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Just re-started the thread to focus on the rankings.

Jan 6,2008

The following summarizes the District by top teams and what they have done in the last week and what they will be doing this week. I have grouped the Districts into Regions they will be playing to go to state. I have then ranked the top five teams in each region. The top two of each region go to state. The projected state peewee A tourney draw is shown at the end of this post.

North Region (at Cloquet Feb 29 to March 2) Overall Rankings: Coon Rapids run of good games finally ended in the Bloomington Tourney, but the picked up the play in D10 this week winning twice easily. That’s hockey. A team can’t win them all. Cloquet and Elk River battled it out in Cloquet’s tourney this week. Whoever won will have the bragging rights to the #2 seed in the North Region.
1-Coon Rapids*
2-Cloquet*
3-Elk River
4-Grand Rapids
5-Hermantown

North Region summary by districts

D10-#1-Coon Rapids (Last week: beat Champlin Park 7-1 and beat Centennial 6-0 in league play. With 8 league games left, they have widened their first place lead over their nearest competitor to three games; Coming week: play Blaine in the first of their two games, St. Cloud and Grand Rapids).
D10-#2-Elk River (Last week: Lost to Woodbury 3-1 tied Centennial 2-2, played Cloquet, Crow River, Superior and beat Orono 6-1 in Cloquet Tourney; Coming week: play St Frances/North Branch, play in the Governor’s Cup Tourney draw North St. Paul in the opener)
D10-#3-St. Cloud (Last week: lost to Blaine 2-1, beat Centennial 3-2 and beat Anoka 3-1; Coming week: play Coon Rapids)

D11 Summary: No change as these three teams will be playing for the three D11 seeds. Hermantown have been playing well, but where’s Duluth East at? Duluth Lakers finally made some noise last week and will be in the Hermantown tourney.
D11-#1-Cloquet (Last week: Beat Duluth East 3-1 and played in own tourney beat Orono 5-2; Coming week: )
D11-#2-Hermantown (Last week; lost to Grand Rapids 3-1 and tied Duluth Lakers 2-2; Coming week: play in own tourney draw Moundsview in opener.)
D11-#3-Duluth East (Last week: lost to Cloquet 3-1; Coming week: play Armstrong in opening game of Brainerd Tourney)

D12 Summary: No change. Grand Rapids remains unchallenged in this district.
D12-#1-Grand Rapids (Last week: Beat Hermantown 3-1, Eveleth and Virginia; Coming week: Still recovering from getting beat by Coon Rapids and Hopkins in their own tourney two weeks ago?)
D12-#2-Virginia (Last week: Play Hibbing and Grand Rapids: Coming Week: play in own tourney, Queen City (Irondale, Northfield, Eveleth and International Falls)
D12-#3-Hibbing (Last week: Play International Falls; Coming week: )

East Region Overall Rankings: Wayzata was idle this week and Lakeville South remained unbeaten in D8. Woodbury won two important D8 games and is looking good again. The D2 teams keep beating each other up with Roseville getting beat by North St. Paul. There are a lot of good teams in this region, it remains tough.
1-Wayzata*
2-Lakeville South*
3-Woodbury
4-Eagan
5-North St. Paul

East Region (at St. Louis Park Feb 29 to March 2) summary by districts

D8 Summary: Lakeville South remains unbeaten in league play and remains on top. Eagan has 5 games left in D8 (SSP/IGH, Sibley, Rochester 1, Lakeville North and Hastings). Eagan’s legue play ends Jan 18. Lakeville South has 6 games left (SSP/IGH(twice), Sibley, Woodbury, Hastings, and Hudson). Their league play ends Feb 9. Woodbury has 3 games left (Lakeville South, Rosemount and Sibley) and end league play on Jan 28. If Woodbury sweeps their remaining games they end D8 league play with 43 points. If Eagan sweeps their remaining 5 games they end league play with 45 points. If Lakeville South sweeps their remaining 6 games they will end league play with 44. But you can’t ignore the two Rochester teams, Lakeville North, and Sibley-they all have a shot at the low 40’s. Tough league.
D8-#1-Lakeville South (This week: Tied Lakeville North 1-1; Coming week: Play in Hermantown Tourney, draw Duluth Lakers in opener.)
D8 #2-Woodbury (This week: beat Elk River and beat Eagan 5-2; Coming week: play in Govenor’s Cup, draw Highland in the opener)
D8-#3-Eagan (Last week: Lost to Woodbury and beat Sibley 5-2; Coming week: play SSP/IGH and Sibley. Dropped to #3 because of the Woodbury lost.)

