Big Games and Your Predictions – Week 9

[MNHockeyFan]

Maverick2000 makes it 20 so far.

Reminder to everyone else that there's a game later this afternoon! If you don't have the time to consider all of this week's games just post your one prediction for today (by 5:00pm) and complete the rest later, anytime before 7:00pm on Thursday.

How easy is that?

[RailingWizardofOZ]

Monday, December 30th
#19AA Bloomington Jefferson/Kennedy 3 vs. #2A Blake 2

Thursday, January 2nd
#12AA Eden Prairie 1 vs. #3AA Hopkins 3
#11AA Lakeville South 2 vs. #13A Breck 1

Friday, January 3rd
#10AA Dodge County 3 vs. #16A St. Paul United 2
#7AA Hill-Murray 4 vs. #6A South St. Paul 1

Saturday, January 4th
#20AA Burnsville 3 vs. #6AA Lakeville North 5
#15AA Stillwater 2 vs. #16AA Mounds View 4
#3AA Hopkins 3 vs. #4AA Edina 2
#1AA Minnetonka 4 vs. #14AA Buffalo 1
(NR) Elk River/Zimmerman 1 vs. #(NR) Armstrong/Cooper 5
#2AA Wayzata 4 vs. #12AA Eden Prairie 5
#18AA Andover 2 vs. #8AA Blaine 2
(NR) Roseau 4 vs. #5A Warroad 2

[D16Dad]

Monday, December 30th
#19AA Bloomington Jefferson/Kennedy 3 vs. #2A Blake 2

Thursday, January 2nd
#12AA Eden Prairie 2 vs. #3AA Hopkins 4
#11AA Lakeville South 4 vs. #13A Breck 2

Friday, January 3rd
#10AA Dodge County 4 vs. #16A St. Paul United 1
#7AA Hill-Murray 3 vs. #6A South St. Paul 1

Saturday, January 4th
#20AA Burnsville 2 vs. #6AA Lakeville North 3
#15AA Stillwater 2 vs. #16AA Mounds View 3
#3AA Hopkins 4 vs. #4AA Edina 3
#1AA Minnetonka 3 vs. #14AA Buffalo 1
(NR) Elk River/Zimmerman 2 vs. #(NR) Armstrong/Cooper 4
#2AA Wayzata 3 vs. #12AA Eden Prairie 2
#18AA Andover 1 vs. #8AA Blaine 3
(NR) Roseau 3 vs. #5A Warroad 2

[Antagonist]

Monday, December 30th
#19AA Bloomington Jefferson/Kennedy 3 vs. #2A Blake 1

Thursday, January 2nd
#12AA Eden Prairie 0 vs. #3AA Hopkins 2
#11AA Lakeville South 3 vs. #13A Breck 0

Friday, January 3rd
#10AA Dodge County 7 vs. #16A St. Paul United 1
#7AA Hill-Murray 5 vs. #6A South St. Paul 1

Saturday, January 4th
#20AA Burnsville 0 vs. #6AA Lakeville North 4
#15AA Stillwater 1 vs. #16AA Mounds View 2
#3AA Hopkins 2 vs. #4AA Edina 1
#1AA Minnetonka 3 vs. #14AA Buffalo 2
(NR) Elk River/Zimmerman 1 vs. #(NR) Armstrong/Cooper 2
#2AA Wayzata 4 vs. #12AA Eden Prairie 2
#18AA Andover 2 vs. #8AA Blaine 1
(NR) Roseau 3 vs. #5A Warroad 2

[ERhockeydad]

Monday, December 30th
#19AA Bloomington Jefferson/Kennedy 3 vs. #2A Blake 2

Thursday, January 2nd
#12AA Eden Prairie 2 vs. #3AA Hopkins 3
#11AA Lakeville South 3 vs. #13A Breck 2

Friday, January 3rd
#10AA Dodge County 4 vs. #16A St. Paul United 2
#7AA Hill-Murray 5 vs. #6A South St. Paul 3
Saturday, January 4th
#20AA Burnsville 2 vs. #6AA Lakeville North 4
#15AA Stillwater 4vs. #16AA Mounds View 3
#3AA Hopkins 2 vs. #4AA Edina 3
#1AA Minnetonka 3 vs. #14AA Buffalo 0
(NR) Elk River/Zimmerman 3 vs. #(NR) Armstrong/Cooper 2
#2AA Wayzata 4 vs. #12AA Eden Prairie 2
#18AA Andover 2 vs. #8AA Blaine 4
(NR) Roseau 1 vs. #5A Warroad 4

