Minnesota Hockey, using proportional representation based on the number of AA teams each district has fielded for the 2012-2013 season, has released the final regional fields for both the Peewee AA and Bantam AA tournaments.

District 8 and District 10 were the winners each gaining two additional seeds. That means D8 and D10 teams finishing 4th and 5th in their district playoffs will advance to a regional tourney.

The top three seeded D8 teams will still play in the East Regional. Three peewee AA teams and three bantam AA teams will still play in Cottage Grove, host for the Peewee AA and Banatam AA East Regional Tournaments, in March. At Cottage Grove, they will compete with the top three seeds from District 6 and the top two seeds from District 2.

The #4 seeded D8 peewee team and the #4 seeded D8 bantam team will play in the South Regionals hosted by St. Cloud. They will joined by District 2’s #3 seed, by District 6’s #4 seed, and by District 10’s #4 seed. District 5 will send their top three teams to the South Regional and District 9 will send their only AA team to the South Regional, the Rochester Red. The stakes just went up in the Peewee AA and Bantam AA South Regionals.

The D10 team seeded #5 coming out of the D10 playoffs will head north. The D10 #5 seeded peewee AA team will travel to Bemidji and the D10 #5 seeded bantam AA team will travel to Grand Rapids. They will join two District 16 teams, three District 11 teams and two District 12 teams.

This change in the North Regional means one of the three D16 AA peewee teams one of the three D16 AA bantam teams will be eliminated (Bemidji, Roseau, or East Grand Forks). The three AA D11 peewee teams (Hermantown, Cloquet, and Duluth East) and the two AA D12 peewee teams (Grand Rapids and Hibbing) are in the North Regional. They will play for seeds at district playoff time.

Finally, the #5 D8 team will travel west to play in the West Regionals. They will join two AA teams from D3 (Wayzata and Osseo/Maple Grove), two AA teams from D15 (Moorhead and Brainerd) and the top three seeded peewee AA and bantam AA teams from D10.

Minnesota Hockey is to be commended for getting this out early in the season. Now the teams know where they are with most of the season still ahead.

The East Regional at the pewee and at the bantam level remains unchanged and the most competitive this year. The D10 #5 seed in the North Regional could be a sleeper especially if a Centennial or Elk River gets upended in the District 10 Playoffs.

The D8 #5 seed in the West Regional will add some spice but both Wayzata peewee AA and bantam AA teams are tough this year. That makes the West Regionals (peewee and bantam) with seven good teams fighting for one seed.
The South Regional becomes a “league of nations” or “league of districts” if preferred. But don’t get enamored with the D6, D8 , D2, and D10 “move-ins”. D5 teams from St. Cloud and St. Michael/Albertville, and the Rochester Red from D9, will be tough.