Whos going to State - Single A

[elliott70]

Winner, second likely, dark horse(s), comments

Section 1A
New Prague
Northfield, Faribault, Mankato West
none
tough section to call

Section 2A
Delano
Breck
Bloomington Kennedy, Orono
It will be Delano.

Section 3A
Luverne
Hutchinson
none
It will be Luverne

Section 4A
Mahtomedi
St Paul Academy
St Paul Johnson
It will be Mahtomedi

Section 5A
Spring Lake Park
Chisago Lakes
Princeton
No dominant team.

Section 6A
Alexandria
St Cloud Apollo, Fergus Falls
Sartell, St Cloud Cathedral
The toughest section to call.

Section 7A
Hermantown
none
Duluth Marshall, Duluth Denfeld, Hibbing
It will be Hermantown.

Section 8A
East Grand Forks
Warroad
Thief River Falls
It will be East Grand Forks

State Seeding
1. Hermantown
2. East Grand Forks
3. Mahtomedi
4. Alexandria
5. Delano

Luverne, New Prague, Spring Lake Park

[grandmeadowhockeyfan]

As of today I would go with

Section 1
Northfield

Section 2
Breck

Section 3
Does it really matter?
Luverne

Section 4
Mahtomedi

Section 5
Does it really matter
Chisago lakes

Section 6
Alexandria

Section. 7
Denfeld
Going with my heart not my head as my hockey watching crew would say. Lot of seniors making their last run at this thing. TOWER POWER as class of. 93 used to say!!!!

Section 8
EGF

[elliott70]

Section. 7
Denfeld
Going with my heart not my head as my hockey watching crew would say. Lot of seniors making their last run at this thing. TOWER POWER as class of. 93 used to say!!!!

Having seen both Denfeld and Hermantown I think it is possible for Denfeld to beat Hermantown, if a sudden outbreak of influenza, Ebola or some other illness struck HHS and 40% of the hockey team on the day of their game with Denfeld.

[grandmeadowhockeyfan]

Only 40%? I would thoroughly enjoy the post game conference with Plante after that loss!! Classic sound bites!!

[pekyman]

Section. 7
Denfeld
Going with my heart not my head as my hockey watching crew would say. Lot of seniors making their last run at this thing. TOWER POWER as class of. 93 used to say!!!!

Having seen both Denfeld and Hermantown I think it is possible for Denfeld to beat Hermantown, if a sudden outbreak of influenza, Ebola or some other illness struck HHS and 40% of the hockey team on the day of their game with Denfeld.

GOOD ONE!
Hermantown has quite a few seniors also making their last run.

[Mouse in the corner]

Section. 7
Denfeld
Going with my heart not my head as my hockey watching crew would say. Lot of seniors making their last run at this thing. TOWER POWER as class of. 93 used to say!!!!

Having seen both Denfeld and Hermantown I think it is possible for Denfeld to beat Hermantown, if a sudden outbreak of influenza, Ebola or some other illness struck HHS and 40% of the hockey team on the day of their game with Denfeld.

I have watched them along with Denfeld, DM and some other A teams play this year and I think that the chances are pretty remote for anybody else to beat Hermantown this year to go to state. With that said if somebody figures out how to deal with that heavy forechecking game that they play and can get into their D zone I think it is fairly safe to say that we really don't know what will happen.


GOOD ONE!
Hermantown has quite a few seniors also making their last run.

[ted2you]

1. Hermantown
2. Mahtomedi: Especially if they play well against STA
3. EGF: Will win their last 15 games and drop a spot: Moorhead remaining on their schedule.
4. Alexandria: Can't move up past this spot
5. Breck: Too many losses to move higher, Sorry Delano

I'm not sure that 2 or 3 really matters, they will meet in the semi-finals anyways. Breck-Alex opening round could be a good game.

I'd like to see EGF and Luverne play. (personally think they could be good but they really should try scheduling teams better than the school for the blind)

[Mouse in the corner]

Section. 7
Denfeld
Going with my heart not my head as my hockey watching crew would say. Lot of seniors making their last run at this thing. TOWER POWER as class of. 93 used to say!!!!

Having seen both Denfeld and Hermantown I think it is possible for Denfeld to beat Hermantown, if a sudden outbreak of influenza, Ebola or some other illness struck HHS and 40% of the hockey team on the day of their game with Denfeld.

Denfeld's only chance (and it is very very slim) is to stay out of the box and to play fast and hard with them. Hermantown has one good line and one decent line and good D. The only way that anybody beats them is to get a goalie that can take some heat from some turnovers and then get their forwards and D to move the puck quickly out of the zone by passing it. I think that trying to skate the puck out of the zone against Hermantown is a huge mistake. Gonna be a messy game with lots of icings and off sides but that is Denfeld's only shot at it.


