The Fargo International brackets were released tonight and the pairings seem a little off the mark.  Projected seeds are as follows (seeds are based on #1 being Rosemount and #2 being Osseo Maple Grove):

1. Rosemount
2. Osseo Maple Grove
3. Stillwater
4. White Bear Lake
5. Warroad
6. Minneapolis
7. Chaska Chanhassen
8. Orono
9. Highland Central
10. Bloomington Jefferson
11. Eastview
12. Edina Green
13. Prior Lake
14. Eden Prairie
15. Moorhead
16. Burnsville

Big Winners: Eastview, Minneapolis, Stillwater and Highland Central.

Eastview is paired with Roseau, Fargo Black and Arizona Hockey Union and then must face an over valued Minneapolis team. Minneapolis is paired with Mankato, Sartell and Foothills…the winner of EV and MPLS faces Stillwater (3) or EP (14) in the final 8. Stilwater is top 5 caliber and on the opposite side of bracket of OMG and CC making them 3 – a good record but zero Top Ten wins and one tie versus #4 seed WBL. Highland Central is up against Wayzata, Fargo Angels and Minot sending them in as either an #8 or #9 seed (way too high for the Caps).
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Big Losers: OMG and CC (they play a Final Four type game in the final 8), Prior Lake, and Burnsville.

District 6 in general.  Winners of just about every International, District 6 got zero love from the committee this year. Prior Lake is not 13 and CC is not 7..no way, no how.

Teams left out of top 16: Grand Forks is weighted as 29 (playing #4 WBL in round of 32), West Fargo (or Orono depending on how you look at it) is factored at 25 way too low for a good team…good Friday afternoon game here between the Spartans and the Packers.

Good matchups

Round 1 – Armstrong Cooper and Woodbury (AC plays everyone tough and Woodbury is the only team to tie #1 Rosemount).

Round 2 – West Fargo vs. Orono (two top flight teams will fight for 2-0 status).
Round 3 – A ton of good ones here: Stillwater vs. EP (EP winners earlier this year), Moorhead vs. OMG, CC vs. Jefferson (the two teams have split so far this year), Edina vs. Warroad (offense vs. defense and goaltending), and Prior Lake vs. WBL.

Final 8: OMG vs. CC (see above) and WBL vs. Edina (a Maroon and Gold classic).

Sunday: Stay tuned for Preview and Predictions