Another Way to Look at PeeWee A Hockey - Jan. 28

By frederick61

When the dust had cleared Saturday at the Roseau tourney; Edina, Woodbury, East Grand Forks and the 97 Fire won their pools. When Sunday was over, a short handed Edina team was crowned champs in a well run tourney. At Duluth, Duluth East, Rosemount, Lakeville North, and Sibley won their pools. Rosemount was crowned champ on Sunday. Hudson won the Virginia Queen Classic tourney beating Rice Lake. In Eveleth, Andover, Anoka and Highland fought for the title. It was a bad weekend for weather, but great for hockey and great for D8 teams.


North Region - With 28 teams playing in three tourneys in arenas 60 miles apart, it was a Highway 53 tourney weekend. But the winner last weekend was D8 as teams from D8 won in Virginia (Hudson) and in Duluth (Rosemount). Three D11 teams (Duluth East, Duluth Lakers and Superior) played well in the DAHA tourney, Proctor played for third place at Virginia. D12 Grand Rapids played in Roseau’s tourney, three D12 teams (Eveleth-Gilbert, International Falls, and Hibbing) played in the Mariucci at the Hipp, and two D12 teams (Virginia and Greenway) played in the Queen City tourney.

All these tourneys accomplished was to stir up the swamp water. If the North crystal ball was filled with the rust colored water before the weekend started, it was really muddied after this weekend. D2 was no help. White Bear Lake beat Stillwater for the second time this year in league action, but both teams have lost to other D2 teams in the past two weeks.

In the North Red this week, the projected teams are: Duluth Lakers, Stillwater, Grand Rapids, and Cloquet; in the North Blue, the projected teams are: White Bear Lake, Duluth East, Greenway, and Roseville. White Bear Lake and Stillwater switched pools this week. Greenway replaced Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids replaced the Falls.

D11 - Duluth East won their pool in the DAHA tourney. The Hounds beat Prior Lake 4-1 and Mankato 5-1. In Sunday’s championship play, they lost the semifinal game to Rosemount 4-2 and beat Sibley 4-3 in OT for third place. The Duluth Lakers tied Lakeville North 4-4 and beat Crow River. In the consolation round on Sunday, the Lakers beat Eagan 6-2 and played Prior Lake for the consolation title. Superior, the third D11 team entered, lost to Rosemount 3-0 and to Jefferson 7-2 in pool play. In a consolation round, they beat Mankato 5-4 and Crow River 2-0.

At Virginia, Proctor beat the host in the opening round of bracket play, lost to Hudson 7-0 and played West Fargo for third place. Cloquet took a Saturday trip to Fogerty. The Lumberjacks lost to Blaine 3-2 and beat Spring Lake Park 6-2. The Lumberjacks played those games shorthanded resulting in shifting kids to all positions. They still played well enough, but remain an unknown. Hermantown beat Virginia 10-0 and Superior 3-0 last week.

D16 invades D11 this week when Thief River Falls and East Grand Forks come to the Duluth area. They will play Cloquet, Hermantown, and Duluth East. Grand Rapids will be in town also. The Thunderhawks will play Cloquet, Hermantown and the Duluth Lakers. This will be a great preview for the North regional.
Both Duluth teams had similar performances in the DAHA. But the Hounds third place DAHA finish is not enough to erase the loss to the Lakers 10 days ago. The Duluth Lakers keep the #1 seed this week. The Hounds take the #2 seed. Cloquet, Hermantown and Proctor are all jumbled together for the third seed. The Lumberjacks played short handed against a couple of tough D10 teams and split the two games. They keep the #3 seed. Anybody who peers into this D11 crystal is looking at murky swamp water. Who knows?

D12 - Last week, Grand Rapids had a tough tourney at Roseau. The Thunderhawks lost to Woodbury 6-3, lost to Roseau 3-2 and lost to Chaska 8-2. In the consolation game, they beat Warroad 7-2. In their lone D11 game before they left for Roseau, the Rapids lost 2-1 to Greenway. This week, they travel to the Range to play Eveleth and then south to Duluth to tour D12 playing Hermantown, the Duluth Lakers and Cloquet.

Eveleth and Virginia held tourneys less then 6 miles apart on Highway 53. Eveleth lost to North Metro 6-2 in opening bracket play, lost to district rival International Falls 5-2, and lost to another district rival Hibbing 3-0. This week, the Golden Bears get another shot at Hibbing in a D11 game. Hibbing lost to Highland and lost to Cottage Grove 7-3 also. The Falls lost to Andover in the opener and beat Cottage Grove 9-4 for the consolation championship.

