Class A Sectional Projected Winners

Three teams have emerged as potential winners in Section 1A; New Prague, Red Wing, and Northfield.  The Trojans beat Red Wing 2-0 last week behind two Catie Skaja goals while shutting down Red Wing’s top line led by Reagan Haley in a game played at New Prague.  New Prague is the favorite to win Section 1A.  In Section 2A, there are four possible teams that can win the trip to the Xcel this year, Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato, Mankato East, Willmar and Hutchinson.  Hutchinson looks to have the edge at playoff time playing in the Wright County Conference.  New Ulm is favored to win Section 3A.  Section 4A is turning into a battle between South St. Paul and St. Paul United.  St. Paul United has played better in the first half and is the favorite halfway through the season.

Blake beat Breck last Saturday as these two teams battle for the Section 5A title.  The #2 ranked Blake Bears remain the favorite to win 5A and go for a “three-peat”.  Alexandria and Detroit Lakes are the favorites in Section 6A, but both teams need to watch out for Fergus Falls.  The Otters have started to win after struggling earlier.  The nod here goes to Alexandria.  Proctor/Hermantown is the favorite in Section 7A and Thief River Falls is the favorite in Section 8A.

Class A State Tourney (mid-season predictions)

For the Class A tourney, the eight section winners are seeded and based on the seeding, the tourney quarterfinals to be played Wednesday, February 18, 2015 are set.  For the Class A tourney, the eight sectional winners are seeded #1 to #5 and three teams are unranked.  YHH projected seeds for this season’s tourney is #1 Blake, #2 Thief River Falls, #3 New Prague, #4 Proctor/Hermantown, and #5 St. Paul United.  Based on the those projected seeds, the Class A quarterfinals would look like this; #2 Thief River Falls would open play Wednesday at 11:00 AM against Alexandria.  The second game played at 1:00 PM would match #3 New Prague and New Ulm.  In the 6:00 PM evening game, #1 Blake plays Hutchinson and in the 8:00 PM final quarterfinal game, #4 Proctor/Hermantown plays #5 St. Paul United.

Class AA Sectional Winners

In Class AA, the section winners look like this based on play in the first half of the season.  The Section 1AA favorite is Dodge County, but the Wildcats will be challenged by Lakeville South, Lakeville North, and Rochester John Marshall/Lourdes.  In Section 2AA, a three team battle is shaping up between #1 ranked Eden Praire, #x Edina, and Chaska/Chanhassen.  The remaining four teams (Jefferson, Shakopee, Holy Family Catholic/Waconia, and Prior Lake) are tough but beatable.  Eden Prairie ranked #1 and #5 ranked Edina (9-2-1) have two showdowns in January when they play each other to decide the #1 seed in Section 2AA.  The #1 seed gets a first round by and plays the winner of the #4 and #5 seeds.  The loser of the showdowns is likely to draw a tough Chaska/Chanhassen team after playing a tough quarterfinal game.  Eden Prairie takes the #1 seed and takes the Section 2AA title.

Section 3AA is an anomaly this season.  Most of the teams come from the South Suburban which is weak this year.  The two Lakeville teams (South and North) dominate, but play in Section 1AA.  That teams, Hastings, Park of Cottage Grove, East Ridge and Woodbury will play in 3AA this year.  That makes the seeding more complicated.  Here the seeding is thrown aside.  Hastings wins 3AA.  The Raiders are are 7-3-1 and are on a roll.  They will host a tourney over the Christmas Holidays that has an interesting mix of teams.  Hastings should win that tourney.  The last two Section 4AA semifinals played had the same four teams, Roseville, Stillwater, Cretin-Derham Hall and Hill-Murray.  So far this season the same four teams have emerged at the top of Section 4AA leaving everyone to ignore Tartan (8-3-0).  Tartan has an interesting game with Mahtomedi and play in the Burnsville Tourney over the Holidays.  That tourney’s field includes Protor/Hermantown.  The Titans could surprise, but the Hill (4-3) has started to play well the past 10 days.  The Pioneers should win Section 4AA.

Section 5AA has six teams playing better than .500 hockey (Coon Rapids, Irondale, Centennial, Blaine, Champlin Park, and Mounds View).  One of those six teams will likely get the #1 seed and one of those six teams will likely win the Section 5AA title.  Five of the six teams play in the Northwest Suburban Conference and the majority of their 25 games will be conference games.  Only one, Mounds View, does not play in the Northwest Suburban.  The Mustangs play in the Suburban East and are currently tied with Cretin-Derham Hall for the conference lead.  That complicates the Section 5AA seeding process.  To add to the confusion, Mounds View beat Spring Lake Park 3-1 at Fogerty Tuesday in their only Section 5AA game this season.   The seeding process will likely come down to the best of the five Northwest Suburban teams against Mounds View.  Champlin Park (6-4-1) has lost three tough games the past two weeks (Maple Grove 4-1, Elk River 3-2, Blaine 4-0, and Buffalo 1-0).  Despite the losses, the Rebels still have the edge in Section 5AA over the other four, but not over Mounds View.  The Mustangs Section 5AA seeding fate may get settled when they play in South St. Paul’s Kaposia Classic.  They open playing Hibbing/Chisholm and then playing the winner of International Falls and South St. Paul if they beat the Bluejackets.  In the championship game, the Mustangs will likely face Hill-Murray or Blake.  But today, halfway through the season, Mounds View is favored to win the Section 5AA title.

