2008-2009 Peewee A Pre-season Team Ratings

[frederick61]

The goal for every Peewee A team is make the State Tourney in March. To get there they have win one of their District’s seeds to one of four Regional Tourneys. The Districts/District seeds are determined by Minnesota hockey every 4 years. Currently, the 2008-2009 season is the third year of the four year cycle. The Regional/District/District seeds alignment for the 2008-2009 season are as follows.

The North Region will combine District 16 (3 seeds), District 12 (3 seeds) and District 11 (2 seeds). District 12 will host the North Regional Tourney.

he South Region will combine District 1 (3 seeds), District 4 (2 seeds) and District 5 (3 seeds). District 4 will host the South Regional Tourney.

The East Region will combine District 6 (2 seeds), District 8 (3 seeds), and District 2 (3 seeds). District 8 will host the East Regional Tourney.

The West Region will combine District 10 (3 seeds), District 15 (3 seeds) and District 3 (2 seeds). District 15 will host the West Regional Tourney.

The following summarizes the potential Peewee A teams by District.
District 1-District 1 will send three teams to the South Regional playoffs in Feb 2009. Mpls Park was the strongest Peewee A team last year, but was pushed by Irondale and Highland. Highland beat Mpls Park last year in the Peewee B’s and both Highland and Mpls Park Peewee B teams dominated the D1 Peewee B’s. In the squirt A’s, it was Highland, Washburn and Como in that order at the end of the year. Highland looks to have the stronger program in 2008 with Mpls Park pushing them, but if the Como and Washburn squirts develop, they can push also.

Mpls Park was one game away from the state last year playing in a tough South Region with three D6 teams, This year, the tougher D6 teams are gone. They are replaced by D5. The result makes the South Region a wide open affair and should really act as an incentive for D1 teams. Top three D1 teams are likely to be either Mpls Park and Highland as #1 with the other #2. The #3 seed will be a battle with Washburn, Irondale or Como all battling it out. But this year I like Washburn. If I had to chose a sentimental favorite that could make the Regional, it would be Johnson. I thought their coaches doggedly never gave up last year as they sought to improve their team.

District 2-This year D2 will send three teams to the East Region that will have two D6 teams and three D8 teams. The regional will not get any easier for D2 since D6 teams had two of the four state semifinal teams last year.

Last year, the D2 regular season play showed a balanced eight teams with all the teams competitive. In the D2 playoff finals, both North St. Paul and White Bear Lake looked good. In the same month, Roseville stepped outside D2 to play some of the top teams to a draw. But D2 went nowhere in the East Regionals as the D2 teams came out flat and failed to deliver.

In the D2 Peewee B’s, White Bear Lake Orange and Stillwater advanced to the East Regionals. Stillwater made a run before losing the state seed game to Wayzata blue. WBL Orange also made a run, but the WBL became spoilers beating the Orange and ending their state tourney hopes. In the Squirt A district tourney, White Bear Lake, Roseville and Stillwater were the top teams. In the Fargo Squirt A tourney, White Bear Lake made the final 16, beating Littleton Co 5-4 before losing to Maple Grove.

D2 is always tough, but this should be a year for White Bear Lake and Stillwater to shine. That leaves the #3 seed wide open. North St. Paul looks to be down this year, but is always tough. Roseville usually enters the Burnsville Thanksgiving tourney and that will give some indication on how competitive they can be. Moundsview has their turkey day tourney that they won last year. You can’t throw out Forest Lake, Mahtomedi and Tartan either. If Tartan returns to the Bloomington tourney at Christmas, how they play will be a good indication of their potential.

District 3 will send two teams to the West Region. In Peewee A last year, Wayzata dominated the regular season, won the D3 playoffs, won the East Region and took third in the State tourney. Maple Grove and Hopkins also made it to the Regionals. In the Peewee B’s both Wayzata teams and North Metro advanced to the regionals, but only Wayzata Blue made it out of the regionals. They also took third in the state tourney.