D3 Summary: Unchanged. Wayzata and Maple Grove are clear favorites for two of the three seeds, Hopkins looks the best of the rest.
D3-#1-Wayzata (Last week: idle; Coming week: Play North Metro and Grand Rapids)
D3-#2-Maple Grove (Last week: lost to Colorado Thunder 5-1 and beat North Metro 4-0; Coming week: Play in the Hastings Tourney, could play the Fire)
D3-#3-Hopkins (Last week: beat North Metro 2-1; Coming week: Play Mpls Park)

D2 (Playoffs Feb 15 to Feb 24). D2 Summary: D2 concludes league play in the next two weeks. The league is balanced and White Bear Lake, a team that has struggled leads the league and may win it. If they do that, it will really throw the District play-offs into a wild affair. With eight teams in the league, there is no pre-selection process. The eight teams are paired up. The champion and #1 seed is the team that wins 3 games in a row. Except for the runner-up, the other losers play until they have lost twice and one team emerges. The runner-up and the team that emerges play for the #2 seed and the #3 seed? Last week Roseville beat Forest Lake twice and came out #1, this week N. St. Paul beat Roseville to take #1. Next week, who knows?
D2-#1-North St Paul (Last week: Beat Stillwater 5-2 and beat Roseville 6-4; Coming week: play in Johnson Tourney)
D2-#2-Roseville (Last week: lost to North St. Paul; Coming week: Play Mahtomedi nd White Bear Lake)
D2-#3-Forest Lake (Last week: Beat Stillwater 4-3 and placed first in New Richmond (Wisconsin) Tournament, Beat Hudson 4-1, Burnett 8-2 and Washburn 5-2)

South Region Overall Rankings: D6 takes the state seeds. The first sign of the other Districts improving was Highland’s play in the Bloomington Tourney. Can they continue? Dropped Faribault because of no recent results posted.
1-Edina*
2-Eden Prairie*
3-Apple Valley
4-Mpls Park
5-Highland

South Region (at Chaska Feb 29 to March 2) summary by districts.

D6 (Playoffs Feb 9 to Feb 17). D6 Summary: Edina remains #1 but Eden Prairie moves into #2 and Apple Valley falls to #3. Chaska, Burnsville and Minnetonka are all in the hunt. Key games played last week had mixed results except for Eden Prairie. Another tough league and another tough week ahead.
D6-#1-Edina (Last week: Beat Apple Valley 5-2, beat Prior Lake 9-0 and Lost to Minnetonka 6-1; Coming week: Play Kennedy and Burnsville)
D6-#2-Eden Prairie (Last week: Beat Jefferson 6-3 and beat Apple Valley; Coming week: Play Minnetonka and Chaska)
D6-#3-Apple Valley (Last week: Lost to Edina 5-2, Beat Eastview 7-1, and lost to Eden Prairie 2-0; Coming week: Play Minnetonka)

D4 Summary: D4 is combined with D8, but not for playoffs. Faribault and New Prague have looked the best, but Faribault has gone into hiding. They have been “idle”, no scores have been reported since 12/16/07. With D4 seeding relying on reported scores to D4 of all games, one can assume that Faribault has not played in the last month. No team can be sharp after such as long layoff and they have been dropped. Mankato remains unbeaten in D4 play and takes the #2 seed.
D4-#1-New Prague (Last week: Lost to Armstrong 6-1 and played Mason City; Coming week: play Highland and Luverne)
D4 #2-Mankato (Last week played New Ulm and Redwood Falls: Coming week: Play Faribault and Albert Lea)

D1 Summary: D1 finally gets going this week. Mpls Park takes on neighbor Hopkins and Highland heads for St. Paul and the Governors Cup to draw one of the toughest peewee A teams in Woodbury. Irondale heads to the range to play in the Queen City tourney.
D1-#1-Mpls Park (Last week: play Como; Coming week: play Hopkins and Washburn)
D1-#2-Highland (Last week: idle; Coming week: play New Prague and play in Governors Cup, draw Woodbury)
D1-#3-Irondale (Last week: idle; Coming week: Play in Queen City Tournament, play Northfield, Eveleth, International Falls and Virginia)

West Region Overall Rankings: Turmoil still reigns, but one answer seems to be emerging. Roseau looks better and better as the season progresses. But they still may have their problems. A good tourney by EGF in the Hermantown Tourney and a good showing by D16 teams in the TRF tourney would make them look better. Little Falls is carrying the D15 flag in the Hermantown tourney.
1-Roseau*
2-Fergus Falls*
3-Mound Westonka
4-EGF
5-Moorhead

West Region (at Brainerd Feb 29 to March 2) summary by districts.

