Growing up a child of the ’70s sports fans weren’t given many choices.  That’s right now ESPN and no internet meant as a sports fan you took what you could get.  CBS trotted out this east coast guy named Jimmy “the Greek” Snyder to predict football games every Sunday.  He had a thick accent and he was the guy everyone loved to hate. Being from the midwest, we naturally hated him more than we were probably suppose to. It seemed every week he picked against my beloved Vikings and every week I would exalt at the end of a game….”take that Jimmy!!!”

On a number of ocassions the past two years, YHH has gotten a pick wrong.  And do we ever hear about it.  A few teams have posted our error on their team pages and few have posted choice words in our comments section. This year has been especially tough for Sultan of Souvlaki, missing on a number of winners.  To which one mom commented to me this past weekend, “thank you so much for not picking our team to win, we now have a chance…”

So here we go:

OMGHA PWB

Possibly the best PWB tournament all year.  Four 8 team brackets with the winners advancing to the final four on Sunday.  The winner of this tournament is often thought of as a favorite to win state each year.

Pool Winners:

Orange: Edina (very tough pool…WBL Orange, Highland, MPLS, and SW Black)

Black: Woodbury Royal (a surging team with only 1 loss in their last ten games)

Gold: Sibley Black (watch out for WB Black, this is a very good team)
Crimson: Stillwater Red (Rochester Red will be tough to beat)

Overall Winner: Edina

Sleepers: Both White Bear teams, Rochester Red and any team from Canada
Cloquet Barnburner

A very good 16 team tournament with a top heavy top bracket (White Bear Orange, Tartan and SW Red on the top 8 and highly ranked North Metro as the best team in the bottom 8 bracket).

Winner: Stillwater Red
Sleeper: White Bear Orange or North Metro

Woodbury Rumble AA

Winner: Prior Lake
Sleeper: Oklahoma City

Commentary: Look for Jefferson and Woodbury to challenge from the other pool

Woodbury Rumble A

Winner: Easview (AA team versus some very worthy A teams like Wayzata, Crow River, Sibley and Edina.

Sleeper: Calling Wayzata a sleeper is almost laughable, but let’s go with it.
Woodbury Rumble B

Winner: Wayzata Blue (a very good team with all the tools to win)
Sleeper: Eden Prairie (one of the most improved teams in the state)

Brainerd u10A Twin Cities Tour

The undefeated #2 ranked Brainerd Warriors are coming to the Twin Cities to play three top metro teams in U10A: #1 Forest Lake, #4 Stillwater, and recent Duluth Champions Edina Green.  YHH says: if they pull of the improbable three-fer, this will be the best team in the state. Winners of the Fargo International 10A tournament a couple weeks ago and now this..it would be hard to argue their status.  YHH hopes to catch up with them while they are in town.

Portman SQA Parise Division

This is a great Division – Blaine, Elk River, Princeton and Edina White can all play and win it.  Every one of these teams has star, which makes for an interesting set of results.

Winner: Edina (White)
Sleeper: Princeton

Portman SQA Suter Division

Andover headlines this division. The Huskies have won a lot of games this year and their only losses  have been by one goal to top teams in the state.  We look for them to win this Division (too bad the two champions of these pools can’t line up for a skate).

Portman SQB Heatley Division

This is a nice field: Eveleth Gilbert (one loss), Minneapolis Storm (one loss), WBL White (one loss) and CC Gold with three losses.

Winner: Minneapolis Storm (Purple)
Sleeper: Eveleth-Gilbert

Portman SQB Setoguchi Division

Winner: Osseo Maple Grove (Orange)
Sleeper: Eveleth Gilbert (Black)

Portman SQB Cullen Division

Winner: Edina Silver
Sleeper: Duluth Portman