Another Way to Look at Peewee A teams Jan 12, 2009

[frederick61]

This post looks at the current play of all the districts and teams within the district and posts an opinion of which team will likely win the seeds in each district. It groups the districts by the region they have been assigned to this year. This post then projects the winners of the regional tourney based on play up to this week and shows the potential state draw.

Last week, there was some discussion about whether the third game in each region to resolve the #1 and #2 seeds will be played. Unlike last year when the winner the red or blue pool in a region played the other pool runner-up, it is my understanding that there is another game added. The #1 seed will be determined by having the two pool winners play each other. The loser of that game plays the winner of the runner-up game played by the second place finishers of each pool. The winner of this third game gets the #2 seed. This may not be true, but I consider the matter still open until there is some word of resolution from Minnesota Hockey.

North Regional
The North districts this year are D11 (2 seeds), D12 (3 seeds) and D16 (3seeds).

N1-District 11
Cloquet has been touring the state. They have won the Grand Rapids tourney, placed second in the Bemidji tourney and played in the Brainerd tourney all in the past four weeks. In the Brainerd tourney, they opened play by beating Crookston 7-2, Brainerd 10-3 before losing to Blaine 7-3. This week they have a single D11 game with Duluth East.

The Duluth Lakers also played in the Brainerd tourney. They lost to Blaine in the opener and came back to beat Mound Westonka 6-1 and Crookston 4-2 to take the consolation crown. This week they play in the Duluth Invitational, drawing D11 rival Hermantown, Rosemount and Prior Lake in pool play. Hermantown stayed home and beat Grand Rapids 2-0 and Superior 6-3. This weekend the Hawks and the Hounds play in the Duluth Invitational tourney. In pool play, Duluth East draws Woodbury, Lakeville North and Stillwater in pool play.

The two top D11 seeds played Blaine on the weekend and both lost. Both won their other two games. Each team keeps pace with the other and the seeds this week are unchanged; Cloquet keeps the #1 seed and Duluth Lakers the #2 seed.

N2-District 12
Virginia plays Grand Rapids and host the Queen City tourney this week. Hibbing had a tough time in the Brainerd tourney. The Bluejackets beat Mound Westonka 6-3 in the opener, then became the third northern team to lose to Blaine 8-3. Hibbing lost to Brainerd 6-3 in the third place game. Grand Rapids beat International Falls 2-0 and Eveleth 4-1 last week. This week the Thunderhawks play Bemidji and Hibbing.

For the fourth week in a row, the seeds in D12 remain unchanged; Virginia is the #1 seed, Hibbing #2 seed and the Thunderhawks #3 seed.

N3-District 16
Roseau comes off a week layoff to play Warroad in a D16 game this week. The Rams then head for Fargo to play in the Fargo North tourney. They open play against the West Fargo Packers. The draw for the Rams tourney next week is out. The format will be the same as the Moorhead tourney. Sixteen teams will be competing. The winners of the opening day’s game will play in one 8 team bracket and the losers will play in another 8 team bracket.

Opening games draw are Edina/Thief River Falls, Roseau/Grand Rapids, Grand Forks/Rochester, Centennial/Crookston, Elk River/Lakeville South, Eden Prairie/Fargo Flyers, Chaska/Warroad, and Wayzata/East Grand Forks. Looks like a great weekend of hockey, but the draw sets up a championship bracket of mostly “city” teams playing each other with Edina, Roseau, Rochester, Centennial, Elk River, Eden Prairie, Chaska and Wayzata all favorites in the opening games. It would be nice to see some of the other teams spring an upset.

East Grand Forks stepped outside of D16 last week and beat Moorhead 11-5 and the Fargo Flyers 7-2. This week they continue to play outside D16 taking on the Grand Forks Seawolves and Grafton. Bemidji played Moorhead and International Falls last week. This week they head for St. Cloud to play in their tourney. In opening play the Lumberjacks draw Eagan, North Metro and Sartell.

With all the action next week, the seeds in D16 are unchanged. Roseau is #1, East Grand Forks is #2 and Bemidji is #3.

The projected North Regional Tourney draw is shown below.
North Red Division: D16-#1 Roseau, D12-#2 Hibbing, D11-#2 Duluth Lakers, D16-#3 Bemidji.
North Blue Division: D12-#1 Virginia, D16-#2 East Grand Forks, D11-#1 Cloquet, D12-#3 Grand Rapids.

