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Looking at the remaining teams, to me it seems like on paper that this years State Tournament could be on of the deepest we've had in a while.

1AA: Lakeville South from what I hear seems to be one of the better schools out of that section recently.

2AA: Edina is the defending champs and Burnsville is very formidable as well.

3AA: Eagan and Apple Valley might be a toss up. Valley was there last year and I've heard Eagan is quite good this year as well.

4AA: Hill-Murray has been around the top all year long. Couple of other schools are good in this section too.

5AA: More than likely a Maple Grove and Blaine final. Both teams can go.

6AA: Eden Prairie looked very good against Minnetonka and Wayzata has had a great year as well.

7AA: Duluth East has talent and is always ready. Grand Rapids is deep has played very well.

8AA: Bemidji is the number one seed and Moorhead is always a wild card.

I don't know, I look at the possibilities and I don't see that big of a talent gap aside from maybe Lakeville South. I haven't seen most of these teams play, but I'll be at all of the finals this week to get a better idea of how good these teams are. This might be shaping up to be one of the best tournaments in recent memory.

Maybe balanced, but not talent deep.

mulefarm wrote:Maybe balanced, but not talent deep.

BS

Tournament will be outstanding this year!!

Look at last year at this time, pretty much all of those teams were still in the running. Did that mean that it was also one of the deepest state tournaments? I think it will be a great tourney, but not the deepest in a while.

I don't think deepest is the correct term either. Parity is probably the better word.

Lets say for arguments sake that H-M and Edina make it. 6AA doesn't matter, either will be seeded at state. Those 3 are seeded, MG probably if they win 5AA, if not, it's a toss up between 3AA, 7AA and 5AA for the 4th seed. If I'm the top 4, arguably Lakeville is the team you'd want to face, but both have shown instances where they will give a good team a run. There aren't going to be as many big "paper mismatches" as in years past, which will be great I think.

Have to agree with a few of the previous posters.

I'm not so sure the best teams (6AA, Hill, and Edina) are any better or possibly as good as some of the previous state champs, like E.P. in 2009.

However, I have to agree that the separation between the top 4 and the bottom 4 is smaller than it has been at least the past 3 years. Traditionally, 1AA doesn't even provide a team that could win. However, assuming LS is not upset by the cross town rivals again, they have shown they can play with the top teams and have even beat Apple Valley.

The right word is definitely parity for this state tournament and it should be a great one to watch!

Its definitely the closest in talent and skill per team. There's gonna be a better set of teams in it than last year IMO and these teams are so close together that its going to make for a very fun 1st round.

While it will be a good pool of teams; the tournament would obviously be upgraded if 2-3 district 6 teams were involved. The EP-Wayzata tilt Wednesday would be a great State semi or final. Something has to be done to balance these districts. The answer isn't that the balance of district power changes yr in and yr out. It doesn't really.

Garth wrote:While it will be a good pool of teams; the tournament would obviously be upgraded if 2-3 district 6 teams were involved. The EP-Wayzata tilt Wednesday would be a great State semi or final. Something has to be done to balance these districts. The answer isn't that the balance of district power changes yr in and yr out. It doesn't really.

How would it be upgraded? How doesnt it change year in and year out?

GordonBombay99 wrote:Its definitely the closest in talent and skill per team. There's gonna be a better set of teams in it than last year IMO and these teams are so close together that its going to make for a very fun 1st round.

Agreed. Not seeding through 8 is silly and this is a year that will make things better.

As has been said, deep is definitely not the right word. When teams who've been #1 are being beat by teams in the 20 to 30 range, it's just that teams are very similar in value.

A whole bunch of fish in a shallow pond doesn't make the pond deeper...

Garth wrote:While it will be a good pool of teams; the tournament would obviously be upgraded if 2-3 district 6 teams were involved. The EP-Wayzata tilt Wednesday would be a great State semi or final. Something has to be done to balance these districts. The answer isn't that the balance of district power changes yr in and yr out. It doesn't really.

With District 6, do you mean SLP? They did have a nice win against BSM. Heck, Prior Lake beat the AHA. Maybe we should upgrade them and give them an honorary spot in the AA state tourney. Get off your high horse in section 6AA. If you and some of your cronies on this site had your way, the only teams that would participate in the tourney would be Sectoion 6AA, 2AA, and a few privates. Cant we just enjoy the the tourney and celebrate what make MN hockey so great? Its tourney time

No disrespect, but why is it seemingly a cake walk for Lakeville South to get to the dance? It seems like they are in the tournament every year. Unfortunately, one and done. Prove me wrong LS.

What has happened to Rochester hockey?

I agree HSHockeyWatcher that they need to seed 1-8. It makes for more even games and it gives the best teams a chance to move on and that's how it should be. It makes for much more interesting games if they would do it that way.

breakout wrote:No disrespect, but why is it seemingly a cake walk for Lakeville South to get to the dance? It seems like they are in the tournament every year. Unfortunately, one and done. Prove me wrong LS.

What has happened to Rochester hockey?

Three reasons.

1. three public schools
2. 1 Bantam A team to feed those public schools
3. Lourdes.

clutterbuck22 wrote:

breakout wrote:No disrespect, but why is it seemingly a cake walk for Lakeville South to get to the dance? It seems like they are in the tournament every year. Unfortunately, one and done. Prove me wrong LS.

