Another Way to Look at PeeWee A Hockey - Nov. 18

By frederick61

District play began in most districts last week and Duluth hosted the first peewee A tourney with Prior Lake emerging as the “Tommy Williams” champions. One thing is clear from the first few weeks play is that nothing is clear. If comparing scores is a way of figuring out who should be on top that will only get you a headache. Is this a year of “parity”? More than one coach may feel that way after winning a big game and losing a “strange” game.

The teams in the East Region have gotten off to a fast start, playing each other and competing against each other in the Tommy Williams tourney. With D3 and D6 usually playing each other in the West Regional for two state tourney berths and no dominant team emerging elsewhere, this year’s State Tourney is very wide open. So with that in mind, here are the initial ratings by Regional Tourney (North, South, East and West) for each district.

North Region (D12, D15, D16) - This region is so wide open that Moorhead hosting the Regional maybe just enough of an advantage to give one of the Spuds two peewee A teams a North ticket to the state.

D12 got rolling last week. Rosemount visited. The Irish beat Grand Rapids 7-4, Hibbing 15-1, and Virginia 13-1. This week, D12 teams host another D8 team, Hastings. The Raiders will play Grand Rapids, Virginia and Hibbing. Grand Rapids also hosts Cloquet on Monday in the battle of the saw mills. The Thunderhawks will make foray into D10 in the next few weeks. Greenway opens their season this week playing the Duluth Lakers.

Eveleth travels to Superior to play in their tourney. The Golden Bears draw Thunder Bay Kings, Proctor and Cloquet in pool play. International Falls and Mesabi East won’t get rolling until next week. With three North Regional seeds, the top D12 seed this week is Grand Rapids. The #2 and #3 seeds are wide open. Clearly the team that develops the best over the season will have a shot at these two seeds. For now, Hibbing takes the #2 seed and Eveleth-Gilbert the #3 seed. It would be nice to see the Bears play well at Superior.

D15 has undergone some changes this year. This year Moorhead has two peewee A teams in D15. The Spuds have designated Moorhead A and Moorhead A2 (normally that means the A team is the top 15 or so players and the A2 is the next 15 or so players). Park Rapids and Wadena have combined to form a single A team. Little Falls is playing A level this year and Prairie Centre and Northern Lakes are back. That makes D15 a 9-team league and should provide for good competition for all the teams in the league especially if Moorhead split their top players.

Alexandria opened their season last week beating the Fargo Angels 7-2 and Northern Lakes 2-0. This week the Cardinals make a trip to Grand Forks to play East Grand Forks, Grand Forks and Crookston. Moorhead A and A2 teams played Little Falls and Eagan last week. The A Spuds also beat Fergus Falls 10-3. This week the A Spuds host East Grand Forks and Brainerd. The A2 Spuds host Detroit Lakes.

Fergus Falls lost to the Fargo Flyers Gold 11-4 in their second game of the week. But for the Otters, it is early season and they usually play well when it counts. The Otters play Little Falls, Northern Lakes and Detroit Lakes this week. Northern Lakes and Detroit Lakes also played each other last week. This week the Lightning host Fergus Falls and travel to Little Falls. Detroit Lakes hosts Thief River Falls in addition to D15 teams Moorhead A2 and Fergus Falls.

Last week, Little Falls returned to D15 peewee A play by losing to Brainerd 9-0 in an opener for both teams and playing both Moorhead teams. This week the Flyers play Prairie Centre. It is good to see the Flyers back at the A level. For those who wonder why they are called the Flyers? It is Charles Lindbergh’s home. Lindbergh’s real feat was not flying solo across the Atlantic, but driving his mother from Little Falls to Los Angeles in the mid-1910s when he was 15 years old. He didn’t have a driving license. Of course, he didn’t need one. There were few roads and no maps. How did he cross the Mojave Desert?

Brainerd also beat Superior 4-0 and lost to Cloquet 5-1. This week, besides playing the Moorhead A’s, the Warriors host Sartell. Prairie Centre opens their season with two D15 games playing Little Falls and Park Rapids/Wadena. The Northstars should some potential last year. Last year Wadena struggled at the peewee A level. This year, they lost their ice arena and are combined with Park Rapids. Little Falls, Park Rapids/Wadena, Northern Lakes, Prairie Center, and Fergus Falls fosters a very competitive situation.

