The LPH Blog

Turkey First, PeeWee A Hockey Second

2011-11-17T11:43:00.000-06:00

By frederick61

Thanksgiving is around the corner and that means turkey first, hockey second. Black Friday is a liberation day for the hockey dads; they can watch their kids play all day while the wives are out shopping for the bargains.

It all starts on Black Friday and ends Sunday with four Twin Cities tourneys. D6 rivals Burnsville and Eden Prairie are hosting tourneys, D3 Hopkins has their tourneys, and D2 Mounds View and D10 Irondale co-host the Super Rink tourneys.

The Hopkins tourney is the largest as the Royals host 11 youth tourneys and total of 88 teams; the Super Rink is second with eight tourneys and 64 teams; Eden Prairie has three tourneys and 40 teams; Burnsville is the smallest with three tourneys and 32 teams. From sun up Friday morning to late Sunday afternoon, nearly 4,000 kids, coaches, tourney officials and volunteer parents will participate. For the fan, it is constant hockey on 12 sheets of ice, all within a 40-mile driving radius.

Each of the four tourneys features a PeeWee A tourney. Forty-four of the 100 or so PeeWee A teams in Minnesota will be playing. Seventeen of the top 20 teams from last year are playing.

Burnsville is hosting a 12-team tourney that pits D10 and D8 teams against each other in three pools with the added fervor of local rivalries. Hopkins has an eight-team tourney that has drawn some of the top teams, including Centennial who has been an early season surprise. The Super Rink’s tourney has an eight-team bracket play that opens with Wayzata Gold playing the St. James Canadians. Eden Prairie has a 16-team, four pool tourney that ends with championship and consolation rounds on Sunday.

Burnsville’s tourney uses a modified “silver stick” scoring system that awards up to 13 points a game. The most a team can win in pool play is 39 points; usually 25 points or more is good enough to advance either as pool champion or as wild card.

Anoka is favored to win the host’s Blaze pool, beating Minneapolis, Hastings and Burnsville. A wild card stretch would be either the Storm or Burnsville. The key game for the Tornadoes should be against Hastings.

In the second pool, Blaine’s performance in Friday’s games against Forest Lake and Rosemount will likely set the stage for pool determining winner. The key game should be the Bengals/Forest Lake game. Rosemount and Apple Valley have some talent at forward and could be a pool surprise. The Rangers and the Bengals both have tired in early season games, but at Burnsville, either one could win the pool and either one is most likely to take the wild card Forest Lake has the edge and wins this pool.

The third pool matches three tough teams and Rochester Black. The Black is Rochester’s D9 PeeWee A entry and is what some people would call an A-2 team. Early in the season, the Black may feel overmatched. It looks like it at Thanksgiving time. Andover’s Saturday draw has them playing Roseville in the AM and Eastview in the PM. That swings the pool odds to the winner of Friday’s game between the Raiders and the Lightning. The Raiders have the edge.

On Championship Sunday, Anoka would play Blaine and Forest Lake would play Roseville. Anoka should take the championship, beating Forest Lake.

At the Super Rink on Friday, a fan can put his head on a swivel and watch four sheets of hockey games by walking a 100-foot circle. The PeeWee A tourney has Wayzata Gold playing the St. James Canadians in what will be the most interesting game on the Thanksgiving holiday. A Canadian PeeWee A team has played often in this tourney, played well, but has usually fell to the older, more physical Minnesota teams. That scenario has changed this year.

Wayzata Gold is one of two balanced Wayzata PeeWee A teams. They had a good game against Waconia a few weeks ago, but have struggled since, losing to Stillwater and Lakeville South.
The second game matches Mounds View and Champlin Park. The edge goes to the Mustangs playing in their own tourney, but Champlin Park has played well in the past few years in this tourney. In the semifinals, the Mustangs take the Gold in a tough, physical game.

The other bracket matches Irondale and Mankato. The Knights won their first four games and will be coming out of a tough Spring Lake Park tourney the week before. The Mavericks won their season opener and will have hosted their own tourney two weeks before. The edge goes to Irondale.

Armstrong and Denfeld lock up in the last game of the opening round. Armstrong is coming out of the Spring Lake Park tourney, Denfeld out of the Superior tourney. Toughest call of the holiday, but the edge goes to Denfeld. That sets up a Maroon and Gold game in the semifinals with Irondale taking the Hunters. In the Super Rink championship game, the two hosts should battle with Mounds View beating the Knights.

Hopkins has a tough tourney this year. The upper bracket has the host Royals playing Rogers and it is a coin flip. Rogers gets the call. The second game matches Waconia and Jefferson. They played a week ago, Waconia winning 4-1. Waconia should beat the Jags again and should go on to beat Rogers in the semifinals.

In the lower bracket, Centennial and Orono meet in the first game. Centennial has played well in the early season and surprised people, but Orono is also good this year and could surprise the Cougars. It will be a close game. The Cougars should win and Woodbury should beat St. Louis Park, but don’t be surprised if the Orioles advance. Centennial takes Woodbury to advance to the championship game, but an Orono/SLP semifinal would not be a surprise. Waconia takes the championship, beating Centennial.

Eden Prairie hosts 15 teams in its turkey day tourney. They have four pools; North, South, East and West. In the South pool, Minnetonka and STMA look to battle it out for the No. 1 seed. OMG is a threat, but would have to beat those two teams in their first two games to advance. Lakeville North, the fourth pool team, has struggled in the early season. In a tough call, Tonka advances to Championship Sunday.

In the East pool, Elk River looks to dominate, while Stillwater and Edina are threats. The Elks should beat the Ponies in the single game on Friday and will play Edina in the second Saturday game. Edina has lost to the Elks and Stillwater this season. The fourth team in the East, Eagan has struggled in the early season.

In the West pool, two of the best teams in the state are matched, Lakeville South and Prior Lake. Both teams should open with wins in their single games on Friday, South beating Wayzata Blue and Prior Lake beating the Rochester Red. Then Lakeville South and Prior Lake play in a morning game. The West pool will be decided by who plays best at 7 a.m., on Saturday. In a tough call, the nod goes to Prior Lake.

The North pool matches Eden Prairie, Chaska, Farmington and White Bear Lake. Eden Prairie should sweep all three games. Farmington’s defense could slow the Eagles down. The Tigers forwards have improved but will it be enough? White Bear Lake has speed and great stickhandling skills, but the Bears were frustrated by good defensive positioning by North St. Paul last week in a game last week. Chaska lost to Eden Prairie a week ago in D6 action, 11-2.

On Championship Sunday, Eden Prairie and Minnetonka should meet in one semifinal game, Elk River and Prior Lake in the other. These are evenly matched teams; the nod here goes to Tonka and Prior Lake with Prior Lake taking the championship game. One side note, if Edina can edge the Elks in their pool play, it could be an all-D6 championship semifinals.

Another Way to Look at PeeWee A Hockey - October 20

2011-10-20T10:05:00.000-05:00

This is part two of a pre-season preview of Minnesota’s PeeWee A hockey for this year.

By frederick61

District 9: Last year D9 allowed the Rochester Association’s top PeeWee team (the Red) to play an independent schedule and then D9 allowed the Red to come back into the district to be eligible to play for the state tourney. They were seeded #1 in D9 and proceeded to beat their D9 opponents handily and take the #1 seed to the South Regional where they were beaten soundly by Lakeville North 6-1 and Lakeville South 5-3 to end their season.

The Rochester Association has continued to seek dominance at the youth levels by placing all their best players on a single team and then working hard to get them the best competition. It has not paid off at the high school level. The association supports four high schools.

Last year, in Section 1AA, Rochester Century beat Rochester Mayo 4-3 in a quarterfinal game and then lost to Lakeville North 7-0. Rochester Marshall lost to Farmington 6-1. In Section 1A, Rochester Lourdes fared better beating St. Peter 11-0, Red Wing 4-2 and New Prague 2-0 to go to state. There, Lourdes lost to Hibbing 4-0, beat Alexandria 7-0 and lost to Breck 4-2.

When you have one top team that produces 12 kids or so a year and have to split the kids by four high schools, it is hard for each high school to compete. What is sad is that the Rochester has supported the association well, providing six sheets of indoor ice.

This past week, 80 or so Rochester PeeWee age kids tried out for traveling. D9 has decided the following: “League Structure Pertaining to Rochester Red Teams (2 – 2 point games or 1 – 4 point game): M/S/P to allow Rochester Red to play an independent schedule and be seeded by District Director for districts (Red Wing/Faribault).”

Rochester Association has decided the following: “PeeWees- PeeWee A Red -Metro team and PeeWee A Black - District team; PeeWee B Red and Black - Metro Teams and PeeWee B White - District team; PeeWee B2 Red, Black and White - District teams.”

The beat goes on. It appears that Rochester will enter one team in D9 called the Black which will have players ranked 15-30. Rochester will enter one team called the White in D9 PeeWee B which will have players ranked 60-75. They will have one PeeWee A Metro team (top 15 players) and two PeeWee B Metro teams (players ranked 31-60). This, they believe, will develop youth hockey in their area.

This year, Albert Lea will field two teams, an A and a B team, and will be fortunate if they have 25 players to choose from. The Rochester Red PeeWee A’s will most likely soundly beat Albert Lea this year at the PeeWee level. But equally likely, Albert Lea will most likely beat the Rochester High Schools this year in the Big 9 Conference – as the Tigers did last year.

This year, two D9 teams will play in the North Regional, along with three teams from D4 and D6. Most likely, D4 will surrender one or two of their seeds to either D6 or D9. Besides Albert Lea, Mankato and Northfield will be skating A level teams. Both teams had a good season last year with each winning a division crown. Northfield went on to make the South Regional and played well in pushing D8 teams before losing. Mankato came up a game short of the South Regional. Like Rochester Red, they lost to Lakeville South. Owatonna struggled early in the season and then put a nice win streak together that took them to the South Regional.

Dodge County also had some good play in season tourneys last year. They will be playing A level again this year. Austin appears to be fielding an A level team also. New Ulm and Faribault round out what should be a nine-team field this year.

In January, there is a chance to “re-district” with Minnesota Hockey. D9 should let Rochester go their way. Let them be an independent association. That is what they want. On the other hand, the Rochester Association could try and get the city fathers to pull up stakes and move the Rochester 50 miles north. Rosemount and Inver Grove Heights probably would object, but the U of M has some nice land that maybe available.

District 10: And the world of change never ends. In D10 this year, it appears the AA fever has hit. This year D10 will implement AA at the bantam level only. It will be interesting to watch how it works out. Last year at the bantam level, D10 had 8 A teams, 16 B1 teams, and 18 B2 teams. Now those teams will be split along AA/A, B1 and B2. Blaine is fielding one AA team with two B1 teams and one B2 team. Centennial is fielding one A team, one B1 team, and three B2 teams. Elk River is fielding one A team, two B1 teams and one B2 teams. That totals 13 teams (3 AA/A teams, 5 B1 teams, and 5 B2 teams). Last year these three associations fielded 12 bantam teams (3 A teams, 4 B1 teams, and 5 B2 teams).

D10 does not have a Bantam C league (only D2, D3, D5, D6, and D8 have Bantam C). The principle question, eventually, is will an Elk River or Blaine be permitted to have a AA, A, and B1 teams or will they only be able to field AA, B1 and B2 teams. It won’t happen initially, but could in the out years once the precedent is set. If the associations not skating bantam A today do not skate bantam A once this new level kicks in (and have to join the AA teams in a single D10 league), then the idea fails. That will take more than a one year trial period to figure out.

In either case, the intent of the new rule is to provide more opportunities at the A level for kids to participate in an A level tourney. The initial approach divides the A level teams into two tourneys. This will result in no impact to the Elk River, Centennial, and Blaine associations. Their three A teams will play AA or A and will have the opportunity to play in two tourneys. But their 22 B teams will play in one state tourney. That will be a problem.

This year, D10 will send two teams to the North Regional to join three teams from D11 and D12. Last year, Elk River peewee A team played a number of early season opponents outside of D10 and few D10 games. The Elks then strung a series of 20 D10 wins together to pull away from the field only to be almost caught by Centennial. They won the regular season championship by one point. Blaine and Rogers finished third and fourth. Blaine always has a strong physical team, Rogers program has been steadily improving.

Champlin Park, Anoka, Spring Lake Park, and Princeton rounded out the top 8 teams and made the D10 playoffs. The Elks swept the playoffs to take the #1 seed, but Centennial was upended by Blaine in the semifinals and eventually lost to Anoka in the game for the #3 seed. Blaine took the #2 seed. Elk River and Blaine made it to the state tourney.

Anoka had a good season but couldn’t get by White Bear Lake in the regionals. Spring Lake Park started well losing to Anoka in the finals of their own tourney in November. Champlin Park entered two tourneys late in the season and ended up playing Centennial three times in both tourneys. The Rebels lost. They played Centennial twice in D10 at the end of the year. They lost. Then they were eliminated in the D10 playoffs by Centennial. It was a quirky schedule the last month of the season for the Rebels.

Princeton came on strong at the end of the season, but fell short in the D10 playoffs losing to Champlin Park in overtime. They will not be fielding an A team this year.

Irondale in their first D10 season surprised everybody by leading the league for the first month. The Knights had a good year. Andover made the state two years ago, but failed to make the D10 playoffs last year. Coon Rapids played well in the Orono tourney in December and St. Francis had success in some year ending tourneys.

District 11: D11 covers the Duluth area. The D11 association’s field 5-6 peewee A teams each year joined by a Superior Peewee A team. This looks to be unchanged this year even though Cloquet, Duluth East, Hermantown, and Proctor will be joined by Duluth Denfield. It appears that the new “Hunters” are the formerly the Duluth Lakers? Duluth East is already to roll and will be playing D12 teams next week. Last year the Greyhounds had an up and down season and that ended with two straight loses to D2 teams in the East Regional (White Bear Lake and Tartan).

Hermantown came close to making the state tourney in the East Regional, beating Anoka and Blaine before losing 3-2 to Elk River in the championship game. Blaine then eliminated the Hawks in the #2 seed game 2-0 to end their season.

Cloquet showed some early season spark, won the D11 regular season title, but failed to make it out of the D11 playoffs. Duluth Denfield/Duluth Lakers had an off year after playing well the prior seasons. The Proctor Rails (no they are not named after the bird, but after the rails the iron ore trains ride on) are always the sentimental favorite. They played well at times. Last year, they hosted the Wisconsin Fire in their yearend tourney-the last tourney in which the now demised Fire team played.

This year D11 sends 3 teams to the North regional. They will be joined at the regional by 3 D12 teams and 2 D10 teams. That means there will be a lot of action between D10 and the Port City and Iron Range teams as the teams sort themselves out over the season.

District 12: D12 covers Grand Rapids and the Iron Range. That’s because the Rangers don’t acknowledge the Thunderhawks as “Rangers”. They never drove cars with red dirt caked on the sides.

But the Thunderhawks have been stealing all the “thunder” in D12 for the past few years. Last year, Grand Rapids went into a January funk at the Roseau tourney getting beat badly. They came back to sweep through the D12 playoffs, but their chances looked dim at the north regional especially after losing the opening game to Bemidji. The Thunderhawks came back to beat Bemidji to take the #2 seed to the state. At the state tourney, they pushed a great Farmington team to three overtimes before losing 3-2 in the opening round game.

D12 has one change this year; Eveleth-Gilbert has merged with Mesabi East. Greenway may not field an A team. If that happens, D12 would have 5 teams (Grand Rapids, Hibbing, Virginia, International Falls, and E-G/Mesabi East).

Hibbing struggled last year early on, but put it together at the years end to make it to the north regional also. At the regional, they surprised Thief River Falls 4-3 in the opening game, but lost the next two to end their season. Virginia squeaked by Mesabi East to make the regional, but ended up losing to Bemidji and Fergus Falls to end their season.

The real questions in D12 is “when’s that Nashwauk steel plant coming on line” or “how about the possible plants in the Aurora/Hoyt Lakes area”? Come on government regulators, the Range needs hockey players.

District 15: D15 went split personality last year when Moorhead went with two unbalanced A teams and then had their A2 Orange team forfeit their two D15 games to the A1 Black. What the A1 Black team forgot is that a forfeited game means that you also lose your “unfairplay” point. Add another forfeit late in the season to the Black win total and a potential late season forfeit and the Black’s D15 title was suddenly on the line. Not because they lost a D15 game, but because of forfeits. That also created a discussion on how the “unfairplay” point would work in a 4-point league game where two teams would play each other only once (D15 ruled that only one “unfairplay” point can be won thus turning the single game into a 5 point game). Such is youth hockey with too many adults.

Alexandria was the team that threatened the Moorhead Black. Unfortunately a late season loss cost them the opportunity to catch the Black. The Cardinals will host the State Tourney this year in the Runestone Community Center. The Center is named after the Kensington Runestone discovered in the Alexandria area over a 100 years ago.

Most people initially debunked the stone as a phony because they thought it had to be brought there by the Vikings. But recently new information has the Runestone being placed as marker by the Knights Templar who fled Europe after being ousted by the Catholic Church. They could have hidden the “chalice” in the Alexandria area. Maybe Dan Brown needs to write another book with Tom Hanks walking the streets of Alex. Alex has a Runestone Museum located at the tip of the….

D15 allows their associations a lot of flexibility in determining if they will field an A level team each year. In addition to the two Moorhead teams and Alex; Brainerd, Detroit Lakes, and Fergus Falls should field A teams. But after that, it is a guess. Little Falls, Park Rapids, Northern Lakes (Crosby and Pequot Lakes), Prairie Centre (Long Prairie and Sauk Centre), and Wadena have fielded A teams over the past 3 years.

In 2008, the Little Falls peewee A team made the state tourney. They sort came out of nowhere and just beat everybody up. Last year the bulk of that peewee team placed second in the Central Lakes Conference, winning 20 games, and they were the #1 seed in Section 6A. Little Falls has the best won/lost winning percentage in high school hockey over the last 5 years.

District 16: D16 covers the northwestern corner of the state. Over the past few years, D16 peewee A has been a two team race between East Grand Forks and Roseau with at least one (and sometimes both) making the state tourney. That left the other teams scrambling for the district’s #3 seed to the regional.

It changed last year. Bemidji and Thief River Falls dominated the league and the two teams took two seeds to the North Regional. East Grand Forks and Roseau had to scrap for the third seed. EGF won. The Prowlers eliminated EGF at the regionals, but neither TRF nor Bemidji could get by Grand Rapids. Bemidji played well all year and looked to be a state tourney entrant before being eliminated by Grand Rapids 3-2 in the North Regional game for the #2 seed.

Crookston played had some good games last year and proved to be tough. Warroad and Red Lake Falls round out the D16 league this year. This year, D16 team has only two seeds to the West Regional. So it will be a battle for one of those seeds especially since the West Regional looks so wide open. D15 and D5 will be sending three teams each.

One of the better Peewee A tourneys held every year is Bemidji’s Paul Bunyan Tourney. This year Bemidji, Crookston, and Roseau are entered. They will be joined by D5 top contenders last year, St. Cloud and STMA; and D15 perennial top contender, Brainerd. It should provide an interesting preview of the West Regional. Three weeks later, Roseau hosts their tourney and for the past few years have drawn the top teams in the state and pitted them against D16 teams. Roseau’s tourney should provide an interesting preview of the state tourney if they get the same teams they had last year.

November is almost here! So let’s play hockey.

Another Way to Look at PeeWee A Hockey - October 13

2011-10-13T10:48:00.002-05:00

By frederick61

It is tryout time this October. And it has been a warm and sunny month, making it harder to be inside the ice arena watching the process. But if a parent can’t watch their kid tryout, they can enjoy the colorful fall days.

This could be the last year of the current state tourney. The PeeWee level (A, B1, B2 and C) structure will change next year to AA, A, B and C. In January 2012, Minnesota Hockey will decide on how to change the PeeWee playoffs to AA, A, B and C. Some people think that there is some advantage to modeling the youth structure along the lines of the Minnesota High Schools, requiring an association in a AA high school area to play AA hockey; and allowing an association in a A high school area to play AA or A.

It would force the AA designated associations to take the same tryout process used for the 60 or so kids this year and use the same tryout process next year to designate 60 or so kids AA, A, B and C. The AA and A teams would play in the same league since there would not be enough teams to have two leagues per district. At some point in the year, someone would have to split the AA and A teams would into two tourneys. The suggested date would be July 2012.
Such foolishness. It is 11-12 year kids learning to play a sport. No thought has been given to what happens at the B level. With B level teams (B1, B and B2) being far more numerous than the 100 or so PeeWee AA/A teams, why not add a B level tourney to increase youth participation in the playoffs? The B1/B could be combined and the B2 (C?) combined for three tourneys. Currently, the B2/C levels have little in year-end playoffs. But maybe that makes too much sense.

This year the PeeWee A/B state tourney will be played at Alexandria. The host Cardinals have played well in the past few years. But Moorhead has proven tough in the D15 playoffs the past two years. The West Regional winners will come from D5, D15, and D16. Still it would be nice to see the Cardinals playing in the state on their home ice; it would pack their arena.

District 1: This was the old TC District a few years ago. As the level of interest inside the Twin Cities dropped, D1 has evolved to a Mite, Squirt and PeeWee C league where outdoor ice is used to help keep costs down. It acts as a feeder to the Minneapolis Storm, Highland Capitals, etc. The emphasis is on development, not traveling hockey. D1 has one nice tourney in January open to all C-level Squirt teams. It is hosted by Edgecombe and played outdoors in St. Paul.

District 2: Hudson, D2’s third-place finisher in 2010-11, is gone this year. They have returned to play Wisconsin Association Hockey. It looks like North St. Paul will field an A PeeWee team after a year’s absence. With Highland Park in the league, there will likely be nine D2 PeeWee A teams. D2 will send two teams to the East Region to play three D3 entries and three D8 entries.

D2 always produces a balanced set of teams. Last March, in the D2 playoffs, only one of the top three Minnesota teams in the regular season (Roseville, Stillwater, White Bear Lake) made it to the North Regionals. Cellar dweller Mahtomedi and an invisible Tartan team (hope they post their scores this year) upset Roseville and Stillwater to take two of D2’s three seeds.

Still, Roseville, Stillwater and White Bear Lake always place in the top 4 or 5 spots in D2’s regular season. But this is a tough league since all of the D2 teams have played in a regional tourney the past few years. Mahtomedi, Tartan, Forest Lake and Mounds View played some great PeeWee hockey at times last year. Highland Park, after being in the regionals three years running, had an off year. And so enter the Polars from North St. Paul. This is always a fun league to watch.

District 3: This district is to be admired. Three years ago, because of the disintegration of the high school Classic Lake Conference, D3 was losing associations. Their PeeWee A teams were down to six and dwindling. But they stepped up and made some interesting changes by first inviting the Minneapolis associations to play. That move added Washburn and Southwest/St. Louis Park (or Minneapolis Park) teams at the PeeWee A level.

Last year they added two D5 teams, Crow River and Mound Westonka to the D3 PeeWees and got a bonus when St. Louis Park fielded an A team. However, D3 lost two teams when Washburn combined with Minneapolis Park to form the Minneapolis Storm (Park stood for St. Louis Park) and North Metro did not field an A PeeWee team. The D3 PeeWee A league last year had nine teams, Wayzata, Osseo/Maple Grove, Minneapolis Storm, Crow River, St. Louis Park, Mound/Westonka, Orono, Armstrong Cooper and Hopkins. Without making changes, they would have had only five teams.

Before the changes, Wayzata, OMG and Hopkins dominated play. Two years ago, Wayzata and OMG dominated D3. Last year, it looked as though those two teams would dominate again. But as the D3 season closed, both Wayzata and OMG were being pushed by the Storm, Crow River and Armstrong/Cooper.

This year Wayzata is planning to field two balanced A teams this year. Balanced is the “operative” word here, meaning the top Wayzata players will be split evenly between the two teams, unlike what Rochester and Moorhead did last year. Rochester fielded three A teams, but put their top players on one team; Moorhead fielded two A teams and put their top players on one team. Then both Rochester and Moorhead set a season schedule where they would not have to play the other A team.

D3 should be a 10-team league this year. They will send three D3 teams to the East Regional to join two D2 teams and three D8 teams.

The general feeling this year is that with Wayzata having two balanced teams, D3 should be a more balanced league. But Wayzata’s association has been stable in the support they give their teams. That consistency has been one of the reasons all their teams (not just PeeWee A teams) play well. With strong support and good coaching, it would not be surprising to see two Wayzata teams playing for the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the D3 playoffs in February.

District 4: As a result of D9 being formed, D4 went from being a 12-team PeeWee A league two years ago to a three-team no league last year. Only Luverne, Redwood Area and Marshall fielded teams. This year, Mason City, Iowa, is joining D4 to give them four teams, but a fifth would be nice. Sleepy Eye has combined with New Ulm the past years and likely to do the same this year. That leaves Fairmont, Windom and Worthington as candidates.

What is interesting about D4 is that this district’s associations make up the bulk of the Southwest high school conference (Morris is the only non-D4 high school in the conference). They share Section 3A with D5 teams from Litchfield, Hutchinson and New Ulm and have been only one or two games away from making the state tourney.

The D4 associations work hard to keep their youth costs down. It would be good to see one of their youth teams or one of the Southwest Conference high school teams make a run this year.

Luverne dominated D4 last year and was the sole D4 team in the regional tourney. The South Regional will be tough this year. D4 has three seeds to the South, but they have to play three D6 teams and two D9 teams. D9 and D6 should be courting D4 for an extra seed.

District 5: D5 changed going into last year. They lost two associations, Crow River and Mound/Westonka to D3, but gained St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids, and Becker/Big Lake. That turned the regular D5 season into a two horse race between St. Cloud and STMA. The regular season championship was on line when the two teams met in the middle of January. St. Cloud won 2-1. The Knights had another shot at St. Cloud a month later. But they overlooked a tough River Lakes team at home and lost 2-1. That eliminated them from the championship.

D5 will send 3 teams to the West regional this year. Teams from D15 (3) and D16 (2) will join them.

D5 spawns more high school state tourney contenders than one would think. Litchfield, Hutchinson, Willmar, and Sartell all came within a goal of winning their sectionals last spring. St. Cloud divides into multiple high schools and those high schools did not fare as well with one exception. Last year, #9 seeded St. Cloud Apollo beat #1 seeded Little Falls in Section 6 by a score of 3-1 in what was the biggest upset at the A level last year.

This year D5 should have 10 peewee A teams in their league. There are a number of questions to be answered though. The top one is will St. Cloud and STMA dominate again. But another one is will the numbers remain high enough for the Willmars and Litchfields to field competitive teams? Will a Sartell, River Lakes, or a MALM emerge like STMA has to take on the field? Has Buffalo found its stride in the new D5 to dominate as they did three years ago?

A year ago at the Spring Lake Park tourney, kids from Sauk Rapids really showed a lot of poise by playing a good team concept in November. Will the Storm be returning enough players to step up? D5 is really an unknown at this point as to who will emerge as champ.

District 6: Among the 13 districts, D6 is the one most feared or most hated. Any D6 team playing in any tourney is going to take on extra pressure as teams outside D6 love to hang a D6 win on the schedule. It’s a badge of honor. This year, D6 will send 3 teams to the South Regional playing teams from D4 and D9. With D4 having 3 seeds, look for D6 or D9 to pick up extra seeds.

For the past three years, the D6 regular season has been like a cook following a recipe. In the opening months, Edina looks the world beater, Eden Prairie knocks around, Burnsville stays home and wins, and Minnetonka gets beat bad a couple of times (just enough to say the Skippers aren’t good this year). Prior Lake just grinds it out. Jefferson struggles, Shakopee has a good opening month and Kennedy surprises a few teams.

Then Thanksgiving and Christmas tourneys hit and after the first of the year, Burnsville is on top and threatening to run away with the title, Eden Prairie has surprised a few people including Edina, and the Hornets are good enough (but not good enough for most). It becomes a three way race and the Skippers are there threatening to upset the apple cart. Prior Lake keeps grinding away.

In early February, Burnsville is hanging on to the lead with now four teams snapping at their skates. Particularly hard on the Blaze are usually Minnetonka and Prior Lake. Eden Prairie and Edina dual in a year ending two game set and “wow”, Burnsville, Edina, and Eden Prairie finish 1-2-3 or 2-1-3 or 3-2-1. The Skippers fall and Prior Lake keeps grinding away.

Edina or Eden Prairie eliminates Burnsville in the regional and Edina makes it to the state tourney semifinals. The Hornets have won the state title the last two years. This is their “three-peat” year.

It would be nice to see a change to the recipe this year. Burnsville may have that opportunity. They host the South Peewee A/B regional this year. Perhaps Prior Lake can make that move also; they have played well on Burnsville’s home ice.

District 8: Last year D8 had a twelve team league. It should be a 13 team league this year with Cottage Grove fielding an A team. The only other change is this year South St. Paul will lead the co-op effort between Inver Grove Heights and South St. Paul. D8 will send 3 teams to the East regional to join teams from D3 (3) and D2 (2). This will be a tough regional tourney.

Last year two teams emerged to take the D8 laurels all the way to the state tourney final four. Rosemount lost to Wayzata in the semifinals 4-1 and Farmington lost a tough championship game to Edina 7-3 in front of a packed crowd at BIG.

Farmington looks to be tough again this year and should retain their outstanding defense. Rosemount’s last year’s peewee class (ended up contending for both Peewee A and B state titles) is gone. The Irish will be in a re-vamping mode. Woodbury finished in third in regular season play last year and looked like a lock to make it to the regionals. But Lakeville North surprised them and ended their season. The two Lakevilles (North and South) both made it to the regionals last year. South ended Eastview’s hopes in the D8 playoffs and look to provide the main the D8 competition for Farmington this year. South has a number of returning players and may have one of the best peewee players in the state.

Apple Valley and Eastview moved from D6 to D8 last year. Apple Valley struggled and Eastview played in the middle of the pack and came close to making the regionals. Johnson/Como will be fielding a team; their kids won an international tourney this summer. Cottage Grove has 60 or so kids trying out for their peewee A team (some of them maybe kids who go to East Ridge and skated Woodbury last year). Sibley (or West St. Paul) had a good year end run, but came up short against Eastview in the D8 playoffs. Hastings always starts slow because they usually select their team around November 1 or later. The two Lakevilles moved their tryouts back to mid-October this year.

D8 would appear to be wide open this year. Farmington and Lakeville South look to be in the top, but they appear to be teams of opposing strengths; Farmington defensive should be strong and Lakeville South’s offense should be strong. Lakeville North, Woodbury, Eastview and Cottage Grove could be in the mix.

D9-D16 will be covered in the next issue of Let’s Play Hockey.

A few months ago at Shattuck, they had a promotional event. A peewee kid from Owatonna made an 89 foot shot through a hole no larger than the puck. It was an amazing shot. He should have won a $50,000 prize. But the Nevada company insuring the promotion (the payee) refused to pay the kid because his twin brother who was outside playing should have taken the shot. The Nevada company generously donated $20,000 to Minnesota hockey instead of giving the price to the peewee kid. But the Nevadans learned a lesson, give a Minnesota peewee kid a stick and he will find a way to score.

Minnesota's Best PeeWee A Players

2011-03-30T12:33:00.002-05:00

By frederick61 The 2010-11 season is over and this is the final post. It recognizes kids for their play this past year and that is important to understand. A single good year does not make a future “NHLer” or a D1 college player. Time does. Still when a kid does well, they should be recognized. I want to start out with an apology. There are teams that I did not see at all this year. My apologies go out to the kids on these teams. The majority of the teams that I did not see were teams in the northern part of the state. For example, the only D16 teams that I saw were Roseau and Bemidji. The other five teams I didn’t see. In D12, I saw Grand Rapids and Hibbing play, but not the others. In D15, I saw Moorhead and Alexandria. Still, I saw all the D2, D3, D4, D6, D8, D9, and D10 teams more than once with the exception of Redwood Falls (D4) and St. Francis (D10). Finally, I saw the majority of the D5 teams play, but some only once. If a kid is on this list, he has to have outstanding hockey skills. That is my first criteria. I have seen hundreds of kids this year. The kids on this list caught my attention because of their play. The list is divided into three groups. The first group is limited to 10 players or less. This year, eight players made the first group. The second group is not limited by numbers. The first two groups are second-year PeeWees (to the best of my understanding), the third group consists of first-year PeeWees that will return next year. All kids listed played PeeWee A level last season. The difference between the first group and the second group is the level of maturity shown by the kid when he plays the game. This is a subjective measure and has evolved over time. The best example of “level of maturity” is Mark Parrish as a PeeWee. He was never that flashy, but goalies I knew that had to play against Jefferson in the late 1980s always rated him as the toughest player because he was “always there making the right play” and he never “blew his cool”. To me, the “level of maturity” is the most important criteria and kids often forget that as they complete a great play that results in an outstanding goal. My belief is that kids with level head thinking and understanding of the game are the most likely become future stars. These kids understand the game and how to apply the skills they have to make themselves successful. Goalies are included in the lists. This year only two made the lists. All the kids listed have superior hockey skills. They all have stood out from hundreds of other players. But to the kids who didn’t make this list, I have a reminder. It is only PeeWee hockey. Next year you will 3 to 4 inches taller and who knows what list you will make as a Bantam. Finally, one important thing to understand, I don’t know these kids personally. If I were to meet them off the ice, I wouldn’t know them or recognize them. Top PeeWee A players in the state (2010-11) Group One: 1. #13 Farmington - He made this list last year and led the Tigers this year. He is an “everything” defenseman in that whatever has to be done on the ice, he does it. Good size and fast and very mature in his play. 2. #14 Farmington - He also made this list last year (different number). When #13 wasn’t on the ice, he was. And together the two were the anchors of a strong defensive wall that led the Tigers to a 50-win season. He was big last year and grew this year. 3. #15 Elk River - If #13 for Farmington is an “everything” defenseman, then #15 for Elk River is an “everything” center and that makes him a great center. He has size and skill that complements a good work ethic on the ice. 4. #2 Grand Rapids - Another tough center/wing with size. He is a smart player along the boards with the ability to keep the puck going forward under pressure. He had a great goal against Elk River in the state tourney where he took a hard shot from the top of the right faceoff circle, followed his shot to the goal and rapped in a rebound after it trickled off the goalie’s right side. 5. #2 Sibley - A hard-skating center that started the season trying to carry the load for his line and ended up being frustrated in his early season games. He matured and developed over the season and ended leading an improved Sibley team in the D8 playoffs. He has great skills and good size to which he has added game situation awareness. 6. #16 Woodbury - A kid that plays a hard-checking wing that constantly tied up the opposition in the corners and came out to set up teammates in front of the net. He is a ferocious backchecker that ran down opposition breakaways and made them pay when he caught up with them. 7. #33 Blaine - Early in the season this Blaine goalie showed that he had the skills, but his play at the state tourney was focused and showed the kind of leadership that a goalie can contribute to the team. 8. #8 Edina - Early in the season, he and #23 carried the Edina offense and scored on some terrific passing. Though smaller, he is a smart heady player who can score. But more importantly, he knows how get his team a score. At the West Regional, in three games, he had four goals and five assists. Those stats show the ability he has to adjust his play to help the team. And he helped them to the state title. That puts him in this group. Group 2 1. #4 Woodbury - A skillful center that plays a hard-nosed game that will serve him well at the next level. A clever shooter and a great puck handler last year, he has added more game awareness to his repertoire. He will be an exciting player to watch as he matures. 2. #3 Farmington - A tough center with an aggressive forecheck that always came off the bench hunting for the puck. He had great range in chasing down the puck, aggressive play in establishing Farmington’s offense low in the opponent’s zone, and could score when needed. 3. #23 Edina - During the championship game, this forward leaped around a good Farmington defenseman lifting the butt end of his stick over the Farmington players head while maintaining control of the puck. The Farmington defenseman was upright at the time. It was a great move and it resulted in a clean break on the Farmington net and a goal. He has one of the hardest, most accurate shots in the state at this level and is a great goal scorer. He really improved his overall play over the year. 4. #12 Farmington - It took an injury to one of the Farmington defensemen to push this kid into the spotlight. He was always a good wing and goal scorer, but he was pressed into playing defense for the Tigers in the Regional and State tourneys. He played a great defense for the Tigers. He has good puckhandling skills, but excels in backchecking and working the puck offensively or defensively out of the corners. 5. #7 Rosemount - A smaller center with great offensive skills and plenty of speed. He was the cornerstone of a very fast set of forwards that drove the Irish to the state semifinals. He has a great shot with a quick release and great awareness in the offensive zone. 6. #6 Wayzata - He is almost identical in skill level and style of play as #7 for Rosemount. He is also a smaller center with great offensive skills and speed. He singlehandedly destroyed Elk River in the state tourney quarterfinals, scoring 3 of the Trojans' 4 goals and assisting on the fourth. 7. #4 Northfield - A steady defenseman for the Raiders whose play kept Northfield in the close games and triggered a number of their attacks. 8. #11 St. Louis Park - He lacks size, but plays a great center for the Orioles. He was on the list last year as a first year. A heady player that works all over the ice and constantly is checking, taking the puck and setting up his teammates. 9. #23 Prior Lake - Another big defenseman in a year where there were a number of big, skilled defensemen. Great passing skills and opportunist when scoring, he can control the game flow when he is “on.” He dominated a mid-season D6 game with Edina that ended in a 1-1 tie by eliminating the breakout on Edina’s trapping style of play. 10. #30 Grand Rapids - This kid looks like the prototype of an old-time goalie, stubby and athletic. Showed great skills at the state tourney in keeping the Rapids in their game with Farmington and made the outstanding save of the tourney in the Rapids win over Elk River. 11. #19 Eden Prairie - A hard-skating, big center for the Eagles that provided a lot of the scoring, usually off a rugged rush. He always attracted the opponent’s attention. He has a great, quick, hard shot that goalies find difficulty in reacting to and stopping. 12. #15 Woodbury - He is a big winger that played defense part of the season. A growing kid who plays the game with dedication and focus, he has great passing skills, a hard shot, and works hard in the corner. 13. #8 Woodbury - A kid who played wing, center, and defense for Woodbury. He has good size, good skating and stickhandling abilities, but his forte is as a playmaker at wing or center, something that is rare. 14. #20 Burnsville - Another big center that provided scoring punch for the Blaze. Very athletic with good puckhandling skills and an aggressive style of play, he was one of the reasons the Blaze won the D6 regular season title and at one point was 24-0 on the season. 15. #10 Roseville - He is one of those players that look good skating and solid in his overall play, but he is one of those kids with an instinct for scoring. He is one reason why Roseville won the D2 regular season title this year. 16. #15 Edina - This kid found his stride as the Hornets season ended. For the first part of the season, he played a good defense for the Hornets. A kid with good size, strong puck control and a good hard shot; he found another gear in January and became the fastest skater on a team of fast skaters. The best compliment on his play came during the State Championship game when a Farmington fan asked if the kid lying on the ice was #15 because “the Tigers really need that.” Group Three 1. Lakeville South #5 - Smart, smaller center with good skating and shooting skills who led a young Lakeville South team to the South Regional #2 seed game to the state tourney, losing to Rosemount. With him returning along with a number of other kids, the Hornets will be challenged. 2. Elk River #4 - A smooth skating center/wing that along with the Elks #6 gave Elk River a potent second line. His stickhandling is great and he has great hockey sense. 3. Forest Lake #6 - He is a young defenseman that plays tough defense first, but has that “scoring ability.” He is a kid to watch next year for the Rangers. 4. Elk River #6 - A smooth skating wing that is identical in size, style and play as the Elks #4. If he and #4 are returning first years (I didn’t get confirmation on that), the Elks will have a good year next year. 5. Eden Prairie #5 - This kid didn’t stand out until January when the Eagles beat Burnsville in a D6 game. He scored two late goals to win the game. He is a smaller kid with great hockey skills. 6. Eden Prairie #31 - It was hard not to miss this goalie. He really stonewalled Farmington early in the season to hand the Tigers one of their few regular season loses. In the West Regional, he gave up 10 goals in the four West Regional games the Eagles played (Wayzata twice, OMG, and Burnsville). A bigger goalie that is well schooled in the position and very athletic. So ends the 2010-11 season. I hope that you have enjoyed the posts and remind you that Let’s Play Hockey has kept all the posts online since the first post in early November. As a result, once you have figured out what region your district (hence team) played in, you have a sort of diary of your kid or your team’s hockey this past season. So it is now time to break out the baseball bats or soccer balls. Those tryouts should be starting. Have a good summer and until the 2011-12 season starts next November, I’ll just whisper it quietly. “Let’s Play Hockey.”

Another Way to Look at PeeWee A Hockey - March 23

2011-03-23T13:47:00.002-05:00

By frederick61

Next week will be the final post of the 2010-2011 season. Some have said this year was a little off in that the talent of the past few years seems less. But I doubt they would say that after attending this year’s state tourney. It was one of the best and though I thought the venue would be a little off from those of the past few years, it turned out to be a great choice. Congratulations to D6 and Bloomington for putting on a great tourney.

On a nice sunny Friday afternoon, eight teams met to contend in the opening round of the Minnesota Hockey PeeWee A State Tournament. The tourney was played at the Bloomington Ice Gardens on Rink 3, the Olympic size sheet.

The arena was packed for the opening Friday sessions, the semifinals and the final games. The Farmington fans especially turned out in numbers and really rooted their Tiger team onward.

It was great to see them cheer and their presence made the tourney great. At one time, during the Wayzata game, when the Tiger fans thought that a penalty should have been called on a Trojan player, they all raised their arm in unison. But for all the cheering and support the Tiger fans gave their team, they did it in a great team spirit. It was not negative.

The first game matched Wayzata and Elk River. The two teams had played each other once before on Championship Sunday of the Edina Tournament, the day after New Year’s Day. The Trojans won that game 4-3. Both the Trojans and the Elks came to Friday’s game having won 20 of their last 22 games. The Elks had dominated the East Region, winning three straight to take the #1 seed, Wayzata had to work hard in the West to take the #2 seed after losing their opening regional game to Eden Prairie 3-2.

The Trojans struck first early in the first period when a Wayzata center picked up the puck in a corner and swept around the net to beat the Elks' goalie on a low left corner wrap around shot. Both coaches had the same strategy in the first period, match their number one lines and skate them every other shift. But the Trojans' early goal was the only first period goal. Wayzata outshot Elk River by a margin of 2-1 in the first period.

In the second period, both coaches changed their lines and the play evened out. No team could dominate the play. Late in the second period the Elks scored on a neat passing play. An Elk forward picked up the puck on the blue line, skated parallel to the blue line until he found a passing lane to a forward down low to the right of the net. The goalie pulled over to face the forward as the pass came to his stick, but instead of shooting, the forward made a second quick pass to the second forward on the goalie’s left for an open net goal.

Wayzata went on a power play with under three minutes left in the second period. In pressing the attack, they lost track of the penalty time and an Elk forward made a leading pass to the Elk player coming out of the penalty box behind the Trojan defense. He scored the breakaway goal on a hard shot to the lower left side of the goalie to give the Elks a 2-1 lead at the end of the second period. Second period shots were even.

The third opened with the Elks scoring their third goal in the first minute of play off a deflected shot from the blue line. But the Trojans caught a break with less than 9 minutes to go when an Elk clearing attempt along the ice got caught in the ref’s skates. A Trojan forward gained control inside the blue line and fed a pass to a breaking center. He scored his second goal.

That got the Trojans going as they pressured the Elk defense inside their zone. They scored off a deflection to tie the game with less than six minutes to go. With just under two minutes left to play, the Trojans kept working hard. It resulted in keeping the play in the Elks' defensive zone. A pass from inside the blue line found an open wing and he put the puck in the net to score the winning goal. Final score 4-3, the same score the last time the two teams played.

Farmington and Grand Rapids played in the second game of the upper bracket early Friday evening. As good as the Wayzata/Elk River game was, it could not top the Farmington/Grand Rapids. That game went to three overtimes before the Tigers scored the winning goal.

The first period was a very physical game as both teams had their opportunities to score. The Tigers finally scored a power play goal in typical Tiger “mob” style. The Tigers got the puck low and pounded away on the goalie until the puck was in the net.

Action in the second period slowed. The refs were calling offside very closely. Farmington began to dominate the play as the period wore on, but could not score. The second period ended with the score 1-0, Farmington leading. The Tigers had held Grand Rapids to four shots on goals in the first two periods. The Grand Rapids goalie had an outstanding game.

Farmington continued to pressure the Grand Rapids defense in the third period. With just under two minutes to go in the game, the Thunderhawks tied the game 1-1 by banging in a rebound goal. That sent the game into a 5 minute stop time, 5 on 5, overtime. The Rapids hung on as Farmington pressured the Thunderhawks in their defensive zone and the first overtime ended 1-1.

The second overtime period was a five minute stop time period, 4 on 4. Again the Tigers pressured the Rapids in their own zone, but couldn’t get past the Thunderhawks’ goalie. On the Tigers one chance on nice setup that resulted in a Tiger forward shooting at an open net, he missed high.

After breaking to clean the ice, the third overtime period started, 10 minute stop time, 3 on 3. At the seven minute mark, Grand Rapids drew a penalty creating a 4-3 penalty kill situation for the Thunderhawks. Again the Tigers stormed the goalie, finally putting the winning goal in the net. The score was 2-1 in a well-played game for both teams.

Note that the tourney brochure did not specify the overtime situation; it called out the rule to be followed in the event of overtime. That left it to the adults to interpret and as the kids know, when it comes to youth hockey, adults will not interpret it correctly. In later overtime games, the format was changed.

Edina and Blaine met in the evening game. The Bengals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, Edina came back to cut the lead to 2-1 at the end of the first period. In the second period, the Hornets started to swarm with a trapping style of defense that sprung their forwards loose on a number of 2 on 1 rushes. They scored two goals with the last goal coming off a trade mark rush. Leading 3-2, the Hornets then drew a break when a Blaine forward attempting to clear the puck behind his net on a blind clearing pass, put the puck in his own net to give the Hornets a 4-2 lead.

Edina added another goal to take a 5-2 lead into the third period. The Bengals could not stop the 2 on 1 rushes in the third. They added two more goals to win 7-2.
The Hornets had at least 20 rushes into the Bengal zone with a least 2 on 1 advantage. At least half dozen players carried the puck into the zone on those rushes at one time or another. All of them used the extra rink width and looked to pass the puck first and shot the puck only when that was the best alternative. The Hornets played the game well and with discipline.

The final game Friday started late (after 9:00 pm). The delay was caused by two things; the Farmington/Grand Rapids triple overtime and delays after every re-surfacing caused by having to let the ice set.

Rosemount used their speed at forward on the larger rink to beat Moorhead Black. They consistently moved to the outside and found open spaces, the bigger Black forwards could never quite get the leverage needed to knock the smaller Irish forwards off the puck.

Still it was a close game. The first period ended 0-0. The Irish scored twice in the second period to take a 2-0 lead and won 4-0. The Black had their chances, especially if they could get the puck down low in the Rosemount zone. Once there, they used their size to tie-up the smaller Irish players in their zone.

The Irish still skated a mixed set of lines, playing only seven forwards. That slowed their offensive punch and resulted in more individual play.

Saturday matched Elk River and Grand Rapids in the opening game of the session. Both teams were coming off disappointing loses to play in one of the two loser goes home games in the state tourney under the new format.

Grand Rapids survived a slow start. The Elks applied pressure but could not score and the first period ended 0-0. The second period started out with a bang. The Elks opened the scoring when a low hard shot found its way into the Rapids net less than three minutes into the period.

Twenty seconds later, the Rapids tied the score 1-1 on a goal off a rebound when the goalie made the initial save on a hard shot from the top of the right faceoff circle. The puck dropped and slowed in the left side of the crease only to be knocked into the net by the same Rapids forward that took the initial slot. It happened in less than a second, the Rapids forward was really flying.

Two minutes later, the Elks regained the lead on a wraparound goal 2-1 that caught the goalie by surprise. The Elk’s forward accelerated on the wraparound as he went behind the net. The wraparound seemed to be the new fad this year.

In an unusual play late in the second period, the Thunderhawks put the puck on the net from center ice, and all five players skated off in a change. The goalie froze the puck expecting a whistle, but with no Rapids players on the ice, nothing happened while his five forwards waited for him to make a pass.

Grand Rapids had started to dominate the play as the second period ended. But after cleaning the ice, the third period got rolling with an Elk River power play goal on a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle that bounced weirdly off the underside of the upper part of the goalie’s stick and into the net.

With the Elks leading 3-1, the Rapids came back to cut the score to 3-2 with 10 minutes remaining. The goal was scored off a rebound when the goalie tried to trap a hard shot with his pads while on his knees.

Two minutes later the save of the game happened. The Grand Rapids goalie dove towards the right side of the slot to clear a loose puck, but the puck bounced weirdly and ended up on an Elk River player’s stick about five feet in front of the sprawled goalie. The Elk River player lifted the puck towards the open net over the goalie lying flat on his stomach. The goalie responded by kicking the puck to the left out of the net with one of his skates. Think about it.

Three minutes later, Grand Rapids tied the score 3-3 on a shot from the point that was tipped into the net. They scored the winning goal on a wraparound and added a 150 foot open netter to end the scoring. Grand Rapids beat Elk River 5-3 to send the Elks home.

The second game Saturday matched Blaine and Moorhead Black. It was the second loser goes home game. Both teams had taken tough loses in the opening round and it showed. Both teams came out flat and the first period ended in an eventless 0-0 tie.

The pace picked up in the second period and both teams had their scoring chances. But neither team could find the net. The second period ended with the score 0-0. The game was evenly played, the shots on goal after two periods, Blaine had 13 and the Black had 12.

After Blaine scored early in the third period, the Black came back late in the game to tie the score 1-1 and send the game into overtime. The tying Black goal came on a triple rebound shot as the Black stormed the Blaine goalie. Blaine won the game in overtime on a power play goal. The Blaine goalie had an outstanding game.

The opening game of the semifinals matched Wayzata and Farmington. In a bit of irony, after beating Elk River 4-3 in their only meeting earlier in the season, Wayzata lost to the Tigers 4-1 to get knock out of the Spirit of Duluth tourney. Now the Trojans were playing the same Tigers after beating the Elks 4-3 on Friday.
The two teams had been there before. And they played the best game of the tourney Saturday.

Both teams came to skate. In front of a packed crowd that one could have hung out the SRO (maybe) sign, they skated hard. Wayzata opened the scoring when a Trojan forward went left into the Farmington zone, put a shot on the net that rebounded to the right onto another breaking Trojan forward who drove the puck into the net.

That was the only first period goal. Farmington tied the score 1-1 with 10 minutes remaining in the second period when a Tiger forward picked up the puck in the corner of the Trojan’s zone and sprinted out in front of the sprawling Wayzata goalie to tuck the puck in the far corner of the net.

Wayzata came back a minute later to score a power play goal and take a 2-1 lead. They scored on a hard shot from the blue line that was timed with a forward coming into screen the goalie as the shot was fired. It was a nice play.

Farmington came back to tie the score 2-2 with two minutes left in the second period. The goal came of a hard shot from the slot that trickled through the goalie’s pads and into the net.

