This year, there are changes in the D8 teams.  The first and most significant is that Inver Grove Heights and South St. Paul will not combine to field an A level team.  Each association will field a B1 team instead.

That reduces the number of teams in the league this year to 11 and more importantly the number of A teams to three as of this week.  That does not mean that all three are guaranteed a spot in the East Regional next March.  Lakeville North and Hastings have not designated AA or A; they are in the middle of their tryouts this week.

The District 8 peewee A teams will compete for three slots in the East Regional to be played in Rochester in early March.  They will be joined by three teams from District 9 and two teams from District 6.

The 5-7 District 8 peewee AA teams will compete for the #1 seed in the District 8 AA playoffs.  That is the only seed to be guaranteed a place a South, East, or West regional tourney.  The seed (and regional) that the #1 District 8 team gets will be based on how they are ranked among the top 24 teams.

The peewee AA regionals this year will be held in St. Cloud (South), Lakeville (East), and Anoka (West).  The North AA Regional is not included in the rankings.  Instead the North AA Regional (to be played in Grand Rapids) will consist of two AA peewee teams from Districts 11, 12, 15, and 16. Note that last year, D11 had only three AA teams (Cloquet, Duluth East, and Hermantown), D12 had two (Grand Rapids and Hibbing), D15 had two (Moorhead and Brainerd) and D16 had two (Bemidji and Roseau).

The playoff losing peewee AA District 8 teams will have to await the final decision of the Tournament Committee’s ranking of the top 24 teams once district playoffs are completed to find out if they have qualified for a regional and where they will play.  The Tournament Committee must take only the top ranked team from each district (assumption here is that each district will use playoffs to determine their #1 team).

The D8 peewee A teams played well in last year’s regional.  Cottage Grove won the East Regional title beating Edina for the #1 seed to state; Edina went on to beat Sibley for the #2 seed.  Apple Valley was eliminated losing their first two games.

The 2013-2014 season starts off two associations switching AA and A designations, Sibley is moving to play peewee AA at the end of the year; and Farmington is moving to play A this year.  That means D8 will have at least three peewee A teams, Farmington, Cottage Grove, and Apple Valley.
Farmington looks to be the strong team this year; led by a potential all-girl first line (they are good).  The Tigers have depth with five players returning from last year’s peewee team that played a AA schedule plus the girls joining them.  The Tigers will be a fun to watch develop over the season.

Cottage Grove had a great run late in the season that ended in the State Peewee A Tourney Consolation Championship losing 2-0 to Virginia.  This year they will start off with a new team and should be contending to get to the regionals again.

Apple Valley starts their season with a short bench having lost some more peewee players from the program.  The Eagles’ short bench is augmented with a number of first year peewee players.

Hastings and Lakeville North are still in tryouts and have not designated AA or A per the D8 site.  Lakeville North has some size and skill at the forwards and their defense is strong.  They will be another interesting team to watch.  Hastings had a good run last season and made it to the South Regional.  The Raiders played well at the South, giving STMA fits before losing 3-0.

Eastview has been smart at the peewee level, getting a veteran youth coach and keeping him there since 2006-2007 season.  It has paid off with an Eastview state tourney team last season and a number of select players in the HP programs this past summer.  The future is bright at Eastview High (will the Lightning need “shades”).  This year, the Lightning return five players from last seasons’ East Regional team.  The Lightning will have a solid set of forwards and a reasonable defense to start their development this season.

Lakeville South looks to be re-building after two great seasons at the peewee A/AA level.  The Cougars not only won the regular season title, but the D8 playoffs last season.  Still the Cougars could not get by Minnetonka losing twice two the Skippers in the East Regional (the last lost cost them an entry in the AA state tourney).  South is still in the evaluation process, but in the early scrimmages, look to have some good players and size.  They will be tough again this year.

Rosemount has no outstanding players in the early season, but has a lot of good players based on the early scrimmages.  The Irish should compete this year.

At Sibley, the Generals/Warriors are the Warriors and they are hoping to have a new arena in two years.  But this year, their peewee AA team will have six forwards returning including some of their top players from last year’s team.  Their defense should improve led by strong goal tending.  Last season, Sibley could not beat the Edina A team in the regionals and were eliminated by losing twice to the Hornets.  This season they will challenge the AA teams.
 
Woodbury is in the middle of their tryouts as the association sets the rosters for eight peewee teams (AA, 2-B1, 2-B2, 3-C).  Last season, Woodbury’s AA team looked ready to make a late season run and didn’t.  They did make the West Regional with the #5 seed in D8, but lost to Brainerd and OMG.