With two seeds to the North Regional and a number of tough teams fighting for the seeds, D15 top teams are sure to change as the season progresses. This week Moorhead A1 takes the #1 seed and Alexandria the #2 seed.

D16 has three seeds to the North Regional and seven teams contending. Red Lake Falls returns to A level and opens the D16 season playing at Roseau and Warroad this week. The Falls have to be a favorite to most hockey fans; their schedule flatly states no hockey-“deer hunting”. D16 teams are just getting going. Thief River Falls beat Detroit Lakes 5-2 two weeks ago. Using last year as a guide, the #1 seed goes to East Grand Forks, the #2 seed goes to Bemidji.

South Region (D4, D8, D9) - D4 has two seeds to the South Regional and three teams playing Peewee A this year. Sometimes these anomalies occur because Minnesota Hockey presets their schedule for peewee A/B and bantam A/B regional tournaments for four years and that is a good thing. When these situations occur then there is usually some adjustment made late in the season that resolves seeds. That will most likely happen this year.

Unfortunately Rochester has introduced a different wrinkle in the formation of the new D9. They have three Rochester A teams this year. Two are playing a D9 schedule and one is playing an independent schedule against some of the toughest peewee A teams. One has to assume the independent team is comprised of the best Rochester players. The Rochester Association has in effect created a super team that can focus its efforts on a tough schedule of selected teams while ignoring the normal peewee A district level competition. If they use a loop hole to allow that team to enter the state competition, Minnesota Hockey has a problem.

Rochester will have defined a level of play that is AAA like, but fits within the current rules. Soon the larger associations could follow (the Edinas and Wayzatas) and the Minnesota model of which we are so proud would be fractured. The teams in D8 should be angry. The better teams there are constrained by a 16 game schedule that really improves the ability of all 12 D8 teams to compete. Now the D8 teams would have to accept a backdoor entry of a Rochester super team in the South Regional. Something is wrong.

But returning to D4 teams; Luverne is playing a D9 schedule while Marshall and Redwood Falls are playing D5. Luverne and Marshall played each other in their opener two weeks ago. Luverne played Owatonna and Austin last week. This week the Cardinals play New Ulm and Mankato. Marshall played River Lakes last week and play River Lakes and Litchfield/Cokato/Dassel this week. Redwood Falls opened their D5 play (as guests meaning results do not count in standings) losing to Willmar 9-7. Redwood Falls plays Hutchinson this week. The #1 seed here goes to Luverne and the #2 to Marshall.

D8 has twelve teams competing and like last year, the top four places will likely get byes in the first round of the district playoffs. That means every point counts. Last year, seven points separated the top seven teams in the final standings and the top four places were undecided until the last week of play. This year will likely be the same, especially with two of the teams, Farmington and Rosemount meeting in their only game as the final game on the D8 schedule.

Rosemount has gotten off to a great start, beating Eastview 11-1, Centennial 6-1, Edina 3-2, Chaska 8-1, Grand Rapids, Hibbing, Virginia, and Hermantown. They have only lost to Burnsville 5-4 and Minnetonka 2-1. This week the Irish open D8 play against Eagan and Woodbury.

Farmington has been equally busy in the preseason. The Tigers beat Roseville 4-2, Duluth East twice 4-0 and 9-1, Cloquet 8-0, Superior 12-1, Hermantown 4-1, Prior Lake 4-2, Lakeville North 8-0, and Centennial 6-2. Their only loss was to Eden Prairie 3-2 (the Tigers ran into a good goalie). Farmington opens D8 play at Eastview this week. They also play Inver Grove Heights/South St. Paul and Mpls Storm.

While Rosemount and Farmington played an aggressive early season schedule, Woodbury Predators (no longer the Royals) played four games. They played Blaine, beat White Bear Lake 5-1, tied Edina 4-4 and lost to Edina 5-3. This week, Woodbury opened D8 play beating Johnson/Como 9-0. The Predators play Sibley and Rosemount this week.
Both Lakeville teams (North and South), deliberately delayed the start of their season until Nov. 1 and are just getting rolling. Lakeville North lost preseason games to Farmington and Blaine 9-7. The Panthers play Burnsville and open their D8 play against Johnson/Como this week. Lakeville South traveled to St. Cloud two weekends ago, 5 days after selecting their team, and fared well. They beat Spring Lake Park 7-5, tied St. Cloud 3-3 and lost to Stillwater 5-3 and STMA 4-2. The Cougars play Prior Lake and open D8 play against Eastview this week.

