Section 7AA 2013-2014?

[TheHockeyDJ]

Let's not forget Virginia and Hermantown both beat Cloquet who just beat East. Virginia is not that bad of a team, and to say Hermantown isn't that good is a terrible bias through grey/red lenses. East, Rapids, and Elk River are all very close down the stretch. White Bear Lake is a good team, as is Moorhead, I don't see those losses being any worse than OT wins vs. Apple Valley and Cambridge along with a loss to Cloquet who Rapids swept. Curtiscurve made a pretty good case for those seeds. I'm sure Slammer is getting his shorts all in a bunch. East could of easily beat CEC but maybe they had finals legs. According to him and others East is actually 23-0 right now and those losses never happened.

[alcloseshaver]

Nice spin? GR's schedule just does't hold up except for ER game.

[gitter]

Bottom line is this now: The way ER, East, GR are playing right now (very inconsistent) and a suddenly surging Andover, this section is WIDE OPEN. It doesn't matter where the seeds fall, I would predict that if you played the section tournament 3 times, you would probably get 3 different winners.

[alcloseshaver]

True, Teams need to focus on getting their game in order and as always goaltending is the key... Shepard, Berglove...

[Usthockey13]

at the end of the day all the seeds mean after round 1 is who has last change. Once we get to semi saturday, anyone can win and those top 4 teams will have to battle and should make for two great games if they get past the 1st round. Agreed I wouldnt want to play Andover or CEC in the 1st round..Have to remember once we get to Asmoil for semi/finals everything changes with the season on the line and the bright lights..

True, Teams need to focus on getting their game in order and as always goaltending is the key... Shepard, Berglove...

[curtiscurve]

Rapids will not get the 1 seed with the loses to Marshall,Vrigina and dont forget their loses to Moorhead and WBL. Those come in to play as well. Plus people can say all they want Hermantown isnt that great of a team record looks good. Even with that win I could see them being 4 with Andover jumping them. If East loses to North tonight that will not affect the seeding as much as you think. They are not a common opponent with anyone in the section. Depeding on how Andover finishes I could see it

1 ER
2 East
3 Andover
4 GR
5 FLake
6 Cloquet
7 STMA
8/9 Cambridge/STF

Top 4 continues to be very confusing. Lots of talk about GR moving up in the seedings and I have to agree. However, I believe tonight ER and East could lock up the top 2 seeds with wins over Blaine and LV North. Those are really the only 2 games remaining for either team I see being possible losses. The way the section is going, I see both East and ER losing tonight and then it becomes a real mess (Like it's not already). I know just a couple of days ago, I had Rapids slotted as the 4 seed, but I am going to go out on a limb and give them the 1 seed if ER and East lose tonight. This is how I predict it will look on seeding day.
1- Grand Rapids - They will win their last 2 games and finish with a 18-7 record with a 5-1 record against section 7AA. (Key Wins: Elk River, Hermantown, Warroad, CEC x2, FL) (Key Losses: Virginia, Duluth Marshall, East blow out)
2- Elk River - They will lose to Blaine but win out after that finishing 18-6 (They will be 1 game short as they are not making up the BSM game) with a 3-2 record against 7AA (Key Wins: East, FL, Andover, Edina, Blaine) (Key Losses: Grand Rapids and Andover blow out)
3- Duluth East - They will lose to North but win their remaining games finishing with a 18-6-1 record and a 6-2 record against 7AA (including a bad OT win vs Cambridge). (Key Wins: CEC, GR, Andover, FL, EP) (Key Losses: CEC, ER, Centennial)
4- Andover - They will win their next 2 but then fall to Blaine and finish with a 17-8 record and a 2-3 record against 7AA. (Key Wins: Elk River, CEC Blow out, Maple Grove x2) (Key Losses: ER, East, FL, and a bad loss to Armstrong)
5- Forest Lake - More than likely will go 3-1 in the last 4 losing to WBL and finishing with a 14-7-4 record (4-3 in 7AA). Did beat Andover but not enough quality wins to elevate them above the 5 seed
6- Cloquet-Esko-Carlton - If they beat STMA like I think they will, they should end with a 11-12-2 record (assuming they make up the Hibbing game) 4-5 record against 7AA. Big win against East, but that will not be enough to make up for the 5 section losses.
7- St. Michael-Albertville - At best, I see them ending the year 12-12-1 with a 4-3 record in 7AA with the only wins being against Cambridge and St. Francis.
8- St. Francis - They should win 3 of the last 4 bringing them to a 8-17 record with 2 7AA wins against Cambridge
9- Cambridge-Isanti - They will most likely lose out to finish 3-22 and zero 7AA wins.

I realize many will disagree with Grand Rapids at #1, but if it plays out the way I laid it out, I think they will have a strong case.