The first two periods were well played by two great teams. The score was tied and the shots on goal were even (Wayzata 15, Farmington 14).

The third period opened with Farmington taking a 3-2 lead. The Tigers scored on a nice short passing give and go play from the blue line that broke a Tiger free on the goalie. He put the puck in the net. That was the opening the Tigers needed.
The rest of the period, the Trojans tried to break the Farmington defense and couldn’t. They had their chances, but couldn’t break through.

Farmington did not sit back and let the Trojans attack. They in fact attacked the Wayzata net repeatedly, but were quick to defend on the transitition. Something their defensemen had done all season.

Pulling their goalie with two minutes to go, the Trojans applied intense pressure as their six forwards attacked the Tiger net. After a number of Trojan chances to score, the puck bounced lose in the slot, and a Farmington forward one timed the puck into the open Wayzata net 150 feet away to give the Tigers an 4-2 lead with less than a minute to go. Farmington added another empty netter as the whistle blew to win 5-2.

It was a great game that either team could have won played in front of a packed, cheering, crowd. Both teams deserved to win. It was great peewee hockey.

The second game became anticlimactic. The crowd dispersed as Edina and Rosemount took the ice. The Irish had beaten a tough Moorhead Black team in the opener, but was now facing an Edina team, playing only seven forwards. Edina had beaten a tough Blaine team the day before, but they “put it in cruise control” in the later part of the game.

The first period was evenly played. Both teams had their scoring opportunities, but the Hornets scored the only goal on a breakaway off a trapping play. The Edina forward drove the puck with precision into the upper left corner of the net. Shots on goal for the first period were even, Edina 5 and Rosemount 4.

In the opening minutes of the second period, Rosemount drew two back to back penalties creating a 5 on 3 advantage for the Hornets. Edina scored a 5 on 3 and a 5 on 4 power play goal within a minute to take a 3-0. Two minutes later the Hornets added a shorthanded goal to take a 4-0 lead.

With less then 10 minutes to go in the second, an Irish forward drew a 2 and 10 for checking from behind to further weaken the Irish bench. Edina added a late period goal to take a 5 goal lead into the third period.

The Hornets won 10-1. Rosemount had a great season. They won some great tourneys in December, but suffered from mid-January on with a key injury that created a short bench. It is hard to take 13 forwards and play a whole season with all that goes on with kids.

Championship Sunday was the first sunless day of the tourney. The Elk River and Moorhead teams had gone home, leaving three games and six teams to fight for four trophies. Blaine beat Grand Rapids 3-1in the early morning consolation championship. The Bengals came back from losing to Edina 7-2 in the opening round to win two straight. They were the only two digit district team (D10) to win a trophy.

Grand Rapids had a great tourney also. They lost one game by one goal in three overtimes, beat a tough team by one goal and lost a tough game to the Bengals. The Thunderhawks ended their season on a high note.

The third place game was played before a quiet crowd. Wayzata jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period. Both teams skated the first period in zombie like fashion. In the second, both teams started to move the puck and the pace picked.

The Irish became more aggressive, using the wider ice surface and had recovered some of their neat passing. The key play of the game came with seven minutes left in the second period.

The Irish were on the power play and moving the puck well in the Wayzata zone as the Wayzata penalty ended. The Irish kept the puck down low around the Wayzata net searching for an opening, but became victims of their own passive passing, giving up a soft pass that was intercepted by a Wayzata forward and turned into a 2 on 1 breakaway resulting in a 3-0 Trojan lead.

After that the Rosemount passing game was gone. The players played their positions well, tried to form and reform their attack as they had in the past, but the Irish on the receiving end of a pass couldn’t control the puck resulting in a loss of possession.

The Trojans kept the pressure on the Irish in the third period. Each team scored once to make the final score 4-1.

Wayzata had a great season winning the Eden Prairie turkey day tourney and notching 48 wins on their hockey sticks and taking third place in the state. Rosemount had a great year also, winning the Spirit of Duluth tourney and the Bloomington Tourney in December, notching 45 wins, and taking fourth in the state tourney.

Both these teams had lost players prior to the state tourney, but Wayzata with 15 forwards (two out), was the stronger team; Rosemount with 13 forwards (one out) skated only seven forwards for the tourney. Full strength these two teams played an unforgettable game in early December that the Irish won 6-5. The passing and skill the two teams demonstrated in that game was exceptional for a PeeWee game.

Oddly enough, both associations played in the State PeeWee B Championship on Sunday at Stillwater. Wayzata Blue won that game 6-1.

The Olympic sized rink at BIG was packed for the Championship game between Edina and Farmington. Two thirds of the fans were cheering for Farmington. The game was intense even during the warm-ups. The first period was great. Edina went to their bread and butter plays (trapping trying to create 2 on 1 rushes) that had worked before, but the Farmington defense stymied the Hornets.

With three minutes left in the period, an Edina defenseman rushed the puck into the Tiger’s zone deep into the corner and made a hard pass though the Farmington defense to the front of the net hitting a breaking Hornet forward who one timed the puck into an open net. But Tigers came roaring back, set-up down low in the Edina zone and eventually “mobbed” the puck into the net. The Edina goalie did not make it easy for the Tigers. The first period ended 1-1; Farmington outshot the Hornets 12-6.

In the opening minutes of the second period, Edina scored a 2 on 1 breakaway goal to give the Hornets a 2-1 lead. Then history repeated itself. Edina drew the all the second period breaks as the refs blew their whistles.

It started with the puck lying in the Edina crease in full view of the fans and at least one ref. The ref on the far side blew a quick whistle because she didn’t see the puck even though the other ref could. It denied the Tigers the tying goal. The ref was roundly booed by 500 or so Tiger fans. She couldn’t kick them all out, but they were just boos.

A minute later, with Farmington on the power play, a puck was being chased down by an Edina forward and a Farmington defenseman. The Edina forward initiated contact and locked up the Farmington defense. He created a high stick forcing the smaller Farmington player’s stick into the air. A third Farmington player came into take the puck and made contact with the Edina player who spun down and flat on the ice surface. He laid still and after being looked at by the medical, got up and skated to the bench looking as if he had a broken arm or dislocated shoulder. The medic grabbed a bag and quickly went over to the Edina bench.

It was reminiscent of last year’s White Bear Lake/Edina state tourney game where the refs just starting calling penalties on the Bears in the second period with the Bears leading and ignoring contact initiated by Edina.

Reacting to the kid on the ice, the ref called an elbowing penalty on the Farmington player and later added another Tiger penalty eventually creating a 5 on 3 advantage for Edina. Edina scored on a wraparound goal just before the first of the two Farmington penalties ended to take a 3-1. They later added another power play goal to take a 4-1 lead. With the period winding down, the Hornets scored a shorthanded goal to take a 5-1 lead into the third period.

The injured Edina player, one of the biggest and strongest players on the team, was back on the ice for his next shift and skated the rest of the game. He never missed a shift and was out on the ice when the game ended.

The refs had learned their lesson though, when in the third period, the same player initiated contact with a Farmington defenseman that then fell awkwardly with a loud noise against the boards. No call.

But the damage had been done. The Tigers came out firing in the third period. After skating off what remained of another Edina power play, the Tigers attacked the Edina zone and scored a rebound goal to cut the lead to 5-2. But the Hornets caught another break, when a rebound came loose in front of the Tiger net and was kicked in by a sliding Farmington forward. The game was over. Both teams added one more goal to make the final score 7-3.

Edina had some unsung heroes in their win. Their better players did what they had to, but the Edina coach made a wise decision in choice of starting goalie. The goalie played an extremely tough game down low and matched Farmington’s strength. It showed in shots on goal. Farmington outshot the Hornets 32-27 despite losing by four goals. Most 5 on 5 situations ended up in front of the Edina net with the whistle being blown.

The second is the emergence of one Edina defenseman, #15. In the last two months of the season, he either grew or figured out something. He was the fastest kid on the ice and the ultimate game breaker.

Farmington played a great tourney to end a great season for the Tigers. Taking second in the State Tourney is a great accomplishment. Both Edina and Farmington ended their season with more than 50 wins.

Back in the first week of November, the first post this season had this as part of the lead: “Edina, defending 2010 champion, would have to travel the 10 miles from Braemar Arena to get to BIG. But to get there, the Hornets will play 50 or so games, win or place in the D6 playoffs to get a seed to the West Regional, and win one of the two West Regional seats (a tough regional this year with Wayzata, Osseo/Maple Grove and St. Michael/Albertville likely to be in the same tourney) before the Hornets can travel those 10 miles.”

The Hornets did. Congratulations Edina. Two state titles in a row. Next year is the opportunity to “three-peat”. To the other 100 or so teams next year, the Hornets have thrown the gauntlet down.

Another Way to Look at PeeWee A Hockey - March 11

2011-03-11T11:31:00.002-06:00

By frederick61

It is now down to the final eight teams for the PeeWee A championship this year. Five months ago, over a hundred PeeWee A teams opened their Minnesota hockey seasons. In 10 days, the remaining eight teams will competed for the state title at the Bloomington Ice Gardens on rink 3. One team will be left and crowned champion.

This year, the rink is important. BIG’s rink 3 is an Olympic sized sheet (15 feet wider than the standard 200’ by 85’ sheet) of ice. That will help the team with the most speed and passing skills. Teams that rely on defensive strategies will have to work extra hard in the wide open spaces. The South, East and West Regionals were played in smaller rinks, especially the West Regional at Torrey.

Congratulations to the eight state tourney seed winners. Moorhead Black and Grand Rapids are representing the North Region, Farmington and Rosemount are representing the South Region, Elk River and Blaine are representing the East Region, and Edina and Wayzata are representing the West Region. Five of the eight teams won their regular season district titles (Moorhead Black D15, Grand Rapids D12, Farmington D8, Elk River D10, and Wayzata D3). Rosemount finished second in D8; Blaine finished third in D10, and Edina finished second in D6.

The associations represented are of all sizes. Of the eight associations with PeeWee A teams playing in the state, Wayzata has the most traveling teams (A and B level). The Trojans fielded 8 teams with approximately 130 kids playing. Edina had 6 teams and 105 kids playing; Blaine had 5 teams and 80 kids playing; Moorhead had 4 teams and 70 kids playing; Elk River had 4 teams and 65 kids playing; Rosemount had 4 teams and 61 kids playing; Farmington had 4 teams and 56 kids playing; and Grand Rapids had 3 teams and 45 kids playing.

Two associations, Wayzata and Rosemount, have a PeeWee B teams in the PeeWee B state tourney at Stillwater’s Blizzard arena.

The team with the best winning percentage (games won versus all games played) is Farmington (91%). Wayzata and Edina have won 82% of their games, Rosemount has won 80%, Moorhead has won 76%, Grand Rapids has won 71%, Elk River has won 70% and Blaine has won 57%. None of the eight teams won all of their last 10 season games.
Team that played the most games this year is Edina (61). The team that played the least games is Moorhead Black (37).

Only home team to win their regional is Moorhead Black (won the North Regional played at Moorhead). St. Cloud, Anoka, and Rochester all failed to advance.

Two districts (D10 and D8) have two teams in the state tourney.

The teams with the most standout players on the roster are Edina (three) and Farmington (three).

Team that should be the most dangerous on an Olympic sized ice is Rosemount if they have their lines settled.

Team with the easiest path to the championship game this year-none.

Rosemount and Farmington have only one goalie. The other six teams have two goalies on their team.

Most improved team over the season is Edina.

Of the three regional tourneys (East, West and South that I saw), the West Regional at St. Cloud’s Municipal Athletic Complex was the best venue. The two sheets of ice (Torrey and Rische) have a common set of glass doors that allowed the fans to easily move from watching games on either sheet. The seating is close to the ice. The peewee A games were played on Torrey and the PeeWee B games were played on Rische. The best game played Saturday turned out to be the PeeWee B game between New Prague (skating 11 forwards) and the Wayzata Blue.

Rochester’s Graham Arena hosted the South Regional. They have a good setup and they have a nice walking track around the rink that the PeeWee A’s played on. Some arenas do not allow fans to stand on the walkway that overhangs the ice, but Graham does.

North Regional (D12, D15, D16) - Grand Rapids opened the tourney beating Fergus Falls 15-3. The Thunderhawks winning was not a surprise, but scoring 15 goals against the Otters was a surprise. The Otters had gone 7-2 in February and had played better defense. Bemidji beat Virginia 7-1 in the second game of the upper bracket in their first meeting of the season. The Lumberjacks have played solid hockey all year.

Bemidji beat Grand Rapids 6-3 in the upper bracket semifinal game. This was a “small surprise”, Grand Rapids looked due to beat the Lumberjacks and it didn’t happen. In the first loser goes home game in the upper bracket, Fergus Falls beat Virginia 4-2.

The Moorhead Black beat East Grand Forks 6-2 and Hibbing upset Thief River Falls 4-3 in the lower bracket Friday evening games. The Black win was no surprise. Hibbing’s win over Thief River Falls was. That set up a Moorhead Black/Hibbing semifinal game that the Black dominated beating the Bluejackets 10-0. In the loser goes home game Thief River Falls beat East Grand Forks 4-3.

The second set of loser goes home games were played Saturday evening. Fergus Falls beat Hibbing 6-5 and Grand Rapids beat Thief River Falls 5-3. Hibbing had a great end to their season, playing well in the last month. The Prowlers had a great season beating Woodbury, Bemidji, Chaska, and Moorhead Black among others.

Sunday morning, Grand Rapids beat Fergus Falls 6-0 in a loser goes home game. The Otters had a great regional tourney. The championship game Sunday, Moorhead Black beat Bemidji 4-3 to take the #1 seed. In the Sunday afternoon game for the #2 seed to the state, Grand Rapids beat Bemidji 3-2. Bemidji loses their second meeting in the regional to the Thunderhawks. Never give a tough team a second chance.
Moorhead Black takes the #1 seed and Grand Rapids takes the #2 seed to the state tourney.

South Regional (D4, D8, D9) - The South Regional looked like a D8 mini-tourney for the two regional seeds this year. That is something nobody could have predicted a year ago when the draw was set.

Farmington struggled six days before in beating Lakeville South 2-1 in overtime. But in Friday’s opening game of the South Regional, the Tigers jumped out to a quick lead and beat the Cougars 7-0. The Cougar’s defense failed them. In the second game, Lakeville North beat the Rochester Red 6-1. The Panthers played steady hockey and shut down the Red’s offense.

That set up a semifinal match between two D8 teams. Farmington beat Lakeville North 8-2. In the first loser goes home game of the tourney, Lakeville South beat the Rochester Red 5-3 to end the Red’s convoluted season.

Most associations, especially outstate, are happy to represent their local areas. In a way, Rochester’s association has that same pride, but they want to deny where they are geographically located when it comes to PeeWee hockey.

The creation of D9 put emphasis on Rochester as one of the key leaders to furthering youth hockey in Southeast and South Central Minnesota. The association, in effect, snubbed the surrounding associations by saying they did not offer competition. Unfortunately for the 17, 11-13 year old, kids on the Rochester Red team who just want to play hockey, they have had to carry the brunt of that claim. Let’s hope, next year, things change.

In the best game of the South opening round, Luverne beat Owatonna 6-5 in overtime. Both teams played well and both teams had the lead. Each team has the game in hand only to have the other team come back. If it wasn’t for sudden death to suddenly end the game, Owatonna would probably have come back to tie the game after Luverne scored. It was a good game for both teams.

Northfield had improved in the last month of the season. It showed in the South Regional. They played a tough defense and kept the game close with a top rated Rosemount team. Midway through the first period, the Irish scored a breakaway goal to take a 1-0 lead and the Raiders defense shut the Irish down until the start of the third period. In the first minutes of the third period, the Irish scored on two breakaway goals to win 3-0. At the start of the third period, the Irish had outshot the Raiders 28-5.

In Saturday’s second semifinal game, Rosemount beat Luverne 15-1 in the first meeting between these two teams this year. The Irish skate 13 forwards and the Cardinals skate 9 forwards. Clearly the Cardinals tired against a better team. Northfield beat Owatonna 3-1 to end the Huskies season. The Huskies had a great season winning 72% of their games (including winning 14 of their last 15 games before the South Regional).

In Saturday evening’s first loser go home game, Lakeville South beat a tired Luverne Nine 14-4 to end the D4 champs season. It would be great to see them back next year in a stronger D4. In the second game, a stronger Northfield team, playing with a deeper bench then normal years, gave Lakeville North a scare before losing 5-3.

The Raiders also had a great season and are one of the success stories in PeeWee A hockey this year. After years of playing in D8 and never making the D8 district playoffs or contending in regular season, the Raiders won the D9 East title this year, took the D9 #2 seed to the South Regional and played well in the regional. Not exactly the definition of a “loser” in a loser goes home game.

Sunday’s games in the South Regional turned into that mini-D8 tourney. Lakeville South beat Lakeville North in a surprise, 8-3. In five games between the two Lakevilles this year, South won three. More importantly, the Cougars won the last game. The Panthers played well in the South Regional and ended their season on strong note this year.

Farmington and Rosemount played for the championship. This was their fourth meeting and each game had some championship at stake. In the first three games (Spirit of Duluth title, D8 regular season title, and the D8 playoff title), the teams had split the games 1-1-1. They were all close games.

On Sunday in Rochester it was not close; the Tigers beat the Irish 8-2. Rosemount then played Lakeville South for the South Region #2 seed in the afternoon and beat the Cougars 7-1 to end the Cougars season. Lakeville South is a young team and if two of the younger players return, they will be strong next year.

Farmington takes the #1 South seed and Rosemount takes the #2 South seed.

East Regional (D2, D10, D11) - The East Regional is full of surprises this year and those surprises produced some surprises. White Bear Lake beat Duluth East 5-4 to open the East Regional Friday afternoon. The game figured to be a tough game and it was. In the second game in the upper bracket, Elk River beat Tartan 5-1. That set up a Saturday semifinal game between White Bear Lake and Elk River. The Elks beat the Bears 9-0. Tartan beat Duluth East 5-4 in the first loser goes home game Saturday to end the Hounds season.

In Friday evening’s first game was a dandy. Hermantown beat Anoka 3-2 on the Tornadoes home ice. That was a surprise, the Hawks came to Anoka to play hockey. In Friday evening’s second game Blaine beat Mahtomedi 8-4. Though the win over the Zephyrs was not a surprise, Blaine was the surprise team in the East regional. The Bengals beat some quality teams, but had ended regular season play on a mixed note. They had been an up and down team. Mahtomedi had finished in last place in D2, made a great run in the district playoffs strengthened by their newly found defense, but couldn’t beat the Bengals.

That set up a Hermantown/Blaine matchup in the second semifinal game Saturday. The Hawks beat Blaine 4-3 to put Hermantown in the East Championship game on Sunday. That was another surprise, the Hawks getting to the championship game. Anoka beat Mahtomedi 7-6 in overtime in the loser goes home game. Anoka had a 6-4 lead late into the third period. The Zephyrs came back to tie the score 6-6 and sent the game in overtime. Mahtomedi made a strong run at the end of the season and in the process should demonstrate to other kids that the success of a season is how the team (and you) are playing when it ends.

In Saturday’s two evening loser goes home games, Blaine beat Tartan 7-1 and White Bear Lake beat Anoka 6-3. Tartan had a great season culminating with playing in the East Regional. Anoka won some good tourneys during the season beating top rated teams in the process.

Sunday morning’s loser goes home game matched Blaine and White Bear Lake. The Bengals won 4-2 to end the Bears season. The Bears had an up and down year playing tough hockey.

The Sunday East Championship game matched Elk River and Hermantown. The Elks won 3-2 to take the #1 East seed to the state tourney. Hermantown lost to Blaine 2-0 for the #2 West seed to the state.

An interesting note is that three of the four losers in this year’s regional game (Bemidji, Burnsville, and Hermantown) lost the game for the #2 seed. Only Rosemount won.

In the East Regional, Elk River takes the #1 seed and Blaine takes the #2 seed.

West Regional (D3, D5, D6) - The West Regional champion is Edina and Wayzata takes the #2 seed. Too many that is no surprise. But Wayzata is surprise. The Trojans had to play their way back into contention after losing to Eden Prairie in the opening round. Edina, on the other hand, just walked through their opposition and in doing so notched their 50th win of the season.

St. Cloud and OMG opened the Friday afternoon session in a game that figured to be close. It wasn’t. St. Cloud scored two goals six seconds apart at the five minute mark of the first period. Except for that outburst, the first period was evenly played. Both teams had scoring opportunities. OMG came out storming in the second period and despite many quality chances, could not score. St. Cloud added a goal and rolled from there to a 6-0 win. OMG couldn’t get their offense moving in a defensive oriented game.

In a David and Goliath match in the second game, Edina beat Sartell 11-2. Sartell hung in for the first seven minutes until called for a roughing penalty. Twenty seconds later, the Hornets scored a power play goal to take a 1-0 lead. They never looked back and worked the puck, taking high quality shots on goal. The first period ended with the Hornets leading 3-0, adding two goals in the final minutes of the period. In the second period, Edina continued to work the puck and added seven goals to take a 10-0 lead into the third period. Sartell finally got some pressure on the Edina and scored two successive power play goals, Edina added one as the period ended.

That set up a Saturday semifinal game between Edina and St. Cloud. Edina, taking a page from Farmington, turned their defense lose at add to their offensive power in the regional. In this game it worked with the defense scoring an unassisted goal in the opening minute of the game. St. Cloud came back to tie the game 1-1 a minute later, but the Hornets added two more goals to take a 3-1 lead. The first period was penalty free, the second period was penalty marred.

Edina continued to applied tremendous pressure, but couldn’t score until one the Huskie centers drew a checking from behind. Thirty seconds, later the Hornets scored a power play goal to take a 4-1 lead. The Edina forwards added one more goal to take a 5-1 lead into the third period. Seven penalties were called in the second.

In the opening minutes of the third period, both teams scored as the Huskies opened their game up. At the 10 minute mark, the Huskies took three tough penalties and ended up down two players on the ice. Worst, just minutes after getting one of their centers back on the ice (having served the checking from behind penalty), they lost another center for the rest of the game on a misconduct penalty. Edina added a power play goal and a late goal to end the scoring 8-2.

Against Sartell, Edina outshot the Sabres 35-8. Almost all of the Hornet’s shots were quality scoring opportunities. Against a tough St. Cloud team, the Hornets outshot the Huskies 52-17. About 60% were quality scoring chances.

OMG and Sartell would play the loser goes home game for both teams. Sartell’s kid had overcome the shock or glazed eyes of having played Edina and came to play. Still in the defensive mode for most of the first period, the Sabres held OMG scoreless for first 11 minutes until OMG scored a power play goal to take a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period. In the second period, Sartell finally found their offensive. After OMG scored two more goals halfway through the period, the Sabres came back to make the score 3-2. OMG added a late period power play goal to take a 4-2 lead into the third period. Shortly into the third period, the Sabres gave up a shorthanded goal to OMG. OMG added two more and the Sabres scored to make the final score 7-3.

Wayzata and Eden Prairie meet in Friday evening’s first game of the opening round. The Trojans were favored and though here was the Trojans would beat the Eagles, beat Burnsville in the semifinals and lose to Edina and then Burnsville in the game for the #2 seed. It was the right idea, but the wrong teams. The Eagles beat the Trojans 3-2 sending them backward in the regional.

The Trojans ran into the same tough goal tending that Farmington and Edina faced earlier in the season. They outshot the Eagles 2-1, but could only score twice in a well-played game with few penalties. The Trojans scored first to take a 1-0 lead at the end of the first, the Eagles came back to tie the game in the second period. The game was tied 1-1 as the third period started. It was just a good game between two good teams.

In the second Friday evening game, Burnsville and STMA met. This was the first game between the two teams and they spent the first period testing each other. The first period ended 0-0. Most of the second period was a repeat of the first with the Blaze mounting more pressure as the period wore on. With four minutes left in the period, the Blaze finally scored. A few seconds late, STMA drew a 2+10 for checking from behind, and the Blaze scored a power play goal and added another goal to take a 3-0 lead into the third period.

The Blaze broke the game open in the first five minutes of the third scoring three goals to take a 6-0 lead. STMA added a late goal to make the final score 6-1.
That set up Eden Prairie and Burnsville playing in the semifinal. Three of the West Regional Semifinalists were D6 teams. The Eagles had lost their last two games to the Blaze 4-2 and 4-1. On Saturday morning, they didn’t “have it” defensively. Offensively, they put pressure on the Blaze, but couldn’t score. The Eagles jumped out to a 1-0 in the first period, but then gave up two first period and two second period goals to trail 4-1 going into the third period.

Eden Prairie came out flying in the third period and outshot the Blaze 17-2 but could score only one goal. The few quality chances the Blaze had in the first two periods were good enough to produce the four goals. One of the reasons is that the Blaze had a mismatch on the lines that resulted in a couple of those goals. But t was a game where the Blaze played defense more like the Eagles and the Eagles defense softened.

The Eagles upset of Wayzata; put STMA in a tough position in a loser goes home game. Instead playing Eden Prairie, the Knights had a bunch of angry Trojans to contend with. Wayzata stormed the STMA net for the first two periods, outshooting the Knights 24-4 and taking a 3-0 lead into the third period. The Knights could have used a few Greeks “carrying gifts” as the third period opened. They played the third period even with the Trojans but neither team could score. The game ended 3-0. Where is a Trojan horse when you need one?

The opening loser goes home game on Saturday evening matched Eden Prairie and OMG. This time, the Eagles left nothing to chance. They came out screaming and attack the OMG net. They took amassed 15 shots on the OMG net, a number of them quality chances and scored twice to take a 2-0 lead at the end of the period. More importantly, OMG did not get a shot on the net in the first period as the Eagle defense stiffened. OMG came storming back in the last two periods, outshooting the Eagles 9-1 in the third period, but could not score. The game ended 2-0.

The second game matched St. Cloud and Wayzata. The Trojans rampage continued. They outshot the Huskies 25-10 in the first two periods. The Huskies hung with the Trojans in the first period, 1-1. The Trojans broke the game open in the second taking 4-2 lead and eventually winning 6-3.

Sunday morning, Edina and Burnsville met for the West Regional championship and the #1 west seed to the state tourney. This is the third straight year that the Blaze played the Hornets for the right to advance to the state and for the third straight year the Blaze lost. Edina beat Burnsville 3-0 in a game that Edina dominated in the first and third periods and the Blaze in the second period. Edina scored a goal in each period, but Burnsville couldn’t.

Two years ago, at Cottage Grove, the Blaze lost to the Hornets on Championship Sunday after beating Edina in regular season and district playoffs. Last year, at Prior Lake, the Blaze lost to Edina on Championship Sunday after beating Edina in regular season and in the playoffs.

Wayzata and Eden Prairie played in the other Sunday morning game. The Trojans got the jump on the Eagles outshooting them 29-7 in the first two periods to take a 4-1 lead into the third period. But this time the Eagles came storming back in the third period, scoring two goals to close the gap to 4-3 with a minute to go in the period. The Trojans hung on to win the game.

That set up the game for the #2 West seed to the state tourney between Burnsville and Wayzata. The two teams had not played each other this season. The Trojans came out flat, the Blaze came out flatter and gave up three first period goals to the Trojans. Down 3-0 at the end of the first period, the Blaze came back in the second to pressure the Trojans and narrow the score to 3-1. But they could not score in the third as Wayzata returned to the ice and continued to pressure the Blaze. The final score was 3-1.

Edina takes the #1 West seed and Wayzata takes the #2 West seed.

Another Way to Look at PeeWee A Hockey - March 2

2011-03-02T14:58:00.005-06:00

By frederick61

Five months ago, over a hundred PeeWee A teams opened their Minnesota hockey seasons. Last week 99 of those teams started their district playoffs. The district playoffs ended this past Sunday and 32 teams survived. This week, the four regional tourneys start. Each opening game for each regional tourney will be at 2:00 Friday afternoon. The North Regional will be played at Moorhead; the South Regional will be played at Rochester; the East Regional will be played at Anoka; and the West Regional will be played at St. Cloud.

An interest point this year is that all the regional host associations have their PeeWee A team in their regional, Moorhead/Moorhead Black, Rochester/Rochester Red, Anoka/Anoka, and St. Cloud/St. Cloud.

The following 32 teams advanced (listed by their district).

The District 2 playoff champion is White Bear Lake. Mahtomedi is the #2 seed and Tartan is the #3 seed. Mahtomedi and Tartan’s appearance in this year’s regional means that all of the eight original D2 associations have made regional appearances in the last four years (including the North St. Paul). With a total of 11 seeds available to D2 in those four years, that is a balanced league. The one new association this year, Highland, made the regionals three of those four years as a D1 representative.

The District 3 playoff champion is Wayzata. Osseo/Maple Grove is the #2 seed. Wayzata ran away with the league when it came to winning games. The Trojans won 15 of 16 games in regular season. They had one tie game (Mpls Storm 0-0). But the Trojans lost 6 “unfairplay” points (the equivalent of 3 games) and that turned D3 into a 3 team race with OMG and the Mpls Storm.

D3 officially added three teams this year (Mpls Strom, Crow River, and Mound Westonka) and St. Louis Park fielded a peewee A team (splitting from the Mpls Park team last year). That grew D3 from 5 teams a few years ago to 9 teams. The bonus is the new Mpls Storm, Armstrong, and Crow River all had strong years. These D3 moves make the league more competitive in the future.

The District 4 playoff champion is Luverne. No other teams advance from D4. Luverne team has to be admired for their efforts to play competitive Minnesota Hockey. To play a home and home schedule with the two other D4 teams, Redwood Falls and Marshall plus a D9 West Division schedule, the Cardinals had to travel an average of 270 miles to play away weekend games. And they played in Fergus Falls tourney (400 miles round trip) and in Owatonna’s tourney (350 miles round trip). They almost took the D9 West Division title, losing out to Mankato the last day of regular season play.

The District 5 playoff champion is St. Cloud. St. Michael/Albertville took the #2 seed and Sartell took the #3 seed. D5 added teams and lost teams this year. St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids were the new peewee A teams in D5. Crow River and Mound/Westonka left for D3. St. Cloud had a near perfect season their first season in D5. They won all 18 games and to took 53 out of a possible 54 points. But what started easy became tougher as the season progressed for the Huskies. The Huskies won their first 9 D15 games by an average score of 8-1 and their last 9 by an average score of 6-1+. Sauk Rapids played in a district tourney for the first time in a few years and showed they could compete.

The District 6 playoff champion is Edina. Burnsville took the #2 seed and Eden Prairie the #3 seed. This season, in the end, paralleled last season. The only difference is Burnsville took the #1 seed and Edina the #2 seed. Eden Prairie has taken third the last two years. Prior Lake and Minnetonka made runs, but lost at the end of the season. Jefferson put things together at the end of the year, but finally lost to Burnsville in their fourth playoff game in four days. Go Jags, next year. D6 had five top teams and then five teams that struggled. The five that struggled showed promise at the end of the year.

The District 8 playoff champion is Farmington. Rosemount took the #2 seed and in a surprise, Lakeville North took the #3 seed. Lakeville South won the play-in game beating Mankato 9-3 to take D4’s #2 seed. Farmington has played “like a rock” all season, never panicking and always in the game.

The District 9 playoff champion is Rochester Red, a team that decline to play D9 regular season games. The #2 seed went to a surprising Northfield and the #3 seed to Owatonna. Mankato won the fourth seed and the right to play the play-in game. The Rochester Red should not be in the regional tourney representing D9 after declining to play a regular season schedule. Rochester’s reason for doing so is that the D9 teams offered them “no competition”.

The District 10 playoff champion is Elk River. Blaine took the #2 seed and Anoka took the #3 seed. Centennial did not make it out of the D10 playoffs. The Cougars lost a key game to Blaine with an ineligible player (who had played the opening game of the playoffs won by Centennial) benched for that game. That created some controversy. The problems were caused by adults interpreting rules and the rule has no stated purpose (in this case to many penalties in a game).

The District 11 playoff champion is Hermantown. The #2 seed went to Duluth East. This D11 had a similar player ineligibility problem where the player played. Only the adults in D11 chose to have Proctor forfeit their win over the Duluth Lakers. It resulted in the Rails having to play Duluth East six hours after the forfeit was announced. The Rails lost. So they went from celebrating a good win for them to losing two games and being eliminated from the playoffs in six hours. The Vikings could have used the D11 adults in New Orleans last year.

The District 12 playoff champion is Grand Rapids. Hibbing took the #2 seed and Virginia (in a surprise) took the #3 seed. The Thunder now roll into Moorhead.

The District 15 playoff champion is Moorhead Black. Fergus Falls took the #2 seed. The adults were at work again earlier this month in D15. Moorhead Black had scheduled only 13 D15 regular season games (others played 14 games). The Moorhead association had the Moorhead Orange team forfeit their two D15 games to the Black at the start of the season and Little Falls later forfeited. Even though the Black won all 10 games they played, the three forfeits cost them their “unfairplay” points. As the season ended, Alexandria was closing in on the Black. A first place finish in D15 this year meant an automatic seed to the North Regional. So the adults declared the last game the Black played with Northern Lakes (the only Northern Lakes game on the schedule) as two games and worth four points.

Of course, that was probably the plan all year, just that people didn’t know that and that was their fault. Of course, the winner and loser could get only one “unfairplay” point for the actual game played. The loss of the “unfairplay” point may have cost Northern Lakes the #7 seed. The Lightning ended up with the #8 seed and lost to the Black in the opening playoff game. Little Falls, the #7 seed, beat Alexandria in the opening game 3-2. That upset was part of the reason Alex did not make it out of the D15 playoffs.

Each coin has two sides. There is arrogance if the adults only see one side. The kids see things like this quickly and see it as unfair.

The District 16 playoff champion is Bemidji. Thief River Falls took the #2 seed and East Grand Forks took the #3 seed.

North Regional (D12, D15, D16) - The North Regional was set a week ago. Last week, one of the favorites to take a seed to state, Bemidji, beat Detroit Lakes 5-1 in pre-Regional tune-up. The tournament will be played in Moorhead. All regional tourneys will open at 2:00 on Friday afternoon, March 4th.

Grand Rapids opens the tourney against Fergus Falls. Bemidji plays Virginia in the second game of the upper bracket. The Thunderhawks and the Otters have not met this year. Grand Rapids has a 13-5-1 record since the first of the year. Their five losses have been to Bemidji 4-3, Moorhead 3-1, Edina 11-2, Woodbury 5-3, and Hermantown 4-2. They tied Bemidji 3-3. The Otters have gone 7-2 in February. They lost to the Fargo Flyers Gold 12-4 and Moorhead 9-0. Grand Rapids should win the first game.

Bemidji and Virginia have not played each other either. Bemidji has lost five games this year (Edina twice, Thief River Falls, St. Cloud, and Farmington). The Lumberjacks have played solid hockey all year. Virginia has struggled all year. But the Blue Devils put things together at the right time and beat Mesabi East (on home ice) and Greenway for their regional ticket. Unfortunately, Virginia draws the North Regional favorite in their opener. Bemidji should win.

That would set up a Grand Rapids/Bemidji semifinal. The two teams have met twice this year. Bemidji won the first meeting 4-3. The two teams tied 3-3 three weeks ago. It will be a tough game, but the Thunder rolls on this game. Grand Rapids wins. Fergus Falls and Virginia would meet in a loser goes home game. These two teams have not met this season and have played few common opponents. It shapes up to be a toss-up, but the nod goes to the Otters.

The Moorhead Black plays East Grand Forks and Thief River Falls plays Hibbing in the lower bracket. The Black beat the Green Wave twice this season 5-3 and 3-2. The Black lost their last two regular season games to Wayzata at home, 5-3 and 6-2. EGF has struggled in 2011 playing just over .500 hockey. The Black win.

Thief River Falls had a great start to the season, but have played under .500 hockey in 2011. The Prowlers and the Bluejackets have not met this season. Hibbing has played well since finishing second in the Mariucci Tourney (losing to Mahtomedi 4-3) in mid-January. The Bluejackets are 7-2-1 in the 10 games since and have showed improvement. That is always a good sign at regional time, but the Prowlers should win.

That sets up Moorhead Black and TRF in the lower bracket semifinal game. The Black and the Prowlers have split their two season games, the Black losing 7-6 and winning 3-2. Both games were overtime games. The Black home ice advantage should help. Moorhead Black wins. East Grand Forks and Hibbing met in the loser goes home game. The Green Wave own an early season 6-1 win over Hibbing. This is a tough game to call, but EGF gets the nod.

The second set of loser goes home games are played Saturday evening. If everything goes to form (and if you believe that will happen, there’s some nice buildable land of Highway 72 that’s for sale), Fergus Falls would play Thief River Falls and EGF would play Bemidji. TRF has two regular season wins over the Otters, 7-1 and 6-2. The games were played around the first of the year. The Prowlers should win. Bemidji has beaten the Green Wave three times this year 6-1, 5-3, and 6-4. To beat a good team four times in a season is always tough, but tough describes the Lumberjack team this year. Bemidji wins.

Sunday morning, Bemidji and TRF play in a loser goes home game. These two teams have played three times also. The Prowlers won the first game in early December 3-0, lost the second game in late January 4-3 in overtime, and lost the D16 championship game 4-0 two weeks ago. Bemidji wins.

The second game Sunday would match Grand Rapids and Moorhead Black in another tough game to call. These two teams played each other in the Roseau tourney at the end of January. Moorhead won 3-1. That was neutral ice. The Black win to take the #1 seed.

In the Sunday afternoon game for the #2 seed to the state, Bemidji would play Grand Rapids. Bemidji wins their second meeting in the regional. Never give a tough team a second chance. Moorhead Black takes the #1 seed and Bemidji takes the #2 seed to the state tourney.

South Regional (D4, D8, D9) - The South Regional is shaping up as follows: In the South Regional opening round games at Rochester, Farmington plays Lakeville South and Rochester Red plays Lakeville North in the upper bracket. Luverne plays Owatonna and Northfield plays Rosemount in the lower bracket.

The South Regional looks like a D8 mini-tourney for the two regional seeds this year. That is something nobody could have predicted a year ago when the draw was set.

Farmington won the D8 regular season and won the D8 playoffs. But they play the rest of the season with 12 players and will be going with three kids on defense. But they play a great defense. All three are outstanding players. Lakeville South is a young team and should be dominant in the next year.

The Tigers and the Cougars have played twice in the last month. In late January, the Tigers won 9-1 and in the D8 playoff semifinals, the Tigers won again 2-1 in overtime. It should be close again. But the nod goes to Farmington and their tough defense.

In the second South Regional game on Friday afternoon, Rochester Red and Lakeville North meet. Rochester teams normally close strong at the end of the season. This year is no different, the Red have won their last 6 games since losing to Hibbing 3-1 two weeks ago. Lakeville North played with a short bench most of the last month, but had all their players back for the D8 playoffs. It showed as they beat Woodbury 3-2 to end the Predators season. Rochester has the home advantage. But the nod goes to the Panthers in a tough game.

In Saturday’s first semifinal game, Farmington would play Lakeville North. The Tigers beat the Panthers 5-1 at the end of January when the North had the short bench. The game will be closer, but Farmington wins. Lakeville South and Rochester Red would meet in the loser goes home game. The Red should lose, Lakeville South beat them 3-1 in their only meeting in the Eden Prairie turkey day tourney. But the nod goes to the Red because of home ice.

Owatonna and Luverne meet in the opening round of play Friday evening. The three teams played early in the season. Luverne won the first two games 8-6 and 5-4. The Cardinals lost the third game 6-4. But they have not played each other since early December. Both teams will be prepared to play this game; they have been in the past. Owatonna should win. In the second game Friday evening, Rosemount plays Northfield. This will be an interesting game. The Raiders have a full team and won their last seven games before losing to Rochester Red 7-1 in the D9 championship game. They have a tune-up game against Apple Valley before the tourney. Rosemount is one of the top teams in the state and should win.

In Saturday’s second semifinal game, Rosemount would play Owatonna in the first meeting between these two teams this year. The Huskies will need to find a “higher gear” to match the Irish speed to win. But it sets up a possible Saturday evening match with Rochester Red again. Luverne and Northfield would meet in a loser go home game. The two teams have not played each other this year. A deeper bench should help the Raiders to a win.

The Owatonna/Rochester Red game Saturday evening would be the third game between these two teams this year. It would be a loser go home game. The Red has won the two games, 9-0 and 7-1 and should win again. But the Huskies can be tough and it is hard to beat a tough team three times in a season. The second game would match Northfield against Lakeville North. These two teams match-up in size and style of play and it should be a close game. The Panthers win.

Rochester and Lakeville North would then meet for the second time in the tourney Sunday morning. North prevails. Farmington and Rosemount have a repeat of the D8 playoff finals played last Sunday. Farmington won 2-1. Both teams will be tired; both are playing with short benches. The Tigers win again.

That sets up a Lakeville North/Rosemount game for the last South seed to the state. The two teams have met twice. Rosemount beat North 7-0 in the Bloomington tourney and beat them 7-1 in regular season play. But this may be Lakeville North’s year. The Panthers win.

Farmington takes the #1 seed and Lakeville North the #2 seed.

East Regional (D2, D10, D11) - The East Regional is set as follows: In opening round Friday, White Bear Lake plays Duluth East and Elk River plays Tartan in the upper bracket. Hermantown plays Anoka and Blaine plays Mahtomedi in the lower bracket. The games will be played at Anoka.

The East Regional is full of surprises this year. The D2 playoffs produced two with Mahtomedi and Tartan winning seeds. Mahtomedi was seeded 8th and Tartan was seeded 4th in the district playoffs. In D10, the #6 seeded Anoka won a regional seed. In D11, the #3 seeded Duluth East took one of the two D11 regional seeds.

Seeds in hockey are a reasonably accurate predictor of tourneys outcome, more so then in other sports. Starting this week, in the Boys High School hockey tourney, 17 of the 18 Class A and Class AA sectionals have the #1 seed remaining, 13 of the sectionals have the #1 and #2 team remaining, and 9 of the sectionals will have the #1 and #2 seeds in the championship game. Only one sectional, Class A Section 6 has no #1 or #2 seed in the championship game (#3 Willmar plays #5 Alexandria).

White Bear Lake and Duluth East open the East Regional Friday afternoon. These two teams have played each other three times. Early in the season, the Hounds beat the Bears 3-2. In the past month, the Hounds lost to the Bears 5-4 and beat the Bears 4-2. Duluth East played in the White Bear Lake’s tourney the first week in February and struggled, losing to Eden Prairie 9-1 and Elk River 5-1 before beating Lakeville South 6-1. The Bears also struggled in their tourney, losing to Blaine 3-2, beating Winnipeg 4-1 and losing big to Edina 10-0 in a penalty marred game. In another tough call, the Bears get the nod. Both teams will be prepared to play this game.

Elk River owns a very early season 10-1 win over Tartan and the Elks have been playing well in the past few weeks stringing 7 wins together. Five of those wins are over teams that made the Regionals (OMG, Anoka, STMA, St. Cloud, and Blaine). The 8-3 win over Blaine in the D10 championship game was impressive. They also won their last 10 league games. Tartan played in the Super Rink turkey day tourney (did not place), Hudson’s tourney (took 3rd place), Northfield’s tourney (won), and Red Wing’s tourney (won consolation title). Elk River played in Eden Prairie’s tourney (did not place), Duluth’s tourney (won 3rd place), Edina’s tourney (did not place), and White Bear’s tourney (won 3rd place). The two teams meet in the regionals after traveling different development roads. It will be an interesting game, but the Elks should win.

On Saturday, Elk River would play White Bear Lake in one semifinal game. The Elks lost to the Bears 5-3 in the Eden Prairie turkey day tourney in their only meeting of the season. But the Bears have been an up and down team. The Elks should win. Duluth East and Tartan would play in the loser goes home game Saturday. The two teams have not played each other this year. Both teams have similar size and style and it will come down to desire. The Titans have really “hung in there” in the D2 playoffs. They get the nod here.

In Friday evening’s first game will be a dandy. Hermantown plays Anoka on the Tornadoes home ice. The Hawks took a quick tour of the cities on Valentine’s Day weekend and ended up getting beat by two D3 teams, Armstrong 4-2 and OMG 4-1. They returned home to beat Grand Rapids 4-2 and sweep the D11 playoffs. Anoka has won 10 of their last 14 games and has proven to be a tough tourney team. They won the Spring Lake Park tourney beating Shakopee, Mahtomedi, and Spring Lake Park, lost to Burnsville 3-1 in the Star of the North championship game in Grand Rapids (after beating Duluth East 8-4 in the opening game), and won their own tourney beating Rosemount in the Championship game 3-2. On their home ice Friday, the Tornadoes win.

Friday evening’s second game matches Blaine and Mahtomedi. Blaine has been an up and down team and has sprung some surprises this season, most notably is their 5-4 win over Wayzata in the Duluth tourney in mid-December. Unfortunately they lost the next day to Rosemount 7-0. In the White Bear Tourney a few weeks ago, they lost a tough game to Edina 11-0. The Bengals are better than that. Mahtomedi showed potential in the Spring Lake Park tourney in November, especially in their forwards passing and scoring. The Zephyrs had it all working in the D2 playoffs plus good defense. The Bengals should win, but a Zephyr win would not be surprising. Hermantown and Mahtomedi would then play in the loser goes home game. The two teams have not played each other this year. Hermantown should win.

Saturday’s semifinal game would match two D10 teams, Anoka and Blaine. Blaine has beaten Anoka three times this year. The Bengals won 3-2 and 5-2 in regular season play and beat Anoka 3-1 in the D10 playoffs a week ago. But this game will be at Anoka in front a good crowd and it is tough to beat a good team four times in a season. The Tornadoes win.

Saturday’s two evening games would have Tartan playing Blaine and Hermantown playing White Bear Lake. Tartan and Blaine will be playing each other for the first time this year, the Bengals should win. Hermantown and White Bear Lake have not played each other either. The Hawks win.

Sunday’s championship game would match Elk River and Anoka, two D10 foes. The Elks took first, Anoka placed sixth in the regular season. The Elks took first in the D10 playoffs and Anoka took third coming from behind. The Elks have beaten Anoka 5-4 and 5-3 this season. But this game will have the fans screaming over the balcony seats at the Anoka Arena. Anoka wins.

Sunday morning, Blaine and Hermantown play a loser go home game. Though they have played a lot of common foes, they have not played each other. Hermantown was a little stung losing to Armstrong and OMG two weeks ago. They beat the Bengals.

In the final East Regional on Sunday, Elk River and Hermantown meet. These two teams have not met this year. The Elks beat the Hawks to take the #2 seed.

In the East Regional, Anoka takes the #1 seed and Elk River the #2 seed.

West Regional (D3, D5, D6) - The West Regional is set as follows: In the afternoon games at St. Cloud on Friday, St. Cloud plays OMG and Edina plays Sartell in the upper bracket. Wayzata plays Eden Prairie and Burnsville plays STMA in the lower bracket.

This region had a game of musically chairs going on and when Eden Prairie sat down, the Eagles drew Wayzata. The other D6 teams had a sigh of relief. But it is peewee hockey, who knows what will happen on the ice. “The Shadow knows”. Only kids who listen to old time radio would understand that. How many old-timers can still hear the creaking door of the “inner sanctum”? Could be the entrance of the Torrey Arena for some teams.

St. Cloud and OMG will open the Friday afternoon games. The Huskies and OMG have played once this year, at the end of December. OMG won 3-2. St. Cloud has lost only 7 games all season (49 played) and have lost once (to Elk River 3-0) since the Geyer Tourney 17 games ago. St. Cloud had a near perfect D5 season and swept the playoffs. OMG entered the D3 playoffs on a down note. At the White Bear Lake tourney the first week of February, they lost their last three games (Centennial, Eden Prairie, and Elk River). They lost close games. OMG opened the D3 playoffs by losing to the Mpls Storm 3-1. They came back beating Hopkins, Armstrong, and the Storm in the game for D3’s #2 regional seed. Another tough game to predict, OMG wins the opener at Torrey Arena.

Edina and Sartell play in the second game Friday afternoon. Most people would pass on watching this game, a David versus Goliath affair. It is worth watching. A year ago, Orono and STMA emerged with good peewee A teams. Edina scheduled STMA and after a frustrating first period, beat the Knights by double digits. That game helped STMA overcome the David versus Goliath syndrome. Sartell will be challenged and will certainly be the crowd favorite especially with St. Cloud playing the game before they play.

Edina is always good, but this year they showed tremendous improvement when they lost to Burnsville at Burnsville at the end of the year 5-4. They swept the D6 playoffs beating Prior Lake and Burnsville twice but played as a more ordinary Edina team. The D6 playoffs seemed down this year.

At one point this past month, the Hornets beat Kennedy, Jefferson, Waconia, Blaine, and White Bear Lake by a total score of 52-1. They will be a powerhouse in the West Regional. Sartell has a few rocks for their slingshot. The Sabres struggled prior to the playoffs. Sartell finished fourth in D5, but they came through with a key win over an improving MAML team to take the #3 D5 seed. The Hornets win.

That sets up an OMG/Edina semifinal. OMG’s defense has improved over the season. They have shutout or held their opponents to one goal in six of their last eight games. They will need that defense against the Hornets. Edina’s offense is parallels the F-18 fighter also called the Hornet. The F-18 is a multirole aircraft, air and ground. Edina’s offense is like that. They can strike quick especially on penalty kills and score. Or they can “grind it out” in their offensive zone and score. Edina wins again.

St. Cloud and Sartell would play the loser goes home game in a hometown game for both teams. St. Cloud has beaten Sartell four times this season 6-0, 5-1, 6-2, and 4-1 (in the D5 playoffs). It is always tough to win five games against a good team in hockey, but the Huskies should win.

Wayzata and Eden Prairie meet in Friday evening’s first game of the opening round. The Trojans have beaten the Eagles three times this year, 7-2 in October, 4-3 in the Eagles turkey day tourney and 8-1 in the Edina tourney. The Trojans have won 17 of their last 18 games losing only to Edina 6-1 in the Roseau tourney championship game. Eden Prairie is 3-6-1 in their last 10 games. The strong defense that the Eagles had early in the season has softened. The Trojans win.

In the second Friday evening game, Burnsville and STMA meet. These two teams have not played each other this year. The Blaze went undefeated in their first 25 games of the season. Since losing to Rosemount in the championship round of the Bloomington tourney, the Blaze has gone 10-8-1. The losses have been to tough teams (two to Farmington, two to Edina, Minnetonka, Prior Lake, Eden Prairie and St. Cloud). STMA had a great trip to Thief River Falls and Warroad at the end of January beating TRF 3-2 on their home ice and winning the Warroad tourney (beating two North Dakota State Tourney teams Devils Lake and the Fargo Angels). The Knights have not fared well since that trip, losing four of their last seven games. The Blaze should win.

In Saturday’s semifinal game, Wayzata would play the Burnsville. They have not played each other this season. At this point, it is a real toss-up. The Trojans have the edge in offense, especially the ability to score. They win. Eden Prairie and STMA meet in the loser goes home game. Eden Prairie’s defense has been faltering and will continue to do so at Torrey. STMA wins.