Apple Valley and Eastview joined D8 this year after playing in D6. The Eagles have struggled in the early season and opened D8 play this week losing to Sibley 8-1. They play IGH/SSP and Lakeville North this week. The Lightning opened D8 play this week with a 7-0 win over Johnson/Como. Eastview plays Lakeville South in addition to Farmington this week. Besides beating Valley, Sibley lost to Prior Lake 5-1 last week. The Generals play Woodbury and Eagan this week.

Hastings lost to Mahtomedi 7-2 and Irondale 5-2 in their first two games. This week they travel north to play Grand Rapids, Virginia and Hibbing. Besides losing to Eastview and Woodbury, Johnson/Como tied Forest Lake 3-3 and lost to Wausau Warjacks 6-3 last week. They play an old D1 foe, Irondale, and play Lakeville North this week.

D8 opens with three top teams and three seeds to the South Region. Farmington has a tough defense, one of the best peewee A defenses in sometime and they have a rugged set of forwards to match that defense. Unlike Tiger teams of the past, half of the team played last year in the Regional Tourney and have played with poise this year. Their 9-1 record is no illusion; the Tigers are good and potentially the best team in the state. The Tigers take the #1 seed. Rosemount will challenge. In other years the Irish would easily be the best D8 team, but this year they will not only have Farmington, but they will have Woodbury who possible has the best set of forward lines in the state to contend with. The Irish win over Edina was earned. The Irish take the #2 seed. Woodbury takes the #3 seed. If the Predators defense develops, they could become top dog.

D9 is new has gone to a two division set-up with six teams in each division. Rochester has gone with two teams, Rochester Black and Rochester Gold, entered in D9. The third team, Rochester Red, is playing an independent schedule. The two Rochester teams are in the same division (East) with Northfield, Austin, Red Wing and Dodge County. The West division has Owatonna, Luverne, New Ulm, Faribault, Albert Lea and Mankato. Each team will play 14 league games. Luverne’s (D4) games will count in the standings, but they are still guests (not eligible for D9 playoffs?). St. Peter and Waseca are not fielding A level teams this year.

Dodge County opened their D9 season beating Austin 5-1 and losing to Red Wing 4-3. This week, they play Northfield. Red Wing this week will play Rochester Black and Northfield. Austin lost to Luverne 10-0 also. This week they play the Rochester Gold team. In the West, Owatonna beat Albert Lea 7-2 and Faribault 6-1 in opening week’s play. They lost to Luverne 8-6. The Falcons play Albert Lea and Mankato this week. Luverne plays New Ulm and Mankato this week. In addition to Luverne, Mankato opens D9 play against Albert Lea and plays Owatonna in a key early season match-up.

The Rochester Red team will not play a D9 schedule, but will play an independent schedule against top teams (Edina, Stillwater, Eden Prairie, etc.) In effect Rochester has taken the opportunity to develop hockey in their region and turned D9 into at best a development that fits Rochester Hockey Association’s personal agenda. The question is, “how does the Rochester Red team become eligible to play in D9 district playoffs?” Moorhead, faced with a similar situation this year in D15, plays a D15 schedule. Somebody in D9 (or in D8 or D4) should file a grievance with Minnesota Hockey.

Rochester Red can’t be ranked as a D9 seed as this point. With the D9 teams just getting rolling, history prevails. The #1 seed this week goes to Mankato, the #2 seed to Luverne and the #3 seed to Owatonna.

East Region (D2, D10, D11) - D2 teams Roseville and White Bear Lake played two D11 teams (Duluth East and Duluth Lakers) in the Tommy Williams Tourney. Roseville has the toughest road losing to Duluth East 5-4, Prior Lake 6-0, and Minnetonka 6-4. They played the Duluth Lakers on Sunday. White Bear Lake started their week end Thursday tying Highland in a D2 game 1-1, they then traveled to Duluth. The Bears beat Chaska, the Duluth Lakers 4-3 and Thunder Bay 7-6 before losing to Duluth East 3-2 in Sunday’s semifinal game. They beat Chaska for third place on Sunday. Monday they returned home to beat Mahtomedi 4-2 in a D2 game. Roseville and Stillwater play each other this week in a key early season match-up between two tough teams.