In the Squirt A D3 year end tourney, Maple Grove dominated with Armstrong pushing them to OT in the Championship game. In the Fargo Squirt A tourney, Wayzata and Maple Grove advanced to the final 16 with both teams losing to Edina. Wayzata was runner-up and Maple Grove placed third. After a rocky start, Armstrong took third in the bottom 16 tourney. Orono played well in the second 16 play-offs placing in the top eight.

Wayzata has the largest program in the state. Their association draws from a population that exceeds the other large associations like Maple Grove, Eden Prairie, Edina, Duluth. They will continue to battle Edina for top dog (association wise) until they wake up and recognize they need to split their A levels to allow kids to develop. Until then, the D3 seeds are easy to predict. Wayzata #1 seed, Maple Grove #2 seed with the remaining teams (Hopkins, North Metro and Orona) fighting for the #3 seed.

District 4 will send two teams to the South region. Now that the attempt to combine with D8 is over, the D4 alignment for regular season should return to the past with a West league and a East league. The West should be dominated by Mankato. With Mankato hosting a wide open South Regional tourney, the Maverics will be focusing on getting the #1 seed in D4. Other competition will come from the East duo of Prior Lake and Faribault. These two teams focused on getting to the Regional last year with the intent on winning and going to state. They did that by playing a tough year end schedule of scrimmages, but at the regional, came out flat against the D1/D6 teams ending their seasonDistrict 5-District 5 will send three teams to the South region joining three teams from D1 and two teams from D4. The preseason picks here are the Mavericks #1 seed with Faribault and New Prague either #2 or #3. It would be nice to see a Luverne or Albert Lea emerge as the season progresses.

District 5 has been the domain of either Buffalo or Mound Westonka. Both teams had their moments of good play last year, but seem to disappear. Buffalo allowed an average Moorhead team to upset them, came back to beat a good East Grand Forks (the eventual West #1 seed) and needed to beat a winless Fergus Falls to advance to the Region finals. They lost. Mound Westonka suffered a similar fate, but against a much better Roseau team they lost in a game that would have allowed them to advance. Now that they are in a wide open South Region, it will be interesting to see if they can make state. These two teams should battle for #1 or #2, but my edge goes to Buffalo, I liked the way their overall team play progressed as the season wore on; Mound Westonka seemed to take a holiday after playing well in the Bemidji tourney.

The #3 seed in D5 should be another wide open donnybrook. With the three seeds, it will be interesting to see how D5 formats their District playoffs. Last year, the regular season league champion got the #1 seed. The others played a single elimination for the #2 seed. Given that, the key in taking the #3 seed could be how a team is seeded into the district playoffs. My sentiments go to either Sartell or River Lakes whose programs have been growing. Making the Regions or even state, would be good for either associations program.


District 6-District 6 will send two teams to the East Region joining three teams from D8 and three teams from D2. Top Peewee A teams were Edina, Eden Prairie, and Chaska with Apple Valley and Burnsville close behind. Edina and Eden Prairie made it to the state tourney which Edina won beating Grand Rapids.

Peewee B teams, Edina (White and Green) and Minnetonka (White and Blue), were the top B1 teams in regular season play with the two Edina teams and Chaska dominating the D6 playoffs. Edina Green was the eventual state champ beating Edina White in the finals.

In the 2008 Fargo Squirt A tourney, Edina beat Wayzata for the championship. Burnsville, Jefferson and Eden Prairie made the final 16 playoffs. Jefferson won consolation title and Burnsville and Eden Prairie placed in the top 8 teams. In the same tourney, Chaska won the second 16 playoff beating Roseau 6-3; Prior Lake made the second 16 play-offs but lost two (Ontario and Grand Forks) to get knocked out.

In D6, Edina, Eden Prairie and Chaska look to be the toughest. Minnetonka could be there also. Apple Valley and Burnsville will struggle. But I like Jefferson; they are working hard to put their program on a championship path and like all Jaguar teams, don’t like to lose. But until they are proven not worthy, the #1 seed should be Edina and the #2 seed should be Eden Prairie.