East, GR, Andover and ER all have a pretty good argument but if it plays out in the way I laid it out, the top 4 will have very similar records. East plays the toughest schedule, but lost to ER and CEC. Plus, the OT win over a 3 win Cambridge is far more of a blemish than a loss to a very good Marshall or Virginia squad. Elk River has a similar schedule to GR but lost head to head. It is a mess and I agree with a lot of you, this thing is wide open. Seedings will mean nothing when it gets to Semi-final Saturday. If all teams are playing at their peak, I would give the slight edge to GR with Peterson and Shepard leading the way. Just my opinion.

[TheInsider]

Forgot how the seeding works. Does each coach plead their case and every coach ranks the teams and they decide seeding off that?

[east hockey]

Forgot how the seeding works. Does each coach plead their case and every coach ranks the teams and they decide seeding off that?

Pretty much. Each coach ranks all the teams (other than his own) and then it's simple math.

Lee

[offtheglas]

When is the seeding meeting? Is Buffet going to offer up a Billion dollars for the correct seeding prediction and all the right picks?

[northwoods oldtimer]

Section 7AA playoffs are going to be wide open. 1-6 can win it all for trip to Saint Paul. We should expect some great playoff games.

[sanryam]

Blaine 5 (en)
Elk River 3

FINAL

[alcloseshaver]

First time seeing ER without Zerban, they played even with Blaine in the 1st & 3rd periods, Blaine held them to two shots in the second. Final shots were like 38-24 for Blaine. Looks like a different dynamic for the Elks but they went toe to toe with Blaine after Blaine put 53 shots on Hill. Blaine needs to stay out of the box though, needless penalties helped the Elks. As far as 7AA goes I see ER, East, or Andover as the top three. Andover is a one line team, but a good one line.

[offtheglas]

1. East
2. GR
3. ER
4. Andover
5. FL
6. Cloquet
7. STMA
8. CI

There is no other way to put it as far as section records and overall records. Andover has been playing well and has a good win vs ER but that was without Zerban. East played tough last night and will get the respect from the other coaches to vote them as #1. It will be an interesting playoff scenario.

[green4]

I have no dog in this fight obviously if you have seen my previous posts but something I have picked up on it seems from some of the fans from East and Grand Rapids is how no matter what happens your team continues to get better and move ahead of Elk River and farther ahead of a surging Andover team.
I think an example of this could be how East has moved into first for some of your section rankings after losing 2 straight and before that an overtime win to Lakeville south. I have seen arguments for games East has won like South and Cambridge with "a win is a win" yet when East loses to Cloquet its because its a rivalry game and when they played North they played them close but in reality if a win is a win then a loss is a loss.
I think it will be interesting how they seed these teams since most are struggling (including Grand rapids, lost 3 of 5. you beat Hermantown yes I saw GR fans but you also just lost to WBL, Virgina and Moorhead)
I myself have no idea how they will rank them if I had to guess this would be best shot.

1) Elk River
2)East
3)Andover
4)Grand rapids
5)Forest Lake
6)Cloquet

I could see either ER or East at one but the reason I have ER there is because I like most people had them at 1 after they beat blaine and centennial in the 1st meetings with both those teams and since then they have lost but so has East and if East's best argument is they played North close then ER can say they played Blaine close too for the game last night.
I doubt Andover will be #1 but if they end up there I would not be shocked.
I could see GR anywhere from 2-4

[alcloseshaver]

That's one way to look at it. I don't see a scenario where you could put East ahead of ER if the Elks win out. They will have defeated Cent. twice who beat East and ER beat East. ER may not pass the eyeball test but they also played tough last night. Andover has Blaine left on the schedule and that will be big for seeding if they can win. With that said Rapids has the victory over ER and can make their case to be ahead of ER. All very interesting. I'm sure ER wants to avoid Andover and the Huskies will give The 1 seed all they can handle if they finish in the 4 spot. Rapids is counting on big wins over A schools.

[MTStringer]

Rapids is counting on big wins over A schools.

You forgot Elk River.

[TheHockeyDJ]

That's one way to look at it. I don't see a scenario where you could put East ahead of ER if the Elks win out. They will have defeated Cent. twice who beat East and ER beat East. ER may not pass the eyeball test but they also played tough last night. Andover has Blaine left on the schedule and that will be big for seeding if they can win. With that said Rapids has the victory over ER and can make their case to be ahead of ER. All very interesting. I'm sure ER wants to avoid Andover and the Huskies will give The 1 seed all they can handle if they finish in the 4 spot. Rapids is counting on big wins over A schools.

