Section 7AA 2013-2014?

[TheHockeyDJ]

My guess is that the coaches are just as confused as all of us and don't know what criteria should have the most weight.

I can see arguments for a lot of different ways to seed it. There's just a big question mark of is it overall result or section record that plays a larger factor. And if one or the other is first, then how much impact does the second part of the equation play? I'd imagine that there might be a split amongst the coaches as to how they look at it, then we could get a result Wednesday night that most of us don't expect. I know Andover is a solid club, but just because they've been hot lately doesn't mean their early season should be forgotten or their 2-3 section record. They lost most of their games early, Rapids lost games more scattered throughout the schedule. 5-1 section record should put GR ahead of Andover, but at this point I really don't care as much as I did earlier. I'm just happy Rapids is very close to having a 100% healthy roster going into sections and I hope they bring the momentum from the last two games vs. Denfeld tomorrow.

[MTStringer]

Debating how the seeding will end up is fun, but as I stated earlier, seeding really doesn't matter in the end. The team playing the best hockey will win the section tourney regardless of where they have to play, particularly after the quaterfinals. To be the best, you must beat the best.

[Slammer]

Debating how the seeding will end up is fun, but as I stated earlier, seeding really doesn't matter in the end. The team playing the best hockey will win the section tourney regardless of where they have to play, particularly after the quaterfinals. To be the best, you must beat the best.

True. Right now I think Grand Rapids and Andover are the two most dangerous teams going into sections. In my opinion I think those teams have a better chance to make it through than East.

[TheInsider]

Debating how the seeding will end up is fun, but as I stated earlier, seeding really doesn't matter in the end. The team playing the best hockey will win the section tourney regardless of where they have to play, particularly after the quaterfinals. To be the best, you must beat the best.

True. Right now I think Grand Rapids and Andover are the two most dangerous teams going into sections. In my opinion I think those teams have a better chance to make it through than East.

Why? Rapids lost to Virginia not that long ago and East went into OT with the #1 team in the state...

[Slammer]

Debating how the seeding will end up is fun, but as I stated earlier, seeding really doesn't matter in the end. The team playing the best hockey will win the section tourney regardless of where they have to play, particularly after the quaterfinals. To be the best, you must beat the best.

True. Right now I think Grand Rapids and Andover are the two most dangerous teams going into sections. In my opinion I think those teams have a better chance to make it through than East.

Why? Rapids lost to Virginia not that long ago and East went into OT with the #1 team in the state...

East is very vulnerable this year. And I think Rapids is starting to get rolling, and with Easts scoring problems and having Shepard in net, I don't think it's a good matchup.... But maybe if we just play dead we will get a 5 minute major and it will be okay!

And Andover is playing their best hockey right now and sometimes that's all that matters.. I just don't know if East can put three games together and win them all. But I sure hope they do.

[curtiscurve]

Debating how the seeding will end up is fun, but as I stated earlier, seeding really doesn't matter in the end. The team playing the best hockey will win the section tourney regardless of where they have to play, particularly after the quaterfinals. To be the best, you must beat the best.

True. Right now I think Grand Rapids and Andover are the two most dangerous teams going into sections. In my opinion I think those teams have a better chance to make it through than East.

Why? Rapids lost to Virginia not that long ago and East went into OT with the #1 team in the state...

And East lost to a 7 win Cloquet team (who also lost to Forest Lake, Virginia, Andover 0-7 and Grand Rapids twice). Bringing up the moral victory over Lakeville North is ridiculous, as it is not a game Randolph will emphasize. Last point, Grand Rapids dismantled Hermantown (#1 team in Class A) 5 days ago. It seems to me that Grand Rapids is described perfectly by the word dangerous. I'm just calling it the way I see it.

[TheHockeyDJ]

True. Right now I think Grand Rapids and Andover are the two most dangerous teams going into sections. In my opinion I think those teams have a better chance to make it through than East.

Why? Rapids lost to Virginia not that long ago and East went into OT with the #1 team in the state...

And East lost to a 7 win Cloquet team (who also lost to Forest Lake, Virginia, Andover 0-7 and Grand Rapids twice). Bringing up the moral victory over Lakeville North is ridiculous, as it is not a game Randolph will emphasize. Last point, Grand Rapids dismantled Hermantown (#1 team in Class A) 5 days ago. It seems to me that Grand Rapids is described perfectly by the word dangerous. I'm just calling it the way I see it.

This is the third time I've stated it as well, East just lost to Cloquet who was swept by Rapids and lost to both Virginia and Hermantown. Another thing is Rapids just got back two players they've been without for a while, they did not play in the win over Hermantown.

[greenway1969]

If that defenseman can carry the puck past the first forechecker and then make the break-out pass, that will improve Rapids tremendously. He'll also replace the weakest defenseman so that will improve them even more.

