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I wanted to put this out in advance of tomorrow's first batch of finals, even though one section (I'm looking at you, 4A) has yet to complete their semifinals.

1A
(4) Mankato East 5, (1) Dodge County 3
(2) Mankato West 3, (3) Faribault 0

Final: Mankato East (13-13-1) vs Mankato West (16-10-1)
Wed Feb 26 7:00p @ Rochester Rec Center

We will have an all-Mankato final in Rochester. East is the most talented team in the section, but had failed to live up to their potential all season. They seem to be turning it on for the playoffs, however, and pretty soundly defeated a young DC group that is probably a year away. West has been the steadier team, laden with seniors and featuring balanced scoring. The two teams split their two regular season meetings.

2A
(4) Armstrong/Cooper 4, (1)Orono 0
(2) Delano 4, (3) Breck 2

Final:
Thu Feb 27 7:00p @ St. Louis Park

Predicting this section seemed so straightforward until a few weeks ago. Delano was going on their typical late season run, but Orono was still rolling along in their own right and sported the most talent. Then Armstrong/Cooper snuck up and bit the Spartans, throwing a wrench into the idea of penciling the top two into the final. Whereas the regular season meeting was close, Armstrong/Cooper absolutely stole Orono's lunch money Monday evening. I don't know a ton about A/C, other than the fact that the roster is packed with Campions (led by Jack), and they have good size and experience. Delano slowly strangled Breck in the other semifinal, keeping the Mustangs at arm's length after netting two goals early in the second. The Tigers are not high scoring, but feature good depth and defense. This is the first meeting of the season between the two teams, and looks to be a promising matchup.

3A
(1) Hutchinson 6, (5) Luverne 1
(2) Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato 7, (3) New Ulm 4

Final: Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato (12-14-1) vs Hutchinson (18-8-1)
Wed Feb 26 7:30p @ Lund Center

In what is typically a chaotic section, the top two seeds advanced in rather comfortable fashion to the final in St. Peter. The more difficult schedules of the two Wright County teams seem to prepare them better for the postseason. The two neighboring rivals will be meeting for the third time, with Hutch sweeping the season series by 2-1 and 5-3 counts. The Tigers feature a high-scoring top line, led by Austin Jozwick, who netted four goals in the second LDC contest.

4A:
(4) Tartan vs (1) Mahtomedi
(7) St. Paul Academy vs (6) South St. Paul

Final:
Fri Feb 28 7:00p @ Roseville

The procrastinating section will not hold their semifinals until Wednesday evening. With two upsets on the bottom half of the draw, we are certain to have a surprise team in the final. Tartan will be looking to salvage their disappointing season with a second victory over Mahtomedi, who has mostly owned this section.

5A
(1) Monticello 5, (5) Princeton 1
(3) Pine City 4, (7) Chisago Lakes 3

Final: Pine City (21-6-0) vs Monticello (19-7-1)
Thu Feb 27 7:00p @ Fogerty Arena

Top-seeded Monticello has romped their way to section final with little resistance. Pine City overcame upstart Chisago Lakes to advance to its first final since 2002, and is seeking its first-ever trip to state. The Dragons' top line is high-powered, including Dusty Bergstrom (51 points) at the point. The experienced Moose are deep and backstopped by the solid Nash Wilson (.917 SV%), who moonlights as a private eye. The only matchup between the teams occurred in their first game of the season, with Monticello prevailing 5-2.

6A
(1) St. Cloud Cathedral 5, (4) River Lakes 1
(2) Alexandria 2, (3) Little Falls 0

Final: Alexandria (19-8-0) vs St. Cloud Cathedral (22-3-1)
Thu Feb 27 7:00p @ Municipal Athletic Complex

The 6A semifinals were a chalk affair, and the final will follow suit with the top two seeds advancing. These two teams are meeting in the final for what seems like the umpteenth straight year (fourth actually), with Alex righting the ship after a brief midseason slump. The Cardinals dispatched Little Falls for the third time in the semis, though not without a serious challenge. Alex is one of the few teams with depth comparable to Cathedral, though they lack the high-end scoring talent of their rivals. The Crusaders defeated Alex 5-2 on Jan. 27, but needed three unanswered goals in the third to pull away.