The opening loser goes home game on Saturday evening would match Burnsville and St. Cloud. These two teams have played each other before in the Geyer Tourney at Torrey. Both games were tight with St. Cloud jumping out to 1-0 and then 2-0 leads. In the first game, the Blaze came back to tie the Huskies 2-2. In the second game for third place, the Huskies hung on to win 3-1. The Blaze win this time, holding the Huskies off the board early in the game.

The second game matches OMG and STMA in a CAPITAL Letters game. The two teams have played to a tie in their only meeting this season and are similar in the type of game they play. This time the old zinc penny came out. OMG won the coin flip. But the sentiment is for STMA to advance.

Sunday morning, Edina and Wayzata would meet for the West Regional championship and the #1 west seed to the state tourney. This will be the sixth meeting between the Trojans and the Hornets. Edina won the October game 3-1, Wayzata beat Edina at Eden Prairie Turkey day tourney 3-2, Edina beat Wayzata 7-6 at the Duluth tourney in December, Wayzata won 4-3 in mid-January, and Edina won 6-1 in the White Bear Lake tourney in early February. These two teams know each other and it will be a great game. Edina has shown improvement at the end of the season, Wayzata has struggled a little. The Edina 6-1 win at White Bear Lake was no fluke. Edina wins their 50th game of the season.

OMG and Burnsville would play another loser goes home game on Sunday morning. These two teams have not met. Another tough game, but the edge goes to the Blaze. That sets up a rematch between Wayzata and Burnsville for the #2 seed early Sunday evening at Torrey in St. Cloud. The Blaze have been there before, Sunday-Torrey-second game of the day-championship on the line. In fact they have been playing these types of games in the Geyer for the last five years. The Blaze win.
Edina takes the #1 West seed and Burnsville takes the #2 West seed.

If you have read this far, here is a bonus. Minnesota Hockey has set the state tourney draw to be played at Bloomington. If these predictions hold (and if you believe that, there is that buildable land off of Highway 72 south of Baudette), the opening round of the state tourney would be:

In the upper bracket, Anoka would play Burnsville and Farmington would play Bemidji. In the lower bracket, Edina would play Elk River and Moorhead Black would play Lakeville North. It would be a different state tourney.

Another Way to Look at PeeWee A Hockey - Feb. 24

2011-02-24T11:58:00.003-06:00

By frederick61

Well, it continues. Five months ago, 107 PeeWee A teams opened their hockey seasons. Last week, 99 of those teams started their district playoffs. Four districts named their champions last week and completed play.

The District 4 champion is Luverne. No other teams advance from D4.

The District 12 champion is Grand Rapids. Hibbing took the #2 seed and Virginia (in a surprise) took the #3 seed.

The District 15 champion is Moorhead Black. Fergus Fall showed that their second place in D15 was no fluke and took the #2 seed.

The District 16 champion is Bemidji. Thief River Falls took the #2 seed and East Grand Forks took the #3 seed.

Going into action this Thursday, 51 teams are left in the hunt. By Sunday there will be 33 teams (and one regional play-in game) left. The teams making the regional will have four days to get ready. All regional tourneys will began play Friday at 2:00 in the afternoon.

To those teams left in the hunt, good luck. And to the kids, coaches, parents and fans of the 51 teams, what I said about the Super Bowl a few weeks ago is true. Most people forget who won or lost in a few years. But those that are part of the tight district finals and the excitement, you will remember being there.

Now, how many people remember the final score of the last Super Bowl?

North Regional (D12, D15, D16) - The North Regional is set. The tournament will be played in Moorhead. All regional tourneys will open at 2:00 on Friday afternoon, March 4th.

Grand Rapids would open the tourney against Fergus Falls. Bemidji would play Virginia in the second game of the upper bracket of opening. The Moorhead Black would play Thief River Falls and East Grand Forks would play Hibbing in the lower bracket.

The regionals are all double elimination and have a new format. A team that wins its first two games will have a two out of three chance to make the state tourney. The upper bracket favors Bemidji.

District 12 - The D12 playoffs this year were played at the Hoyt Lakes Arena, home to the Mesabi East team. With three D12 regional seeds available, the tourney looked to be a runaway for one seed, a partial runaway for the second seed, and donnybrook for the third seed. It was.

Grand Rapids had run away with the season title, they ran away with the D12 playoffs. With a first round bye as season champs, the Thunderhawks beat Virginia 14-3 and beat Hibbing 5-2 to win the #1 D12 seed. Hibbing opened beating Eveleth 11-0 and had a tougher game against International Falls beating the Broncos 3-2 to get to the championship game. The Bluejackets took the #2 D12 seed.

The Falls opened their tourney beating Mesabi East 12-8 before losing to Hibbing. After losing to Hibbing, Greenway beat the Broncos 5-1 to end their season. Mesabi East came back to beat Eveleth 8-1 ending the Golden Bears season. The Giants lost to Virginia in a tough game 5-3 to end their season. Virginia had beaten Greenway 5-1 in Friday’s opening game of the D12 playoffs and the Blue Devils beat Greenway 3-1 to take the #3 D12 seed in Sunday’s third place game.

After struggling early in the year, Virginia has improved. But in a scheduling quirk, they played Greenway four times in the last few weeks of the season and in the playoffs. The Blue Devils beat Greenway in three of those games and tied them in the fourth. No question on who deserved the #3 seed.

Hibbing ended their season beating Orono, Rochester Red, and Warroad. Their 5-2 loss to Grand Rapids shows that the Bluejackets are improving. For the Thunderhawks, Sunday’s night’s drive back may have been on a snowy night, not a rainy night; but as Garth sang, “…and the Thunder rolls”.

District 15 - While the southern part of Minnesota was turning whiter last weekend, Fergus Falls was spared the bulk of the storm. Their Otters took full advantage. D15 had two seeds to the North Regional and had a wrinkle in their playoff format that turned the semifinal games into the final elimination games for their playoffs. But only if the season champion, Moorhead Black, made it to the final game. The Black did. The D15 finals then became a fight for the #1 and #2 seeds. The Moorhead Black had entered the tourney as the favorite and a guaranteed playoff.

The Black beat Northern Lakes 10-0 in the opening game; added two more wins (Brainerd 8-1 and Detroit Lakes 9-2) to make it to the Championship game. The Black beat Fergus Falls 9-0 for the playoff title and the #1 seed.

Brainerd beat Detroit Lakes 3-2, lost to the Black, and then crossed over to play Alexandria in the lower bracket. The Warriors lost to Alex to end their playoff hopes. Detroit Lakes beat Northern Lakes 5-1 to eliminate the Lightning from the tourney, and beat Little Falls 9-2 to eliminate the Flyers from the tourney. But then they lost to Moorhead Black to end the Laker’s regional hopes.

In the lower bracket, Little Falls had opened with a surprising 3-2 win over Alexandria, but the Flyers lost to Fergus Falls 7-2 before being eliminated from the tourney by Detroit Lakes. Fergus Falls edged out the Moorhead Orange 5-4 in their opener, beat Little Falls, and beat Alexandria 5-4 in overtime in the semifinal game to take the #2 D15 regional seed. Alexandria got there by beating the Moorhead Orange 6-3 and eliminating the Orange from the playoffs before eliminating Brainerd.

No guessing this week. The Moorhead Black take the #1 seed and Fergus Falls takes the #2 seed. The Moorhead Black did dominate their side of the draw. Fergus Falls, Alex, Detroit Lakes, Brainerd, and the Moorhead Orange all had a shot. Brainerd started well, but could not beat Alex in when the Warriors needed to. Alex turned a tough start, losing to Little Falls, around and came back only to fall short in the overtime lost to the Otters.

District 16 - Bemidji has had a solid team all year. They always seem to show up to play hockey. In the D16 playoffs last weekend, they did just that. Working off a bye for taking the season title, the Lumberjacks beat East Grand Forks 6-4 and Thief River Falls 4-0 to take the #1 D16 seed. Their season continues. This week they host Detroit Lakes and play International Falls.

Thief River Falls beat Red Lake Falls 10-2 and Crookston 4-1 to get to the D16 playoff final game. The Prowler’s great season continues as they take the #2 D16 seed into the North Regional. East Grand Forks beat Roseau 8-4, lost to Bemidji, and beat Crookston 10-3 to take the #3 D16 seed to the North Regional
Roseau, Crookston, Warroad, and Red Lake Falls were all eliminated.

Roseau and East Grand Forks have been rivals over the past few years. Both teams have fought each other for the D16 titles and state tourney seeds in the regionals. The rivalry continued this year only early in the tourney when EGF eliminated the Rams.

Warroad always seems to struggle at the peewee level. They did four years ago. This year, Warroad’s high school team is seeded #1 in Section 8A. It’s one of those anomalies. Another one is Red Lake Falls seeded #3 in Section 8A.
How do the Warroads and Red Lake Falls happen? How do the kids struggle at 12-13 years old and excel at 16-17 years old. They are peewees. Who knows what they will do as they grow up. You can throw them in the right direction and only hope they don’t land on their heads.

South Regional (D4, D8, D9) - The South Regional is shaping up as follows: D4 has crowned their champion, Luverne. The D8 playoffs started last Sunday and will finish on this Sunday, February 27th. Eight teams are still playing. The snowstorm force D9 to postpone their Sunday finals. They will be played this Friday and Saturday in Mankato. Six teams are still playing.

If things follow as predicted here, the South Regional opening round games at Rochester would look like this. Farmington would play Lakeville South and Rochester Red would play Woodbury in the upper bracket. Luverne would play Mankato and Owatonna would play Rosemount in the lower bracket.

Lakeville South would win the play-in game with D9 for the #2 D4 seed.
District 4-Luverne has been the dominant peewee A team during the D4 regular season. They didn’t change for the playoffs. The Luverne Cardinals beat Marshall 10-2 and Redwood Falls 11-3 to become the first team to take a regional berth. They will be the #1 D4 seed in the South Regional tourney.

At the start of the season, Luverne Association took their 19 peewee kids (plus two goalies) and split them into an A team and a B team. They put nine players and one goalie on the A team. For those who have not run a bench for a game with 9 or less kids, it is tough. The coach has few options.

Opposing coaches can match up easily because they know who the next set of forwards will be (the four kids sitting in the bench). And the opposing coaches do matchup. That is competitive hockey. But the Luverne coaches have been good in the past in coping with the situation and have surprised teams.

In a bit of irony, the Luverne high school team placed third in the Southwest conference. Marshall was the regular season champion. Luverne is seeded 5th in Section 3, Class A. Their opening game is this Thursday and their opponent is #4 seeded Marshall.

District 8 - D8 playoffs open last Sunday at Hastings with four play-in games. Hastings beat IGH/SSP 6-0 in the first game; Lakeville North beat Johnson/Como 6-3 in the second game; Sibley beat Eagan 5-1 in the third game; and Eastview beat archrival Apple Valley 8-3 in the last play-in game of the day.

Hastings is playing at home and as always plays well in the D8 playoffs after forming their team late. The Raiders played top ranked Farmington Tuesday night in the Hastings West Rink. The smaller rink was packed with fans. Both teams showed up to play. The game had that neighboring town rivalry feeling.

It was a fast paced game that had constant puck movement. The pace was maintained for most of the game. The Tigers would set up in Raiders zone for a period of time, but were forced to move the puck quickly and that led to Raider counter attacks. Neither team could get quality shots. Farmington’s attacks always ended up low with the Farmington forwards jamming at the puck.

Farmington won the game 4-0. They led 2-0 going into the third period. Three of their four goals were on power plays. The Tigers’ low pressure around the Hasting’s goal forced the Raider’s goalie to play strong. He did, he had a great game.

The two Lakevilles played the second game of the D8 quarterfinals Tuesday night. That game started slow and had a lot of scoring in the first period. Five goals were scored with the Panthers taking a 3-2 lead into the second period. South came back to score three goals to take a 5-3 and held on for a 5-4 win.

Lakeville North had four players out at one point a month ago. And it showed as the Panthers went 1-6-1 in their last eight regular season games. The North had all 15 players for their game with South. But with so many kids out, it is hard to re-group right before playoff time. The Panthers are not out of the tourney. They will have their hands full playing Hastings on Saturday in a “loser goes home game”.

Farmington and Lakeville South will meet Saturday with the D8 #1 or #2 seed at stake. Farmington beat South in late January 9-1. But it is playoff time.

IGH/SSP and Johnson/Como were eliminated when they lost their opening games. IGH/SSP has talent and it started to show during their own tourney a month ago. But they have struggled since then. The Johnson/Como team is new to D8 this year with D1 no longer playing competitive hockey. The Devils have worked hard over the season, playing an extensive schedule and not really backing off. They did not win a game in their first 15 played. Then they entered Albert Lea’s tourney in mid-December. They swept the opposition and won the championship. After that tourney, they played .500 hockey. They are out of the playoffs, but they have had a good year.

Sibley plays Rosemount on Friday in the opening game of the lower bracket. They have improved over the season. They tended to rely on their best players in early season games and struggled. But in games just before the playoffs, their forwards had started to play hockey. Only their defense has struggled. It has improved in the last few weeks and it shows. The Generals have held the opposition to 1 or 2 goals in four of their last six games. Their win over Eagan was no surprise.

Eastview plays Woodbury in the final quarterfinal game. The Lightning have struggled at the end of the season. A Lightning win over an Apple Valley team is always a positive sign because of the rivalry involved. Apple Valley struggled all season. The Eagles lost some of their top players to the Fire this year.

It was a tough Tuesday for Hastings and Lakeville North. Sibley plays Rosemount and Eastview plays Woodbury on Friday and it looks like a tough Friday for Sibley and Eastview. Sibley lost to Rosemount 7-0 two weeks ago. Eastview lost to Woodbury 7-0 in early December. Should they lose, the Eastview/Sibley winner will be in a good position to win at least a shot at the play-in game with D9.

The winner will play the loser of the Farmington/Lakeville South game. It will be the second game on Saturday for both teams, but Farmington/Lakeville South loser will have a couple of hours less to recover. It has been the way D8 runs their tourney for last 10 years.

The Hastings/Lakeville North winner on Saturday will be in much tougher position. They will have to play the loser of the Woodbury/Rosemount game to get a shot at least the play-in game. But anything goes at playoff time, especially if it is Hastings at Hastings.

D9 play-in game and third place seed will be settled on Friday. The #4 seed from D9 will be Mankato, Dodge County, Owatonna, or New Ulm.

With the D8 seeds not settled until the Saturday, nothing has changed. Farmington remains the favorite and this week has the #1 seed, Woodbury keeps the #2 seed and Rosemount the #3 seed. Lakeville South is favored to take the #4 seed and the right to play the #4 D9 seed for the D4 #2 seed to the South Regional.

District 9 - The D9 playoff games on Sunday were postponed, but the saga of the Rochester Red continues. Last Friday, the Red won their first official D9 game of the season beating the Rochester Gold team 9-0. On Saturday, they won their second D9 beating Owatonna 7-1. Those two wins gave them a 2-0-0 D9 record and a seed to the South Regional. They play Northfield in the D9 championship game this Saturday.

Northfield got there by beating New Ulm 5-1 and Mankato 5-4. The Raiders now have a 13-2-1 D9 record and have earned the right to be in the championship game. Their win over Mankato assures the Raiders a seed to the South Regional. It will be Northfield’s first appearance in a PeeWee A regional in over of a dozen years. It maybe Northfield’s first ever appearance.

Owatonna beat Dodge County 6-1 in their first playoff game. Mankato beat Rochester Black 4-1 in the Mavericks first game. Dodge County beat Rochester Gold 2-0 to eliminate the Gold from the tourney. New Ulm beat Rochester Black 6-3 to eliminate the Black from the tourney. Mankato plays Dodge County and Owatonna plays New Ulm on Friday. The winners of those two games will meet for the #3 seed. The loser will get a ticket to the play-in game for the #2 D4 seed.

The Rochester Red team has gone through a “trial year” playing an independent schedule. In the past 30 years that I have watched peewee A teams, I have seen over and over again different approaches to teach 12-14 year kids to excel in hockey. The approaches always change. One thing is certain that because of maturing limitations, the kids can learn only so much at that age.

Rochester fielded two A teams in D8 for at least six years. The 2004-2005 season was the last year they entered two teams in D8. That year, both Rochester teams finished behind Red Wing and one team finished behind Dodge County. In 2005-2006 season, if memory serves me right, Rochester ended up with one team in D8 even though they had formed an A and an A2 team.

D8 would not allow the A2 team in the league. In 2005-2006, Dodge County took second place in D8 with a 15-1 record. The Rochester team finished behind Dodge County and barely beat them in the D8 playoffs for the #3 seed to advance.

Rochester Red had the easiest path in the D9 playoffs. They should improve their unbeaten D9 record to 3-0-0 and take the #1 seed D9 to the South Regional. They would likely play Woodbury or Rosemount in their first regional game. Northfield would then end up with the #2 seed and draw Woodbury or Rosemount. Three teams, Mankato, Owatonna, and New Ulm are the favorites to take either the #3 seed or the play-in game invite. Dodge County and Mankato have played once this year, in early December. Mankato beat Dodge County 9-2. Owatonna and New Ulm have played each twice this year. Owatonna won both of the games, 6-2 and 6-2. Mankato and Owatonna are favored.

East Regional (D2, D10, D11) - The East Regional is shaping up as follows: D2 had a surprise when the lowest seeded team, Mahtomedi, won a regional seed last weekend. The Zephyrs were joined by White Bear Lake. The two teams will play Saturday for the #1 seed. In D10, Elk River and Blaine are playing this weekend for the #1 or #2 seed. Both teams will be in the tourney.

D11 had the biggest surprise when Proctor beat the Duluth Lakers and then had to forfeit the game a day later. D11’s two seeds are still up in the air.

Both D10 and D11 had controversies in their playoffs last week interpreting player eligibility rules. The controversy was generated in trying to interpret the “new?” five penalties in a game and you are out for that game and the next game. In D10, though Centennial played an ineligible player, they did not have to forfeit. The player involved sat the next game.

We, as adults, look foolish when we make rules that affect kids and then don’t know how they are applied. Somebody can always come up with a new idea and then a new rule. But nobody follows through. We need fewer rules. That is because the game is hockey. It is supposed to be fun.

But one thing is certain. Very few rules should be made that result in a parent and kid sitting at home or in the stands while their team is on the ice.

If the projected winners this week hold, the East Regional draw would look like this. White Bear Lake would play Cloquet and Elk River would play Mahtomedi in the upper bracket. Hermantown would play Rogers and Blaine would play Roseville in the lower bracket.

District 2 - The D2 district playoffs opened with two surprises, #8 seeded Mahtomedi beat playoff favorite and #1 seed Roseville 4-3 in overtime. In a second playoff game between Tartan and Moundsview, skated simultaneously on Stillwater’s second sheet, Tartan beat Moundsview 2-1. That set up an unexpected battle between Mahtomedi and Tartan in the semifinals with the winner getting a seed to the East Regional on Sunday. The Zephyrs won 5-3. The #8 seeded Mahtomedi advances to the East Regional. They will play White Bear Lake to decide who gets the #1 seed at the Blizzard this Saturday. The loser of that game plays the winner of the third place game with the #2 and #3 seeds at stake.

White Bear Lake has struggled all season, a team with talent but just never quite there. Two weeks ago, in their own tourney they were beaten by Edina 10-0. The Bears beat Forest Lake 4-1 in their opening game and beat Stillwater 3-2 in overtime to make it to the championship game.

With only one D2 seed left, Roseville came back to beat a tough Moundsview team 6-3 to end the Mustangs season. The Raiders will play Stillwater on Thursday. Now the #1 and #2 seeded teams going into the D2 playoffs need to beat each other for the right to play for the last seed to the East Regional. The two teams split the two D2 games. Roseville winning the first game 6-1 and Stillwater the second game played at the end of January 2-1.

Tartan and Forest Lake play in the other game on Thursday. Forest Lake, after losing to White Bear Lake, beat Highland 5-4 in overtime to get there. Highland is out of the playoffs. Tartan beat Forest Lake 2-0 in the first week of the season last November. The two teams tied 1-1 in mid-January. This will be another tough game. Tartan has been playing well as the season ended, and Forest Lake has been struggling.

This is D2 hockey and the league has always had terrific balance. Seven of the eight associations will have had a peewee team in the regionals in the past four years. Eight teams if you include Highland. The Caps were not in D2 last year, but played in regionals in the past two years. The only team not on that list is Tartan.

This week, White Bear Lakes takes the #1 seed. The Bears should beat Mahtomedi.
Stillwater should win their next two games and beat Mahtomedi for the #2 seed. The Ponies game with Roseville will be tough. Tartan should be up to beat Forest Lake. All three teams, Roseville, Tartan, and Forest Lake have split their two D2 games with the Ponies this year. Mahtomedi should get the #3 seed. The Zephyrs are playing well as the season ends.

District 10 - Centennial ended up with an ineligible player even though they sought or asked D10 officials before the game. They played their opening game with the player in question and won 7-3. The player sat the second and Centennial to Blaine 4-2.

Elk River is the favorite. They beat Princeton 4-1 and Rogers 3-1 to make it to the D10 championship game on Saturday. The Elks are now assured of either the #1 or #2 D10 seed. Blaine joins the Elks in the championship game and is also assured of a seed. The Bengals beat Anoka 3-1 besides beating Centennial to get there.

In the other upper bracket opening game, Rogers beat Champlin Park. Champlin Park then beat Princeton 2-1 to end the Tigers season. Champlin Park now faces their “nemesis” Centennial in a winner go home game Saturday morning. In the last month of the season, Centennial beat the Rebels four times, 4-1, 5-3, 5-2, and 3-0. It is hard for one team to beat another team four times in a month at the peewee A level. The losing team just keeps learning until they find a way to win. Centennial should have their hands full.

Anoka, after losing to Blaine in the opening game, beat Spring Lake Park 3-2 to send the Panthers home. The Panthers have had a good season as their program continues to improve. Anoka plays Rogers in the second game on Saturday morning. Rogers has beaten Anoka twice during the season, 4-1 and 3-2. If Anoka wins Saturday’s game, they will play for the third seed on their home ice.

Elk River continues to be the favorite. But the Elk River/Blaine game is going to be a tough game. The Elks beat the Bengals twice 3-2 (in overtime) and 4-2. They lost once 4-2. The Elks keep the #1 seed and Blaine gets the #2 seed. The #3 seed is down to four teams and three games. Champlin Park plays Centennial and Anoka play Rogers. Centennial and Rogers are the favorites. Rogers tied Centennial 1-1 and beat the Cougars 3-0 during the Christmas Holidays. The edge goes to Rogers this week, they get the #3 seed.

District 11 - When the adults get too involved, they can really mess things up. Proctor opened the D11 playoff with a 4-3 win over the Duluth Lakers. When a Proctor player received his 5th penalty (another not so well thought out rule), instead of being thrown out of the game, he was allowed to play. He scored the winning goal.

That occurred Monday night. Tuesday afternoon, the adults in D11 forced the Rails to forfeit the game and then forced the Rails to play Duluth East Tuesday evening. The Rails lost 7-2 to end their season. The player involved also could not play in the second game.

This whole scenario is not good for youth hockey. More and more rules are being made and applied without allowing for circumstance. A D10 team also played a player who was ineligible for one game and won. There no forfeit was made. Now there is inconsistency.

Right or wrong, the Proctor matter was brought to the refs attention during the game. They made a decision. Now it gets more complicated. The more complicated the adults make the game, the less fun the game is for the kids and parents.
What kind of learning moment was this for the kids on both teams? What did they learn? Let’s play hockey.

In D11’s other Monday night game, Cloquet beat Duluth East 4-3. Hermantown and the Duluth Lakers played on Wednesday. The winner plays Cloquet. The winner of the Cloquet game will get one of the two D11 seeds.

This remains a tough district to figure out. Hermantown, Cloquet, and Duluth East are the likely teams to tangle for the two seeds. The Duluth Lakers need to beat Hermantown this Wednesday. What was said last week, remains so for this week. The #1 seed goes to Hermantown; the Hawks have struggled at times, but not against D11 foes.

As for the #2 seed, Cloquet beat Duluth East in the playoff once already. No need for the old zinc penny to come out. Cloquet takes the #2 seed. But it is always tough to beat a peewee A team twice.

West Regional (D3, D5, D6) - The West Regional is shaping up as follows: In the opening game a week from Friday, St. Cloud would play Mpls Storm and Burnsville would play MAML in the upper bracket. Wayzata would play Prior Lake and Edina would play STMA in the lower bracket (providing all the predictions come true).
This region has a game of musically chairs going on. The D6 teams do not want to end up playing Wayzata in the opening game. Both Burnsville and Edina want the #1 seed, but they may be fooled if the Mpls Storm beat Wayzata on Saturday.

District 3 - D3 is the only district that has no team assured of a regional seed. Wayzata opened the playoffs beating Hopkins 12-1 and Armstrong 5-2. This Saturday, the Trojans will play Mpls Storm for the #1 seed. The loser has to battle either OMG or Armstrong for the #2 seed. The Storm beat Orono 6-4 and Osseo/Maple Grove 3-1 to get to the championship game.

The winner will get the #1 D3 seed to the West Regional. The loser plays the winner of the OMG/Armstrong game for the #2 D3 seed on Sunday. Wayzata and the Mpls Storm have played each other twice at the start of the year. The Trojans won the first game 6-0 and tied the second game 0-0.

OMG beat Mound/Westonka 3-0 before losing to the Storm. They beat Hopkins 5-2 to make Saturday’s final. Hopkins beat Crow River 5-4 to end the Tigers first season in D3. Hopkins always amazes with their improvement over the year. The Royals seemed always get beat early on and become a hard team to beat late in the season. Crow River had a successful D3 season ending with a 9-7 record. That is better than most expected.

Armstrong had a great season and was one of the hardest working teams this year. It showed when they opened the playoffs with a 5-1 win over Crow River before losing to Wayzata. Armstrong came back to beat Orono 5-4 to get their ticket to Saturday’s game at the PIC. They remain in the hunt.

Orono beat Mound/Westonka 6-0 to end the Whitehawks first D3 season. The Spartan’s loss to Armstrong ended their season. But they had a great year last year making the state tourney. This year the Spartans stuggled early on, but improved after playing in the Eveleth tourney in mid-January.

The Trojans take the #1 seed this week. The Storm can beat them, but playoffs are tough. The Strom get the #2 seed, but it would not be surprising to see Armstrong take it away from the storm in the final game.

District 5 - St. Cloud and STMA continued their dominance of D5, but things were getting tougher.

Both teams won their opening games easily. St. Cloud beat Litchfield 13-0 and STMA beat Sauk Rapids 8-1. Each had a tougher second game. St. Cloud beat Sartell 4-1 and STMA beat MAML 3-2. The Sartell/St. Cloud game was played at Sartell and should have generated a lot of interest. These two associations are neighbors. Some people refer to Sauk Rapids and Sartell as St. Cloud suburbs. Not a good thing to say.

The wins by St. Cloud and STMA put the season long rivals into the championship game on Saturday. One comes out with the #1 seed and will play the #2 D3 seed (Wayzata, Mpls Storm, Armstrong, or OMG). The other will get the #2 seed and will play the #2 D6 seed (Edina, Burnsville, Prior Lake, or Eden Prairie).

Litchfield beat Hutchinson 3-2 in the opening game. Sauk Rapids beat Willmar 2-1 in their opening game. Willmar played Buffalo in the opening game of the loser bracket. Buffalo had lost to Sartell. The Cardinals beat the Bison 7-2. Hutchinson played an improving River Lakes team that had narrowly lost to MAML 4-3. Hutchinson beat River Lakes 2-1 to end their season. River Lakes improved over their season and lost two tough games to get knocked out of the running for a regional seed.

In the second round of the losers bracket, Willmar beat Litchfield 3-2 and Hutchinson beat Sauk Rapids 3-0. The losses ended Litchfield’s and Sauk Rapids seasons. That set the draw for the #3 seed on Saturday. MAML plays Willmar and Sartell plays Hutchinson. MAML has two regular season wins over Willmar and is the favorite. Willmar has played well at the end of the season and continues to play well in the playoffs.

Sartell beat Hutchinson 9-3 and 4-2 during regular season and should be favored here. But last year Hutchinson came on strong at the end of the season to make the regional tourney, and it is looking like they could to do it again. Sartell has two regular season wins over MAML, 3-0 and 3-2.

D5 sends three teams to the regionals. Two teams, STMA and St. Cloud, will battle in Litchfield for the #1 and #2 seeds. St. Cloud gets the #1 seed this week and is the favorite to beat STMA. They hold two regular season wins (2-1 and 3-2) over STMA and are favorites to win on Saturday. STMA would get the #2 seed.

St. Cloud would then play the #2 D3 seed (Wayzata, Mpls Storm, Armstrong or OMG) and STMA would play the #2 D6 seed (Burnsville, Edina, Prior Lake, or Eden Prairie). MAML is favored to take the #3 seed, but anything can happen. Sartell, Willmar, and Hutchinson are all in the running. As the #3 seed, MAML take two of the three seeds. St. Cloud gets the #1 seed this week and STMA get the #2 seed. The fight for the third seed will be donnybrook. MAML and River Lakes could be battling for the final seed on Saturday. If MAML takes the #3 seed, the Moose would play either Edina or Burnsville in their first game of the West Regional.

One final note, for those who will be at the D5 tourney in Litchfield, take some time between games and walk the halls of the Litchfield high school across the street from the arena. It is usually open with some sporting activity. The high school has been giving each graduating class a large section of hallway. The class paints a mural on that panel. They have been doing this for around 25 years. It is worthwhile seeing.

District 6 - Where is the eerie music, the kind that sends shivers up and down your spine. It is déjà vu in D6 again this year. Last year, on the Thursday before the final weekend, Edina beat Burnsville 5-4 to go to the championship game. Eden Prairie beat Prior Lake 2-1 to eliminate the Lakers from the playoffs and assure them the #1 seed.

This Thursday, Burnsville and Edina will play the same game all over again only Burnsville has the #1 seed (actually that could matter if the two teams tied). Burnsville won the season championship and sat in wait while Jefferson startled everyone by stringing playoff wins together.

The Jags started the gauntlet by beating Waconia last Friday 6-5 to keep alive. On Saturday they beat Chaska 4-3 to keep alive. On Monday, the Jags beat Minnetonka 4-2 to keep alive. On Tuesday, they lost to the Blaze 5-1 and dropped to the loser bracket.

Edina had to beat Prior Lake 5-1 to get to the championship game. Placing first or second in D6 has its rewards at playoff time and gives the regular season games extra importance. Both Burnsville and Edina had to play one playoff game to get to the regional and both teams three or four games in the next four days to decide on what seed they will get.

Prior Lake beat Eden Prairie 5-2 before they lost to Edina. In the loser bracket, Eden Prairie ended Jefferson’s great playoff run, beating the Jags 5-1. Prior Lake beat Minnetonka 4-3 to end the Skippers season. And déjà vu happens. The Lakers and the Eagles go at again for the #3 seed in what will be the second of two great games. Last year the Lakers lost by a goal.

The Burnsville/Edina game is a coin flip. The Blaze beat the Hornets at the end of regular season 5-4 to take the D6 regular season championship. Both teams are certain to go regionals, but can end up with any of the three seeds. The winner of Thursday game will not be guaranteed the #1. The top two teams play again on Saturday and if necessary Sunday to sort that out. Last year Edina and Burnsville battled in two weekend games, Burnsville winning. Burnsville lost in the regional a week later to Edina in a game for a state tourney entry. Edina went on to win the state title. It is not over until it is over.

Eden Prairie beat Prior Lake 2-1 and 4-3 in regular season before losing 5-2 in the first playoff game. The winner of this game will be playing for the #2 or #3 seed to the West Regional.

Burnsville takes the #1 seed this week, but Edina and Burnsville will likely play three games over the next four days to settle who gets the #1 seed. Edina takes the #2 seed and Prior Lake the #3 seed.

Under the new regional tourney format this year, this year (it changes from year to year) the #1 D6 seed will appear to have an easier path to a seed to the state tourney then the #2 or #3 seeds. The #1 D6 team opens against the #3 D5 team (MAML, Hutchinson, Sartell, or Willmar). The #2 D6 team opens against the #2 D5 team (St. Cloud or STMA) and the #3 D6 team opens against the #1 D3 team (Wayzata or Mpls Storm).

For those anticipating an easy match in their favorite D6 team’s opener, remember this is PeeWee A hockey. It's kids playing a game and anything can happen.

Another Way to Look at PeeWee A Hockey - Feb. 16

2011-02-16T15:30:00.002-06:00

By frederick16

Well, it starts. Five months ago, 107 PeeWee A teams opened their hockey seasons. Each team has played around 40 games pointing towards this week, the start of the playoffs. Some teams did not make it.

In D10, Andover, Irondale, St. Francis and Coon Rapids failed to qualify for the D10 playoffs. In D9, Red Wing, Austin, Albert Lea and Faribault lost their play-in games. I have seen all these teams play games at some point during the year. I want to congratulate you for the efforts you and your team have made this year.
And I wanted you to know that people besides me and your parents are watching you play.

To those teams left in the hunt, good luck.

North Regional (D12, D15, D16) - The North Regional is shaping up as follows:
Grand Rapids would open the tourney against Brainerd and Bemidji would play Mesabi East in the upper bracket of opening round of double elimination play. The Moorhead Black would play Thief River Falls and East Grand Forks would play Hibbing in the lower bracket.

Changes this week are Brainerd replaces Detroit Lakes. The Lakers struggled as the season ended, the Warriors started to play well as a team. Greenway is replaced by Mesabi East. The three teams fighting for the seed are fairly well matched as the season ends. Mesabi East is a first year peewee A team and the host of the D12 playoffs. Roseau is replaced by EGF. The Green Wave has shown improvement, but Crookston is a threat.

District 12 - The D12 playoffs are this weekend at the Hoyt Lakes Arena. Regular season champion Grand Rapids took the #1 seed and a first round bye into the double elimination tourney. The Thunderhawks will play the winner of the Virginia/Greenway game to form the upper bracket of the tournament. The lower bracket matches Hibbing and Eveleth in one game. International Falls and host Mesabi East meet in the other game.

After struggling early in the year, Virginia has improved. The Blue Devils ended their season splitting two games with International Falls (winning 7-2 and losing 6-3) and beating Greenway 9-6 and tying Greenway 3-3. Greenway played in the Cloquet tourney two weekends ago. In pool play, they lost to Hermantown 8-2, lost to the Thunder Bay Kings 6-0, and lost to Sibley. On Sunday they lost to Coon Rapids.

Hibbing took second place in D12 and draw the #7 seed Eveleth-Gilbert team. The Bluejackets ended their season beating Orono 4-3, Rochester Red 3-1, and Warroad 9-1. They have beaten the Golden Bears twice this year 9-0 and 4-0. Eveleth-Gilbert is a team that is a favorite to most fans. They struggled all season, but just can’t get there.

The final game of the opening round matches International Falls and Mesabi East. The Broncos and Giants have split two regular season games. The Falls lost to Mesabi East 6-3 and beat them 12-8. Mesabi East played in the Proctor tourney last week. They lost to Proctor 4-3, the Wisconsin Fire 8-0, and played Hutchinson and the Duluth Lakers.

Grand Rapids has been dominant in D12 beating all the teams easily. What is strange is that in the past month, the other D12 teams have been playing some top competition and doing well. Still the Thunderhawks take the #1 seed. The #2 seed has to go to Hibbing. Hibbing and the Falls should tangle in the semifinals, but the Bluejackets should win. That leaves the #3 seed to be fought over by the Falls, Virginia, and Mesabi East. Because this is the first year at Peewee A for the Giants and they are hosting the playoff, they take the #3 seed.

District 15 - Moorhead Black took the D15 title. Four games were forfeited to the Black, two games by Moorhead Orange, one game by Little Falls, and one game by Northern Lakes. The Black ended their season beating Northern Lakes 9-1. They also lost to Wayzata twice 5-3 and 6-2 as part of Hockey Day in Minnesota.

The D15 playoffs are set. The opening round of the double elimination tourney will start this Friday in Fergus Falls. Moorhead as the #1 seed will play #8 Northern Lakes in the upper bracket. The other bracket game will match #4 seeded Brainerd and #5 seeded Detroit Lakes. In the lower bracket #2 seeded Alexandria plays #7 seed Little Falls and #3 seed Fergus Falls plays #6 seed Moorhead Orange.

Moorhead Black, as league champion, will take one of the two seeds D15 has this year. They will be playing for either the first or the second seed in the playoffs. The Black have dominated the three teams in their bracket this year, Northern Lakes, Brainerd and Detroit Lakes.

Brainerd and Detroit Lakes have struggled as regular season ended. The Warriors beat Detroit Lake early in the year 5-2, but lost to them 4-1 in mid-January. Still, the Warriors ended their season beating Alexandria 5-3. Detroit Lakes had a tough tourney in Willmar two weekends ago. The Lakers lost to Willmar 5-1 and to Owatonna 3-2. Last week, Detroit Lakes beat Fargo North 4-0 to end their regular season on a positive note.

Alexandria and Little Falls meet in the first game of the lower bracket. The Cardinals have beaten the Flyers twice this year, 5-1 and 7-0 (last Sunday). Alex had their version of the North Dakota peewee A state tourney two weekends ago. Three of the top rated North Dakota teams (Bismarck Blades, Bismarck Admirals, and the Grand Forks Greyhounds) were entered. Alexandria beat Litchfield 4-2, lost to the Blades 8-0 and lost the third place game to the Admirals 3-0.

Fergus Falls and the Moorhead Orange play each other in the final game. In December, the Otters beat the Orange 7-2 and 8-1. Fergus Falls ended their season playing two Fargo teams. They beat Fargo North 8-4 an 8-2 and lost to the Fargo Flyers Gold 12-4. The Orange are playing well since the turn of the year (beating Alex 3-2, beating Grand Forks Golden Eagles 5-4, and losing a close one to Brainerd 3-2). This will be a close game.

The Moorhead Black should dominate their side of the draw. With only two regional seeds available, the Black may be challenged only in the championship game. Brainerd and Detroit Lakes have been up and down teams. The Black takes the #1 seed. The other seed is wide open. Alex, Detroit Lakes, Brainerd, and the Moorhead Orange all have a shot.

Sometimes things just come together for a peewee team. Everything snaps into place. Two years ago, in the D12 playoffs, International Falls won their first games of the year and went on to play well in the regionals. Maybe this is Brainerd’s year to have that happen. The Warriors take the #2 seed.

District 16 - Bemidji won the D16 championship and a first round bye in the playoffs. The Lumberjacks will play the winner of the game between #4 East Grand Forks and #5 Roseau. These three teams comprise the upper bracket of the playoff.
In the lower bracket, there is a real surprise, #3 Crookston. The Pirates came on at the end of the season to take the #3 seed and will play #6 Warroad. The other lower bracket game pits #2 Thief River Falls and #7 Red Lake Falls. Thief River Falls is hosting the tourney.

The Lumberjacks have played steady hockey this year and are a balanced team. They ended their D16 season beating Roseau 7-2, Red Lake Falls 6-1, and Warroad 8-1 last weekend. Roseau and East Grand Forks have been rivals over the past few years. Both teams have fought each other for the D16 titles and state tourney seeds in the regionals. So it is odd to see the two teams playing each other so early in the playoffs.

East Grand Forks has two regular season wins over Roseau 8-3 and 6-3 (a week ago). The Green Wave have ended their season losing and winning games. In they won two of their last four games. Besides beating Roseau, they beat the Fargo Angels 4-0, lost to the Grand Forks Seaswolves 5-2 and lost to Crookston 5-4 in overtime. Roseau beat Warroad twice to end their season.

Crookston and Warroad meet in the first game of the lower bracket. Crookston has beaten Warroad twice this year 8-0 and 7-0. The Pirates have won 5 of their last 6 games. Warroad ended their season losing 5 of their last 6 games.

Thief River Falls and Red Lake Falls play in the second game in the lower bracket. The Prowlers enter the playoffs on what would seem to be a sour note losing six of their last eight games. But they played some tough teams losing to Wayzata 5-4 in overtime, STMA 3-2, Bemidji 4-3 in overtime, and Moorhead Black 3-2 in overtime. Red Lake Falls has been a slowly improving team. They have a tough draw in the playoffs.

The East Grand Forks/Roseau is a tough one to figure. The Green Wave wins over the Rams should make it easy to take them, but Roseau is always tough at tournament time. EGF should win and that would set up a Bemidji/EGF semifinal. Bemidji has beaten the Green Wave twice during the year, the nod goes to Bemidji.

In the lower bracket, Crookston and Thief River Falls should advance setting up another cross town rivalry (40 miles downriver). Crookston has lost twice to TRF this year. Another tough match, but Prowlers should win. Bemidji and Thief River Falls would then play for the #1 seed. Loser gets the#2 seed. The third seed is a tossup between Crookston, Roseau and EGF. D16 always has a surprise winner in this tourney. It is hard to believe that EGF would be knocked out in the D16 playoffs. EGF takes the #3 seed.

South Regional (D4, D8, D9) - The South Regional is shaping up as follows: In the South Regional at Rochester, Farmington would play Lakeville South and Rochester Red would play Woodbury in the upper bracket. Luverne would play Mankato and Owatonna would play Rosemount in the lower bracket.

The Rochester Red were added to the D9 playoffs and took the #1 seed from Mankato. Mankato gets the #2 D9 seed.

District 4 - D4 will be the first district to send a team to the regional. Their single seed will be filled by 3:00 this Sunday. Luverne is the odds on favorite. The Cardinals played a full D9 schedule and almost edged Mankato for the title in the last week of the season. Redwood Falls and Marshall played a D5 schedule, but unlike Luverne, their games were not counted in the D5 standings.

Luverne will open the three team round robin tourney playing Marshall. Marshall and Redwood Falls meet on Saturday in a second game. Luverne will play Redwood Falls on Sunday to complete the tourney. Luverne has beaten Redwood Falls twice this year.

District 8 - St. Cloud and STMA were headed to fight to the finish in D5. That was changed when STMA was beaten a few days before the big. In D8, Farmington and Rosemount were on a parallel path and a few days before the tourney, Woodbury beat Rosemount 3-2. The two teams squared off last Saturday at Rosemount. The game ended in a 1-1 tie. With the tie, Farmington took the D8 championship. Sunday, the Tigers beat Woodbury 2-1 to end their D8 season and Rosemount beat Sibley 7-0 to end their D8 season.

D8 playoffs open this Sunday at Hastings with the for play-in games. Hastings will play IGH/SSP in the first game; Lakeville North plays Johnson/Como is the second game; Sibley plays Eagan in the third game; and Eastview plays Apple Valley in the last play-in game of the day.

The Hastings/IGH game is a toss-up. The teams split their two regular season games played back to back in mid-January. IGH/SSP won the first game at Hastings 5-1 and lost the home game 3-1. The Spartans, after having a good home tourney have lost their last five D8 games. Always a late starting team, Hastings has played well in the last month and will be tough opening at home in front of a large crowd.

Lakeville North won a good tourney in Fargo in mid-January and has struggled since, it part due to a short bench. The Panthers have won one game in their last eight. Hopefully they will have all their kids back for the playoffs. They beat Johnson/Como twice earlier in the season 5-1 and 7-2.

Sibley and Eagan play the third play-in game this Sunday. Sibley ended their regular D8 season beating IGH/SSP 5-4. The Sibley forwards showed they could play hockey, but their defense had lapses that keep the Spartans in the game. Eagan has shown improvement in the last month of the season. In the New Hope tourney two weekends ago, the Wildcats beat Hastings 3-0 and lost to Champlin Park 3-2 in overtime. This is a tough game to call.

The final play-in game matches Eastview and Apple Valley. These two teams transferred over from D6 last year and are arch rivals. They both call the same sheet of ice, home. Eastview has had a solid year taking care of business when it mattered and Apple Valley has had a tough year having lost some key players to the Wisconsin Fire. Rivalry games are always close.

Farmington takes on the winner of the Hastings/IGH game. If Tigers play Hastings at Hastings in a key D8 game, it could be a great game. The two teams played at Farmington two weeks ago and despite the Tigers dominating play, they could not shake the Raiders. They won 4-0. It would be another old small town arch rivalry game where a little of community pride is at state.

Lakeville South plays the winner of Lakeville North/Johnson. Lakeville South hit a tough part of their schedule three weeks ago and ended up playing Farmington and Rosemount and getting beat 7-1, 7-1, and 9-1. So at the White Bear Tourney the Cougars beat Eden Prairie 6-4 and have added wins over rival Lakeville North 7-1 and Johnson/Como 7-0. The Cougars are a young team and have done well. A good D8 tourney and a trip to the South Regional will make them the favorites in D8 next year. Anything the Cougars achieve beyond that this year is gravy. Another arch rivalry game in the D8 semis is possible, but don’t discount Johnson/Como.

Rosemount plays the winner of the Sibley/Eagan game. The Irish have played some of the best hockey at the peewee A level this year. But they have been skating with 8 forwards in the past few weeks and that has thrown some of their team play off. They are constantly adjusting lines during a game. Rosemount will be a very tough team to beat.

Woodbury looked great when they beat Centennial 4-0 in the White Bear Lake tourney. And then the Predators lost to Minnetonka 6-3. After the White Bear tourney, they have played well and may have found their stride. Woodbury draws the Eastview/Apple Valley winner.

Farmington had two ties in the last week of regular season. They tied Prior Lake 3-3 in addition to tying Rosemount. They should take the #1 seed. Hastings could surprise them. Lakeville South will challenge especially if they can keep pace for the full game. Rosemount and Woodbury will tangle again in the playoffs. That will be quite a game. Woodbury, by beating Rosemount last week, gets the #2 seed and Rosemount the #3 seed. Lakeville South should get the fourth spot and an opportunity to go to the regions via play-in game.

District 9 - Last Wednesday, the D9 playoff seeding were announced. Unlike other districts, D9 chose to seed teams based on strength, not on where they finished in regular season. This change was caused by the last minute inclusion of the Rochester Red team, a team that played an independent schedule and played no D9 teams.

The Rochester Red team was placed in the East Division for purposes of seeding and given the East #1 seed. They did not earn it. Northfield, the East Champions were given the #2 East seed. Dodge County took the #3 East seed, Rochester Black the #4 East seed. The playoffs now included all teams and the Rochester Gold team was given the #5 seed and Austin the #6 seed. With Rochester added to the East Division (they are listed in the East League with an 0-0-0 record), a team had to be moved to the West Division. The last place East team, Red Wing became a West team and was seeded fourth in the West.

The rest of the West seeds went in order the D9 teams finished in regular season. Mankato took the #1 seed, Owatonna the #2 seed, New Ulm #3 seed, Albert Lea #5 seed and Faribault #6 seed. Four play-in games were added to the tourney schedule. Red Wing, now with a higher west seed, hosted the Rochester Gold at Red Wing even though the Gold finished two places higher than the Wingers in regular season.

The game was played at Bergwell Tuesday. Both teams were fired up. The Gold jumped to a 2-0 lead. The Wingers came back to tie the game 2-2. But the Wingers could not beat the Gold goalie. The Gold bottled up in their zone most of the third period, scored two goals late in the game on long passes to win 5-2.

In the other play-in games, Dodge County beat Faribault 5-1, Rochester Black beat Albert Lea 2-1, and New Ulm beat Austin 5-3.

The D9 double elimination playoffs are now set. Rochester Red will play the Rochester Gold. It will be the Red’s first official D9 game. Owatonna and Dodge County meet in the other game in the upper bracket. The Huskies added two more wins last week, beating Waconia 2-0 and Apple Valley 6-4. They have now won 10 games in a row and 18 games out of their last 20 games. They beat Dodge County 10-2 in an early season game in their only meeting.

Mankato plays Rochester Black in their opening game of the playoffs. Mankato played in the Cloquet tourney two weekends ago. The Mavericks beat Coon Rapids 4-0, lost to Spring Lake Park 6-0 and beat Apple Valley 4-2. They lost to Sibley 3-1 in the seventh place game. The Mavericks and the Black have played twice this season. Mankato has won both games (5-2 and 13-2). The Black have struggled all year but have been a thorn in Northfield’s side beating them twice in midseason. The Black beat Albert Lea in an overtime play-in game 2-1 earlier this week.

This final game of the D9 double elimination tourney first round matches Northfield and New Ulm. The two teams have not met this season. Northfield ended their season by stringing for wins together beating Apple Valley and St. Louis Park among others. New Ulm played in Alexandria’s tourney two weeks ago. They lost to Kennedy 9-3 in the consolation championship. The Eagles ended their season beating Marshall 9-2. They beat Austin in their play-in game 5-3.

Rochester Red has the easiest path as they take their 0-0-0 unbeaten D9 record into the playoffs. They need to win their first two games. Their first game against the Rochester Gold and their second is game is most likely will be Owatonna. Mankato, Northfield or New Ulm could win the lower bracket. The Rochester Black is the dark horse there. The Mavericks are the favorites. That would set up an Owatonna/Northfield battle for the third seed. Owatonna would be the favorite; the Huskies beat Northfield twice this season, 11-1 and 4-1. Rochester Red gets the #1 seed, Mankato gets the #2 seed, and Owatonna the #3 seed. Northfield takes fourth and plays the D8 fourth place team for a regional seed.

East Regional (D2, D10, D11) - The East Regional is shaping up as follows: In the East Regional, Stillwater would play Duluth East and Elk River would play White Bear Lake in the upper bracket. Hermantown would play Rogers and Centennial would play Roseville in the lower bracket.

Duluth East replaces Cloquet as the #2 seed. Despite winning their own tourney two weeks ago, the Lumberjacks are struggling. Rogers replaces Blaine as the #3 D10 seed. Rogers and Blaine tied 1-1 in the last week of D10 play and Rogers is hosting the tourney.

District 2 - Roseville lost to Tartan 4-3 on Sunday. The loss was not enough to knock the Raiders out of first place. Roseville will open the D2 playoffs on Stillwater’s Blizzard this Friday against the eighth seeded Mahtomedi. Roseville beat the Zephyrs twice in regular season play 8-4 and 4-1. The Raiders won the New Hope tourney two weeks ago beating Hopkins 5-0, Eastview 4-0 and Champlin Park 5-1 in the championship game.

Stillwater took second place. They also won on Sunday beating Hudson 2-1 in their last D2 game. The Ponies play Highland in their D2 playoff opener. The Bears have been busy in the past two weeks, first playing in their own tourney and then playing three D2 games last week. The Bears closed their D2 season losing to Stillwater 4-0, beating Highland 2-0, and beating Forest Lake 3-1. White Bear Lake took third place.

In their own tourney two weeks ago, the Bears lost to Blaine 3-2, beat Winnipeg 4-1 and lost to Edina 10-0. The Bears play Centennial this week before opening their D2 playoffs against #6 seeded Forest Lake. Tartan finally posted their wins. The Titans went from a 1-6 record to a 7-7 record and ended in fourth place. They open D2 playoffs against Moundsview. The Mustangs took a tough 2-1 loss to Stillwater in late January and have been up and down since. They took fourth place at the Minneapolis Storm tourney beating Northern Lakes 6-0 and losing to Rogers 5-1 and to Shakopee 3-1. They beat Princeton and Forest Lake to end their season.