At Virginia, Greenway lost in the opener of the Queen City Classic to Hudson 6-0, lost to Virginia and played the Grand Forks Golden Eagles in a consolation game. Virgina lost their opener to Proctor and lost to D5 MALM 6-2 in the consolation championship game.

The D12 teams are balanced. Grand Rapids’ loss to Greenway was a surprise. The question is, ‘was it worth the Thunderhawks losing the #1 seed this week?’ Because change can be positive and can occur week to week among peewee aged kids and because D11 is balanced, the answer is yes. Greenway takes the #1 seed. The Rapids fall to #2. The Falls, despite their consolation title in the Eveleth tourney, drop out. The Rapid’s play over the coming weekend could change that.

International Falls and Eveleth-Gilbert look to be up in the past few weeks and Hibbing looks to be down. If D11 provided murky swamp water in the old crystal ball, then D12 has made it “murkier”.

D2 - White Bear Lake beat Stillwater 3-2 in a game last week that could have decided the D2 regular season title this year. The Bears also beat Forest Lake 5-1 last week. This week the Bears play Mounds View as they prepare for their Moose Goheen tourney.
That tourney draw is out. In the upper bracket, the Bears play Osseo/Maple Grove in the opener. Centennial and Eden Prairie play in the other bracket game. In the lower bracket, Woodbury plays Elk River and Edina plays Duluth East.

Stillwater beat Irondale 8-1, beat Tartan 4-1 and played Forest Lake also last week. The Ponies have two D2 games left; both played the second week of February, against Mahtomedi and Mounds View. After this week, White Bear Lake will have two games left against Mahtomedi and Irondale. With both teams tied in the standings today, it could end that way. If the tie breaker is head-to-head play, then the Bears own the tie breaker having beaten the Ponies twice.

What is at stake for the Bears and the Ponies? Roseville has beaten and tied White Bear this season. The Raiders have lost twice to Stillwater. The Bears by finishing first will end up playing Tartan and the winner of Mahtomedi/Mounds View game based on current standings. If the Bears finish second, they would end up playing Forest Lake and the winner of Roseville/North St. Paul game.

Roseville and Mahtomedi are in their own battle for third in D2. The Raiders last week lost to Highland, tied Mahtomedi, and beat North St. Paul in D2 action. They beat Jefferson 3-2. This week they play a single game with Forest Lake. Roseville holds a 5-point edge on Mahtomedi with two games left. The Zephyrs have four games left. They had last week off. They play two D2 games this week, Tartan and Highland. Their last two D2 games are White Bear Lake and Stillwater.

Mounds View remains a wild card in D2. If the Mustangs can sweep their remaining five games (White Bear Lake, North St. Paul, Stillwater, Tartan and Roseville); they could finish in third place. Last week, they beat Tartan 3-0 in their only game. This week, the Mustangs play White Bear Lake and North St. Paul. They are a dangerous team.

North St. Paul, Forest Lake and Tartan continue to struggle. The Polars have started to play better this few weeks. Forest Lake is a scrappy team, but has played inconsistently. The Lakers play in the Hudson Tourney this weekend. They play Apple Valley in the opener.

White Bear Lake takes the #1 seed this week. They beat Stillwater 3-2 and are the favorites to finish first in D2. Stillwater falls to the #2 seed and Roseville the #3 seed. Mahtomedi and Mounds View are the challengers as the D2 season draws to a close.


East Region - A lot of games were played this week by teams in this region. Strangely, nothing changed in the ratings. In D6, the top three teams (Edina, Burnsville and Eden Prairie) remained the top three as the only team (Minnetonka) with a potential to challenge them in the standings lost twice. In D8, there was a lot of action in tourneys outside the district and the D8 teams did very well. That is an indication that not only is the league balanced, but very competitive playing teams outside the district. In D1, Mpls Park and Highland are dueling for #1. The Saint Paul Saints continue to improve and may challenge these two. But this week there is no change.

There are no changes at the district level, hence no changes in the regional pools. In the East Red this week, the projected teams are: Farmington, Burnsville, Mpls Park, and Lakeville South; in the East Blue, the projected teams are: Edina, Woodbury, Highland, and Eden Prairie.

