New 1 AA section seedings

SEMinnHockeyNut · Post by **SEMinnHockeyNut** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:41 pm

Come on, Chaska is better than any team Mayo has beaten during heir 4-1-1 stretch, probably better than any yteam Mayo has beat this year.

Not true....according to Lee Chaska is 76th, Mitch has them as 80th - not that much higher than Farmington, who nobody is talking about anymore.

Owatonna is 67th, and 63rd.

Mayo beat Hibbing 6-1, Roseau beat them 6-0, so isn't that a quality win?
Mayo beat Grafton, which would rank in the mid 50's in MN according to Mitch. Century lost to Grafton.
Hibbing beat LN 6-3; Chaska lost to Hibbing 5-2.

Certainly both LS and LN have stronger schedules and it helps them greatly. Century and Mayo play tougher competition outside the Big Nine, sometimes with success - sometimes w/ big losses.

Mayo is 4-1-1 w/ a short bench. I am not sure about LN, but they are 2-5 since they beat Mayo - some losses look bad - getting blasted by Eagan and Eastview, and losing to Chaska. Even the 4-3 win over Kennedy looks bad - a team ranked lower than Winona and barely higher than JM and Dodge County.

Part of my message was what the coaches will think. When it was one Lakeville they got seeded 5th - should not have been that low, but that was the seed they got because the coaches look at records - not just head to head match-ups....they will also look at common opponents and they will look at how teams do down the stretch.

Certainly LS should get the #1 seed if they beat LN again. If Mayo beats AL or even plays them close, that will help. If Mayo beats Century and Century beats Owatonna, Mayo could get the #2 seed.

What I find interesting is when I read the comments from Coach Fish in the program Tuesday, he stated that Mayo was still playing for the #1 seed. Is it deception? Maybe. Was he just trying to motivate his injury-depleted team? Probably. Who knows what other coaches are thinking?
Do LS and LN hate each other? Will that impact how they seed?
What will Winona, JM, and Dodge County do? Only they know and all we can do is speculate.

I certainly thought Mayo was going to LS last year, but instead the coaches flipped them from what I thought, even with the LS win over Mayo.

I do honestly think that any of the five teams could make it out and to St. Paul....if it is LS, LN, or Century, that team will likely be under or near .500 on the year.

One prediction I will make - the winner of 1AA will not be a seeded team at the tourney!

DCwildcats · Post by **DCwildcats** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:08 pm

My 2 cents -

LS
Mayo
LN
Owatonna
Century

I think that in a wide open section, I would watch out for Century - I could see them upsetting Mayo or LS and maybe head back to the X.

eagle4life9 · Post by **eagle4life9** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 1:03 am

SEMinnHockeyNut-I dont think there is any bad blood between the coaches at LN and LS or the teams. There may be a few individuals who dislike other individuals but I know there are alot of people who are on each team that are friends. Also Kurt Weber (LS coach) was an assistant to Randy Schmitz (LN coach) for a long time before South opened. So I dont think that there is any relationship problems (that kinda sounds funny) that will affect how they seed but I could see them seeding so they dont play till the finals. And if it does end up being a LS vs LN game in the semis of finals is there a way they could change the location of the game cuz whats the point of driving 90 min to Rochester to see two Lakeville teams play.

SEMinnHockeyNut · Post by **SEMinnHockeyNut** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 12:16 pm

Eagleforlife - Thanks for the insight...I don't think they could change sites. Besides, Schmitz would not want to change sites since his Panthers record in the Rec Center is unreal!

eagle4life9 · Post by **eagle4life9** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 12:54 pm

Thats probably true they do have a nice track record down there but theyve never played South there.

With how competitive this section is with 5 teams legitimate enough to win it I am just hoping we see some good games like some of those classic Century vs Lakeville (North) in multiple OTs.

Prodigy · Post by **Prodigy** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 1:11 pm

Eagles4life- I was at that game in '03...of course Lakeville was just Lakeville, it wasn't spilt up into North and South yet...but, Boy! what a game that was! 5 OT section final game! One of the best high school hockey games probably ever played. Those poor Century teams tho, losing 3 straight years in the finals to Lakeville...you had to feel for them

goldy313 · Post by **goldy313** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:42 pm

With Owatonna beating Century it pretty much assures Owatonna gets seeded ahead of Mayo since Owatonna will end up higher in the Big Nine than Mayo. Big Nine teams have traditionally been seeded straight by conference finish with the other schools thrown in there, given the parity I don't think that will change this year. Owatonna has wins over Albert Lea and Blake along with a sweep of Century, Mayo has a win over Hibbing but they're lower ranked than either AL or Blake and given Mayo lost to Century and will finish behind Owatonna it would be real hard to give them a seed ahead of Owatonna.