Roseville is the favorite to win their bracket, but Tartan holds that late season win over the Raiders. Moundsview is a rugged team that seems on the verge of putting it all together. Mahtomedi demonstrated some excellent play in their forwards early in the season but have struggled since. Still Roseville should come out of the playoffs with the #1 seed. In the lower bracket, it looks like a battle between Stillwater and White Bear Lake. Stillwater owns two D2 wins. They beat the Bears early in the season 3-1 and last week 4-0.

This week, Stillwater takes the #1 seed. Roseville gets the #2 seed. Moundsview and White Bear Lake would then likely battle for the #3 seed. That will be a good game. Last year in the state tourney, White Bear Lake had Edina on the ropes until they drew to many penalties in last half of the game. They had an excellent game approach. Moundsview has talent and it is coming together, but the edge goes to the Bears. They get the #3 seed.

District 10 - Elk River and Centennial went down to the wire in the race for first in D10. Both teams needed every point. The Elks beat Anoka 5-3 and kept their “unfairplay” point. Centennial beat Andover 4-0 and lost their “unfairplay” point. Elk River is the D10 champs. They edged out Centennial by a single point in the standings.

After Andover’s great season last year ending with a state tourney appearance, the Huskies struggled all this year. They were out of the D10 playoffs before playing Centennial. Irondale was a D1 team last year and played a D2 schedule. When D1 dropped competitive hockey, Irondale joined D10.

Irondale surprised a few people this year. The Knights had a great start to the season, almost beating Cloquet in the championship game of the Super Rink Thanksgiving tourney. They lost 2-1 in a close game. But the Knights struggled in the past few months and were edged out of the D10 playoffs the last few weeks of regular season. Two other teams, Coon Rapids and St. Francis also failed to qualify for the D10 playoffs.

The D10 Playoffs are set. The goal of all the teams is to win their first two games. The winners of the first two games will take either the #1 or #2 seed. Teams that lose one of the first two games will have a chance to play for the #3 seed.

The upper bracket matches Elk River and Princeton in the first game. Rogers and Champlin Park play in the second. Since losing 4-2 to Centennial in early January, the Elks have won 10 D10 games in a row. They took third at White Bear Lake two weekends ago beating Lakeville South 6-0 and Duluth East 5-1 before losing to Eden Prairie 2-1 in pool play. As the wild card, the Elks pushed Edina before losing 3-2 in the championship semifinals. They beat OMG 3-2 for third. The Elks have beaten Princeton 6-0 and 5-0 in league play. Elk River plays STMA and St. Cloud as a tune-up to the D10 playoffs this week.

Princeton has had a good season. The Tigers lost 5-3 to the Kansas City Stars (98 AA peewee team currently ranked #22 in the nation out of 475 teams) in the championship game at Owatonna and they took third place in Hibbing’ tourney beating the host 3-2 in overtime. The Tiger’s had a strong D10 season winning and tying half their games. They will be tough.

The Rogers/Champlin Park game will be a good one. Champlin Park beat Rogers 4-1 and tied them 1-1 in league play. But that was in early December. Rogers finished strong in D10 winning five of their last six games. Their only loss was to Elk River 4-1. Champlin Park struggled as the D10 season ended losing five of their last six games. Their only win was over Coon Rapids 6-2. Champlin Park maybe down because they have had a steady diet of Cougar (Centennial style) as their season ended. They lost to the Cougars four times in the past few weeks.

In the lower bracket, Centennial plays Spring Lake Park and Blaine plays Anoka. Centennial went on tear in the past month in D10. They strung 10 D10 wins together beating Spring Lake Park twice 3-1 and 6-1. The Cougars played in the White Bear Tourney two weekends ago, tying Minnetonka 2-2, losing to Woodbury 4-0 and beating OMG 3-2. Centennial plays White Bear Lake this week. Spring Lake Park also had a great season winning or tying over half their games. The Panthers played well in D10 over the past few weeks. They needed to do well to make the playoffs and they did. Spring Lake Park played in Cloquet’s tourney two weekends ago. They tied Waconia 4-4, beat Mankato 6-0, beat Coon Rapids 7-2 and lost to St. Cloud 6-2 in the third place game.

The final game of the quarter finals has Blaine playing Anoka. The Bengals got off to a strong start this year, taking third place at Burnsville turkey day tourney and surprising people in the Duluth tourney two weeks later by beating Wayzata 5-4 to get to Championship Sunday. In the past month, Blaine has lost twice in 9 D10 games. They have beaten Anoka twice in league play 5-2 and 3-2. Anoka surprised Rosemount, beating the Irish 3-2 in the championship game of their tourney a month ago. The Tornadoes then lost three tough games (to Spring Lake Park 3-2, to Centennial 3-1, and to Rogers 3-2. Since then they have been on a rampage winning six of their last seven games.

Elk River are the favorites to take their first round games, but can be beaten. The Rogers/Champlin Park game is a tough one to pick. So is the Blaine/Anoka game. The Elks should take the #1 seed to the East Regional and Centennial should take the #2 seed. The Blaine/Anoka winner may change that. So the nod here goes to Anoka beating Blaine and Centennial to take the #2 seed. That means Rogers would have to come back to beat Blaine and Centennial to get the #3 seed. But it is Rogers’s home ice. They take the #3 seed.

District 11 - Cloquet won their tourney two weeks ago. In pool play, the Lumberjacks beat Sibley 6-1 Coon Rapids 8-1, and Waconia. In the championship game, they beat the Thunder Bay Kings 1-0. Cloquet lost to 4-3 just before the tourney. That loss cost the Lumberjacks the D11 title. Cloquet played Rogers last week losing 6-1.

Cloquet and Duluth East will play each other in the opening round of the D11 playoffs
Hermantown took the D11 title and get a first round bye in the D11 playoffs. They also played in Cloquet’s tourney and took fifth place. The Hawks beat Greenway 8-2, lost to Thunder Bay 5-2 and tied St. Cloud 3-3 in pool play. They beat Waconia 8-4 in the fifth place game. Hermantown plays the winner of the Duluth Lakers/Proctor game.

Duluth East takes third place in D11. They played in the White Bear Tourney two weeks ago. The Hounds lost to Eden Prairie 9-1, lost to Elk River 5-1, and beat Lakeville South 6-1. Last week, the Duluth East beat White Bear Lake 4-2 and hosted the Rochester Red on the weekend.

The Duluth Lakers take fourth place in D11. The Lakers played Hutchinson, Proctor, Mesabi East, and lost to the Wisconsin Fire 4-0 in Proctor’s tourney on the weekend. Proctor takes fifth place. Proctor beat Hutchinson 3-2, lost to the Duluth Lakers 10-0, beat Mesabi East 4-3, and lost to the Wisconsin Fire 6-2 in their tourney. The Duluth Lakers and Proctor open the D11 playoffs on the 21st.

The D11 playoffs start first round play on the 21st. This is a tough district to figure out. The #1 seed goes to Hermantown, the Hawks have struggled at times, but not against D11 foes. The old zinc penny came out and the flip went to Duluth East for the #2 seed.

West Regional (D3, D5, D6) - The West Regional is shaping up as follows: In the West Regional, St. Cloud would play Mpls Storm and Eden Prairie would play MAML in the upper bracket. Wayzata would play Prior Lake and Edina would play STMA in the lower bracket.

Mpls Storm replaces Crow River. The Storm had a strong finish to their season. Burnsville replaces Edina. Burnsville beat Edina and Eden Prairie lost. That gave the Blaze the D6 #1 seed this week. Edina and Prior Lake swapped their seeds.
District 3-Two weeks ago, Wayzata beat OMG 6-4 to end any suspense on who would be the league champions. The Trojans take the #1 seed. But OMG needed a Valentine’s Day win over Crow River to keep the #2 seed. They beat Crow River 2-1. That win edged out the Mpls Storm who finished third. Armstrong took fourth and Crow River took fifth. Orono and Mound Westonka took sixth and seventh. St. Louis Park and Hopkins play Thursday at the PIC for the #8 seed.

Wayzata and the winner of the #8 seed will open play at the PIC on Saturday. In the other side of the bracket, Armstrong and Crow River will meet.

Both Armstrong and Crow River finished the season strong. The Spartans lost only a 2-1 game to Wayzata in their last five D3 games. They took third place in their home tourney two weekends ago, beating Hastings 4-1, losing to Champlin Park 6-5, and beating Eastview 4-0. They also beat Hermantown 4-2 and Mahtomedi 6-4 last week. Armstrong beat Crow River twice. They beat the Tigers 2-1 very early in the season and 3-2 last week. Crow River lost to Prior Lake 6-2 three weeks ago in the Inver Grove Heights Tourney championship game. Since then, they have split games with the Mpls Storm, and beat St. Louis Park besides losing to Armstrong. Two tough teams going at and the winner should challenge Wayzata.

In the lower bracket, #2 OMG plays Mound/Westonka and Mpls Storm play Orono. OMG hold two regular season wins over the Whitehawks. They beat them 6-1 in December and 4-0 last week.

The Mpls Storm has beaten Orono twice this season, 4-0 and 7-1. The Mpls Storm has developed well as a team. They were tough at the start of the year and got tougher after January 1st. The Storm have lost four games in the 20 games they have played in 2011. They have beaten Centennial, tied Wayata, beat OMG in those 20 games. Two of their four losses were to Rogers. Orono made it to the state last year and were a team that many rooted for to take the title. This year’s Spartans have struggled, but they have finished on a high note, winning their last four games.

With the two D3 regional seeds up for grabs, Wayzata is favored to take one. But the Trojans need to win three games to get there. Armstrong or Crow River will challenge the Trojans and then mostly likely OMG or Mpls Park. D3 teams always seem to start slow and start to catch the Trojans as the year ends. But they never quite do it. But Wayzata should take the #1 seed. The #2 seed is a tough pick. There are four teams, OMG, Armstrong, Crow River, or Mpls Park that could take it. Mpls Park is my choice especially if they do not have to play OMG twice in the tourney.

District 5 - St. Cloud and STMA have been running neck and neck all season in D5. Last week, the two teams played an intense game. St. Cloud won 3-2 to claim the D5 title. Unfortunately, River Lakes spoiled the party a week earlier by beating STMA 2-1 and taking the Knights out of contention. St. Cloud draws the winner of the Hutchinson/Litchfield game in the D5 playoffs. STMA beat Champlin Park 1-0 and Buffalo 6-0 last week. STMA plays Elk River this week before the playoffs. The Knights draw the winner of the Willmar/Sauk Rapids game.

The Knights swept through the D5 playoffs last year, but will have a more difficult path this year. Last year, Crow River, now a threat to take a D3 ticket to this regional, was a favorite to take a seed. But Crow River lost to Buffalo in the first round and could not recover. Neither the Knights nor St. Cloud should overlook that first game.

Sartell meets Buffalo in the other half of the upper bracket. The two teams split their regular season games, Sartell winning 2-1 early on and Buffalo winning 6-2 in January. Both teams are struggling, but the Bison have shown improvement. They have lost some close games to good teams in the past few weeks. Sartell will be playing in front of a home crowd and that will help.

Two improving teams, MAML and River Lakes, meet in the other half of the lower bracket. MAML began to show improvement in mid-December when they tied STMA 2-2 in a D5 game. River Lakes surprised STMA last week with their win. The two teams have played each other three times this season an MAML has won all three games (6-2, 4-2 and 2-1), but in hockey, the more times you play a team, the more difficult it gets to beat that team. This will be a tough game and one of the more interesting games to watch.

The last four finishers in D5 were Sauk Rapids, Willmar, Hutchinson, and Litchfield-Cokato/Dassel. These teams seam to always get a late start in their hockey season and then accelerate their improvement as the season ends. Sauk Rapids and Willmar this year have improved enough to where they could slip into the regional. Sauk Rapids came over from D10 last year with St. Cloud are not used to being in a district playoff. In D10, only the top 8 D10 teams make the D10 playoff.

The Sauk Rapids Storm played in the first tourney of the year at Spring Lake Park in early November. Their home ice is at the county fairgrounds and doesn’t hold ice the year round. That sets them back in forming a team. So it was surprising to see them entered in an early tourney. For a team that was just getting rolling in that tourney, the Storm impressed with the discipline they showed. Since then, they have played most of the D5 teams tough but can’t seem to make that step to play with the St. Clouds.

Willmar has a nice facility, one of the best in the state. They are also an improving team. The Cardinals struggled early on and lost big to STMA and Sartell. But they closed the season winning five of their last six games and took second place in their own tourney a week ago beating Detroit Lakes 5-1 (after losing to the Lakers 8-3 early on) and the Fargo Flyer Black 5-2.

MAML and Sauk Rapids maybe improving teams, but Litchfield after taking some hard knocks early on surprised both teams by beating them (MAML 4-1 and Sauk Rapids 9-7) in the last month of the season. Litchfield added wins over Marshall 7-1 and Redwood Falls 11-1 to end their regular season on a high note.

Hutchinson beat River Lakes 4-1 two weekends ago, the day after River Lakes beat STMA 2-1. Last weekend, the Tigers played in the Proctor tourney. They lost to the Wisconsin Fire 8-1, lost to Proctor 3-2, played Mesabi East and the Duluth Lakers.

D5 sends three teams to the regionals and two teams, STMA and St. Cloud, are strong favorites to take two of the three seeds. St. Cloud gets the #1 seed this week and STMA get the #2 seed. The fight for the third seed will be donnybrook. MAML and River Lakes could be battling for the final seed on Saturday. MAML takes the #3 seed.

One final note, for those who will be at the D5 tourney in Litchfield, take some time between games and walk the halls of the Litchfield high school across the street from the arena. It is usually open with some sporting activity. The high school has been given each graduating class a large section of hallway. The class paints a mural on that panel. They have been doing this for around 25 years. It is worthwhile seeing.

District 6 - Going into the last weekend of the season, Burnsville, Eden Prairie, and Edina all had a shot at the D6 title and all had a shot at the coveted #2 seed for the D2 playoffs and they all played each other. Burnsville and Edina opened the action on Friday at Burnsville’s Rink 2, a smaller rink that soon became crowded with fans standing two and three deep along the boards. It was a great game. It had that old time hockey feel to it. The Blaze took an early lead and Edina stormed back to tie the game. In the third period, a key moment came when the Burnsville coach changed lines at a faceoff in their zone. Edina didn’t creating a mismatch. The stronger fresh Blaze line simple took the faceoff, skated the puck down the ice and scored after a little melee in front of the Edina goal. Burnsville won 5-4 and that gave the Blaze the championship. Edina now had to play Eden Prairie for the #2 spot on Sunday.

The Eden Prairie Eagles have been an up and down team and have had outstanding goal tending in crucial games. Edina has a team this year that has shown great improvement in the last two months. Their bigger forwards look to have matured to the point where they can really apply their hockey skills. It looked to be a game where the Hornets would attack and hold the Eagles in their zone. The Eagles would use their good defense to break the puck out occasionally.

The Eagles came out firing and turned the game into an up and down affair. That gave the Hornets room to maneuver down low around the goal and they did. Edina won 6-3.

The top 5 teams in D6 are seeded into the double elimination part of the playoffs. The remaining 5 teams play a single game elimination tourney for the sixth seed. In addition the top two seeds get a first round bye in the double elimination tourney.
Shakopee and Kennedy will open the single elimination part of the D6 playoffs on Thursday in Chaska. The winner will play #6 seeded Chaska on Friday. In the other Friday game, #8 Jefferson plays #7 Waconia. The winners of these two games meet on Saturday with the winner of that game getting the #6 seed in the double elimination round.

On Sunday, the first two games in the double elimination round are played. Prior Lake plays Eden Prairie and Minnetonka plays the #6 seed (who will be playing their third game in three days or their fourth game in four days). Sunday’s winners will play the #1 and #2 seeded teams on Monday. Burnsville plays the winner of the Minnetonka/#6 seed game and Edina plays the winner of the Prior Lake/Eden Prairie game.

D6 has been using this playoff format for years and it is a grueling tourney especially if you have to start back in the single elimination part of the tourney. It incentivizes league play and winning league games since the lower in the final standings a team finishes, the harder it is to make it to the regionals. It is one of the reasons D6 teams always do well in the regional and state tourneys.

If Chaska plays where Chaska should be playing, they should take the #6 seed and will be a threat to take one of the three regional seeds. But Burnsville and Edina are playing at the top of their game and should take two of the seeds. Give the Blaze the #1 seed and Edina the #2 seed. That leaves Minnetonka, Eden Prairie and Prior Lake. So out came the old zinc penny. Prior Lake takes the #3 seed, but that penny wanted to be flipped again.

There is one final observation to offer the readers. Over the past three years, Edina has started strong, stayed strong, but never showed great improvement. This year’s team started OK and in the last month has shown tremendous improvement.

Another Way to Look at PeeWee A Hockey - Feb. 3

2011-02-03T14:07:00.002-06:00

By frederick61

With the PeeWee A district playoffs starting in two weeks, which teams are likely to emerge with regional seeds and which teams are likely to provide a strong challenge has been the focus of this blog since November. Now it is time to shift focus to the regional tourneys. Each regional tourney will have the same double elimination format. That format can be found on the Minnesota Hockey website. This format is a change from last year.

Also on that website is the regional draw. That draw is specified each year. It is the same for each region. If you have been following this blog, the district write-ups are listed under the regions in which the district playoff winners will play. Districts 12, 16, and 15 will play in the North Regional; Districts 8, 9, and 4 will play in the South Regional; Districts 2, 10, 11 will play in the East Regional; and Districts 5, 6 and 3 will play in the West Regional.

The order of the districts listed above has meaning in determining the regional first round pairings. D12, D8, D2, and D5 are assigned an A definition for purpose of determining pairings; D16, D9, D10, and D6 are assigned a B definition for purpose of pairings; and D15, D4, D11, and D3 are assigned a C definition. The pairings for all peewee A regionals this year is then A1/C2, B1/A3, C1/B3, and B2/A2.

So based on how the teams are ranked this week, here is a potential draw for all four regional tourneys (remember some of this was determined by coin flips and pulling names out of a paper bag).

In the North Regional, Grand Rapids would open the tourney against Detroit Lakes and Bemidji would play Greenway in the upper bracket of opening round of double elimination play. The Moorhead Black would play Thief River Falls and Roseau would play Hibbing in the lower bracket.

In the South Regional, Farmington would play Lakeville South and Mankato would play Woodbury in the upper bracket. Luverne would play Northfield and Owatonna would play Rosemount in the lower bracket.

In the West Regional, St. Cloud would play Crow River and Eden Prairie would play MAML in the upper bracket. Wayzata would play Edina and Prior Lake would play STMA in the lower bracket.

In the East Regional, Stillwater would play Cloquet and Elk River would play White Bear Lake in the upper bracket. Hermantown would play Blaine and Centennial would play Roseville in the lower bracket.

This draw is based on where the teams are this week. Next week, it could change dramatically. It probably will and it will be updated over the next few weeks until the district playoffs are over.

Playing competitively in any sport is always about the moment, about this week, about the game today. One thing is always certain, there will be a winner and there will be a loser for each moment. And one thing is equally certain, once that moment is gone, people forget. Even players in that “big game” forget. Years later, should the players or coaches or parents involved meet, they remember. But memory is not the feeling of “joy of winning or the agony of defeat”. They remember differently. Those feelings are gone and have been replaced with a happiness or a warm feeling about the big game. It is because they were there.

So on this Super Bowl weekend, who remembers the champions from 2008?

North Regional (D12, D15, D16) - The North Regional is shaping up as follows:
D12 has three seeds to the North this year and only one team, Grand Rapids, that has played well enough to be a clear favorite to take one of the seeds. The remaining two seeds are going begging, looking for another D12 team to grab a seed. Hibbing comes close, but the Bluejackets have had an up and down year. International Falls, Greenway, Virginia, and Mesabi East have played well enough at times to make a move. Only Eveleth has struggled this year.

D15 has two seeds to the North. Moorhead Black remains a favorite for one of those seeds. The regular season D15 champion is already in the North Regional. If Moorhead Black is the champion, the remaining seed is really going begging. Alexandria, Brainerd, Fergus Falls, Little Falls, Moorhead Orange, and Northern Lakes can all contend. The D15 playoffs are in Fergus Falls this year.

D16 has three seeds and five teams (Bemidji, Thief River Falls, Roseau, Crookston, and East Grand Forks) that will battle for those three seeds. Bemidji and Thief River Falls have played strong all year and should make the regionals. Both teams have struggled a little in the past two weeks. Roseau has improved since losing 6 games in a row at the end of December. East Grand Forks have been an up and down team (they lost to Crookston 6-4 in a D16 game last week). Crookston can be dangerous.

The North had one of four peewee A tournaments in the state last week in Warroad. Nine teams entered. Three Minnesota teams (STMA, Roseau, and Warroad), four North Dakota teams (Fargo Angels, Grand Forks Seawolves-#1 ranked North Dakota team, Fargo Raiders, and Devils Lake) and two Canadian teams (Morden and Fort Francis’s BP Royal). STMA, Roseau and Devils Lake won their pools; STMA won the championship.

District 12 - The D12 playoffs are out. Only one team, the #1 seed, will get a first round bye. Grand Rapids has that bye. The Thunderhawks beat Hibbing 8-0 and Mesabi East 10-3 last week. This week they play Bemidji.

Hibbing played Virginia last week in addition to losing to Grand Rapids. The Bluejackets host Orono and play Eveleth this week. Virginia played International Falls and Greenway besides Hibbing last week. Virginia plays International Falls again this week.

Greenway played Proctor besides Virginia last week. They play in Cloquet’s tourney this weekend and draw Hermantown, Sibley, and the Thunder Bay Kings in pool play. International Falls played three D12 games last week, Mesabi East, Virginia, and Eveleth. This week the Bronco’s play two more D12 games Virginia and Mesabi East.
Mesabi East’s only game is with the Falls this week. Last week, the Giants, played Eveleth and the Falls besides losing to Grand Rapids. Mesabi East will host the D12 playoffs in two weeks.

Grand Rapids keeps the #1 seed to the North Regional this week and Hibbing takes the #2 seed. The third seed this week goes to Greenway. No team is out of this playoff.

District 15 - Things get tight as regular season winds down and every point matters. Moorhead Association chose to have the Moorhead Orange forfeit their two D15 games to the Moorhead Black at the start of the season. With the forfeit, both teams lost their “unfairplay” points. The Black have only a 13 game D15 schedule (the other teams are playing 14 games). One of the 13 games, Northern Lakes, may not have been played.

Currently, the Black are clearly the best team in D15. But they could sweep their remaining games and end up with 33 points. Alexandria can sweep its remaining games and end up with 34 points (despite losing to Detroit Lake this week 4-2). This year the regular season champion gets an automatic seed to the North Regional. It should be the Moorhead Black, but their schedule moves could force them to win the D15 playoff.
Last week, the Black beat Brainerd 10-0 to remain unbeaten in D15. The Black played a second game, losing to Bemidji 6-2. This week they end their D15 season playing Fergus Falls and Little Falls and entertain Thief River Falls.

Things look bleak for the Moorhead Orange two weeks ago after losing to Alexandria 7-2. Last week, things got better. The Orange won three games beating the Grand Forks Golden Eagles 5-4, Red Lake Falls 7-1 and Detroit Lakes 7-2. The Orange play Grand Forks and Winnipeg this week. They have one D15 game left on Feb 12th as part of Hockey Day Minnesota. They play Northern Lakes. Both teams are battling to get out of the D15 cellar. The loser will most likely draw Moorhead Black or Alexandria in the D15 playoffs opening game. The winner will most likely draw Moorhead Black or Alexandria in their playoff opening game.

Alexandria beat Fergus Falls 4-2 and lost to Detroit Lakes 4-2 last week. The loss to Detroit Lakes may have cost the Cardinals the regular season title and an automatic seed to the North Regional. Alex has two D15 games remaining to play.

Alex has their tourney this week. They play Litchfield in the opening game of bracket play. The second ranked North Dakota team, the Bismarck Blades, play New Ulm in the second game of the upper bracket. What really makes this tourney interesting, especially to North Dakota fans, is that the top ranked Grand Forks Greyhounds play Sartell in the first game of the lower bracket. If that isn’t enough, the eighth ranked Bismarck Admirals play Bloomington Kennedy. Alex tourney this year is a preview of the North Dakota State Tourney that will be held the weekend of March 4th. All three North Dakota teams should be in the eight team state tourney field.

Fergus Falls played Brainerd and Northern Lakes last week. The Otters play their last D9 game this week against the Moorhead Black.

Besides losing to the Moorhead Black, Brainerd played Fergus Falls last week. The Warriors have two D15 games remaining (Little Falls and Alexandria). Detroit Lakes completed their D15 season last week. They played Little Falls, beat Alexandria, and lost to the Moorhead Orange.

Northern Lakes plays in the Minneapolis Winter Storm tourney held at Parade Ice Gardens. The Lightning play Moundsview in the opening round of bracket play and will be tested.

Moorhead Black keeps the #1 seed this week; Detroit Lakes takes the #2 seed from Alexandria. The Lakers beat the Cardinals this week and to the victor goes the spoils.

District 16 - Bemidji and Thief River Falls tangled on Sunday with the D16 regular season title at stake. The Lumberjacks won 4-3 in overtime to take top spot and should win the D16 crown easily. They have three D16 games left to play (Warroad, Roseau, and Red Lake Falls). Last week, Bemidji beat Moorhead 6-2. This week, they play Grand Rapids.

Thief River Falls should lock up second place. The Prowlers play Crookston and Red Lake Falls in their final D16 games this season. Thief River also plays Moorhead Black this weekend.

Warroad held a tourney last week with an interesting mix of North Dakota, Canadian and Minnesota teams. STMA, Roseau, and Devils Lake North Dakota made it to the championship round. STMA won the tourney on a tie breaker. Roseau got the championship round by betting the Grand Forks Seawolves 7-4 and the Fargo Raiders 12-4. The Rams beat STMA 3-2, in the championship round but lost to Devils Lake 5-4. STMA beat Devils Lake 9-2 to win the tourney on a tie breaker.

Roseau plays three D16 games this week, entertaining Warroad and traveling to Crookston and East Grand Forks. The EGF beat the Fargo Flyers Gold 7-6 last week and lost to Crookston 6-4. Besides playing Roseau this week, EGF plays the Grand Forks Seawolves.
Crookston had a nice win over EGF. The Pirates have a tough week ahead. They play Red Lake Falls, Roseau, Warroad, and Thief River Falls in D16 games. Four wins could put the Pirates in second place in D16.

No changes in the seeding this week. Bemidji keeps the #1 seed. Roseau moves to the #2 seed and TRF the #3 seed.

South Regional (D4, D8, D9) - The South Regional is shaping up as follows:
D4 has Luverne as the likely #1 seed with Marshall and Redwood Falls challenging.
D8 has Farmington, Rosemount, Woodbury and one of the Lakeville teams being seeded into their double elimination portion of their tourney. The remaining teams (one of the Lakeville teams, Eastview, Hastings, Sibley, IGH/SSP, Johnson/Como, Apple Valley and Eagan) play a single elimination round for entry into the double elimination tourney.
D9 playoff draw is solidifying with Northfield, Rochester Black, Dodge County, and Rochester Gold winning the East seeds; and Mankato, Owatonna, New Ulm and Albert Lea winning the West seeds.

Eight D9 teams will play in Rochester March 4-6. It should be quite a tourney.
D9 playoffs will start Thursday, February 17th and will finish the following Sunday, February 20th. D8 playoffs will begin Sunday, February 20th and will finish Sunday, February 27th. The fourth place finishers in both tourneys will meet for a play-in game to the South Regional. The D8 fourth place finisher will be decided around 1:00 February 27th. The site of the play-in game is unknown.

District 4 - Luverne lost to Mankato 8-4 last Sunday. As a result, Mankato takes the D9 West title and the Cardinals have to settle for a second place finish. Luverne beat Austin 9-2 in D9 last week and have finished their D9 schedule.

The Cardinals host a peewee A tourney this week. Sioux Falls Blue, Johnson/Como, Austin, Freemont Nebraska, and Marshall are entered. The Cardinals play the Sioux Falls Blue and Austin in pool play.

Marshall also plays in the Luverne tourney. The Tigers draw Johnson/Como and Fremont Nebraska in pool play. Marshall lost last week to the Sioux Falls Blue 7-2. At the Watertown North Dakota Jamboree, the Tigers lost to Watertown 5-2.

This will be Fremont’s second trip to Minnesota this year. The Flyers played in the Northfield tourney losing to Austin 6-3, beating Red Wing 5-2 and losing to Faribault 4-2 in the consolation championship.

The Sioux Falls Blue took second two weeks ago at the Fergus Falls tourney beating River Lakes 5-3 and Mesabi East 4-3 before losing to Fergus Falls in the championship game 9-2.
Redwood Falls has an off week. Luverne keeps the #1 seed this week.

District 8 - Farmington and Rosemount continued their march toward February 12th game by extending their D8 winning streaks. The Tigers beat Hastings 4-0 and Sibley 5-0 over the weekend. They play IGH/SSP this week. Rosemount beat Lakeville South twice, 7-1 and 7-1, and beat Apple Valley. The Irish play Woodbury this week. Both Farmington and Rosemount remain unbeaten and untied in D8 play. Farmington has kept two more “unfairplay” points.

In their game against Lakeville South, a Rosemount forward scored a funky goal. He swooped in going left to right a couple feet in front of the goalie but was too close to lift the puck over the goalie. Instead he softened the shot and went for the goalie’s blocker (the goalie had it down low) and rolled the puck off the blocker using the blocker’s angled leather to direct the puck upward into the net.

Woodbury won three D8 games last week, beating Hastings twice, 7-0 and 6-1, and Lakeville North 5-4. This week, the Predators play in the White Bear Lake tourney. They draw OMG, Minnetonka, and Centennial in pool play. Woodbury has three D8 games remaining. They return from White Bear to play Rosemount this week and finish their D8 season playing Farmington and Apple Valley. The Predators should finish third.

The two Lakeville teams had a tough week. North is still playing with a short bench. They lost to Chaska 4-2 and lost to Woodbury 5-4. The Panthers now have extended their losing streak to four games in D8. The Panthers play IGH/SSP this week. The South had three tough D8 games to play last week. The Cougars lost to Farmington and twice to Rosemount. They play in White Bear’s tourney drawing Duluth East, Eden Prairie, and Elk River in pool play.

Both the North and the South have two D8 games left; the North plays IGH and Lakeville South; and Lakeville South has a make-up with Johnson/Como and play Lakeville North. Both teams are tied with 29 points each. The Lakeville teams seemed to be destined to play each other in the opening round of the double elimination part of the D8 playoffs unless the Lakeville team finishing fifth is upset in the single elimination round.

Hastings had a rough week losing to Woodbury twice, tying Eagan 2-2, and losing to Farmington. The Raiders have two games left, Sibley and Eastview. Eastview beat IGH/SSP and beat Eagan 1-0 last week. The Eagan game was a fun game for the fans to watch. But it probably gave both coaches ulcers.

Both teams skated hard and maintained a fast pace. Both teams would make a bad play only to make a great play to recover. The Lightning scored the only goal early in the third period and hung on. With the clock winding down and Eagan on a power play (skating 6 on 4 after pulling their goalie), a melee resulted in three of the four Lightning forwards on the ice being given penalties.

That actually worked to Eastview’s advantage. The hour clock ran out before the refs could sort the penalties out. Both teams lost their “unfairplay” point.

Hastings and Eastview will meet in the last D8 game of their season. They should be playing for 6th or 7th place in the standings. The two teams may meet sooner. Both are playing in the New Hope tourney this weekend. Hastings draws Armstrong in the opening game of bracket play; Eastview draws MAML.

Sibley had been playing well, but were upended by Johnson/Como 3-2 and lost to Farmington last week. The Generals play Hastings this week and can make a move to take sixth or seventh place by stringing wins together over Hastings and IGH/SSP. Johnson/Como plays in the Luverne tourney this week. The Devils draw Marshall and Freemont Nebraska in pool play.

Sibley and Apple Valley head north to play in Cloquet’s tourney. Sibley draws St. Cloud, Greenway and Superior in pool play. Apple Valley draws Cloquet, Waconia, and Mankato in pool play. Apple Valley lost a D8 game to Eastview 8-1 and lost to the Mpls Storm 6-1 last week. The Eagles host Northfield after they return from Cloquet.

Eagan joins Eastview and Sibley at New Hope. They draw Champlin Park in opening round of bracket play. Last week the Wildcats tied Hastings and lost to Eastview. IGH/SSP had a good tourney two weekends ago, but lost Woodbury and Eastview last week. Against Woodbury, the Spartans were trailing 2-1 halfway through the game when their defense failed them. IGH/SSP plays Farmington and Lakeville North this week.

There are no changes in the D8 seeds this week. Farmington keeps the #1 seed this week. Rosemount keeps the #2 seed. Woodbury keeps the #3 seed. For the D8 playoffs, the seeding looks something like this: #1 Farmington or Rosemount, #2 Farmington or Rosemount, #3 Woodbury, and #4 Lakeville North or Lakeville South. The four teams likely to survive the single elimination round are #5 Lakeville North or Lakeville South, #6 Eastview or Hastings, #7 Eastview or Hastings, #8 Sibley or IGH/SSP. Note that Apple Valley, Eagan, or Johnson/Como can still overtake IGH/SSP (or Sibley) giving any of these three teams a better chance to get to the double elimination part of the D8 playoffs. Four of the eight teams in the double elimination will advance.

District 9 - Mankato had a great week last week beating New Ulm twice 8-3 and 7-4 besides beating second place Luverne 8-4. Mankato has a single game left with Faribault. They will take the #1 West seed to the D9 playoffs. But all the Mavericks need to do is to show up for game against Faribault next week and collect their “unfairplay” point to win the title outright to win the D9 West title.

The Mavericks travel to Cloquet this week to play in the Lumberjacks tourney. They draw Coon Rapids, Spring Lake Park, and Apple Valley in pool play.

Owatonna continues to roll. The Huskies are 12-2 in the last six weeks. Last week, they beat Mason City 4-2, Northfield 4-1 and the Rochester Gold 5-0. Owatonna is locked in third place in the D9 west and will take the #2 West seed into the D9 playoffs. The Huskies play in Willmar’s tourney this week. They play Fargo Flyer Black, Detroit Lakes, and Willmar. When they return home, they will play Faribault to end their D9 season.

New Ulm opened their week optimistically beating Faribault 3-2 before losing twice to Mankato to end their D9 season. New Ulm takes the #3 West seed. The Eagles play in Alexandria this weekend. They draw the Bismarck Blades in the opening round of bracket play. New Ulm will face a tough team. The Blades are 12-0 leading the North Dakota South League and are ranked #2 in North Dakota.

Albert Lea plays their last D9 game this week, hosting Dodge County. The Tigers hold a 3 point lead over Faribault for the last D9 West seed to the playoffs. A win will put Faribault’s back to the wall and force the Falcons to sweep their last two games. The Falcons lost to Northfield last week. They finish their season this week playing Owatonna and Mankato.

Faribault played in the Red Wing tourney over the weekend. They lost to Sauk Rapids, beat Albert Lea and lost to Tartan 6-1 in the consolation championship. Albert Lea lost to Red Wing and played Rochester Black in the same tourney.

In the D9 East, Northfield finished their D9 season beating Dodge County 7-0 and beating Faribault 4-2 last week. They still had a tough week losing to Owatonna and Mankato. But the Raiders win the D9 East title and will take the D9 East #1 seed to the D9 playoffs. This week the Raiders host St. Louis Park, play at Albert Lea and play at Apple Valley.

Rochester Black and Dodge County are in a battle for the #2 and #3 seeds in the D9 East. The two teams play this Sunday to decide that. Dodge County lost to Northfield last week. This week they play Albert Lea in addition to the Rochester Black to end their D9 season.

Rochester Gold lost to Austin 6-5 and to Owatonna 5-0 last week to complete their D9 season. The Gold will most likely take the #4 East. Austin made a great effort to try to overtake the Gold and gain the #4 seed last week, but came up short. The Packers beat Dodge County 4-2 besides beating the Gold. Austin ran out steam against Luverne losing 9-2.

Red Wing had a short bench going into their tourney last weekend. The Wingers beat Albert Lea in the opening game but lost in the semifinal game to Sauk Rapids. Red Wing lost the third place game 11-0 to Shakopee. The Wingers are out of the D9 playoffs. After going 5-2-1 in their opening eight D9 games, Red Wing lost their last five D9 games playing with a short bench. Over the D9 season, they lost 6 of their first 13 “unfairplay” points.

The draw for the D9 playoffs should be Northfield/Albert Lea and Owatonna/ (Rochester Black or Dodge County) in the upper bracket. In the lower bracket Mankato/Rochester Gold and New Ulm/ (Rochester Black or Dodge County) play. It is a double elimination tourney. Teams making it to the finals will be seeded #1 and #2; the team that wins the loser bracket takes the #3 seed and the runner-up in the loser bracket plays seed #4 from D8 for the D4 #2 seed to the South Regional.

Nothing changes this week. Mankato keeps the #1 seed this week and Owatonna takes the #2 seed. Northfield takes the #3 seed. Austin and Red Wing are out of the D9 playoffs, Faribault is barely hanging in.

East Regional (D2, D10, D11) - The East Regional is shaping up as follows:
D2 has Roseville as a strong candidate, though the Raiders lost 2-1 to Stillwater last week. Stillwater is looking stronger and White Bear Lake has shown some late season improvement. Moundsview look tough against Stillwater ten days ago and Tartan has been a dangerous team. No guarantees in D2 this year.

D10 had the Elks running away with the title last week and that hasn’t changed. Centennial has come on strong and can still catch the Elks. Blaine continues to play steady hockey. Rogers has shown improvement. Only one thing is certain in D10 this week and that is Coon Rapids, St. Francis, and Irondale will not be in the district playoffs. Andover may be the fourth team out of the D10 playoffs.

D11 remains a jumble as the teams have been quiet the past few weeks. At this point, Cloquet, Hermantown and Duluth East are the strongest teams chasing for the two D11 seeds to the North Regional.

District 2 - Roseville split their two D2 games last week, beating Mahtomedi 4-1 and losing to Stillwater 2-1. The Raiders have two D2 games left (Hudson and Tartan) and need to win one to take the regular season title and the #1 seed. Roseville plays in the New Hope tourney and open bracket play against Hopkins this weekend. They play Hudson in one of their last two games the Monday after the New Hope Tourney.

Stillwater beat Roseville in their only D2 game this week. The Ponies tied Rochester Red 0-0 last week. Stillwater and Hudson remain in a battle for second place. The Ponies play Forest Lake in their only D2 game this week. Hudson added two D2 wins last week beating Forest Lake 3-0 and Moundsview 4-3. Hudson plays Mahtomedi and Roseville this week.

Forest Lake, White Bear Lake, and Tartan are in a battle for third place in D2. Forest Lake beat Highland 4-2 last week besides losing to Hudson. This week, the Rangers have a single D2 game with Stillwater.

White Bear Lake has their Moose Goheen tourney this week at the new Vadnais Heights facility. Twelve teams are entered. White Bear Lake is in a pool with Blaine, Edina, and Winnipeg. Duluth East, Eden Prairie, Elk River, and Lakeville South are in a second pool. Centennial, Minnetonka, OMG, and Woodbury are in the third pool. The Bears beat Duluth East 5-4 and Rochester Red 4-3 last week. They play Stillwater in D2 action after the tourney.

After Tartan lost to White Bear Lake last week, they played in the Red Wing tourney taking the consolation title. The Titans lost to Shakopee 4-2, beat the Rochester Black 11-0 and Faribault 6-1. They play Highland and Moundsview in D2 games this week.
Moundsview plays in the Winter Storm tourney on the weekend at Parade Ice Gardens. The Mustangs open bracket play against Northern Lakes. The Mustang play Tartan in a D2 game after the tourney.

Mahtomedi plays Highland besides playing Hudson this week. Highland plays three D2 games this week, Tartan, Mahtomedi, and White Bear Lake to end their D2 season.
Stillwater’s win over Roseville last week was a good win for the Ponies. They take the #1 seed from the Raiders. Roseville takes the #2 seed. White Bear takes the #3 seed.

District 10 - Elk River beat Blaine 4-2 and Rogers 5-2 last week to bring their D10 league leading record to 19-2; however, Centennial (14-2-3) can still tie the Elks by winning their remaining D10 games. Elks have lost too many “unfairplay” points. If the teams tie in points, Centennial looks to have the tie breaker, more “unfairplay” points. Elk River’s final D10 game is in two weeks against Anoka.

Last week, Centennial added two more D10 wins beating Princeton 7-1 and St. Francis 10-0. The Cougars play Spring Lake Park and Andover in their final two D10 games. Both Centennial and Elk River play in the White Bear Tourney on the weekend. The Elks draw Duluth East, Eden Prairie, and Lakeville South in pool play. The Cougars draw Minnetonka, OMG, and Woodbury in pool play.

Blaine beat Spring Lake Park 3-1 and beat Irondale 4-2 last week in addition to losing to Elk River. The Bengals join Elk River and Centennial at White Bear Lake. They draw Edina, White Bear Lake and Winnipeg in pool play. After the tourney, they return to play Rogers in their last D10 game.

Champlin Park and Rogers are tied for fourth in D10. Champlin Park beat Coon Rapids 6-2 and lost to Anoka 5-1 last week. They played Centennial to end their season. Rogers beat St. Francis 7-0 and Irondale 2-1 besides losing to Elk River. Rogers end their D10 season with games against Coon Rapids, Princeton, and Blaine. Rogers can still catch Blaine by sweeping their last three games. They can’t catch Centennial or Elk River. Champlin Park plays Eagan in the opening round of the New Hope tourney this weekend.
Spring Lake Park had a busy week. The Panthers beat St. Francis 7-0, tied Princeton 4-4, beat Coon Rapids 5-1, lost to Irondale 2-1 and lost to Blaine 3-1. The Panthers play their last two D10 games this week (Centennial and Princeton). The loss to Irondale really hurt Spring Lake Park. Last week, Anoka beat Andover 4-0 and played St. Francis in addition to beating Champlin Park. The Tornadoes have three D10 games left, all at home, against Princeton, Coon Rapids, and Elk River. Anoka is looking good to overtake Spring Lake Park for the sixth seed to the D10 tourney.

Spring Lake Park, Princeton, and Andover all are in a battle for the last two seeds to the D10 playoffs. The Panthers can get to 42 points, but play two tough games. Princeton can beat the Panthers total, but need to win two of their remaining four games. If they get only one tie in the four games, they will move ahead of Andover. With three games remaining, Andover can get to 38 points. Spring Lake Park does hold the tie breaker with Andover, tying Andover 4-4 and beating Andover 3-1 in D10 play.

Princeton beat Irondale last week in addition to tying Spring Lake Park, losing to Centennial, and losing to Blaine. This week the Tigers play Anoka and Andover before finishing their D10 season against Rogers and Spring Lake Park. The big game in D10 this week is Spring Lake Park and Princeton. This game (the game ends the D10 season for both teams) could have the #7 seed to the D10 playoff seed going to the winner and the #8 seed going to the loser. But Andover could change that when they play Centennial the next day.

Andover beat St. Francis 8-1 and Coon Rapids 4-2 last week after losing to Anoka. This week, the Huskies play Irondale and Princeton and finish their D10 season against Centennial. Irondale had an outside chance to make the D10 playoffs, but the Knights are out of the playoffs. The Knights lost seven D10 games in a row before beating Spring Lake Park.

Spring Lake Park plays in the Cloquet tourney over the weekend. They draw Waconia, Mankato, and Coon Rapids in pool play. Coon Rapids plays Mankato and Cloquet in addition to the Panthers in the tourney. St. Francis plays in the Minneapolis Winter Storm tourney. They draw the Mpls Storm in the opening round of bracket play.

The seeds don’t change this week. Elk River keeps the #1 seed. Centennial’s gets the #2 seed and Blaine takes the #3 seed this week. Centennial has been improving, but the Cougars showed the same improvement at this time last year only to struggle in the playoffs. Rogers, Champlin Park, Anoka and Spring Lake Park look to be the challengers. Princeton remains in the middle of the mix.

District 11 - Cloquet and Hermantown played each other last week. The two teams are tied for first place in D11. Cloquet hosted Armstrong on the weekend in their only game. The Lumberjacks beat Armstrong 6-5. Hermantown lost to Armstrong 4-1 in their only game. White Bear Lake beat Duluth East 5-4 and Proctor beat Greenway 5-3. In the only other games involving D11 teams, the Duluth Lakers played Superior.

Cloquet holds a 12 team tourney this weekend. Cloquet has grouped the 12 teams into two six team pools. Each team plays three pool games and then are seeded into a single game on Sunday. The #1 seeds play for the Championship.

Three D11 teams (Cloquet, Hermantown, and Superior Wisconsin) are entered. Cloquet draws Apple Valley, Coon Rapids, and Waconia in pool play. Hermantown draws Greenway, the Thunder Bay Kings, and St. Cloud in their pool play. Superior Wisconsin draws the Thunder Bay Kings, Mankato, Sibley in their pool play.

The D11 playoffs are shaping up. #1 seed (either Cloquet or Hermantown) will play the winner of the #4 seed Duluth Lakers and #5 seed Proctor. The #2 seed (Cloquet or Hermantown) will play the #3 seed Duluth East.

Hermantown keeps the #1 seed, but will be tested at the Cloquet tourney this week. Cloquet take the #2 seed. The Lumberjacks still remain a mystery. They will be playing some tough teams two weekends from now when the take a quick tour of the cities before the D11 playoffs began.

West Regional (D3, D5, D6) - The West Regional is shaping up as follows:
In D3, Wayzata appears to have a lock on one seed. Crow River and Mpls Park are challenging OMG for the second seed.

In D5, St. Cloud continues playing perfectly and STMA continues playing well. MAML, Sartell, Buffalo, and River Lakes are tangling for the last seed. MAML continues to improve.

In D6, Eden Prairie beat Burnsville in a key match-up. The Blaze have two tough D6 games left and Edina has made their mover. Prior Lake beat Minnetonka twice and the Skippers lost a third game to drop out of contention for the two top spots. Prior Lake is hanging in there.

District 3 - The “soap opera” ended with a thud. There is no suspense in D3 after last week. After being pushed to their limit by Armstrong the week before, Wayzata strung three D3 wins together beating Mound Westonka 5-0, OMG 6-4, and Orono 7-0. The Trojans can call it “a wrap”. They lead their nearest competitor by 5 points with a single game to play this week against Hopkins. No other D3 team can catch the Trojans. The suspense is over. Like that plucky Rocket J. Squirrel, the brainy half of that dynamic duo of Rocky and Bullwinkle, the Trojans have swooped down and saved true heart Tess. She is now safe in Frostbite Falls, Mn, and Boris Badenov can’t get her (at least until next season).

By the way, rumor has it that Frostbite Falls is an alias for International Falls. But that story can wait tell next year.

Meanwhile, Wayzata is skipping the White Bear Tourney. They have a quiet week before heading to Moorhead to play the Moorhead Black in a Hockey Day in Minnesota game.
OMG has entered the White Bear Tourney. This will be the only tourney that OMG will play in without Wayzata being there. OMG draws Centennial, Minnetonka, and Woodbury in pool play. OMG had a tough week. Besides losing to Wayzata, they tied Orono 1-1. They have two D3 games remaining, Mound Westonka and Crow River. Crow River beat St. Louis Park 9-3 and the Mpls Storm 2-1 last week. Crow River has three games remaining. The Tigers play the Mpls Storm again, Armstrong and close out the D3 season against OMG. OMG may be in a Valentine’s Day battle with Crow River for second place.

The Storm’s loss to Crow River put a dent in their chances to overtake OMG. But it is a small dent if they can beat Crow River this week. It will put the Storm on track to tie OMG if both teams win their remaining games. The Mpls Storm beat Orono 7-1 last week.

The Storm has their tourney this week at the Parade Ice Gardens (the facility is too nice to abbreviate). They play St. Francis in the opening game. Shakopee/Buffalo meet in the other bracket game. In the lower bracket, Moundsview plays Northern Lakes and Rogers play the Rochester Gold.

Armstrong continues to improve. They took a quick trip (are gasoline stations road worthy?) north. They lost to Cloquet 6-5 and beat Hermantown 4-1. The Spartans could raise havoc with Crow River and the Mpls Storm by beating them in their last two games. It could also move Armstrong up in the standings.

Armstrong hosts their tourney in New Hope. They play Hastings in opening round of bracket play. Champlin Park plays Eagan in the other bracket game. Roseville plays Hopkins and Eastview plays MALM in the other bracket.

Orono started last week on an up note, tying OMG 1-1, but then lost to Wayzata and the Mpls Storm. This week the Spartans play Mound Westonka and then head north to play Hibbing and Proctor. Mound Westonka beat St. Louis Park 4-0 besides losing to Wayzata last week. The Whitehawks end their D3 season playing OMG.

St. Louis Park goes south and west this week, playing Hutchinson and Northfield. Hopkins goes a few miles north to play in the New Hope tourney. The Royals draw Roseville in the opening round of bracket play.

Wayzata keeps the #1 seed. The loss of the “unfairplay” points didn’t slow the Trojans march to the D3 title. Crow River beat the Storm and gets the #2 seed. OMG and Armstrong are playing well. Too bad this year D3 gets only two seeds to the West. The fight for the #2 seed will be fierce.

District 5 - St. Cloud beat Sartell 6-2 and beat Willmar 7-1 last week. The Huskies remain perfect after playing 14 D5 games. They head to Cloquet to play in the Lumberjacks tourney. The Huskies play Sibley, Superior, and Hermantown in pool play. They return to play Hutchinson.

STMA had a good trip “up north” last weekend. They traveled to Warroad to play in Warroad’s tourney. The Knights beat Thief River Falls along the way 3-2. At Warroad, STMA beat the Fargo Angels 5-2 and Warroad 12-0 to win their pool. STMA won the championship on goal differential by beating Devils Lake North Dakota 9-2 and losing to Roseau 3-2.

STMA returns to D5 action this week in a battle with St. Cloud for first place. St. Cloud has four games left and STMA has three games left. St. Cloud holds a three point lead over the Knights. The two teams meet again, but not this week. St. Cloud plays a single game against Hutchinson and STMA plays a single game against River Lakes this week. St. Cloud ends their season next week with games against Sauk Rapids, STMA, and River Lakes. The Knights end their D5 against Buffalo.

MAML strung three D5 wins together beating Willmar 6-2, Litchfield 4-3, River Lakes 2-1. They also played Sartell. Those wins moved the Moose into third place. The Moose play Buffalo in their only D5 game this week. They are playing in the New Hope tourney this week. They play Eastview in the opening game of bracket play.
Besides playing MAML and losing to St. Cloud, Sartell beat Hutchinson 4-2 in D5 last week. The Sabres travel west on Interstate 94 to Alexandria to play in what amounts to a North Dakota State Tourney preview. They play the #1 ranked North Dakota team, Grand Forks Greyhounds, in the opening game of bracket play.

