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Is it possible to get rid of section play in a sense?

You could potentially try to rank all the class AA and all class A schools 1 through 64 keeping the classes seperate. You would rank them the same way the NCAA basketball would. So you would have the top 8 teams in the state, potentially meeting at the Xcel Energy Center.

You could do this with both classes(AA-A). You could do 1-64 with the play-in games the same way they are now. I think it would be exciting and give the best teams in the state to compete at the end in front of 18,000+.

p.s. The AA and A State Tournament would still exist. This isn't for one tournament, which it could potentially be with AA champ playing the A champ for the top prize, best in state, isn't that what we all want anyways. One team standing alone at the end?

It is very possible and would make for the best hockey. That being said, if you watched the state tourney on TV last year you would've heard a rep from the MSHSL talk about the new section assignments. He was talking about how they want "equal representation" from around the state. I used to have the links, but don't anymore; if you look at how the sections are made, the teams are all from an area. This is why sections like 1AA exist. The MSHSL doesn't care that 1AA teams aren't in the top 25 in state, just that we got a team from their area of the state represented at the X.

Yes, it would make for better hockey. No, it won't happen, unfortunately.

Like HShockeywatcher said, it's about location. Taking that a step further, it is possible that Lake of the Woods would have to travel to Rochester in your seeding system.

The logistics would be impossible.

Regular season would be crazy...teams would need to play more different teams to actually see who belongs where..and then come the big bracket it may be chaos....I really dont know...it sounds fun though if it were plausable

LZ94 wrote:Like HShockeywatcher said, it's about location. Taking that a step further, it is possible that Lake of the Woods would have to travel to Rochester in your seeding system.

The logistics would be impossible.

No, it could still be regional, unless Lake of the Woods was a #1 or #2 seed, but they wouldn't meet until they got to the State tournament anyways, so it wouldn't matter.

The NCAA Basketball brackets try to keep everyone close, like if and when the Gophers ever make it again, they usually end up in the midwest regional.

Cut it to 32 teams. That would eliminate most huge blowout games. And if they really want a team from each part of the state in the final 8, they could determine the brackets sort-of by location. NCAA has and east, west, midwest, and south bracket. This tourney could have north metro, south metro, north outstate, and south outstate brackets. (or any other division lines u want). This idea will never happen, but it would be really cool and fun to watch.

sounds like a good idea but dont see that happening. it'd be nice

Completely ridiculouse.......................

komada77 wrote:Cut it to 32 teams. That would eliminate most huge blowout games. And if they really want a team from each part of the state in the final 8, they could determine the brackets sort-of by location. NCAA has and east, west, midwest, and south bracket. This tourney could have north metro, south metro, north outstate, and south outstate brackets. (or any other division lines u want). This idea will never happen, but it would be really cool and fun to watch.

Would this mean not all teams would get in the playoffs? This would be a melee if that were true, because if they ranked them by regular season record all the teams would be scrambling to find weak opponents

defense wrote:Completely ridiculouse.......................

What does that mean?

Goldy Gopher wrote:

defense wrote:Completely ridiculouse.......................

What does that mean?

That is funny....comeon now dose speleen rilly mater

Not a chance!!!

ya, I cot tat to, jist dint sey nuthin.........

Goldy Gopher wrote:

defense wrote:Completely ridiculouse.......................

What does that mean?

I would guess he's talking about himself, but I can't really tell.

Always an interesting topic. I had come up with my solution to such a tournament actually occurring 2 years ago.

Basically, the premise is that every team does have a playoff game and the sections hold form as they do now until the semifinal round of sections. Every team gets their chance to win a game or two. When you get to the semifinals of each AA & A section, you’re left with exactly 64 teams.

At that point, you could figure out what you wanted to do. My solution was then to seed the remaining 64 teams with a somewhat objective ranking system that everyone knows the rules to prior to the season similar to the NCAA Pariwise System (I used PageStat because it seems like the most logical that exists at this point). You have 4 16-brackets, and then each is seeded accordingly, with perhaps a few changes (i.e.: 11 seeds are interchangeable and can be adjusted for logistic purposes). Your 1-4 seeds are your #1 seeds, 5-8 your #2 seeds, etc. For locations, my solution was to have the top seed in each 4 team mini-bracket host (example: Edina’s a #1 would host #16 Windom Area, and #8 Rochester Mayo would then play #9 Eveleth. Those two games would be at Braemar and the winners would then play two days later). After one weekend of play, you’d be down to 16 teams, just like the NCAA basketball tournament. Another solution would be to get rid of teams playing games at home sites and having the brackets play at designated locations, whether it be at places like Braemar, BIG, Aldrich, or college venues like the NHC, Mariucci, the DECC & Midwest Wireless.