District 8-This year D8 will send three teams to the East Region joining three teams from D2 and two teams from D6. This regional looks to be a repeat of last years East Regional with D6 replacing D3 and D8 adding one team. D8 has the advantage of hosting the tourney.

Woodbury was the best Peewee A team from D8 last year, but their Peewee B team missed the Regionals. Eagan, Lakeville South and Lakeville North were tough but Eagan beat Lakeville South to advance to the Regionals. Woodbury made it to the state but lost the first round to Grand Rapids, wining the Consolation title. Rochester has been playing in the Eden Prairie turkey day tourney as well as Edina’s Christmas tourney. They will be tested early.

The Lakeville South Gold Peewee B had a good season, making it to state and ended up being ranked 6th in the state. The only other D8 team ranked was Eagan Green. Woodbury was noticeably absent.

In the Fargo Squirt A tourney, Lakeville South and Rosemount made the final 16. Both teams failed to advanced, Lakeville South losing to two D6 teams and Rosemount losing to Crookston and the Fargo Flyers. Woodbury and Eagan played each other for third place in the second 16 with Eagan wining.

With the merger with D4 ending, D8 will also return to a single league this year. For Peewee A’s that means up to 18 teams could be playing and league scheduling will become interesting especially if they stick to a 16 game schedule that they have used in the past. Seeding teams for D8 playoffs could fall to the coaches who did a reasonable job last year; but that was made easy since both Rochester teams did not play a “north league” schedule and could be rated lower rationally.

The new schedule means that the four dominant teams from last year (Woodbury, Lakevilles, and Eagan) should be joined in some way by at least one of the Rochester teams. Lakeville South and Eagan should fight for the #1 and #2 seeds. Rochester and Lakeville North should fight for the #3 seed. Woodbury has to be proven and they may have a chance to do that if they show up in the Bloomington Tourney after a year’s absence. Their play there would be a good sign of things to come.

In the middle tier in D8 should fall to Sibley, Rochester 2 (if they have two A teams), Hastings, and Rosemount. South St. Paul will not skate Peewee A this year. Instead, Inver Grove Heights is fielding an A team.

District 10 sent two good teams, St. Cloud and Coon Rapids to the North regional in Cloquet and they both crashed after playing some of the best hockey in the state during the regular season. This year they get to send three teams to the West Regional (which D15 will be hosting) along with three teams from D15 and two teams from D3. But the Regional will not get easier. The top D10 Peewee A teams last year were Coon Rapids, St. Cloud, Elk River and Blaine. Centennial with a predominantly first year team finished with a respectable 10-7-5 record in the middle of the standings good enough to make the D10 playoffs. They finished fourth in the eight team double elimination tourney behind St. Cloud, Coon Rapids and Elk River.

Top Peewee B teams in 2007-2008 were Elk River, Blaine, St. Cloud and Anoka. Both Elk River and Blaine were highly ranked and both made the state tourney. Elk River won the consolation title and Blaine made it to the semifinals, but lost when the hit the Edina and Wayzata buzzsaw.

The top three pre-season picks in D10 are Centennial, Elk River, and St. Cloud (you pick the seed #). However, a case can be made for Blaine to be part of the top dogs.

District 11-District 11 remains in the North regional this year along with D12, but they only get two teams. That means a shootout between four potentially very good teams for two spots, Duluth East, Cloquet, Hermantown and Duluth Lakers. These four teams will have another up and down year beating each other. Cloquet usually hangs close to home and beats up on visiting teams, but they do make an early season foray into the Eden Prairie turkey day tourney.

Only the Duluth Lakers had a Peewee B team in the North Regional. Silver Bay and Proctor B’s (no A team) played and did well in the Regional. Going by history, Cloquet, Duluth East and Hermantown should take the three seeds again.