Buffalo beat River Lakes 5-3 in their only D5 game last week. The Bison play Sauk Rapids in D5 this week and then play in the Minneapolis Storm tourney at Parade this weekend. They draw Shakopee in the opening round of bracket play. River Lakes lost to Buffalo and MAML last week. The Stars play three D5 games this week (STMA, Hutchinson, and Sauk Rapids).

Willmar had a good week beating Sartell 4-3 and Hutchinson 5-2 besides losing to MAML and St. Cloud. They have their tourney this weekend, a round robin tourney with Detroit Lakes, Fargo Flyer Black, and Owatonna entered. The Fargo Flyer Black are currently 2-9 in the North Dakota Peewee A South League.

Sauk Rapids played at Red Wing last week in the Winger’s tourney. The Storm had a good tourney beating Faribault in opening round of bracket play and beating Red Wing in the semifinals before losing to Mason City Iowa in the championship game. Sauk Rapids has two D5 games this week, Buffalo and River Lakes.

St. Cloud takes the #1 seed; STMA takes the #2 seed; and the Moose (MALM) keeps the #3 seed.

District 6 - Burnsville and Eden Prairie clashed last Sunday in a key D6 game. The Eagles won in a tense affair where both coaches and their teams pulled out all their tricks. Eden Prairie started an outstanding goalie who contained the fiery Blaze in the first period. With the Blaze trailing 1-0 and still trying to solve the Eagles goalie, the Blaze caught a break when a puck went vertical about 20 feet in the air in front of the crease. With the Eagle goalie scrambling and choosing to look right, the puck hit the ice in left side of the crease in front of a Blaze forward who banged it in to tie the score.

The third period started with the Blaze on the power play and they dusted off an old trick. After getting the power play established in the Eagles zone, two Blaze wingers crossed behind the Eagle’s net. The one carrying the puck left it for the other forward and went on to play a wrap around attempt. The Eagles goalie went for the fake and the other Blaze winger had an easy goal to give the Blaze a 2-1 lead.

The Eagles looked beat over the next few minutes and it seemed almost out desperation that the Eden Prairie coach skipped sending his best playing line out on the ice. Instead he sent a line that had been struggling to take the faceoff in the Eagles zone to play against a Burnsville line that had been playing well. It looked as if the coach had picked this moment to gamble that he could hold the Blaze in check and bring back his best line to his advantage.

Maybe he knew something else, because 30 seconds later, a forward top shelved the puck past the Blaze goalie to tie the score. Then he brought out the big line. They dominated play in the Burnsville zone for the next two minutes and didn’t score. Over the next few minutes, the sequence of lines did not change, setting up another mismatch for the Eagles. The line scored again to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead. They added an empty netter to make it a 4-2 game. It was one of the more interesting games of the season.

Burnsville still controls their destiny. The Blaze have three games left (Kennedy, Edina, and Prior Lake) and can get 48 points with a sweep. The Eagles have two games left (Chaska and Edina) and can get 47 points with a sweep. The Blaze play no D6 games this week.

Eden Prairie plays at White Bear Lake on the weekend. The Eagles draw Duluth East, Elk River and Lakeville South in pool play. They return to play Chaska.

Last week Edina was set to make their move in D6. The Hornets did. They beat Kennedy 6-0, Jefferson 10-0, and Waconia 12-0. With three games left, the Hornets can get 46 points. They have three tough games to play Minnetonka, Burnsville, and Eden Prairie. Beating Burnsville will not be enough. If the Hornets and Blaze tie at 46 points, head to head would be used in the tie breaker (head to head includes “unfairplay” play points). With the teams splitting their two games, the “unfairplay” will be used to break the tie and that would appear to favor the Blaze who have yet to lose an “unfairplay” point.

Edina plays in the White Bear tourney on the weekend. They draw Blaine, White Bear Lake, and Winnipeg in pool play.

Last week, Minnetonka beat Waconia 6-2 in D6 action, but then took a second loss to Prior Lake 6-1 in the last two weeks. That leaves the Skippers with two D6 games left, Edina and Jefferson. The best Minnetonka can do is to hit the 43 point mark and that will likely fall short of the total needed to take the D6 championship or second place and their associated first round byes. The Skippers play at White Bear, they draw Centennial, OMG, and Woodbury in pool play.

Prior Lake can make a move this week. They play Shakopee and Jefferson. Next week the Lakers end their season playing Waconia and Burnsville. With a sweep, they would end up with 43 points and need help to make the top two. With Edina, Burnsville and Eden Prairie playing each other, it could happen and the Lakers could eke out a first or second place finish. Prior Lake have been playing well and have won their last 9 games.

Shakopee beat Jefferson 4-1 last week and then went on to take third place in the Red Wing tourney. They beat Tartan 4-2, lost to Mason City Iowa 3-2 in overtime, and beat Red Wing 11-0 for third place. They also played Chaska last week. This week, the Sabres play Prior Lake and then play in the Winter Strom tourney at Parade. They draw Buffalo in the opening game of bracket play. Jefferson plays Prior Lake this week.

Waconia travels to Cloquet to play in their tourney. They draw Spring Lake Park, Apple Valley, and Cloquet in pool play. Besides losing to Minnetonka 6-2 last week, Waconia beat Chaska 5-4. Kennedy had a tough week last week losing to Edina 9-0 and to Prior Lake 6-1 in D6 play. This week, the Eagles head to Alexandria to play one of the top ranked North Dakota teams, the Bismarck Admirals, in opening round of bracket play.

Chaska played Shakopee last week in D6. This week they play Eden Prairie. The Hawks play Jefferson and Kennedy in the last week of the season. One of the hardest things to understand this year is the Chaska Hawks. They have tied Roseau, beaten Lakeville South, beaten STMA, tied Bemidji, beaten Woodbury, and beaten Lakeville North. Their D6 record is a bottom dwelling 2-12 with four games left. The Hawks are a puzzle. They certainly have put themselves in a playoff hole. They have been a good playoff team and they will need that to advance.

D6 continues to be in turmoil. Eden Prairie beat Burnsville so that give the Eagles the #1 seed this week. Edina looks strong for a period against Eden Prairie, tying the Eagles two weeks ago. But Prior Lake is doing their thing (while winning 9 straight). The Lakers take the #2 seed. Edina takes the #3 seed. And even after losing to Eden Prairie, Burnsville remains the slight favorite to take the D6 title. This analysis should make everything perfectly clear.

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

2011-01-28T10:10:00.003-06:00

By frederick61

How valuable to the high schools are the associations in their area; or do the high school boards have a bigger impact? Outstate, it is easy to draw a comparison between high schools and associations. In smaller communities such as an Alexandria or a Virginia, it is an easy correlation. As your Bantams go, so go your high school a few years later. But it is not so certain in the Twin Cities, Duluth, Rochester or St. Cloud. The associations in these communities often support more than one high school.

The top teams in Minnesota high school this year are Edina, Eagan, Wayzata and Duluth East. In December 2007, Edina had a Bantam A tourney that these high school team’s associations had entered. The kids playing on the Bantam teams in that tourney are now mostly seniors and a few juniors. They are playing high school hockey.

This is not about who won or lost the 2007 tourney, but about rosters. It is a snapshot on Minnesota association hockey. Edina, Eagan, Wayzata and Duluth East high schools each have rosters with 12-14 of their association’s Bantam A players from that tourney. Most of the 12-14 Bantam A players on their high school roster have the bulk of the playing time and are scoring the majority of goals.

Centennial and Champlin Park also played in that Bantam A tourney. Centennial High School has 15 Bantam A players and Champlin Park has 10 Bantam A players on their roster. Centennial High School lost to Duluth East and Wayzata twice early in the season, but have won their last six games. Champlin Park is struggling.

St. Cloud’s Bantam team played in that tourney. Ten bantam A players ended up on the St. Cloud Tech roster. St. Cloud Tech is currently leading the Central Lakes Conference. St. Cloud Apollo is last in the Central Lakes Conference. They ended up with one player off the St. Cloud Bantam A team, the goalie.

Rochester played in the Edina tourney. Four of the Rochester Bantam A players ended up at John Marshall, four at Lourdes and three at Century. They are the top scorers for their respective teams and get the most playing time. Mayo has none of the Rochester Bantam A players from that Edina tourney. All three Rochester high teams (John Marshall, Mayo and Century) are in a fight with Mankato West, Albert Lea and Faribault for the Big 9 Conference title, teams they dominated as PeeWees and Bantams. All three teams play in Section 1AA and in one sectional ranking, all three trail the two Lakeville teams and are in a virtual tie with Dodge County and Farmington.

If the dividing line between association responsibility in developing youth hockey for their high schools sort of ends when a kid moves up from the Bantam A level to high school, what does this exercise between the Bantam A teams and the high school teams lead one to conclude?

The first conclusion is that if a high school can keep a core of 12 players or so from the Bantam teams over the years, they will likely be more successful. The second conclusion is that a core of 12 players or so is more valuable than fewer individual “star quality” players for the high schools. That implies that role playing among the 12 players is an important to team success than out right individual talent at the high school level.

Edina, Eagan, Duluth East and Wayzata have one association and one high school. That leads to another easy conclusion. If you have a single Bantam A team and try to support more than one high school, the high schools are less competitive.

But this is not about Bantam A or high school hockey. This blog is about PeeWee A hockey. Why discuss all that here?

The reason is the tourney in December 2007 was the last “class of hockey players” that didn’t operate under new high school transfer guidelines choreographed between the Minnesota State High School League’s “New Transfer Bylaw” and Minnesota Department of Education’s Open Enrollment policy.

Next year’s senior/junior classes will have been operating under those policies that forces PeeWee kids and parents to make decisions on which high school to attend prematurely. The policies act as a one-two punch. The first punch, the Open Enrollment Policy, is sneaky. A 13/14 year old kid has to decide by January 15 of his eighth-grade year what high school he is going to attend. After January 15, the kid can be denied a transfer for failing to submit the transfer by January 15. Remember, in January of his eighth grade is the only day in a kid’s life that he can transfer without facing a penalty for the rest of his high school career. Usually, in January of a kid’s eighth grade, the kid and the parents are involved in their kid’s hockey and other activities.

The second punch is once the January 15 deadline is passed, you can transfer schools, but the MSHSL “New Transfer Bylaw” penalizes all transfer students by stating none can play sports at his new school for one year. These policies work based on no action by the kid or parents and verges on being illegal. It would be akin to a college claiming because you go to school in its area, you automatically must play sports at their college (at their discretion) even though you have signed no document declaring intent. And that if you decide after some magic date to play for another college, you will be penalized.

If you are parent of an eighth-grade kid and want him to play at a school other than the one he is attending this year, you needed to submit paperwork by January 15 (two weeks ago). If you didn’t, your kid will lose a year of eligibility if he or she transfers.

Minnesota Hockey, after a false start last year, appears to have done the right thing for the kids. Kids playing Bantam and PeeWee association hockey can play where they live or where they go to school. That lets the kid mature, but the two education-based boards who are supposed to be experts in kids, force immature kids to make a premature decision on which high school to attend based on hockey.

North Regional (D12, D15, D16) - The North had three PeeWee A tourneys last week. Roseau had a 16-team tourney, Eveleth had an eight-team Mariucci Tourney and Virginia had an eight-team Queen City tourney.

Roseau’s tourney pitted top teams from D2, D3, D6, D8, D11, D15 and D16. The Fargo Flyer Gold was also entered Edina walked away with the tourney, sweeping pool play and beating Eden Prairie 5-1 in the semifinals and Wayzata 6-1 in the finals. Mahtomedi won the Mariucci, beatign Hibbing 4-3 in the finals. At the Queen City, the Duluth Lakers played West Fargo for the title.

Grand Rapids looks to be the strongest candidate in D12, and D15 remains the domain of Moorhead. But four D16 teams (Bemidji, Roseau, Thief River Falls and East Grand Forks) are all challengers for the three D16 seeds. As kids develop, especially at the PeeWee age, team strengths change from the start of the season to the end. With the end approaching, the playing field is being leveled.

District 12 - Grand Rapids had a tough Roseau tourney. The Thunderhawks lost to Moorhead 3-1, beat Stillwater 7-5 and lost to Edina 11-2 in pool play. On Sunday, Rapids lost to Woodbury 5-3. This week, they hit the road, playing Bemidji and in two D12 games, Hibbing and Mesabi East.

Hibbing took second place at the Mariucci. The Bluejackets beat Hutchinson 3-0, Superior 3-1 and lost to Mahtomedi 4-3 in the championship game. Hibbing plays Virginia, in addition to hosting Grand Rapids this week.

Virginia beat D12 rival Greenway in another northern donnybrook, 9-6 in the opening game of their tourney. The Blue Devils lost to West Fargo in the semifinals and lost to Proctor 5-0 in the third place game. Greenway lost to Northfield 4-1 in the consolation semifinals and played Northern Lakes for seventh place. Virginia plays International Falls besides Hibbing this week. Greenway plays Proctor.

Mesabi East plays International Falls and Eveleth this week besides entertaining Grand Rapids. The Giants played in the Fergus Falls tourney last week. They beat Grafton/Park River 9-5, lost to the Sioux Falls Blue 4-3 and lost to Litchfield 3-2 in the third place game.

International Falls played at the Mariucci The Broncos lost their opening game to Highland, beat Eveleth 11-2 and lost the consolation title to Orono 6-5 in overtime. Three days later, Orono tied top rated OMG 1-1.

Grand Rapids keeps the #1 seed to the North Regional this week and Hibbing takes the #2 seed.

District 15 - Moorhead Black opened with a nice 3-1 win over Grand Rapids in pool play on the weekend at Roseau, but then the Black ran into a buzzsaw in the Hornets from Edina and lost 9-0. That loss knocked the Black out of the tourney. They completed pool play losing to Stillwater 4-3 in an overtime/shootout game and losing to OMG 5-2 on Sunday. The Black will host Bemidji and play at Brainerd this week.

After playing well the past few weeks, Moorhead Orange lost a tough D15 game to Alexandria 7-2. With few D15 games to go, that loss keeps the Orange in last place in D15 and improves on the odds that the Orange will play the Black in the opening game of the D15 playoffs. The Orange steps outside D15 this week to play the Grand Forks Golden Eagles, Red Lake Falls and Bismarck.

Fergus Falls hosted and won their tourney last weekend. The Otters beat Luverne 7-4, Litchfield 7-3 and the Sioux Falls Blue 9-2. Fergus Falls lost to Alexandria 5-4 before their tourney. After winning their tourney, the Otters lost to Alexandria again 4-2. This week, Fergus Falls plays Brainerd and Northern Lakes.

Alex's two wins over Fergus Falls and their victory over Moorhead Orange last week put the Cardinals in second place behind Moorhead Black. The Cardinals play Detroit Lakes and Northern Lakes this week.

Brainerd had a tough time at Roseau. The Warriors lost to Thief River Falls 8-5, Chaska 6-1, Woodbury 13-0 and Roseau 8-1. Brainerd hosts Moorhead Black and Fergus Falls this weekend.

Detroit Lakes played Little Falls last week. The Lakers complete their D5 season this week playing Little Falls, Alexandria and Moorhead Orange. Little Falls has only the single game with the Lakers this week. Northern Lakes played in the Virginia tourney. They lost to the Duluth Lakers, Grand Forks Golden Eagles and Greenway.

Moorhead Black takes the #1 seed this week. Alexandria beat Fergus Falls twice last week. The Cardinals keep their #2 seed.

District 16 - January 30 seems to decision day in a number of districts. It seems most of the top teams within a district have chosen to play each other on that day this season. D16 is one of those districts. Thief River Falls plays Bemidji at Bemidji on January 30. The Prowlers need the win. They are 7-1-1 to the Lumberjacks 7-1 in D16 play. But they have lost four “unfair play” points. A loss to the Lumberjacks will make Bemidji a heavy favorite to take the D16 regular season title. The Lumberjacks beat Crookston 4-1 last week. The Prowlers lost a key D16 game to Roseau 4-1 and lost to OMG 4-3 prior to the Roseau tourney. They host STMA and Detroit Lakes this weekend before traveling to Bemidji on Sunday.

Thief River Falls had a great Roseau tourney. They won their pool, beating Woodbury 5-4, Chaska 7-4 and Brainerd 8-5. The Prowlers lost to Wayzata 5-4 in the championship semifinal game and lost to Eden Prairie 11-1 in the third-place game.

East Grand Forks and Warroad played in the Roseau tourney and ended up in the same pool. The Green Wave lost to Wayzata 9-1 and Lakeville South 3-2, and beat Warroad in pool play. On Sunday, the Green Wave beat Chaska 5-3. Warroad lost to Wayzata 10-0, Lakeville South 8-0 and Stillwater 11-0 in their tourney games. The Green Wave plays Crookston and the Fargo Flyer Gold team this week.

Warroad has their tourney this week. Teams entered include Roseau, STMA, the Fargo Angels, Grand Forks Seawolves, Devils Lake North Dakota, Mordon, BP Royals and the Fargo Raiders. The BP in the BP Royals stands for Boston Pizza. The team is from Fort Frances across the border from International Falls. Two weeks ago, the BP Royals won their home tourney. They beat Thunder Bay Elks 8-2, Sioux Lookout Junior Flyers 6-1 and International Falls 6-0 in pool play. In the Championship Round, the Royals beat Thunder Bay Elks again 5-0 in the semifinals and the Dryden Paper Kings 4-3 in the championship game.

Roseau’s best game was beating TRF early in the week. And the Rams played well in their own tourney. They beat the Fargo Flyer Gold 8-2, lost to Eden Prairie 6-5 and lost to OMG 8-5. They beat Brainerd 8-1 on Sunday. The Rams play in the Warroad tourney this week.

Crookston has a busy week. The Pirates play East Grand Forks and Red Lake Falls this week in D16 games. They also play Fergus Falls and the Grand Forks Greyhounds. Besides losing to Bemidji last week, the Pirates lost to Detroit Lakes.

Bemidji moved to the top of the D16 standings and is the clear favorite to take the regular season title. TRF had a good Roseau tourney, making it to the championship round on Sunday, but lost to Roseau two days before the tourney started. Still, Bemidji keeps the #1 seed. Roseau moves to the #2 seed and TRF the #3 seed. The game Sunday between Bemidji/TRF should be one great game and will sort out who is on top. Roseau has improved and the Warroad tourney should prove interesting to the Rams. East Grand Forks has improved. With only three seeds available, something has to give.

South Regional (D4, D8, D9) - Nothing has changed in this regional this week. With the regular season ending and district playoffs approaching, all districts have released their playoff format. D4 will have a round robin tourney for its single seed. It will be played in Windom. Luverne is favored to take the seed.

D8 has all 12 teams entered in the playoffs at Hastings. The first round games (four games) are single elimination. Farmington, Rosemount and Woodbury are favored. Lakeville South has a shot. They play Rosemount twice this week. Lakeville North has a short bench (11 forwards in their last game). Hastings, IGH and Sibley have improved and are playing well. One of these teams will have a shot at the regions by finishing fourth in the D8 playoffs.

D9 will have an eight-team double elimination tourney with the top four teams from the East playing the top four teams from the West. The tourney will be held in Mankato. Mankato, Owatonna and Northfield are favored. New Ulm, Albert Lea, Rochester Black and Gold and Dodge County all have a shot at the regions by finishing fourth in the D8 playoffs.

D9 playoffs will start Thursday, February 17 and will finish the following Sunday, February 20. D8 playoffs will begin Sunday, February 20 and will finish Sunday, February 27. The fourth-place finishers in both tourneys will meet for a play-in game to the South Regional. The D8 fourth-place finisher will be decided around 1 p.m., on February 27. The site of the play-in game is unknown.

District 4 - Luverne plays Austin and Mankato this week to end their D9 season as “guests.” They lead the league with 31 points going into those games and should set the standard for the D9 West at 35 points (minimum). Mankato is the only D9 West team chasing the Cardinals. The Mavericks played New Ulm last week and play New Ulm again in a D9 game this week besides playing Luverne. The Mavericks close their D9 season in two weeks against Faribault. If Mankato wins all their remaining games, they will end the season with 38 points. If Luverne beats Mankato this week, they will end the season with 38 points to the Mavericks' 37 points and win the league. The Luverne/Mankato game will be played this Sunday, January 30, at the All Seasons Arena in Mankato.

Luverne won the Consolation title in the Fergus Falls tourney this week. The Cardinals lost to Fergus Falls 7-4 in the opener, beat two North Dakota teams, the Fargo Flyers Black 11-0 and Grafton/Park River 6-5 in the consolation championship game.

Marshall went for a short drive to play in the Watertown South Dakota PeeWee A Jamboree last weekend. The Tigers played two South Dakota teams, Watertown and Mitchell, and one North Dakota team, Dickinson. Marshall plays Sioux Falls Blue and Litchfield this week.

Redwood Falls plays Buffalo and Luverne this week. The D4 playoff will be a three-team round robin format and will be played in Windom on February 19 and 20. The top team takes the #1 D4 seed to the South Regional in Rochester. Luverne looks to be the best in D4 this year and keeps the #1 seed this week.

District 8 - Famington returned to D8 action last week and beat Johnson/Como 7-0, Eagan 8-1, Lakeville North 5-1 and Lakeville South. Lakeville North put only 11 forwards on the ice against the Tigers and tired against the relentless Farmington attack. The first period of the Lakeville South game was as good as hockey can be at the PeeWee level. A well-skated period by both teams ended in a 1-1 tie. But the roof fell on the Cougars in the last two periods as they tired. The Tigers remain unbeaten in D8 play and on course for their February 12 showdown with Rosemount. This week, the Tigers play Hastings and Sibley in D8 games.

Rosemount beat Eastview 6-0 last week to remain unbeaten in D8. This week, the Irish play a home-and-home series with Lakeville South and play Apple Valley in D8 games.

Woodbury and Lakeville South carried the D8 flag into Roseau. Woodbury was surprised by Chaska 3-2 and Thief River Falls 5-4 in their first two games of pool play. The Predators rallied to beat Brainerd 13-0 and Grand Rapids 5-3 in their last two tourney games. Lakeville South lost their opening game of pool play to Wayzata 6-1. Despite winning their last three games (Warroad 8-0, East Grand Forks 3-2 and Fargo Flyers Gold 7-2), the Wayzata loss knocked the Cougars out of the tourney. Woodbury beat IGH/SSP in a D8 game upon their return home after the Roseau tourney. The Predators play Hastings twice this week. Lakeville South has a tough week, playing Rosemount twice in D8 games.

Lakeville North and Hastings started their seasons late, selecting their teams the last week of October. Last week, Hastings beat Lakeville North 5-4 and Johnson/Como 8-2. Besides playing Woodbury twice, the Raiders play Eagan and Farmington this week. Hastings’ win over the Panthers puts them on a course to tangle with Lakeville South and Woodbury for one of the top four seeds in D8 and an automatic entry into the double elimination round of the D8 tourney.

Inver Grove Heights/South St. Paul had a good home tourney. The Spartans/Packers beat Forest Lake 8-3 in the opening round of bracket play, lost to Crow River 5-2 and beat Hudson 4-3 in the third-place game. They play Eastview this week. Sibley played in IGH/SSP’s tourney last week and came close. They lost to Hudson 3-2 in an overtime shootout game, lost to Andover 8-7 in an overtime shootout game and beat Forest Lake 3-1. The Generals play Johnson/Como and Farmington in D8 games this week. Eastview plays IGH/SSP and Eagan this week. The Lightning will have one D8 left after this week against Hastings.

Hastings hosts the D8 playoffs beginning in three weeks from now. The teams seeded #5 to #12 play a single elimination game with the top four seeds, joining the winners in an eight-team double elimination tourney vying for three regional seeds and for a potential fourth seed via a play-in game with the fourth seeded D9 team.

Apple Valley beat Johnson/Como 4-3 last week in a key match-up for both teams. That Eagles win, combined with a tie with Eagan the week before, puts Apple Valley and Eagan on course for tie settling game Feb. 13. At stake is the #10 seed in the D8 playoffs. The #10 seed plays the #7 seed in a single elimination game. The most likely #7 seed would be Valley’s arch rival Eastview. The #11 seed would play the #6 seed and Hastings has the edge to take the #6 seed. Both the Eagan and Valley have two other D9 games remaining besides playing each other.

J/C’s loss to Apple Valley really hurt. The Devils trail Valley by two points and Eagan by one point. Unfortunately, J/C has two tough D8 games remaining. This week the Devils play Sibley. They end their D8 season playing Farmington. The #12 seed likely gives them one of the Lakeville teams in the single elimination game. If they make it to the double elimination, they would play either Rosemount or Farmington. Still, J/C has proven tough at times this season.

Farmington and Rosemount keep on winning in D8. As a result, Farmington keeps the #1 seed this week. Rosemount keeps the #2 seed. Woodbury never got going and Lakeville South played well after dropping their opening game to Wayzata. Still Woodbury owns a 5-0 win over the South just before the Roseau tourney. The Predators take the #3 seed. Lakeville South takes the #4 seed and the right to play in the play-in game.

District 9 - Luverne and Mankato are the last two teams contending for the D9 West Championship. These two teams will play each other this Sunday in Mankato with the winner likely to take the title. Owatonna was contending, but the Huskies can’t make up for the two loses to Luverne and the loss of three “unfair play” points. Owatonna has just two D9 games left. All Luverne has to do is save their “unfair play” points in their last two games and they knock Owatonna out of the race.

Mankato is busy week this week playing Hutchinson and Northfield and two D9 games (Luverne and New Ulm). Last week the Mavericks beat Rochester Black 13-2 and Rochester Red 4-2, and played New Ulm. After this week, Mankato has a single game left with Faribault.

The tournament format is out and the top four teams in the West and the top four teams in the East make the D9 playoffs. Faribault and Albert Lea are in a battle for the fourth seed in the West. Faribault has three tough games left (Northfield, Owatonna and Mankato). Albert Lea has a single game with Dodge County left to play but hold a four-point advantage. If Albert Lea loses to Dodge County, Faribault needs to win six of its remaining nine points to make the playoffs. Albert Lea holds the tiebreaker. If Albert Lea wins, Faribault needs to win all three games.

Mankato should overtake Owatonna in the standings to gain the #1 seed in the West; Owatonna would take the #2 seed and New Ulm the #3 seed into the D9 playoffs.

In the East, Northfield has locked up the D9 East Championship and the #1 East seed. But there is a donnybrook for the remaining three seeds. Austin is currently last in the East with three games left on their schedule and can’t catch Dodge County, the fourth place team. It is a shame, because the Packers have been playing well the last month and beat Dodge County 4-2 last week.

Fifth-place Red Wing is one of three East Division teams that played .500 hockey in their division this year; but the Wingers have lost 6 “unfairplay” points in 13 games and will not make the D9 playoffs. That leaves Rochester Black, Rochester Gold and Dodge County contending for seeds 2, 3 and 4. The Black have one game remaining in D9, Dodge County. Rochester Gold has two games remaining (Austin and Owatonna). If the Black beats Dodge County, the Gold needs to win both games. If Dodge County beats the Black, the Gold can take second with four points in their last two games. If Dodge wins all three remaining games, they take second.

The most likely scenario gives the Gold the #2 seed, the Black the #3 seed and Dodge the #4 seed. The D9 playoff draw in the opening round would then be Northfield/Albert Lea, Owatonna/Rochester Black in one bracket; Mankato/Dodge County, Rochester Gold/New Ulm in the other bracket.

Red Wing has their tourney this weekend. They open against D9 Rival Albert Lea. Faribault plays Sauk Rapids in the other bracket game. Shakopee plays Tartan and Mason City plays Rocester Black in the opening round games.

Northfield took the Viginia Queen City Consolation title last weekend. The Raiders lost to West Fargo 3-0 in the opening game, and beat Greenway 4-1 and Grand Forks Golden Eagles 4-1. They beat Austin 10-1 before leaving for Virginia. The Raiders have a busy week playing Owatonna, Mankato, Dodge County and Faribault.

Rochester Black play in Red Wing’s tourney this week. They open bracket play against Mason City. The Gold beat Red Wing 8-4 last week. This week they play Austin and Owatonna to end their D9 season. Rochester Red plays Centennial, White Bear Lake and Stillwater this week. Last week, the Red played Duluth East twice, winning 4-2 and losing 7-1, besides losing to Mankato. Dodge County has a single D9 key game with Northfield this week.

Mankato keeps the #1 seed this week and Owatonna takes the #2 seed. Northfield takes the #3 seed. D9 regular season is winding down, the playoffs are in sight.

East Regional (D2, D10, D11) - Cloquet and Duluth East were “down South” this week. Cloquet tied Mounds View 2-2, lost to Roseville 4-2 and beat Blaine 6-4. Duluth East split two games with Rochester Red and played Centennial.

A clearer picture has emerged in the East. D2 has a double elimination playoff. All eight D2 teams are entered. But only Roseville is a clear favorite to make the East Regional. Stillwater is starting to struggle. In a game late last week, Stillwater needed help from the refs to beat a stubborn Mounds View team 2-1. After Roseville in D2, it is a coin flip.

In D10, four teams will not make the D10 playoffs. St. Francis and Coon Rapids are out of the playoffs. Andover and Irondale are on the verge of elimination. Elk River is the only clear favorite in D10 at this time. In D11, all five teams will have a shot at one of the two seeds. Best guess is that the seeds will go two of these three teams, Cloquet, Hermantown and Duluth East.

What is clear in the East is that few teams are out of the running. That uncertainty places an added emphasis on how teams finish in their regular season district standings. The standings will determine the seeds to the playoffs.

District 2 - Roseville beat Cloquet 4-2 in their only D2 game last week. This week, Roseville plays Mahtomedi and Stillwater in D2 action. A win over the Ponies will just about lock up the D2 title for Roseville and the #1 seed to the D2 playoffs.

Stillwater ran into a Hornets nest at Roseau, losing to Edina 5-1 in the opening game of pool play. The Ponies lost their next pool game to Grand Rapids 7-5. They beat Moorhead 4-3 and Warroad 11-0 in their final two tourney games.

Stillwater beat Mounds View 2-1 when they returned. Poor officiating played a role in the Ponies win. The Mustangs were leading 1-0 with less than two minutes remaining. The refs called two successive penalties on the Mustangs that resulted in the Ponies scoring a 5-on-3 goal and a 5-on-4 goal. The second penalty was called on the Mounds View player for interfering with a Pony who was camped inside the Mounds View crease watching a puck being contended in the corner.

The Mustangs had two checking from behinds called on them. One of the penalties came after very little contact along the boards with the ref making the call out of position (the other ref who was in position did not call a penalty). The same refs watched a Pony check a Mustang hard from behind, accelerating the kid into the board on the ice, resulting in a violent collision with the boards. They did not blow a whistle. Finally, the Mustang starting center was kicked out of the game (too many penalties on him?) after a penalty call that was very strange late in the game. The Mustangs lost their “unfair play” point. Stillwater didn’t. The Mustangs played good hockey and were out to only win the game. Stillwater looked tired.

Hudson played in the IGH/SSP tourney over the weekend. The Raiders beat Sibley 3-2 in an overtime/shootout game, lost a tough game to Prior Lake 4-3 and lost the third-place game to IGH/SSP 4-3. Hudson plays Forest Lake and Mounds View in D2 games this week.

Tartan has not reported their scores, but if the estimate is right, the Tartans have enough points (24 depending on “unfair play” points) to be knotted in second with Hudson and Stillwater. The Raiders from Hudson, Roseville, Tartan and Stillwater all play each other in the last two weeks of the season. But if Roseville wins this week, it may not matter.

Forest Lake had a tough week. After losing to Roseville 3-1 in a key D2 game, the Rangers played in the IGH/SSP tourney and lost all three games. They lost their opener to IGH/SSP 8-3, lost a tough game to Princeton 1-0 and lost to Sibley 3-1. The Rangers ran into four tough teams last week.

Mounds View tied Cloquet 2-2 and before losing to Stillwater last week. They are an improving team with size and strength. The Mustangs play Highland in addition to Hudson this week. Highland played in the Mariucci Tourney over the weekend in Eveleth. They beat International Falls, lost to Mahtomedi and played Superior for third place.

Tartan and White Bear Lake played their two D2 games against each other last week. Tartan tied the Bears 2-2 and the Bears beat the Titans 4-1. Tartan plays in the Red Wing tourney this weekend. They draw Shakopee in the opening round. White Bear Lake plays Rochester Red and Duluth East this week, before opening their Moose Goheen tourney.

Mahtomedi won the Mariucci Tourney in Eveleth over the weekend. They beat Eveleth 9-0, Highland and Hibbing 4-3 in the championship game. They returned to play White Bear Lake last week.

Roseville keeps the #1 seed and Stillwater keeps the #2 seed this week. Forest Lake struggled at IGH/SSP tourney. Mounds View has been playing well and Mahtomedi won the Mariucci. The Zephyrs take the #3 seed. Highland, White Bear Lake and Tartan are in the running. If they would report their games, Tartan is actually in second place in D2.

The D2 playoff draw is shaping up. The first-round matchups could be something like this: #1 Roseville/#8 Highland, #4 Mounds View/#5 White Bear Lake, #2 Tartan/#7 Mahtomedi and #3 Stillwater/#6 Forest Lake. But with each team having three to four games left, the opening draw is anybody’s guess. As said last week, when the first-place team can be beaten by the eighth-place team, you know the D2 playoffs will be tough.

District 10 - Elk River added two more D10 wins to their league record, beating Champlin Park 4-2 and Irondale 8-1. The Elks have three D10 games left, Blaine, Rogers and Anoka. If they win all nine points, the Elks will finish the D10 season with 58 points. Blaine trails and needs to beat Elk River to have a shot at the D10 title. The two teams meet this Saturday at Fogerty. Elk River also plays Rogers on the weekend in another key D10 game.

Rogers is poised to make a move up this week in D10. They play four games (St. Francis, Irondale, Elk River and Coon Rapids). They can’t catch the Elks, but they can take the coveted second or third place in the D10 standings and the associated #2 or #3 seed to the D10 playoffs. If either Rogers or Blaine can beat the Elks, they will likely finish second or third. Rogers tied Lakeville North 5-5, lost to Spring Lake Park 4-1 and beat Anoka 3-2 last week.

Blaine plays Irondale in addition to Elk River this week. Blaine played the “four C’s” last week. The Bengals beat Coon Rapids 7-2, lost to Cloquet 6-4, lost to Centennial 2-1 and beat Champlin Park 3-1. That gives the Bengals a “C” grade for last week. Ironic, isn’t it?

Blaine plays Irondale and Spring Lake Park in addition to Elk River this week. Champlin Park had a tough week. Besides losing to Elk River and Blaine, the Rebels tied Andover 2-2 and lost to Centennial 5-2.

The Rochester tourney two weeks ago set the battle for Centennial and Champlin Park this week. At Rochester, Centennial beat the Rebels 4-1 and 5-3. Last week, the two teams met in the first of two key D10 games. Centennial won again, beating Champlin Park 5-2. The Cougars, with that win, overtook the Rebels for third in the D10 standings.

Centennial can now set its sights on second-place Blaine. They trail the Bengals by a point. Centennial has three D10 games this week, St. Francis, Princeton and Champlin Park. In 11 days, the Cougars will have played nine games (Champlin Park, Rochester Red, St. Francis, Princeton, Wayzata, Champlin Park, Minnetonka, Woodbury and OMG). If Centennial makes it to Championship Sunday at White Bear, the Cougars will play two more games, making it 11 games in 12 days. My guess is the kids will love it, but the coaches may not.

Champlin Park plays three D10 games this week. Besides the second game with Centennial, they play Coon Rapids and Anoka. The Rebels need to win all three games to keep in the chase for the #2 or #3 D10 seed. If the Rebels lose again, they will likely fall to fifth place. That would put them in the #5 seed playing the #4 seed for the right to play the #1 seed Elk River. That is a tough row to hoe.

While the top five are battling for seeds in the tourney, the next three D10 teams, Anoka, Princeton and Spring Lake Park, are all tied in the D10 standings. This is the race within the race and it remains too close to call except to say that Andover has fallen behind these three teams but still remains a threat.

Anoka and Spring Lake Park have six D10 games left. Princeton has seven D10 games left. Anoka plays Andover, Champlin Park and St. Francis this week. Princeton plays Spring Lake Park (in the first of their two games), Centennial and Irondale this week. Spring Lake Park plays four D10 games this week. Besides Princeton, the Panthers play Coon Rapids, Irondale and archrival Blaine.

Princeton played in IGH/SSP tourney last week. They lost the opening game to Crow River, beat Forest Lake 1-0 and lost to D10 rival Andover 1-0 in the consolation title game. Anoka lost to Centennial 3-1, lost to Rogers 3-2 and beat Coon Rapids 10-1 last week. Spring Lake Park beat Rogers 4-1 and St. Francis 7-0 last week.

The Panthers continue to play well and this week will be tough for them. They play Prior Lake in addition to the four D10 games. Winning three of the four D10 games would virtually lock up a D10 playoff spot for the Panthers.

Andover and Irondale are the “bubble teams.” Irondale has 24 points and six games to play; Andover has 23 points and six games to play. Irondale plays Rogers, Blaine, Spring Lake Park and Princeton this week and needs to win. The Knights have been one of the surprises this year. It would be nice to see them in the D10 playoffs this year.

Andover had a tremendous year last year, making the state tourney. This year the Huskies are struggling to make the D10 playoffs. They have a key game with Anoka this week. A win over Anoka and a sweep of St. Francis and Coon Rapids in their other two games would give the Huskies 9 points and put them back into the chase should Anoka, Spring Lake Park or Princeton fall. Andover’s D10 playoff hopes may rest on having to beat Centennial in their last D10 game, a game that Centennial may need to take the #2 or #3 seed into the playoffs.

Elk River keeps the #1 seed. Centennial’s win over Blaine gives them the #2 seed and Blaine takes the #3 seed this week. If Rogers makes their move, they will most likely move into the top three. Centennial and Champlin Park will be battling it out this week and to the winner goes the spoils. Anoka remains tough and is a good tourney team and could surprise. Spring Lake Park has shown continued improvement over the season. Will they continue to improve? Princeton remains in the middle of the mix.

District 11 - Cloquet beat Proctor in a D11 game 8-2 and then took off for the cities. The Lumberjacks beat Blaine 6-4, tied Mounds View 2-2 and lost to Roseville 4-2 on their weekend. They play Armstrong this week. Hermantown beat Superior 4-1 last week and also play Armstrong this week.

Duluth East beat Rochester Red 7-1, lost to Rochester Red 4-2 and played Centennial. This week the Hounds host White Bear Lake. The Duluth Lakers played in the Virginia tourney. The Lakers beat Northern Lakes and Proctor to advance to the finals against West Fargo. Proctor played in the Virginia tourney. The Rails beat the Grand Forks Golden Eagles 7-6, lost to the Lakers and beat Virginia 5-0 for third place. The Rails play Duluth East, Greenway and Little Falls this week.

Things are quiet in D11 this week. The next big event is the Cloquet tourney with 12 teams entered. Tourney play will open February 4h. The 12 teams entered are divided into two pools. Pool A has Cloquet, Apple Valley, Coon Rapids, Mankato, Spring Lake Park and Waconia. Pool B has Greenway, Hermantown, Sibley, St. Cloud, Superior and the Thunder Bay Kings.

Hermantown had the week off and continues that this week. The Hawks keep the #1 seed, but will be tested at the Cloquet tourney in two weeks. Cloquet take the #2 seed this week. But the Lumberjacks remain a mystery. Their 1-1-1 record on their Southern swing last week was good, but still indicates that they could be playing better. Duluth East beat Cloquet two weeks ago, but remains an up and down team. Their swing through Rochester last week did not impress. Proctor continues to work at getting better and has shown improvement, but their loss to the Lakers at Virginia was a tough game.

West Regional (D3, D5, D6) - The gap between the West Regional teams continues to be narrowing. In D3, Wayzata and OMG traveled to Roseau and had really good tourneys. Wayzata took second. But the Trojans were almost upset by Armstrong (winning 2-1) and OMG was tied by Orono 1-1 when they returned to D3 play. This week, Wayzata looks to be the best in D3, but OMG, Mpls Storm, Crow River and Armstrong will challenge for the remaining D3 seed. In D5, St. Cloud and STMA remain the odds-on favorites for seeds, but the gap is narrowing. St. Cloud almost lost to MAML (winning 2-1). The race for the #3 seed is wide open.

In D6, Burnsville edged out a little and Minnetonka faltered. But it will be anybody’s guess on the outcome of the D6 playoffs. Edina put on a show at Roseau and struggled to keep a 1-1 tie against Eden Prairie two days after they beat the Eagle 5-1. Prior Lake continues to play well, taking the IGH/SSP tourney and beating Minnetonka 4-1.

District 3 - D3 continues the “soap opera.” Wayzata and OMG ran away to play at Roseau. OMG lost their opening pool game to Eden Prairie 3-2. They went on to beat Fargo Flyers Gold 10-0, Roseau 8-5 and Moorhead 5-2, but couldn’t make the championship round.

Wayzata played like world beaters as the Trojans easily won their pool. beating Lakeville South 6-1, East Grand Forks 9-1 and Warroad 10-0. In the championship round, they beat a tough TRF team 5-4 before losing to Edina 6-1. The Trojans took second place.

With the two teams separated by a single point (mostly due to the Trojans losing 5 of their “unfair play” points), OMG and Wayzata meet this Sunday afternoon at the PIC with the D3 title at stake. The loser may have more at stake (especially Wayzata) then the D3 title. A loss could cause the two teams to part (keeping with the “soap opera” theme). The villain would be the Mpls Storm (alias: the mysterious Mpls Park team). The Storm are positioned to make a move. If the Storm can shake the sneaky, persistent Crow River team, they could take second, splitting Wayzata and OMG’s one-two hold on D3.

Wayzata beat Armstrong 2-1 when they returned from Roseau. The Trojans play Mound Westonka in addition to OMG this week. OMG tied Orono 1-1 last week.

The Mpls Storm and Crow River play this week. If either team can take six points out of those two games, that team could climb into second place over the loser of Sunday’s Wayzata/OMG game. Crow River plays St. Louis Park in addition to the Storm this week. Mpls Storm plays Orono.

Crow River took second place at the IGH/SSP tourney. The Tigers beat Princeton, beat IGH/SSP 5-2 and lost to Prior Lake 6-2 in the championship game. The Mpls Storm beat Hopkins 5-1 and Mound Westonka 6-0 this week.

Armstrong beat Hopkins 5-3 and St. Louis Park 4-1 last week besides losing to Wayzata. They have two D3 games left (Storm and Crow River). Armstrong takes a day trip to D11, playing Cloquet and Hermantown this weekend. Armstrong hosts the New Hope tourney the weekend of Feb. 4.

Orono played in the Mariucci tourney in Eveleth over the weekend. The Spartans lost to Superior 4-3 and beat Hutchinson 5-0 and International Falls 6-5 in overtime to win the consolation title. They returned to dent OMG’s D3 title hopes, tying OMG 1-1 in league play. Orono has become an interesting team this year. They have played better than .500 hockey and have taken hardware home in all four tourneys they have entered.

The D3 playoff format this year will have a single play-in game between the teams that finish eighth and ninth. St. Louis Park is likely to finish ninth and Hopkins/Orono and Mound Westonka fighting for the sixth, seventh and eighth seeds. Hopkins has the edge and if the Royals end up in eighth that would set up a play-in game between two arch rivals.

Wayzata takes the #1 seed. The Storm takes the #2 seed. The Trojans may finish as low as third in D3, but if they do it will be because of the loss of their “unfair play” points. The Storm continue to improve and though OMG played well at Roseau, OMG was tied by Orono when they returned. Too bad this year D3 gets only two seeds to the West. It would really make the D3 playoffs unpredictable.

District 5 - St. Cloud beat River Lakes 7-2 and beat a steadily improving MAML 2-1 in D5 play last week. The Huskies play Sartell and Willmar this week in D5 action. STMA beat Sauk Rapids 9-0 and Willmar 9-1 last week. This week, the Knights travel to the Thief River Falls area. They play the Prowlers in a single game and they travel to Warroad to play in their tourney. The Knights draw the Fargo Angels and Warroad in their pool. There are nine teams entered.

St. Cloud continues to play perfect hockey in D5. They have 36 points in 12 games and should run that streak to 15 games. Then they play STMA. Unfortunately for the Knights, they need help to overtake the Huskies and MAML gave it a good shot in losing 2-1.

The battle for third place in D5 continues. Buffalo, Sartell, MAML and River Lakes were all knotted as the week began. Buffalo had strung four D5 wins together, but had their hopes bashed last week. The Bison lost to MAML 4-3 and to Sauk Rapids 4-3. With only four D5 games left, Buffalo needs to win.

With the Bison dropping in the standings, Sartell lost also. The Sabres had their hopes dashed at Willmar, losing to the Cardinals 4-3. MAML played only St. Cloud last week, but this week the Moose can make a move this week. They play Willmar, Litchfield, River Lakes and Sartell. A sweep would put the Moose (horns, hoofs and all) in third place in D5.

River Lakes plays Buffalo besides MAML this week. Last week, the Stars played in the Fergus Falls tourney. They lost their opening game to the Sioux Falls Blue, lost to Grafton/River Park 5-1 and beat Fargo 5-3.

Hutchinson played in the Mariucci tourney. They lost a tough game to Hibbing in the opener 3-0, lost to Orono 5-0 and beat Eveleth 7-2. They returned to play Redwood Falls. This week Hutchinson plays Sartell and Willmar. Willmar win over Sartell was a good one for the Cardinals. They play MAML, St. Cloud and Hutchinson in D5 games this week to end their D5 season.

Sauk Rapids plays in the Red Wing tourney. They open bracket play against Faribault. The Storm win over Sartell was a surprise. Litchfield sprung a surprise. They took third place at Fergus Falls. They beat the Fargo Flyers 4-0, lost to the Otters 7-3 and beat Mesabi East 3-2 in the third place game.

Sometimes the teams make it easy. That is what happened in D5 this week. There are no changes in the seeds. St. Cloud takes the #1 seed; STMA takes the #2 seed; and the Moose (MALM) keep the #3 seed.

District 6 - Last week, D8 Farmington ran the table at St. Cloud’s Geyer Tourney. This week, Edina ran the table at the Roseau tourney, beating three tough teams in pool that had been playing good hockey. The Hornets beat Stillwater 5-1, Moorhead 9-0 and Grand Rapids 11-2. In the championship round, they beat D6 rival Eden Prairie 5-1 and Wayzata 6-1. Before the Hornets arrived in Roseau, they stopped in Bemidji and beat the Lumberjacks 7-2.

Edina returned home to play Eden Prairie again. With both teams locked in a battle for the top two spots in the league (with three other teams) and two all-important first-round byes in the D6 playoffs, the teams took the ice again two days later and 300 miles from Roseau. The Hornets came out skating and Eden Prairie didn’t. For the first half of the game, the Eagles relied on their goalie who put on an amazing performance making difficult stop after difficult stop.

The Hornets scored their only goal when a forward found a five-foot open space in front of the net and skated into the goalie and scored by deking the goalie out. Trailing 1-0, Eden Prairie forwards finally began to move halfway through the game. The Eagles started to move the puck easily through the Hornet defense and finally scored to tie the game 1-1.

The third period started with expectations of a real donnybrook. It didn’t happen. The refs stepped in and called five sequential penalties on the Eagles in the 14-minute period. The Eagles goalie continued his outstanding play and the Eagles defense stiffened. The game ended in a tie. Eden Prairie played half of the last period on the penalty kill. And Eden Prairie may have lost their “unfair play” point. Edina didn’t.

Edina is set to make their move in D6 this week. The Hornets play three D6 games (Kennedy, Jefferson and Waconia). Eden Prairie has two D6 games this week, Burnsville and Chaska. After this week, the Eagles will have one D6 game remaining (with Edina). The tie cost the Eagles two points. A sweep of their remaining games would give the Eagles 46 points. An Edina sweep of their remaining D6 games would give the Hornets 46 points.

Burnsville played Minnetonka and Chaska last week. The Blaze beat Minnetonka 3-1 on Sunday. The Skippers skated with the Blaze for the first half of the game, but slowed and the bigger Blaze forwards used their size to keep the Skippers off the puck. The Blaze beat Chaska 4-1 in their second D6 game of the week. The first half of the game was a tough, rugged sort of game with both teams moving the puck. Burnsville had a 2-1 lead with four minutes to go when the Blaze picked up their sixth penalty. One more penalty and the Blaze would lose their “unfair play” point.

The Blaze started to back off. They would throw no more checks. They would avoid any reaching for the puck and surrender any races to the Chaska forwards. The game became a dump and chase kind of game where the Blaze were content to get the puck into the Chaska zone and apply only a modest amount of pressure.

It worked as they constantly worked to dig the puck out of their boards and move it to the Chaska zone. When a Blaze and a Chaska forward tangled in center ice, the Blaze forward hit the ice purposely to avoid any chance of a penalty call. It worked. The Blaze added a third goal when a Blaze forward slapped a shot from the slot past the Chaska goalie into the upper right corner. The fourth goal was an empty netter. Chaska came close a number of times to tie the game as the Hawks continued to play aggressive.

Burnsville has four D6 games to go. The Blaze can finish with 50 points. The Eden Prairie/Burnsville game on Sunday should be a great game between the two teams, especially if the Eagles goalie continues their outstanding play. Burnsville also plays Kennedy this week.

Minnetonka lost to Prior Lake 4-1 last week. Assuming both teams got their “unfair play” points, Minnetonka, if they sweep their remaining games, would get 45 points. The Skippers play Waconia and Prior Lake this week. Prior Lake plays Kennedy in addition to playing the Skippers again this week. The Lakers can get 43 points if they win their last six D6 games. A second win this week over Minnetonka could set up a potential showdown with Burnsville in the last D6 game for both teams.

Prior Lake won the IGH/SSP tourney over the week. The Lakers beat Andover 6-0, Hudson 4-3 and Crow River 6-2 in the championship game. Prior Lake also plays Spring Lake Park this week.

Chaska was the third D6 team at Roseau and they opened with a bang, winning their first two pool games. The Hawks beat Woodbury 3-2 and Brainerd 6-1, but lost the pool championship game to Thief River Falls 7-4. They lost to East Grand Forks 5-3 on Sunday. Besides playing Burnsville this week, Chaska lost a D6 game to Waconia 5-4. The loss to Waconia keeps the Hawks in the D6 basement. They remain a team that plays good teams well and then plays other teams and loses.

Waconia beat Kennedy in another D6 game 4-3 last week. The two wins have put Waconia in sixth place behind Prior Lake. They continue to improve and will tested this week playing Minnetonka and Edina. Jefferson lost to Minnetonka, beat Shakopee 5-3, lost to Kennedy 8-1 and lost to Shakopee 4-1 to end a tough week. Jefferson plays Edina this week in D6.

Kennedy has shown improvement in the past month. They had a good tourney in their own tourney at Christmas time and are playing well. They will be tested this week playing Edina and Prior Lake.