[TheHockeyDJ]

St. Michael-Albertville just beat Cloquet 4-1 with an empty netter. This might shake up the 6/7 seeds. Maybe we'll see #7 CEC at #2 Duluth East?

[TheInsider]

True. Right now I think Grand Rapids and Andover are the two most dangerous teams going into sections. In my opinion I think those teams have a better chance to make it through than East.

Why? Rapids lost to Virginia not that long ago and East went into OT with the #1 team in the state...

And East lost to a 7 win Cloquet team (who also lost to Forest Lake, Virginia, Andover 0-7 and Grand Rapids twice). Bringing up the moral victory over Lakeville North is ridiculous, as it is not a game Randolph will emphasize. Last point, Grand Rapids dismantled Hermantown (#1 team in Class A) 5 days ago. It seems to me that Grand Rapids is described perfectly by the word dangerous. I'm just calling it the way I see it.

East beat them by 5 in Rapids building? I know Rapids has a goalie when can get red hot. But, Rapids does not have a better chance to make it through than East. They have the potential to win the section but in no way do they have a better chance than DE.

[alcloseshaver]

St. Michael-Albertville just beat Cloquet 4-1 with an empty netter. This might shake up the 6/7 seeds. Maybe we'll see #7 CEC at #2 Duluth East?

This result muddies East's resume, recently losing to CEC, who loses to STMA??? Maybe LN is overrated?

[Slammer]

St. Michael-Albertville just beat Cloquet 4-1 with an empty netter. This might shake up the 6/7 seeds. Maybe we'll see #7 CEC at #2 Duluth East?

This result muddies East's resume, recently losing to CEC, who loses to STMA??? Maybe LN is overrated?

But cloquet did beat east.... That's a pretty big win... so that cancels out their loss and they just stay at 6...

[alcloseshaver]

St. Michael-Albertville just beat Cloquet 4-1 with an empty netter. This might shake up the 6/7 seeds. Maybe we'll see #7 CEC at #2 Duluth East?

This result muddies East's resume, recently losing to CEC, who loses to STMA??? Maybe LN is overrated?

But cloquet did beat east.... That's a pretty big win... so that cancels out their loss and they just stay at 6...

And East?

[Slammer]

St. Michael-Albertville just beat Cloquet 4-1 with an empty netter. This might shake up the 6/7 seeds. Maybe we'll see #7 CEC at #2 Duluth East?

This result muddies East's resume, recently losing to CEC, who loses to STMA??? Maybe LN is overrated?

And also, don't forget that it was a rivalry game. Most coaches in 7AA would understand no matter how bad Cloquet is, the score will almost always be close with DE- Cloquet because of the effect on the players.

And if you haven't been to a east cloquet game, you wouldn't understand. When you're in that atmosphere, every aspect of the game changes.

I'm not making any excuses, but that's just something that's well understood by coaches.

[Slammer]

This result muddies East's resume, recently losing to CEC, who loses to STMA??? Maybe LN is overrated?

But cloquet did beat east.... That's a pretty big win... so that cancels out their loss and they just stay at 6...

And East?

I'll say it one more time shaver.....

ELK RIVER DESERVES THE NUMBER ONE SEED.

East deserves 2 or 3.

[alcloseshaver]

But cloquet did beat east.... That's a pretty big win... so that cancels out their loss and they just stay at 6...

And East?

I'll say it one more time shaver.....

ELK RIVER DESERVES THE NUMBER ONE SEED.

East deserves 2 or 3.

Sounds fair, Looking forward to the Blaine V Andover game, They may be for real, find out tomorrow.

[TheHockeyDJ]

And East?

I'll say it one more time shaver.....

ELK RIVER DESERVES THE NUMBER ONE SEED.

East deserves 2 or 3.

Sounds fair, Looking forward to the Blaine V Andover game, They may be for real, find out tomorrow.

So, Andover is on a 11 game winning streak, and you will judge if they are real or not on tomorrow's game, one game. That's some crazy talk right there.

[Slammer]

Is it in the realm of possibility to have Andover at the 1 seed if they beat Blaine tomorrow? I would guess no.... But just a thought

[alcloseshaver]

I'll say it one more time shaver.....

ELK RIVER DESERVES THE NUMBER ONE SEED.

East deserves 2 or 3.

Sounds fair, Looking forward to the Blaine V Andover game, They may be for real, find out tomorrow.

So, Andover is on a 11 game winning streak, and you will judge if they are real or not on tomorrow's game, one game. That's some crazy talk right there.

Crazy or not it will tell a lot.

[karl(east)]

Sounds fair, Looking forward to the Blaine V Andover game, They may be for real, find out tomorrow.

