Who will win 1A??

[curtiscurve]

Even though Faribault dropped the two games vs AL and Roch Lourdes, I still see them as the team to beat. They have a very good coach who should be able to get the Falcons ready for crunch time. I will say the Falcons will get the 2 seed and get revenge on Lourdes in the Championship 4-3 OT.

[OU812]

West 3-0 over Northfield.

Once again the question is: how does the section seeding take into account a teams recent play?

Lourdes lost to Red Wing, Holy Family, and Northfield early on, but has played better lately. Albert Lea only won 5 out of their first 13 games but now has won 7 of the last 8. New Prague tied Northfield and Lourdes in the last month.

Still looks like Faribault might be the top team, even with losses to Lourdes and Albert Lea. I give Faribault some credit in the last two weeks for beating Century, and bombing Winona 6-1 and Holy Family 7-0 .

Just my two cents . . .

[PoNd HocKey ChAmP67]

My projected seedings would be
1. Lourdes- They started reall slow with losses to Northfield and Red Wing and a tie to Owatonna but recently they have been playing very good, like a top 10 team in the state. They should be #1 seed
2. Faribault- They have played fairly well all season long and they were looking at a 1 seed but the losses to Lourdes and Albert Lea hurt them
3. New Prague- They have been playing very good lately their last 2 losses are to AHA and they also have a tie to Northfield in there who they play on tuesday. They also just tied Lourdes.

This where it gets very interesting...the next 4 seeds would be between Red Wing, Albert Lea, Mankato West and Northfield. Northfield has lost to all these teams and recently to West so there at the bottom of these teams.

4. Albert Lea- Im going to go with Albert Lea here, they beat Faribault recently and also have wins over Northfield, West and Red Wing. They have more better wins than West. I think that if Albert Lea loses to West this week it could jumble things around
5. Red Wing- Slow start but have been playing better as of late. They have wins over Lourdes, New Prague and 2 wins over Northfield. The Wingers have really turned the season around.
6. Mankato West- They just had a big win over Northfield on saturday locking up the sixth seed. They don't have as many good wins as Albert Lea or Red Wing but if they beat the Tigers this week you could argue them into a 5 seed droppin AL to a 6
7. Northfield- Started the season hot with a win over Lourdes, OT loss to Faribo and a tie with New Prague and winning the schwans cup. But since than they have been inconsistent and just loss to West dropping them to the 7 seed likely. But they are worthy of an upset in sections, they play New Prague this week.

The rest (Austin, Waseca, Mankato East, St. Peter and LaCrescent)
i see as non factors

[grandmeadowhockeyfan]

Once the playoffs start you better have one of the two or three goaltenders in the section you are in to have a chance. That eliminates Red Wing, and Albert Lea right there. They have the two worst of the contenders. Then comes ability to win against ranked opponents. That eliminates teams with only one win against ranked opponents since the winner of the section is going to have to beat one or two ranked teams. The ones with only one win vs ranked opponents are Norhfield and Faribault. This leaves Roch Lourds, New Praque and possibly Faribault. There are your three good teams. With Roch Lourdes winning four games against ranked teams, New Praque winning two against ranked teams and Faribault with a good goaltender and one win against ranked teams. It is going to be one of those three. My pick has to go to Roch Lourdes again this year.

[High_Plains_Dangler]

Once the playoffs start you better have one of the two or three goaltenders in the section you are in to have a chance. That eliminates Red Wing, and Albert Lea right there. They have the two worst of the contenders. Then comes ability to win against ranked opponents. That eliminates teams with only one win against ranked opponents since the winner of the section is going to have to beat one or two ranked teams. The ones with only one win vs ranked opponents are Norhfield and Faribault. This leaves Roch Lourds, New Praque and possibly Faribault. There are your three good teams. With Roch Lourdes winning four games against ranked teams, New Praque winning two against ranked teams and Faribault with a good goaltender and one win against ranked teams. It is going to be one of those three. My pick has to go to Roch Lourdes again this year.

