Who wins? New Prague vs Albert Lea - Section 1A Championship
Moderators: Mitch Hawker, east hockey, karl(east)
Re: Who wins? New Prague vs Albert Lea - Section 1A Championship
Section 1A Playoffs Championship Game (3/2/2022)
#4 seed New Prague (10-15-2) vs #3 seed Albert Lea (19-8-0) @ Rochester Rec Center, Rochester, MN
Talk about an unlikely matchup in the Section 1A Championship game New Prague looked to dead to rights with about 7 minutes to play on Saturday night then with mad dash to save their season they scored 2 goals to tie it in regulation and scored a powerplay goal 2:57 into OT to pull off a frantic 10 minute frame comeback to save their season. Or how about Albert Lea who lost their starting goalie who started all but 2 games during the regular season finale to injury in stepped very limited used back up goalie Tanner Nelson and it looked like they were going to lose to La Crescent who they trailed 3-2 in the third period but they battled back as they did against Lourdes and here we are with an odd #3 seed vs #4 seed Section Title game. New Prague and Albert Lea didn't play this season but they do have two things in common: they are both very young as neither will lose much as Albert Lea brings back everyone next season and the Trojans will bring back their core. Also, they both are very inconsistent. The Trojans are a poorish (10-15-2) on the year, yes they play a AA Conference, but they also have losses to Waconia, Kennedy and Hopkins on the year. Albert Lea is tough to figure out themselves and they dropped head scratchers to Red Wing, Winona and Faibault during the year. What's it all add up basically two teams that are very unpredictable and anything can happen here New Prague would have the edge and in Depth and goaltending but Albert Lea has better top end talent. This should be a crazy Section 1A Final that again I don't think anyone envisioned happening when the 1A Brackets came out a week ago.
#4 seed New Prague (10-15-2) vs #3 seed Albert Lea (19-8-0) @ Rochester Rec Center, Rochester, MN
Talk about an unlikely matchup in the Section 1A Championship game New Prague looked to dead to rights with about 7 minutes to play on Saturday night then with mad dash to save their season they scored 2 goals to tie it in regulation and scored a powerplay goal 2:57 into OT to pull off a frantic 10 minute frame comeback to save their season. Or how about Albert Lea who lost their starting goalie who started all but 2 games during the regular season finale to injury in stepped very limited used back up goalie Tanner Nelson and it looked like they were going to lose to La Crescent who they trailed 3-2 in the third period but they battled back as they did against Lourdes and here we are with an odd #3 seed vs #4 seed Section Title game. New Prague and Albert Lea didn't play this season but they do have two things in common: they are both very young as neither will lose much as Albert Lea brings back everyone next season and the Trojans will bring back their core. Also, they both are very inconsistent. The Trojans are a poorish (10-15-2) on the year, yes they play a AA Conference, but they also have losses to Waconia, Kennedy and Hopkins on the year. Albert Lea is tough to figure out themselves and they dropped head scratchers to Red Wing, Winona and Faibault during the year. What's it all add up basically two teams that are very unpredictable and anything can happen here New Prague would have the edge and in Depth and goaltending but Albert Lea has better top end talent. This should be a crazy Section 1A Final that again I don't think anyone envisioned happening when the 1A Brackets came out a week ago.
Re: Who wins? New Prague vs Albert Lea - Section 1A Championship
Section 1A Finals Notes & Tidbits
Backup Goalie punches the state ticket again?
Way back in 2004 Albert Lea under Coach Roy Nystrom who was in his 50th season behind the Tigers bench was trying to clinch their first ever state tournament berth. One problem they were trying to do with backup 9th grader Clay Casanova turns out the Backup Goalie was the good luck charm from Albert Lea then as they made it to their first State Tournament. Fast forward 18 years and here we are with Albert Lea trying to clinch their 4th state tournament bid and wouldn’t you know it they are doing with again a backup goalie up until the Section 1A playoffs Sophomore Tanner Nelson played exactly ZERO minutes but an injury forced him into action and now maybe this backup goalie thing is just the answer for another Albert Lea trip to state.
Class A Classification Benefactors
New Prague since moving up to AA hasn't won a playoff game and this year they struggled going (10-15-2) with losses to teams like Waconia, Bloomington Kennedy, Hopkins on the resume most would have considered this a well rebuilding year. Add the Trojans recent nasty off-ice news and most would have assumed the hockey season might be heading for another early postseason end. However, thanks to the MSHSL cutoff changes New Prague went from one AA’s smallest schools and slid in just under the new cut off number to be one of Class A’s biggest and they will be nasty blackeye for the High School league to try and cover next week if they win as most expect in the 1A Final.
Backup Goalie punches the state ticket again?
Way back in 2004 Albert Lea under Coach Roy Nystrom who was in his 50th season behind the Tigers bench was trying to clinch their first ever state tournament berth. One problem they were trying to do with backup 9th grader Clay Casanova turns out the Backup Goalie was the good luck charm from Albert Lea then as they made it to their first State Tournament. Fast forward 18 years and here we are with Albert Lea trying to clinch their 4th state tournament bid and wouldn’t you know it they are doing with again a backup goalie up until the Section 1A playoffs Sophomore Tanner Nelson played exactly ZERO minutes but an injury forced him into action and now maybe this backup goalie thing is just the answer for another Albert Lea trip to state.
Class A Classification Benefactors
New Prague since moving up to AA hasn't won a playoff game and this year they struggled going (10-15-2) with losses to teams like Waconia, Bloomington Kennedy, Hopkins on the resume most would have considered this a well rebuilding year. Add the Trojans recent nasty off-ice news and most would have assumed the hockey season might be heading for another early postseason end. However, thanks to the MSHSL cutoff changes New Prague went from one AA’s smallest schools and slid in just under the new cut off number to be one of Class A’s biggest and they will be nasty blackeye for the High School league to try and cover next week if they win as most expect in the 1A Final.
Re: Who wins? New Prague vs Albert Lea - Section 1A Championship
1A Final Prediction
New Prague wins by 2 goals. Trojans played better teams all year and Albert Lea only beat one team one decent team and in bigger games their defense struggled. Trojans will represent 1A with an ugly (11-15-2) record and an ugly back story with the developments of what went on during hockey games in the final week of the Metro West Conference.
New Prague wins by 2 goals. Trojans played better teams all year and Albert Lea only beat one team one decent team and in bigger games their defense struggled. Trojans will represent 1A with an ugly (11-15-2) record and an ugly back story with the developments of what went on during hockey games in the final week of the Metro West Conference.