Section 1A

[bobforhockey]

Lourdes has been playing the best goalie available all year. Not necessarily a strength position for a couple of years, but no doubting the effort. If younger kid is now best available, then he should take over in the playoff run. Running down the former starter is beneath adult discussion.

[hockeyknight]

I agree with Bob....comments about a kid like "horrific" are irresponsible and immature. HockeyRoch...you are obviously connected to this sophomore goalie in some way other than just a fan. Way too much ranting and raving about him .......take it easy and enjoy watching kids play a game they love to play....no matter who is in net.

[Roy01]

Jack Burkel (the "new" Lourdes goaltender) is a good goalie. I think it is a bit of a stretch to call him D-I caliber at the moment.. I have known Jack for years and had the opportunity to work with him on his game as well. He tracks the puck well, stops shots, moves pretty fluently. There are still some things that could still use some work in his game fundamentally, but they're nit-picky and I notice them solely because I'm a goalie.

He was a goaltender for Red Wing and was not going to be given the opportunity to play so he chose to transfer. Obviously it has worked out for him thus far. I know his family and they are very happy with the decision to take his game elsewhere.

Jack has a good attitude and a great work ethic. Technique wise, he is getting to a very strong level in his game. I am happy to see him getting more consistent starts as of late. I did not know he was out with an injury. In his absence though, Ellingston still got the necessary wins. His play was more than sufficient enough.

If Jack continues to start, best of luck to him. There's nothing I'd like more to see than a goalie I worked with backstop his team up in St. Paul.

[SEpuck]

He wasnt good enough to start on a 4 win Red Wing team but is Playing for Lourdes?? Just seems a bit odd

[Roy01]

He wasnt good enough to start on a 4 win Red Wing team but is Playing for Lourdes?? Just seems a bit odd

It was an odd scenario... I'll PM

[Roy01]

GAMES FOR 2/16

Rochester Lourdes vs. Totino-Grace
Mankato West vs. Faribault
New Prague vs. Northfield
LSP vs. Redwood Valley
Austin vs. Owatonna

Picks are bolded. New Prague and Northfield will likely settle the #3 and #4 seeds, should be a good game.

[OU812]

Roy, I though you might be a goalie coach...

Berkel also played on the 96 Rangers about seven year ago, and we saw him a bit back then. Looks like he has been playing great the last three games; one Prior Lake dad told me he though Berkel was the difference in their game this week (and any goalie saving 97% of his shots like he did against PL is likely to make a pretty big difference).

Seedings out tomorrow. Btw, Roy I'll agree it should be NP over Northfield today.

[urban iceman]

Roy, I though you might be a goalie coach...

Berkel also played on the 96 Rangers about seven year ago, and we saw him a bit back then. Looks like he has been playing great the last three games; one Prior Lake dad told me he though Berkel was the difference in their game this week (and any goalie saving 97% of his shots like he did against PL is likely to make a pretty big difference).

Seedings out tomorrow. Btw, Roy I'll agree it should be NP over Northfield today.

New Prague -6
Northfield -2

[Roy01]

Official Section 1A Seeds

1. Rochester Lourdes
2. Mankato West
3. New Prague
4. Northfield
5. Albert Lea
6. Faribault
7. Red Wing
8. Le Sueur-Henderson/St. Peter/TCU/Cleveland
9. Mankato East/Loyola
10. Austin
11. Waseca
12. LaCrescent

Agree? Disagree?

[bobforhockey]

Food for thought:
Based on QRF, Section 1A is the most competitive bracket 1-4 in the state.
Should be quite a tussle for the berth at the X

[Gretzky9]

Food for thought:
Based on QRF, Section 1A is the most competitive bracket 1-4 in the state.
Should be quite a tussle for the berth at the X

Assuming you are speaking of A only. Can't really agree with "in the state" when 6AA has Benilde, Tonka, Wayzata, and EP.

Not much to argue with on seeds this year. West kind of stumbled at the end....hope it doesn't cost them. NP played well down the stretch. Faribault earned the 6 with good play also down the stretch. Still think Red Wing got a higher seed than they deserved. Way too much credit for strength of schedule. Having said that...they would beat the schools behind them, but you have to be slotted based on the performance against your schedule.
Still going Lourdes to win it.....should be fun though with hopefully a couple of close ones to end the section.