7A
(1) Hermantown 8, (4) Eveleth-Gilbert 0
(2) Duluth Denfeld 4, (3) Greenway 0

Final: Duluth Denfeld (21-5-1) vs Hermantown (20-3-4)
Wed Feb 26 7:00p @ AMSOIL Arena

Another chalky section, as the top two seeds rolled to the final game. Hermantown tore through their two sectional opponents after dropping the final two regular season games. Denfeld is young and talented, and has two strong lines and sets of D. Is that enough to match up with the Hermantown monster? We'll see, but the Hawks handled the regular season matchup handily (6-1), and look to be on a mission.

8A
(1) Warroad 7, (5) Detroit Lakes 0
(2) East Grand Forks 2, (3) Thief River Falls 1

Final: East Grand Forks (20-4-2) vs Warroad (25-2-0)
Thu Feb 27 7:00p @ Ralph Engelstad Arena

These two teams have been on a collision course for most of the season. EGF survived a bit of a scare from fellow acronym brothers TRF, with the Prowlers doing their best to muck up the game, but the Green Wave prevailed for the third time of the season. Warroad will be trying to pull the same trick, as they defeated EGF twice already by scores of 6-4 and 4-2. The Warriors feature the higher octane offense, though EGF is the deeper squad and has locked down some good teams. This looks to be the best section final, but unfortunately only one can advance to state.

Stang5280 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 12:40 pm 3A
(1) Hutchinson 6, (5) Luverne 1
(2) Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato 7, (3) New Ulm 4

Final: Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato (12-14-1) vs Hutchinson (18-8-1)
Wed Feb 26 7:30p @ Lund Center

In what is typically a chaotic section, the top two seeds advanced in rather comfortable fashion to the final in St. Peter. The more difficult schedules of the two Wright County teams seem to prepare them better for the postseason. The two neighboring rivals will be meeting for the third time, with Hutch sweeping the season series by 2-1 and 5-3 counts. The Tigers feature a high-scoring top line, led by Austin Jozwick, who netted four goals in the second LDC contest.

I guess that explains why the two Wright County teams have only been able to capture the Section 3A title twice in the past 10 years.

Corn Cobb wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 3:38 pm

Stang5280 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 12:40 pm 3A
(1) Hutchinson 6, (5) Luverne 1
(2) Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato 7, (3) New Ulm 4

Final: Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato (12-14-1) vs Hutchinson (18-8-1)
Wed Feb 26 7:30p @ Lund Center

In what is typically a chaotic section, the top two seeds advanced in rather comfortable fashion to the final in St. Peter. The more difficult schedules of the two Wright County teams seem to prepare them better for the postseason. The two neighboring rivals will be meeting for the third time, with Hutch sweeping the season series by 2-1 and 5-3 counts. The Tigers feature a high-scoring top line, led by Austin Jozwick, who netted four goals in the second LDC contest.

I guess that explains why the two Wright County teams have only been able to capture the Section 3A title twice in the past 10 years.

You’re absolutely correct. I usually try to research that sort of thing better, but had it in my head that Hutch had been to state more recently, when their last trip was back in 2009. I still think the Big South teams are limited by their conference schedule, but that hasn’t hurt them (or at least New Ulm, mainly) in the playoffs.

The Big South is a joke! All teams at the youth level are a joke outside of New Ulm. Looked at District 4 stats for bantams and NU outscored teams 105-3 in 10 games. PWA’s don’t even play in D4(lack of teams) so the competition is only getting worse. Thinking it’s time to blow up the big south conference nobody wins in these games during blow outs.

How does “blowing up” the Big South do anything about youth hockey? Outside of Marshall and Hutchinson these are some of smallest public schools playing high school hockey. Most at the 2A or 3A football level. Your beef is more with Minnesota hockey than the towns.

As recently as last year the Big South had 2 teams in the state tournament, not to bad.

Yes MN hockey has to something about the districts. But what I am saying is teams that are in that district are getting worse not better. The days of Luverne being good are gone, Marshall is down at the youth level and a lot of the other teams are not carrying A teams so how will that translate to a competitive high school team? So playing a 16 game conference schedule isn’t helping anyone during blowouts. Who wins during a blowout? How are the teams with low numbers at youth level ever expect to get family’s to buy into hockey when they are getting scores ran up on them?

A quick look at varsity rosters shows 3 or more 9th graders listed for Luverne, Redwood Valley, Windom, and Fairmont. I don’t know if these schools field JV teams as well but losing 3 kids to high school is going hurt the bantam team who probably is already hurting.

I get what you are saying about the blowouts though, when my kids were in youth Rochester was in district 4 and we were forced to play Luverne, Fairmont, Worthington, etc. twice each year. MN Hockey made them play at the A level while Rochester with 3 high schools (Century wasn’t open for most of my years) played one bantam A team.