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Though there is a lot of hockey left to be played, here are my predictions for Regional and State tourney pairings. A few surprises, but overall things are pretty straightforward:

Bantam A End of Year Predictions


South Region (D1 – 3 Seeds, D4 – 2 Seeds, D5 – 3 Seeds)
D1 – Minneapolis Park
D1 – St. Paul Johnson
D1 – St. Paul Highland
D4 - Faribault
D4 – Mankato
D5 – Mound Westonka
D5 – St. Michael Albertville
D5 - Buffalo

North Region (D11- 2 seeds, D12 – 3 Seeds, D16 – 3 Seeds)
D11 – Duluth East
D11 – Hermantown
D12 - Grand Rapids
D12 – Virginia
D12 - Hibbing
D16 – Bemidji
D16 - East Grand Forks
D16 - Thief River Falls

West Region (D3 – 2 Seeds, D10 – 3 Seeds, D15 – 3 Seeds)
D3 – Wayzata
D3 – Maple Grove
D10 – Rogers
D10 – Centennial
D10 – Elk River
D15 – Moorhead
D15 – Little Falls
D15 – Sartell

East Region (D2 – 3 Seeds, D6 – 2 Seeds, D8 – 3 Seeds)

D2 – White Bear Lake
D2 – Roseville
D2 - Stillwater
D6 – Apple Valley
D6 – Minnetonka
D8 – Rochester Red
D8 – Woodbury
D8 – Lakeville South

STATE TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS:

S1: Minneapolis Park
N2: Bemidji

W1: Wayzata
E2: Rochester Red

N1: Duluth East
S2: Saint Paul Johnson

E1: Apple Valley
W2: Maple Grove/Osseo



Subject to change! Anyone have different thoughts?

Why AV and Minnetonka from D6?

The top four or five in D6 are almost interchangeable. My reasons:

AV - solid goaltending wins tight tournament/playoff games.
Minnetonka - Usually step up their game a few notches at playoff time.

Who would you put in place of those two and why?

The only prediction i could give is the North Region.


D11-duluth east
D11-hermantown

D12-grand rapids
D12-international falls
D12-virginia

D16-bemidji
D16-east grand forks
D16-roseau


State=Duluth East and Bemidji

conditioningsucks wrote:Though there is a lot of hockey left to be played, here are my predictions for Regional and State tourney pairings. A few surprises, but overall things are pretty straightforward:

Bantam A End of Year Predictions


South Region (D1 – 3 Seeds, D4 – 2 Seeds, D5 – 3 Seeds)

D5 – Mound Westonka
D5 – St. Michael Albertville
D5 - Buffalo

Subject to change! Anyone have different thoughts?

Top three teams in District 5 right now are:

1. Mound
2. River Lakes
3. Crow River

I don't see STMA or Buffalo being there.

i was curious if this was the setup for all the levels. for instance does A peewee districts send the same number of teams to regions and also will they compete against the same districts?

mnhockey3535 wrote:i was curious if this was the setup for all the levels. for instance does A peewee districts send the same number of teams to regions and also will they compete against the same districts?

yes

Nice work conditioning. only change I would make would be to place Alexandria intstead of Sartell as the D15 #3 seed. Other than that you have done your homework.

northwoods oldtimer wrote:Nice work conditioning. only change I would make would be to place Alexandria intstead of Sartell as the D15 #3 seed. Other than that you have done your homework.

Sartell is in District 5
http://district5.pucksystems2.com/page/ ... sociations

conditioningsucks wrote:Though there is a lot of hockey left to be played, here are my predictions for Regional and State tourney pairings. A few surprises, but overall things are pretty straightforward:

Bantam A End of Year Predictions


South Region (D1 – 3 Seeds, D4 – 2 Seeds, D5 – 3 Seeds)
D1 – Minneapolis Park
D1 – St. Paul Johnson
D1 – St. Paul Highland
D4 - Faribault
D4 – Mankato
D5 – Mound Westonka
D5 – St. Michael Albertville
D5 - Buffalo

North Region (D11- 2 seeds, D12 – 3 Seeds, D16 – 3 Seeds)
D11 – Duluth East
D11 – Hermantown
D12 - Grand Rapids
D12 – Virginia
D12 - Hibbing
D16 – Bemidji
D16 - East Grand Forks
D16 - Thief River Falls

West Region (D3 – 2 Seeds, D10 – 3 Seeds, D15 – 3 Seeds)
D3 – Wayzata
D3 – Maple Grove
D10 – Rogers
D10 – Centennial
D10 – Elk River
D15 – Moorhead
D15 – Little Falls
D15 – Sartell

East Region (D2 – 3 Seeds, D6 – 2 Seeds, D8 – 3 Seeds)

D2 – White Bear Lake
D2 – Roseville
D2 - Stillwater
D6 – Apple Valley
D6 – Minnetonka
D8 – Rochester Red
D8 – Woodbury
D8 – Lakeville South

STATE TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS:

S1: Minneapolis Park
N2: Bemidji

W1: Wayzata
E2: Rochester Red

N1: Duluth East
S2: Saint Paul Johnson

E1: Apple Valley
W2: Maple Grove/Osseo



Subject to change! Anyone have different thoughts?