I think you may be reading into it a little bit too much... It's the section tournament, the regular season does not matter anymore. The way I see it seeds 1-5 all have a legit shot at the section title. There really isn't a team that has dominated its section opponents. Its hard to not go with Lourdes because of the way they have been playing recently against top notch competition. However, they have shown flaws, losing to both RW and Northfield earlier in the year. In reality I would not be shocked to see a 4 or 5 seed come out of the section, it's that up in the air. I would also have to disagree with you on "ruling out" RW and AL. Mr. Nemanich and Mr. Nystrom are the two best coaches in the section without question. I don't know how you could rule them out.

[scarlethockey33]

1. Lourdes - Questionable team early in the season. My guess, they were still finding their identity in the season with the large drop from graduation no one expected them to see the #1 seed for at least a couple of years. Played well as of late, the rematch of the State Class A quarterfinals with Lourdes and Breck (2-1) showed to be more impressive than many suspected. They showed composure and held it close, game vs. Mankato West will be their last section match up until the actual tournament.

2. Faribault - Solid team, tripped up a couple times during the regular season. Played a mediocre schedule and are have held a place in the class a top 20 almost all season. Full of juniors from last year's team who showed a light of hope with the almost upset of Lourdes last season. You know you will get chances and goals with their forwards the test will be for their goaltender and their defensemen

3. New Prague - They have moved from 5th, 4th, to finally 3rd on my list. The tie vs. Lourdes mixes things up because of Lourdes good run with some really tough teams. But my guess is that Lourdes is still inconsistent and New Prague caught them on a bad day. Either way as of right now they seem to be on top of the slipping Tigers.

4. Albert Lea - Some big wins this season, enough for a top 3? I'm not sold on it yet. Good coaching for this almost always contending team, sure Nystrom will get his boys prepared for the section tournament. They play my Scarlets on Tuesday, a huge section game for this late into the season.

5. Red Wing - Typically plays a tough schedule, with games against many of the top teams in the state. Last year this was to their benefit making a late surge up the section seeds. Has been winning games as of late, they seem very unpredictable to this point.

6. Mankato West - Tough season early on with somewhat of a scoring drought, but has shown glimpses of a possible contender in certain periods of games. Wins over Holy Family and sweeping Mankato East was huge for the Scarlets. Late season games against Lourdes and Albert Lea will be huge test to show where the Scarlets really belong in this section.

7. Northfield - Loss on Saturday to Mankato West has all but sealed their fate to the 7th seed. Seemed like a fast physical team, but needs to stop taking penalties at bad times in a game.

8-12. (Wascea, Austin, Mankato East, St. Peter, LaCrescent)
None will likely compete for a state bid, Mankato East has an injured Billar and with Willaert on defense their first line has seemingly been torn. Austin and St. Peter let in too many goals. LaCrescent plays mainly Wisconsin teams. Wascea is maybe #8 or #9?

[GopherPuck15]

Once the playoffs start you better have one of the two or three goaltenders in the section you are in to have a chance. That eliminates Red Wing, and Albert Lea right there. They have the two worst of the contenders. Then comes ability to win against ranked opponents. That eliminates teams with only one win against ranked opponents since the winner of the section is going to have to beat one or two ranked teams. The ones with only one win vs ranked opponents are Norhfield and Faribault. This leaves Roch Lourds, New Praque and possibly Faribault. There are your three good teams. With Roch Lourdes winning four games against ranked teams, New Praque winning two against ranked teams and Faribault with a good goaltender and one win against ranked teams. It is going to be one of those three. My pick has to go to Roch Lourdes again this year.

So albert lea, new prague, and mankato west aren't young and talented?

[scarlethockey33]

update to my rankings

4. Red Wing
5. Mankato West
6. Albert Lea

Scarlets played host to Albert Lea, won quite convincingly 6-2. Hard fought game, Kaufman made some important saves to keep Albert Lea from even being close on the score board.

Scarlets play host to Lourdes tomorrow Feb. 16th

[GopherPuck15]

update to my rankings

4. Red Wing
5. Mankato West
6. Albert Lea

Scarlets played host to Albert Lea, won quite convincingly 6-2. Hard fought game, Kaufman made some important saves to keep Albert Lea from even being close on the score board.

Scarlets play host to Lourdes tomorrow Feb. 16th

Interesting here with how to seed Red Wing and Mankato West. About the same records, but comparable opponents make it a crapshoot.

West beats northfield and albert lea, Red Wing only beats northfield.