Maple Grove has the early season edge in Section 6AA, but had their perfect record (11-0-1) record marred Thursday when the Crimson tied Benilde-St. Margaret 2-2.  The game was Benilde’s first Section 6AA game also.  There are five teams in 6AA that can win the playoffs (Maple Grove, Minnetonka, Wayzata, Hopkins, and Benilde-St. Margaret’s).  The nod today goes to Maple Grove, but Minnetonka and Hopkins are playing well.  In Section 7AA, Elk River (9-2-0) and Grand Rapids (8-2-1) are the favorites at the halfway mark of the 2014-2015 season.  The Elks have the edge over the Thunderhawks at the halfway mark and should win Section 7AA.  It is unfortunate the two teams will not play each other until the Section 7AA finals.

In Section 8AA, Roseau (9-1-1), Buffalo (8-2-0), and River Lakes (9-1-1) are the top teams.  River Lakes plays in the Hastings Christmas Classic (December 29-31) and will likely play Hastings in the Championship game.  The Stars are likely to go undefeated the remainder of the season if they win at Hastings, posting a 22-1-1 record.  That should be good enough to give the Stars the #2 seed with Buffalo getting the #3 seed.  River Lakes would then host Buffalo in the Section 8AA semifinals and if the Stars win that game they would likely play #1 Roseau at a neutral site.  Roseau plays in the Mid-Winter Meltdown Tourney played at Eden Praiire’s Cub/Supervalu Rink 1.  At Eden Prairie, the Rams open against a tough Chaska/Chanhassen team.  It they win, the Rams would play the winner of the Eden Prairie/Benilde-St. Margaret’s game and have a shot at beating the #1 ranked team.  Roseau should win Section 8AA this year.        

Class AA State Tourney (mid-season predictions)

For the Class AA tourney, the same seeding process is used as for the Class A tourney, the eight section winners are seeded and based on the seeding, the tourney quarterfinals to be played Thursday, February 19, 2015 at the Xcel are set.  The eight sectional winners are seeded #1 to #5 and three teams are unranked.  YHH projected seeds for this season’s tourney is #1 Eden Prairie, #2 Roseau, #3 Maple Grove, #4 Dodge County, and #5 Elk River.  Based on the those projected seeds, the Class AA quarterfinals would look like this; #2 Roseau would open play Thursday at 11:00 AM against Mounds View.  The second game played at 1:00 PM would match #3 Maple Grove and Hill Murray.  In the 6:00 PM evening game, #1 Eden Prairie plays Hastings and in the 8:00 PM final quarterfinal game, #4 Dodge County plays #5 Elk River.

12/16 Rankings-These rankings reflect the games played through December 16.  Two teams remain on the list of unbeaten teams heading into this week’s action, #1 ranked Eden Prairie (10-0-2) and #3 ranked Maple Grove (11-0-1).  The Crimson stepped out of Northwest Suburban Conference play for the first time this season and tied Benilde-St. Margaret’s.  Edina’s march to the top of the rankings was stopped with a loss to Lake Conference rival Minnetonka. 

This week’s top ten teams:

1. Eden Prairie (Overall 10-0-2, Section 2AA 2-0-0)-The Eagles beat Chaska/Chanhassen 4-1, Benilde-St. Margaret’s 3-2, and tied Hopkins 1-1 last week.  Hopkins is getting better.  The Royal’s senior Molly Dionne was in the nets stopping 35 of 36 Eagle shots on net and Grace Bizel played a great game at defense.  The Eagles play at Wayzata and play at Cretin-Derham Hall before Christmas Holiday break.  They then host their Mid-Winter Meltdown Tourney playing Benilde-St. Margaret’s in the quarterfinals.   

2. Blake (Overall 11-1-0, Section 5A 2-0-0)-The Bears beat Blake 3-2 coming from behind in the third period in a crucial Class A match up that keeps Blake on a path to win their third straight Class A championship.  Blake has the next week off before playing  Roseville January 1st in the quarterfinals of the St. Paul’s Kaposia Classic at Wakota Arena. 

3. Maple Grove (Overall 11-0-1, Section 6AA 0-0-1)-The Crimson beat North Metro 9-3 after tying Benilde-St. Margaret’s 2-2.  They are off until they play Edina in Edina’s Walser Tourney December 29th.

