Edina vs Hill-Murray AA Semi-final
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Edina vs Hill-Murray AA Semi-final
Edina beat Hill-Murray twice during the regular season, but I'm not sure there is a hotter team that HM right now with 3 straight wins over top 10 teams they were picked to lose to (although Tonka being undefeated still is pretty hot too). Edina didn't look that great in cruising to a 6 goal win over Rosemount. I think this game will be a real close one possibly going to OT...
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hockey121330
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Get used to seeing Edina in the big school championship games. Their run of championships is about to begin. I wouldn't mind seeing HM pull this one off but the depth of Edina should outlast the Pioneers; however don't underestimate Hannah Brandt, she can take over the game. Edina wins 5-2 is my guess.
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Hansonbrother
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Re: Edina vs Hill-Murray AA Semi-final
Let me start off by saying that by no means am I an Edina backer, but I'm willing to go as far by saying todays sloppiness probably stems from nerves of kicking off the tournament and possibly overlooking Rosemount a little. I think you will see a much better hornet team tomorrow versus a very very skilled one line team in Hill-Murray. I do believe the game will be close for a while, but in the end, a much deeper Edina team will prevail. Good luck to the Pioneers as they try to uphold the grip that Section 4 has held on that coveted State Tournament Championship!!!Sparlimb wrote:Edina beat Hill-Murray twice during the regular season, but I'm not sure there is a hotter team that HM right now with 3 straight wins over top 10 teams they were picked to lose to (although Tonka being undefeated still is pretty hot too). Edina didn't look that great in cruising to a 6 goal win over Rosemount. I think this game will be a real close one possibly going to OT...
I thought about posing how the tv timeouts negate some of the depth issues Hill will have in this game and then I remembered I made the exact same arguments last year with Irondale and Edina. And, as it turned out, tv timeouts didn't matter, Edina's depth wore down Irondale and they were able to stop the one big line. Hill has all of 1 goal in two games against Edina, granted one of those games was without Hannah Brandt.
The trick for HM to win is the same formula they've used in the past 3 games. Get a lead and trust McKeever to keep them down. I was really impressed with how Edina shut down Meghan Lorence and Gina McDonald of Irondale last year, so we'll see if they can do the same thing with the Brandt line this year.
The other x factor is this is a high school sport. Kids this age are more likely to have bad games. That, of course, goes for both teams. No matter the outcome, we're not going to argue that Edina was the better team for the entirety of the season. The good news is that HM only has to beat them once, tonight...
The trick for HM to win is the same formula they've used in the past 3 games. Get a lead and trust McKeever to keep them down. I was really impressed with how Edina shut down Meghan Lorence and Gina McDonald of Irondale last year, so we'll see if they can do the same thing with the Brandt line this year.
The other x factor is this is a high school sport. Kids this age are more likely to have bad games. That, of course, goes for both teams. No matter the outcome, we're not going to argue that Edina was the better team for the entirety of the season. The good news is that HM only has to beat them once, tonight...
Re: Edina vs Hill-Murray AA Semi-final
I am an Edina backer. I think anything can happen in these playoff games which is what makes them exciting to watch. I think it comes down to Hannah Brandt against Edina's team defense and Edina's offensive depth will create many chances against McKeever. I'm not saying that Brandt has to win it by herself but much like Rachel Ramsey she draws a lot of attention which opens up the ice for her teammates. Edina has to stop Brandt while making sure that the passing lanes are clogged up. McKeever will see shots coming from many different angles from multiple players and I think she will have to have a really good game for HM to win.Hansonbrother wrote:Let me start off by saying that by no means am I an Edina backer, but I'm willing to go as far by saying todays sloppiness probably stems from nerves of kicking off the tournament and possibly overlooking Rosemount a little. I think you will see a much better hornet team tomorrow versus a very very skilled one line team in Hill-Murray. I do believe the game will be close for a while, but in the end, a much deeper Edina team will prevail. Good luck to the Pioneers as they try to uphold the grip that Section 4 has held on that coveted State Tournament Championship!!!
I'm biased and I want to see Edina win but I think a lot of girls hockey fans would pay to see a Minnetonka/Edina final. For most of the year they have been ranked 1 and 2 and played two extremely tight games against each other. A lot of people don't like Edina (or Minnetonka for that matter) and would love HM and CR to win (CR is probably the Cinderella team) but I think the Minnetonka/Edina matchup would make for a great Championship game so I'm hoping Minnetonka wins too.
Its interesting that you say that. I don't know if there's going to be a "run of championships" but Edina will be competitive for years to come because of the foresight of some key people in Edina about 10 years ago. About 10+ years ago the Edina Hockey Association started putting a lot of emphasis on girls hockey. The EHA board spent as much time or more time on girls hockey issues than boys hockey. Unlike some associations the girls were treated the same as boys when it came to ice needs, equipment, training, etc. An all-girl mite program set up so that girls could play with their friends and not be intimidated. When Board members were elected the Board always tried to make sure that at least 1/2 of the new board members were passionate about girls hockey. Girls hockey is the thriving in Edina (at its peak I think there were close to 400 girls in Edina playing hockey) and the system implemented those 10+ years ago will make Edina competitive for years to come.hockey121330 wrote:Get used to seeing Edina in the big school championship games. Their run of championships is about to begin.
Last edited by OntheEdge on Fri Feb 25, 2011 10:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
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State Champ 97
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Wow! What an innovative concept. Give the girls the same respect and opportunity as the boys and they will succeed.OntheEdge wrote:Its interesting that you say that. I don't know if there's going to be a "run of championships" but Edina will be competitive for years to come because of the foresight of some key people in Edina about 10 years. About 10+ years ago the Edina Hockey Association started putting a lot of emphasis on girls hockey. The EHA board spent as much time or more time on girls hockey issues than boys hockey. Unlike some associations the girls were treated the same as boys when it came to ice needs, equipment, training, etc. An all-girl mite program set up so that girls could play with their friends and not be intimidated. When Board members were elected the Board always tried to make sure that at least 1/2 of the new board members were passionate about girls hockey. Girls hockey is the thriving in Edina (at its peak I think there were close to 400 girls in Edina playing hockey) and the system implemented those 10+ years ago will make Edina competitive for years to come.hockey121330 wrote:Get used to seeing Edina in the big school championship games. Their run of championships is about to begin.
Sorry, don't mean to sound like a smart alec. If all associations did that there would be much fewer issues and problems. The games would be more competitive and 12-1 blowouts in the state tournament would probably not be the norm as it is today. I am not in any way shape or form an Edina fan but they got it right on this one.