[bobforhockey]

Assuming you are speaking of A only. [/quote]

Thanks for clarifying for me....Barring an upset in the quarters, the semis and final will all be close games. NP-West will be fabulous.

[Roy01]

I think everything looks about right minus Red Wing. I feel they were given a bit of leeway in the seeding process..

[scarlethockey33]

Looking forward to the possible rematch between Red Wing and Mankato West. Definitely not the same teams that have faced each other in the past two years. Red Wing has had West's number the past two years, personally would enjoy seeing it go the other way this time around.

Not as deep of a section as it's been in past years, but definitely still an entertaining section to watch because of it's competitiveness.

I will end with:

I love section time, let's see what these men are made out of, and can't wait to see who's going to get a ticket to the Xcel Energy Center.

[Jim9000]

I agree with the seeds... only one I would consider swapping would be LSH/SP and RW.

Tonights Projections?
Albert Lea 6 LaCrescent 2... AL prob 1 and done, LaC too young but seem to remain competitve.

Faribault 7 Waseca 2... Faribo should jump on them early, Waseca lack D and undiscipline.

Red Wing 5 Austin 1... RW statement game...period, Austin seems to be on a slight downslide and having trouble scoring.

LHS/SP 3 East 0... LHS solid on D and net, East will play tough and hang for a bit, depth will hurt them.

Don't see any real blowouts, should be all competitive for most of the game...just my opinions.... good luck all

[Roy01]

Picks looks good Jim. Red Wing vs. Austin interests me - I wonder how close the game actually will be. It could be telling how strong the bottom half of the section is, or how much Red Wing has actually fallen off.

LSP will come out in a close one over East. I'd say this is the most evenly matched of the games.

Faribault rolls Waseca, and Albert Lea beats La Crescent by a decent amount.

[OU812]

I agree with the seeds... only one I would consider swapping would be LSH/SP and RW.


Red Wing 5 Austin 1... RW statement game...period, Austin seems to be on a slight downslide and having trouble scoring.


Don't see any real blowouts, should be all competitive for most of the game...just my opinions.... good luck all

I'm on board with these picks too. Seems like some posters on this thread see Red Wing as being seeded higher than they deserve, but as I said above I think Red Wing might actually be stronger than #7 (Both mnhockeyrankings.com and the ushsho rankings have RW ahead of Albert Lea and Faribault). If I'm wrong, we'll likely see it in the score vs. Austin tonight.

Either way, hope the kids enjoy it.

[Ready2GoYet]

AL 7 LaC 0
Far 9 Was 2
RW 6 Austin 3
LS/H/SP 3 East 1 (EN)

[goldy313]

Red Wing/Austin game is 2-2 in 2nd OT, you can hear it on www.1250kcue.com

[goldy313]

Red Wing 3-2, under 2 minutes left in 2nd OT when RW scored. RW was down 2-0 in the third.

#1 Lourdes vs #8 LeSeuer et.al.
#4 Northfield vs #5 Albert Lea
#3 New Prague vs #6 Faribault
#2 West vs #7 Red Wing (it's like dejavu all over again)

[Roy01]

Red Wing over Austin: 3-2 OT2

Shots: RW-86 AU-26

Extraordinary effort by the Austin goaltender!! Keep your head up kid

[OU812]

3-2 Red Wing win in 2OT. Maybe I spoke to soon about Red Wing being seeded too low? They did get credited with 89 shots on goal, yes 89.

Hats off to Austin goalie Ranier Londino-Green for 86 saves.

[Gretzky9]

3-2 Red Wing win in 2OT. Maybe I spoke to soon about Red Wing being seeded too low? They did get credited with 89 shots on goal, yes 89.

Hats off to Austin goalie Ranier Londino-Green for 86 saves.

Unreal effort there by the Austin goalie. Would have been fun to see.

LS/SP 5-1 over East.

[Roy01]

Well, I still think they should had been kept down by their season's body of work, not their overall performance. But it's water under the bridge...

Looking forward to another rematch of West and Red Wing. I think West has got their number this time around.

[goldy313]

Hopefully the weather holds so they can play Thursday night or we could get backed up pretty good and trying to finish the section off on Wednesday evening could be tough.