So, Andover is on a 11 game winning streak, and you will judge if they are real or not on tomorrow's game, one game. That's some crazy talk right there.

Crazy or not it will tell a lot.

I agree. If they lose, they're just one of four good-but-not-great teams fighting it out for a section title. If they win, I think it's safe to call them the favorite, and maybe even a contender for something more, though the road ahead won't be easy.

I'd agree with keeping Cloquet at #6...gotta give some value to that East win. The trouble here is that we could easily have coaches with conflicting theories on what to give more weight, and that could skew things. It's going to be one mess of a meeting.

[sanryam]

St. Michael-Albertville just beat Cloquet 4-1 with an empty netter. This might shake up the 6/7 seeds. Maybe we'll see #7 CEC at #2 Duluth East?

This result muddies East's resume, recently losing to CEC, who loses to STMA??? Maybe LN is overrated?

I wouldn't say it hurts East. You left out that East beat STMA 5-1. Between the three of them, they have all beaten eachother. Slammer is correct when he says it should cancel out and everyone stay the same, just like ER/GR/DE circle should.

[curtiscurve]

St. Michael-Albertville just beat Cloquet 4-1 with an empty netter. This might shake up the 6/7 seeds. Maybe we'll see #7 CEC at #2 Duluth East?

This result muddies East's resume, recently losing to CEC, who loses to STMA??? Maybe LN is overrated?

And also, don't forget that it was a rivalry game. Most coaches in 7AA would understand no matter how bad Cloquet is, the score will almost always be close with DE- Cloquet because of the effect on the players.

And if you haven't been to a east cloquet game, you wouldn't understand. When you're in that atmosphere, every aspect of the game changes.

I'm not making any excuses, but that's just something that's well understood by coaches.

I'm confused. You excuse the Cloquet loss because it is a rivalry game? So, can't that argument be made for the GR vs Virgina situation? I know this isn't exactly a rivalry, but we all know how much the small Range schools put into the games they play against Rapids. Plus, I'll say it again, Virginia is a better team than Cloquet. Let's also revisit the OT thriller. Oh no, not the Lakeville North game, the Cambridge OT thriller. Elk River does not have near the blemishes on their record as the other 3 teams in this conversation and should get the number 1 seed by default I guess. Unfortunately I guess that means East at 2 and Rapids likely at 3. I guess with Cloquet losing tonight could still give us probably the most entertaining 2 vs 7 quarter final of the year.

[HockeyStorm]

Agree with you 100% curtiscurve

[Slammer]

This result muddies East's resume, recently losing to CEC, who loses to STMA??? Maybe LN is overrated?

And also, don't forget that it was a rivalry game. Most coaches in 7AA would understand no matter how bad Cloquet is, the score will almost always be close with DE- Cloquet because of the effect on the players.

And if you haven't been to a east cloquet game, you wouldn't understand. When you're in that atmosphere, every aspect of the game changes.

I'm not making any excuses, but that's just something that's well understood by coaches.

I'm confused. You excuse the Cloquet loss because it is a rivalry game? So, can't that argument be made for the GR vs Virgina situation? I know this isn't exactly a rivalry, but we all know how much the small Range schools put into the games they play against Rapids. Plus, I'll say it again, Virginia is a better team than Cloquet. Let's also revisit the OT thriller. Oh no, not the Lakeville North game, the Cambridge OT thriller. Elk River does not have near the blemishes on their record as the other 3 teams in this conversation and should get the number 1 seed by default I guess. Unfortunately I guess that means East at 2 and Rapids likely at 3. I guess with Cloquet losing tonight could still give us probably the most entertaining 2 vs 7 quarter final of the year.

East vs. Cloquet is the best rival game in the whole state. Once again, if you haven't been to one of their games, you wouldn't understand. It's close almost everytime.

And yes I don't know how many times I have to say it........ ELK RIVER should have the 1 seed.

If East plays Cloquet in the quarterfinals at the heritage...... I could definitely see the hounds getting beat again. East is too young to know how to play in that environment. I think if they played at Amsoil East would be able to calm down a little and get it done.

[mnmouth]

East vs. Cloquet is the best rival game in the whole state. Once again, if you haven't been to one of their games, you wouldn't understand. It's close almost everytime.

And yes I don't know how many times I have to say it........ ELK RIVER should have the 1 seed.

If East plays Cloquet in the quarterfinals at the heritage...... I could definitely see the hounds getting beat again. East is too young to know how to play in that environment. I think if they played at Amsoil East would be able to calm down a little and get it done.

I think folks from Roseau and Warroad, Hill Murray and White Bear Lake, might disagree . . .

Also, the 'unquestioned' best rivalry in the state used to happen very close to here. Times change.

http://www.postbulletin.com/rapids-gree ... fbc05.html