North Regional seeds: #1 Roseau and #2 Cloquet. This region is unchanged from last week, both in the district seeds and the regional seeds. Roseau and Cloquet remain the clear favorites. Bemidji is one team that this week could prove itself a contender by making it to the Championship round in St. Cloud, but East Grand Forks still appears to be the best of the rest.

South Regional
The South districts this year are D1 (3 seeds), D4 (2 seeds) and D5 (3 seeds). D1 has split their peewee A teams between D3 and D2 for regular season play. The South Region will have a play-in game scheduled for March 1 at the Richfield Arena. The game will be played between the teams seeded #3 in D1 and #3 in D4 with the winner advancing to the South Regional tourney in Mankato.

S1-District 1
In D3 action, Richfield-Washburn tied Orono 2-2 and lost to Hopkins 3-0 and Wayzata 9-1. This week they play North Metro in a D3 game and play in the Sauk Rapids tourney drawing Orono in the opening game. Mpls Park returned to D3 action last week after winning the International Falls tourney. The Storm beat the 97 Fire and tied Littleton, Co peewee A’s 2-2 before playing in the Fall’s tourney. Littleton was in town for the Bloomington tourney.

The Storm tied Orono 5-5 and beat Hopkins 6-2 in D3 games last week to take third place in D3. This week they have a single D1 game with Highland before playing in the St. Cloud tourney on the weekend. In pool play, the Storm draws Buffalo, Grand Forks Greyhounds and Burnsville. The Grand Forks Greyhounds played in the Bemidji tourney losing to losing to Armstrong and Bemidji in pool play, but came back to beat Virginia and LOW to win the Blue Ox bracket.

Highland played in the St. Paul Johnson tourney last week beating Crow River 4-1, losing to Apple Valley 6-3 and played Mahtomedi for third place. Besides playing Mpls Park this week, the Capitals play Mahtomedi in a D2 game. Irondale Knights played in the Waseca tourney this weekend. In pool play the Knights beat Marshall 6-3, lost to St. Peter 5-3 and beat Waseca 4-0. In D2 action, the Knights lost to Roseville 3-1.

This week, the seeds remain unchanged with Mpls Park the #1 seed. Highland is #2 and Washburn takes #3.

S2-District 4
Luverne’s still on top of the D4 standings, but their lead has shrunk to a single point over Owatonna. Owatonna has played two games less then Luverne, Mankato has played three and New Prague has played four.

Luverne played in the Willmar Tourney, drawing Albert Lea, Litchfield and Willmar in pool play. New Prague played a single D4 game against St. Peter. The Trojans play Faribault and Albert Lea this week. Mankato played Farmington on the weekend. The Mavericks are in the Rochester tourney on the weekend, they draw Forest Lake, Omaha Nebraska and Armstrong in pool play. Owatonna played Albert Lea in D4 action and played Lakeville South last week. The Huskies also play in the Rochester tourney this week drawing Rochester, Champlin Park and Jefferson in pool play. Waseca had their tourney this week. Besides Waseca, Irondale, Marshall, and St. Peter were entered.

Albert Lea will host the D4 peewee A playoffs. The top eight teams in the conference will be seeded #1 to #8 for the D4 playoffs. The D4 playoffs will be a single elimination tourney with the winner advancing as the #1 seed, the runner-up advancing as the #2 seed. The losers of the two semifinal games will play each other to advance to the South Regional play-in game. With 10 teams in D4, how the seeding will be done is still unknown. But it looks as if no D4 play-in games are planned.

New Prague remains the #1 seed, Luverne #2 seed, and Owatonna takes the #3 seed.

S3-District 5
The D5 playoffs are single elimination, but different this year. Normally the remaining 9 teams will be seeded (seeding based on how they finish in league play?) with the #9 and #10 seeds playing each other for the last slot in the D5 playoffs. That happens this year, but with three seeds to hand out, a team will have to win only the bracket they are placed in to advance.

As an example, suppose Buffalo wins the title, they stay home and practice for the regionals. Based on current standings the remaining teams would be seeded and the D5 playoffs would be something like this: Litchfield and Willmar would play each other in a play-in game. The winner would advance and play the #2 seed (Crow River?). The #5 and #6 teams (Mound Westonka and Hutchinson?) would play in the other side of the bracket.

The winner of those two games would battle for one seed to the South Regional. In the other bracket, the #3 would play #8 (MALM and River Lakes) and the #4 would play the #7 (Sartell and STMA). The winner of those two games would battle for a seed to the South Regional.