The word is out that the new D8 next year will consist of Apple Valley, Cottage Grove, Eagan, Eastview, Farmington, Hastings, Inver Grove Heights, Lakeville, Rosemount, Sibley, South St. Paul, and Woodbury associations.

D1 - This is the week. Highland and Mpls Park finally played at Parade the first of two D1 games to settle who is best in D1. The Caps won 5-0. They showed up missing three players and won by using their size and setting up hard shots just outside the slot. The Storm struggled. They have played better hockey.

The Storm will get another chance. The two teams have a second game this Monday at Highland that will settle who is going to be #1 in D1 going into the playoffs. In D3, Mpls Park lost to Hopkins 5-4 and tied Orono 2-2. In another D1 game, the Storm beat the Saint Paul Saints 2-0 before playing Highland.

The Mpls Park/Orono game was a good hockey game to watch. The Storm has one of the more interesting players to watch at the peewee level in the state.

The Highland played in the Mariucci tourney in Eveleth last week. In the opening game the Caps beat Hibbing 5-2, beat Anoka 6-2 and lost to Andover in the championship game 7-2. The Caps’ only game this week is against the Storm.

The Saint Paul Saints played three games. They lost to Mpls Park 2-0, tied North St. Paul 1-1 and tied Irondale 3-3. They are off this week. Irondale lost to Stillwater in D2 play and played in a River Falls tourney losing to Somerset Wisconsin 5-2 and Waseca 4-3. The Knights are also off this week.

Highland Central keeps the #1 seed and the Storm takes the #2 seed. Each week, the Saints continue to improve and could be a threat in the playoffs in three weeks. Irondale is shaking some rust after being off for a few weeks and has played some good games including tying the Saints.

D6 - Edina still has that “good view” from the top of the Peewee A world. Last week, the Hornets traveled north a day earlier to invade the previously unbeaten East Grand Forks home ice. They beat the Green Wave 9-1, traveled on to Roseau where they swept through the opposition and handed the Green Wave a second beating 10-1 in the championship semifinals. Along the way, the Hornets beat Thief River Falls 11-0, the Fargo Flyers 7-0, Osseo/Maple Grove 3-2, and the 97 Fire 4-3. Congratulations to the Hornets.

Eden Prairie and Chaska also played at Roseau. The Eagles struggled losing to East Grand Forks 5-4, beating Brainerd 7-1, losing to Elk River 6-2 and beating Thief River Falls (on their ice) 5-4 in OT. Chaska also struggled, losing to Roseau 6-4, Woodbury 7-2, beating Grand Rapids 8-2 and Brainerd 6-0. The Eagles loss to Burnsville 4-2 before they left and beat Minnetonka 5-2 when they returned. They played six tough games last week. This week the Eagles play Chaska and Eastview in D6 action.

Edina, Eden Prairie and Burnsville sit on top of D6. Edina has one game with both teams on their schedule. But this Friday’s game with the Blaze is the key game. A win for the Hornets will give them a strong hold on first place and the #1 seed going into the D6 playoffs. A Blaze win would force the Hornets to sweep their remaining games to keep the #1 seed. Eden Prairie can’t catch both teams to take first. But they can catch the Blaze if they lose to Edina and the Eagles beat the Hornets for the second time in D6 play. Besides Edina, the Blaze play Kennedy and Eastview this week.

Minnetonka lost to Burnsville 6-2 and to Eden Prairie last week to ruin their shot at a #1 or #2 seed and a bye in the playoffs. The Skippers now have to focus in their last four games on finishing in the top 5 in the league to avoid having to play in the single elimination tourney for the #6 spot in the playoffs. Tonka needs to win their games and hope that either Prior Lake or Eastview lose. Both Prior Lake and Eastview hold the edge on the #4 and #5 D6 playoff seeds.

Jefferson played in the DAHA tourney. The Jags traveled to Duluth and played in the DAHA tourney. In pool play, they beat Superior 7-2, lost to Rosemount, lost to Prior Lake 6-5 (shootout) in Sunday’s consolation round opener and beat Eagan 5-4. Kennedy stayed home last week. They beat New Prague 4-3 and played Hopkins. Last week, Apple Valley lost to Jefferson 6-2, lost to Minnetonka, tied Roseville 4-4 and lost to Chaska 6-4.