Elk River, Forest Lake, Cloquet x2, Roseau, and Brainerd are Single A schools? Again, Cloquet who just beat East, lost to both Virginia and Hermantown. Class A has nothing to do with talent. There are good and bad teams in both classes. Andover has been on a nice run, but they did start 5-7 and are only 2-3 in the section. Their late surge should only be enough to maybe put them at 4 instead of Forest Lake. All of ER, GR, and DE, have had their ups and downs this year. Strength of schedule is up to debate and in a year with more parity than I've ever seen along with the fact these 3 beat each other I don't see it being unfair to consider GR at #1 because they are the only team with 1 section loss. The thing that will be big when the coaches meet is they always try to vote with integrity, but you can slice it many ways this year and justify your integrity with the vote. Any of the coaches could feel justified to vote East at 3 if they want on their ballot. When it comes down to match ups, the 1 seed might be nice for round one, but playing Andover in an early semi-final game isn't going to be easy. The top 2 seeds are great for the quarterfinals obviously because I don't see St. Francis or STMA being able to hold up for 3 periods.

[alcloseshaver]

Rapids is counting on big wins over A schools.

You forgot Elk River.

Look close, It's in there.

[MTStringer]

Rapids is counting on big wins over A schools.

You forgot Elk River.

Look close, It's in there.

I missed it. Thank you.

[northwoods oldtimer]

I have no dog in this fight obviously if you have seen my previous posts but something I have picked up on it seems from some of the fans from East and Grand Rapids is how no matter what happens your team continues to get better and move ahead of Elk River and farther ahead of a surging Andover team.
I think an example of this could be how East has moved into first for some of your section rankings after losing 2 straight and before that an overtime win to Lakeville south. I have seen arguments for games East has won like South and Cambridge with "a win is a win" yet when East loses to Cloquet its because its a rivalry game and when they played North they played them close but in reality if a win is a win then a loss is a loss.
I think it will be interesting how they seed these teams since most are struggling (including Grand rapids, lost 3 of 5. you beat Hermantown yes I saw GR fans but you also just lost to WBL, Virgina and Moorhead)
I myself have no idea how they will rank them if I had to guess this would be best shot.

1) Elk River
2)East
3)Andover
4)Grand rapids
5)Forest Lake
6)Cloquet

I could see either ER or East at one but the reason I have ER there is because I like most people had them at 1 after they beat blaine and centennial in the 1st meetings with both those teams and since then they have lost but so has East and if East's best argument is they played North close then ER can say they played Blaine close too for the game last night.
I doubt Andover will be #1 but if they end up there I would not be shocked.
I could see GR anywhere from 2-4

curtiscurve had solid breakdown of how even each team is this season with the won - loss records. Who will get the #1 seed is anybody's guess, like he stated in his "breakdown" post. The one seed (might be Andover with nice run of wins, this makes some sense to put them at one seed) gets a pass to semi finals after that whoever makes Saturday semi it's a wide open affair in the semi's. This section IS mediocre this season at best. We do not have a 23 win Rapids team or a 24 win East team that is clear cut one and two (like in years past). I thought Elks were a 20 win team this season, due to most depth. Elk River has not delivered and some of the fan base looks to point out a Grand Rapids mediocre schedule to deflect the fact that Elks with most depth in the section just did not deliver in 2014! Losing Hillmen and Zerban hurts for sure. This season the Elks could most likely get a 1 or the two, in a muddled mess. Do they deserve it? No, not anymore than Rapids or East. Getting that top seed for Elks might be earned by the thinnest of margin. My opinion for each team is to control your own destiny or shut the heck up on where the team gets ranked 1,2,3, or 4. Reference to Elks, East and Rapids. Making more sense to give the one seed to Andover. I would say Rapids is an above average AA hockey team in an average 2014 section and could get knocked off in quarters or make a run (who knows). Like it or not they beat Elk River and if given the chance in sections might do it again. The proof of how muddled the seeding mix is for 2014 is in the stack of 18 win teams, very average for this section from historical perspective. 1 to 6 is "game" for a run. In an average 2014 season it is good for the fan base of the Forest Lakes and Cloquet's as they have a shot in 2014. Should be some wild quarterfinal matchups to look forward to in a couple of weeks. I would not want to play Andover they appear hot! We will soon find out if any section team can knock Andover off. I give East the best shot at that due to coaching and playoff prep, none better than Randolph. Bottom line is Elks underachieved in 2014 with most returning depth (much like Rapids in 2012) East overachieved with great coaching and great team play, Andover trending where expected or slight edge to overachieving, Rapids overachieved with very young team and two senior studs, Forest lake underachieved expected more from them. Cloquet overachieved with a gutted line up with many defections key to being top flight team.

