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I agree too, and I'm a New Prague fan. I do think, though, that No. 2 is New Prague's to lose.

I feel seeding can go anyway at all, especially within a tight group like this. If we recall a couple years ago Faribault was the number 1 seed after losing to Lourdes during the regular season (while there still was a strong case for Lourdes to be #1 that year as well). Seeding can go any way; while it is very unlikely for Lourdes to lose #1 at this point with a potential loss to New Prague, it's still possible. Stranger things have happened.

Roy01 wrote:I feel seeding can go anyway at all, especially within a tight group like this. If we recall a couple years ago Faribault was the number 1 seed after losing to Lourdes during the regular season (while there still was a strong case for Lourdes to be #1 that year as well). Seeding can go any way; while it is very unlikely for Lourdes to lose #1 at this point with a potential loss to New Prague, it's still possible. Stranger things have happened.

I agree strange things do happen with Brad Ryan seeding...

NP would have to beat Lourdes like 30-0 to get #1 seed. No way-Im sorry to say whatever happens Saturday Lourdes will have 1 seed

Is Two Harbors really at St. Pet tomorrow, long trip for a thur game, fri in Fairmont, and Sat back in Lesu. Wow.

Nice Slate of Games Tonight for 1A - 2/9/12

What's everyone thinking?

Rogers at Lourdes
New Prague at Farmington
Shakopee at Northfield
Chanhassen at Red Wing
Albert Lea at Faribault
Mayo at Mankato West
Century at Austin
Two Harbors at L-H/SP
Dodge County at LaCrescent

I think Lourdes is going to be pretty tough to beat the last few games. I saw them play Blake and they looked good from the goalie and defense to the forwards. They put out a solid performance from beginning to end. I think that they had flat spots in play in the past but looks like they might have worked that out. We will see.

Tough to see Lourdes lose the #1 seed no matter what happens Saturday, but still an interesting game and definitely the game to be at this week. As for seedings, I would like to say there are some interesting personalities among the coaches in 1A. Really good games from Lourdes beating Blake and Rogers (who is probably just outside the top 10 in Class A). New Prague has three of the biggest games left this season against Lourdes, Northfield and Red Wing. These should give final seedings at least at the top 5 an easier look. West is looking to stumble to the finish, even though a big win vs. Albert Lea, their recent losses almost gives teams a reason to seed West lower than Albert Lea at this point.

Any Predictions? Semi-full Day for Section 1A...

Red Wing at Hermantown
Rochester Century at Mankato East
Rochester J.M. at Owatonna
Rochester Lourdes at New Prague
Rochester Mayo at Faribault
St Paul Highland Park at La Crescent
Winona at Austin

Idle: Albert Lea, Northfield, Mankato West, Waseca, Le Sueur/St. Peter?? (are they playing Two Harbors again?...I see conflicting schedules)

Hermantown vs. Red Wing
Century vs. East
Owatonna vs J.M.
Mayo vs. Faribault
Winona vs. Austin
La Crescent vs. St. Paul Highland

My picks are in bold

The game of the day is definitely Lourdes and New Prague and can go either way. Last time some penalty trouble cost NP the game. Both teams have been playing great hockey as of late and this very likely could be a preview of the Section 1A Final this year.

Lourdes over New Prague in a very close one...

Congrats to Le Sueur-Henderson(Montgomery-Lonsdale-Le Center)/St. Peter for their 17th win last night over Waseca (7-0), breaking a team record for wins in a season.

Lourdes beats New Prague 2-1, anyone with any insight?

scarlethockey33 wrote:Congrats to Le Sueur-Henderson(Montgomery-Lonsdale-Le Center)/St. Peter for their 17th win last night over Waseca (7-0), breaking a team record for wins in a season.

Lourdes beats New Prague 2-1, anyone with any insight?

Drove down to this game. Really good game. Very close play and more even than I thought it might be going in. I had seen Lourdes against Kato and thought this might be more lopsided. NP looked really good, especially defensively. It was more of Lourdes forward quickness against some solid defensive play by NP. I think 1 and 2 seeds for sure in 1A. I still think Lourdes comes out of 1A but not by the ease I thought they might earlier in the season. Will still take a really good game to get by them though.
I see RW got beat again. As I said in my last ranking, even though there are only a few games left those games will make an impact on seedings from 3-6 or so. NP and Northfield on Tuesday should be interesting. I think NP wins. I see LS/SP keeps winning. A friend who follows them more closely said they are at 8 shoutouts for the year. That is impressive and has to be close to a state record. Will be interesting to see if West or AL can finish with any kind of momentum.
Lot's of fun here over the next week!