[sinbin]

Week 9

Monday, December 30th
#19AA Bloomington Jefferson/Kennedy 3 vs. #2A Blake 3

Thursday, January 2nd
#12AA Eden Prairie 2 vs. #3AA Hopkins 3
#11AA Lakeville South 4 vs. #13A Breck 2

Friday, January 3rd
#10AA Dodge County 4 vs. #16A St. Paul United 2
#7AA Hill-Murray 4 vs. #6A South St. Paul 2

Saturday, January 4th
#20AA Burnsville 2 vs. #6AA Lakeville North 4
#15AA Stillwater 2 vs. #16AA Mounds View 3
#3AA Hopkins 2 vs. #4AA Edina 3
#1AA Minnetonka 3 vs. #14AA Buffalo 1
(NR) Elk River/Zimmerman 2 vs. #(NR) Armstrong/Cooper 3
#2AA Wayzata 4 vs. #12AA Eden Prairie 3
#18AA Andover 2 vs. #8AA Blaine 3
(NR) Roseau 2 vs. #5A Warroad 3[/b]

[FlyingWarrior]

Week 9

Monday, December 30th
#19AA Bloomington Jefferson/Kennedy 1 vs. #2A Blake 2

Thursday, January 2nd
#12AA Eden Prairie 3 vs. #3AA Hopkins 0
#11AA Lakeville South 3 vs. #13A Breck 1

Friday, January 3rd
#10AA Dodge County 4 vs. #16A St. Paul United 2
#7AA Hill-Murray 3 vs. #6A South St. Paul 2

Saturday, January 4th
#20AA Burnsville 2 vs. #6AA Lakeville North 4
#15AA Stillwater 3 vs. #16AA Mounds View 4
#3AA Hopkins 0 vs. #4AA Edina 3
#1AA Minnetonka 5 vs. #14AA Buffalo 1
(NR) Elk River/Zimmerman 2 vs. #(NR) Armstrong/Cooper 3
#2AA Wayzata 4 vs. #12AA Eden Prairie 3
#18AA Andover 3 vs. #8AA Blaine 2
(NR) Roseau 4vs. #5A Warroad 3

[D6 Girls Fan]

Week 9

Monday, December 30th
#19AA Bloomington Jefferson/Kennedy 3 vs. #2A Blake 2

Thursday, January 2nd
#12AA Eden Prairie 2 vs. #3AA Hopkins 1
#11AA Lakeville South 3 vs. #13A Breck 1

Friday, January 3rd
#10AA Dodge County 4 vs. #16A St. Paul United 1
#7AA Hill-Murray 3 vs. #6A South St. Paul 0

Saturday, January 4th
#20AA Burnsville 0 vs. #6AA Lakeville North 3
#15AA Stillwater 3 vs. #16AA Mounds View 2
#3AA Hopkins 2 vs. #4AA Edina 3
#1AA Minnetonka 4 vs. #14AA Buffalo 1
(NR) Elk River/Zimmerman 2 vs. #(NR) Armstrong/Cooper 3
#2AA Wayzata 2 vs. #12AA Eden Prairie 3
#18AA Andover 1 vs. #8AA Blaine 2
(NR) Roseau 1. vs. #5A Warroad 5

[blondegirlsdad]

Yikes, I'm late...

Will fix colors later

A shorter-than-average window this week, due to the Holiday Tournaments contest which is still ongoing. So I wanted to get the usual (non-tournament) weekly schedule of games posted ASAP to give everyone ample time to carefully consider their prognostications and redeem themselves...me included.

So, in entering your picks this week, be sure to get them posted by the shortened deadline, which will quickly arrive at 5:00pm on Monday, December 30th...Best of luck to all of the Week 9 participants!