Since the winner of the regular season title gets the #1 seed to the South Regional and the remaining 9 teams battle it out for the remaining two seeds, the next 6-7 conference games are important. Buffalo and Crow River are in a virtual tie with Crow River for first place. Ties are the result of D5 play this week. Buffalo tied Mound Westonka 2-2 and played STMA and Litchfield this week. Crow River in their lone D5 game this week tied MALM 3-3.

Both teams have 7 games left on their 18 game D5 schedule. The #1 seed and D5 Conference title is up in the air. Buffalo lost only a couple of their “unfairplay” points and it hurt them. But Sartell and Mound Westonka lost 5 “unfairplay” points this season. Those lost points really have killed those teams in the race for the conference title and #1 seed. The Tigers played in the Johnson tourney last week, losing to Highland 4-1, D5 rival MALM 2-1 in OT, and played Tartan. MALM lost to Apple Valley 6-1 and played Chisago Lakes for the consolation title.

The seeds remain unchanged for the second week. Buffalo is #1. MALM takes the #2 seed and #3 seed goes to Crow River.

The projected South Regional Tourney draw is shown below.
South Red Division: D1-#1 Mpls Park, D4-#2 Luverne, D5-#2 MALM, D5-#3 Crow River
South Blue Division: D4-#1 New Prague, D1-#2 Highland, D5-#1 Buffalo, D1-#3 Owatonna or Washburn.

South Regional seeds: #1 New Prague and #2 Mpls Park. Mpls Park, after a couple of weeks where they struggled seems to have gained some of that early season momentum and looks stronger as the #2 seed this week. New Prague continues to win games, but still looks a little shaky these past few weeks. However, shaky means nothing out on the ice and with no loses to speak of, New Prague remains #1. The South Region is wide, wide open.

East Regional
The East districts this year are D2 (3 seeds), D6 (2 seeds) and D8 (3 seeds)

E1-District 2
Roseville returned to D2 action last week and posted a couple of wins beating Forest Lake 2-1 and Irondale 3-1. Those two wins put them in a virtual deadlock with White Bear Lake for first place. The two teams meet this week in a key D2 game Thursday. The Bears beat Mahotmedi 5-0 last Monday and have not played since. Two points separate the two teams and White Bear has played one more league game then the Raiders. Moundsview came off a terrific Bloomington Tourney and continued their winning ways beating Tartan 4-3. But then they ran into Stillwater and the Ponies stomped the Mustangs 4-3.

The Mustangs plays North St. Paul this week and then head for St. Cloud. They draw a tough pool playing St. Cloud, Minnetonka and Osseo/Maple Grove. The Ponies head for the Duluth Invitational drawing Duluth East, Woodbury and Lakeville North in pool play.

Forest Lake’s loss to Roseville may have really hurt their chances to win the D2 title. This week the Lakers are off. North St. Paul continues to be the D2 “unknown factor” tying Roseville 4-4. Tartan and Mahtomedi played in the Johnson Tourney. Tartan lost to North Metro, Chisago Lakes 4-3 and played Crow River. Mahtomedi beat Chisago Lakes 4-2, lost to North Metro 2-0 and played Highland for third place. Tartan plays in the Sauk Rapids tourney this week drawing Princeton in the opening round.

There was some separation in D2 standings developing last week. It never happened. Forest Lake, Moundsview, and Stillwater are all 2-4 points off the two leaders pace. The last two weeks the Lakers held the #1 seed. Their loss to Roseville knocks them out of the #1 seed to #2. Moundsview lost to Stillwater and that drops them down a notch to #3. That leaves three candidates for the #1 seed; White Bear Lake who didn’t play, Stillwater who beat last week’s #2 or Roseville who beat last week’s #1. In D2, when in doubt, give it to the Bears.

E2-District 6

Burnsville hit a funk this week. They were upended in the Bloomington tourney by Woodbury, lost two straight D6 games, first to Jefferson and then this week to Edina 6-3 last week. On the weekend they came back to beat Prior Lake 3-2. Eastview did not fair well either this past week, losing 6-2 to D6 rival Eden Prairie. Edina added a 4-3 overtime win last week and take on the other two challengers, Eastview and Eden Prairie this week before traveling to the Roseau Tourney next week. Eden Prairie’s schedule the next two weeks is similar to Edina’s. The Eagles play Chaska, Apple Valley and Edina before going north. They draw the Fargo Flyers in the opening game at Roseau.