Stillwater went 2-2 in early season games losing to Eden Prairie 3-1 and Centennial 4-0; beating Spring Lake Park 5-1 and Lakeville South 4-3. The Ponies played Moundsview, Rochester, and lost to Tartan 2-1. Tartan has been an early D2 season surprise winning three of their first four games; beating Mahtomedi 3-1, Forest Lake 2-0 in addition to the Ponies. The Titans single loss was to Roseville 4-2. This week the Titans play Andover and Hudson.

Highland got off to a tough D2 start losing to Hudson and Mahtomedi before tying White Bear Lake. This week, the Caps travel to Superior to play in their tourney. Last year they battled a tough Dryden team for the championship game, the Caps winning. This year they return and draw Hermantown, Northwest Stars (Winnipeg), and host Superior in pool play. Forest Lake opened their D2 season beating Mahtomedi 2-1, losing to Tartan and losing to Hudson 3-1. This week the Rangers play Moundsview, White Bear Lake, Eagan and Stillwater. Mahtomedi opened their D2 season beating a tough Highland team 9-2; then the Zephyrs lost to Tartan, Forest Lake and White Bear Lake. This week they play in the Spring Lake Park tourney drawing Princeton in the opening game.

D2 looks to be a very balanced league this year. The normal top teams Roseville, White Bear Lake, and Stillwater will be competitive, but Highland, Tartan, Mahtomedi, and Hudson will all compete. Forest Lake and Moundsview are not easy teams to beat. Hudson has gotten off to the best start, beating Highland and Forest Lake, tying Roseville 2-2 and playing Moundsview. The Raiders sitting on top of D2 this week, deserve the #1 seed. White Bear Lake takes the #2 seed. The Bears went 5-1-1 in a five day period against good teams. Tartan takes the #3 seed. The Titans might be the surprise team in D2 this year.

D10 has posted the Peewee schedules. League play will open Nov. 21. There are twelve teams competing in a single league each playing a 22-game schedule. Elk River was one of the top teams last year, this year they opened play with two tie games, STMA 2-2 and Minnetonka 2-2. They have beaten St. Cloud 3-2 and lost to Edina 3-1. Andover and Centennial challenged the Elks last year. Andover made it to the State tourney with the Elks. The Huskies beat Duluth East 4-3 two weeks ago. They beat Tartan 2-0 this week and then open D10 play against Centennial and Anoka. Centennial beat Stillwater 4-0 and lost to Rosemount 6-1 in the opening weeks.

Anoka, Spring Lake Park and Rogers all have had a good start this year. A very interesting tourney this week is the Spring Lake Park’s tourney at Fogerty. Friday’s opening round games (bracket play) matches Anoka/Shakopee, Princeton/Mahtomedi, Spring Lake Park/Sauk Rapids, and Omaha Jr Lancers/Waconia. The Anoka/Shakopee game should be a good one. The Tornadoes tied Osseo/Maple Grove last week 4-4. Shakopee beat Chaska 7-3, split a home and home series with Spring Lake Park and lost their last game to Waconia 5-4. Anoka usually plays well in early season tourneys so they should be favored.

Spring Lake Park beat OMG last Sunday 2-1 and lost three tough games on a St. Cloud swing to Stillwater, St. Cloud and Lakeville South. The Panthers should do well in their tourney, opening against Sauk Rapids. Rogers has early season wins over STMA 3-1, OMG 2-1 and Hopkins 6-1. They play Armstrong and then open their D10 season against Irondale this week.

Blaine opened their season losing to Wayzata 5-1 and in the past week they tied STMA 1-1 and beat Lakeville North 9-7. Irondale is just getting going, they beat Hastings 5-2 last week in their season opener and play Johnson/Como before opening D10 play on Sunday against Rogers. Champlin Park has had a good early season. Last week they beat Armstrong 6-2 and Buffalo 4-0. This week the Rebels play Crow River.

Coon Rapids is off to a slow start. This week they play Armstrong and then travel to Rochester to play three games on the weekend. They return to Cook Arena to play Irondale in their D10 opener. St. Francis opens their D10 season against Blaine and Princeton opens their D10 season against Elk River this week.