The seeds are unchanged this week. Edina keeps the #1 seed and Eden Prairie the #3 seed. Burnsville keeps the #2 seed. Burnsville and Edina play for the third time this year. The Hornets have two victories over the Blaze this year, 6-4 and 3-2. The games were played late November and early December.

D8 - Woodbury and Lakeville South played in the Roseau tourney this week and both teams played well. Woodbury beat Grand Rapids, Chaska and Roseau to win their pool. In the championship round on Sunday, they played the 97 Fire to a draw at the end of two periods before losing 6-2 and played East Grand Forks tough before losing 5-3. Lakeville South upended Wayzata in the opener, knocking them out of the championship round, but lost to the Fire 5-2 to end their hopes. They beat Warroad and Roseau to end the tourney.

This week, both teams return to D8 action. But unlike D6 where every position in the standings has significance in their playoffs, first place means nothing in D8 (that also applies to the Bantam A playoffs).

Woodbury plays Rosemount in a key D8 game for first place and Lakeville South plays Cottage Grove. With a “goofy” tourney draw that rewards finishing in third or fourth place over finishing first or second and rewards finishing second over finishing first that remains unchanged, the coaches and teams are put in awkward situation. Normally the Woodbury/Rosemount game would be a real battle with first place the prize. But not this year. That makes this game the most interesting game in the state this week. Woodbury also plays Rochester and Rosemount plays Sibley this week.

Farmington can’t finish in first place. But the Tigers could end up in a coveted third or fourth place. That would put them one tough game away from D8’s #1 or #2 seed to the East Region. Lakeville North is in the same position. Oddly enough, Lakeville South with an easier schedule, could find themselves with the “Queen of Spades”.

Rosemount, Lakeville North, and Sibley ended up representing D8 well. They each won their pool as the DAHA tourney in Duluth last weekend. Rosemount beat Superior 3-0 and beat Jefferson 7-1 in pool play. On Sunday, the Irish beat Duluth East 4-2 and Lakeville North 2-1 for the DAHA championship. Lakeville North won their pool beating Crow River 8-0 and tying the Duluth Lakers 4-4. They beat Sibley in the championship semifinals on Sunday 8-2. Sibley beat Albert Lea and Eagan to win their pool. On Sunday, they lost to Duluth East 4-3 in OT in the third place game.

This week, Lakeville North plays Farmington, Rochester, and Cottage Grove in D8 games. Farmington tied Rochester this week. Tigers play Sibley in addition to Lakeville North.

Hudson plays Wisconsin Hockey come playoff time. During the year, they play in the D8 league and have over the years become a sentimental favorite among D8 teams and fans. This year, they have a good team and have played well from the opening tourney in Burnsville (playing Edina tough before losing 3-0), to being tied on top D8 this week with few games to go. Last week, the represented D8 well in the Virginia tourney, beating Greenway 6-0, Proctor 7-0 and Wisconsin rival, Rice Lake 6-3 in the championship game. This weekend, they host their own tourney, playing another D8 team, Red Wing in the opener. Before heading to the Range, the Raiders beat Sibley 3-1 and tied Lakeville South 1-1 in D8 games.

Dodge County lost a close game to Faribault 1-0. They play Cottage Grove this week. Red Wing beat Austin 6-0 and lost to Hastings 2-1. They play the host in Hudson’s tourney this weekend. Northfield played St. Peter last week and will play Faribault this week.

Farmington’s tie with Rochester is not enough to knock them out of the first seed this week. The Tigers keep the #1. Woodbury and Lakeville South played well at Roseau and Lakeville South’s win over Wayzata is a quality win. Woodbury keeps the #2 seed and the Cougars keep the #3 seed. Rosemount had a good outing at Duluth. But this week’s play in D8 will settle some things and the coveted third and fourth place finishes should become known.

The D8 teams this year, look like card players sitting around a poker table playing a game of Hearts. Who gets the Queen of Spades (first place)? Should they go for all the marbles and potentially end up busted? It is not peewee hockey.


South Region - The focus in the South Region shifted to the D3 teams playing at Roseau and the D4/D5 teams at the DAHA. The team that may have turned a corner out that weekend is Osseo/Maple Grove. They had a strong Roseau tourney and played well in the week prior to going to Roseau despite being beaten.

Wayzata was surprised by Lakeville South and D4 Mankato and Albert Lea struggled at DAHA. D5 Crow River didn’t fare better.