GOOD ONE!
Hermantown has quite a few seniors also making their last run.

[lamplighter98]

I'd like to see EGF and Luverne play. (personally think they could be good but they really should try scheduling teams better than the school for the blind)

Luverne? they can't help it that's who is in there division!

[HShockeywatcher]

I'd like to see EGF and Luverne play. (personally think they could be good but they really should try scheduling teams better than the school for the blind)

Luverne? they can't help it that's who is in there division!

This is part of it but part of it is simply how the dynamics of changes schedules work. There are years where teams have gone from good to bad and gotten rid of lots of quality opponents in one season, but the opposite hasn't happened that much in recent history.
They ended the year going to double OT with Totino Grace last year, so that was a great lead into the coming years, especially with the young players they have.

Luverne did also play St Paul Academy, Totino-Grace and St Paul Johnson teams this year, all who weren't on their schedule last year. They unfortunately didn't move up to a higher Schwan Cup after winning the lowest division last year.

The Schwan Cup move is interesting, but if Chaz and Jax stick around they'll likely add a few more teams next year.

[ted2you]

My comment wasn't set up to bash Luverne, I actually think they are better than a lot of other people on this Forum. At the same time, they face special challenges and running up an embarrassing number like that is in my mind poor sportsmanship.

I'm sorry, If I have to play D to D or if I had to run my 4th line until they puked, my top line is not getting on the ice. You know when you are playing teams like that and I would have a 4th line that never sees the ice any other time. Putting up huge numbers against teams that can't compete serves no purpose. Luverne plays in a conference that there are plenty of points to get. I would never ask kids not to play, but as a coach you can emphasize other things than goal scoring.

[notTONIGHT]

My comment wasn't set up to bash Luverne, I actually think they are better than a lot of other people on this Forum. At the same time, they face special challenges and running up an embarrassing number like that is in my mind poor sportsmanship.

I'm sorry, If I have to play D to D or if I had to run my 4th line until they puked, my top line is not getting on the ice. You know when you are playing teams like that and I would have a 4th line that never sees the ice any other time. Putting up huge numbers against teams that can't compete serves no purpose. Luverne plays in a conference that there are plenty of points to get. I would never ask kids not to play, but as a coach you can emphasize other things than goal scoring.

Im pretty sure 11 different kids from Luverne scored...


OLE!!!

[ted2you]

Does it matter how may kids scored, they put up 20 goals. I'm sure a cheerleader could have scored if they have them and they would have put them on the first line.

[HShockeywatcher]

7. Hermantown
4. Mahtomedi
8. East Grand Forks
6. Alexandria
2. Breck

1. Northfield
3. Luverne
5. Spring Lake Park

My comment wasn't set up to bash Luverne, I actually think they are better than a lot of other people on this Forum. At the same time, they face special challenges and running up an embarrassing number like that is in my mind poor sportsmanship.

I'm sorry, If I have to play D to D or if I had to run my 4th line until they puked, my top line is not getting on the ice. You know when you are playing teams like that and I would have a 4th line that never sees the ice any other time. Putting up huge numbers against teams that can't compete serves no purpose. Luverne plays in a conference that there are plenty of points to get. I would never ask kids not to play, but as a coach you can emphasize other things than goal scoring.

The "sportsmanship of running up the score" discussion comes up every year and usually few opinions are changed, which likely won't be different here.

[rainier]

Section 1
New Prague

Section 2
Breck
Delano, Orono
Would prefer to see Delano get in, but Breck is rolling.

Section 3
Luverne
They won't win the 3A title game 20-1, but they should get through with little trouble. I hope they are already working to boost their schedule for next season.

Section 4
Mahtomedi
SPA

Section 5
SLP
Chisago
Ugh, this section is not good.

Section 6
Alex
Apollo, Cathedral
I'd love to see the Cards get to the X so we can see if they truly belong in the top 5 of Class A.

Section 7
Hermantown
Marshall, Denfeld
The Hawks are the clear favorite, but the final scores vs Marshall are deceiving, as both the games were one goal games up until the last 3-4 minutes. In other words, the Hawks are far from invincible in 7A. (But I still wouldn't bet against them.)

Section 8
EGF
Warroad
If the Warriors can get healthy before playoffs, they could make it very interesting for the Green Wave, as they did last year.

State Seeding
1. Hermantown
2. EGF
3. Mahtomedi
4. Breck
5. Alexandria

Luverne, NP, SLP

This would be a strong A tourney field, with any of the top 4 being legitimate contenders to win it all. (Sorry Alex fans) I'm pulling for a EGF-Hermantown rematch.