The third district, D11, has four teams contending for two East Regional Seeds. Duluth East has played well opening their season against Roseville, White Bear Lake, Blaine, and Andover in an early season test of how they would fare in the East Regional. East has also beaten the Thunder Bay Kings 4-3 and tied the Kings 4-4. The Duluth Lakers have played a similar schedule but have struggled in their opening season play. They lost to the Kings 10-2, White Bear Lake 4-3 and Chaska 3-2 in the Tommy Williams tourney. Early last week, the Lakers beat Proctor 7-0 in their D11 opener. Proctor is often overlooked in the D11, playing their second consecutive year at the peewee A level. The Rails made an early season trip to Little Falls, beating Little Falls and losing 5-2 to Princeton. They lost this week to Superior 6-4. The Rails will join Cloquet and Hermantown and play in the Superior’s “Colder by the Lake” tourney this week.

In Superior’s tourney, Cloquet draws Thunder Bay Kings, Proctor and Eveleth-Gilbert in pool play. Hermantown draws Highland, Northwest Stars (another Thunder Bay team), and host Superior. Hermantown lost to Rosemount 7-3 on the weekend and beat the Duluth Lakers 4-2. Cloquet lost a very early season game to Farmington 8-0. Both these teams will improve and this tourney will be a good test. With two seeds up for grabs to the East Regional, Duluth East takes the #1 seed. The Hounds are off to a good start. But the #2 seed is a tougher call. Hermantown gets the nod this week, but Cloquet could be the better team by the time the season ends. The Lakers may have lost in the Tommy Williams, but they pushed some good teams down to the wire before losing. It would be something if both Proctor (and Eveleth) had a good Superior tourney that would really turn D11 into a season long battleground.

West Region (D3, D5,D6) - It will be like an old Western shootout in the West Region this year. Osseo/Maple Grove, Wayzata, St. Michael/Albertville (STMA), St. Cloud, Burnsville, Edina, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, and Prior Lake just to name a few teams will be firing away trying to be one of the last two teams standing.

D3 has undergone significant change this year. The core teams over the years (Wayzata, Orono, Hopkins, OMG, and Armstrong) are still going strong. North Metro decided not to skate A level this year.
Two years ago, Mpls Park and Mpls Washburn joined D3. Last year, Washburn joined Mpls Park. This year, St. Louis Park split on its own and is fielding a team. What was Mpls Park is now the Mpls Storm. In addition, two D5 teams (Crow River and Mound/Westonka) joined D3 this year.

D3 action opened the first week in November. Wayzata is off to a fast start beating Orono 9-2, Hopkins 7-0 and St. Louis Park 8-0 in their first three D3 games. Wayzata’s only loss is to Edina 3-1. The Trojans play Rochester Red and Mound/Westonka this week. OMG has beaten Hopkins 6-0, St. Louis Park 4-0, Mpls Storm 4-1, and Orono 4-1 in D3 action. OMG has also beaten Roseville 7-4, tied Anoka 4-4, and lost to Spring Lake Park 2-1. They play Armstrong this week.

Armstrong opened their season losing to STMA 6-2. They then beat Crow River 2-1 and lost to Mound/Westonka 6-2 in their two D3 games. Armstrong has played steady hockey, tying a tough Rogers team 4-4, tying Champlin Park 2-2, and beating Coon Rapids 10-0. Armstrong plays Orono this week. Mound/Westonka beat Hopkins in their D3 opener 6-2. They play three tough D3 games this week, Crow River, St. Louis Park and Wayzata.

Orono, after a successful season last year making the State Tourney, have struggled this year, losing to Wayzata, OMG, and to Crow River 5-4 in D3. This week they play Buffalo in addition to Armstrong. Hopkins played Kennedy and Crow River last week. This week the Royals have off before their big Thanksgiving Tourney. The Royals have gone 0-8 this season, but they are too good a team, not to turn that around before years end. St. Louis Park is also team that is working hard to improve. The Orioles have played OMG twice, Wayzata, and Burnsville so far this year.

With only two seeds to the West Regional tourney for the D3 teams, Wayzata takes the #1 seed and OMG the #2 seed. But seven other teams know what to shoot for in the West.

D5 is another changed district. There are 10 peewee A teams this year competing for three West Regional seeds. Crow River and Mound/Westonka are gone. St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids are new. The team drawing the most interest in D5 is St. Michael/Albertville (STMA). The Knights came close to making the state last year. They opened D5 play beating River Lakes 11-1 last week. They have beaten Armstrong 6-2, Orono 8-1, Lakeville South 4-2, Hopkins 12-1 and tied Elk River 2-2 and Blaine 1-1 in early season play. Their single loss was to Rogers 3-1. This week they play Hutchinson and Willmar.

