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Duluth East v.s. Lakeville S 11AM Maple Grove v.s Hill Eagan v.s Benidle Edina v.s Spuds ! Done !!!!!!

If the seeding follows the traditional pairing, it will look like this:

#1 DE vs #8 Lakeville South
#2 Maple Grove vs #7 Moorhead
#3 Edina vs #6 Hill Murray
#4 Eagan vs #5 BSM

The last 2 years the teams most figured would be the #8 seed (Lakeville North and New Ulm) drew the #1 seed all 4 times, the odds of that are 1 in 216.

If you figure that South is the #8 team the odds they draw East (or New Ulm draws Hermantown) are 1 in 864, the odds New Ulm and South both draw the top seed are 1 in 3456.

There were rumblings the draw wasn't fair last year....

Exactly my point.. The debate should be whether it's really random or not. Pair the first round the way most playoffs work:
#1 vs #8
#2 vs #7
#3 vs #6
#4 vs #5

I think that's the way (IMHO) they tried to do it, but just called it a random draw... I could be wrong, but it makes too much sense. The only question was which ranking the brass used for 1-8 (ie. coaches, Letsplayhockey, the hub, etc).

Official seedings for AA are set:

2 Maple Grove vs Hill Murray

3 Eagan vs Moorhead

1 Duluth East vs Lakeville South

4 Edina vs BSM

#1 East vs Lakeville South
#2 Maple Grove vs Hill-Murray
#3 Eagan vs Moorhead
#4 Edina vs Benilde

Yeah, they should just come out and say they seed all 8 teams rather than pretend it's a random draw.

"Random" draw, huh?

Just say that it's seeded. Saying it's random is a joke.

Also, Eagan over Edina, while not the biggest travesty in sports, is a misfire, IMO.

I would like to retract my earlier statements doubting the existence of a conspiracy. I guess you could argue whether Moorhead and Hill-Murray might have been flipped, but otherwise they've done it again. This really doesn't bother me from a competitive standpoint, but that they might be doing this and not telling the truth does.

xy wrote:I would like to retract my earlier statements doubting the existence of a conspiracy. I guess you could argue whether Moorhead and Hill-Murray might have been flipped, but otherwise they've done it again. This really doesn't bother me from a competitive standpoint, but that they might be doing this and not telling the truth does.

This isn't a conspiracy; a conspiracy makes an attempt at hiding the goal in mind. The statistical probability of 1AA playing the 1 seed three years in a row speaks for itself; having BSM magically find themselves in the 4/5 game doesn't even hide the fact.

I'm in agreement; I'm fine with it competively. I am not fine with them promoting it as a "random" draw. Say that it's seeded 1 through 8; less people will be upset than the MSHSL thinks...

almostashappy wrote:

MNHighSchoolPuck wrote:I would seed them like so if all top seed make it...

#1 East
#2 Maple Grove
#3 Edina
#4 Eagan

QF matchups I would like to see...

11:00 Maple Grove vs Hill Murray
2:00 Edina vs BSM


6:00 East vs Moorhead
8:00 Eagan vs South

Swap Moorhead and South and this looks a little more likely. I think that the "random" draw also has an amazing ability to avoid QF pairings for teams from the same conference. Oh, and while you're at it, move the Eagan/Spuds game to the afternoon.

Can you hear the howling in Hibbing yet?

goldy313 wrote:The last 2 years the teams most figured would be the #8 seed (Lakeville North and New Ulm) drew the #1 seed all 4 times, the odds of that are 1 in 216.

If you figure that South is the #8 team the odds they draw East (or New Ulm draws Hermantown) are 1 in 864, the odds New Ulm and South both draw the top seed are 1 in 3456.

There were rumblings the draw wasn't fair last year....

How do you figure that? The odds are 1 in 4.

EHSHack wrote:

goldy313 wrote:The last 2 years the teams most figured would be the #8 seed (Lakeville North and New Ulm) drew the #1 seed all 4 times, the odds of that are 1 in 216.

If you figure that South is the #8 team the odds they draw East (or New Ulm draws Hermantown) are 1 in 864, the odds New Ulm and South both draw the top seed are 1 in 3456.

There were rumblings the draw wasn't fair last year....

How do you figure that? The odds are 1 in 4.