The West Regional pools change this week. In the South Red this week, the projected teams are: Wayzata, Hutchinson, New Prague, and Faribault; in the South Blue, the projected teams are: STMA, Orono, St. Peter and Osseo/Maple Grove. Hutchinson replaces Sartell and New Prague replaces Mankato in the Red. St. Peter replaces New Prague in the Blue.

D3 - Osseo/Maple Grove were playing well, but Orono beat them 2-0 just before they went to Roseau. At Roseau they played well, beating the Fargo Flyers 4-3, Thief River Falls 2-0 and narrowly came close to knocking Edina out of the tourney before losing 3-2 to the Hornets. In a consolation game, they lost another close game to Elk River.

Wayzata had a tough tourney. They opened with a tough 5-4 loss to Lakeville South, beat Warroad 9-0 to setup a pool winning game against the Fire only to lose 7-1. In a consolation game, the Trojans beat the Fargo Flyers 9-3. This week, Wayzata play three D3 games against North Metro, Orono and Hopkins.

Orono tied Mpls Park 2-2 and played Hopkins last week besides beating OMG. North Metro beat Hopkins 4-2 last week to put a dent in the Royals title chase. The Pirates played in the Mariucci at Eveleth. They beat Eveleth-Gilbert in the opener 6-2, lost to a tough Andover team 5-2 and lost the third place game to Anoka 5-1. Armstrong took second in Sauk Centre’s I-94 tourney. They lost to Princeton in the championship game 4-3.

But the real story in D3 is that Mpls Park, OMG, Orono, Hopkins and Wayzata are in a 5 team race for first place and they play each other three or four times over the next three weeks.

This week, the seeds are unchanged; Wayzata keeps the #1 seed. Orono takes the #2 seed, and OMG takes the #3 seed. The Trojans will be tested within D3 in the next two weeks and anything can happen. Both OMG and Orono are playing good hockey. Hopkins is not far behind. Mpls Park, though a D1 team, has a shot at the title.

D4 - New Prague look to be on a roll and then St. Peter showed up to play a non-league game at New Prague and beat the Trojans 3-2. The next day, they lost another tough game to Kennedy 4-3 before beating Owatonna 8-0 on Sunday. That’s peewee hockey and it sets up an interesting preview to the D4 playoffs where the Trojans and St. Peter are likely to play each other again. New Prague plays Albert Lea this week. Their last D4 game of the season will be against Faribault.

Faribault needs an Albert Lea win over the Trojans if they are to have a chance to catch them. They trail the Trojans in the D4 East by six points with three games left. Faribault beat Austin 11-2 and Dodge County last week. They play Northfield and then travel to Hudson to play in their tourney. They play Madison Wisconsin in the opener.

Albert Lea and Mankato played in Duluth at the DAHA tourney and both teams struggled. Mankato lost to Duluth East 5-1, lost to Prior Lake 4-1, lost to Superior 5-4 and played Albert Lea. Albert Lea lost to Sibley, lost to Eagan 5-2, lost to Crow River.

Mankato plays Owatonna and Mason City this week. One victory will clinch the first place for the Mavericks in the D4 West. St. Peter needs a victory to clinch second place. The Bulldogs end their D4 season this weekend with games at Waseca and at Marshall. Last week, in addition to beating New Prague, they beat New Ulm, lost to D5 Hutchinson, and played Northfield.

New Ulm plays in the Hudson tourney this weekend. They play South St. Paul in the opener. Owatonna plays Mankato and Austin this week. Waseca played in the River Falls tourney and surprised Irondale, beating them 4-3. They play Luverne and St. Peter this week.

St. Peter’s win over New Prague changes the seeds this week. New Prague is a good team, but St. Peter is good enough to take the #1 seed from them this week. The Bulldogs have been an unknown. This week, they will be known as #1. New Prague falls to #2 and Faribault takes the #3 seed. Mankato struggled at DAHA last week and are a better team. They need to show that they are, but this week they fall out of the top three.

With the D4 season winding down, four of the six seeds in the D4 playoffs can be predicted. New Prague is #1 and Faribault is #2 in the East; Mankato is #1 and St. Peter is #2 in the West. Owatonna, Albert Lea and Austin will contend for the #3 seed from the East; New Ulm, Luverne, Marshall, and Waseca will contend for the #3 seed from the West.

