:38 am

Tonight at Cloquet !!! Hard to believe it's already here. Rangers by 2.

Hermmunster58 · Post by **Hermmunster58** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 12:44 pm

I see only 2 potential upsets tonight: FL over Cloquet - I feel for the Cloquet seniors who have had to deal with a parent(s) issue leading up to what my be their last game. Andover over ER - Andover (goalie) appears to be playing better as of late and ER may be looking past this game.

old goalie85 · Post by **old goalie85** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:35 pm

Rapids/East/Andover/FL.

TheHockeyDJ · Post by **TheHockeyDJ** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:41 pm

East 8-0 over STMA
Rapids 5-2 over STF
Elk River 4-3 over Andover in 2OT
Cloquet over FL 3-2 in OT

old goalie85 · Post by **old goalie85** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:45 pm

Two out if four ain't bad D.J.

TheHockeyDJ · Post by **TheHockeyDJ** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 5:21 pm

The CEC/FL and ER/Andover games are really tough to pick. I know GR/STF is perceived by some to be close, but I think GR is playing much better and their goalie didn't seem to be playing that great down the stretch. I think maybe ppl read too much into the distraction at CEC and I know most feel Andover is a likely upset, but I think the Elks put together enough at home to beat em a 3rd time. Gonna be interesting. I can't wait to listen to the GR game while I watch CEC/FL online.

Post by **karl(east)** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 6:18 pm

Time to go watch some playoff hockey. I'll be at the East game, but I look forward to some good reports on here of the other three! Good luck to all eight teams...

old goalie85 · Post by **old goalie85** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:26 pm

CEC 2 FL0 after 1.

PASTRAPIDSFAN · Post by **PASTRAPIDSFAN** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:28 pm

GR 2-1 AFTER ONE

Duluth 4 · Post by **Duluth 4** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:38 pm

East is up 5-0 late in the first

old goalie85 · Post by **old goalie85** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 8:07 pm

CEC 4 FL2 after two. Could be last period of the year for the Ranger boys.

PASTRAPIDSFAN · Post by **PASTRAPIDSFAN** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 8:08 pm

GR 2-2 ST FRAN after 2

Duluth 4 · Post by **Duluth 4** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 8:14 pm

East up 11-0 late in the second.

GPGT · Post by **GPGT** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 8:27 pm

Duluth 4 wrote:East up 11-0 late in the second.

Just out of curiosity sog?

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7AA Quarterfinals

Which top seed is most likely to lose?

7AA Quarterfinals