After the play last week, the top four teams in D6 split, Edina and Eden Prairie not only are going “north” next week, they went north last week in D6 and separated themselves from both Eastview and Burnsville. Unfortunately, the Lightening and Blaze went south. This week, the top two can widen the lead and beat each other up for first in the first of their two D6 games.

Six other teams all have shots at the coveted #5 seed in the D6 playoffs. Apple Valley and Chaska meet in a game that could set the stage for one or the other’s run for the #5 this week. The Eagles are coming off a good showing in the Governor’s cup, beating D5 MALM 6-1, D1 Highland 6-3, and D3 North Metro 3-1 in the championship game.

Chaska beat Shakopee 7-2 last week. They play Eden Prairie this week before heading north next week to play Warroad in their opening game of the Roseau tourney. Jefferson beat Prior Lake 2-1 before losing to Edina in overtime. The Jags take a week off of D6 play to travel to Rochester. In the tourney, the Jags draw Rochester, Champlin Park and Owatonna in pool play. Minnetonka plays in St. Cloud, drawing Moundsview, Osseo/Maple Grove and St. Cloud in pool play.

Eden Prairie moves to the #1 seed this week in D6 and Edina returns to take the #2 spot. Burnsville and Eastview remain in contention, but the top two teams seem ready to make a run. Both Edina and Eden Prairie will end the week with four games left in D6. The winner of their Sunday game will likely determine who will be on top when they hit Roseau.

E3-District 8
The top four teams returned to D8 action last week. Woodbury looked ready to make a run to sew up the title, beating Hastings 2-1 and Farmington 7-2; but then they ran into a buzz saw at home losing to Inver Grove Heights 5-4. The Royals built a 2-0 lead over IGH through the first half of the game, but Inver Grove Heights came back late in the second period and in the third to take a 4-2 lead. IGH fourth goal was a solo rush through three of the Woodbury players resulting in a tough angled upper corner goal over a well positioned goalie. It was a great play.

Woodbury came back to score with about 5 minutes to go in the game and then with the game clock at 4 minutes, Woodbury pulled the goalie. It was then apparent that a running hour clock, positioned where only the Woodbury bench could see the clock, was in effect. There was a minute shown on the running time clock and the IGH coaches had no idea of the time left (they said they asked, but were misled).

The ruse almost worked as Woodbury came back to score a fourth goal against the IGH’s third line and quickly lined up for another attack. IGH’s third line held the Woodbury scoreless the last few seconds. Woodbury, if they use the clock, should be required to use the other bench.

IGH added a 6-2 win over Red Wing to end a good week. Lakeville North struggled, tying Hastings and Rosemount and beating Red Wing. Rosemount dropped out of the top four, losing to Eagan and tying Sibley in addition to their tie with the Panthers.

But the top three have another three challengers making a move. Rochester has a large number of D8 games left to play in the last two weeks of regular season, but they have a key one Tuesday with IGH. Cottage Grove has strung three D8 wins in a row. They are making a run. They do not play any of the current top teams and have a clear shot at the title by winning out. Eagan is in a similar position to Cottage Grove, but Sunday’s loss to Lakeville South put a crimp in the Wildcats charge.

Earlier this year, D8 looked wide open. Any team could win. But a potential gap between the top 3 teams (Woodbury, Lakeville North and IGH) and the next group of teams (Rochester, Cottage Grove, Lakeville South and Eagan) is developing. What is the prize in winning in regular season?

Last year, because of the unbalanced schedule, the D8 coaches seeded the teams. This year, the league still plays an unbalanced schedule, but not as “unbalanced”. In years previous to the 2008 playoffs, D8 seeded the teams by where they finished in regular season standings and that is what is likely to happen this year. The top four seeds each get a bye into the quarterfinals of the double elimination 8 team playoffs.

The remaining 9 teams play a single elimination games to get the other four spots. D8 playoff format has a play-in game for the 12th seed between the teams that finish 12th and 13th in regular season. The play-in game is at the option of the 13th seed. The winner of the play-in game then plays the #5 seed with the winner getting one entry to the double elimination tourney. The remaining entries are decided by games between the teams seeded #6/#11, #7/#10, and #8/#9.