Red Wing beats Prior Lake, west gets beat by Prior Lake.

It's too bad West and the Wingers couldn't have played to see how it would turn out.

[Hockey God.]

Albert Lea to State. Start the " BUS. "

[OU812]

6-2 West over Albert Lea

West is just playing much, much better than they did in the first half of the season.

[Getemupscout]

This section is looking more and more like it is Lourdes by a big margin.

I have booked my room in St. Paul

[Black Ice]

This section is looking more and more like it is Lourdes by a big margin.

I have booked my room in St. Paul

They played in an OT last year with Faribault and lost more good players to graduation than the Falcons. Faribault is just now getting their full lineup back and are putting it together at the right time, as witnessed by the win over Century and 3 straight convincing wins over decent teams in Winona, Rogers & HFC. Some have pointed to next year for them, but I believe this is their best shot. They have a nice blend of talented Srs & Jrs with a couple of sophs. On paper Lourdes has the edge in goaltending which should make for another great section matchup should they meet.

[hockeykid7]

Anyone got the Lourdes-West score yet??

[Sioux Fan]

lourdes 3 West 2

after 2 periods is last I have.

[hockeydad]

Looking for New Prague at Northfield score....

[clutterbuck22]

lourdes 3 West 2

after 2 periods is last I have.

That's the final.

[ToP PRoSP3cT]

Looking for New Prague at Northfield score....

Northfield 1
New Prague 2

[PoNd HocKey ChAmP67]

New Prague Northfield game was a good fun game to watch, hard fought. Shots were pretty even. Great game

[curtiscurve]

Seedings as of today....
1-Faribault
2-Lourdes
3-New Prague
4-Albert Lea
5-Red Wing
6-West
7-Northfield
8-East
9-Austin
10-Waseca
11- St. Peter
12-LaCrescent

I know about Faribault losing to Lourdes, but I see the Missota teams seeding Lourdes as low as 3 or 4 and that will be the difference in how it shakes out. Big 9 teams will likely show Faribault some love when seeding.

[GopherPuck15]

Seedings as of today....
1-Faribault
2-Lourdes
3-New Prague
4-Albert Lea
5-Red Wing
6-West
7-Northfield
8-East
9-Austin
10-Waseca
11- St. Peter
12-LaCrescent

I know about Faribault losing to Lourdes, but I see the Missota teams seeding Lourdes as low as 3 or 4 and that will be the difference in how it shakes out. Big 9 teams will likely show Faribault some love when seeding.

Especially with a loss to Mayo at home now, I can't see Albert Lea being seeded ahead of West now..

It seems as though West may be the team nobody wants to draw come the quarterfinals, as they hung with a very good Rochester Lourdes team.

this is so uncharacteristic of Albert Lea Nystrom hockey, I'm very surprised to see the Tigers losing games like this at the end of the season..

[curtiscurve]

The 1 seed is so important knowing that Northfield might be the most dangerous 7 seed in Class A. Difference between playing Northfield and East is night and day.

[scarlethockey33]

Lourdes 3 West 2 Final

West scored on its few opportunities, special teams played a huge role in the game tonight. Though it's a lost for the Scarlets, they should take a lot away from this game. Come section time, the Scarlets will be battle ready for any opponent

[Chalk_Talk]

I think you also have to include New Prague, Northfield, and Red Wing in the group of teams that could win the section. None of these teams are as good as the teams that West, Lourdes, and Albert Lea have sent in recent years.

Is West really down in talent or do they miss Essay that much?

Absolutely Essay is sorely missed!!!!! The new coaching seems clueless because some good talent remains including goal tending by Kaufman. I can't figure out what is going on and apparently neither can the coaching staff.

Wing-just wondering if you still think the coaching seems clueless, I think they have done a good job. No, I'm not the coach, I have nothing to do with the West program.

I'm wondering who is clueless???

[nickel slots]

RW losing to Shakopee moves them down another notch and West beating AL moves them up one... maybe even 2 depending on how the coaches see it.

My best guess if seeding were today...
1-2 Faribault/Lourdes
3 New Prague
4-5 West/AL
6 Red Wing
7 Northfield
8 East
9-12 LeCrescent, Austin, Waseca, LS-SP