2016 State Tournament - Pick the Winners Challenge!

MNHockeyFan · Post by **MNHockeyFan** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 6:45 am

At the end of two it's all knotted up at 3-3. Very physical game with lots of collisions and after the whistle pushing and shoving. St. Paul United looks to be the deeper and better skating team overall, and leads in shots 27-13. But the Warriors are very capable at making the great play and putting the puck in the net at any time.

The good news for Warroad is that Mariah Gardner came back and played the entire second period. Should be a great finish to what's been a very exciting hockey game...

warriors41 · Post by **warriors41** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 7:30 am

Tough game when the Gardner girls take that many penalties. Just playing stupid.

MNHockeyFan · Post by **MNHockeyFan** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 7:38 am

St. Paul United 4, Warroad 3 (final)
Penalties were a major factor in this one, as Warroad players were sent to the box NINE times in one of the more physical games you'll see in girls high school hockey. The United scored three power play goals, including Joie Phelps' winner midway through the 3rd.

Just over half (11 of 20) predicted the United moving on to the final, and they pick up a big 5 points each. I'll post an interim day leaderboard after the Blake/Proctor-Hermantown game.

MNHockeyFan · Post by **MNHockeyFan** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 7:43 am

In the AA Consolation round it was:
Eastview 5, Forest Lake 3

...and Lakeville South leads Sartell/Sauk Rapids 2-1 after two periods.

MNHockeyFan · Post by **MNHockeyFan** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 8:36 am

After one it's Blake with a 1-0 lead over Proctor/Hermantown on a power play tip in by Sarah Chute. Shots are 8-4. Another physical game with five penalties called so far.

MNHockeyFan · Post by **MNHockeyFan** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 9:24 am

Sophie McGovern of the Mirage scored early in the second to tie the game at 1-1, but was all Bears the rest of the period and they lead 4-1. Carly Bullock has two goals and Madeline Wethington two assists, and Blake is outshooting the Mirage 20-9 through two.

MNHockeyFan · Post by **MNHockeyFan** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 10:11 am

Blake 5, Proctor/Hermantown 1 (final)

Carly Bullock scores another goal in the 3rd to give her the hat trick and "Player of the Game" honors. She now has 7 goals in Blake's first two games.

Leaderboard heading into this evenings AA semi's:

1. Sparlimb - 36
sinbin - 26

3. wolfman - 33
Knight7 - 33

5. JohnnyBuck - 31
u12dad - 31
MNHockeyFan - 31
nu2hockey - 31
spars46 - 31
READYtoPLAY - 31

11. hockey21 - 30
massalsa - 30
rascalbrock - 30

14. cjmhockey19 - 29

15. Hansenbrother - 28

16. panpan111 - 26
goalie.coach.retired - 26
mnhockey3535 - 26

19. One with 20 (late entrant)

20. One with 12 (late entrant)

21. One still stuck at 6

I'll be at Ridder this evening to (hopefully) see the Gophers beat the Badgers, so I won't be able to post any further updates until I return home!

Sparlimb · Post by **Sparlimb** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 4:38 pm

Congrats to Maple Grove. They were able to slay the beast tonight. Good for them and good luck tomorrow night.

Nevertoomuchhockey · Post by **Nevertoomuchhockey** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 4:42 pm

3 of 4 great match-ups today. Well worth the ticket price - congrats MG!

MNHockeyFan · Post by **MNHockeyFan** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 5:08 pm

Sparlimb wrote:Congrats to Maple Grove. They were able to slay the beast tonight. Good for them and good luck tomorrow night.

Agreed, good for the Crimson, and good luck tomorrow night. Got home in time to watch the 3rd period and was that exciting! Until the time dwindled down to a couple minutes left I thought the Pioneers would find a way to tie it up, but it wasn't to be. In our contest 19 of 21 had them winning and going to the final, but there was one wise prognosticator - named rascalbrock - who picked Maple Grove to "slay the beast" as Sparlimb put it. rascalbrock was also one of 7 who had Eden Prairie beating Edina in the first semi, so those two winners enables rascalbrock to vault into the lead. Congrats on a great night!

1. rascalbrock - 40

2. Sparlimb - 36
MNHockeyFan - 36 (GO EP!)
READYtoPLAY - 36
sinbin - 36

6. massalsa - 35

7. cjmhockey19 - 34

8. wolfman - 33
Knight7 - 33
Hansenbrother - 33

11. JohnnyBuck - 31
u12dad - 31
nu2hockey - 31
mnhockey3535 - 31
spars46 - 31

16. hockey21 - 30

17. panpan111 - 26
goalie.coach.retired - 26

19. One with 20 (late entrant)

20. One with 12 (late entrant)

21. One with....6

Lots of points to be handed out tomorrow!

MNHockeyFan · Post by **MNHockeyFan** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 5:19 am

Results from this morning:

Class A Third Place
Warroad 3, Proctor/Hermantown 1

Just over a third (7 of 20) had the Warriors taking 3rd Place, and they pick up 4 points each.