Amsden should have been up for the Brimsek award but he got cut from the Elite League soley on his playing for LeSeuer instead if BSM or Edina. He's this years Alex Kangas.

goldy313 wrote:Amsden should have been up for the Brimsek award but he got cut from the Elite League soley on his playing for LeSeuer instead if BSM or Edina. He's this years Alex Kangas.

My take....first, I believe the Brimsek is for senior goalies only and Amsden is a junior pretty sure. This year's team is a blip on the radar. I think they deserve to be judged for what they have done THIS year and not what they have been or will be, but Amsden does suffer from team perception. He probably knows he has to fight this. Their schedule isn't very strong..no fault of their own but it is what it is. He is a very good goalie make no mistake about it. He just has the team around him this year to get the optics for what he really is. I don't know the history of the kid and his experience in the Elite League but I think you put him on a power team in the metro and he really shines.
I admire the kid for wanting to stay with his buddies and play through high school with them. In these small communities I think that matters a lot more than the factories in the metro. In the end, he will get a chance to play somewhere if that is what he wants to do.

Gretzky9, Thanks for your opinion...I am probably wrong about what year he is in school.

There was a kid from Waseca, Ryan Hoehn, a few years ago who put up some good numbers playing Waseca's schedule. He ended up in the USHL and played 4 years at St Thomas. This was a kid who was a very good hockey player in high school but since he was from Waseca he didn't get the advantages other kids from other schools got but he still moved on past high school.

Gretzky9 wrote:

goldy313 wrote:Amsden should have been up for the Brimsek award but he got cut from the Elite League soley on his playing for LeSeuer instead if BSM or Edina. He's this years Alex Kangas.

My take....first, I believe the Brimsek is for senior goalies only and Amsden is a junior pretty sure. This year's team is a blip on the radar. I think they deserve to be judged for what they have done THIS year and not what they have been or will be, but Amsden does suffer from team perception. He probably knows he has to fight this. Their schedule isn't very strong..no fault of their own but it is what it is. He is a very good goalie make no mistake about it. He just has the team around him this year to get the optics for what he really is. I don't know the history of the kid and his experience in the Elite League but I think you put him on a power team in the metro and he really shines.
I admire the kid for wanting to stay with his buddies and play through high school with them. In these small communities I think that matters a lot more than the factories in the metro. In the end, he will get a chance to play somewhere if that is what he wants to do.

St Pet is not a team that you want to play in playoffs. If they get a bounce or two and Chris in the net, they could upset anyone in this section. Now do I see them winning the section prob. not, upsetting someone could happen. Chris reminds me of Riley Gil a few years a go from I believe Northfield.

Chalk_Talk wrote:

Gretzky9 wrote:

goldy313 wrote:Amsden should have been up for the Brimsek award but he got cut from the Elite League soley on his playing for LeSeuer instead if BSM or Edina. He's this years Alex Kangas.

My take....first, I believe the Brimsek is for senior goalies only and Amsden is a junior pretty sure. This year's team is a blip on the radar. I think they deserve to be judged for what they have done THIS year and not what they have been or will be, but Amsden does suffer from team perception. He probably knows he has to fight this. Their schedule isn't very strong..no fault of their own but it is what it is. He is a very good goalie make no mistake about it. He just has the team around him this year to get the optics for what he really is. I don't know the history of the kid and his experience in the Elite League but I think you put him on a power team in the metro and he really shines.
I admire the kid for wanting to stay with his buddies and play through high school with them. In these small communities I think that matters a lot more than the factories in the metro. In the end, he will get a chance to play somewhere if that is what he wants to do.

St Pet is not a team that you don't want to play in playoffs. If they get a bounce or two and Chris in the net, they could upset anyone in this section. Now do I see them winning the section prob. not, upsetting someone could happen. Chris reminds me of Riley Gil a few years a go from I believe Northfield.

I think you mean IS a team that you don't want to play in playoffs.