Mayo, Century, and North will fill in 3-5 in some order, the Mayo Century game will determine that. I'd be hard pressed to seed either Rochester school ahead of North given neither beat North and given North's schedule compared to either of those schools.

eagle4life9 · Post by **eagle4life9** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:35 am

Goldy-What if North beats South on Tuesday? They both tied and beat a Rochester team and split with each other so the only thing different is records but then do you still give Owatonna the 2?

I think that if LS beats LN then it should go
LS
Owatonna
LN
Mayo
Century
If LN beats LS then it should go
LS
LN
Owatonna
Mayo
Centuy

Either way there is no way in my mind that either Mayo or Century can be ahead of North or South because neither Mayo or Century beat either of the Lakevilles this year and the Lakevilles play a much tougher schedule.

hockiepuck · Post by **hockiepuck** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:03 am

eagle4life9 wrote:Goldy-What if North beats South on Tuesday? They both tied and beat a Rochester team and split with each other so the only thing different is records but then do you still give Owatonna the 2?

I think that if LS beats LN then it should go
LS
Owatonna
LN
Mayo
Century
If LN beats LS then it should go
Mayo
Centuy

Either way there is no way in my mind that either Mayo or Century can be ahead of North or South because neither Mayo or Century beat either of the Lakevilles this year and the Lakevilles play a much tougher schedule.

YOU ARE RIGHT ON !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

goldy313 · Post by **goldy313** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:54 am

I think you're right North is the #3, however Mayo and Century will be seeded by what happens when they play Thursday. I think both Lakeville schools are better than Owatonna but given Owatonna does have 16 wins and should end with 18 or 19 they might end up #1 if North should beat South. I don't see any way North passes Owatonna just because North has such a poor record and Owatonna swept Century, North tied them.

Farmington's probably better than Century but won't get seeded in front of them.

eagle4life9 · Post by **eagle4life9** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:41 pm

Thats true Farmington is probably better than Century but hopefully we dont have a ton of Farmington lovers on here again predicting upset after upset for Farmington and making ridiculous compairisons between Brandt and Kvasnicka haha

cheese · Post by **cheese** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:16 am

sorry this is way off topic but when do section seedings take place? just curious to see if it takes place before maybe a key game.

Chalktalk · Post by **Chalktalk** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:44 am

cheese wrote:sorry this is way off topic but when do section seedings take place? just curious to see if it takes place before maybe a key game.

Seeds are done on Saturday. Coaches are allowed to fax in seeds, instead of meeting in person. Will be interesting.

cheese · Post by **cheese** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 11:05 am

thanks chalktalk. should be very interesting and cant wait to see how things play out! even though 1AA may be a little down this year, i love when its a tight race and action will be very very good seeing as the top 4 or 5 teams are all pretty evenly matched

RYHA_needs_3 · Post by **RYHA_needs_3** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:58 pm

1. Lakeville South, winning down the stretch.
2. Lakeville North, tough schedule, put em' ahead of Mayo because of the head to head factor.
3. Mayo, winning down the stretch, but must win Tuesday and Thursday to keep this spot.
4. Owatonna, Record is nice, but they are on the downward spiral...Fish has burned them out again, will fizzle rather quickly.
5. Century, Could be the darkhorse in the section, watch out 1-4!
6. Farmington, These guys are just better than the rest because they all suck pretty bad.
etc.

eagle4life9 · Post by **eagle4life9** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:03 pm

If LS beats LN tomorrow they will improve there record to 11-10-3. There last game is EP and even if we assume they lose that game (which we shouldnt, last time they went to OT). They will still end 11-11-3. And then if they win the section they would go to state 14-11-3 which for a team coming from the Lake is not to shabby. With Yumu in nets they have the best shot at a major upset.

SEMinnHockeyNut · Post by **SEMinnHockeyNut** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:34 pm

With Yumu in nets they have the best shot at a major upset.

I have yet to see this guy stand on his head...is he really that good?
Last year in the playoffs he let in 2 very very very soft goals in the Mayo win. This year vs. Mayo, he was good, but not oustanding. He let a 3rd line guy snip him from the top of the circles w/ no screen or anything.
I am not saying, he is not good, but all I read about is what a god-like figure he is between the pipes, but I have yet to see it personally.