Class A Consolation
New Prague 7, Alexandria 0

Most (12 of 20) had Proctor/Hermantown winning Consolation, but 6 managed to get it right by picking New Prague.

I'll be out most of this afternoon (hoping to see a Gophers sweep!) so with four games still to be played here I thought I would update the standings. In a back and forth race, we have two new leaders!

1. Sparlimb - 44
sinbin - 44

3. MNHockeyFan - 40
rascalbrock - 40
READYtoPLAY - 40

6. cjmhockey19 - 38

7. wolfman - 37
Knight7 - 37

9. JohnnyBuck - 35
u12dad - 35
massalsa - 35
nu2hockey - 35

13. Hansenbrother - 33

14. mnhockey3535 - 31
spars46 - 31

16. panpan111 - 30
hockey21 - 30

18. One with 26

19. One with 20 (late entrant)

20. One with 12 (late entrant)

21. And one still stick on 6, and I suspect proud of it!

MNHockeyFan · Post by **MNHockeyFan** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 1:18 pm

Results leading up to the Class 2A Championship game, now just underway:

Class 1A Championship
Blake 8, St. Paul United 0

The Blake Bears left no doubt as to who was the best team in Class A this season with a rout of a very good St. Paul United squad. 15 of 20 picked Blake to win it all and they add 10 points each.

Class 2A Consolation
Eastview 2, Lakeville South 1

Only 3 of 21 had Eastview taking 3rd and the 4 points for their prediction. The most popular choice was Lakeville South, favored by 11 of our 21 contestants.

Class 2A Third Place
Hill-Murray 5, Edina 3
Most everyone - 16 of 21 - expected the Pioneers to be playing in and winning the big trophy, not 3rd place. There was only one - rascalbrock - who predicted they would take third, and the 4 points so gained were critical as it put him into a three-way tie for first, pending the outcome of the championship tilt. Moreover, rascalbrock is the only one of the three, and only one period - to have either Eden Prairie or Maple Grove winning it all. He has the Crimson, so if his pick proves prophetic he takes it all by himself. If not, and the Eagles win, it's a three way tie:

1. Sparlimb - 54 (final point total - had Hill-Murray winning it all)
rascalbrock - 54 (adds 10 if Maple Grove wins!)
sinbin - 54 (final point total - had Edina winning it all)

Final and complete standings will be posted "for the record' when the championship winner is determined.

MNHockeyFan · Post by **MNHockeyFan** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 3:45 pm

Eden Prairie 3, Maple Grove 2 (OT)
Congratulations to both teams on a game well played. Super exciting and a real pleasure watching these two teams battle it out.

As noted above rascalbrock was in the driver's seat and would have won our contest outright if the Crimson could have pulled it off. But no shame in finishing in a tie for first with Sparlimb and sinbin. All three are experienced prognosticators who have won "more than their fair share" over the years!

Hope everyone had fun and enjoyed all the contests throughout the season.

If anyone would be interested in taking it over next year just send me a PM. A little variety might be good to spice things up a little. Or if you'd like to continue the current format I'd be happy to send you the spreadsheets I've used which help make hosting pretty easy.

Final standings for the "2016 State Tournaments - Pick the Winners Challenge":

1. Sparlimb - 54
rascalbrock - 54
sinbin - 54

4. cjmhockey19 - 52

5. wolfman - 51

6. MNHockeyFan - 50
READYtoPLAY - 50

8. JohnnyBuck - 45
massalsa - 45
nu2hockey - 45
mnhockey3535 - 45

12. spars46 - 41

13. panpan111 - 40

14. Knight7 - 37

15. goalie.coach.retired - 36

16. u12dad - 35

17. Hansenbrother - 33

18. Two with 30

20. One with 12

21. One forever stuck at 6!

sinbin · Post by **sinbin** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 1:41 am

Well, this helps salvage what has been a disengaged and subpar season by my standards, but still great fun was had week to week. MNHockeyFan, thanks again for running the show, great (and classy) commentary, quick updates and a fantastic job of herding the cats. Let's connect in the off-season and see how the stars might align come this November. Take care.

Jiblet · Post by **Jiblet** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 3:14 am

sinbin, I suppose your team not winning the championship makes it a subpar season for everyone else? That's unfortunate. Better luck next year clown.

sinbin · Post by **sinbin** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 5:11 am

huh?

Jiblet · Post by **Jiblet** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 5:18 am

sinbin wrote:Well, this helps salvage what has been a disengaged and subpar season by my standards.

Must have been a down year for the girls you cheer for.

MNHockeyFan · Post by **MNHockeyFan** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 5:21 am

Jiblet wrote:sinbin, I suppose your team not winning the championship makes it a subpar season for everyone else? That's unfortunate. Better luck next year clown.

Jiblet, looks like you're confusing the outcome this season for his favorite team vs. his nice finish in this season's final prognostication contest. Apples and oranges!