This field wasn’t as strong this year. It seemed like a transition year. Dangles, lights, and sliders have gone away, where design has become a stronger priority to both the teams and our Committee. Possibly the funniest pin we saw was from East Grand Forks – logo, sparkle, hockey gloves, dangles, flags, it had everything except the light.
The Field: Burnsville, Fergus Falls, MPLS, Shakopee, Wayzata B, Armstrong, Chaska Chan and Alexandria. The Committee chose two from northern District 15 to avoid Northern Bias complaints. Noticeably absent this year: Rosemount…usually a huge favorite because of sparkle and size, Edina…much more subtle this year, very classy just like all their fans (well, almost all) and much better than last year’s “We are the Champions” version, and WBL…after last year’s solid effort and first round loss, I think the folks from White Bear focused more on their hockey than the pin.
First Round: Burnsville with another strong effort this year…this year’s version had an ice rink, flames, kid names and more sparkle than a Justin Bieber concert. The Blaze faced #8 Shakopee…the Sabers were overheard complaining to the Committee that they got paired with a D6 opponent in the first round. The skating Saber was solid, but not enough to get past Burnsville. The #2 seed was Fergus Falls, the angry Otter with a state of MN dangle was a nice touch, they knocked off MPLS who had the sliding Yeti with the downtown skyline design. An impressive showing for the Storm, just like on the ice. In the 3/6 matchup , Wayzata B just crushed Alexandria. The animated Trojan was too much for the state of MN Cardinal skating guy. The always tough 4/5 match up paired hockey helmet Chaska Chan and state of MN shaped bird Armstrong Cooper. The hockey helmet was a huge hit with the Committee garnering every vote possible. If this had been a hockey game, it would have been in running time.
Semifinals: Burnsville hosted CC. Burnsville strutted their way into the YHH conference room with their ice rink and CC had their helmet in a special pin bag for the unveiling. After a nice presentation by both teams, the committee met. One member said of the Burnsville pin, “it looks like a birthday cake from Cub..” and another said (with sunglasses on), “it’s so bright.” After two nights in Fargo, bright is the last thing we wanted to see. The Hockey Helmet advanced over the birthday cake into the Minnesota final. In the night game, Wayzata B was ready to play versus Fergus Falls. Two outstanding designs…both animated, one bold and one angry. The committee had a hard time deciding between the homer metro team Wayzata and the outcast northern team. The Otter won our heart..it was love at first site.
Finals:The championship vote was going to be easy. You either like the helmet or you don’t. The committee spent a lot of energy with the Otter/Trojan vote, I think they just wanted to be done. It was kind of like the Minnetonka girls team on Saturday night after their multiple OT victory over LVN, when they saw Hill Murray, they just wanted to be done. The Otter went down quickly to the Helmet.
CC advance to the finals for a bout with the Lancers.
World Title: In the finals the goalie from Omaha came out of the net, a la Ron Hextall and got first blood, cracking the CC helmet with his armor and defending his goal with his shield. A good battle ensued, but the Helmet could not recover. A Lancer goalie is hard to beat. Kind of like the Northern Colorado zamboni last year. Congrats to Omaha on winning this year’s Pin Bracket Challenge. To view a full gallery of pins sent to us, Click Here.