Week 9

Monday, December 30th
#19AA Bloomington Jefferson/Kennedy 4. vs. #2A Blake 2

Thursday, January 2nd
#12AA Eden Prairie 1 vs. #3AA Hopkins 3
#11AA Lakeville South 2 vs. #13A Breck 1

Friday, January 3rd
#10AA Dodge County 5. vs. #16A St. Paul United 1
#7AA Hill-Murray 4. vs. #6A South St. Paul 0

Saturday, January 4th
#20AA Burnsville 0. vs. #6AA Lakeville North 4
#15AA Stillwater 2. vs. #16AA Mounds View 3
#3AA Hopkins 2. vs. #4AA Edina 3
#1AA Minnetonka 5. vs. #14AA Buffalo 1
(NR) Elk River/Zimmerman 2 vs. #(NR) Armstrong/Cooper 4
#2AA Wayzata 3 vs. #12AA Eden Prairie 1
#18AA Andover 1. vs. #8AA Blaine 3
(NR) Roseau 1. vs. #5A Warroad. 4.

[MNHockeyFan]

Last call - 10 minutes 'till game time!

[MNHockeyFan]

Blake 5, Bloomington Jefferson/Kennedy 2

Games stats not yet available…

It’s not a common occurrence when our group is evenly divided between two teams. I guess you could call that a “tossup”. It’s probably no coincidence that these two teams are also almost deadlocked in the latest overall KRACH rankings, with J/K (#14) ahead by a whisker at 100.591 to 99.582 – a difference of just 1%. And here the average predicted score was 2.57 J/K to 2.54 Blake – also a difference of 1%. That has to be a first!

So we had an even split of the votes, 13 to 13 with two ties. But as often is the case in hockey, actual results don't always reflect expectations or the stats, and Blake winning by 3 here is a good example.

No perfect scores, as nobody had the Bears scoring more than 4 goals.

Long break in the “Big Games” action, until Thursday…

[u12dad]

Thursday, January 2nd
#12AA Eden Prairie 2 vs. #3AA Hopkins 4
#11AA Lakeville South 5 vs. #13A Breck 2

Friday, January 3rd
#10AA Dodge County 5 vs. #16A St. Paul United 1
#7AA Hill-Murray 3 vs. #6A South St. Paul 2

Saturday, January 4th
#20AA Burnsville 4 vs. #6AA Lakeville North 3
#15AA Stillwater 3 vs. #16AA Mounds View 2
#3AA Hopkins 5 vs. AA Edina 4
#1AA Minnetonka 3 vs. #14AA Buffalo 1
(NR) Elk River/Zimmerman 2 vs. #(NR) Armstrong/Cooper 4
#2AA Wayzata 4vs. #12AA Eden Prairie 2
#18AA Andover 1 vs. #8AA Blaine 5
(NR) Roseau 4 vs. #5A Warroad 2[/quotev

[MNHockeyFan]

Thursday, January 2nd
#12AA Eden Prairie 2 vs. #3AA Hopkins 4
#11AA Lakeville South 5 vs. #13A Breck 2

Friday, January 3rd
#10AA Dodge County 5 vs. #16A St. Paul United 1
#7AA Hill-Murray 3 vs. #6A South St. Paul 2

Saturday, January 4th
#20AA Burnsville 4 vs. #6AA Lakeville North 3
#15AA Stillwater 3 vs. #16AA Mounds View 2
#3AA Hopkins 5 vs. AA Edina 4
#1AA Minnetonka 3 vs. #14AA Buffalo 1
(NR) Elk River/Zimmerman 2 vs. #(NR) Armstrong/Cooper 4
#2AA Wayzata 4vs. #12AA Eden Prairie 2
#18AA Andover 1 vs. #8AA Blaine 5
(NR) Roseau 4 vs. #5A Warroad 2[/quotev

u12dad, I'll give you Blake on Monday, since you predicted they'd go all the way in the Kaposia tourney. You had them beating Jefferson/Kennedy 4-1; the actual score was 5-2 so I think you've earned the single point - same game which by the way was not intentional on my part to include it in both contests.

[MNHockeyFan]

Eden Prairie 0, Hopkins 2

Corbin Boyd scored both Hopkins’ goals to lead the Royals past the Eagles at the Hopkins Pavilion Ice Arena. Eden Prairie did outshoot Hopkins 24-14, but Erin O'Neil saved all 24 of the Eagles’ 24 attempts to get the shutout.