D5 (Playoffs Feb 17 to Feb 24). D5 summary: The D5 playoff format automatically seeds the conference winner in to the Region. The conference winner does not play in the playoffs. The remaining nine teams are seeded. The playoffs are then a single elimination bracket tournament with the lowest two seeds playing for a spot in the quarterfinals. Mound Westonka and Buffalo are in a dead heat for the title. Mound Westonka has 7 games to go and Buffalo has 8, they play each other once.
D5-#1-Mound Westonka (Last week: Beat Hastings 4-2 to take third in Bemidji Tourney, Play River Lakes and Litchfield; Coming week: play Crow River and MAML)
D5-#2-Buffalo (Last week: Beat Highland 8-2 in Bloomington Tourney and Play Hutchinson; Coming week: Play Thief River Falls Tourney)

D15 summary: Fergus Falls has emerged and Moorhead has fallen in league play. Little Falls heads for Hermantown. That will be a good test for this team.
D15-#1-Fergus Falls (This week: beat Moorhead 3-1 and Fargo Raiders 5-3: Coming week: Play the Fargo Angels)
D15-#2-Moorhead (Last week: Lost to EGF 4-1 and to Fergus Falls 3-1; Coming week: )
D15-#3-Little Falls (This week: Coming week: play in Hermantown Tourney, draw St. Michael’s in opener)

D16 Summary: Roseau looks to be the best with some pressure from EGF. The TRF tourney could be interesting.
D16-#1-Roseau (Last week: Beat Warroad 7-1, beat EGF 6-3 and Fort Francis: Coming week; play LOW, Grafton ND and Crookston )
D16-#2-East Grand Forks (Last week: lost to Roseau; Coming week: play TRF and play in Hermantown Tourney, draw Anoka in opener)
D16-#3-TRF (Last week: play Moorhead and Hallock; Coming week: play LOW and Hallock)

*Projected State Tourney Team draw, W1 versus S2, N1 versus E2, S1 versus West 2 and E1 versus N2
Roseau vs Eden Prairie(Apple Valley lost)
Coon Rapids vs Lakeville South (no change from last week)
Edina vs Fergus Falls (no change from last week)
Wayzata vs Cloquet (or Elk River depends how which team won in the Cloquet Tourney)

Last five games since Dec. 16th

Beat Winona 5-0
Beat Redwood Falls 13-0
Beat New Ulm 7-0
Beat Red Wing 4-1
Beat Mankato 4 - 3 (Shots Far. 29 Man. 9)

frederick61... I like what you are doing on this thread. Just out of curiousity, out of the 8 teams listed to play in state which teams have you watched? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each team you watched? It is coming down to the wire and will be interesting to see how it plays out

Holy crap - how many actually took the time to read this

Nobodyonya wrote:frederick61... I like what you are doing on this thread. Just out of curiousity, out of the 8 teams listed to play in state which teams have you watched? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each team you watched? It is coming down to the wire and will be interesting to see how it plays out

Roseau vs Eden Prairie
Coon Rapids vs Lakeville South
Edina vs Fergus Falls
Wayzata vs Cloquet

Of these teams, I have seen 6 of the 8 play and most of those 6 I have seen play more then once. Before I expound on each of the teams, I always preface such judgment with the key words “at this time”. By that I mean if the state tourney were played this week, this is how I would view the results. It is important to understand that, because these kids are developing at this age. Physically and mentally things kick in (or out) of their play, as any long suffering peewee coach knows. The state tourney is two months away and who knows. Going in order above:

Roseau is one of the two teams I have not seen. So I really can’t evaluate them. One thing I am concerned about is their defense. I believe that in their league, they are strong and overwhelm teams with their offense. Good defense is not needed. I would like to see them play good defense against some tougher teams before they hit regions. Why? Because I want to see them to play in the state.

Eden Prairie is a team I have seen multiple times. They are a very physical team and have been riding a good streak. I question their staying power against a good team. They have a good coach. I say that because his team plays a disciplined game.

Coon Rapids would have to be one of my favorites if they can maintain and improve from their December play where they in one week beat Wayzata and won the Grand Rapids Tourney beating Grand Rapids in the championship game. They are a balanced team and work the puck well. Their defense is solid and is perhaps the best part of their team. Only two teams, Blaine and 96 Fire have scored 3 goals against them. All the other teams have been held to 2 goals or less.

Lakeville South is a different kind of team. Some people will say they are focused on a few good players. I have watched them play more then once. The only thing I will say is that they know how to win especially in D8. They have had some rough sledding outside the district recently, so their trip to Hermantown this week will be important for them. They should do well, drawing the Duluth Lakers, either EGF or Anoka and possibly Hermantown in the championship game. A good tourney will set them up for their final six D8 games. Their D8 schedule is spread out. That helps. One thing I am afraid of is that this team could easily draw a lower seed in the D8 playoffs and get upset.