In action this week, Woodbury plays Blaine and then heads to Duluth for the Duluth Invitational tourney. Woodbury, Rosemount, and Lakeville North all are in the Duluth tourney. Woodbury and Lakeville North are in the same pool with Duluth East and Stillwater. Rosemount draws Hermantown, Duluth Lakers and Prior Lake. IGH heads to St. Cloud after playing Rochester. In pool play they draw Hopkins, Rogers and Moorhead. Eagan takes on Hastings in D8 play this week and then heads to St. Cloud. In pool play the Wildcats draw Bemidji, North Metro and Sartell.

Rochester has their own tourney this week and draw Champlin Park, Owatonna and Jefferson in pool play. Playing in the other pool are Mankato, Forest Lake, Omaha and Armstrong. Rochester and Lakeville South head north next week to play in the Roseau tourney. Rochester draws Grand Forks in the opening game, Lakeville South draws top rated Elk River in their opening game.

This week the #1 seed goes to Woodbury despite their loss to IGH. They earned the #1 seed in their play over the previous weeks and it would take more then one D8 loss to drop the Royals down. However, Lakeville North is a different matter. Despite holding two wins over IGH this year, the Panthers have struggled last week and have a tough January schedule to get through. The Panthers are #3. The #2 seed goes to IGH. Inver Grove Heights had a good week last week, but can they continue? Both Rochester and Cottage Grove are playing well. Lakeville South continues to push themselves (they play in the Roseau tourney) and can come on at the end of the year. At the start of the season, D8 looked wide open. It hasn’t changed.

The projected East Regional Tourney draw is shown below.
East Red Division: D6-#1 Eden Prairie, D8-#2 Inver Grove Heights, D2-#2 Forest Lake, D8-#3 Lakeville North.
East Blue Division: D8-#1 Woodbury, D6-#2 Edina, D2-#1 White Bear Lake, D2-#3 Moundsview.

East Regional seeds: #1 Woodbury, #2 Eden Prairie. Woodbury loss to IGH is still not enough to knock them out of the #1 spot in the East and Eden Prairie takes top spot in D6 and #2 in the East until the results of Sunday’s game with Edina is known. Woodbury will be tested again this week by Blaine and in the Duluth Invitational.

West Regional
The West districts this year are D3 (2 seeds), D10 (3 seeds) and D15 (3 seeds)

W1-District 3
Wayzata and Osseo/Maple Grove are in a virtual tie for first in D3. Last week Wayzata beat Armstrong 4-3 and Richfield-Washburn 9-1 in D3 action. This week they play Hopkins and next week head north to play East Grand Forks in the opening round of the Roseau tourney. Osseo/Maple Grove had last week off. This week, OMG plays D3 games with Armstrong and Orono before driving a half hour down I-94 to play in the St. Cloud tourney. They draw Moundsview, St. Cloud and Minnetonka in pool play.

Armstrong plays in the Rochester tourney. In pool play they draw Mankato, Forest Lake and Omaha. Hopkins also plays two D3 games this week (Mpls Park and heads for St. Cloud. The Royals draw Inver Grove Heights, Rogers and Moorhead in pool play. North Metro had a great Johnson Tourney, taking second place. The Pirates beat Tartan 4-2 and Mahtomedi 2-0 before losing to Apple Valley.

The top two teams in D3 this week are unchanged, Wayzata #1 and Osseo/Maple Grove #2.

W2-District 10
Rogers pulled a mild upset in tying Elk River in D10 action last week 3-3. It is the Elks first blemish in D10 as they have locked up the D10 Green Division title and the #1 seed to the D10 playoffs by beating Coon Rapids 4-0 and potential Blue Division #1 seed Centennial 2-1. The Elks play Spring Lake Park and Chisago Lakes in D10 action before heading north to Roseau next week. In opening round play the Elks draw Lakeville South.

Second place in the Green Division also was locked up by St. Cloud this week as they beat Chisago Lakes, Princeton and CINB in D10 action. St. Cloud is hosting a 16 team tourney this Martin Luther King weekend, playing the Championship rounds on Monday. It is one of the better tourneys at the Peewee A level in the state. Playing in this year’s tourney are Bemidji, Eagan, North Metro, Sartell, Buffalo, Grand Forks Greyhounds, Burnsville, Mpls Park, Moundsview, Minnetonka, Osseo/Maple Grove, Hopkins, Inver Grove Heights, Moorhead and Rogers.