4. Minnetonka (Overall 8-3-0, Section 6AA)-The Skippers beat Edina 3-1 and lost to Wayzata 2-1 this past week.  Splitting the two road games reluctantly moves the Skippers to fourth this week.  With split combined with Hopkins tying Eden Prairie means the Lake Conference (Eden Prairie, Edina, Minnetonka, Wayzata, Hopkins) is headed a log jam at the top of the league.  The league could end in a 5 team tie for first place.  The Skippers play at Centennial and host Buffalo this week.  They are favorites to win those two games.  On Monday, December 29th, the Skippers play Eagan in the quarterfinals of Eden Prairie’s Mid-Winter Meltdown tourney and will be favored again.  After playing Eagan, the Skippers will be in a battle to win the tourney.  Returning to their regular season schedule will get only tougher for the Skippers.  They play Hopkins, Prior Lake, Eden Prairie, Edina, Maple Grove, Wayzata, Hopkins again, and Eden Prairie again in January as the Lake Conference regular season schedule kicks in.      

5. Edina (Overall 8-3-0), Section 2AA 1-0-0)-The Hornets lost to Minnetonka 3-1 and beat Buffalo at Buffalo 4-0.  They have missed scoring leader senior Taylor Williamson the past four games.  The loss to the Skippers drops Edina in the rankings.  Minnetonka outshot the Hornets in the Skippers’ win 41-16.  Edina drops to #5 this week.  The Hornets play Hopkins and Wayzata in two tough Lake Conference games this week and then play #3 Maple Grove in the opening game of Edina’s Walser Tournament Monday, December 29th at Braemar Arena.   

6. Dodge County (overall 9-1-0, Section 1AA 1-0-0)-The Wildcats recovered from their 4-2 lost to Edina posting two win at home beating Buffalo 3-0 and Rochester Century 7-3.  They moved up one notch in the rankings with Breck losing to Blake last week.  The Wildcats play Hill-Murray and New Ulm this week and then travel to Warroad the following week to play in the Warroad Hockeytown Holiday Classic.   Dodge County will play Warroad, Eastview, and Lakeville North in the Hockeytown Classic.

7. Breck (Overall 8-3-0, Section 5A 1-1-0)-The Mustangs took their third loss in five games losing to Blake 3-2 last week.  Things do not get any easier this week.  Breck hosts Red Wing Saturday and travels to #10 ranked Lakeville South the following Saturday before playing Hopkins in the Edina Walser Tourney opener December 29th.  Breck needs some wins.

8. Roseau (Overall 10-1-1, Section 6AA 5-0-0)-The Rams beat North Wright County 5-1 and East Grand Forks 4-2 last week.  They play Brainerd/Little Falls in this week and as predicted have gone unbeaten since their last trip to the Twin Cities.  They play Chaska/Chanhassen in their opening tourney game at Eden Prairie in their next trip to the Cities.

9. Thief River Falls (Overall 9-1-2, Section 8A 5-0-0)-The Prowlers beat Brainerd/Little Falls 12-1 last week and travel to Fergus Falls and Bemidji this week.  They will be favored to win those games.  The following week Thief River Falls travels to the Twin Cities for games played at Fogerty Ice Arena in Blaine.  The Prowlers will play the Hayward Co-Op Hurricanes in the opening game.  The Hurricanes are unbeaten this season and are currently ranked #3 in Wisconsin.  Last week Hayward beat Mahtomedi 7-1.  Eight teams are playing at Fogerty.  Forest Lake plays Mankato East, Bismarck ND (currently rated the best team in North Dakota) plays Orono, and Blaine plays Central Wisconsin (currently ranked #1 in Wisconsin) in quarterfinal games.

10. Lakeville South (Overall 9-1-0, Section 1AA 1-0-0)-Lakeville South beat Shakopee 5-2 and Farmington 7-1 in two South Suburban Conference games last week.  The Cougars remain on the top of the South Suburban with a 7-0-0 record, but play second place Lakeville North this week at Lakeville North (Ames Arena) in a rivalry game.  The Cougars play #7 Breck the following week and play Irondale in their opening game of the Walser Tournament December 29th at Edina.  The Cougars should beat Irondale and play the winner of the Hopkins/Breck game for a shot at the championship game.  The results of the games Lakeville South plays in the next two weeks will impact Section 1AA (and Lakeville South’s) seeding.  

Teams to watch: Hill-Murray (4-3-0), Hopkins (7-4-0), St. Paul United (7-3-0), Proctor/Hermantown (10-2-0), New Prague (8-2-2),  Chaska/Chanhassen (7-3-0), Warroad (8-4-1), Cretin-Derham Hall (9-1-2), Elk River (8-2-0), Wayzata (7-2-2), Grand Rapids/Greenway (9-2-0), Buffalo (8-3-0), Lakeville North (8-2-1), and Rochester John Marshall/Lourdes (10-1-1)

Notes: Orono beat Red Wing 4-2 Tuesday night dropping Red Wing out of the teams to watch this week.  Hopkins’s 1-1 tie with #1 Eden Prairie puts them on the teams to watch list.  Wayzata beat Minnetonka 2-1 and should move into the top ten if the Trojans can keep winning.  Defending Class A champions, East Grand Forks, lost 4-2 to Roseau at home Tuesday and drop out of the teams to watch with a 6-4-0 season record.