D5 - The D5 playoff format is out and it is an interesting format and a fair one. Each of the 10 teams in the district will have two shots at the #1 seed and the #2 seed. The 8/9 seeds and the 7/10 seeds start play for the #1 seed. The losers of those two games drop into a single elimination tourney for the #2 seed. The winners of those two games advance to a quarter final bracket playing the #1 and the #2 seeded teams. Games between the 4/5 teams and 6/3 teams complete the quarterfinal round. Winners continue to advance through semifinals to the championship game. Losers drop into the #2 seed tourney until one team wins the #2 seed. With finishing first and second paying off and finishing third through sixth paying off, the regular season for this 10 team league has meaning.

STMA is in first place this week. Last week, the Knights beat Willmar, beat Litchfield 7-1, and played Crow River. This week they play Sartell, River Lakes and Hutchinson in D5. After this week, the Knights will have one D5 game (against Mound Westonka) left. STMA will set the mark for first place and a bye into the Seed #1 quarterfinals once this week is over.

Crow River is in second place and will end their D5 season this week. The Tigers play Buffalo, Litchfield, and Mound Westonka. They will set the mark for second place and a bye into the Seed #1 quarterfinals.

Hutchinson and Sartell look to challenge both those marks. Hutchinson plays Willmar, Buffalo and STMA this week. Sartell plays River Lakes, STMA and Willmar. Clearly the key game for these teams will be with STMA.

STMA keeps the #1 seed this week; Hutchinson gets the #2 seed. The Tigers beat Sartell last week. With a fair tourney format set, the two teams that earn the top seeds will be well tested. Teams will be playing hard to keep in the #1 seed portion of the playoff tourney and team strength over multiple games will become important.


West Region - In a preview of what maybe in 6 weeks, the Roseau tourney pooled three potential West Regional teams, D10 Elk River, D16 East Grand Forks and D15 Brainerd. All season, EGF and Elk River have looked to be the strongest teams in this region. Their performance in Roseau verified that. East Grand Forks won the pool beating Elk River and Brainerd in the process. The Elks and EGF beat Brainerd.

In the West Red this week, the projected teams are: Alexandria, Bemidji, Andover, and St. Francis; in the West Blue, the projected teams are: East Grand Forks, Moorhead, Elk River, and Detroit Lakes. There are no changes.

D10 - Elk River beat Brainerd 14-0 to open pool play at Roseau. The next day East Grand Forks beat the Elks 6-4. That loss ended the Elk’s Roseau championship chances. They beat Eden Prairie 6-2 and Osseo/Maple Grove 3-1 to end the tourney. Before the Elks left to play in Roseau, they added another D10 win beating Blaine 6-3. Andover, the Elks main competitor in the D10 Blue, played in the Eveleth tourney. The Huskies beat International Falls in the opener and played North Metro in the semifinals.

Andover and Elk River are deadlocked in the D10 Blue. Each team is 13-0-1 with five league games to go. They play each other this Sunday at Andover in a game that will likely decide first. Both the Elks and the Huskies play Centennial this week. Andover has another D10 game against Rogers.

Centennial, Blaine, and Anoka have their own race within the D10 Blue over the next three weeks, only it is loser goes home. These three teams are tied for third. The fifth place finisher is eliminated from the D10 playoffs. Centennial needs every point and they play the Elks and the Huskies this week.

Last week, besides losing to the Elks, Blaine beat Cloquet 3-2 and played Chisago Lakes. This week, they play Champlin Park, Rochester and Coon Rapids. Anoka played in the Mariucci tourney in Eveleth last week. They opened with a 10-0 win over Cottage Grove and played Highland in the semifinals. Anoka plays Princeton and Spring Lake Park this week.

In the D10 Green, St. Francis beat St. Cloud 2-1, Rogers 1-0, and played Champlin Park last week. The Fighting Saints have built a small lead in the D10 Green with three league games left. They play Coon Rapids this week and will close out their D10 schedule against Blaine and Elk River. The Fighting Saints have a potential 40+ points on the season to set the mark for other teams in the Green.

Spring Lake Park trails St. Francis by a point. Last week, the Panthers beat Chisago Lakes 4-2, lost to Cloquet 6-2, and lost a key game to St. Cloud 3-0. They play Princeton, Anoka, Rogers this week and end their season against CINB.