CrossbarandIn99 · Post by **CrossbarandIn99** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:07 pm

SEMinnHockeyNut wrote:With Yumu in nets they have the best shot at a major upset.

I have yet to see this guy stand on his head...is he really that good?
Last year in the playoffs he let in 2 very very very soft goals in the Mayo win. This year vs. Mayo, he was good, but not oustanding. He let a 3rd line guy snip him from the top of the circles w/ no screen or anything.
I am not saying, he is not good, but all I read about is what a god-like figure he is between the pipes, but I have yet to see it personally.

didnt see any of the rochester games, but this kid is the real deal, i am alakeville north guy, but ive seen him play numerous times..some of the saves he makes are incredible...he played great in the upset of #6 Rosemount the other night..Ive seen him play for 3 years, and hes the best ive seen at the high school level. I really wish he was wearing the panther instead of the cougar

I would reallylike to see him on a big stage (state tourney) against a hill, roseau or edina..

eagle4life9 · Post by **eagle4life9** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:21 pm

Hakan is definately a great goaltender. Your right though he didnt play great against Mayo but I would say 9 out of 10 games he will make one save for you where you say "what the hell did he just do?!?!"

hockeyfan002 · Post by **hockeyfan002** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 11:13 am

agreed. hakan is just nasty between the pipes. you better hope he is off again if he is playing your beloved spartans

eagle4life9 · Post by **eagle4life9** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:46 pm

South beat up on North tonight and I think clinched the first seed. Its going to look like this

South-probably going to .500 in the Lake
Owatonna-theyve got wins
North-play in the Lake, beat Mayo
Mayo
Century
etc.

goldy313 · Post by **goldy313** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 11:06 pm

Mayo picked up a nice win but their seeding will still come down to their game against Century on Thursday, the winner has to be seeded higher than the loser which could really hurt Mayo since they are playing better. Whomever wins those two teams will still play again next Thursday, it's just a matter of where.

SEMinnHockeyNut · Post by **SEMinnHockeyNut** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 11:49 pm

Goldy - Would this count as a quality win for the Spartans?
By the way, they have 14 wins now this season. Remember when you said nobody in this section besides Owatonna would get that many?

5-1-1 in their last 7....Mayo was still w/ out Oetliker tonight...the sophmore D have played decent for Mayo.

Down the stretch counts more than Dec/Jan wins - even head to head wins.

Thursday is a huge game for Mayo/Century. I can't wait to see the playoff intensity. The Panthers are also playing well and peaking at the right time.

LS is red hot and the clear #1 seed and favorites now.

goldy313 · Post by **goldy313** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:19 am

Quality win, that's relative. Was it a quality win in the Big Nine, yes. Albert Lea is a class A team, a #10-#15 ranked class A team at that. Was it a quality win as far a 1AA goes? maybe, Owatonna also beat Albert Lea but it's not when compared to what the Lakeville schools play and beat on occasion. Also you talk about playing well now, what do you think Mayo's record would be if they played the same schedule Lakeville North has played the past 3 weeks? Or what would Lakeville North's record be if they played Mayo's schedule? You can't just look at it as Mayo's playing good, they have wins over some really bad teams in that stretch along with a couple of wins over mediocre teams.

What matters is who's playing well now, the seeds take care of themselves and are generally a reward for a season not 3 weeks. Mayo is playing well, their near collapse against Faribault aside, and should be a factor in 1AA now that they are playing to their potential.

BTW last year you harped on head to head being the most importnat factor, Farmington beat Kasson early when Kasson was missing kids due to their football season still going on. In the end Farmington did get seeded ahead of Kasson, but Kasson was probably the second best team in the section and gave century a very good game, the best game of any of the 3 playoff games Century had. So why the change of heart this year

Edit: According to the Big Nine's website Century has now forfieted their game to Faribault, probably negating any seeding implications the Mayo/Century game had. It's still big for momentum but I don't see anyway Century will pass Mayo and get a #4 seed now.

Chalktalk · Post by **Chalktalk** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:24 pm

eagle4life9 wrote:South beat up on North tonight and I think clinched the first seed. Its going to look like this

South-probably going to .500 in the Lake
Owatonna-theyve got wins
North-play in the Lake, beat Mayo
Mayo
Century
etc.

How can you put Owantonna two spots ahead of Mayo? Mayo just beat them convincingly 7-3? Anyway you look at it, there will be some surprises when the seeds come ot this weekend.