In our contest 24 of 29 had Hopkins winning, but there was just one correct score, that being from Antagonist who adds the extra bonus point.

[MNHockeyFan]

Lakeville South 3, Breck 1

Lakeville South scored once in each period, getting goals from Janna Haeg, Haley Ravndalen and Madison Brown, to skate past Breck 3-1 at the Anderson Ice Arena in Golden Valley. Brown and Ravndalen each added one assist for two point nights, and Chloe Crosby stopped all but one of Breck’s 25 shots to get the win. Meanwhile Breck’s Jenna Brenneman faced 47 Cougars’ shots to keep the game close until the end.

In our Week 9 contest 25 of 29 had Lakeville South winning, and there were SIX who predicted the 3-1 score: Knight7, wolfman, hockeyfan87, hockeybozo, FlyingWarrior and D6 Girls Fan.

Knight7, wolfman, hockeyfan87 and hockeybozo jump to the early lead with 4 points each.

[MNHockeyFan]

Just a heads up...my normal update will be a tad later than normal tonight.

(GO GOPHERS!)

[sinbin]

MNhockeyFan, is it just my perception, or have you been taking quite a bit of personal time away from your Big Game and Tournament prognostication tracking duties, lately? Just kidding, thanks again for running the show and enjoy your night with the Goph's!

[MNHockeyFan]

MNhockeyFan, is it just my perception, or have you been taking quite a bit of personal time away from your Big Game and Tournament prognostication tracking duties, lately? Just kidding, thanks again for running the show and enjoy your night with the Goph's!

sinbin, just like your prognostication skills your perception is excellent, except that when it comes to the Gophers it's not just lately...I've been taking a LOT of personal time for a LONG time! Unfortunately tonight, they lost in a shootout to Colgate, so they won't be playing in the Championship game in their own tourney. But officially it will go in the books as a tie game, so for NCAA seeding purposes it won't hurt too much.

Now, back to my official duties here, it was:

#12AA Dodge County 7, #16A St. Paul United 3

Game stats are not yet posted on the Hub.

Not surprising that our panel favored Dodge County by a huge margin of 28 to 1. Also not surprising that with a 7-3 score nobody earned a bonus point - everybody (almost) creeps ahead by 1.

Also, according to the Hub, Hill-Murray was ahead of South St. Paul by a 2-1 score at the end of two periods. I hope to provide a final score and updated Leaderboard sometime soon. But it's clear (and was obvious from the start) that this week will all boil down to a back-end loaded Saturday when 8 "Big Games" will be decided.

[MNHockeyFan]

Final score:

#6AA Hill-Murray 5, #5A South St. Paul 1

Looking at the box score, it appears that every period in this game was different. In the first, Hill-Murray outshot SSP 14-3, and jumped to an early 2-0 lead on goals by Sarah Bobrowski. In the second, the Packers bounced back, outshooting the Pioneers 13-6, and got a goal from Brigette Miller to pull within 1-2. But in the third, Hill-Murray reestablished control, outshooting the Packers 15-2 and scored three more goals to make it a convincing 5-1 win. For the game, Sarah Bobrowski finished with a hat trick and teammate Jac Kaasa contributed three assists, and in goal Leah Patrick saved 17 of 18 Packers' shots to secure the win.

A rather lopsided score, but that was expected by SEVEN of our prognosticators, who predicted it would end 5-1. Pretty amazing, when you think of the odds...those seven who said 5-1 were Knight7, MIYY4U, Nordic, Nimrod, Orange_Wisent, hockeyfan87 and Antagonist - great going guys and gals!

Here is where things stand heading into tomorrow's big finale:

1. Knight7 - 7 Points
hockeyfan87 - 7

3. Nordic - 6
wolfman - 6
Orange_Wisent - 6
hockeybozo - 6
Antagonist - 6

8. backspin - 5
MIYY4U - 5
MNHockeyFan - 5
Nimrod - 5
capitalpride - 5
FlyingWarrior - 5
u12dad - 5

15. Ten with 4

25. Three with 3

28. Two with 2

[MNHockeyFan]

The first of eight scores are in:

Burnsville 0, Lakeville North 4

Taylor Flaherty scored two goals while Kelli Pritzlaff and Heidi Winiecki each had a goal and an assist for the Panthers. Abby Cooper only needed to make 11 saves in shutting out the Blaze.

