D3’s peewee A playoff format is the one recommended by Minnesota Hockey; an 8 team, double elimination tournament based on bracket play. The season standings will determine where teams play. With nine teams in the league, there will be one play-in game between the eighth and ninth seeds.
Each peewee A team during regular season plays a home and home with the other eight peewee A teams and plays one game with the two D3 AA teams during the regular season for a total of 18 D3 games (it also yields an 11 game peewee AA schedule).
Orono A has a three point lead over the Minneapolis Storm and one D3 game left with OMG A. The Spartans had a good week beating Hopkins 7-1 and St. Louis Park 4-2, but lost to Mound/Westonka 7-1. Still, the Spartans should beat OMG A for the title. With two games left on their schedule (Wayzata AA and Armstrong A), the Minneapolis Storm A has the lead over the third place Mound/Westonka. The Whitehawks finished their D3 season last week. The Whitehawks beat Orono A Monday night 7-1, OMG A 5-0, and lost to St. Louis Park 5-2 to finish in third place in D3.
There was an alligator in D3’s peewee A standings, St. Louis Park A. The Orioles are in last place in D3, but had three unreported D3 wins and one unreported D3 tie until last week (NOW rankings have those game scores-Park beat Wayzata A 5-3 on December 3, beat Crow River 3-1 on December 23, and beat OMG A 4-0 on December 27; they tied Hopkins 1-1 on January 21). Those three wins and one tie were added into the standings this past week plus the losses to Orono and Wayzata AA. With St. Louis Park’s win added to the standings, the Orioles take fourth by a single point over Crow River. Crow River and Park play Thursday in the game that will likely decide 4th place. St. Louis Park should win and take fourth. Wayzata A has two games left with OMG A and Armstrong they should win. Wayzata takes 5th and Crow River takes 6th.
OMG A, Armstrong, and Hopkins are in the bottom third of the league. Hopkins won the Faribault tourney two weekends ago beating Shakopee 6-4 in the championship game. The Royals showed improvement in that tourney, always a good sign at the end of the season. Armstrong hosted a 12 team peewee A tourney this week end. They finished third in their pools (Apple Valley A finished first and Eden Prairie A second in Armstrong’s pool).
OMG A played in the Warroad tourney two weekends ago. The Crimson played Devil’s Lake North Dakota, Springfield, and Roseau AA in pool play. They tied Roseau AA 2-2. OMG A should take seventh place, Hopkins eighth, and Armstrong ninth.
Hopkins beats Armstrong in the play-in game to keep eighth for the tourney.
Based on those projections, Orono would play Hopkins in the opening game of the D3 peewee A playoffs. The Spartans team is the #4 ranked peewee A team in the state. They have beaten Hopkins twice in D3 this year, 7-1 and 7-1 and should win again. The second game in the upper bracket would match the #13 ranked St. Louis Park and #18 ranked Wayzata A. These two teams have split in their two games this year, Park winning 5-3 and losing 4-1. In a tough game, the Orioles edge Wayzata A. The Trojan A’s have been rising in NOW’s peewee A pool the past month.
Based on the predicted finish, the Minneapolis Storm would play OMG A in the first game of the lower bracket. The Storm placed second in pool play at Breezy Point’s tourney this past weekend. They beat Northfield 10-0, beat Andover A 5-0 and lost to Wayzata A 2-1. The championship semifinals Saturday, the Storm beat Spring Lake Park 4-1 and Sunday beat Wayzata A 2-1 to win the title. OMG A is another team with talent and size that has struggle all season long. They lost to the Storm twice in D3 play 6-3 and 6-2. The 6-2 loss was two weeks ago. The Storm wins.
In the second game in the lower bracket, Mound/Westonka plays Crow River. The Tigers are struggling in late January and did not have a good Red Wing tourney two weekends ago, losing to the host 3-2. Both teams have size and talent, but the Tigers can’t match the Whitehawks’ strength and speed at forward. Mound/Westonka wins.
The semifinal round would match Orono and St. Louis Park. Park wins. In the second semifinal, Mound/Westonka beats the Storm. Two weekends ago, the Whitehawks lost a tough game to St. Vital Winnipeg 5-4 in Inver Grove Heights Championship game. This time in the D3 championship game, the Whitehawks win. Mound/Westonka gets the #1 seed and St. Louis Park gets the #2 seed. Wayzata A emerges from the loser bracket to take the #3 seed.