Shakopee heads to Red Wing this weekend to play in their tourney. They open play against Tartan. That will pit two improving teams playing each other. The winner will have a good chance of winning the tourney. The loser will have a good chance of winning the consolation title.

Things heated up in D6 last week. Burnsville and Prior Lake won. Edina and Eden Prairie tied. Minnetonka lost. Burnsville takes the #1 seed this week. Edina takes the #2 seed. Prior Lake takes the #3 seed.

Another Way to Look at PeeWee A Hockey - Jan. 21

2011-01-21T09:56:00.002-06:00

By frederick61

Last Monday, Lakeville North returned from Fargo after winning a 16-team tourney consisting of mostly teams from the Dakotas and Canada. The Panthers beat West Fargo 6-4 Sunday morning and they beat the beat the #2 team in the North Dakota league Sunday afternoon, the Bismarck Admirals 8-4. Lakeville North then traveled 300 miles to play a Monday game against a top team.

They played Rosemount Monday night. The Panthers showed up with two kids out for the game. They lost another kid less than a minute into the game when an Irish kid lost a race to the puck and out of frustration pushed the Panther into the boards. The Irish lost their “unfair play” point with that penality. Late in the game, the Panthers lost another kid when another Irish kid checked him near the boards and he fell awkwardly. The Irish kid drew a 5-minute major and was kicked out of the game.

This game was not intense and the referees were not wrong in their calls. The game was not “out of control” at any time. Rosemount beat Lakeville North 7-1. A total six penalties were called on both teams. The Panthers held a 1-0 lead and the game was close halfway through the second period and then the Panthers tired. They had driven 600 miles on the weekend and played four games. The speedy Irish forwards easily broke down the Panther defense late in the game even though the Irish were playing with only 10 forwards.

The “unfair play” point was never part of this game. The kids were playing hockey. But hockey people call the “fair play” point successful. Even the New York Times wrote an article in praise of the concept.

The reason the fair play point is called the “unfair play” point in this blog is because it is unfair to the team, their association and their coaches. In our society, we are supposed to punish the wrong doer, not the community. They are important hockey lessons for kids to learn, but the most important lesson for kids to learn is that the individual is responsible.

As you watch the toll taken on teams in their leagues because of teams losing “unfair play” points, remember that the wrongdoers go unnamed and are never really punished. But nobody wants to address the individual kid. To try an address the individual kid becomes messy; parents may complain and boards don’t like to make pronouncements. Under the “fair play” concept, have the adults turned to the kids to “police” the kids?

If the “fair play” concept works, what problem does it solve? If the number of injured kids is lower, how is it lower? Some would say yes because some coaches scream at kids for being too aggressive and they would play more passively. But Rosemount was not being overly aggressive in their game against Lakeville North.

The “fair play” concept is applied partially during the season. It does not work outside of league games. It can never be applied to tournament or non-league games. You would have to somehow total the penalties at the end of the game and take away goals. As a result, in most games the kids play during the season, “fair play” is not part of the game. A D6 team plays 45-60 games, 18 games or approximately 1/3 are league games; the remaining 2/3 are unaffected by the rule. So let’s drop the façade that it is a teaching moment for the kids.

Now, in light of the fair play point being considered successful, Minnesota Hockey is considering a ruling that bans checking at the PeeWee level because a study showed injuries in a non-checking league (usually house or C level hockey) to be less than in a checking league (usually A or B level hockey). That does not make sense. But it is part of another piecemeal attempt to solve a “problem.”

What is difficult to understand is USA Hockey will still have kids and their parents signing waivers acknowledging the physical nature of the game and removing USA Hockey and affiliates from blame.

The problem is nobody has defined the problem they are trying to solve. Like the refs (who were correctly applying the rules) in the Rosemount/Lakeville North game, Minnesota Hockey has piecemealed solutions by applying “fair play” points and potentially applying non-checking. Does anybody notice another old piecemeal, the STOP badges on the backs of youth players, anymore?

If their charter is to foster hockey in the Minnesota, hockey boards can’t do that by ignoring “bell shaped” curves of probabilities and re-defining hockey. As the USA Hockey waiver says, competitive hockey is a physical game. USA Hockey and Minnesota Hockey have to accept that concept.

Both North Dakota and South Dakota have PeeWee A teams that are competing in leagues this year. They do not use the fair play point. Has anybody thought to compare their experiences with kids from Minnesota? Their top teams will compete with most Minnesota teams. But hey, what is the problem trying to be solved again?

Maybe competition is wrong at the youth level and USA and Minnesota Hockey should turn off the scoreboard at PeeWee games. After all, nobody wants to see kids hurt playing the sport. I took my two grandsons to an outdoor rink last Sunday. One’s a Mite and one’s a Squirt. I played goalie (big stick, no skates) and they organized a pick-up game. It was a blast to watch them skate and enjoy the sport. After two hours, I had to force them to leave. They played with only sticks and skates. So did the other kids.

Nobody got hurt. They could have gotten hurt. The kids we played with wanted to know when we would be back.

USA and Minnesota Hockey really needs to define the problem (if any) and implement a solution that lets kids enjoy the sport (including the competition) as they learn. They should not be reacting to the latest study.

North Regional (D12, D15, D16) - Roseau is the focus of PeeWee A play this week in the North. They hold their tourney this week. In the past two years, it has been a great tourney featuring highly competitive games. This year will be no different. There are 16 teams entered from seven Minnesota districts. Four D16 teams are entered (Thief River Falls, Warroad, East Grand Forks and Roseau). The most interesting pool groups Edina, Moorhead Black, Grand Rapids and Stillwater. Play opens Friday, Jan. 21. The Moorhead Black/Grand Rapids game will be a preview for the North Regional.

Eveleth and Virginia play in D12 and are 5 miles apart on Highway 53. Both are hosting tourneys this week. At the Marriuci in Eveleth, eight teams play a bracket tourney (Orono, Superior, Hutchinson, Hibbing, Highland, International Falls, Mahtomedi and the host Golden Bears). Play opens Friday afternoon.

In the Queen City Classic, Virginia hosts an eight-team bracket play tourney. The Blue Devils open with Greenway. Northfield plays West Fargo in the other bracket game. In the lower bracket, Northern Lakes plays the Duluth Lakers and Grand Forks Golden Eagles plays Proctor.

District 12 - For the past month, the team in D12 has been Grand Rapids. There is no change this week. The Thunderhawks played two D12 games last week, beating Virginia 11-1 and Greenway 11-0. This week, they play at Roseau. They will scrimmage Lakeville South (often these pre-Roseau tourney games can be informal) and have a tough pool draw, playing Moorhead Black, Stillwater and Edina.

Eveleth, Hibbing and International Falls play at the Mariucci. Hibbing opens bracket play against an improving Hutchinson team. Eveleth and the Falls play two tough D2 teams. The Falls draw Highland and Eveleth draws Mahtomedi.

Last week, Hibbing strung three D12 wins together, beating Greenway 7-1, International Falls 7-4 and Mesabi East 10-2. International Falls beat Eveleth 3-1.

Virginia beat Eveleth 11-3, lost to Mesabi East 4-3 besides losing to Grand Rapids. Greenway beat Eveleth 7-2 and Proctor 7-0. Mesabi East lost to Proctor 9-8 and played Superior, in addition to beating Virginia and losing to Hibbing. The Giants play in the Fergus Falls tourney on the weekend.

Grand Rapids keeps the #1 seed to the North Regional this week and Hibbing takes the #2 seed. Both teams will be challenged in tourneys this week. Grand Rapids has a tough set of games to make it to Championship Sunday. But if they do, the Thunderhawks will move into the top tier of PeeWee A teams in the state.

Hibbing could face off against the Falls at Eveleth. International Falls takes the #3 seed, but both Mesabi East and Greenway are challenging for a seed. Mesabi East continues to show improvement and will be tested at Fergus Falls.

District 15 - Moorhead Black heads to Roseau and is in the same tough pool with Grand Rapids, Edina and Stillwater. Last week, the Black added two more D15 wins to their undefeated D15 streak, beating Alexandria 4-3 and Fergus Falls 11-2. The Black also beat Crookston 6-1. Moorhead Black’s two victories gives the Black the D15 title and leaves Alexandria and Fergus Falls to battle it out for second with Brainerd.

Brainerd beat Moorhead Orange 3-2 and lost to Detroit Lakes 4-1 last week. This week the Warriors also head to Roseau. They draw Woodbury, Chaska and Thief River Falls in pool play.

Fergus Falls hosts their tourney on the weekend. The Otters play Alex before and after their tourney in two D15 games this week. Alexandria plays Moorhead Orange besides playing the Otters twice this week. Moorhead Orange struggled in the Hibbing tourney two weeks ago, but came back to win their first two D15 games, beating Little Falls 3-2 and a tough Northern Lakes team 6-4 last week. The Orange lost to Brainerd 3-2. The Orange play Little Falls again this week.

Detroit Lakes beat Brainerd and played the Fargo Angels last week. The Lakers play Crookston, West Fargo and Little Falls this week. Little Falls played Hutchinson last week. This week the Flyers hit the road playing Sartell, Sauk Rapids and Detroit Lakes. Northern Lakes heads to Virginia this weekend to play in their tourney. They draw the Duluth Lakers in the opening round.

The two teams that finish in second and third place in the league standings will have the edge in the race for the #2 seed to the regional. That also goes for the teams finishing sixth and seventh. The teams finishing fourth or fifth would play the Black, providing D15 uses the same format as they used last year. If they do, teams finishing first, fourth, fifth and eighth will be bracketed together. Moorhead Orange’s two wins this week helped the Orange, but did not lift them out of eighth. If Moorhead Orange remain in eighth, they will open the D15 playoffs against Moorhead Black.

Fergus Falls, Brainerd and Alexandria are still locked in a struggle for second place in D15 behind Moorhead Black. The Black keeps their #1 seed, but Alexandria takes the #2 seed. They pushed the Black, losing 4-3. Detroit Lakes and Moorhead Orange are making noise.

District 16 - Thief River Falls beat Crookston 7-1 and played Crookston and Roseau last week. The Prowlers remain tied with Bemidji atop D16. They play at Roseau on the weekend and draw Woodbury, Chaska and Brainerd in pool play.

Bemidji traveled to St. Cloud as the Lumberjacks continued to play a tough schedule. In pool play, they lost their opener to top-rated Farmington 6-0, and beat Sartell 8-1, Andover 6-0 and STMA 3-1. Bemidji hosts Edina (the Hornets are on their way to Roseau) in a return match this week. The Hornets beat the Lumberjacks 6-3 seven weeks ago at Braemar. They also host Crookston.

Roseau hosts their 16-team tourney this week, a tournament that has become one of the top tourneys in the state the past few years. The Rams play Eden Prairie, Osseo/Maple Grove and Fargo Flyers Gold. The Flyers are third in the North Dakota league with a 6-2 record. Their two losses were to the Bismarck Blades 3-2 and West Fargo 3-2. Roseau beat Grafton 9-2 and Red Lake Falls 7-1 last week. They played Thief River Falls also.

East Grand Forks plays at Roseau and draw Wayzata, Lakeville South and Warroad in pool play. The Green Wave beat Red Lake Falls 11-1 and Warroad 10-2 in D16 games last week. They also played the Grand Forks Greyhounds and beat the Fargo Flyers Gold 5-4. Warroad is the fourth D16 team entered.

Crookston played five games last week. They lost games to TRF 7-1 and Moorhead 6-1 and played Red Lake Falls, Warroad and Thief River Falls again. The Pirates travel to Detroit Lakes this week besides playing Bemidji.

In “A League of Their Own” the Tom Hanks character tells a player, “Are you crying? There’s no crying in baseball.” The Bemidji kids should take note. They lost to a tough Farmington 6-0 and beat three good teams 17-2. There’s no crying in St. Cloud, only Edina this week as the Lumberjacks continue a tough schedule. They keep the #1 seed this week. Thief River Falls takes the #2 seed this week. The Prowlers will have a chance to prove they are in a “League of Their Own” at Roseau. Woodbury is playing good hockey and Chaska is a tough underrated team that is dangerous as they showed last year at Roseau, making it to Championship Sunday. The Prowlers will have their chances.

The #3 seed goes to Roseau. Ten days ago, they beat the Prowlers in their own tourney. The Green Wave has shown improvement and will be dangerous at the Roseau tourney. The three D16 teams entered will have their chances to create their own league. Warroad will be challenged.

South Regional (D4, D8, D9) - D9 had two tourneys this week; Rochester and New Ulm. Five D9 teams and Rochester Red entered the 12-team Rochester tourney. Three D9 teams entered the 10 team New Ulm tourney. Sibley beat Crow River 5-3 to win the New Ulm tourney and D9 teams New Ulm and Dodge County joined them on Championship Sunday. At Rochester, an improving Owatonna team won two of their three pool games, but lost to Jefferson 5-0 in the consolation game.

Farmington, after adding the Geyer Trophy to the Edina trophy last week, returns to D8 action this week. The Tigers play four games, including two against the Lakevilles. Rosemount lost their return match with Edina 4-1.

D4 has allocated one of its seeds to D8/D9. D8 and D9 each have three seeds and D4 had two. District 4 playoffs will be held in Windom on Feb. 19-20.

District 9 playoffs will be a double elimination tourney starting Thursday, Feb. 17, and will finish the following Sunday, Feb. 20. District 8 playoffs will begin Sunday, Feb. 20. The fourth-place finishers in both tourneys will meet for a play-in game to the South Regional. The D8 fourth-place finisher will be decided around 1 p.m., on Feb. 27. The site of the play-in game is unknown.

District 4 - Luverne played a single D9 game last week. The Cardinals beat Faribault 9-2. Luverne has two D9 games left (Austin and Mankato). They hold a four-point lead over Owatonna and a nine-point lead over Mankato in the D9 West. A win over Austin eliminates the Huskies from contention and sets up the Jan. 30, game with Mankato for the West title. Luverne will play in the Fergus Falls tourney this week.

Redwood Falls and Marshall played in the New Ulm tourney last week. Redwood Falls lost to New Ulm 6-0 and St. Louis Park 8-3 in pool play. RWF lost to Apple Valley 8-0 in a consolation game. Marshall lost to eventual tourney champ Sibley 8-0 and to St. Francis 8-0 in pool play. They lost to D9 Austin 6-5 in a consolation game.

Marshall heads over to Interstate 29 for a short drive to play in the Watertown PeeWee A Jamboree this weekend. The Tigers play two South Dakota teams, Watertown and Mitchell, and one North Dakota team, Dickinson. The Watertown Lakers and the Mitchell Marlins play in an eight-team South Dakota PeeWee A league. The Lakers' record is 2-8; the Marlins' record is 2-5. Dickinson plays in the North Dakota PeeWee A. They have a 2-6-1 league record.

The D4 playoff will be played in Windom on Feb. 19-20. Luverne looks to be the best in D4 this year and take the #1 seed this week. Redwood Falls and Marshall have been playing better over the past month, but can they catch the Luverne?

District 8 - Famington destroyed the competition at St. Cloud. In the Geyer Tourney, the Tigers beat Bemidji 6-0, Andover 6-0 and Sartell 11-1 in pool play. In the championship round, Farmington beat Burnsville 2-1 and Minnetonka 3-1. Only Burnsville hung with the Tigers as they outscored their opponents 28-3 and outshot them 197-53. Their defense is tough, but what was impressive this weekend is that all 13 forwards each scored one or more of those 28 goals. This week, the Tigers return to D8 action, playing Johnson/Como, Eagan, Lakeville North and Lakeville South.

Rosemount beat Hastings 8-0 last week in addition to beating Lakeville North 7-1 and losing to Edina 4-1. They have a single D8 game with Eastview this week. Woodbury stepped outside of D8 last week, beating Rochester Red 6-2 and losing to Prior Lake 3-2. The Predators head to Roseau this week. They will play a scrimmage against the Rams before the tourney and draw Chaska, Thief River Falls and Brainerd in pool play. They play Inver Grove Heights/South St. Paul and Hastings when they return.

Lakeville North won the 16-team, bracket play Fargo tourney The Panthers beat the Dakota Lasers 8-1, the #2 ranked (North Dakota) Bismarck Blades 9-4, #7 ranked West Fargo Packers 6-4 and the #9 ranked Bismarck Admirals 8-4. Lakeville North plays Hastings and Rogers, in addition to playing Farmington this week.

Lakeville South beat Eagan 7-0 in their only game last week. The Cougars travel to Roseau and will play Grand Rapids in a scrimmage before the tourney. The Cougars draw Wayzata, Warroad and East Grand Forks in pool play. They play Farmington on their return.

Sibley won at New Ulm. The Generals beat Marshall 8-0 and Dodge County 5-3 in pool play. In championship play, Sibley beat New Ulm 9-1 and Crow River 5-3. Sibley plays in IGH/SSP tourney this week. They play Hudson in the opening of bracket play. IGH/SSP draws Forest Lake in their opening game. Crow River plays Princeton and Prior Lake plays Andover in the other opening games. The Spartans have a tough field entered in their tourney.

Last week, IGH/SSP played Hastings in two critical games for both teams. They beat the Raiders 5-1 in the first game and lost the second 3-1. Eastview made the championship round in the Rochester tourney. The Lightning beat Rochester Black 6-0 and Mankato 7-3, and lost to Jefferson 3-2. That was good enough to win the pool. In the championship round, the Lightning lost to Centennial 5-2 and to Rochester Red 4-2 in the third-place game.

Johnson/Como held their Governor’s Cup tourney last weekend. Mounds View beat Waconia 3-2 in the championship game. The J/C Devils lost to Waconia 4-1 and Kennedy 7-2, and tied River Lakes 1-1 in the tourney. This week they play Hastings, Apple Valley, Sibley and Farmington in D8 play. After this week, the Devils will have only one D8 game left (against Farmington).

Eagan and Apple Valley tied last week in D8 action. As the D8 season winds down, the 12 teams look to be breaking into four groups in the standings. All 12 teams will advance to the playoffs. The top four seeds will get a bye. The first game is played among teams seeded 5 to 12 and is a single elimination game. Farmington, Rosemount and Woodbury look to have one of the top four seeds. Lakeville South and Lakeville North will battle for the 4th and 5th seeds. That leaves Eastview, Sibley, IGH/SSP and Hastings battling for 6th to 9th seeds. The 6th and 7th seeds have the edge in the playoffs and the best opportunity to guarantee a shot in the regional. IGH/SSP, splitting their two games, makes the race within a race close.

Apple Valley and Eagan’s tie also aids Johnson/Como. These three teams are battling for the 10th and 11th seeds. Teams finishing there will have a shot at the regionals if they can knock off one of the 6th or 7th seeds. But a team finishing 12th will have a tough road to get to the regionals.

Farmington keeps the #1 seed this week. They won a tough St. Cloud tourney. Rosemount keeps the #2 seed, but the Irish are playing shorthanded and that could hurt. Woodbury should make it to Championship Sunday at Roseau and will have their chances to show that they have improved. Lakeville South has a tough pool at Roseau. If the Cougars make it to Championship Sunday they would really impress. This week the #3 seed remains with Lakeville South.

District 9 - Things were cooking this week in D9. Two tourneys were held, one at Rochester and one at New Ulm.

The Rochester tourney had all three Rochester PeeWee A teams entered. Rochester Black lost their three pool games to Mankato 5-2, Eastview 6-0 and Jefferson 12-0. The Black lost a Sunday consolation to Mound Westonka 4-0. The Gold lost to two of D10's top teams, Centennial 12-0 and Champlin Park 7-0. They tied Albert Lea 5-5 and on Sunday lost to Mankato 5-2. Rochester Red made it to Championship Sunday, winning their pool. The Red beat Owatonna 9-0, Mound Westonka 7-1 and Quad City 3-0. In the championship round, the Red lost to Champlin Park 3-2 and beat Eastview 4-2 for third place.

The Red entertain Duluth East this weekend and host Mankato. The Black beat Red Wing 3-0 last week. They play a single game against Mankato this week. The Gold play Red Wing and Austin in D9 games this week.

Northfield plays in the Virginia tourney this weekend. They draw West Fargo in the opening game. West Fargo lost to Lakeville North 6-4 in the semifinals of their tourney last week. West Fargo beat Wayzata Blue B1 2-1 to get to the semifinals. The Raiders also play two D9 games this week, Austin before the weekend and Owatonna when they return. With a seven-point lead over their nearest competitor, Northfield has locked up the D9 East.

Dodge County is an improving team. The Wildcats played in the New Ulm tourney last week. The Wildcats beat St. Francis 3-1 and lost to Sibley 5-3 in pool play. In a consolation game on Sunday, they lost to host New Ulm 4-3. They play Austin in their only game this week. Austin played at New Ulm also. They lost their two pool games to Crow River 10-0 and Apple Valley 9-6. In a consolation game Sunday, they beat Marshall 6-5.

In the D9 West, Luverne leads but are “guests” and will play in the D4 playoffs. That leaves Owatonna and Mankato to fight it out for first. Both teams played in the Rochester tourney. Owatonna is improving and it showed as the Huskies beat Quad City Iowa 7-1 and Mound Westonka 3-1 in pool play. They lost to Rochester Red and in the fifth-place game to Jefferson 5-0. Mankato beat Rochester Black 5-2, Jefferson 4-2 and lost to Eastview 7-3. In the sixth-place game on Sunday they beat the Rochester Gold 5-2.

This week Owatonna plays Red Wing and Mason City Iowa in non-conference games. They play Faribault in their only D9 game. Mankato plays New Ulm and Rochester Red, besides the Black this week. New Ulm beat St. Louis Park 5-3 and Redwood Falls 6-0 to make it to the championship round of their tourney. They lost to Sibley 7-1, but came back to beat Dodge County 4-3 for third place. This week they play Waconia, Faribault and Mankato.

Albert Lea played at Rochester. They lost to Champlin Park 11-0, Centennial 15-1 and tied Rochester Gold 5-5. On Sunday, they lost a consolation game to Quad City 4-2.

Mankato keeps the #1 seed this week and Owatonna takes the #2 seed. Both teams played well at the Rochester tourney last week. Northfield takes the #3 seed.

East Regional (D2, D10, D11) - Cloquet and Duluth East are in town this week playing D2 and D10 teams. The teams in the East Regional at this point in the season are well-matched except for Elk River in D10 and Roseville in D2. The Elks have started to run away in the chase for the D10 title and Roseville has added to their lead last week.

In D11, all five teams will contend for their two seeds. What teams emerge from the district playoffs to this regional is a guess at best. One thing for certain, it will be the team that is playing at their best.

District 2 - Going into this week, Roseville has four D2 games remaining on their schedule. Stillwater has six games left (with three games unreported) and Forest Lake has five games left. Hudson has five games. At the start of last week, these teams were the only teams that could contend with the Roseville for the D2 title.

Roseville beat Highland 3-0 and Forest Lake 3-1 last week in D2 action. Forest Lake had a heavy D2 schedule, playing four games. The Rangers beat Highland 3-2, tied Tartan 1-1 and lost to Mahtomedi 3-2 in addition to losing to Roseville. Roseville is now on track to set the mark in D2 at 45 points. Forest Lake’s tough week has knocked the Rangers out of the race, leaving only the Ponies and the Hudson Raiders to contend.

Stillwater will need help. They play the Raiders on Jan. 31, but a win over Roseville will not be enough. The best the Ponies can do is to hit the 40 point mark. Please note that Tartan beat Stillwater 2-1 and Forest Lake 2-0 in November but has not reported their wins to D2. Hudson lost their second D2 game in a row this time to White Bear Lake 4-1. The Raiders play Roseville a week after Stillwater and will also need help. The best Hudson can do is 39 points.

Roseville plays Cloquet in their only game this week. Stillwater lost to Eden Prairie last week 3-1. The Ponies play in the Roseau tourney this week. They draw a tough pool, playing Grand Rapids, Moorhead and Edina. Forest Lake and Hudson play in the Inver Grove Heights tourney. The Rangers draw the host Spartans in the opening game on Friday. Hudson plays former D8 rival Sibley. Hudson had a great tourney two weeks ago at Brainerd, losing the championship game to Grand Rapids 3-2 in overtime. They beat Somerset 4-0 (yes, Fire fans, they have a team) last week.

Mounds View had a good week. The Mustangs won the Governor’s Cup, beating River Lakes 5-2, Armstrong 2-1 and Waconia 3-2. They play Cloquet and Stillwater this week. White Bear Lake lost to Wayzata 7-3, beat Hudson and played Tartan last week. The Bears continue play in D2 this week with games against Mahtomedi and Tartan. The White Bear Lake Moose Goheen tourney draw is out. With the new Vadnais Heights facilities available to the Bears, the tourney has expanded to 12 teams.

Tartan beat Jefferson 3-2 and beat the Wausau Warjacks 4-3, in addition to tying Forest Lake and playing White Bear Lake last week. The Warjacks lost two tough games to the 99 Fire the previous week, 3-2 and 4-1. This week the Titans play a return match with White Bear Lake. The Titans remain a “mystery team,” playing well at times and struggling at times. That’s kids.

Mahtomedi travels to Eveleth to play in the Mariucci. They draw the host Eveleth in their opening game. They return to play White Bear Lake.

What was said last week is worth repeating this week. Roseville keeps winning and the Raiders keep the #1 seed. Stillwater and Hudson are hanging in for the race for the D2 title. Hudson will be challenged in a tough IGH/SSP tourney, especially if they meet Prior Lake. Stillwater draws a tough pool at Roseau. Stillwater keeps the #2 seed this week.

Forest Lake will be challenged at IGH/SSP tourney and could meet Hudson for the title. But Mounds View carried the D2 flag well last week, winning the Governor’s Cup. They take the #3 seed. Highland, White Bear Lake, Tartan, Forest Lake and Mahtomedi can all challenge. When the first-place team can be beaten by the eighth-place team, you know the D2 playoffs will be tough.

District 10 - There are two stories in D10 this week. One is Elk River’s string of 14 D10 games in a month of play; the second is the battle in Rochester between Champlin Park and Centennial.

The Elks started their string by winning their first six games and threatened to run away with the D10 crown, but the Elks were dragged down two weeks ago when they went 2-2. Last week, the Elks regained their footing and first place. They beat Andover 4-1, Princeton 5-0, a tough Spring Lake Park team 6-3 and St. Francis 9-0.

Down in Rochester at their tourney, Champlin Park and Centennial found themselves in the same pool. The Rebels beat Rochester Gold 7-0 and Albert Lea 11-0; the Cougars beat the Gold 12-0 and Albert Lea 15-1. That set up a pool championship game that Centennial won 4-1. Both teams advanced to the championship round. Champlin Park beat Rochester Red 3-2 and Centennial beat Eastview 5-2 in the semifinals. The two teams met again in the championship. Centennial beat Champlin Park 5-3. Centennial also beat Blaine in a key D10 game before the Rochester tourney 2-1.

Elk River plays Champlin Park and Irondale this week. With five D10 games left and an eight-point lead in the standings over Blaine, the Elks are back on the “runaway” trail. The “cats, the kings and the rebs” are unlikely to catch the Elks.

Blaine plays the “four C’s” this week; Coon Rapids, Cloquet, Centennial and Champlin Park. Blaine beat Princeton 3-1 besides losing to Centennial last week. That was enough to give the Bengals second place in D10. Champlin Park, Centennial and Rogers all closely trail the Bengals. Centennial completed a busy week beating Anoka 3-1 and playing Stillwater.

Rogers played in the Geyer Tourney and pushed to top teams St. Cloud and Burnsville before losing to the Huskies 2-0 and the Blaze 3-2. The Royals led the Blaze 2-0 with six minutes to play and gave up three goals to lose the game. They beat Hopkins 2-1 to complete pool play and beat an improving Mpls Storm team in a consolation game 4-0. They play Anoka and Spring Lake Park in two key D10 games. On Sunday they play Lakeville North.

Princeton plays in the IGH/SSP tourney this week. They draw a tough Crow River team coming off winning the New Ulm tourney last week in their opening game of bracket play. The race within the race continues as Spring Lake Park, Andover and Anoka via for the two remaining seeds to the D10 playoffs. Irondale fell behind this week.

Spring Lake Park scored two tough D10 wins last week, beating Anoka 3-2 and Irondale 4-3. The Panthers play Rogers and St. Francis this week.

Andover played in the Geyer Tourney after losing to Elk River last week. They opened pool play with a 8-2 win over Sartell, but lost their last two pool games to top-rated Farmington 6-0 and Bemidji 8-0. In a consolation game, Andover beat Hopkins 5-3. The Huskies returned to play Champlin Park. This week they play at IGH/SSP tourney, drawing a tough Prior Lake team in the opening round.

Anoka lost two D10 games (Spring Lake Park and Centennial) and won one last week (Irondale). Heading into this week, Spring Lake Park has a slight advantage over Andover and Anoka as a result of winning last week. They do not play Andover or Anoka in their remaining D10 schedule. Anoka and Andover do meet. The race within the race remains too close to call.

Irondale played in the Governor’s Cup. The Knights beat Kennedy 5-4 in the opening game, but lost to Waconia 3-1 and Armstrong 7-2 in the third-place game. Irondale playoff chances were hurt with losses to Spring Lake Park and Anoka last week. The Knights are a team to be respected, but they have a tough D10 schedule remaining. It starts this week when the Knights play Centennial and Elk River.

St. Francis played in the New Ulm tourney. They lost to Dodge County 3-1 and beat Marshall 9-1 in pool play. They lost to St. Louis Park 5-0 in a consolation game. Coon Rapids had a good Governor’s Cup tourney. After losing to Armstrong 6-1, they beat River Lakes 3-2 and played Kennedy in the consolation championship.

Two weeks ago, Elk River took the #1 seed and it looked like they would keep it the rest of the year. Last week, they looked like they were about to tumble from the top. This week, the Elks are back to taking the #1 seed and keeping it the rest of the year. They are certainly heavy favorites to win the D10 title.

Centennial came on strong last week. The Cougars did this last year at this point in the season. They began to look like world beaters. Last week they had wins over Blaine and Champlin Park (twice) and that is good enough to earn the #2 seed. But last year, Centennial faded as the year ended.

Blaine takes the #3 seed although the Rebels can let out a holler over that choice and the Royals can issue a condemnation in protest. With less than a month to go the D10 playoffs are looking tough.

District 11 - Cloquet and Duluth East travel south this week. Cloquet plays D2 teams Roseville and Mounds View and plays D10 Blaine. Duluth East travels to Rochester, playing the Red twice and then heads back north to Centennial before returning to the Twin Ports. Cloquet beat Proctor in their only game last week. Duluth East played the Duluth Lakers last week.

The Duluth Lakers play in the Virginia tourney. They draw Northern Lakes in their opening game of bracket play. They play Superior this week.

Hermantown had a tough tourney at St. Cloud. They lost in pool play to the Mpls Storm 5-4, lost to STMA 5-4 and tied Minnetonka 2-2 before beating Sartell 7-0 in a consolation game. The Hawks have the week off this week.

Proctor lost to Greenway 7-0 and beat Mesabi East 9-8 last week besides losing to Cloquet. This week the Rails play in the Virginia tourney and draw the Grand Forks Golden Eagles. The Golden Eagles play in the North Dakota PeeWee A league and are struggling with a 1-3-1 league record in their first five games.

At the Schwan Thanksgiving tourney, Cloquet beat Champlin Park 4-3 in a good game that showed the Lumberjacks had potential. Their swing through D2 this week will show their progress. Roseville and Mounds View have improved and both are playing near the best they have played all season. It will be a good precursor of things to come in the East Region. All that being said, Hermantown keeps the #1 seed this week.

Duluth East still claims the last win over Cloquet and takes the #2 seed. But the Hounds struggled against a Thunder Bay team two weekends ago at Thunder Bay (losing all three games). Their game with Centennial who is also playing well at this point in the season will be a good test.

West Regional (D3, D5, D6) - The gap between teams seemed to be narrowing in the West Region last week. Mpls Storm put a chink what has been a two-team race in D3. If they continue to improve, they could knock either Wayzata or OMG out of the regional in the D3 playoffs. Crow River has also become a tough team in D3. In D5, St. Cloud and STMA still look to be the best. But D5 has three seeds for the teams and MAML, River Lakes, Buffalo and Sartell are all contenders. In D6, things were quiet last week as five teams (Burnsville, Eden Prairie, Edina, Minnetonka and Prior Lake) gear up for the race to finish in the top two spots and get a first round bye in the D6 playoffs.

District 3 - D3 has that feeling of being “like a soap opera.” “As the week turns", has Wayzata lost another “unfair play” point and “OMG” did OMG lose another D3 game. Are these two teams still running away with each other? Does the Mpls Storm really have an alias called "Mpls Park?” And what about that sneaky team from shivering Crow River, they are always “under the radar.”

Wayzata and Osseo/Maple Grove are running away together. They are spending this weekend playing in the Roseau tourney. Wayzata draws Lakeville South, Warroad and East Grand Forks in pool play; OMG draws Roseau, Eden Prairie and Fargo Flyers Gold in their pool. Both teams have a clear shot to make it to championship Sunday. Wayzata had a good week, beating White Bear Lake 7-3, St. Louis Park 8-0 in a D3 game and Edina 4-3. OMG had a tough week, losing to the 99 Fire 4-1 and to Prior Lake 7-2. They beat Spring Lake Park 5-0 and Crow River in a D3 game 6-0.

Both teams have run away with the D3 title between them. The game between the two teams on Jan. 30, at the PIC will decide the team that gets the title. But the two regional seeds are up for grabs.

Mpls Storm (or probably better known by their alias Mpls Park) played in the St. Cloud tourney. They beat Hermantown 5-4 and tied Minnetonka 3-3 in their first two pool games and needed to beat STMA to advance to the championship round. The Storm lost 4-1 and then lost a consolation match 4-0 to Rogers. Still they are an improving team.

Tied with the Storm in D3 for third place are Armstrong and Crow River. The Tigers took second place at the New Ulm tourney over the weekend. They beat Apple Valley 3-2 and Austin to get to the championship round. In the semifinals, Crow River beat Dodge County 8-0 before losing the championship to Sibley 5-3.

Armstrong played in the Governor’s Cup over the weekend. They beat Coon Rapids 6-1, lost to Mounds View 2-1 and beat Irondale 7-2 for the third place. They play three D3 games this week, Hopkins, St. Louis Park and Wayzata.

Mound Westonka played at Rochester. In pool play the Whitehawks beat Quad City 4-0, lost to Rochester Red 7-1 and lost to Owatonna 3-1. They beat Rochester Black 4-0 in a Sunday consolation game. St. Louis Park played at New Ulm also. In pool play, the Orioles lost to New Ulm 5-3 and beat Redwood Falls 8-3. They beat St. Francis 5-0 in a consolation game.

The Armstrong/St. Louis Park game on Saturday is part of a St. Louis Park hockey weekend tied in with other activities and a high school game between Park and their archrivals, Hopkins. The PeeWee Orioles play another D3 game against Crow River this week.

The Mpls Storm continued to show improvement at the Geyer Tourney and could be a threat to beat Wayzata or OMG at playoff time. OMG continued to struggle this past week, but against good teams. Nothing changes this week and despite OMG and Wayzata’s two-team race to the title, the seeds remain the same. Wayzata takes the #1 seed. The Storm takes the #2 seed.

District 5 - St. Cloud and STMA broke the knot in D5 last week and then both teams played in the Geyer Tourney. St. Cloud beat STMA 2-1 and added an 11-1 win over Sauk Rapids in D5 games to match Burnsville’s “perfect 30.” The Huskies won 10 of their first 10 D5 games, taking all 30 points. STMA drops to second place as the duel between the two teams continue. STMA and St. Cloud meet one more time, but the Knights will need help. They trail the Huskies by three points.

St. Cloud won their pool at the Geyer. In doing so, they edged out Burnsville. The Huskies beat Rogers 2-0, Hopkins 4-3 and tied Burnsville 2-2. They won the pool on a tiebreaker. In the championship round, they lost to Minnetonka 3-1 and beat Burnsville for third place 3-1. STMA lost to Minnetonka 4-1 in the opening game of the pool and came back to win the next two games beating Hermantown 5-4 and the Mpls Storm 4-1. The Knights lost to Bemidji 3-1 in their final tourney game.

St. Cloud is busy this week playing three D5 games (River Lakes, MAML and Sartell) and OMG. STMA plays two D5 games (Sauk Rapids and Willmar) while getting ready for a northern trip to Thief River Falls the following week.

Sartell, Buffalo, MAML and River Lakes are all in a battle for third place. With the D5 playoff draw set, all 10 D5 teams will be seeded into the playoff. The top two seeds (St. Cloud and STMA) will have a first round bye. One will play the winner of the #8/9 seed game and one will play the winner of the #7/10 seed game. Seeds 4/5 and 6/3 play each other with the winners advancing to the semifinals.

Sartell played in the Geyer tourney and lost to Andover 8-2, Bemidji 8-1 and Farmington 11-1 in pool play. The Sabres lost to Hermantown 7-0 in their final tourney game. This week they play Little Falls and Willmar besides playing a return match with St. Cloud. Sartell will host the D5 playoffs this year.

MAML beat Hutchinson 6-0, played Orono and beat Buffalo 4-3 last week. The Moose play Willmar, Litchfield, River Lakes and Sartell this week. They continue to play well and are a strong candidate to finish third in D5. The loss to MAML hurt Buffalo. The Bison had strung four D5 wins together before that loss and seemed ready to make their own run in D5.

River Lakes played in the Governor’s Cup. They lost their opening game to Mounds View 5-2, lost to Coon Rapids 3-2 and tied Johnson/Como 1-1. That was a good showing for an improving Stars team.

Willmar played three D5 games last week. They beat Sauk Rapids 5-4 and lost to Buffalo and Hutchinson 7-4. This week the Cardinals play STMA and Sartell in D5 games. Sauk Rapids lost a scoring donnybrook to Litchfield 9-7 besides losing to Willmar and St. Cloud. They play STMA and Buffalo this week. Hutchinson lost to Buffalo and MAML besides beating Willmar last week. They play Redwood Falls this week. Litchfield plays in the Fergus Falls tourney this week.

St. Cloud and STMA remain tied at the top of the D5 standings. There are no changes in the seeds. St. Cloud takes the #1 seed; STMA takes the #2 seed; and the Moose (MAML) keep the #3 seed.

District 6 - Edina, Eden Prairie and Chaska play in the Roseau tourney this week. Edina draws a tough pool. playing the top teams from D12 (Grand Rapids), D15 (Moorhead) and D2 (Stillwater). Eden Prairie plays Roseau, OMG and Fargo Flyers Gold in their pool. Chaska has Woodbury, TRF and Brainerd.

Edina stops in Bemidji to play the Lumberjacks the Thursday before the tourney. Last week, the Hornets beat Chaska 4-1 in D6 and lost to Wayzata 4-3. They play Eden Prairie in a key D6 game after they return from Roseau. Eden Prairie beat Shakopee 12-0 before leaving for Roseau.

Burnsville and Minnetonka played in the Geyer Tourney and both teams made it to the championship round. Minnetonka took second place, losing to top-rated Farmington 3-1. The Skippers got there by beating STMA 4-1, tying Mpls Storm 3-3 and tying Hermantown 2-2. Burnsville got there via wild card by beating Hopkins 5-3, Rogers 3-2 and tying St. Cloud 2-2. The Blaze lost to Farmington 2-1 in the semifinals and lost to St. Cloud in the third-place game. Minnetonka beat St. Cloud 3-1 in the semifinals.

Burnsville and Minnetonka meet on Sunday in what is a critical D6 game for both teams. In D6, teams finishing first or second get a bye in the first round of the double elimination part of the playoffs. Both Minnetonka and Burnsville are contending for first or second place (with Edina, Eden Prairie and Prior Lake). A win by the Blaze would widen their lead over the Skippers to four points (or two games if they keep their “unfair play” points) with each team having five games left to play. The Skippers play Shakopee before they play the Blaze and play Prior Lake after the Blaze this week. In the nine games the Blaze have played since losing to Rosemount on New Year’s Eve, the Blaze have amassed a 3-5-1 record.

The Edina and Eden Prairie game this week will be tense. Both teams should be tired from the trip to Roseau. The Eagles have four tough D6 games left (Edina twice, Burnsville and Chaska) and will need every point. Edina has seven games left and both the Hornets and Eagles are on track for 48 points. After this game, one will be on track for 46 points.

Prior Lake plays a tough IGH/SSP tourney on the weekend. They open bracket play against Andover. Last week, the Lakers beat OMG 7-2 and Woodbury 3-2. Jefferson played in the Rochester tourney. The Jags beat Eastview 3-2, lost to Mankato 4-2 and beat Rochester Black 12-0 in pool play. They beat Owatonna 5-0 on Sunday.

Waconia took second at the Governor’s Cup. They beat the host, Johnson/Como 4-1, Irondale 3-1 and lost to Mounds View 3-2 in the championship game. They also played Jefferson last week. Waconia has a busy week, playing Buffalo, New Ulm, Kennedy and Chaska. Shakopee plays Jefferson twice besides Minnetonka this week.

Things heat up as the top teams vie this week. But nothing has changed from last week. Eden Prairie keeps the #1 seed this week. Prior Lake keeps the #2 seed. As Burnsville and Minnetonka settles things between themselves on Sunday, Edina will challenge Eden Prairie in their key D6 game on Tuesday. But for now, the Blaze keep the #3 seed.

The Roseau tourney should prove interesting. Edina will have a tough time in their pool and Eden Prairie should fare better in their pool, but the D6 team to watch will be Chaska. The Hawks could surprise.

Another Way to Look at PeeWee A Hockey - Jan. 14

2011-01-14T10:04:00.002-06:00

By frederick61

Sometimes as a nation, Americans wonder why things happen. And sometimes out of nowhere a simple thing can bring life back to focus. Always at the arena, look at what surrounds you. If you listen or watch, you can often find one of those simple things.

That happened last Sunday at the Coon Rapids arena. It was the first game of a tourney for that day. And a little girl, dressed in coat and hat, sat down to eat a brunch from a fast food place in the stands in front of her mother. She meticulously removed each item from the bag and set it on the empty row of seats at her mother’s feet as young hockey players took the ice amid the fans cheering and the music playing.

Her back was to the ice. The kids skated the warm-ups, the announcer called the starting players and the little girl continued to eat, oblivious to what was going on behind her and around her until the kids stood at the blue line for the national anthem and her mother stood. In the quieting arena, she stopped eating, stood up, turned to face the flag with her hand on her heart and removed her hat. She stood until the music stopped, put the hat on her head, and turned back to her food as the puck dropped and the game began. She never said a word and nobody said anything to her. She just did it.

It was a simple thing, but the little girl made me feel proud to be an American and gave me comfort knowing that there would be future proud to be an American people.

North Regional (D12, D15, D16) - Each district in this region had tourneys last week. Hibbing hosted D15 teams, D10 teams and one D8 team. IGH/SSP from D8 won the tourney, beating Irondale from D10. Brainerd had top D12 team Grand Rapids, one of the top D2 teams in Hudson, the top-ranked North Dakota team in the Grand Forks Seawolves and one of the top D10 teams in Blaine. Grand Rapids won 4-3, beating Hudson in an overtime/shootout game. Thief River Falls had an eight-team tourney that had pitted D16 teams against North Dakota, D5, D6 and Manitoba teams. The two North Dakota teams won. Mandan beat Minot Sabres 3-2.

The separation noticed last week among the 20+ teams in this regional is still there. D12 Grand Rapids, D15 Moorhead Black and Bemidji remain track and continue to improve. Thief River Falls stumbled a little, but still look strong. East Grand Forks and Roseau have improved their play. The D15 team that showed the most improvement this week was the Northern Lakes team. The #2 D15 seed is up for grabs. The two remaining D12 seeds are wide open. There are North Regional seeds available to teams that are playing at their best in a month.

District 12 - Grand Rapids continues to win. The Thunderhawks took the Brainerd Tourney championship by beating Blaine 6-5, Rochester Red 6-5 and Hudson 4-3. The semifinal and championship games were overtime/shootout affairs. Grand Rapids also beat Cloquet 5-1 and lost to Bemidji 4-3 last week. This week the Thunderhawks play Virginia and Greenway in D12 games.

Hibbing hosted their PeeWee A tourney last weekend. In pool play, the Bluejackets beat Eveleth and Moorhead Orange 10-0, and lost to Irondale 5-4. In the third-place game on Sunday, the Bluejackets lost Princeton 2-1 in OT. Eveleth and Greenway also played at the Hibbing tourney. The Golden Bears lost to Irondale 12-1, Moorhead Orange and Hibbing in pool play. Greenway lost to Princeton 4-0 and Inver Grove Heights/South St. Paul 6-1 in pool play. IGH/SSP won the championship.

Virginia lost to Hermantown 9-1, tied Proctor 3-3, and played Mesabi East last week. This week the Blue Devils play Eveleth and Grand Rapids in D12 games. International Falls crossed the bridge to Fort Frances to play in their tourney last weekend. This week the Broncos play at Hibbing and entertain Eveleth. Mesabi East played in the Little Falls tourney last weekend and lost a close game to Northern Lakes 4-3. They also played Little Falls and Shakopee. The Giants are busy this week playing Superior, Virginia, Proctor and Hibbing.

Grand Rapids remains on top in D12 and takes the #1 seed to the North Regional this week. Hibbing pushed Irondale and Princeton, losing both games a single goal. The Bluejackets take the #2 seed. International Falls takes the #3 seed, but both Virginia and Greenway will challenge for a seed if they continue to improve. Mesabi East has shown improvement.

District 15 - Moorhead Black plays two games this week against D15 rivals Alexandria and Fergus Falls. Last week the Black played East Grand Forks and the Fargo Flyers. Moorhead Orange has three D15 games this week, playing Little Falls, Northern Lakes and Brainerd. Last week the Orange played in the Hibbing tourney, losing to Irondale 3-2, Hibbing 10-0 and played Eveleth in pool play.

Detroit Lakes also played at Hibbing. In pool play the Lakers lost to IGH/SSP 10-3, lost to Princeton 3-0 and played Greenway. The Lakers play Brainerd and the Fargo Angels this week. Brainerd hosted a tough tourney this week. They lost their opening game to Hudson 2-0 (Hudson currently is tied with Roseville atop D2), beat Eagan 5-2 and lost to Blaine 6-1 in the consolation championship game. Northern Lakes lost to Brainerd just after the New Year 3-2 in OT. Northern Lakes played in the Little Falls tourney. In tourney action, the Lightning tied Shakopee 4-4, beat Mesabi East 4-3 and beat Little Falls 3-2.

Alexandria started the New Year with a nice 5-0 win over Brainerd and then last week traveled to play in Anoka’s tourney. The Cardinals lost 7-0 to a tough Stillwater team in their opening game. They came back to play a good Mahtomedi close before losing 2-1. They ended their tourney playing St. Louis Park. The Cardinals play Fergus Falls besides playing Moorhead Black this week.

Fergus Falls played in the Thief River Falls tourney over the weekend. The Otters lost to TRF 6-2, lost to the Minot Sabres and played Warroad. This week they play Alexandria and the Fargo Flyers.

Fergus Falls, Brainerd and Alexandria are locked in a struggle for second place in D15 behind Moorhead Black. The Black and Brainerd keep their seeds this week. The Black takes the #1 seed and the Warriors take the #2 seed.

District 16 - Thief River Falls hosted their tourney this week. The Prowlers beat Warroad 10-2, lost to Minot Sabres, beat Fergus Falls 6-2 and lost to Roseau 7-4 in the third-place game. They also beat Crookston 7-1 last week in D16 action. The Prowlers play Crookston and Roseau again this week as they get ready to play in the Rams' tourney in 10 days.

Bemidji lost a tough game in the championship game of their own tourney New Year’s weekend, but didn’t hesitate getting “back on the horse” or “out in the woods” (if you are a Lumberjack). The Lumberjacks played two tough teams last week, beating Grand Rapids 4-3 and East Grand Forks 5-3. This week, it doesn’t get any better when they head to St. Cloud to play in the Geyer Tourney. They draw Farmington in the opener in what is probably the best game this week. They also play Sartell and Andover in pool play.

The Prowlers and the Lumberjacks are tied for first in D16 as the season winds down. TRF has four games left, Bemidji has five games. The Prowlers need to beat the Lumberjacks when they meet at the end of January and they will need help from another D16 team to take the D16 title this year.

Roseau beat MAML 8-5 and tied Mandan (ND) 2-2 and Beausejour (Manitoba) 1-1 in their pool play at Thief River Falls. The Rams play Grafton (ND) and Red Lake Falls this week besides hosting TRF. Red Lake Falls has a busy week. playing four D16 games (Crookston, Warroad and EGF, besides Roseau). East Grand Forks plays Warroad and Fargo Gold in addition to the Falls. The Rams and the Green Wave are in a battle for third place in D16 as the season enters the last month of play.

Bemidji takes the #1 seed this week. They scored two impressive wins last week. Thief River Falls takes the #2 seed this week. Despite not losing a D16 game in December, the Prowlers are starting to struggle. But TRF will have their chances for revenge when the play the Rams this week in D16 action. As the season winds down, the difference between teams can narrow; that is what happened with East Grand Forks and Roseau. The Green Wave lost to Bemidji and the Rams beat TRF in their tourney. It makes the #3 seed a tough decision, but not enough to pull out the old zinc penny. EGF keeps the #3 seed.

South Regional (D4, D8, D9) - The headlines died down this week. Farmington beat Wayzata 5-3 for the second time in a week and then beat Burnsville 7-3. With all the snow on the ground, it is appropriate to declare the Tigers “King of the Hill.” With that title, Tiger wins are now expected to mount. One of the reasons for the Tigers' anointment is the 3-2 loss Rosemount took in the championship game at Anoka.

D4 has allocated one of its seeds to D8/D9. D8 and D9 each have three seeds and D4 had two. District 9 playoffs will be a double elimination tourney starting Thursday, Feb. 17, and will finish the following Sunday, Feb. 20. District 8 playoffs will begin Sunday, Feb. 20. The fourth-place finishers in both tourneys will meet for a play-in game to the South Regional. The D8 fourth place finisher will be decided around 1:00 p.m., Feb. 27. The site of the play-in game is unknown.

District 4 - Luverne took the lead in the D9 West last week by beating Albert Lea 14-4 and New Ulm 9-2. This week the Cardinals host Faribault. The Cardinals' lead in the West is challenged by Owatonna and Mankato. A win over Faribault this week will eliminate the Huskies. They could not catch Luverne. It also sets up the Jan. 30, game in Mankato as the regular season championship game.

Redwood Falls had their tourney last week. River Lakes, Willmar and Marshall entered. Redwood Falls lost to River Lakes 5-3, Willmar 5-1, and played Marshall. This week, RWF travels to New Ulm for their tourney. They play New Ulm and St. Louis Park in pool play. Marshall lost to River Lakes 4-0 and beat Willmar 5-3 in the RWF tourney last week. They also play at New Ulm and draw Sibley and St. Francis in pool play.

Luverne remains the favorite to take the lone D4 seed to the South Regional.