The problem that I have been having (other than the fact that I have wasted my time because this will NEVER happen) is that I would want the Final 8 teams to play at Xcel. There’s only one more round of games between the round of 16 & the final 8. Where to have those games would be the question. My solution was for there to be 1 game designated at the college sites (Mariucci, DECC, NHC, & Midwest Wireless) and you can then coordinated doubleheaders that are pretty much acting like section finals, even though these games may have a Burnsville playing a Duluth East of some sort.

I like it because of the following:
-The excitement factor would be off the charts
-One team is crowned
-EVERY team still has an opportunity and realistically could get into the round of 64
-Experience: MSHSL will say that you’re robbing kids the opportunity of playing in a state tournament. I’d counter with that I think it would be as cool for a team like Windom or Luvurne to get their shot in a big game against a Roseau or Edina at their barn, which would be remembered as much.
-The great matchups: You’d get more games between Outstate & Metro teams, which is fun for both sides.

Of course, you're biggest drawback would be logistics and travel cost, especially with high schools since it's always an issue.

This is just a quick summary; I wrote a lengthy breakdown about how it would work out, so if there are some details left out, please understand. Most of all remember that this will never happen.

I like it. It is to bad that it will never change. Instead they will continue to change sections around, so new teams go to state.

Under the current system, the Minnesota State High School Hockey tournament is the biggest, best high school hockey tourney or anything like it around. More scouts attend and sign student athletes out of this tourney than anywhere. It is the pinnacle. When they messed with it and went 2 class, we all thought blasphemy....but that tune has changed quite a bit. All of that being said, I would only ask for one thing to change: The following Friday night after the Saturday Championship games, there should be a game with A champ vs. AA champ....that would allow for media build-up, players of the teams to recoup from injuries, and practice.

______________________________
Your Dad Works for My Dad!

I don't know if this would work because of the logistics with the state high school league. Not sure if this is applicable to hockey, but in some sports, this would be considered an "All-Star" tournament, which isn't sanctioned by the state high school league. Since not all teams have a chance to participate, and the teams that make it to this 64-team tournament aren't qualifying for it, it wouldn't be allowed by the MSHSL. I'm guessing for this system to work (and it would be a much better way of determining at state champion), teams would have to participate as "Club Teams".

I could be totally off-base though, but I know that rules like this are in effect for championship meets in sports like track, cross country, nordic skiing, etc...

I think this would be great. It seems to me like every team would get a chance to play in the tournament cause they would all play games to get to the round of 64. I like the idea of the regional play (North South East West) or whatever at 4 sites around the state. Then the last games played at the X. This would be so much fun to watch! I hope this type of thing can happen.

PowerPlay™ wrote:Under the current system, the Minnesota State High School Hockey tournament is the biggest, best high school hockey tourney or anything like it around. More scouts attend and sign student athletes out of this tourney than anywhere. It is the pinnacle. When they messed with it and went 2 class, we all thought blasphemy....but that tune has changed quite a bit. All of that being said, I would only ask for one thing to change: The following Friday night after the Saturday Championship games, there should be a game with A champ vs. AA champ....that would allow for media build-up, players of the teams to recoup from injuries, and practice.

As long as schools such as Roseau & Holy Angels choose to play up instead of play at the class that their enrollment says they should, I see a major flaw in the way the tournament is set up. They are saying "we'd rather lose at the 'meaningful' tournament than to win the lesser one."

Just because it is the "best" high school tourney around doesn't mean it doesn't have its problems and can't be improved.

The problem is an idea like a 64-team dance is bold, and the MSHSL doesn't like bold. The reason I like the possibility of it is it answers two major arguments on both sides of the fence: a) One champion is crowned, satisfying the people that want a single champion, and b) everyone has an equal opportunity of qualifying by winning 1 (or 2) section play-in games that they would already be playing.

It's bold and it's a change from the path that most high school leagues are towards. That's why it will never be discussed.

Doc Holliday wrote:I’d counter with that I think it would be as cool for a team like Windom or Luvurne to get their shot in a big game against a Roseau or Edina at their barn, which would be remembered as much.

I'm from Luverne, and I can def. agree with this. It would be so nice to get out of the southwest. Granted, everybody else would probably think its a joke, but we play the exact same schedule every year for some reason (somebody says its cause the AD is a pile and the AD says nobody will play us). I guess I don't know how it is for other teams, but we play the same teams on the same days every year and it kind of sucks.

hero12 wrote:
I'm from Luverne, and I can def. agree with this. It would be so nice to get out of the southwest. Granted, everybody else would probably think its a joke, but we play the exact same schedule every year for some reason (somebody says its cause the AD is a pile and the AD says nobody will play us). I guess I don't know how it is for other teams, but we play the same teams on the same days every year and it kind of sucks.

Well you have to sign a two year contract to play somebody. It's a home and home for non-conference games. You will usually determine where your program is at when figuring out possible opponents. If you have been pounding a certain team for years, you might want to find a little tougher opponent for that date on the schedule. However, a lot of non-conference games are rivalry games. Like SSP plays Johnson every season for the first game of the season.