Edina is a fine team that to me is showing some wear and tear, mostly because a good number of their players played a hard summer hockey schedule. The one advantage they have this year is that if they can get out of D6, they end up playing in a regional that should be dominated by the three D6 teams. They are basically a balanced team that is strong in the forwards with some weaknesses on defense.

Fergus Falls is the second team I have not seen. Basically they are there because they are beating Moorhead and Little Falls in D15 and today they hold the edge over D5 Mound Westonka. Mound Westonka (or Buffalo) may end up with a #1 seed and not have to play in any district tourney. But will that help for the regions?

Wayzata is there because they are a good team with only one challenger in D3, Maple Grove. They are similar to Edina in personal and approach to the game. But the East Region is one of the toughest with 2-D8 teams, 3-D3 teams and 3-D2 teams. Unlike Edina who have a tough district playoff to get through and an easier region, Wayzata has an easy district and a hard region for them to get through.

Cloquet is a team that was playing below .500 until they put a string of wins together starting with the Bemidji Tourney that they won. They have some very good forwards, but were weak at defense when I saw them early in the year. I thought they would improve and become one of the top teams in the state. For whatever reason, that has not happened. They have continued their win streak after Bemidji by beating Hermantown and “winning” their own tourney (I am assuming they did not lose last weekend. I know they beat Elk River and Orono). I will be seeing them once more before districts.

There it is. But I will tell you after this week and certainly by state tourney time, it will not be worth much. That’s why I like peewee hockey

gilmour....frederick61 has the passion for A Peewee hockey, obviously by reading his posts he does his background check on the teams. He may get long winded, but actually he keeps it short if you notice how many teams he is evaluating

good for him

Fredrick - outstanding post. Thanks for all your hard work.

fred it is appriciated i feel as if i know these teams better myself! its great to have someone giving out good information. keep it up please.

I agree, great discussion and insight. It would be nice if somebody had the knowledge / resources to do the same type of discussion for Bantams also. Elliott? boblee? etc.

I look forward every week to your insights of the teams that have the potential on reaching the State tourney. Keep up the good work on this thread!!!!!

Wow!!! I thought "Chuck Norris Fan" was on top of things.

There are three tourneys happening this week that are of interest to me. They are Hermantown, Johnson’s Governors Cup and Brainerd tourneys. The Hastings Tourney ended up with six teams and has some good games including Maple Grove vs The Fire and Hastings versus Farmington Saturday evening. But these three tourney’s intrigue me the most.

Brainerd is one of those teams that are enigma. They always play good peewee A hockey, but nobody ever hears about them. That’s happened this year again. They sort of sit there and bang, they beat Hermantown 6-4. How will they do in their own tourney? They are bracketed with River Lakes, Andover, and Hibbing. On the surface, Andover, a tough D10 team in the top part of the D10 standings should win, but who knows. The other side has Duluth East, a team that has been struggling. They are bracketed with Armstrong, Blaine and Rosemount, all good teams. It is an interesting tourney.

The Governor’s Cup has another team on the verge in the upper bracket, Prior Lake. This team has won 4 of its last 5 D6 games, losing only to Edina and beating Eden Prairie. The tourney is a good draw for them and they should end up in the championship. The lower bracket has some tough teams. Highland takes on Woodbury. The Scots will test its improvement against one of the best teams in the state. The other game is Elk River and N. St. Paul, a game that matches two physical teams. The opening round is played Thursday, the 10th at Phalen.

The Hermantown Tourney I have mentioned several times in the past two weeks. In the upper bracket, Hermantown draws a tough Moundsview team that is licking its wounds from the Bloomington Tourney. The Mustangs have only one loss in D2 and only one win in D2. They have 5 ties. Hermantown is another team that is at a crossroads. A good tourney will help. But the sleeper in the upper bracket is Little Falls, another team like Brainerd. They suddenly appear and beat a few good teams. They are coming off a 7-0 win over Moorhead, the team most people usually view as the D15 flag bearer.

EGF will carry the D16 flag in the lower bracket and they will have a battle playing a good Anoka team but have been playing well lately. If they win, EGF will play Lakeville South or Duluth Lakers. As one of the stronger teams in D16, EGF’s play will be a good indicator of how that district will do in the regions. Lakeville South is coming off a tough Edina Tourney beat and should be out to re-establish their game. But don’t over look the Duluth Lakers, they may have found their stride in the past few weeks.

With districts starting in a month after this tourneys, a number of unknowns can be settled.