What has happened to Rochester hockey?

Three reasons.

1. three public schools
2. 1 Bantam A team to feed those public schools
3. Lourdes.

1. agreed on the 3 public schools
2. They actually do have 3 Bantam A teams, one top team and then two more equals, most of the top team being future lourdes players
3. Lourdes is the biggest reason rochester public teams don't win 1AA, if lourdes played in 1AA they would probably be at the state tourney more often than any other team in there

Didn't Rochester send a team to state from 1AA a few years back?

Actually Century has made the state tournament 3 of the last 6 years, not too bad, only Hill-Murray and Edina made it more in that same span. They also finsihed 3rd in 2007 and gave Roseau their only tough game in that tournament. Lakeville South has made the tournament once, Lakeville North has made it twice since they split. This is the first year I can remember it being a "cake walk" for the Lakeville school or schools.

This is the first year I can honestly say Lourdes is better than all 3 public schools in town and even then I don't think the gap is that much, probably just a couple of goals. All you can do is look at common opponents and the difference just isn't that great. They still aren't in the same league as Lakeville South this year though.

Don't forget about East!!! The northern kids are a "nice" team...

goalieguy_14 wrote:

clutterbuck22 wrote:

breakout wrote:No disrespect, but why is it seemingly a cake walk for Lakeville South to get to the dance? It seems like they are in the tournament every year. Unfortunately, one and done. Prove me wrong LS.

What has happened to Rochester hockey?

Three reasons.

1. three public schools
2. 1 Bantam A team to feed those public schools
3. Lourdes.

1. agreed on the 3 public schools
2. They actually do have 3 Bantam A teams, one top team and then two more equals, most of the top team being future lourdes players
3. Lourdes is the biggest reason rochester public teams don't win 1AA, if lourdes played in 1AA they would probably be at the state tourney more often than any other team in there

1. There have been 3 high schools in Duluth for some time (plus a private school and other surrounding schools) and East hasn't had a losing season in over 50 year. Rochester is one of the fastest growing communities in the country. I don't buy that.

eastside hockey wrote:

Garth wrote:While it will be a good pool of teams; the tournament would obviously be upgraded if 2-3 district 6 teams were involved. The EP-Wayzata tilt Wednesday would be a great State semi or final. Something has to be done to balance these districts. The answer isn't that the balance of district power changes yr in and yr out. It doesn't really.

With District 6, do you mean SLP? They did have a nice win against BSM. Heck, Prior Lake beat the AHA. Maybe we should upgrade them and give them an honorary spot in the AA state tourney. Get off your high horse in section 6AA. If you and some of your cronies on this site had your way, the only teams that would participate in the tourney would be Sectoion 6AA, 2AA, and a few privates. Cant we just enjoy the the tourney and celebrate what make MN hockey so great? Its tourney time

High horse - wow, what an objective shot. I'm not making the State rankings that had 4 of the top 7 teams in the State in District 6. If we are talking about this every year, then there is consistency going into District playoffs, of a disproportionate number of the highest ranked teams in the State coming from Districts 2 and 6.

It will be a great tournament regardless and I know we will all enjoy it. I just think that separating Edina (I know already in a different district), EP, Wayzata, Minnetonka and probably BSM somewhat further will likely lead to an even stronger State field. Who can argue that these teams haven't been strong year in and year out for many years and likely will for several more years. When that changes, we should be open to further district reshuffling. Let's be willing to change things up as times change.

First of all, the called Sections, not districts. Second, the is movement within in the Sections every few years. I'm not positive what year exactly but Wayzata was in Section 5AA playing against Blaine for the section Champ. and Centennial was in Hill's and WBL section within the last five to seven years. BSM moved up to AA within the last few years, so that add strength to 6AA.

DL44 wrote:First of all, the called Sections, not districts. Second, the is movement within in the Sections every few years. I'm not positive what year exactly but Wayzata was in Section 5AA playing against Blaine for the section Champ. and Centennial was in Hill's and WBL section within the last five to seven years. BSM moved up to AA within the last few years, so that add strength to 6AA.

Centennial should go to 4AA IMO.

Add some depth to that section.

The Rochester youth hockey program is killing their high school programs. Yea they have 3 A teams but only 1 is a true A team with the best players in the city on it, minus a couple that opted up to play for Lourdes. Century has had some solid teams since 03, including the 07 team that was very underrated and the only team to give Roseau a game that year in the tourney. In 09 the Mayo team was a solid team as well but got upset by a Century team that wasn't as strong is years past. JM has lacked the talent for many years. Yes, the population of Rochester is growing but the people moving into the city don't play hockey. Also, Duluth has as many high schools but only 1 in AA if i am not mistaken. It is hard to compete with the city and northern teams when the talent is so dispersed between the 4 high schools that are in rochester

Everyone just needs to shutup and enjoy the State Tournament.

Deepest talent in my opinion would be no. That being said, this tourney will be fantastic like all state high school hockey tourneys in Minnesota. I have never seen or been a part of high school sports that can hold a candle to this event. Top that off with single elimination and the fact that any team making it to the top in their section can win the games on a given night.......! Play the section finals, book your rooms, load the buses, and DROP THE PUCK!