Rogers and CINB are starting to separate from the other D10 teams and have control of the #3 and #4 seeds from the Green Division to the D10 playoffs. On the Blue Division side, Centennial, Blaine and Andover are all in a battle for #1. Besides losing to Elk River this week, Centennial played Champlin Park in D10 action. This week they play Coon Rapids and CINB in D10 action before heading north to play Crookston in the opening round of the Roseau tourney.

Blaine continued their winning way, taking first place in the Brainerd tourney. They beat the Duluth Lakers 9-1, Hibbing 8-3 and Cloquet 7-3 in the championship game. The Bengals beat Anoka 3-2 in D10 earlier in the week. This week they scrimmage Woodbury and play three D10 games against CINB, Andover and Coon Rapids. Blaine and Andover has lost only one D10 game, this game becomes one of the key games in determining the Blue seeds.

Andover has four D10 games this week playing Champlin Park, Anoka, Blaine and Chisago Lakes this week. Stringing wins together this week will put them on top of the Blue division.

The seeds remain unchanged in D10 this week. The #1 seed goes to Elk River with Blaine taking the #2 seed and Centennial the #3 seed.



W3-District 15
Brainerd beat Alexandria last week in the battle of D15 unbeatens and then lost to a struggling Fergus Falls 4-3. That upset throws D15 up in the air again. The Warriors went on to host their own tourney, beating Hutchinson, losing to Cloquet and beating Hibbing 6-3 for third place. Alexandria played in the Thief River Falls tourney on the weekend. This weekend they play Fergus Falls and Brainerd in games that will help sort out D15. Besides playing Alex, Brainerd plays Pequot Lakes.

Moorhead heads to St. Cloud this week, drawing Inver Grove Heights, Rogers and Hopkins in pool play. The Spuds can start to roll about this time of the year and St. Cloud will provide them the opportunity to show they can contend in D15 and the West Regionals.

Last week, Brainerd clearly was #1 in D15. Their play in their tourney this week showed improvement from early November. But the loss to Fergus Falls is really a surprise. The Warriors remain #1 despite the loss. Alex (#2) and Moorhead (#3) still have to take it away from them.Wayzata) and

The projected South Regional Tourney draw is shown below.
West Red Division: D10-#1 Elk River, D15-#2 Alexandria, D3-#2 Osseo/Maple Grove, D10-#3 Centennial
W Blue Division: D15-#1 Brainerd, D10-#2 Blaine, D3-#1 Wayzata, D15-#3 Moorhead.

West Regional seeds: #1 Elk River, #2 Wayzata. For the second week in a row, the West Regional and district draws are unchanged. This coming week has Blaine playing Woodbury. That game could raise Blaine’s stock especially if Woodbury goes on to do well in Duluth. Centennial has a game next Monday with Roseville that could also change the ratings. OMG can make a charge by doing well at St. Cloud. They are in a tough pool.

But these two finalists from the Edina tourney still remain on top. They look invincible.

2009 Peewee A State Tournament Quarterfinal Pairings:
S1: New Prague
N2: Cloquet

W1: Elk River
E2: Eden Prairie

N1: Roseau
S2: Mpls Park

E1: Woodbury
W2: Wayzata

[netminder.net]

F61 wrote

Woodbury came back to score with about 5 minutes to go in the game and then with the game clock at 4 minutes, Woodbury pulled the goalie. It was then apparent that a running hour clock, positioned where only the Woodbury bench could see the clock, was in effect. There was a minute shown on the running time clock and the IGH coaches had no idea of the time left (they said they asked, but were misled).

The ruse almost worked as Woodbury came back to score a fourth goal against the IGH’s third line and quickly lined up for another attack. IGH’s third line held the Woodbury scoreless the last few seconds. Woodbury, if they use the clock, should be required to use the other bench.

Fred, not sure I understand this. If the "clock was positioned where only the Woodbury bench could see it", how was it "then apparent" what they were up to? One of the rinks at Woodbury has the "hour clock", which indicates when the given ice time has expired, is located about 50 feet from the scoreboard, and could not be missed.
In the other rink, the "hour clock" is located on the same wall as the home/visitor benches. It can indeed be difficult to see from the benches. My guess is someone from the fans perspective, directly across from the benches and "hour clock", notified the coaching staff of the dwindling time. Actions that could be taken by either team. The refs should inform both coaches of the "hour clock", and let them know that does determine when the game is over, not the scoreboard clock. If the other team was indeed "misled", that is a shame. But if one team was paying attention to something that the other was not, this should not be considered a "ruse".

