State High School Hockey Tournament

Getting to that time of year again...

Edina, Eden Prairie, Moorehead, Duluth East, Eagan and Blaine are all in.

Lakeville North and Lakeville South are heading into a 2nd OT with the teams tied at 1 to decide 1AA.

White Bear Lake is up 2-0 over Hill-Murray with 5mins to go in the first period for section 4AA.

Lakeville North takes the win 25 seconds into the 3rd OT!

White Bear Lake is up 3-1 after 2.

Hill ties it up at 4 with 5mins left in the game!

Still tied at 4 at the end of the first OT...

White Bear Lake with the Upset! Hill Falls in the 2nd OT 5-4!

The Dance is set... now we just need the seedings and the bottom 4 random draw...

Edina, Eden Prairie, Moorehead, Duluth East, Eagan, Blaine, Lakeville North and White Bear Lake

My Seeding prediction...

1-Eden Prairie
2-Duluth East
3-Edina
4-White Bear Lake

almost agree with you T...

1- EP
2- DE
3- Edina
4- Eagan (they are the only ranked team left after those 3 teams.)

If I were to seed them all...

5- Blaine (might be the #4 seed)
6- WBL
7- Moorehead
8- Lakeville North


The next question becomes; "who's the favorite?" Usually it's a fairly easy answer... or at least saying "it'll either be ______ or ________" but this year has been a total roller coaster in the top 10. The biggest "fly" is the whole EP, DE and Edina question... who's really the best? And just to make things even harder...

WBL- just upset the #1 team
Blaine- beat MG, tied 'Tonka, tied Edina, beat DE
Moorehead- beat Wayzata... TWICE

So you think any of the "others" won't have a say in how things turn out? I think it's going to be a "lock" that one of the 4 seeded teams falls in round 1 (and I wouldn't be surprised if only 1 or 2 seeded teams make it out of round 1 depending on who plays who and how they match up.)

This year's field is a lot more of a crap shoot than other years... agreed. I do think Moorehead anf Lakeville North are the teams "likely" to take an early exit without even knowing who anyone plays in the first round ATM.

Moorehead isn't as good this year as they have been in recent years. Lakeville North just doesn't have the skill the rest of the tourney will be displaying.

That's not to say I would be surprised if either advanced though.

have you seen the pairings yet?

(1) EP vs Lakeville North
(2) Edina vs Blaine
(3) Duluth East vs WBL
(4) Eagan vs Moorhead

Predictions;
EP vs Lakeville- EP walks into round 2
Edina vs Blaine- could go either way, I'd like Edina to lose (yeah I'm biased) but it's hard to bet against them in the state tournament.
Duluth East vs WBL- depends on which DE teams shows up.. I think DE pulls out a close win
Eagan vs Moorhead- upset... Moorhead pulls of an upset to make round 2 (can you say they lucked into playing the lowest of the 4 seeded teams?)

Edina got #2 because the beat DE, but I still would have given DE the #2 seed anyway... but oh well.

Moorehead did luck out facing Eagan, and they also lucked out IMO that WBL wasn't the 4 seed as I think they would've walked over them in the quarters... I still think Eagan advances, but could go either way.

The best matchup of the quarters is DE vs WBL, with Edina vs Blaine a close second.

EP may just coast to the finals with this lineup.

I don't think #2 or #3 matters much this year as both games (WBL or Blaine) won't be a cakewalk for either teams.

That's very true... but if we can't bitch about it then what else can we bitch about until we have to bitch through a day of single A travesty with the slikes of Breck, STA etc.

At least Warroad didn't get the free-ride they usually expect for a change!

seeing private schools in AA doesn't bother me all that much... but you are right, STA and Breck STILL being in class A is a total joke (STA more.)

We can still bitch about section 1AA and how easy of a path Edina had compared to EP so far

Yeah, you can always bitch about section 1AA every year. They need some real teams down there one of these years, instead of trading off each year between Lakeville North/South all the time...

As for EP's path vs Edina... looks like it's balancing out, as Edina will have a tough couple games if they want to face EP for the title.