District 12 sends three teams again to the North Regional which they will host. The surprise last year was International Falls coming out of the blue to make the North Regionals. In D12, five teams will fight for the three spots. Grand Rapids would appear to have a lock having shown depth on their Peewee B teams that the other four have difficulty matching. Virginia has been able to build their program by drawing from the surrounding Range towns some of which may have enough of a talent pool to keep their kids home. Hibbing had a good team last year, but always seemed one or two goals away and Eveleth-Gilbert is always a sentimental favorite.

Grand Rapids made it to the state finals before losing to Edina and are the odds on favorite to take the D12 #seed to the North Regional. The others will fight it out for the last two seeds. It would be nice to see an Eveleth-Gilbert in the North Regional. They have been down the past few years and to see them play well enough to compete for a tourney seed would be great.

District 15 will be sending three teams to the West Regional that they will host again. Brainerd had the 2008 Regional, so will Moorhead end up with the 2009 West Regional? Two teams from D16 and three teams from D10 will be joining them. Little Falls had a dominating team last year, came out of the West Regional and tested the top city teams in the state, but can they repeat that performance. Moorhead Peewee A’s came close in the West Regional, but had a very up and down year. Fergus Falls was the third team in the Regionals and put everything together to eliminate Buffalo in the final Regional pool play game.

In the Peewee B’s, the Moorhead Black won the West Regionals by edging the Brainerd Blue team and then went two and out at the State Tourney.

In the Fargo Squirt A tourney, Alexander and Moorhead made the final 16 and played each other in the consolation round with Moorhead winning 2-1. Fergus Falls were two and out in the second 16 play-offs losing the second game to Brainerd 3-1.

At this point, this district looks wide open unless Moorhead can bounce back from an off year. Their early December tourney will showcase a number of D15, but those early results do not hold always for this district. Generally, the top dog in this district starts to emerge around Christmas time. The pre-season guess is that Moorhead, Little Falls and Brainerd will scramble for the three seeds. Fergus Falls and Alexandria could content. Detroit Lakes has an outside shot.

The D16
District 16 will be sending two teams to the West Regional this year, joining three teams from D15 and three teams from D10. Two teams dominated the regular season, East Grand Forks and Roseau. Thief River Falls had a few surprises during the season and Crookston played well at the end to make the Regionals.

On the Peewee B side, the same two associations, EGF and Roseau dominated the regular season and D16 playoffs, but both teams had a tougher time. In the Fargo Squirt A tourney, EGF placed fourth losing to Wayzata and a tight 2-1 loss to Maple Grove. Crookston’s squirt A’s took Consolation Runner-up losing to Jefferson. In the second 16, Roseau took runner-up losing to Chaska after being knocked out of the top 16 by Burnsville in the seeding pools.

Clearly D16 will has two dominating teams in EGF and Roseau and they will battle for the two seeds.

[O-townClown]

Great post. As usual, you have put a lot of effort into it. I'll stick with tradition powers from the SW suburbs. In no particular order, Eden Prairie, Edina, and Wayzata are my picks again.

We shall see.

[egf hockey1]

Great post except I think you are looking at next years regional match ups. This year D12, D 11, and D 16 are in the North Regional, with D11 hosting. Next year D16 is together with D15 and D10 with D16 only getting 2 teams.

Good job breaking down the districts, pretty accurate from what I've seen.

[frederick61]

Great post except I think you are looking at next years regional match ups. This year D12, D 11, and D 16 are in the North Regional, with D11 hosting. Next year D16 is together with D15 and D10 with D16 only getting 2 teams.

Good job breaking down the districts, pretty accurate from what I've seen.

Thank you for the complement and the correction. I had the North Region right at the start of the post, but got it wrong at the end. I will correct that in later posts. The North Region will have D16 (3 teams), D12 (3 teams) and D11 (2 teams). But the Minnesota Hockey site still lists the D12 as the Peewee host (A and B). D16 is the Bantam A and B host. D11 hosts no regional tourney. So has there been a change?