Rogers lost to Champlin Park 2-1, played CINB and played Centennial besides losing to St. Francis last week. This week, they play Andover and Spring Lake Park. Champlin Park played Blaine besides St. Francis. This week, the Rebels play Princeton.

Princeton traveled to Sauk Centre and won the I-94 tourney beating River Lakes 4-2, Northern Lakes 6-0 and Armstrong 4-3. They return to D10 this week to play Spring Lake Park, Anoka, and Champlin Park.

St. Cloud losses to St. Francis and Spring Lake Park knocked them out of the chase. They need points in their last three D10 games to climb into the top four and make the playoffs. The other five teams can finish from first to out of the playoffs. It’s quite a season in D10 Green.

The seeds remain unchanged this week. Elk River and Andover take the #1 and #2 seeds this week. St. Francis takes the #3 seed this week.

D15 - Weather postponed hockey days at Moorhead. The Spuds had an off week as a result and resume play this weekend the Fargo Flyers and Crookston. Brainerd traveled to Roseau and lost a pre-tourney game to the Rams. In pool play, the Warriors lost to Elk River, Eden Prairie 7-1, and East Grand Forks 8-0.

Detroit Lakes beat Crookston last week. This week they play Brainerd. Brainerd also plays Alexandria. Alexandria tied Fergus Falls 1-1 in a D15 game. Alexandria plays their last four D15 games this weekend (Prairie Centre, Wadena, Brainerd and Fergus Falls). A sweep by the Cardinals will set the target for the rest of the league at 35 points. But the Cardinals will need help from Brainerd and will need to root for the Lakers to beat Moorhead, to take first place.

Prairie Centre had their I-94 tourney this week. They beat Wadena and lost to Armstrong in pool play. In the third place game, they lost to River Lakes 2-0.

D15 normally has a 6-team double elimination playoff. With 8 teams playing peewee A this year, the potential is the bottom two teams will not make the playoffs. Given there is no change in playoff format, the top two finishers in regular season get a first round bye. Detroit Lakes, Moorhead and Alexandria can finish 1-2 leaving one team out. Based on current standings and last year’s playoff format, Brainerd would play Fergus Falls with the winner playing Detroit Lakes. Alexandria would play Northern Lakes with the winner playing Moorhead.

Brainerd can’t catch the three teams are fighting for the #1 or #2 seed to the D15 playoffs. But the Warriors can spoil all three team’s chances. D15 gets three seeds this year to the region. With little action inside D15 last week, Alex keeps the #1 seed. The tie with Fergus Falls was not enough to knock them out. Moorhead keeps #2 and Detroit Lakes keeps the #3 seed.

D16 - East Grand Forks took two losses to Edina last week. They lost at home 9-1 and they lost at Roseau in the semifinals of the Rams tourney 10-1. In between, they beat Eden Prairie 5-4, Elk River 6-4 and Brainerd 8-0. They added a 5-3 win over Woodbury to take third place. This week, EGF travels to Duluth to play Duluth East, Cloquet and Hermantown. The Green Wave shouldn’t get too down losing “large” to the Hornets, they won’t see them until the state semifinals and they need to get there.

For any D16 team, getting there means winning one of the two D16 seeds in the district playoffs. Bemidji has played well all season. Last week, the Lumberjacks added two D16 wins, beating Crookston 5-4 and LOW 11-1. They play International Falls this week. Crookston also lost to Detroit Lakes 5-4 in overtime.

Thief River Falls played Roseau in a D16 game and then played in Roseau’s tourney. The Prowlers beat Roseau 3-2 and in pool play lost to Edina 11-0, the Fargo Flyers 8-2 and Osseo/Maple Grove 2-0. In consolation, they lost to Eden Prairie 5-4 in OT. The Prowlers tour D11 next weekend playing Duluth East, Cloquet and Proctor, then playing a single D16 game with Hallock.

Roseau in a pre-tourney game beat Brainerd 2-1. The Rams in their pool in the tourney beat Chaska 6-4, beat Grand Rapids 3-2 and lost to Woodbury 7-3. In consolation, they lost to Lakeville South 6-0.

East Grand Forks is the #1 seed, and Bemidji is the #2 seed. Thief River Falls showed something this weekend (beating Roseau at home and playing Osseo/Maple Grove and Eden Prairie close). The Prowlers trip to Duluth along with the Green Wave will test them. Crookston slipped a little this week, but the Pirates should also contend in the D16 playoffs.