District 8 - Despite Rosemount’s loss at Anoka, the Irish remain undefeated and in a tie with Farmington for first in D8. At Anoka, the Irish got to the finals by beating two D2 teams, Mahtomedi 7-0 and Stillwater 5-0. The Irish return to D8 action this week playing Hastings and Lakeville North. They also have a return match with Edina.

Farmington sandwiched a 6-0 D8 win over Apple Valley between their wins over Wayzata and Burnsville last week. This week Farmington heads to St. Cloud to play in their tourney. They open pool play against Bemidji and then play Andover and Sartell.

Lakeville North, as predicted, has quietly been winning their D8 games. Last week, the Panthers won two more D8 games, beating Sibley 7-0 and Eagan 3-0 to avenge their only D8 loss. They did lose to Prior Lake 7-4. The Panthers play in Fargo’s tourney this week and return home to play Rosemount. They open play against the Dakota Lazers. If the Panthers make it to the semifinals, they could end up playing the Wayzata Blue B1 team.

Until this week, Lakeville South has matched the Panthers D8 win for D8 win with the only Cougar D8 loss being to the Panthers 3-2. South won four times last week, beating Sibley 7-0 and Hastings 8-1 in D8 play and beating Owatonna 10-3 and Armstrong 8-3. But they lost a key D8 game to Woodbury 5-0. The Cougars have a single D8 game this week against Eagan.

Woodbury showed significant improvement in their win over Lakeville South. The Predators also played a weekend series with St. Cloud last week, winning the first game 6-4 and tying the second 1-1. This week, they play Prior Lake and Rochester Red.

Inver Grove Heights/South St. Paul won the Hibbing tourney. They beat Detroit Lakes 10-3, Princeton 4-1 and Greenway 6-1 in pool play. In the championship game, IGH/SSP beat Irondale 2-1. This week they play two D8 games with Hastings. Eastview tied Inver Grove Heights/South St. Paul last week. The Lightning play Sibley this week and then travel to Rochester to play in their tourney. They draw the Rochester Black, Mankato, and Jefferson in pool play.

Johnson/Como played in the Northfield Showdown tourney. They beat Northfield 4-2, lost to Tartan 7-2 and beat Austin 8-2 for third place. Eagan played in Brainerd’s tourney, losing to the Grand Forks Seawolves 6-0, Brainerd 5-2 and played the Duluth Lakers. The Wildcats play Lakeville South, Moundsview and Apple Valley this week.

Johnson/Como hosts the Governor’s Cup tourney this week. They open play against Waconia. Irondale plays Kennedy in the other bracket game. Armstrong plays Coon Rapids and Mounds View plays River Lakes in the upper bracket.

Sibley and Apple Valley travel to New Ulm to play in their tourney. Sibley plays Marshall and Dodge County in pool play on Saturday. Apple Valley plays Crow River and Austin. Hastings plays Rosemount besides the two games with IGH/SSP this week.

Farmington and Rosemount are on track to finish the D8 league play with 45 points. Woodbury is on track to finish with around 40 points. Lakeville South and Lakeville North look to finish around 35 points. Eastview, Sibley, IGH/SSP and Hastings can finish around 30 points. But not all of the teams will since they play each other.

The IGH/SSP games with Hastings this week will be key games for both teams. The teams that can finish with around 30 points will take the #6 and #7 seeds into the D8 playoffs and have a better chance to make it to the final game for the third seed on Feb. 27, and a guaranteed ticket to the Regional or to the Regional play-in game. The loser of that game plays in a play-in game for the South Regional against the fourth-place D9 team that could be Dodge County or New Ulm or Austin, D9 teams playing at New Ulm. That is what makes the New Ulm tourney interesting this week.

Both Rosemount and Farmington will be playing more D8 games in the next few weeks. So anything can happen. But right now the D8 race is headed to that showdown game Feb. 12, at Rosemount.

The seeds this week are changed. Farmington beat two good teams last week, and the Irish faltered at Anoka. Farmington takes the top seed. The #2 seed goes to Rosemount. The #3 seed remains with Woodbury. The play-in game seed goes to Lakeville South by virtue of stringing four wins together last week. The Cougars played tough in losing to an improving Woodbury team.

District 9 - Things were disappointing for D9 teams playing in the Northfield tourney. Of the four teams entered, only Austin advanced past the quarterfinal round of bracket play. Northfield lost to Johnson/Como 4-2, lost to Faribault 3-2 and beat a shorthanded Red Wing team (missing four players) 6-1. Faribault lost their first game to Tartan 8-0 and went on take the Consolation Championship beating Fremont Nebraska 4-2. Austin beat Fremont 6-3, lost to Orono 10-1 and Johnson/Como 8-2 in the third-place game. Northfield returns to D9 action playing Red Wing this week. Faribault plays Luverne and Albert Lea.

Rochester Black had a rough week, losing three D9 games. The Black lost to Mankato 7-4, Dodge County 4-3 and Austin 1-0. That ended their title hopes in the D9 East. They trail Northfield in the standings by four points with three games to go. Last week, they also tied Rochester Gold.

But the Black remain in the middle of the chase for second place. They play Red Wing in D9 this week and then join the Rochester Gold and Rochester Red teams in hosting Rochester’s PeeWee A tourney. Each team has their own pool. The Black draw Eastview, Mankato and Jefferson in pool play; the Gold draw Albert Lea, Champlin Park and Centennial; and the Red draw Quad City, Mound Westonka and Owatonna.

Rochester Gold, besides tying the Black, tied Dodge County 5-5 and lost to Owatonna 7-3. Rochester Red, playing an independent schedule and no D9 games, played at Brainerd, beating the Duluth Lakers 7-2, losing to Grand Rapids 6-5 in an overtime/shootout game, and losing to the top rated (North Dakota) Grand Forks Seawolves 4-1 in the third-place game. In addition to playing in their tourney, the Red hosts Woodbury this week.

Dodge County and Austin play in the New Ulm tourney this week. Dodge County plays St. Francis and Sibley in pool play; the Packers play Crow River and Apple Valley.

Red Wing has a better record in the D9 East than every team except Northfield, but has lost five of their nine “unfairplay” points to lock the Wingers into a battle for second.

Luverne is a D4 team playing as a guest in D9. The Cardinals lead In the D9 West but are playing in the D4 playoffs. Owatonna and Mankato are in a battle for the West #1 seed to the D9 playoffs. The Mavericks have the advantage (playing three less games). New Ulm looks to have the third spot with Albert Lea and Faribault fighting it out for fourth or fifth.

Owatonna beat Rochester Gold last week. They have two D9 games left (Rochester Gold and Faribault). Owatonna heads down Highway 14 to Rochester this weekend to play in their tourney. They draw Rochester Red, Quad City and Mound Westonka in pool play. Mankato joins the Huskies in Rochester, they draw Rochester Black, Eastview and Jefferson in pool play. Albert Lea heads to Rochester this weekend. The Tigers play Champlin Park, Centennial, and the Rochester Gold in pool play.

New Ulm hosts a 10-team tourney this week. They have two D4 teams (Marshall and Redwood Falls), two D8 teams (Sibley and Apple Valley), two D3 teams (Crow River and St. Louis Park) and one D10 team (St. Francis) joining three D9 teams (New Ulm, Austin and Dodge County). One of the D8 and one of the D9 teams could end up playing each other in a play-in game to the South Regional at the end of February. New Ulm draws St. Louis Park and Redwood Falls in pool play.

The Northfield tourney results did not change the status quo. Mankato keeps the #1 seed this week, but the Rochester tourney is played this week and the Mavericks will be tested there. Northfield lost two tough games in their tourney, but solidified their lead in the D9 East and moves up to the #2 seed this week. Rochester Black falls. They had a tough week and it will get tougher in their own tourney. They and Mankato are “taking the same test” playing the same teams and then each other. But this week, Owatonna takes the #3 seed. The Huskies have strung six wins in a row against D9 teams.

East Regional (D2, D10, D11) - In D2, Roseville still leads and eventually Stillwater will report its won games to D2 and be tied with the Raiders. But D2 is a scramble. D10 and D11 are no better this week. In D10, Elk River lost two games and turned a runaway into a five-team battle for the three seeds with Blaine, Champlin Park, Rogers and Centennial. In D11, Cloquet stumbled over the Duluth East Hounds and the Hermantown Hawks didn’t.

Result is, it is now harder to figure out the stronger East Regional teams. It is like the East Regional teams were thrown into a bag, shaken up and thrown out on the table last week.

District 2 - After taking a week off, Roseville beat White Bear Lake 5-2 last week in their only game. The D2 win keeps the Raiders on top of D2 tied with Stillwater (Stillwater does not report their wins until weeks after the game is played). Each team has six D2 games left. These two teams are in a battle with Hudson for the championship. The D2 championship could be decided when Hudson, Stillwater and Roseville meet at the end of the month and the first week in February. This week Roseville plays Highland and Forest Lake in D2 games.

Hudson had a “Grand” time at Brainerd last week. The Raiders beat the host Warriors 2-0 in the opening game. In the semifinals, the Raiders beat #1 rated (in North Dakota) Grand Forks Seawolves 3-2 in an overtime/shootout to make it to the championship game against Grand Rapids. Hudson lost that game 2-1 in another overtime/shootout. They return to D2 action this week playing White Bear Lake.

White Bear Lake lost to Centennial 5-2, Eden Prairie 5-2 and Wayzata 7-2 last week. But the Bears' loss to Roseville last week hurt. It was their fifth D2 loss and drops them behind Forest Lake and Stillwater in the D2 standings. The Bears play Hudson and Tartan this week, both teams capable of beating the Bears.

Tartan looked strong in the Northfield tourney. They won the tournament, beating Faribault 8-0, Johnson/Como 6-2 and Orono 6-3 in the championship game. This week the Titans play Forest Lake in addition White Bear Lake in D2 games. Forest Lake played at Anoka. They won the opening game, beating Buffalo. The Rangers lost a tough game to host Anoka 3-1 and lost the third-place game to D2 rival Stillwater.

Stillwater beat Alexandria 7-0 in the opening game at Anoka, then the Ponies lost to Rosemount 5-0 before beating Forest Lake 5-0 for third place. Mahtomedi also played in the Anoka tourney. The Zephyrs lost to Rosemount 7-0, beat Alexandria 2-1 and beat Buffalo 5-1 for the consolation title. After a week off, Mounds View returns to play in the Govenor’s Cup. The Mustangs draw River Lakes in the opener. Highland plays Chaska and Wausau this week in addition to D2 games with Forest Lake and Roseville. They played Kennedy and Hastings last week.

Roseville keeps winning and the Raiders keep the #1 seed. Both Stillwater and Forest Lake were challenged at the Anoka tourney and they ended up playing each other for third place, and White Bear lost all four games this week. That made it easy this week to pick the #2 and #3 seeds. Stillwater gets the #2 seed and Forest Lake the #3 seed.

District 10 - Over the holidays, Elk River strung six D10 wins together and were positioned to lock up the D10 title, playing four more D10 games last week. The Elks went 2-2 in those four games, beating Coon Rapids 8-1 and Champlin Park 3-0; losing to Centennial 4-2 and Blaine 4-2. That dragged the Elks back in the fight. Now D10 has five teams contending for the title. Princeton is by itself in the standings and not likely to catch any of the top five teams and not likely to fall lower in the standings. Four teams (Anoka, Andover, Spring Lake Park and Irondale) are fighting for the remaining two district playoff spots.

The D10 leader is Champlin Park. The Rebels lead by five points, but has played two more games than Blaine, Elk River and Centennial. Rogers is trailing by seven points and has played one less game then the Rebels. The Rebels took first from the Elks by beating Princeton 2-0, Spring Lake Park 3-1, St. Francis 10-0 and Rogers 4-1 last week. This week, Champlin Park plays in Rochester’s tourney, playing Rochester Gold, Albert Lea and D10 rival and one of the second place teams, Centennial in pool play. The Rebels return from Rochester to play Andover in a D10 game.

Centennial plays Blaine and then heads to Rochester. They return home to play Anoka. Besides beating Elk River last week, Centennial beat Coon Rapids 3-1. Elk River continues their intense D10 schedule, playing four more games this week. The Elks play Andover, Princeton, Spring Lake Park and St. Francis. After this week, the Elks will have played 14 of their 22 game D10 schedule in four weeks.

Anoka had a great tourney last weekend. They beat St. Louis Park 5-0, Forest Lake 3-1 and upset top-rated Rosemount 3-2 in the championship game. Anoka is a tough tourney team. The Tornadoes travel this week, playing D10 games against Spring Lake Park, Irondale and Centennial.

Blaine beat Elk River and then tied Andover 2-2 last week before traveling to Brainerd. The Bengals ran into a tough Grand Rapids team, losing the opening game 6-5, but came back to beat the Duluth Lakers 4-2 and Brainerd 6-1 to take the consolation title. They returned to play Irondale. This week they play Centennial and Princeton in D10 action.

Rogers plays in the Geyer Tourney at St. Cloud. They draw host St. Cloud, Burnsville and Hopkins in pool play. Rogers beat Andover last week 4-2 besides losing to Centennial.

Princeton played in the Hibbing tourney last week. The Tigers beat Greenway 4-0 and Detroit Lakes 3-0, and lost to IGH/SSP 4-1 in pool play. In the third-place game, Princeton beat Hibbing 2-1 in overtime. Princeton is alone in the middle of the D10 standings and should make the D10 playoffs.

Irondale played at Hibbing also. In pool play, the Knights beat Moorhead Orange 3-2, Eveleth 12-1 and Hibbing 5-4. They lost the championship game to IGH/SSP 2-1. Irondale is in a battle in D10 for the last two playoff spots with Andover, Anoka and Spring Lake Park and have key games with Anoka and Spring Lake Park this week.

Spring Lake Park plays Anoka and Elk River also. The Panthers won the New Richmond tourney last weekend. They beat New Richmond 8-1, Verona 4-2 and Somerset 8-3 in the championship game. Andover travels to St. Cloud to play in the Geyer. They play Sartell, Farmington and Bemidji in pool play.

St. Francis plays in the New Ulm tourney and draws Dodge County and Marshall in pool play. Coon Rapids plays in the Governor’s Cup and draws Armstrong in the opening game of bracket play.

Last week, Elk River took the #1 seed and it looked like they would keep it the rest of the year. Blaine and Centennial beat the Elks last week. One of those two teams has to take the #1 seed this week. Coin flips and paper bags don’t help in D10 this year. So it is go by the book this week. Champlin Park is in first place this week, they get the #1 seed. Blaine, Elk River and Rogers are tied for second but the Elks beat Rogers last week and Blaine beat Elk River last week. Blaine takes the #2 seed. Anoka’s win over Rosemount was a great end to their tourney. The Tornadoes take the #3 seed. Centennial, Rogers and Elk River deserve to be one of the three, but three teams have to be out. The pool game in Rochester between Centennial and Champlin Park could decide who’s in next week.

District 11 - Cloquet had a tough week, losing to Grand Rapids 5-2 and Duluth East 4-3. The Lumberjacks play Proctor in their lone game this week. Hermantown beat Duluth East 12-0, Virginia 9-1 and Andover 5-0, and played the Duluth Lakers last week. This week the Hawks head for the Geyer in St. Cloud. They draw Mpls Storm, STMA and Minnetonka in pool play.

After losing to Hermantown, Duluth East traveled to Thunder Bay to play a three-game series with the Kings on the weekend. The Hounds lost all three games; 5-3, 6-3 and 4-2. This week Duluth East play the Duluth Lakers. The Lakers played at Brainerd last week. They lost to Rochester Red 4-2 in the opening game of bracket play, lost to Blaine 4-2 and played Eagan. Proctor tied Virginia 3-3 last week in the Rails only game. This week, the Rails are busy. They play Superior in D11 action, Cloquet, Greenway, and Grand Forks.

Hermantown takes the #1 seed this week. Duluth East beat Cloquet and takes the #2 seed.

West Regional (D3, D5, D6) - The teams are narrowing in the West more than in any other Regional. In D3, both Wayzata and OMG took hits that slowed their race to run away from the rest of the D3 teams. The Mpls Storm was the principle culprit, tying Wayzata and beating OMG. In D5, the scores are tightening, but St Cloud and STMA are still locked in a two way neck and neck battle for first. In D6, Burnsville is hanging on, but what was once a Burnsville runaway, is now a five-team fight to the finish.

District 3 - Before last week, Wayzata and Osseo/Maple Grove were running away from the rest of D3. Both were slowed by Mpls Storm. The Storm tied Wayzata 0-0 and beat OMG 4-2. The tie and loss narrowed the gap between Wayzata/OMG and the rest of D3, giving hope not only to the Storm, but to Armstrong and Crow River.

Wayzata completed a busy week by losing to Farmington 5-3, and beating Crow River 6-3, White Bear Lake 7-3 and St. Louis Park 8-0. The Trojans play Edina this week. OMG also had a busy week. They beat Hopkins 3-1, lost to Edina 7-0, lost to the Wisconsin Fire 4-1 and beat Spring Lake Park 5-0 last week in addition losing to the Storm. OMG plays Crow River and Prior Lake this week.

The Storm play in St. Cloud this week at the Geyer tourney. They draw Hermantown, Minnetonka and STMA in pool play. They beat Armstrong 7-2 last week to add to their win over OMG and their tie with Wayzata.

Hopkins plays in the Geyer also. In pool play the Royals draw Burnsville, St. Cloud and Bemidji. The Royals lost to Waconia last week 5-1 and tied Orono 5-5. Orono plays Shakopee and Crow River this week. Orono took second place at Northfield, beating a shorthanded Red Wing team 12-0 and beating Austin 10-1 before losing to Tartan 6-3 in the championship game.

Mound Westonka plays in Rochester on the weekend. They draw Rochester Red, Quad City and Owatonna in pool play. The Whitehawks lost to Crow River 5-0 last week.

Armstrong plays in the Governor’s Cup. They play Coon Rapids in the opening of bracket play. Crow River plays OMG and then play in the New Ulm this weekend. They play Apple Valley and Austin in pool play. Armstrong beat Orono 7-1 in D3 action last week. St. Louis Park played in the Anoka tourney last weekend, losing to the host 5-0, losing to Buffalo and playing Alexandria. This week the Orioles play in the New Ulm tourney. They draw New Ulm and Redwood Falls in pool play.

Wayzata and OMG remain neck and neck for the stretch run, but the Mpls Storm has found the center of the track and is in a wide open run to the finish. In the Storm’s remaining seven D3 games, they do not play either Wayzata or OMG. Wayzata takes the #1 seed. The Storm take the #2 seed with their win over OMG. OMG takes the #3 seed.

District 5 - St. Cloud and STMA have been knotted all season on top of D5. This week they finally meet and one of them will take their first D5 loss. But it will not be over; both teams meet again on Feb. 11. St. Cloud hosts the 12-team Geyer tourney that includes top-rated Farmington and Burnsville this weekend. St. Cloud draws Rogers, Hopkins and Burnsville in pool play. Last week, they beat Sauk Rapids 11-1 in a D5 game and lost to Woodbury 6-4 and tied Woodbury 1-1.

STMA is also playing in the Geyer. They draw Minnetonka, Hermantown and Mpls Storm in pool play. STMA added three more D5 wins to their total, beating Litchfield 7-0, Sartell 9-1 and MAML 3-0.

MAML played in the Thief River Falls tourney last weekend. In pool play the Moose lost to Roseau 8-5, lost to Mandan 3-1 and played Beausejour. They play Hutchinson and Buffalo in D5 games and Orono this week. The Moose loss to STMA was just their second D5 loss this year.

Third-place Sartell plays in the Geyer on the weekend. The Sabres draw Farmington, Bemidji and Andover in pool play. Buffalo played at Anoka, losing to Forest Lake in the opening game, beating St. Louis Park, and losing to Mahtomedi 5-1 in the consolation semifinals.

Last weekend, River Lakes won the Redwood Falls tourney, tying Willmar 2-2 and beating Marshall 4-0, Redwood Falls 5-3 and Willmar 4-1. The Stars tied Litchfield 2-2 in a D5 game before the tourney and beat Litchfield 4-3 after the tourney. The Stars have improved and will be tested this week when they play in the Governor’s Cup. River Lakes opens bracket play against Mounds View.

Willmar played in the RWF tourney. After tying River Lakes in the opener, the Cardinals beat RWF 5-1, lost to Marshall 4-3 and lost to River Lakes 4-1. Willmar plays Buffalo, Sauk Rapids and Hutchinson in D5 games this week. Hutchinson beat Sauk Rapids 5-3 and lost to Buffalo 3-1 last week. The Tigers play MAML and Willmar this week.

St. Cloud and STMA remain tied at the top of the D5 standings. There are no changes in the seeds. St. Cloud takes the #1 seed; STMA takes the #2 seed; and the Moose (MAML) keeps the #3 seed.

District 6 - After a tough stretch of 12 games in 18 days, Burnsville played only a single game last week. But it was a tough one as the Blaze lost 7-3 to Farmington. This weekend, they travel to St. Cloud to play in the Geyer. In pool play, Burnsville draws Rogers, Hopkins and St. Cloud. Joining the Blaze in St. Cloud will be Minnetonka. The Skippers doused the Blaze with cold water a week ago, handing Burnsville their first D6 loss. They draw Hermantown, STMA and the Mpls Storm in pool play. These two teams could play each other in the championship round at the Geyer and then play a key D6 return match the following Sunday at Burnsville.

Minnetonka beat Chaska 6-2 last week in their only D6 game. Eden Prairie beat Prior Lake 4-3 in another key D6 game this week. The loss hurts the Lakers but if they can win two of their three tough games left, they could still contend. Eden Prairie needed that win. The Eagles have five games left and play Edina twice and Burnsville once.

Edina beat Jefferson 8-0 in their only D6 game last week. They beat OMG 7-0 and played Rosemount. This week, the Hornets play a single D6 game against Chaska.

If each of the top five D6 teams could win every point, Burnsville would set the mark with 50 points, Minnetonka would have 49, Eden Prairie 48, Edina 47 and Prior Lake 43. But they can’t because they play each other often in this last month of regular season. Burnsville and Minnetonka each has four games or eight points in jeopardy; Eden Prairie has three of their five remaining games or six points in jeopardy; Edina has five games or 10 points in jeopardy; and Prior Lake has three games or six points in jeopardy.

So pick a scenario. If Prior Lake beats Tonka twice, Tonka’s point total would drop to 45. The Lakers would still need help and would still have to beat Burnsville to get their 43 (and Burnsville’s total would drop to 48). But the Lakers would be in the mix and contending in the last week of play. If Edina loses just two of their five tough games, their point total drops to 43. Remember, Eden Prairie and Edina play each other twice. If either team wins both games, the other team is out of contention. If they split those games, then they are both hurt, but still contending.

It will be a wild last month in D6. Meanwhile, there is little separation in the bottom five D6 teams. What is at stake is the last seed to the double elimination part of the district playoffs. The bottom five teams will be seeded in a single elimination tourney. The #6 team will play the winner of the #9/#10 seed game. The #7 seed will play the #8 seed. The winners advance and the losers go home with the winner of the single elimination claiming the #6 seed in the tourney.

Of the lower five teams, Chaska has looked the strongest in games played in the last month and have a record of playing strong at the end of the year. Chaska plays Edina in their only D6 game this week. Jefferson will test itself this weekend, playing at Rochester. The Jags draw Mankato, Eastview and Rochester Black in pool play. Kennedy and Waconia are playing in the Govenor’s Cup. They play in the same bracket. Kennedy draws Irondale and Waconia draws host Johnson/Como. Shakopee plays Orono and Eden Prairie this week. The Sabres played in the Little Falls tourney last week.

Prior Lake took the #1 seed last week and lost to Eden Prairie. That win put the Eagles in first place and ended Burnsville’s season-long hold on the top spot. Eden Prairie takes the #1 seed this week. Minnetonka, Burnsville and Edina played a minimum schedules last week. Prior Lake takes the #2 seed. Burnsville and Minnetonka will settle things between themselves over the next eight days, but for now the Blaze take the #3 seed. Edina is still lurking and should be making a move. They have the Roseau tourney in 10 days.

Another Way to Look at PeeWee A Hockey - Jan. 6

2011-01-06T11:30:00.004-06:00

By frederick61

The first professional hockey game, according to people in Houghton, Mich., was played in January 1898 at “Dollar Bay” ice rink. The game was played before iPods, internet and cell phones were invented. It was played when there was no electricity; at a time when Edison and Westinghouse were fighting over DC or AC (Westinghouse won). There were no cars on the roads. It was before cars. It was before roads that cars could drive on. Who needed stop lights (they run on electricity, don’t they?).

And for all the proud Rangers (I count myself as one), Eveleth was a five-house town that was starting to boom because the five houses were built on a rich deposit of iron ore.

The first professional hockey game was played at the Dollar Bay ice rink because it was the rink had a cover. Nature provided the refrigeration. They had six forwards and one goalie on the ice every shift. The forwards played right wing, left wing, center forward, center, cover point and point. Four of the Portage Lake professional players were also professionals in their everyday jobs. They were doctors. Does anybody remember who won? It doesn’t matter after a while. What matters is that it was the first professional hockey game played. So say some people in Houghton. Don’t you wonder what each player was paid? Did the doctors earn more playing hockey than being a doctor?

Now it is the first week of January 2011, 112 years after that first game. The holidays have been celebrated and three interesting tourneys played with each team having five players on the ice.

Burnsville drew all the attention. The Blaze entered in the Bloomington tourney. The week before the tourney, the Blaze continued their unbeaten season play. They added two D6 wins over Waconia and Shakopee to their perfect play in D6 and are threatening to run away with the D6 title. The Blaze were coming off a nice tourney win in Grand Rapids the weekend before. D6 teams Prior Lake and co-hosts Jefferson and Kennedy joined the Blaze in Bloomington.

D8 teams Rosemount, Woodbury, Lakeville North, Eastview and Apple Valley were also in Bloomington to challenge the Blaze, along with D2 teams Roseville and Highland. Roseville is on top of D2. D10 had two entries, Spring Lake Park and Champlin Park.

Three teams from out of state - Marquette (MI), Arvada (CO), and the Thunder Bay Kings (Ontario) - completed the 16-team field.

Each tourney game consisted of three 14-minute periods with re-surfacing. That meant this year, the teams still standing on the fourth day of the tourney would be playing their fifth and sixth game. The Bloomington tourney is a marathon.

Prior Lake opened their pool play with a surprising 4-3 win over Rosemount and took the pool. But that was like a sprinter leading the first 13 miles of a marathon. Prior Lake, Burnsville, Woodbury and Roseville all won their pools and set up an eight-team bracket play tourney for the championship. Rosemount came back to take the fifth seed. They were joined by #6 Jefferson, #7 Kennedy and the #8 Thunder Bay Kings.

Unfortunately Prior Lake drew the Rosemount in the quarterfinals. This time the Irish were ready. They beat the Lakers 4-1 and ran the table, beating Woodbury 6-1 in the semis and Burnsville 4-2 in the finals. That loss ended the Blaze 26-game winning streak.

“Up North” Bemidji was working on its championship run in their tourney. The Paul Bunyan tourney is more like a mile run then a marathon. In Bemidji’s tourney, each game played consisted of three 15-minute stop-time periods with the ice resurfaced every two periods. At the end of pool play, the teams are seeded 1-4 and they play a bracket tourney for each seed. Each team is guaranteed five games.

Bemidji and Crookston represented D16 in the 16-team tourney. D11 teams Cloquet and Hermantown, and D10 teams Andover and Rogers were entered. Five teams from out of state entered - Sioux Falls (SD), Grand Forks (ND) Greyhounds, Devils Lake (ND), Keweenaw (MI - upper peninsula) and Fort Frances (Ontario). Teams from D8 Hastings, D3 Armstrong, D5 St. Cloud, D12 Virginia and D6 Waconia completed the field.

Going into the tourney, the Grand Forks Greyhounds led the North Dakota PeeWee A North League and Devils Lake was in the middle of the eight-team league. Keweenaw led their district standings representing the Upper Peninsula. Bemidji was second in D16 behind Thief River Falls and St. Cloud was tied with STMA on top of D5. Rogers led in D10 and Cloquet and Hermantown were in a battle for #1 in D11. Armstrong was coming off tough losses to Wayzata and OMG in D3. It was a tough field.

Bemidji was after a repeat to retain their crown from last year. The Lumberjacks beat Fort Frances 8-0 in their opening game of the Paul Bunyan tourney, were tied by a good Devils Lake team 3-3, and beat Cloquet 7-3 to edge the Devils Lake team in pool. Armstrong, a D3 team that has been working hard since the start of the year, took their pool beating Hermantown 3-2, tying Rogers 5-5 and beating Keweenaw 5-2.

Andover and St. Cloud swept their pools. Andover won their pool, beating Grand Forks Greyhounds, Virginia and Sioux Falls. St Cloud beat Hastings, Crookston and Waconia. In the championship semifinals, Bemidji beat Armstrong 3-1 and St. Cloud beat Andover 4-3. But the host Lumberjacks came up short on Championship Sunday, losing to St. Cloud 3-2. Andover took third place beating Armstrong 8-4.

Keweenaw beat Grand Forks Greyhounds 2-0 to win the Lumberjack Championship; Cloquet beat Hastings 12-3 to win the Blue Ox Championship; and Hermantown beat Waconia 7-1 to win the Headwaters Championship.

Back down south at Edina, 12 teams battled for the Hornet title. The tourney was held over four days. Each game played consisted of three 15-minute stop-time games with the ice resurfaced every two periods. Edina’s tourney is more like a sprint than a marathon or a mile. At Edina, only the four teams making it to Championship Sunday are guaranteed more than three games. A bad opening game and a team can start packing. That happened to Lakeville South, Roseau and Centennial this year as each team had a tough opponent and a bad opening game. The Cougars lost to Edina, Roseau to Elk River and Centennial to Wayzata, each by more than five goals, knocking each team out of contention for the wild card or the top spot in their division. Centennial’s loss to Wayzata was especially disappointing since they had beaten the Trojans 3-1 ten days previously. But that’s PeeWee hockey.

Edina won their first two pool games, beating Roseau 7-1 and Lakeville South 10-3. Elk River also beat Lakeville South 5-1 and Roseau 10-3 to set up a battle on Saturday for first in the pool or for a chance at the wild card. Wayzata played offensive and blitzed Centennial 10-1 and Mpls Storm 6-0 in their first two pool games; and Eden Prairie beat Mpls Park 7-3 and Centennial 8-1 to set up a similar battle in their pool.

Farmington played defense and beat Chaska 5-0, Osseo/Maple Grove 3-0 and St. Michael/Albertville 4-0. Chaska, OMG and STMA were evenly matched and they beat each other up to eliminate their wild card chances.

With Farmington’s pool out of the wild card, that left the battle for the remaining three spots on Championship Sunday to four teams - Edina, Elk River, Wayzata and Eden Prairie. Edina hung on in the final pool game to beat the Elks 5-4 to take the top spot, but the Elks' close loss put pressure on Eden Prairie. Elk River had a +9 in goal differential and needed to beat the Trojans. They came out flat in the second period. Their defense, which had been strong all season, was not there. After playing a tough first period, they had tired and the Trojans scored three goals in the middle of the second period to put the game away. Wayzata won 8-1.

The Edina/Elk River pool game was marred when the refs were made aware of an Elk River roster error. The error resulted in minor penalty being assessed to Elk River and Edina scoring on the following power play. The error was apparently made on the official tourney sheet when the roster submitted by Elk River was incorrectly transferred.

That set up the Sunday championship semifinals. Wayzata beat Elk River 4-3 and Farmington beat Edina 3-2. The Farmington/Edina game was a good game until the refs “lost it” in the second period, calling a sequence of penalties on both teams that was hard for the fans to follow. Edina was leading at the time 1-0 when the calls started and was leading 2-1 when they stopped. That set up a third period that consisted of long periods where each team would bottle up the other in their defensive zone. Both teams would set up their attacks only to have the puck just be out of their reach on a good scoring attempt or have the puck “sail over” an outstretched stick in front of an open net.

Farmington tied the game when one of the Tiger defensemen took a pass moving backward toward the far boards at the Edina blueline. He snapped a shot at the Edina net while looking at the near board (not the net) and the slower moving shot caught the Edina goalie by surprise, hitting the low left corner. With one minute to go in the third period, the Tigers got the winning goal when one of the forwards picked up a loose puck behind the Edina net and fed a forward in the slot. This time, the Tiger forward got “good wood” on the puck and banged it by the goalie. The Tigers went on to beat Wayzata 4-1 in the evening championship game.

Tournaments continue this week. Northfield has drawn an interesting field for their eight-team bracket play on the weekend. The field includes a team from Fremont, Neb., the Fremont Flyers. They play Austin in the opening game. Good luck to the visiting Flyers. The tourney pits four D9 teams against four non-D9 teams, including St. Paul Johnson, Tartan and Orono.

Brainerd has their tourney going on the weekend. It is also an eight-team bracket play tourney and draws Hudson (WI) and the Grand Forks Seawolves, among others. It may have the best game of the week when Grand Rapids and Blaine meet in the opening round.

Anoka draws Rosemount to their tourney. The Irish are coming off two consecutive tourney championships (Bloomington and Spirit of Duluth), plus an earlier second-place finish at Burnsville. Stillwater has also entered, setting up a potential semifinal game between the Irish and the Ponies.

At Hibbing, the Bluejackets are hosting an eight-team pool play tourney with several interesting entries. Hibbing hosts a pool with the Moorhead Orange, Irondale and Eveleth. Greenway, Princeton, Inver Grove Heights/South St. Paul and Detroit Lakes play in the other game. The Hibbing tourney has D12, D10 and D15 teams mixing it up with one D8 team (IGH/SSP).

North Regional (D12, D15, D16) - Some separation occurred this week among the 20+ teams in this regional. D12 Grand Rapids, D15 Moorhead Black and D16 teams Thief River Falls and Bemidji have stepped up their play. But one D16 seed, one D15 seed and two D12 seeds are wide open. Crookston and East Grand Forks look to challenge for the remaining D16 seed; Brainerd appears to be the strongest for the remaining D15 seed (more by default as no challenger has emerged from the Detroit Lakes and the Alexandrias); and Hibbing, Virginia and International Falls are all in the chase for the #2 and #3 seeds in D12.

District 12 - Grand Rapids strung five wins together over the holidays. The Thunderhawks beat Hermantown 3-2, International Falls 8-0, Greenway 14-1, Brainerd 7-0 and Duluth East 10-3. They also played Cloquet. Their only loss in the last 12 games was to Burnsville in the Star of the North Tourney. This week they play at Brainerd, opening with Blaine in what should be a very good game. These two teams played at Fogerty in the Cities a few weeks with the Thunderhawks winning 4-3 in four overtimes.

Virginia was blitzed in the opening game of the Paul Bunyan tourney by the Grand Forks Greyhounds 11-1. But to the Blue Devils' credit, they came back to tie the Sioux Falls Blue 3-3 and push Andover before losing 4-1. The Blue Devils continue to work hard and always seem to improve after playing the Bemidji tourney. They play Hermantown and Proctor this week.

International Falls had a good tourney at Detroit Lakes before the holidays, losing to Moorhead Orange 4-3, beating the host Lakers 5-4 and losing to Willmar 5-4. The Broncos also beat Greenway 6-5 over the holidays besides losing to Grand Rapids. This weekend they play in Fort Frances tourney.

Hibbing hosts a tourney this week. They play Moorhead Orange, Irondale and Eveleth in pool play. After being off the past two weeks, Eveleth plays in the Hibbing tourney. Mesabi East plays Greenway and Superior (WI) this week.

Grand Rapids is playing very well at this point in the season and will likely take the #1 D12 seed to the North Regional. This week, it was time to put Hibbing, Virginia and International Falls names in a sack and pull one out. That team name drawn was left off the seeds this week. International Falls takes the #2 seed and Hibbing the #3 seed. The Blue Devils name card and the sack have not been thrown away. The Hibbing tourney results might create the itch to do that, but for now it is folded up and put in a drawer.

District 15 - Moorhead Black had a successful trip to the Cities, plus a swing through Bemidji before Christmas. The Black beat Woodbury 3-1, Eagan 6-1, Blaine 2-1 and Spring Lake Park 7-1. They tied Bemidji 1-1. Last week, the Black played Northern Lakes, Little Falls and Detroit Lakes in D15 play. They are currently undefeated and have locked up the D15 crown with D15 games to play. This week, the Black take a break from D15, playing East Grand Forks and the Fargo Flyers.

Moorhead Orange continue to show improvement. They lost narrowly in the Consolation Championship of their own tourney, and then next week took third place at Detroit Lakes. They beat International Falls 4-3, lost to Detroit Lakes 8-7, beat Willmar 2-1 and in the third-place game, beat D15 rival Alexandria 3-2 (a team the Orange lost to 8-3 in the early season). This week they head to Hibbing, playing the host Bluejackets, Eveleth and Irondale.

Detroit Lakes won their tourney the week before Christmas. The Lakers beat Willmar 8-3 and Moorhead Orange 8-7, and lost to International Falls 5-4 in pool play. In the championship game on Sunday, they beat Proctor 9-2. The Lakers played Fergus Falls besides Moorhead Black last week. This week they head to Hibbing, also drawing Greenway, Princeton and Inver Grove Heights/South St. Paul in pool play.

Fergus Falls took a trip north and lost to Crookston 5-3, the Grand Forks Greyhounds 11-1 and Thief River Falls 8-1 before Christmas. They beat Moorhead Orange 8-1 after Christmas and hosted West Fargo last week. The Otters head back north to play in the Thief River Falls tourney.

Brainerd beat Sartell 2-1, lost to Bemidji 6-3, and lost to Grand Rapids 7-0. The Warriors then traveled to Greenway, hosted Buffalo, Alexandria and played Northern Lakes. That’s seven games over the holidays. This week they host a tourney, drawing a tough Hudson (WI) team currently a solid second place team in D2 (behind Roseville). Eagan/Grand Forks Seawolves complete the upper bracket. The Seawolves are currently on top of the North Dakota PeeWee A North League. Grand Rapids plays Blaine in what should be a great game and the Duluth Lakers play Rochester Red in the lower bracket.

Little Falls played Princeton and River Lakes last week. This week they host a tourney. Alexandria played in the Detroit Lakes tourney and had the holidays off. They returned to action last week playing Brainerd. This week the Cardinals head to Anoka to play in their tourney. They draw Stillwater in an all red and black opening round game.

Moorhead Black keeps the #1 seed this week. But Fergus Falls made a small move this week. It was not enough to overtake Brainerd. The Warriors keep the #2 seed. Alexandria had a tough tourney at Detroit Lakes. Now the Cardinals head for Anoka and they will have their chances. Detroit Lakes won their tourney and are playing in Hibbing on the weekend. Can the Lakers make it two in a row? The #2 seed remains wide open.

District 16 - Thief River Falls is unbeaten in D16. Before Christmas, their D16 record was marred by a 2-2 tie with East Grand Forks. Last week, the Prowlers beat Grafton 6-3. But their lead is on shaky ground. The Prowlers have lost three “unfairplay” points in seven league games. That negates their win over Bemidji and puts the Lumberjacks back in the driver’s seat. Bemidji has six D16 games left, all at home. TRF will play them in one of those six games. TRF plays in their tourney this weekend.

Bemidji hosts East Grand Forks this weekend and then travels to Grand Rapids. The Lumberjacks took second in their own tourney last week and beat EGF 6-3 before Christmas. Crookston had a good Paul Bunyan tourney. They beat Waconia 5-3 and Hastings 5-3 before losing to eventual champion St. Cloud 12-2. After losing to the Grand Forks Greyhounds 6-5, the Pirates came back to beat Devils Lake 7-3 to take the Lumberjack consolation. Crookston hosts their tourney this week. The Fargo Angels, Morden (Manitoba) and Red Lake Falls are entered.

East Grand Forks played the Fargo Raiders last week in addition to tying TRF. They beat the Grand Forks Seawolves 4-3 and lost to the Grand Forks Greyhounds 4-3 the week before Christmas. Besides playing Bemidji, the Green Wave hosts Moorhead Black this week.

Roseau found it tough going at the Edina tourney over the holiday. They lost to Edina 7-1, Elk River 10-3 and Lakeville South 5-4. They return to D16 and play Warroad this week.

Thief River Falls keeps the #1 seed this week. They beat Bemidji and did not lose a game in December. Bemidji takes the #2 seed. East Grand Forks continues to improve and gets the #3 seed. Roseau had another tough week, but the Rams continue to work hard. Crookston is also on the rise and seem to be improving week to week. D16 could become a donnybrook at the February playoffs.

South Regional (D4, D8, D9) - The headlines continue in the South. Before Christmas, the headline read “Rosemount beats Farmington 5-2 to win the Spirit of Duluth tourney”. This week one headline reads “Rosemount hands the Blaze their first loss, winning the Bloomington tourney”. The second reads “Farmington wins the Edina Tourney, beating the Hornets and the Trojans in the finals”. The only question is which headline goes above the fold and which goes below. Where’s the editor?

Regardless of the headlines, it was quite a week for D8. Woodbury was forced because of injuries to re-look at their lines. It resulted in an improved defense that showed at the Bloomington tourney. Lakeville North, Lakeville South and Eastview also showed improved play over the holidays. The power in the South this year appears to be in D8.D4 has allocated one of its seeds to D8/D9. D8 and D9 each have three seeds and D4 had two. District 9 playoffs will be a double elimination tourney starting Thursday, Feb. 17, and will finish the following Sunday, Feb. 20. District 8 playoffs will begin Sunday, Feb. 20. The fourth-place finishers in both tourneys will meet for a play-in game to the South Regional. The D8 fourth place finisher will be decided around 1 p.m., on Feb. 27. The site of the play-in game is unknown.

District 4 - Luverne and Redwood Falls met before Christmas. Luverne Cardinals beat the Redwood Falls Cardinals 11-4. There had to be a Cardinal winner. The Cardinals (Luverne version) went on to beat Albert Lea 8-1, lose to Mankato 10-1 and beat Faribault 8-5 over the holidays. These wins keep Luverne in the chase for the D9 West title with Owatonna and Mankato.

Sometimes kids can be confused. After losing big to Mankato 10-1, Luverne beat Faribault 8-5. The day after losing to Luverne, Faribault tied Mankato 2-2. Such is PeeWee hockey.

Luverne plays Mankato, Albert Lea and New Ulm this week. Redwood Falls played Marshall last week and lost to River Lakes 6-2 before Christmas. This week, Marshall plays at Redwood Falls in their tourney and play in the New Ulm tourney the following week. The Tigers lost to Hutchinson 9-0 over the holidays.

As a result of D4 ceding one of their two South Regional seeds to D8/D9, Luverne remains the favorite to take the remaining D4 seed to the South Regional.

District 8 - Rosemount and Farmington remain in lock step to meet on Feb. 12, for the D8 title. Both teams are undefeated in D8 and both teams have lost one “unfairplay” point. After scoring big wins in their holiday tourneys, both teams return to D8 action. Rosemount beat Johnson/Como 7-1. This week they travel to Anoka to play in their tourney over the weekend. The Irish will be after their third championship in a row. They open bracket play against Mahtomedi.

Farmington beat Wayzata in the Edina championship game 4-1 and this week to travel to the PIC to play the Trojans again. They play Apple Valley and Burnsville on the weekend. The Burnsville game at noon on Saturday at St. Thomas should be a good game. Before Christmas, the Tigers beat Rochester Red 4-2 in Rochester.

Woodbury took third at Bloomington, beating Kennedy 6-3, Apple Valley 6-0 and Marquette (MI) 7-0 to take their pool. They beat the Thunder Bay Kings 8-2 in the opening of bracket play, but lost to the Irish 6-1 in the semifinals. The Predators beat Roseville 5-4 to take third place. They followed the tourney with a 9-0 win over Apple Valley in D8. This week, Woodbury travels to St. Cloud and returns home to play Lakeville South.

Lakeville North played at Bloomington. The Panthers opened with a 5-3 win over a tough Champlin Park team, and lost to Rosemount 7-0 and Prior Lake 5-1. In their fourth game, they beat Eastview 5-1. Last week, the Panthers beat Highland 4-2 and played Eagan. This week they play Sibley and Prior Lake.

Lakeville South played at Edina. In pool play, they lost to Elk River 5-1 and Edina 10-3, and beat Roseau 5-4. In D8 play prior to the Edina tourney, the Cougars beat Sibley 5-1, beat IGH/SSP 6-1, and lost a tough rivalry game to Lakeville North 3-2. They play Armstrong, Hastings, Sibley and Woodbury this week.

Eastview was one of the five D8 teams in Bloomington. The Lightning lost to Highland 6-5, tied Thunder Bay Kings 3-3 and lost to Burnsville 3-1. Apple Valley played there also, losing to Kennedy 7-2, tying Marquette Michigan 3-3 and losing to Woodbury in pool play. Before Christmas, they beat Johnson/Como 3-0. The Eagles play Eastview and Farmington this week before traveling to New Ulm to play in their tourney.

Hastings made the trip to Bemidji, playing in the Paul Bunyan. The Raiders lost to St. Cloud 7-2, beat Waconia 5-2 and lost to Crookston 5-3 to take #3 in their pool. In the Blue Ox bracket, they beat Sioux Falls Blue 2-1 and lost to Cloquet 12-3. Besides playing Lakeville South this week, the Raiders play Highland.

Johnson/Como had a busy holiday. After losing to Apple Valley, the Devils beat Inver Grove Heights/South St. Paul 2-1, lost to Lakeville North 7-2, beat Forest Lake 3-2 and lost to Rosemount 7-1. The Devils play in the Northfield Showdown, playing the host in the opening round. Sibley plays the two Lakevilles this week. Besides losing to Lakeville South last week, the Generals lost to Eastview.

Eagan plays in the Brainerd tourney this weekend. The Wildcats draw the Grand Forks Seawolves in the opening game. Eagan lost to Farmington 6-0, Eastview 4-1, Hastings 5-2 and Lakeville North 3-0 in D8 action over the holidays.

Any team that wins the Edina tourney should be rated #1 in their district. Unfortunately for Farmington, this week, Rosemount won the marathon at Bloomington and in the process handed Burnsville their first loss of the season. And the Irish still hold the tiebreaker, beating Farmington in early December in the Spirit of Duluth Championship game. They take the #1 seed. Farmington takes the #2 seed and may have to wait until Feb. 12, to change that.

Woodbury had a solid a performance at Burnsville, taking third place. The Woodbury defense is improving. The Predators take the #3 seed. In another year, that would leave Lakeville South, Lakeville North, Eastview, Sibley, Johnson/Como, Apple Valley, Sibley, Eagan and Hastings making plans to close shop on Feb. 27. But one (or more of these teams if they can knock off one of the top three in the district playoffs) should be planning to win the play-in game and traveling to South Regional in Rochester on March 4. All they have to do is play in the playoff game for the third seed.

District 9 - Just before Christmas, Rochester Black made a move by beating Northfield twice in D9 action, 4-2 and 3-2, to keep the Raiders from running away with the D9 East title. Unfortunately, the second-place Red Wing team could not take advantage and lost to New Ulm 2-1. The Black’s wins over Northfield have put them in the chase for the East title, but will have to do well in their two D9 games against a tough Mankato team in January. That starts this week when the Black hosts Rochester Gold, Mankato and Dodge County. Regardless, the Black’s two wins over the Raiders makes the D9 East a closer race.

After this week, Northfield has four D9 games remaining - Red Wing, Austin, Dodge County and Faribault. Rochester Black has D9 games remaining with Austin, Red Wing, Mankato and Dodge County. Red Wing returns to D9 action, playing Dodge County this week. The Wingers need to beat Northfield in two weeks to have a chance to get back in the title chase.
This week, Northfield hosts their Showdown tourney. Among the “Long Riders” riding into town this week are Faribault playing Tartan, Fremont (NE) playing Austin, and Orono playing Red Wing. Northfield plays Johnson/Como in the opener in what could be another pre-courser to the South Regional play-in game between D8/D9. (The “Long Riders” is a great movie about the James Gang raid on the Northfield bank and Ry Cooder’s music really is a great fit to the movie).

Dodge County lost two tough D9 games before Christmas to Rochester Black 4-0 and Rochester Gold 2-1. The Wildcats did beat Albert Lea 4-3. This week they host Rochester Gold and then travel east on Highway 14 to play the Rochester Black and Red Wing.

In the West, Mankato must have gotten mad after losing to Owatonna 4-2. They scored 25 goals in three games, beating Albert Lea, Faribault and Luverne and moved into second in the D9 West one point behind Owatonna. Last week, Owatonna won two D9 games last week, beating Albert Lea 5-1 and New Ulm 6-2. The Huskies also beat Northfield 11-1 in a non-league game.

Owatonna has played three more D9 games than Mankato and have three games left on their schedule (two with Rochester Gold and Faribault). This week, the Huskies travel to Mason City then return home to play Rochester Gold. Mankato is on the verge of doing what Northfield tried to do before the Christmas Holidays, running away with the D9 West crown. This week the Mavericks play Faribault, Luverne and Rochester Black.

New Ulm played Marshall and split their two D9 games last week. They beat Albert Lea 7-0 and lost to Owatonna 6-2. This week they travel to Mason City playing a D9 game with Albert Lea along the way. They return home to play Luverne.

On the Sunday after Christmas, Faribault hosted Albert Lea in a D9 West game. Both teams were winless in D9 and probably could not find a better time to play the game. It turned out to be a good game on a cold sunny morning. Albert Lea won.

The game was evenly skated for the most part of the first period until the Falcons drew a penalty. A few seconds later in a pile in Faribault crease, a second penalty for slashing was called on the goalie. Down two men, the Falcons defense held until a puck rebounded from left to right off the goalie onto a Tiger forward’s stick who snapped it into the open net. Down now 5-4 in skaters, the Falcons gave up a second goal.

The game returned to a good skating game. Late in the first period, the Falcons scored to close the lead to 2-1. But a Tiger goal in the opening minute of the second and another Tiger goal in the closing minute of the second put the game away. Albert Lea led 4-1 and never looked back winning 6-2. The win gives the Tigers their first D9 win this year.

The loss keeps the Falcons winless in D9. Both teams have talent, Albert Lea in the forwards and Faribault in the defense (good size) and wing. Last Monday, Faribault tied Mankato 2-2.

Rochester Red continued their independent schedule, losing to Mankato 3-1, Eden Prairie 9-2, Farmington 4-2 and Wayzata. This week the Red travel to Brainerd to play in their tourney. They draw the Duluth Lakers in opening round of bracket play.

D9 has adopted an eight-team, double elimination format for their district playoffs. Assuming Luverne plays in a D4 tourney, that leaves 11 teams playing for eight slots. Typically, the district makes one of two choices. They seed the teams 1-11 and offer the seeds 9, 10, 11 an opportunity to play-in to the district playoffs or they take the top eight teams based on the seedings. Currently, Owatonna and Mankato are top teams in the West; Northfield, Rochester Black and Red Wing are the top teams in the East. That leaves Dodge County, Rochester Gold, Austin, New Ulm, Albert Lea and Faribault to fight it out for the remaining three seeds.