I agree with Rogers and Centennial for Dist. 10, but question the 3rd spot. That position will be up for grabs depending on what team decides to come and play. Anoka. Blaine and Coon Rapids could be vieing for the #3 seed also

In the South Region, the third place team from D-1 will have a play in game with the D-4 third place team to seed who advances as the 3rd team from D-1.

To Bad Duluth East wasn't in the West or East Region, that way we could have had a AA and single A tournament. What a joke, with the exception of DE, all the power in two regions.

The State tournament does not identify the best eight teams in the state. Often the Regional tournaments offer better competition than the State tournament. That is too bad.

I was curious if someone could shed some light on the selection process from districts to regions.

sioux wrote:I was curious if someone could shed some light on the selection process from districts to regions.

If you mean who decided which teams would compromise which regions, tha was the Minnesota Hockey Board about 3 - 4 years ago.
Its all laid out in the MN Handbook.
It came via the tournament committee and was drawn up by Tim Sweezo.
I believe this is hte last year for the pilot program and will be discussed at the winter, spring meetings and boted on at the summer meeting.

BogeyMan wrote:The State tournament does not identify the best eight teams in the state. Often the Regional tournaments offer better competition than the State tournament. That is too bad.

That depends on what you are looking for from a state tourney.

elliott70,

In most cases is the team that finishes second in the district playoff often awarded a birth in the regional tournament? Ultimately my question comes back to this. If a lower seeded team pulls a couple upsets in the district tournament, but fails short of winning the district tournament (finishing second place), do they get a regional bid?

Sioux,

I probably can answer this.

Each District gets either 2 or 3 seeds. Each District determines who can go through a district playoff. Most districts have a double elimination playoff. If your district is allocated 3 seeds this year, your first, second, and third place teams in the district playoffs go to regions.

If you were a favorite in your district but screwed up in the playoffs, you can still make it as the 2nd or 3rd seed (if your district has 3 seeds).

However, I believe there are a few districts that award the 1st seed automatically to the team that won the season play, leaving the other teams in the district to play for the 2nd and 3rd spots.

conditioningsucks,

Thanks for you input. I am having a tough time wrapping my head around the selection process. Take for example, Bantam A D6. They are given 2 regional tournament bids in the 2008-2009 season. The selection process or committee could be put in a tough situation only sending two teams from that district. Especially given the depth of the top seven teams in the district. At given times thorough the season there have been five to six D6 teams ranked in the top 20.
If you look at the current D6 standings, (granted there is a lot of season left to play) there happens to be one D6 with an outstanding record, but yet sit in the middle of the pack due to a lack of ability to secure Fairplay point. If things continue as they are to play out and they finsh, lets say four and five. But come playoff time win or even play in the D6 championship game. Does the selection committee tend to favor performance and standings in the regular season or does a strong showing in district tournaments trump that?

It's not so much of a selection process as a seeding process. First, forget about the Let's Play Hockey or MNHockeyrankings.com polls, they play no part in district, region, or state play. You play the season and compile district points for the district competetion you play. At the end of the season the district field is seeded and matched up, #1 vs #8, #2 vs #7, ect, there may need to be play in games or whatever adjustment needs to be done but it's your district season play that earns you your seed. You play the tournament and there are slight variations from district to district how the seeds to region are earned but typically the champion and runner up, possibly the third place team depending on number of seeds MN Hockey has determined your district get, advance to the region tournament. Region tournament placement is already determined in the Minnesota Hockey Handbook and there is a good chance that even if you are seeded into different pools at Region, you will play a team from your district again in the region tournament. Two teams from the eight team region will advance to state and the seeding for that field is also printed in the Minnesota Hockey Handbook.

Or ignore the polls, stay off discussion forums, don't worry about seedings, JUST WIN and everything will take care of itself.

sioux wrote:conditioningsucks,

Thanks for you input. I am having a tough time wrapping my head around the selection process. Take for example, Bantam A D6. They are given 2 regional tournament bids in the 2008-2009 season. The selection process or committee could be put in a tough situation only sending two teams from that district. Especially given the depth of the top seven teams in the district. At given times thorough the season there have been five to six D6 teams ranked in the top 20.
If you look at the current D6 standings, (granted there is a lot of season left to play) there happens to be one D6 with an outstanding record, but yet sit in the middle of the pack due to a lack of ability to secure Fairplay point. If things continue as they are to play out and they finsh, lets say four and five. But come playoff time win or even play in the D6 championship game. Does the selection committee tend to favor performance and standings in the regular season or does a strong showing in district tournaments trump that?

go to minnesotahockey.org
go to e-driectory
go to D6
go to their web page
They have a policymanual on-line with district play-offs outlined.
I believe teh top 5 teams from league our seeded into the play-offs and then a preliminary play-offis held for spot #6.

The #1 & 32 in play-offs advance and in those years they have 3 advancing you would add #3 to the mix.

Each district has their own play-off procedure.

Does anyone know which district Minneapolis Park will play their post-season in?

Minneapolis-Park is a D1 team and will play in the D1 playoffs.

elliott70 wrote:

BogeyMan wrote:The State tournament does not identify the best eight teams in the state. Often the Regional tournaments offer better competition than the State tournament. That is too bad.

That depends on what you are looking for from a state tourney.

Ideally a State tournament that does not include two teams from districts 1, 4, and 5.

So BM, if I get this straight, you want an invitational tournament?