[frederick61]

The term "apparent" applies to me, I was at the end of the rink and until the goalie left the net, it was not apparent to me that an hour clock was being used. An hour clock has not been used at the dozen or so D8 games I have watched this year. Nor was has been used in the last few years. D8 games run 12 minute stop time and some arenas allow an extra 15 minutes to complete a league game.

The running clock is clearly seen from the Woodbury bench. When the Woodbury bench was asked if the game was on running time, they gave a garbled answer that implied there was no running clock in play. My real point is that if there is no advantage, then let the visitor have the bench where the running clock is easily visible.

[icehawk]

From what I seen last night if IGH comes to play they are A top team in D8. They played 2 very bad periods last night and almost pulled out a tie. the shots were 25 -4 going into the 3rd with rochester haveing the 25. IGH turned up the tempo and almost tie it. shots on net were even at 27 each. and from what I seen it looked like 2 goals went in for IGH but the refs were out of place to call it. I do not think it was a fluke they beat WB They have 3 kids that can flat out play hockey #15 # 16 # 17 so if the goalie comes to play, yes they are right at the top of D8

[frederick61]

For those that don't know, Rochester beat IGH 3-2 last night.

Inver Grove Heights will have their opportunities to prove themselves starting this weekend in St. Cloud. I saw last night's game also. Rochester played a hard game and my guess is one of their better games and won. They got some breaks along the way and will have their opportunities to further prove themselves (their own tourney this week and Roseau next week plus a lot of tough D8 games when they get back). As to IGH, good teams come back from tough losses.

I have three comments about the game last night. First there was no hour clock (or at least I didn't see one). Second, there was only one penalty called all game and it came late in the third period. I felt that Rochester was stopping the bigger IGH forwards along the boards by having two players checking with the first (usually a wing trying to pin the forward and second player checking a fraction of a second later to stop the forward motion. I also felt that Rochester could not sustain that physical activity for three periods and they couldn't.

My third comment is simple, the refs blew the second goal that was deflected by a high stick from a Rochester forward in the slot down into the net. I had a perfect view of the puck's flight. Good luck to both teams. The season is starting to heat up.

[bardown26]

Frederick61 we all no your son or whatever he is coaches Inver Grove Height Peewee A team

[runninupthescore]

Frederick61 we all no your son or whatever he is coaches Inver Grove Height Peewee A team

I guess I don't see your point bardown26?

[Marty McSorely]

Fred.....keep to you weekly reviews and forget the ad...ons. Rochester outshot and out played IGH 22-12 thru two periods. As for the second goal you must have seen something no one else did. IGH played a better 3rd period after Rochester had the typical 3-0 goal advantage let-down.

IGH's first game was actually scored by the Rochester forward trying to tuck it under his goalie. The second IGH goal came on the PP after a crappy call. The ref's did a nice job. They missed a couple both ways but to call a collision at the net with 3 minutes left (the only call of the game) was CRAPPY.

Love your original posts but your secondary was a little off.

[Jerry]

Did Rochester lose to Bloomington this past weekend?

[DMom]

Did Rochester lose to Bloomington this past weekend?

Mnhockeyrankings.com has them at a 1-1 tie.

[Jerry]

[quote="Marty McSorely"]Fred.....keep to you weekly reviews and forget the ad...ons. Rochester outshot and out played IGH 22-12 thru two periods. As for the second goal you must have seen something no one else did. IGH played a better 3rd period after Rochester had the typical 3-0 goal advantage let-down.

IGH's first game was actually scored by the Rochester forward trying to tuck it under his goalie. The second IGH goal came on the PP after a crappy call. The ref's did a nice job. They missed a couple both ways but to call a collision at the net with 3 minutes left (the only call of the game) was CRAPPY.

Love your original posts but your secondary was a little off.[/quote]

You are a little off Marty, It was 22 shot for Rochester and 4 for IGH or at least that is what the score book said at VETS tonight.

[Bronc]

Fred, we missed your update last week.

[Jerry]

I think Marty's false information upset him. Marty has to rememeber these are kids and EVERY game is different and any team can be beat just like Roseau Rochester Edina was this weekend. I also hope Fred has more postings soon to help keep me informed.

Keep the info coming FRED

[Marty McSorely]

Marty was just going off the scoreboard! Fred's busy figuring out everything after a very busy weekend.