[TheHockeyDJ]

I have no dog in this fight obviously if you have seen my previous posts but something I have picked up on it seems from some of the fans from East and Grand Rapids is how no matter what happens your team continues to get better and move ahead of Elk River and farther ahead of a surging Andover team.
I think an example of this could be how East has moved into first for some of your section rankings after losing 2 straight and before that an overtime win to Lakeville south. I have seen arguments for games East has won like South and Cambridge with "a win is a win" yet when East loses to Cloquet its because its a rivalry game and when they played North they played them close but in reality if a win is a win then a loss is a loss.
I think it will be interesting how they seed these teams since most are struggling (including Grand rapids, lost 3 of 5. you beat Hermantown yes I saw GR fans but you also just lost to WBL, Virgina and Moorhead)
I myself have no idea how they will rank them if I had to guess this would be best shot.

1) Elk River
2)East
3)Andover
4)Grand rapids
5)Forest Lake
6)Cloquet

I could see either ER or East at one but the reason I have ER there is because I like most people had them at 1 after they beat blaine and centennial in the 1st meetings with both those teams and since then they have lost but so has East and if East's best argument is they played North close then ER can say they played Blaine close too for the game last night.
I doubt Andover will be #1 but if they end up there I would not be shocked.
I could see GR anywhere from 2-4

curtiscurve had solid breakdown of how even each team is this season with the won - loss records. Who will get the #1 seed is anybody's guess, like he stated in his "breakdown" post. The one seed (might be Andover with nice run of wins, this makes some sense to put them at one seed) gets a pass to semi finals after that whoever makes Saturday semi it's a wide open affair in the semi's. This section IS mediocre this season at best. We do not have a 23 win Rapids team or a 24 win East team that is clear cut one and two (like in years past). I thought Elks were a 20 win team this season, due to most depth. Elk River has not delivered and some of the fan base looks to point out a Grand Rapids mediocre schedule to deflect the fact that Elks with most depth in the section just did not deliver in 2014! Losing Hillmen and Zerban hurts for sure. This season the Elks could most likely get a 1 or the two, in a muddled mess. Do they deserve it? No, not anymore than Rapids or East. Getting that top seed for Elks might be earned by the thinnest of margin. My opinion for each team is to control your own destiny or shut the heck up on where the team gets ranked 1,2,3, or 4. Reference to Elks, East and Rapids. Making more sense to give the one seed to Andover. I would say Rapids is an above average AA hockey team in an average 2014 section and could get knocked off in quarters or make a run (who knows). Like it or not they beat Elk River and if given the chance in sections might do it again. The proof of how muddled the seeding mix is for 2014 is in the stack of 18 win teams, very average for this section from historical perspective. 1 to 6 is "game" for a run. In an average 2014 season it is good for the fan base of the Forest Lakes and Cloquet's as they have a shot in 2014. Should be some wild quarterfinal matchups to look forward to in a couple of weeks. I would not want to play Andover they appear hot! We will soon find out if any section team can knock Andover off. I give East the best shot at that due to coaching and playoff prep, none better than Randolph. Bottom line is Elks underachieved in 2014 with most returning depth (much like Rapids in 2012) East overachieved with great coaching and great team play, Andover trending where expected or slight edge to overachieving, Rapids overachieved with very young team and two senior studs, Forest lake underachieved expected more from them. Cloquet overachieved with a gutted line up with many defections key to being top flight team.

Best NorthwoodsOldtimer post ever (Andover at #1 is a bit )

[curtiscurve]

I understand the frustrations by the faithfuls of the top 4 teams with a legitimate argument for the top seed. The reality is coaches will have a hard time seeding because they need to base their seeds on the eye test (how their team did against the section opponents) and looking at the teams overall schedule. For example, I do not see Cloquet giving the top seed to East based on their games with the others in consideration on the top seeds (Losing 2x to Rapids and getting blown out by Andover while splitting with East). Like it or not, head to head and over all section record has more weight than does a bad loss to an inferior team out of the section. That is why I stand by my breakdown yesterday. Regardless, I would love to see North vs South Semi-final games and don't care how it gets there.

[HockeyStorm]

Too bad this seeding meeting isn't televised!

My observations (as much as this pains me being a nothern MN guy);
1. Elk River (quality wins cannot be denied)
2. Andover (Surging down the stretch)
3. East (too much inconsistency)
4. Grand Rapids (coming on strong now but too many losses in the body of work)
5. Forest Lake (the team nobody is talking about, they are a threat)
6. Cloquet (one win over East cannot make up for the body of work)

[old goalie85]

I agree. I would like to see North vs South. I would love to see FL as one of the South !!!

[TheHockeyDJ]

Too bad this seeding meeting isn't televised!

My observations (as much as this pains me being a nothern MN guy);
1. Elk River (quality wins cannot be denied)
2. Andover (Surging down the stretch)
3. East (too much inconsistency)
4. Grand Rapids (coming on strong now but too many losses in the body of work)
5. Forest Lake (the team nobody is talking about, they are a threat)
6. Cloquet (one win over East cannot make up for the body of work)

I think this is overall the worst take I've seen on seeds right now, however I wouldn't be against the match ups.