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HF is penalized for playing in a weaker conference. Their wins over the last ten or so games was not impressive, although nice win over STA. As for the size of HF, that really is a bad argument. Your other goalie is from New Prague, and the third is from Wayzata. It's called recruiting. Please don't pretend it doesn't happen. HF has some real nice high end players, but drops quickly after that. Wayzata would be scary as you don't know what you're going to get. Of the top 5 teams, I would want to be playing against Minnetonka. If EP was stronger on D, they would be a real threat to rival Edina and LVN. Should be a wild section.

Karl, I see the question as not what should happen but instead, why did things happened as they did. The coaches voted and it's a done deal. Was there a reasonable basis for what they did? I simply believe that there was, and indeed, I would have done the same with the exception of Holy Family.

We seem to agree that Holy Family was seeded fifth because the other coaches were not yet ready to give a minor conference team a high seed. While I don't agree with their decision, it wasn't baseless. Holy Family may have done fine against other section six teams but they didn't dominate, going 2-2-1 against Minnetonka, Wayzata, and Benilde. They also lost to New Prague and Delano. Not terrible teams but it adds to the argument that they just aren't there yet. But most important, they had a similarly strong team last year and got pasted 6-2 by Eden Prairie in the semis. I suspect the section six coaches remember that and it reinforced their prejudice. Again, I would have seeded them third, and possibly second, but I acknowledge that the coaches had a reasonable basis for what they did.

With Holy Family dropping behind Wayzata, Minnetonka, and Benilde, and landing ahead a a Hopkins team it just beat a week or so ago, it comes down to the order of the two remaining Lake teams and Benilde (I'm assuming we all agree that EP was a reasonable top seed).

In analyzing that, Benilde was close enough to the other teams that it seemed inevitable that the recent Benilde-Wayzata game would decide the order of those two teams' seeds. Again, I see no one suggesting that Benilde should be seeded higher than Wayzata. So the issue is the proper placement of Minnetonka. Some would have Minnetonka fifth, as they lost to Benilde (and other failings), while the coaches had them second. As I sated before, while I could understand a lower seed, I understand the second seed and think it was proper.

Karl, you cite the Skippers' 1-6-1 record down the stretch. Good point. But of course you happen to cut it off right after they beat EP and Hopkins. Meanwhile, if you take Wayzata's last eight games, they were just 3-4-1. While you can choose those eight games as determinative, the coaches may have chosen to look at Minnetonka's slightly superior overall record, or more likely, the fact that while Minnetonka was just 1-3 in the second half of the Lake season, Wayzata was 0-3-1. And the coaches are human. They obviously look at more than just wins and losses and actually look at scores. I have to think it was relevant to some coaches that while Minnetonka actually gave Edina a game, Wayzata got blown out as if they were a last place team. And the fact that Minnetonka beat Wayzata 5-1 wouldn't have been lost on the coaches.

In the end, I think when the numbers don't force a certain outcome, coaches look at who they honestly feel will be the toughest team to play. Putting everyone else in the section aside, I am guessing Lee Smith feels that Minnetonka is the scariest team in his path, while every coach would like to play Wayzata. It's not that they aren't talented. It's that they are as bad now as any team with half the talent. As I think is clear, I watch Edina, not Minnetonka or any one else. When I saw the last Edina-Wayzata game I so badly wanted to believe that Edina was blowing out Wayzata because they are just awesome. But it soon became clear to me that the Trojans just were going through the motions. This was not the talented team I saw in November, and somehow they looked like a team that had given up. I remember thinking that the only thing different about that game and an Edina-Cooper game from the 90s was the Wayzata jerseys. The 5-1 Minnetonka win over Wayzata two nights later pretty much confirmed that. As you pointed out, Minnetonka may be dangerous but they also aren't a consistently strong team. But they got past Wayzata by a margin they rarely achieve.

Put another way, if you were seeding based on who you feared the most, would you really seed Wayzata ahead of Minnetonka? I am pretty sure you wouldn't, and understand why the coaches didn't either. In fact, had Benilde beaten Wayzata, I could have seen the Red Knights third or even second, but their loss pretty much tied the coaches' hands.

In the end, maybe Wayzata beat Benilde because they've come back to life, but the tie against Hopkins suggests otherwise.

Regardless of seedings, the teams I would fear would be Holy Family and Hopkins in the quarters and even the semis. Hopkins would have to have everything go right, but it has proven that it could possibly beat Wayzata and it did beat Minnetonka. Also, I suspect that the last team Lee Smith wants to play in the final is Hopkins after their two close games.

I think EP will win the section, but it'll be fun to see whether Holy Family can channel the insult it got in seedings and take out EP in the semis. If they do, their seed will be higher next year.

Finally, if Wayzata manages to beat Hopkins, then it can prove to everyone that it got screwed in seedings if it can beat Minnetonka. But I think a loss to Hopkins is more likely than a win over Minnetonka in the semis.

Either way, we'll know for certain by Sunday.

After TUE FEB-17 sectional play-off games,
the computer leads the coaches seeding by 1 game

Of the Section 6 teams in the top 25:


o Only one exceeded its potential and expectation

o Two met potential and exceeded expectation

o One met potential and and expectation

o One met potential but fell short of expectation

o One fell short of both potential and expectation


Did coaches give this approach partial weighting in section seedings?

There are likely other Section champs who equaled or exceeded both potential and expectation, should that be taken into partial account when State seeding is done?

Ya got to eventually play the best in the secions to move on. If that is the first game, beat the team and open the section up. Its time to play the games.......... DROP THE PUCK!!