(Assuming EP doesn't get upset... which is entirely possible)

that's also assuming Edina doesn't get upset either

zamboni14 wrote:

that's also assuming Edina doesn't get upset either

No... that one was already taken care of... I said Edina has a tougher path IF they want to face EP. Thus the only ASSumption was EP getting there...

any chance they both get knocked off in round 1?

any of you guys go to the tourny to check it out? i have seen it on TV before and even watched it at the bar with people who are nuts over it. was thinking of going if it were a cheap night.

I've only been to 1 game... 1994 'Tonka vs Duluth East. BUT, I'll be going to the champ game on Saturday night this year. My tickets are free since they are from a "un-named coach" in the metro area.

Semifinal night is the time to go! You have the best games going on that night most often.

I was there last year when AV almost upset Edina and Tonka and Hill played the 2nd longest game in Tourney history! Have great seats again Friday night this year. 105 row 2!

As for cheap... if you are an alum from a school in the tourney, you can get tickets through the school for $15, or you can put yourself on a waiting list to get season tickets thus be guaranteed tickets to every session etc for $10 each... if you don't have either as an option, you end up buying after market through scalpers and re-sellers etc and the price goes WAY up!

I had to pay a pretty penny to get my seats through ticket king...

There are cheaper ways than the one I used to get tickets... but the cheaper ways don't usually end up with the good seats I found this year.

2010-11 Boys High School Hockey Tournament Preview

2010-11 Minnesota State Boys High School Hockey Tournament Preview

Written by Derek Felska | 06 March 2011

It is a time of year that always gets me excited. Its the "March Madness" that I care about the most, that being the Minnesota State Boys Hockey Tournament which is the biggest event of its kind in the world. This picture from the state tournament says it all. A sold out St. Paul arena whether it be the Xcel Energy Center or the clear boards of the St. Paul Civic Center before it is a time that is all about tradition and competition. I remember when my alma mater, Elk River won the title in 2001, the first year the tournament was in the Xcel Energy Center. It was incredible and an experience I will never forget. However its not just about when your school is there, the tournament itself is a must for any Minnesota-hockey fan. I still remember as plain as day when I stayed up for the epic 1996 Class 2A Semi-final between Apple Valley and Duluth East that ended up going 5 overtimes and well into early Saturday morning. It should've ended in the 2nd overtime when a shot from Duluth East's Gene Locker rifled a shot top shelf that went in and out too fast for the officials to see it, but that is part of what made the game so epic as both teams slugged it out with all kinds of great scoring chances as Kyle Kolquist and Karl Goehring stopped shot after shot as the exhausted teams kept going. I don't think we'll ever see a game quite like that again.

The 'Tourney' also serves as a great preview of future NHL'ers as each one seems to feature a few players that you eventually see playing at the game's ultimate level. Current NHL'ers like Atlanta's Blake Wheeler, the Avalanche's Erik Johnson, the Blues' T.J. Oshie, the Penguins Paul Martin and the Wild's Matt Cullen all had moments where they shined in the State Tournament. It isn't always those that go onto play big roles in the NHL that make the biggest impact in the state tournament. Tournament legends like Dave Spehar, Johnny Pohl, and John Mayasich all dazzled crowds with their unbelievable skill and scoring ability. The 16 teams that arrive at this years tournament all have a chance to join the legends that came before them. No doubt this year's edition will add another layer to the most tradition-rich high school hockey tournament in the World. I know I'll be watching. Below is tournament preview for all of class 1A and class 2A quarterfinals which start Wednesday with the small schools and Thursday for the big schools. Along with this preview is our picks for the outcome of the quarterfinal games as well as who I believe will end up winning it all. What are your picks? Make sure you share them in the comments below. Enjoy! (click on the link for the rest of the article)

I preview the whole thing. Enjoy!

And the sham that is Class A continues....

STA 13 - New Ulm 2. Yeah, STA really belongs in Class A alright...

At least Breck lost to TRF... one less private school in the mix

TRF is taking out all the free-ride suspects... they beat Warroad to get there!