All but 4 pick up points, and there were 3 who got two: rascalbrock, Antagonist and blondegirlsdad.

Knight7 and hockeyfan87 hold their tie for first place with 8 points each, and with the bonus point Antagonist moves up to share it with them. Nordic, wolfman, Orange_Wisent and hockeybozo are all just a point behind at 7 each.

Getting ready to head out for the Gopher game, and looking for a better result this time around! Assuming our other seven scores are in, I'll post those results and our final standings when I return.

[FlyingWarrior]

Warroad 4 Roseau 1

[MNHockeyFan]

A very busy night! Six of the remaining seven Saturday game results are in:

Hopkins 2, Edina 1
18 of 29 predicted a Royals’ win, and most believed it would be a close game. And in fact the average predicted score was 2.72 to 2.52, which rounded is 3-3…so CW comes up empty. On the perfect score front Antagonist comes up big yet again, his fourth one of the week.

Minnetonka 2, Buffalo 2
This has to be considered a major upset by everyone who follows Minnesota girls’ hockey, except of course to the Buffalo players, their parents and family, and their coaches – and probably to some of them as well. Buffalo’s tie certainly fooled everybody in our group, as nobody thought the game would end in a tie and in fact the average predicted score was 4-1. There was one (parent?) - Misterright - who said Buffalo would win (by 3-2) so he came very close. But goose-eggs all around on this one.

Elk River/Zimmerman 2, Armstrong/Cooper 2
Another 2-2 tie and more goose-eggs? Yep! Armstrong/Cooper was favored by 21 of 29, for an average score of 2.76 to 2.10 (3-2) so CW came close to getting the tie right.

Wayzata 2, Eden Prairie 5
Yet another upset as here you have No. 9 beating No. 2. That combined with Tonka’s tie with Buffalo should shake up the Class 2A rankings a bit this coming week. Amongst our panel, only 4 of 29 thought the Eagles would prevail, and those 4 pick up a point on the other 25.

Andover 0, Blaine 3
This game went more true-to-form as the higher ranked team won, and 23 thought the Bengals would win vs. 5 who liked the Huskies and 1 saying the teams would tie. There was one correct score by…no, not Antagonist this time but by Misterright!

Roseau 1, Warroad 4 (with thanks to FlyingWarrior)
Another game where the favorite won, as 17 predicted a Warriors victory over rival Roseau. This time there were two correct scores, by two very smart dads: ERhockeydad and blondegirlsdad. Way to go dads!

Final standing should be posted shortly…would prefer to wait a bit to see of the one missing score (Stillwater vs. Mounds View) comes in.

[MNHockeyFan]

And the last game did come in, and in an extremely close “horse race” (photo finish!) it was:

Stillwater 3, Mounds View 4 (OT)
Sara Moen scored the game winner in the extra session to lift the Mustangs over the Ponies!

Of all the games this week this one was by far the most evenly divided, and wouldn’t ya know it goes to overtime to decide it. The votes were 15-14 in favor of Stillwater, but the average predicted score was 2.52 – 2.45 Mounds View. So at a rounded 3-2, CW gets a point. There was one who correctly called it 4-3 Mounds View, that being Flying Warrior who adds the bonus point.

So…drum roll please…here is our final standings for Week 9:

1. backspin – 11
wolfman - 11
hockeyfan87 - 11
Antagonist - 11

5. Knight7 - 10
Nordic - 10
hockeybozo - 10
blondegirlsdad - 10

9. MNHockeyFan - 9
Orange_Wisent - 9
capitalpride - 9
(CW also had 9 - pretty good!)

12. 36Guy - 8
Misterright - 8
MIYY4U - 8
clutterbucket 8
Nimrod - 8
Maverick2000 - 8
RailingWizardofOZ - 8
D16Dad - 8
ERhockeydad - 8
sinbin - 8
FlyingWarrior - 8
D6 Girls Fan - 8

24. FishEye - 7
u12dad - 7

26. Two with 6

28. One with 5

29 One with 4

Congratulations to backspin, wolfman, hockeyfan87 and Antagonist on their 1st Place finishes, all of which will be duly recognized in the 2013-14 Girls Hockey Prognosticators Hall of Fame!