MHGr8ness wrote:

Chalk_Talk wrote:

Gretzky9 wrote: My take....first, I believe the Brimsek is for senior goalies only and Amsden is a junior pretty sure. This year's team is a blip on the radar. I think they deserve to be judged for what they have done THIS year and not what they have been or will be, but Amsden does suffer from team perception. He probably knows he has to fight this. Their schedule isn't very strong..no fault of their own but it is what it is. He is a very good goalie make no mistake about it. He just has the team around him this year to get the optics for what he really is. I don't know the history of the kid and his experience in the Elite League but I think you put him on a power team in the metro and he really shines.
I admire the kid for wanting to stay with his buddies and play through high school with them. In these small communities I think that matters a lot more than the factories in the metro. In the end, he will get a chance to play somewhere if that is what he wants to do.

St Pet is not a team that you don't want to play in playoffs. If they get a bounce or two and Chris in the net, they could upset anyone in this section. Now do I see them winning the section prob. not, upsetting someone could happen. Chris reminds me of Riley Gil a few years a go from I believe Northfield.

I think you mean IS a team that you don't want to play in playoffs.

I had it right the first time, then I editied it, now it is fixed. I think everyone knew what I was getting at.

Let's see

Only two teams with an easier schedule in
The state

There toughest teams they played was new
Ulm and litch field

The team has scored goals and kept pop
Scoring down against this easy schedule

They will get seven or eight seed and will not make it past
The quarterfinals

Competition heats up at playoff time and teams
With experience versus tougher competition
Wins 99 percent of time. This situation
Will be no different. If you want to be relevant
At playoff time play some better teams.

Lourdes will be upset this year. They have one line that scores averaging 5'6" that doesn't like to be touched. Some smart coach will figure out how to match this line. Their defense is weak. Up/Down goaltending.

The team that plays physical and can kill the resulting penalties will get the upset!

BadgerBob82 wrote:Lourdes will be upset this year. They have one line that scores averaging 5'6" that doesn't like to be touched. Some smart coach will figure out how to match this line. Their defense is weak. Up/Down goaltending.

The team that plays physical and can kill the resulting penalties will get the upset!

You're half right. The smart coach is the one that can match that line with physical play to slow them down.....but if they play a physical style where they take penalties they are toast. I think that narrows the field quite a bit as to who has the team to be able to do that. Still, kind of a long-shot but it's more possible in my mind now than a month ago.

Gretzky9 wrote:

BadgerBob82 wrote:Lourdes will be upset this year. They have one line that scores averaging 5'6" that doesn't like to be touched. Some smart coach will figure out how to match this line. Their defense is weak. Up/Down goaltending.

The team that plays physical and can kill the resulting penalties will get the upset!

You're half right. The smart coach is the one that can match that line with physical play to slow them down.....but if they play a physical style where they take penalties they are toast. I think that narrows the field quite a bit as to who has the team to be able to do that. Still, kind of a long-shot but it's more possible in my mind now than a month ago.

I have not watched enough 1A hockey this year to know, so who would you say has the team to shut them down this year? Or is there even team in this section that can do so?

New Prague has the goalie and big strong defensemen who could end the lourdes reign in section 1A

blueblood wrote:New Prague has the goalie and big strong defensemen who could end the lourdes reign in section 1A

I agree with blueblood. A strong performance by Morris and anything is capable of happening. While Lourdes and New Prague have the benefit of experienced players, Lourdes lacks the goaltending experience with Heimer gone and that can be critical in a one-game playoff. Lourdes is still set as the team to beat obviously, but a couple bounces could send New Prague to the X.

sniper20 wrote:

Gretzky9 wrote:

BadgerBob82 wrote:Lourdes will be upset this year. They have one line that scores averaging 5'6" that doesn't like to be touched. Some smart coach will figure out how to match this line. Their defense is weak. Up/Down goaltending.

The team that plays physical and can kill the resulting penalties will get the upset!

You're half right. The smart coach is the one that can match that line with physical play to slow them down.....but if they play a physical style where they take penalties they are toast. I think that narrows the field quite a bit as to who has the team to be able to do that. Still, kind of a long-shot but it's more possible in my mind now than a month ago.

I have not watched enough 1A hockey this year to know, so who would you say has the team to shut them down this year? Or is there even team in this section that can do so?

I have not seen Red Wing play but I like the way NP has been playing down the stretch. With their style of play and a very good goalie to cover any mistakes they could pull it off. However, if they take penalties they are toast.