The odds of any one team drawing another team are 1 in 4, but the odds of getting two simultaneous matchups of 1 vs. 8 would be 1 out 4 squared (1/16). If you add more years, it continues to multiply exponentially.

Some pretty good games in the first round. Lakeville South is no pushover, nor is Hill vs. Maple Grove. I do wish Eagan had the 4-seed and were playing Benilde; that would be a great one, and I like the idea of an Edina-Moorhead game better than Eagan-Moorhead. (Edina and the Spuds played a great game back in 09; instead, we have a rerun of the rather dull tilt last year.)

Still, looking back at old PS2 rankings, this may be the deepest, most balanced tournament field on record. Every one of those quarterfinals could be good, and the semis and final should be outstanding.

northwoods oldtimer wrote:1AA: Lakeville South
2AA: Edina
3AA: Eagan
4AA: Hill
5AA: Blaine or Maple Grove (Blaine might just put a wrench in the thing)
6AA: BSM
7AA: East
8AA: Spuds

This is how the "random draw" should go:
Afternoon session
#2 Maple Grove -Hill
#3 Eagan - Moorhead

Evening Session
#1 East - Lakeville South
#4 Edina-BSM

Great job Northwoods. You nailed it!!

xy wrote:I would like to retract my earlier statements doubting the existence of a conspiracy. I guess you could argue whether Moorhead and Hill-Murray might have been flipped, but otherwise they've done it again. This really doesn't bother me from a competitive standpoint, but that they might be doing this and not telling the truth does.

My guess is that the reason they did not flip Hill and Moorhead is that Hill and Eagan have already faced each other thie year. The matchups for Thusday, especially Edina vs. BSM, should make for an exciting quarterfinal round. I agree, however, that it is time to do away with the myth of the "random" draw.

Based on the first round match ups from the past few years, it seems almost comical that the MSHSL "seeds" only 4 teams. IMHO, it seems obvious that they privately "seed" 8 teams and publicly "seed" 4 teams. If they want to "seed" all 8 teams, I think that's fine. Why not just admit that's what they're doing? It's possible that the "draw" is random, but based on statistical probabilities it seems HIGHLY unlikely. Just one man's opinion.

Neuuman wrote:Based on the first round match ups from the past few years, it seems almost comical that the MSHSL "seeds" only 4 teams. IMHO, it seems obvious that they privately "seed" 8 teams and publicly "seed" 4 teams. If they want to "seed" all 8 teams, I think that's fine. Why not just admit that's what they're doing? It's possible that the "draw" is random, but based on statistical probabilities it seems HIGHLY unlikely. Just one man's opinion.

That's a great point Neuuman. Why hasn't anyone brought this up yet?

The way the Class AA bracket looks on the Minnesota Hockey Hub, it appears that all eight teams were seeded by the tournament hockey coaches. I love the concept, however, I think that BSM should have gotten the #3 seed and been paired against Moorhead in a rematch (first game won in late January by Moorhood 6-2) in the first round and Eagan should been the #5 seed playing Edina. Although Eagan's section win was convincing (i.e., 10-1), it was over unranked Hastings, while #6 BSM beat #2 Minnetonka by an more-convincing 5-1 score and only gave up 1 goal in the estremely tough Section 6 playoffs.

You really have got to wonder about anything the high school league does given the way they handle this. After three years of this, I think you have to presume they are lying about the randomness, and I find it quite troubling that the governing body for high school sports would lie about anything. Credibility can be lost rather quickly, and unless they come forth with a rather convincing explanation, soon, I would have a hard time believing anything they say.

And what makes it worse is that they're spending their credibility on something so unimportant. The draw itself isn't that important, really (in a three-round, eight-team tournament, you're playing the highest-ranked team, or someone who beat them, rather quickly, so why spend time worrying about it). Which is why it makes even less sense to lie to the public.

Eagan being seeded over Edina just reflects how much the community has fallen in love with Eagan. Eagan gets a soft match-up first round and have a good chance to repeat the third place finish of last season. What a joke.

UntouchableFlow wrote:Eagan being seeded over Edina just reflects how much the community has fallen in love with Eagan. Eagan gets a soft match-up first round and have a good chance to repeat the third place finish of last season. What a joke.

Where's EHSHack? We need one of those animated smiley faces that is playing a sad song on his violin. Or maybe one that is gushing fountains of tears?

Ah ha! just had to look a little harder. Here you go, flow.