The North Pool opens the tourney with defending state champions, Prior Lake, playing Lakeville North in the first game.  Prior Lake beat Lakeville North 7-1 and Centennial 7-4 in late October, but had a setback last week losing to Lakeville South 7-1 and White Bear Lake 3-2.  Lakeville North has played four D6 teams beating Chaska, Burnsville, and Jefferson and won their opening D8 game beating Apple Valley 3-2.  This looks to be an even match despite the early big loss by the Panthers.  Still, in a close game, Prior Lake wins.

The second pool game matches Andover and Eden Prairie and the Eagles maybe in for a surprise.  The Huskies showed some talent in an opening season loss to Wayzata 7-2.  They have the potential of one of the best lines in the state.  The Huskies beat Stillwater 4-2 last weekend, but have a short bench this year.  The Huskies lost big to STMA 10 days ago 7-1.  Eden Prairie has struggled in the early season winning three of their first seven games.  They also have beaten Stillwater in the past two weeks, 7-5.  In a mild upset, Andover beats Eden Prairie in the opener.

In the North pool second round games played Friday evening, Prior Lake beats Eden Prairie and Andover beats Lakeville North.  In the pool championship Saturday, Prior Lake beats Andover.  The Lakers go to the championship round on Sunday and the Huskies play in Sunday’s consolation round. 

Friday’s South Pool opener pits Minnetonka against St. Michael/Albertville.  Minnetonka opened big in D6 with an 11-0 win over Burnsville.  Last week, they tied Jefferson in their second D6 game 3-3.  Before Halloween, they pushed Wayzata before losing 5-4 and have beaten Centennial 7-5.  STMA has gone 4-1 in their first five games.  Their only loss was to Osseo/Maple Grove 6-3 a week ago.  Besides beating Andover, the Knights opened District 5 play last weekend beating Sartell 7-1.  This is another tough game between two good teams.  STMA wins.

Rochester Red plays Elk River in the second pool game.  The Red team does not participate in D9 regular season and opts to play an independent schedule.  That means they travel or host teams on the weekend and play few week night games.  Oddly enough, this year the Rochester Association fielded a single A team, the Rochester Black.  Previously, the association had fielded two A2 teams.  The Black have won their first four D9 games big and are leading a 12 team District 9 field after two weekends of play.

The Red may not make it out of the South Regional, but the Black may being playing in the State Tourney in Faribault come March.

Elk River chose not to play many games in their first month.  A decision could be driven by D10 rules frowning on many game played before the opening of the D10 season.  The Elks lost to Edina big 11-1 in their first game and split a home and home with St. Cloud.  With D10 regular season starting the Elks have scheduled a week of games before the Eden Prairie tourney (Anoka, Chaska, Chisago Lakes-D10 game, Blaine-D10 game, and Forest Lake).  Still, Elk River should beat Rochester Red in Friday’s game.

Saturday morning, the South Pool games open with Minnetonka playing Rochester.  Tonka wins.  STMA beats Elk River.  The STMA game will be the Elks 10th in 13 days.  A tiring Elk River faces Minnetonka in the Saturday evening game.  The Skippers win to advance to the Consolation round.  STMA beats Rochester in the second South Pool game Saturday evening to advance to the Championship game.

The East Pool play opens Friday afternoon in a game between Edina and Stillwater.  Edina is playing in mid-season form and buried Burnsville 12-0 in their opening D6 game and beat Jefferson 8-0 in their second game.  They also beat Wayzata last week 5-1.  Stillwater opened their D2 season with tying White Bear Lake 1-1 and losing to Mounds View 3-2.  The Hornets win.

Osseo/Maple Grove plays Eagan in the East Pool second game Friday.  The Crimson opened their season losing to Eden Prairie and then big to Edina (16-4).  They rebounded by playing better over the last two weeks with a 6-2 win over Chaska and tying Lakeville South 4-4 besides beating STMA 6-3.  But last weekend, the Crimson lost to Prior Lake 8-5.

Eagan opened their season with a 7-4 loss to Centennial and then strung two ties and win (beating New Prague 4-1) before losing to Mound/Westonka last weekend 2-1.  Mound/Westonka has a good team this year.  They tied Wayzata in opening D3 play last week 0-0.  Playing a good Centennial team close in their opening game bodes well for the Wildcats in the coming season; but not at Thanksgiving.  OMG beats Eagan.

In Saturday morning’s pool play, Edina continues to roll beating Eagan.  Osseo/Maple Grove should edge Stillwater in the second game setting up a return match with Edina for the East Pool title Saturday evening.  It should not be another 16-4 game.  Edina wins.  It will be interesting to see how far OMG has progressed since that opening loss to Edina.

Eagan beats Stillwater in the final East Pool game.  Edina goes to the Championship round on Sunday; OMG goes to the Consolation round.

West Pool play their opening games Friday afternoon.  White Bear Lake plays Chaska in the first game.  The Bears opened their D2 season tying Stillwater and beating Forest Lake.  Chaska has gone 5-4 in their first 9 games.  They split with Duluth East, beat Orono 5-4 (another potentially tough D3 team), and beat Tartan 7-2 and Prior Lake 6-3 last weekend.  Another tough opening round game, but the nod goes to Chaska.

Grand Rapids and Wayzata meet in the second game of the West Pool on Friday.  Grand Rapids beat Tartan 5-3 and Jefferson 5-4 in their first two games of the season.  The Thunderhawks lost to Duluth East 4-1 last weekend.  Wayzata won their first four games of the season and then struggled in three games last weekend, losing to Edina 5-1, beating Stillwater 3-2, and tying Mound/Westonka 0-0.  The Trojans should beat the Thunderhawks.

In Saturday morning games, Wayzata beats White Bear Lake in the first game.  Grand Rapids beats Chaska in the second game.  Saturday evening, Chaska springs an upset and beats Wayzata.  Grand Rapids beats White Bear Lake turning the West Pool into a three way tie settled by goal differential.  Chaska advances the Championship round.  Wayzata goes to the Consolation round.

In the first semifinal game, Prior Lake should play STMA.  These two teams have not played each other and they have one common opponent, OMG.  Prior Lake beat OMG 8-5 and STMA lost to OMG 6-3.  Still, STMA has shown a tough defense and Prior Lake has given up an average of 5 goals a game in their last 6 games.  The nod goes to STMA.

In the second semifinal, Edina plays D6 rival Chaska.  At this point in the season, the Hornets are playing the best hockey.  They beat Chaska.  In the Championship game, Edina beats STMA to take the title.  Prior Lake beats Chaska for third place.

Minnetonka and Andover clash in the first semifinal game.  The Skippers win.  Andover tires in their fifth tough game in three days.  Wayzata beats OMG in the second semifinal and comes back to beat Minnetonka for the Consolation Title.