Mankato, despite their tie with Faribault, takes the #1 seed this week. The Mavericks played well in the past few weeks, but looming ahead in two weeks is the Rochester tourney where they will be tested. The #2 seed goes to Rochester Black. Two wins over league-leading Northfield makes them the victor this week. The Black get the spoils. Northfield takes the #3 seed. The Raiders remain on the verge of sewing up the D9 East Division. Things will get tense at playoff time now that a play-in game is at stake for the fourth place finisher. The Rochester Black/Eastview game could be another precursor to that game to be played at the end of February.

East Regional (D2, D10, D11) - Roseville made it to the Bloomington semifinals before losing a tough game 1-0 game to Burnsville. They strung four wins together at Bloomington before the loss to Burnsville. The Raiders beat Arvada (CO) 7-2, Spring Lake Park 6-4, Jefferson 3-0 and Kennedy 12-1.They lost the third-place game to Woodbury. But the remaining two seeds are wide open. White Bear Lake returns to action this week with a challenging schedule that will test the Bears.

In D10, like D2, a strong team, Elk River, emerged over the holidays. And like D2, there is no clear challenger, leaving the chase for the second two seeds wide open. D11 has two seeds and two strong teams - Hermantown and Cloquet. Duluth East, Duluth Lakers and Proctor have to show improvement before the February playoffs.

District 2 - This week Roseville has a single game against White Bear Lake. Before Christmas, Roseville beat Forest Lake 6-1 and lost to White Bear Lake 3-1. With the D2 season half over and the Raiders leading D2 by 12 points, they are a clear favorite to take the #1 seed into the D2 playoffs. Hudson is the nearest competitor. The Raiders from Wisconsin trails Roseville by two points. The teams meet on Feb. 7, in a game that could decide the D2 regular season champion. But the Raiders from Minnesota would still get the #1 seed.

For some reason, D2 has problems with PeeWee A teams officially reporting their scores and the D2 officals had to threaten forfeit. Tartan this year has set a record. The results of six of their 10 games this year have yet to be reported, some go back to November. Tartan may not be totally at fault if it is the responsibility of the winning team to report the score.

Five teams - Stillwater, White Bear Lake, Forest Lake, Mounds View and Highland - are essentially tied for third. All have reported six or seven game results. White Bear Lake looks to be in a good position to make a move. The Bears return to action this week with a vengeance, playing Centennial, Eden Prairie, Roseville in a key D2 game and Wayzata.

Stillwater beat Hudson 2-0 and lost to Wayzata 6-3 over the holidays. The Ponies have the edge on third position in the standings. This week they play in the Anoka tourney opening against Alexandria. If the Ponies win that game, they will play Rosemount or Mahtomedi. When Stillwater returns, they play Mahtomedi in their only D2 game.

Forest Lake plays in the Anoka tourney this week drawing Buffalo in the opener. They play Highland after that game. Mounds View played White Bear Lake last week. This week the Mustangs are off as they prepare to play in the Governors tourney at St. Paul Johnson. They draw D5 River Lakes in the opener in two weeks.

Highland played in the Bloomington tourney over the holidays. The Caps beat Eastview 6-5 in the opener, lost to Burnsville 6-2 and lost to the Thunder Bay Kings 3-1 in pool play. In a fourth game, they beat Marquette (MI). Tartan plays in the Northfield tourney this week. They return to play Mahtomedi and Jefferson. Mahtomedi has a big challenge this week. They travel to Anoka to play in their tourney and draw top-rated Rosemount in the opening game. The Zephyrs return to play two D2 games against Tartan and Stillwater.

The Roseville Raiders had a great tourney at Bloomington and came within a goal of handing Burnsville its first loss and advancing to the championship game. The Raiders keep the #1 seed. Hudson is not eligible for a seed, so the #2 and #3 seeds are up in the air. White Bear Lake takes the #2 seed this week. The Bears, though, are playing a challenging set of games. The old zinc penny came out to determine the #3 seed. Forest Lake won the coin flip, but they will be challenged at Anoka, as will Stillwater. That might determine the seed next week.

District 10 - A number of D10 teams played in holiday tourneys. The Parks (Spring Lake Park and Champlin Park) played at Bloomington. Centennial and Elk River played in Edina’s tourney. Rogers and Andover played in the Paul Bunyan. Andover played well winning their pool and took third place on Championship Sunday. The Huskies beat Grand Forks Greyhounds, Virginia and Sioux Falls in pool play, lost a close game to St. Cloud 4-3 and beat Armstrong 8-4 for third.

Elk River made it to Championship Sunday via the wild card seed only to lose 4-3 to Wayzata and 5-4 to Edina in the third-place game. The Elks put a string of D10 wins together over the holidays, beating Coon Rapids 9-1, Rogers 5-3, Anoka 5-4, Spring Lake Park 7-0, Centennial 3-1 and St. Francis 11-0. Those wins put the Elks in first place. They repeat that holiday string this week, playing Blaine, Champlin Park, St. Cloud, Centennial and Coon Rapids. Four more wins would really put the Elks on top of D10 and on track to a 60 point D10 season that no other team can match.

Blaine and Champlin Park have the best chances to catch the Elks, but they need to beat the Elks this week. Blaine, besides playing Elk River, plays Andover and head to Anoka to play in their tourney. They open against Grand Rapids. After the tourney, the Bengals return to D10 play against Irondale. Champlin Park played well at Bloomington, losing to Lakeville North 5-3, Prior Lake 4-2 and Rosemount 2-0 in pool play. On Sunday, the Rebels beat Apple Valley 7-4. Before Christmas, they beat Princeton 2-1, tied Blaine 2-2 and beat Coon Rapids 1-0. Last weekend they added a D10 win over Irondale 5-2. This week Champlin Park plays Rogers, St. Francis, Spring Lake Park and Princeton, besides Elk River.

Spring Lake Park struggled at Bloomington. The Panthers lost to Jefferson 5-1, a tough Roseville team 6-4, and tied Arvada 2-2 in pool play. On Sunday in their fourth tourney game, they buried Arvada 11-1. Last week they beat Andover 3-1. Spring Lake Park will be in a fight over the next six weeks to make the top eight teams and the D10 playoffs. They will need to catch and pass two teams (Princeton, Andover, Anoka and Irondale).

Centennial had a rough Edina tourney. They lost to Wayzata 10-1, Eden Prairie 8-1 and Mpls Park 3-2 in pool play. They host Elk River and Coon Rapids this week. Rogers played in the Paul Bunyan. They were upended by Keewenaw (MI) 3-2, tied Armstrong and beat Hermantown 4-2. Rogers lost to Cloquet 4-3 in the opening game of the Blue Ox bracket and beat Sioux Falls 3-1. They continue to have an up and down season.

Anoka hosts their tourney this week. The Tornadoes open the tourney against St. Louis Park. Buffalo and Forest Lake play in the other bracket game. In the lower bracket, Stillwater plays Alexandria and Rosemount plays Mahtomedi. Anoka lost to Elk River and Centennial and beat St. Francis 9-1. Princeton travels to Hibbing to play in the Blue Jackets tourney. The Tigers play Greenway, IGH/SSP and Detroit Lakes in pool play. The Tigers continue to improve since their second place finish at Owatonna in early December.

Irondale has a winning record in D10 halfway through the season but the loss of three “unfairpoints” have put their D10 playoff hopes in jeopardy. Irondale heads to Hibbing this weekend to play in their tourney. The Knights draw Moorhead Orange, Hibbing and Eveleth in pool play. Before Christmas they beat Andover 4-3 and tied Centennial 1-1. Last week, they played Coon Rapids and Champlin Park.

Last week, Elk River took the #1 seed. This week they keep it and are most likely to keep it the rest of the year. Blaine had a quiet holiday, beating Rogers 1-0. They keep the #2 seed. The third seed goes this week to Champlin Park.

District 11 - Cloquet and Hermantown traveled to Bemidji. Both teams had tough pools and both teams struggled. Cloquet was surprised by Devils Lake in the opening game losing 6-4. They came back to trounce Fort Frances 11-1, but lost to the Host Lumberjacks 7-3 to finish third in the pool. Hermantown fared worst. The Hawks lost squeakers to Armstrong 3-2, Keewenaw 2-1 and Rogers 4-2 to finish fourth in their pool. Both teams came back to win their bracket championships. Cloquet won the Blue Ox, beating Rogers 4-3 and Hastings 12-3. Hermantown won the Headwaters bracket beating Fort Frances 5-2 and Waconia 7-1.

Cloquet returned home to play Grand Rapids. This week the Lumberjacks play Duluth East. Hermantown beat Proctor 5-1 in D11 play and lost to Grand Rapids 3-2 before Christmas. The Hawks play Duluth East, Virginia and Duluth Lakers this week. Duluth East lost to Grand Rapids 10-3 before Christmas. The Hounds have a busy week playing Hermantown, Thunder Bay twice on the weekend and Cloquet.

The Duluth Lakers play in Brainerd’s tourney on the weekend. The Lakers draw Rochester Red in the opening game of bracket play. They beat Proctor 5-2 and lost to Cloquet 3-0 over the holidays. Proctor took second at the Detroit Lakes tourney before the holidays beating Sauk Rapids 5-2, tying Northern Lakes 1-1 and beating Alexandria 4-3 in pool play. The Rails lost to the host Lakers 9-3 in the Championship game. Besides losing to Hermantown and the Duluth Lakers over the holidays, the Rails beat Mesabi East 8-4. They play Virginia and Superior this week.

This week the seeds remain unchanged. The #1 seed goes to Cloquet and Hermantown takes the #2 seed.

West Regional (D3, D5, D6) - The district seeds in the West have a clear set of favorites. D3 has Wayzata and Osseo/Maple Grove taking two of the seeds. Mpls Storm, Crow River and Armstrong appear to be the strongest candidates to contend with Wayzata and OMG. D5 has St. Cloud and St. Michael/Albertville and a wide open third seed. MAML, Sartell, River Lakes and Buffalo are the strongest candidates to win the third seed. D6 has five teams fighting for three seeds. Burnsville had the D6 title locked up but lost their first two D6 games last week to Minnetonka 1-0 and to Prior Lake 5-3. Now (this week), D6 has five teams that are closely matched - Burnsville, Minnetonka, Prior Lake, Edina and Eden Prairie. They are fighting over three seeds and whoever finishes first or second in regular season will have the edge in the playoffs.

District 3 - Watching D3 this year is like watching a horse race. Wayzata and OMG have had a clear lead all the way, but the pack is closing the gap. Now the teams are coming out of the last turn before the run to the finish line. Wayzata and OMG remain on top, but the Mpls Storm, Crow River, Mound/Westonka and Armstrong have all shown improvement from the beginning of the season. Orono, Hopkins, and St. Louis Park continue to trail the pack.

Wayzata, OMG and the Mpls Storm played in the Edina tourney over the holidays. The Trojans took second place. They won their pool, easily beating Centennial 10-1, the Mpls Storm 6-0 and Eden Prairie 8-1. In championship play on Sunday, the Trojans beat Elk River 4-3 and lost to Farmington 4-1 in the championship game. Over the holidays, the Trojans beat OMG 3-1 and Crow River 4-0 in D3 play. They also beat Stillwater 6-3 and Rochester Red 8-0. Their only loss was to Centennial 3-1. This week, Wayzata plays two D3 games (Mpls Storm and Crow River) and has a return match with Farmington.

OMG ended up in a tough pool. They tied STMA 2-2 in their opener, lost to Farmington, the eventual champion, 3-0 and beat Chaska 6-4. OMG beat Mound/Westonka 6-1 and Armstrong 5-2 in D3 games before Christmas. They also beat St. Cloud 3-2 over the holiday season. This week they play Hopkins, Edina, the Mpls Storm, the Wisconsin Fire and Spring Lake Park.

Mpls Storm beat Centennial 3-2 and lost to Eden Prairie 7-3 in their Edina pool. Over the holidays, the Storm beat Orono 4-0. They play Armstrong in addition to playing OMG and Wayzata this week.

Armstrong played well at Bemidji and returned to play Lakeville South and Orono in addition to the Storm. Crow River plays Mound/Westonka this week as they get ready to play in the New Ulm tourney. The Tigers beat St. Louis Park 2-1 over the holidays. Orono plays in the Northfield Showdown on the weekend. They draw Red Wing in their opening game. St. Louis Park plays Anoka in the opening game of the Tornadoes tourney.

Wayzata and OMG will be neck and neck for the stretch run. Wayzata has lost five “unfairplay” points in eight D3 games thus far. That is equivalent to losing two games and tying one. As a result, the Trojans will need help to overtake OMG. Either that or they need to play perfect hockey in their last eight games. Still the Trojans are playing better than any of the other D3 teams and takes the #1 seed this week. OMG takes the #2 seed. The Mpls Storm takes the #3 seed. Armstrong and Crow River are playing well and continue to improve.

District 5 - St. Cloud and STMA are running away from the rest of the league. Both teams are unbeaten (STMA has a tie with MAML) and will meet for the first time in D5 on January 13th at STMA. It should be a good game. Sartell and MAML are essentially locked in a battle for third place. River Lakes and Buffalo are battling for the fifth and to move up.

St. Cloud took the Bemidji tourney. They swept their pool play beating Hastings 7-2, Crookston 12-2 and Waconia 9-3. In the championship bracket ,they beat Andover 4-3 and Bemidji 3-2. Over the holidays, St. Cloud beat Litchfield 14-1 and Sartell 5-1 in D5 play and lost to OMG 3-2. They play neighboring Sauk Rapids this week.

STMA hosts three D5 games this week, Litchfield, Sartell and MAML. The Knights ran into a tough pool at Edina, tying OMG 2-2, losing to Chaska 3-1 and to Farmington 4-0.

Sartell play MAML in addition to STMA as the Sabres get ready for the St. Cloud tourney. Buffalo plays in Anoka’s tourney drawing Forest Lake in the opener.

MAML won two D5 games, beating River Lakes 4-2 and Sauk Rapids 7-3 and tied Princeton 3-3 over the holidays. The Moose travel to Thief River Falls to play in their tourney this weekend. River Lakes beat Redwood Falls 6-2 and tied Hutchinson 2-2 over the holidays. They play Litchfield and in the Redwood Falls tourney on the weekend.

D5 teams had a quiet holiday and things will start rolling again this week. St. Cloud and STMA remain tied at the top of the D5 standings. But this week St. Cloud takes the #1 seed this week from STMA. STMA takes the #2 seed. The Moose (MAML) keeps the #3 seed.

District 6 - Burnsville played a tough 12 games in the last 18 days and the rugged schedule took its toll on the Blaze. Last Wednesday night, the Blaze jumped to a 2-0 lead over a hard-playing Prior Lake team and held that lead until halfway through the game. The Lakers scored three goals where the puck had “eyes” as it rolled and bounced three different times through players to take a 3-2 lead. They added two hard shots to beat the Blaze 5-3 in well skated game. After winning their first nine games in the past 18 days, the Blaze have lost three games in a row (Rosemount in the Bloomington tourney championship game and two D6 games Minnetonka 1-0 and Prior Lake). Those two D6 losses have tightened up the D6 race but the Blaze still hold the edge. The Blaze play Farmington this week. It won’t get any easier.

Eden Prairie was the principle beneficiary of the Blaze losses. The Eagles seemed primed at the Edina tourney to make it to Championship Sunday. They beat Mpls Storm 7-3 and Centennial 10-1 to win their first two pool games and +9 in the goal differential tie breaker; unfortunately, Elk River won their first two games and had a +10. The Elks played Edina before Eden Prairie played Wayzata and the Elks lost 5-4. The Elks ended pool play with a +9. Eden Prairie had to beat Wayzata and the Eagles hung with the Trojans for half the game playing tough defense (allowing five shots on goal). With the score 2-1, the Trojans broke down the Eagles defense in a five-minute period, scoring three more goals to take a 5-1 lead. They added three more and won 8-1.

The Eagles played Kennedy last week and will play Prior Lake and Shakopee this week. They now trail the Blaze by two points in the standings. Both teams have six games to play.

Minnetonka stayed home over the holidays. In addition to beating the Blaze, the Skippers beat Chaska 6-4 over the holidays and this week they play Chaska again. If the Skippers can win their next two games (Chaska and Shakopee), they will be one point behind Burnsville when they play them on Jan. 23.

Edina took third place in their tourney. The Hornets won their pool, beating Roseau 7-1, Lakeville South 10-3 and Eden Prairie. They lost to Farmington 3-2 on Championship Sunday and beat Elk River 5-4 for third place. Over the holidays, Edina beat Kennedy 11-2 and Waconia 10-2 in D6 games. Edina has nine D6 games left, including two games with Eden Prairie. The Hornets close their D6 season playing Minnetonka, Burnsville and Eden Prairie.

The Prior Lake coach must be slowly going crazy. The Lakers have gone 5-3-2 in their last 10 games. They have beaten good teams like Rosemount and Burnsville and lost or tied to teams that are struggling. They have eight D6 games left, two with Minnetonka. They have a good chance at finishing first or second and taking the all-important #1 or #2 seed into the D6 playoffs.

Jefferson and Kennedy held a good tourney over the holidays. Jefferson took second in their pool, beating Spring Lake Park 5-1 and Arvada (CO) 6-1 before losing to Roseville 2-0. They ended up with the #6 seed and lost to Burnsville 7-0 in the quarterfinals of bracket play. The Jags play Edina in D6 action this week before heading to Rochester to play in their tourney.

Kennedy opened pool play with a 6-3 loss to Woodbury. The Eagles came back to beat Apple Valley 7-2 and tie Marquette Michigan 5-5. That gave the Eagles the #7 seed in bracket play. They lost their quarterfinal game to Roseville 12-1.

The Eagles played Eden Prairie last week and will play Highland this week. They head to St. Paul in two weeks to play in the Governors Tourney. Chaska played at Edina as the third team from D6. The Hawks had a tough pool, losing to Farmington 5-0, beat STMA 3-1 and losing to OMG 6-4. The Hawks are the toughest team to play “under the Mendoza Line of PeeWee A hockey” for many years.

Waconia played in the Paul Bunyan tourney. They lost to Crookston 5-3, Hastings 5-2 and St. Cloud 9-3 in pool play. In the Headwaters bracket, they beat Virginia 10-0 and lost to Hermantown 7-1. Waconia play Chaska, Hutchinson and Hopkins this week. Shakopee had the holidays off and got back into action last weekend losing to Irondale 5-3 and tying Kennedy 4-4.

D6 went from a Blaze runaway to a “scramble” in one week. Normally, the victor gets the spoils. But so many teams have spoiled the other team, there is no clear victor. So based on just the way the teams are played this past week, Prior Lake takes the #1 seed. They skated well in beating Burnsville at Burnsville. Edina has to get the #2 seed this week. They played well against a tough Farmington team in their tourney before losing 3-2 and tied Prior Lake 1-1 over the holidays. Burnsville takes the #3 seed. Despite losing their last three games, the Blaze took 30 out 30 possible points in their first 10 D6 games.

Minnetonka and Eden Prairie can certainly complain this week for being left off the top three. They will have their chances in the last 5 weeks of the regular season to change opinions.

Another Way to Look at PeeWee A Hockey - Dec. 17

2010-12-20T08:42:00.002-06:00

By frederick61
As the Christmas Holidays approach, the hockey action slows. It should as families get together and celebrate. This year is no different. Some districts, like D2, don’t schedule games during the coming two weeks. Others, the number of games scheduled are low. There are only two peewee A tourneys this week, Grand Rapids and Detroit Lakes. So to everyone who makes youth hockey possible, the kids, the parents, the coaches, the boards, the arena managers, and the sponsors; it is my turn to wish you well and if you celebrate Christmas as I do, Merry Christmas.

Last Sunday, Rosemount beat Farmington 5-2 for the Spirit of Duluth title. The Irish got there by beating Duluth East 8-1, the Mpls Storm 4-3, Osseo/Maple Grove 13-5, and Blaine 7-0. The Tigers got there by beating Centennial 7-0, tying Edina 3-3, beating the Duluth Lakers 9-1 and beating Elk River 2-0. Blaine played Elk River for third place.

In the consolation round semifinals, Wayzata beat D3 rival OMG and Edina beat D6 rival Eden Prairie 9-5. Edina beat Wayzata 7-6 in the consolation final in OT.
It was an interesting tournament result in that D8 teams (Rosemount and Farmington) took the top two places, D10 teams (Blaine and Elk River) took the next two places, D6 and D3 teams (OMG, Wayzata, Edina and Eden Prairie) played in the consolation tourney, two D2 teams played in the third place pool games, and three D11 teams (Duluth East, Duluth Lakers, and Superior) played in fourth place pool games. One could point to that and say D8 is on top, D10 is second, D3/D6 are tied for third, D2 is fourth, and D11 trails.

But this is December and this is peewee A hockey. February playoffs are 10 weeks out; that is enough time for these kids to grow an inch.

Albert Lea’s tourney had the Johnson/Como Devils in the finals against a tough Mankato team. Mankato won 3-2. This year Albert Lea’s long time coach, Roy Nystrom, and Rochester Mayo coach, Lorne Grosso, are dueling for who will end up with the most wins as a high coach. Last week, Nystrom passed Willard Ikola (616 wins) when he won his 617th game beating Rochester John Marshall 7-4. Lorne Grosso started the season with 613 wins and has added three wins to bring his total to 616. A win over Mankato East will put Grosso ahead of Ikola this week.

Albert Lea and Rochester youth hockey programs are both in D9. Both associations’ high schools play their hockey in the Big 9 Conference. Albert Lea’s association supports just their high school; Rochester’s association supports three Big 9 teams, John Marshall, Century and Mayo. The Rochester association also supports Lourdes. Albert Lea at 3-1 has a better record than each of the three Big 9 Rochester teams. Lourdes is currently unbeaten in 5 games.

Moorhead’s tourney was won by the Moorhead Black (or A or A1) team. The Black beat a good Mound/Westonka team 9-0, a good Andover team 7-0 and the Fargo Flyers 5-1. The surprise of this tourney was the play of the Moorhead Orange (or A2) team. The Orange lost a close game to Grafton 9-8, beat Red Wing (a team that had been playing well prior to the trip to Moorhead) 7-3 and lost close game to Mound/Westonka 6-5 in the consolation finals.

Owatonna’s tourney had eight well matched teams. The Kansas City Stars took the championship beating Kennedy 3-2, Crow River 5-4 and Princeton 5-2 in weekend that started with a hard sleeting rain on Friday and ended with massive snow storm Saturday night. Princeton continued their good play from D10 action the previous week beating a scrappy Luverne team 6-2 and Waconia 6-1 to get to the championship game. No snowstorm stops hockey, it just slows it a bit.

Grand Rapids has the Star of the North tourney this weekend. Burnsville is entered and is bracketed with the Thunderhawks in what could be the most interesting peewee A game this week providing both teams win their opening games (Grand Rapids plays Forest Lake and the Blaze play Little Falls).

North Regional (D12, D15, D16) - It took one week for Thief River Falls to turn the North Region upside down. The Prowlers handed Bemidji its first D16 loss last week, 3-0. Thief River Falls have now beaten Roseau, Bemidji, and East Grand Forks in their first four games. Moorhead Black sailed along last week, winning their tourney. Moorhead travels to the Cities this weekend and will test itself against Woodbury and Blaine.

Grand Rapids established itself as the dominant team in D12 this week by beating Hibbing, Eveleth, and Mesabi East soundly. The Thunderhawks could potentially play Burnsville in the semifinals of their tourney. This region remains wide open because after the top teams, the remaining teams are balanced. Who gets to the regional will boil down to who is playing best in February.

District 12-Grand Rapids stays home this week to play Virginia. They open their tourney against a tough Forest Lake team with a good defense. Besides Burnsville/Little Falls, Hibbing plays Hopkins and Anoka plays Duluth East. Virginia beat Rochester Black 5-0 and Rochester Gold twice 5-1 and 2-1 last week. The Blue Devils play Eveleth and Superior besides Grand Rapids this week. Hibbing besides losing to Grand Rapids played International Falls last week.

The Falls travel to Detroit Lakes to play in the Lakers tourney. They play Detroit Lakes, Willmar, and Moorhead Orange in pool play. Greenway played Hermantown last weekend and hosts the Hawks this week. They also play Mesabi East and Eveleth. Mesabi East beat Eveleth 2-0 last week. Eveleth continues to struggle losing to Proctor 10-1 in addition to East and Grand Rapids.

The seeds remain the same this week. Grand Rapids keeps the #1 seed. Hibbing remains the #2 seed and Greenway takes the #3 seed. Two weeks ago, International Falls beat MALM 6-4 in their own tourney. MALM has potential and been an up and down team all year. Last week, they rose up and tied ranked STMA 2-2 in D5 play. The Bronco’s should do well at Detroit Lakes. Virginia had a good trip in a tough snow storm and appears to be improving.

District 15 - The Moorhead Black won their tourney last week and the Moorhead Orange also had a good tourney. These teams return to D15 where the Black has dominated and the Orange has struggled. The Black adds a stop at Bemidji this week to their cities trip and then they take the Christmas week off. The Orange play in the Detroit Lakes tourney this week. They draw Detroit Lakes, Willmar and International Falls in pool play.

Last week, Alexandria beat Little Falls 6-1 and tied Detroit Lakes 4-4. This week the Cardinals play in the Detroit Lakes tourney. They draw Proctor, Sauk Rapids and Northern Lakes in pool play. Eight teams are entered in the Detroit Lakes tourney.
Brainerd lost to Bemidji 7-1, beat Fergus Falls 5-2 and Detroit Lakes 3-2 last week. This week the Warriors play Sartell. Fergus Falls beat Little Falls 6-3 last week and play Crookston, Grand Forks and Thief River Falls this week. Little Falls heads to Grand Rapids to play in the Star of the North tourney. The Flyers draw a tough Burnsville Blaze team in the opening game.

After a week off, Northern Lakes gets back into action at the Detroit Lakes tourney playing Alexandria in the opening of pool play. Moorhead Black keeps the #1 seed this week. Brainerd takes the #2 seed. Alexandria and Detroit Lakes will have their chances in the Detroit Lakes tourney. The #2 seed remains wide open.

District 16 - Bemidji looked good on their trip to the cities two weeks ago, and then they lost to Thief River Falls last week 3-0. The Lumberjacks did beat Brainerd 7-1 and Red Lake Falls last week. This week they play three more D16 games, East Grand Forks, Warroad and Roseau. A sweep of those games would put Bemidji back in control of D16.

Thief River Falls is 4-0 in D16, but one of the reasons that Bemidji remains even with TRF is that the Prowlers have lost 3 “unfairplay” points (and yet won every game). The Prowlers have two D16 games this week against Red Lake Falls and Warroad. They also play Fergus Falls. Their second D16 game, just before Christmas, with East Grand Forks will be a key game.

East Grand Forks beat Roseau 8-3 and beat Red Lake Falls in D16 games last week. This week the Green Wave hosts Bemidji and Crookston. Roseau hosts Bemidji this week. Crookston had a tough Moorhead tourney last week losing to Andover, Mound/Westonka and playing Red Wing for seventh place. This week the Pirates play Fergus Falls and the Grand Forks Golden Eagles in addition to EGF. Red Lake Falls had a tough week (the Eagles have played better). In addition to hosting TRF this week, Warroad travels west on 11 to Grafton for a game.

To the victor go the spoils. Thief River Falls takes the #1 seed this week; Bemidji takes the #2 seed. East Grand Forks is starting to play better and gets the #3 seed. Roseau had a tough week losing to TRF and EGF, but the Rams continue to work hard. Over the Christmas Holiday, they will be playing at the Edina tourney and will have Edina, Elk River and Lakeville South in their pool.

South Regional (D4, D8, D9) - Last week’s headline in the South Regional was “Rosemount beats Wayzata”. This week the headline reads “Rosemount beats Farmington 5-2 to win the Spirit of Duluth tourney”. Quite a week for the Irish and it isn’t even March yet. Rosemount continues their stretch of great wins with victories over OMG, Mpls Storm, Duluth East, and Blaine to get to the championship game.

Farmington was not exactly a pussycat in the tourney as the Tigers shut out Centennial and Elk River and held the Duluth Lakers to a single goal in the tourney. They tied Edina 3-3 in pool play.

Meanwhile, down south in the storms, Luverne lost a tough game to Princeton in the opening game of the Owatonna tourney and slid to the hotel/home in the middle of an ice storm. Next day the Cardinals lost to Owatonna and then plowed to the hotel/home in the middle of a snow storm. Further south in Albert Lea, Mankato won their tourney beating Johnson/Como in the championship game.

District 4 - Luverne and Redwood Falls meet this week. Redwood Falls played in a Wisconsin tourney last week. This week the Falls hope to avenge an earlier 6-2 loss when they play River Lakes in addition to Luverne. Marshall has a return match with Hutchinson also this week. Luverne plays Albert Lea in a D9 game.

Luverne remains on top of the D9 West but that lead will be challenged by Mankato when the two teams meet just before Christmas. The #1 seed remains with Luverne and the #2 seed stays with Marshall.

District 8 - Rosemount and Farmington finally met at the Spirit and the Irish came out on top 5-2 as both teams made it to the championship game. The Irish beat Duluth East 8-1, Mpls Storm 4-3, OMG 13-5 and Blaine 7-0 to get there.

Farmington beat Centennial 7-0, tied Edina 3-3, beat the Duluth Lakers 9-1 and beat Elk River 2-0 to get the championship game and a second place finish. Rosemount return to play IGH/SSP and Apple Valley in D8 action this week. The Irish also play Roseville.

Farmington has a similar schedule to the Irish this week. The Tigers play Eagan and Sibley in D8 action and also play a single game with the Rochester Red. Lakeville South came out storming in the first period, jumped to a three goal lead over Woodbury and never let go beating the Predators 6-3 last week. That win has twisted D8 standings and opens the competitive door for the Cougars to move into the top echelon in D8. The Cougars added a 6-0 win over Apple Valley and have two D8 games this week with Lakeville North (in what is now a key early season match-up) and Johnson/Como. Woodbury came back to beat Eagan.

Where Lakeville South stepped up to beat Woodbury, Lakeville North took a hit in losing to Eagan 4-3 last week. The Panthers had just beaten a tough Eastview team 4-3 two days before. The loss to Eagan was the first Panthers D8 loss of the season. Eagan had been struggling and the win over the Panthers was a good for the Wildcats and maybe a sign of better days ahead. Eagan played Roseville and lost to Woodbury last week. This week the Wildcats play visiting Moorhead Black, Farmington, and Eastview. Lakeville North plays a return game with Eastview besides arch rival Lakeville South this week.

Johnson/Como took second at Albert Lea last week. The Devils won their pool beating Sioux Falls Blue 4-2, Faribault 6-0, and Albert Lea 8-1. They lost to Mankato 3-2 in an overtime, shootout, championship game on Sunday. The Devils play Apple Valley and IGH/SSP in addition to Lakeville South this week. IGH/SSP took the consolation title at Owatonna beating Kennedy in the semis and Owatonna 6-4 in the finals. IGH/SSP plays Rosemount in D8 action this week in addition to Johnson/Como.

Hastings beat Apple Valley 5-2 for their first D8 win. The Raiders host Sibley this week. Apple Valley played Lakeville South this week and plays Johnson/Como and Rosemount next week.

With Lakeville South beating Woodbury and Lakeville North losing to Eagan, D8 shifted last week from a potential year end donnybrook among five teams to a potential Rosemount and Farmington runaway. This week Rosemount takes the #1 seed and Farmington takes the #2 seed. Over the Christmas Holidays, Rosemount plays in the Bloomington tourney and Farmington plays in the Edina tourney. That will prove interesting. These two teams remain on the verge of winning their first 13 league games and being unbeaten when they play each other in February. But the Spirit of Duluth tourney last week settled the bragging rights between the Irish and the Tigers. For now, Rosemount is top dog.

The #3 seed this week goes to Lakeville South. They beat Woodbury, last week’s #3 seed. To the victor go the spoils.

District 9 - In D9, the Rochester Red team continues to play an independent schedule. Snow canceled their games last weekend. The Red plays Mankato, Eden Prairie and host Farmington this week. The Black and the Gold hosted Virginia last weekend. The Black lost to Virginia 4-0 and tied the Gold in a D9 game 1-1. The Black plays a home and home series with D9 East Division leading Northfield and a single D9 game with Dodge County this week.

The Gold lost twice to Virginia, 2-1 and 5-1 and lost a D9 game to Northfield 7-2 last week. The Gold play at Mankato and host Dodge County in two D9 games.
Northfield had scheduled games with Armstrong and Apple Valley on the weekend but were snowed and sleeted out. Besides beating the Rochester gold, the Raiders tied Red Wing 4-4 last week. That tie with the second place Wingers keeps Northfield on a path to lockup the D9 East Division title early. Red Wing played in the Moorhead tourney. They lost the opening game to the Fargo Gold, lost to the Moorhead Orange 7-3 and played Crookston. Red Wing returns to D9 action playing New Ulm and Austin.

Dodge County played in the Albert Lea tourney over last weekend. They lost to the Quad Cities Ice Eagles 6-3 and Mankato. They beat the Omaha Jr Lancers and Albert Lea 5-4. This week the Bulldogs get going in D9 playing four games; Austin, Rochester Black, Albert Lea, and Rochester Gold. Austin plays a game this week with Faribault besides playing Red Wing.

Owatonna and Albert Lea, two teams in the D9 West Division, held their tourneys this week. Owatonna’s tourney had a repeat winner as the Kansas City Stars added a second Minnesota tourney title to their collection. The Stars are now rated in the top 25 nationally (out of approximately 350) USA Peewee 98 Tier II teams. One more Minnesota tourney crown for the Stars and the state will have to adopt them.
The Stars won the crown by beating D6 Kennedy 3-2, D3 Crow River 5-4, and D10 Princeton 5-3. Owatonna lost to Princeton 6-1, beat D9 rival Luverne 6-4, and lost to IGH/SSP 6-4 in the consolation finals. Luverne showed up a man short and skated eight forwards in the tourney opener. The Cardinals hung in against a good Princeton team before giving up three goals late in the game and losing 6-2.

Mankato won the Albert Lea tourney. The Mavericks won their pool beating the Quad Cities Ice Eagles 4-2, Dodge County and the Omaha Jr. Lancers. The Mavericks beat Johnson/Como in an overtime, shootout, championship game on Sunday 3-2. Mankato plays Faribault and Luverne this week. In addition to hosting their tourney, Owatonna beat Faribault 3-2 last week. The Huskies play New Ulm this week.

Besides losing to Dodge County on Sunday in the final game of their tourney, Albert Lea beat Faribault 2-0, lost to Johnson/Como 8-1, and lost to the Sioux Falls Blue. This week, they play Dodge County and Luverne in D9 games. Faribault plays Mankato and New Ulm this week. New Ulm’s two D9 loses has been to Luverne. This week, they play three D9 games; Owatonna, Red Wing, and Faribault; and host Waconia. New Ulm has a twelve team tourney coming up in mid-January with some good teams entered. There are one or two slots left.

If D9 follows the D4 format from last year, the top two teams from each division (East and West) are seeded into the tourney. The remaining teams play-in for the two remaining slots-one remaining slot for each division.

Luverne, Owatonna, and Mankato are leading in the D9 West Division. Luverne is playing D9 as a guest and is favored to take one of the D4 seeds to the South Regional. But more importantly, Luverne at this point will not play in the D9 playoffs. That leaves Owatonna and Mankato with a clear path to the D9 playoff seeds. New Ulm, Albert Lea and Faribault would have to “play-in” to get to the playoffs. In the East Division, Northfield and Redwing have a similar clear path to the playoff seeds, leaving Dodge County, Rochester Gold, Rochester Black, and Austin having to “play-in” to get the last seed to the playoffs.

With all that being said, D9 is still a wide open district. A month from now, things will start to settle down. This week, Northfield keeps the #1 seed. The Raiders are now 6-0-1 at the halfway mark. The Raiders next three games (Rochester Black twice and Rochester Gold) are key. Mankato is starting to play better. The Mavericks won at Albert Lea and take the #2 seed. Red Wing takes the #3 seed. They struggled at Moorhead, but came back to tie Northfield in D9 play. Owatonna remains a threat as the Husky’s season rolls along. Faribault and both of the Rochester teams are still unknowns and could challenge. This is a wide open district.

East Regional (D2, D10, D11) - D11 had the Spirit of Duluth tourney over the weekend. Three of the sixteen teams entered were from D11 (Duluth East, Duluth Lakers, and Superior) and they all finished fourth in their pool. Two of the teams were from D2 (White Bear Lake and Stillwater) and they finished third in their pools. Two of the teams were from D10 (Blaine and Elk River) and they won their pools.

What does that mean? If this was August and the teams were major league baseball teams, the D11 and D2 teams would be putting their stars on the trading block and looking to cut salary. The D10 teams would be scanning the waiver lists looking to get some Star power for a few months. But this is peewee A hockey. These kids can grow an inch or more in the next month. In the end, it will be which team is playing the best when the district playoffs start.

District 2 - Roseville and Hudson are still positioned to run away with the D2 regular season title as the New Year comes. Roseville beat Mahtomedi 8-4 and Eagan 8-0 last week. They will play White Bear Lake and Forest Lake in D2 games this week. The Raiders have the big game with Rosemount on Saturday. The Raiders remain in first in D2 tied with Hudson with a game advantage. Hudson tied Highland 3-3 last week; they play Stillwater and Mahtomedi this week.

White Bear Lake had a tough Spirit of Duluth tourney, losing to Wayzata 6-2, losing to Blaine 4-0, beating Superior 9-1 and losing to Mpls Storm 3-0 on Sunday. Stillwater had a shot at winning their pool after beating the Thunder Bay Kings 3-0 and tying Elk River 1-1 in their first two pool games at the Spirit. But Eden Prairie beat the Ponies 4-1 in the third game dropping them to third in the pool. They played Centennial on Sunday.

Forest Lake heads to Grand Rapids this weekend to play in the Star of the North tourney. They draw the host Thunderhawks in the opening game of bracket play. Moundsview plays Tartan and Irondale this week. After playing Hudson this week, Mahtomedi takes the holidays off.

Roseville Raiders keep the #1 seed. They had a stunning loss to Farmington two weeks ago and will play another top D8 team in Rosemont. Stillwater takes the #2 seed. After struggling early this year, the Ponies were one of the surprises in the Spirit of Duluth and played well in their pool play. White Bear Lake takes the #3 seed, but the Bears will be challenged. One the teams to watch in D2 this week is Forest Lake. The Rangers will be tested when they play at Grand Rapids.

District 10 - Blaine and Elk River won their pools at Duluth with both teams advancing to the Championship Round on Sunday. Blaine got there by beating Superior 7-0, White Bear Lake 4-0, and Wayzata 5-4. The Bengals have a tough team. Elk River got to the championship round by tying Eden Prairie 2-2, Stillwater 1-1, and beating Thunder Bay Kings 8-0. Both teams lost in the semifinals to two D8 teams. Blaine lost to Rosemount 7-0 and Elk River lost to Farmington 2-0. The Elks beat Blaine 3-2 in the third place game.

The Elks return to D10 playing four games, Coon Rapids, Rogers, Anoka, and Spring Lake Park. Blaine played St. Francis last week. This week the Bengals are busy. They have games scheduled with Andover, Moorhead, Centennial, and Champlin Park.
Anoka makes the trip to Grand Rapids for the Star of the North tourney. They open against Duluth East. Last week, the Tornadoes lost to Rogers 4-1, tied Irondale 3-3, and beat Champlin Park 4-3. Spring Lake Park tied Andover 4-4 and a tough Prior Lake team 5-5. The Panthers play Rogers, Moorhead, and Coon Rapids this week. Considering Prior Lake tied Edina two days later, the Panthers will be a team to watch. They play in the Bloomington tourney after Christmas.

Irondale continues to surprise. Besides tying Anoka, the Knights beat St. Francis 8-1. They play Centennial, Andover and Moundsview this week. Princeton, the other surprising D10 team played at Owatonna and took second place losing in the championship game to the nationally ranked Kansas City Stars 5-2. The Tigers beat Luverne 6-2 and Waconia 6-1 to get to the championship game. This week, Princeton plays Champlin Park, Andover, Coon Rapids and St. Francis.

Andover played at Moorhead and ran into a tough Moorhead Black team losing 7-0. They beat Crookston in the opening game and played Grafton, ND in the third place game. The Huskies play Blaine, Princeton, Irondale and Andover this week. Centennial drew a tough pool at the Spirit tourney in Duluth. They lost their opener 7-0 to Farmington, but came back big to beat the Duluth Lakers 6-0. But they lost to Edina 6-2 in the final pool game and ended up third in the pool. On Sunday they played Stillwater. Centennial plays two D10 games this week, Irondale and Blaine. They play Wayzata at the Super Rink on the weekend.

Champlin Park plays Princeton, Blaine, and Coon Rapids this week. The Rebels last week beat St. Francis. Rogers had a good week. Besides beating Anoka, they beat Coon Rapids 3-2. Champlin Park and Rogers currently sit on top of D10.

Coon Rapids also tied St. Louis Park 4-4 last week. That tie coupled with pushing a good Champlin Park team before losing 3-2 means the Rapids are showing improvement.
This week, the top seeds are all changed. Elk River takes the #1 seed. They beat Blaine in the third place game at Duluth. Blaine takes the #2 seed, their win over Wayzata at Duluth was impressive. Centennial takes the #3 seed. They lost their pool at Duluth on the weekend but most teams would have difficultly advancing with Farmington and Edina in their pool. It should be noted that Rogers and Champlin Park lead D10 going into Christmas week. Spring Lake Park is improving while Irondale and Princeton continue to play well.

District 11 - Cloquet and Hermantown did not play in the Spirit. They did play each other in D11 action last week. Cloquet beat the Hawks 7-4. The Lumberjacks play the Duluth Lakers this week. Hermantown plays Greenway and Marquette, Michigan in addition to Cloquet this week.

The Marquette team will be in the Bloomington tourney. They will play Apple Valley, Woodbury, and Kennedy in pool play.

The two Duluth teams finished fourth in pool play at the Spirit. Duluth East lost Rosemount 8-1, OMG 5-1 and to the Mpls Storm 4-2. The Lakers lost to Edina 3-1, Centennial 6-0, and to Farmington 9-1. On Sunday, the Lakers beat the Thunder Bay Kings 4-3. Duluth East plays in the Grand Rapids tourney this weekend opening bracket play against Anoka. Duluth East beat Proctor 8-1 in D11 last week.

Proctor heads to Detroit Lakes this weekend to play in their tourney. They draw Sauk Rapids, Northern Lakes, and Alexandria in pool play. It should be a good test for the Rails.

This week the #1 seed goes to Cloquet and Hermantown takes the #2 seed. The two teams settled who is #1 when the Lumberjacks beat the Hawks this week. The Duluth Lakers and Duluth East are still struggling. The Hounds will have their chances at the Grand Rapids tourney on the weekend. The Proctor Rails should do well at the Detroit Lakes tourney.

West Regional (D3, D5, D6) - The Spirit of Duluth tourney trophies went to D8/D10 teams. In two weeks, Edina and Bloomington (Jefferson/Kennedy) will host their tourneys. Twenty eight teams will participate at the peewee A level, 12 at Edina and 16 at Bloomington. The two arena complexes are about 10 minutes apart. More trophies will be handed out, but Farmington plays in one tourney, Rosemount in the other tourney.

The Edina tourney has three pools of four teams each. One D6 team is in each pool. Three D3 teams are in the tourney and one D5 team is entered. Pool A has Edina, Elk River, Lakeville South, and Roseau. Pool B has Eden Prairie, Wayzata, Centennial, and Mpls Storm. Pool C has Chaska, OMG, STMA, and Farmington. Eight of these teams played in the Spirit. The four non-Spirit teams are Lakeville South, Roseau, Chaska, and STMA.

The three pool winners plus the wild card team play semi-final and final championship round games on Sunday. The tourney starts on Thursday, December 30th and ends on Sunday, January 2nd.

At Bloomington, 16 teams are entered into four pools. The Blue has Jefferson, Arvada Colorado, Roseville, and Spring Lake Park. The Gold has Kennedy, Marquette Michigan, Woodbury and Apple Valley. The White has Burnsville, Highland, Thunder Bay Kings, and Eastview. The Silver has Rosemount, Prior Lake, Lakeville North and Champlin Park.

The four pool winners are seeded one to four into an 8-team bracket tourney to determine the championship. The remaining 12 teams are seeded based on point totals (13 points maximum per game) with the top four teams advancing. Finishing second in your pool does not guarantee a 5-8 seeding. The lower eight seeded teams play each other for a fourth game.

The Burnsville Thanksgiving tourney had Jefferson, Roseville, Woodbury, Apple Valley, Eastview, and Rosemount entered. The Marquette Michigan team is traveling to Duluth this week to play Superior and Hermantown. Last year, Prior Lake won a twelve team tourney after being seeded near the 12th seed. The peewee A tourney at Bloomington starts December 28th and ends December 31st.

District 3 - Osseo/Maple Grove, Wayzata and the Mpls Storm played in the Spirit last weekend. Wayzata made it to the consolation finals, but the Mpls Storm should improvement and played well. They were the surprise of the tourney. The Storm opened losing to OMG 4-3 and Rosemount 4-3 in their first two pool games. They then beat Duluth East 4-2 and White Bear Lake 3-0 to end their tourney play. The Storm play Orono this week.

Wayzata opened with their tourney play with a 6-2 win over White Bear Lake, beat Superior 5-1, and lost to Blaine 5-4. In the consolation round on Sunday, the Trojans beat OMG and lost to Edina. OMG beat Duluth East 5-1 and lost to Rosemount 13-5 in their other pool games to finish second in their pool.

Wayzata and OMG are unbeaten in D3 play, but the Trojans have lost 4 “unfairplay” points, OMG has lost 1 point. OMG hold the advantage. These two teams meet in their first D3 game this week. The Trojans also play Centennial, Stillwater and Crow River this week. Crow River can sneak into the top two spots. They have a single loss and are coming off a good Owatonna tourney, taking third. The Tigers got there by beating IGH/SSP, losing to the Kansas City Stars 5-4, and beating Waconia 4-2. The Tigers play Wayzata at the PIC.

Mound/Westonka took the Consolation Title at Moorhead, losing to Moorhead Black 9-0, beating Crookston, and beating Moorhead Orange. The Whitehawks beat the Mpls Storm 2-1 before leaving for Moorhead and were beaten by Armstrong 6-2 when they returned. This week they play OMG and Chaska. Armstrong tied Eastview 4-4 this week. The snowstorm canceled Armstrong’s trip to the south. This week Armstrong plays OMG and St. Louis Park.

Hopkins heads to Grand Rapids to play in their tourney. They open bracket play against Hibbing. The Royals return to play St. Louis Park and Jefferson. St. Louis Park gets back into D3 action playing Orono, Armstrong and Crow River in addition to Hopkins. Besides tying Coon Rapids last week, the Orioles played Forest Lake.

Wayzata takes the #1 and OMG the #2. Mpls Storm showed they can compete at the Spirit especially in losing to a tough Rosemount team by a single goal (4-3). Crow River continues to improve and Armstrong’s hard work is starting to show in the win column.

District 5 - St. Cloud and STMA remain tied on top of D5 this week. But MALM marred STMA’s perfect record tying them 2-2 last week. STMA added D5 wins over Litchfield and Hutchinson this week. St. Cloud continued to be busy. They beat MALM 5-1 and beat Buffalo 5-2 in D5 action. STMA plays Prior Lake this week. St. Cloud plays Litchfield before taking the holidays off.

Willmar plays in the Detroit Lakes tourney this weekend. They draw Detroit Lakes, Moorhead Orange, and International Falls in pool play. Sartell beat Willmar last week in D5 and play Brainerd this week. River Lakes plays Redwood Falls, MALM and Hutchinson this week. Last week, the Lakes tied Willmar 2-2 and beat Buffalo 3-2. Hutchinson plays Marshall and Buffalo besides River Lakes this week.

St. Cloud and STMA remain tied and will not play each other in D5 until mid-January. St. Cloud continues to roll along in D5 action, but STMA took a hit in being tied by MALM. STMA keeps the #1 seed; St. Cloud keeps the #2 seed. MALM takes the #3 seed this week.

District 6 - Burnsville took it easy this week, Edina went to Duluth to kick some dirt on the sodbusters from Farmington and Eden Prairie went there to hunt Elk. The Hornets got stung, tying Farmington and beating the Duluth Lakers in a close (3-1) game. The Hornets lost the pool on a point differential tie breaker. That put them in the consolation round with the Eagles. Eden Prairie got gored by tying the Elks from Elk River and losing to the Thunder Bay Kings “Dolly Parton style” (9-5). They played each other in the consolation semifinals, Edina beating the Eagles “Dolly Parton style” 9-5 and Wayzata 7-6 for third place. The Hornets play Kennedy and Waconia in D6 games this week. Eden Prairie came back from Duluth and handed Minnetonka a 7-2 D6 loss. The Eagles play Waconia and Prior Lake this week.

Back within D6 last week Prior Lake was tying everybody that is two “everybodies”. The Lakers tied Spring Lake Park 5-5 and Edina 1-1. They beat Jefferson 5-0. This week the Lakers play STMA, Woodbury, and Eden Prairie. That is a tough three games.
Burnsville takes their unbeaten record to Grand Rapids. In the Star of the North tourney, they open against Little Falls. They play two D6 games against Waconia and Shakopee when they return.

Minnetonka beat Jefferson 5-1 last week (besides losing to Eden Prairie) and plays Chaska this week in their only game. Waconia and Kennedy played in the Owatonna tourney. Waconia beat Owatonna 4-3 in OT, lost to Princeton 6-1 and Crow River 4-2 in the third place game. Kennedy lost 3-2 to the Kansas City Stars, lost to IGH/SSP and played Luverne.

Burnsville had last week off. The Blaze plays two more D6 games this week. Unless they stumble in those two games, they will be a “perfect 30” in 10 games. By the Christmas Holiday break, the D6 regular season schedule will be half over with the top five teams (Burnsville, Eden Prairie, Prior Lake, Edina, and Minnetonka) each having played 9-11 games of an 18 game schedule. Only Prior Lake and Eden Prairie have a chance to get into the mid-20’s or higher. And they play each other.

If Prior Lake beats Eden Prairie this week, then the Lakers will move into second and be close enough to the Blaze to overtake them if they should stumble in January.
If Eden Prairie wins, they swap with the Lakers and the Eagles become the contenders chasing the Blaze; but the Eagles need more help from other teams since they will have played more games. At this point all Edina and Minnetonka can do is to win and hope things fall in their favor.

The Blaze take the #1 seed. Minnetonka’s loss to Eden Prairie drops the Skippers this week. Prior Lake takes the #2 seed. Their tie with Edina was nice, but not the only reason for getting the #2 this week. In the Edina game, their defense stood out and shut down the Edina style of attack. And as in many games this season, Edina scored their lone goal against the Lakers on a power play. The Hornets get the #3 seed.

Eden Prairie lost to Edina and beat Minnetonka. But the Eagles and the Skippers will not go away. Chaska is struggling. However, the Hawks will have their chances in the Edina tourney. So will Jefferson and Kennedy in their tourney over the holidays.