Hutchinson had a good run last year making it to the Regional Finals before losing to Orono. The Tigers opened their D5 season last week playing Sartell and losing to MAML 5-1. This week, they play Litchfield and Redwood Falls. Sartell is just getting rolling, the Sabres play St. Cloud, Buffalo and Brainerd this week.

Sartell and Sauk Rapids are part of the St. Cloud area. Their boundaries touch and often going from one part of the St. Cloud to either goes unnoticed. The St. Cloud/Sartell game should be the start of a good D5 rivalry. St. Cloud played their first D5 game last week beating Buffalo 2-0. In early season games, St. Cloud beat Spring Lake Park 3-0 and tied Lakeville South 3-3. Besides playing Sartell, St. Cloud plays Litchfield this week. Buffalo beat Litchfield 6-2 last week. The Bison host Orono this week.

River Lakes beat Marshall 9-0 in their opener. They play Marshall again and Willmar this week. Willmar played Redwood Falls and tied Sauk Rapids 2-2 last week. They play STMA and MAML this week.

The first two seeds this week are easy to pick, #1 STMA and #2 St. Cloud. The #3 seed is more difficult because most D5 teams are just getting started. Buffalo and MAML appear to be the choices this week. After flipping the old zinc penny, the MAML takes the #3 seed. D5 gets more and more competitive as the season progresses.

D6 is the “big gun” district every year. Season play opened this week. Burnsville and Eden Prairie “came out blazing”. Eden Prairie beat the “new kids” this year, Shakopee 8-2 and Waconia 9-0 last week. The Eagles also played Minnetonka. This week they play Kennedy and Burnsville. Burnsville opened with two wins also, beating Waconia 6-0 and Kennedy 8-2. The Blaze will need their guns “blazing” this week. They play Edina in addition to Eden Prairie.

Defending State Champs, Edina, have gotten off to a slow start. They beat Shakopee 6-2 and lost to Minnetonka 4-3 and beat Chaska 7-3 in their first three D6 games. Sandwiched around those games, the Hornets beat Elk River 3-1, tied Woodbury 2-2 and beat Woodbury 5-3. Besides playing Burnsville this week, the Hornets play Blaine at the Super Rink.

Minnetonka struggled in the Tommy Williams tourney last week, losing to Duluth East 5-1 and Prior Lake 5-2 before beating Roseville 6-4. The Skippers play D6 games against Kennedy and Shakopee this week. Chaska also played in the Tommy Williams tourney, beating the Thunder Bay Kings 5-4 and the Duluth Lakers 3-2. But they lost twice to White Bear Lake to finish fourth. They have lost their first three D6 games, to Shakopee 7-3, Edina and Prior Lake/Savage 9-1. Prior Lake won the Tommy Williams tourney, beating Minnetonka 5-2, Roseville 6-0, Duluth East 3-1, Chaska 3-1 and Duluth East 6-3 in the championship game. They tied Kennedy 1-1 in their D6 opener. This week they play Waconia.

Waconia and Shakopee are playing A level this year. They have gotten off to a reasonable start beating Shakopee 5-4 and tying Jefferson 3-3. They have lost to Kennedy 6-3 besides Burnsville and Eden Prairie. Waconia and Shakopee are in the Spring Lake Park tourney this week this week end. Waconia plays the Omaha Jr. Lancers AA peewee team from Nebraska in their opening game and Shakopee draws a tough Anoka team in their opening game.

Jefferson beat Kennedy 5-0 in the battle of the Bloomingtons last week. The Jags play Chaska this week. The Eagles have a tough week ahead playing Eden Prairie and Minnetonka.

Last year, it was not tough to pick the top three teams in D6 (Edina, Burnsville, and Eden Prairie). This year is different. Prior Lake deserves to be in the top three if for no other reason, then they won a tough Duluth tourney. Minnetonka beat Edina and Rosemount and has played well. But Burnsville was impressive in their win over a tough Rosemount team and deserves the #1 Seed. Prior Lake takes the #2 seed. Eden Prairie’s team needed to play outstanding defense to beat Farmington 3-2 two weeks ago and they take the #3 seed. It is hard to imagine that Minnetonka and Edina won’t be in the top three at some point this season. That is why the games are played.