The twelve teams participating in the Edina peewee AA tourney have been divided into three, four team, pools.  Each pool winner will advance to the tourney's championship semifinals played Tuesday evening.  The best second place finisher (usually picked via tie breakers) will get the "wild card" seed to the semifinals and play the pool winner with the best record in pool play.

Pool A: Edina AA, Blaine, Stillwater AA, Lakeville North

The Edina AA peewees had their 75 game winning streak broken a month ago at Eden Prairie’s Thanksgiving Day tourney when they lost to Chaska/Chanhassen AA 3-2.  Since then the Hornets have won their last 10 games posting a 29-1 season record going into the Invitational.  The Hornets have re-gained NOW’s #1 ranking and are considered the top AA team in the state.  They beat Moorhead AA 13-1 and Owatonna AA 10-0 in last week’s play.  The Hornets open play Sunday against Lakeville North AA.  This will be the first meeting between the two teams this year.  The Panthers are currently on top of District 8’s peewee A league, but will struggle to keep their lead.  They have lost four D8 games (Woodbury, Eagan, Rosemount, and Lakeville South).  The Panthers have won only one game in the past week (beating Park/Cottage Grove A 3-1) and lost to Moorhead AA last week 5-3.

Blaine and Stillwater AA meet in the other Pool A game Sunday.  The Bengals played in Roseau’s Paul Broten Peewee AA/A tourney last weekend beating Bismarck ND 6-1, Grand Forks Seawolves 2-0, and Waconia 10-1 to advance to the championship round.  They lost to the eventual champions Cloquet 6-0 in the semifinals.  The Bengals are currently in a battle in the D10 peewee AA league.  The six AA teams in the league are playing each other 3 or 4 times in the 2013-2014 as part of a 16 game league schedule.  Stillwater AA is struggling in District 2 play this year posting a 4-5-1 record in their first 10 games.  D2 has a single peewee A league comprised of four AA teams and six A teams.  The D2 A teams (Mahtomedi, Highland, Tartan, and White Bear Lake A) are all having good years.  In their last four D2 games, the Ponies have tied and beaten White Bear Lake A (2-2 and 5-0), lost to Mahtomedi 5-4, and lost to Highland 3-2.  In December, the Ponies have posted a 1-5-2 record.

Pool A Forecast: On Sunday, Edina should beat Lakeville North; but the Panthers have proven tough for the Hornets.  Last year at the White Bear Lake tourney, North came close to beating the Hornets playing a disciplined game.  Blaine should beat Stillwater, but like North, the Ponies have sprung more than one upset in this tourney in the past.  Monday, Edina should beat Stillwater and Blaine should beat Lakeville North setting up a Tuesday battle between Blaine and Edina.  Edina wins.  The Bengals will need to win the tie breakers to advance via the wild card.  Two greater than 5 goal Blaine wins over North and Stillwater would go a long way in helping the Bengals advance. 

Pool A Schedule:

Sunday, December 29

4:00 PM Blaine vs Stillwater

7:00 PM Edina vs Lakeville North

Monday, December 30

9:15 AM Stillwater vs Edina

10:45 AM Lakeville North vs Blaine

Tuesday, December 31

7:30 AM Edina vs Blaine

9:00 AM Stillwater vs Lakeville North

Pool B: Chaska/Chanhassen AA, Elk River AA, Wayzata, Lakeville South

Chaska/Chanhassen AA took the #1 NOW ranking after beating the Hornets at Thanksgiving, but the Hawks have tied Rosemount AA 1-1 and lost to Minnetonka AA 1-0 since.  Chaska is NOW ranked #5.  They beat Lakeville North 6-0 and Burnsville AA twice (7-0 and 5-1) in December.  The loss to Minnetonka AA was a D6 loss and hurt Chaska’s chances to win the D6 title this year.  Edina AA is unbeaten in D6 and are the favorites to with the regular season title.  The Hawks are in second place, but will be challenged by Prior Lake AA and Minnetonka AA before the season is over.  Lakeville South beat Lakeville North in D8 play before Christmas 4-1 and has only lost one game in December.  The Cougars are in contention for the D8 Peewee A (5-3-0 D8 record with losses to Rosemount, Sibley, and Eagan) crown.

Wayzata and Elk River AA play in the second Pool B game on Sunday.  Wayzata, ranked #11, has posted a 16-8-1 season record winning seven of nine December games.  The Trojans beat Minnetonka AA 2-0 in a game played the Sunday before Christmas.   Wayzata is 4-1 in District 3 play and should make a run at the D3 title in January.  Their single D3 loss was to Osseo/Maple Grove 8-1 in the first game of the 2013-2014 season.  D3, like D2, has been dominated in early season play by peewee A teams (Orono and Armstrong).  The Elks must feel a little lost in D10 without their year after year rival, Centennial AA battling with them for the D10 crown.  Instead, the Elks are battling Andover for #1 with Blaine lurking in third place while Centennial languishes in the cellar.  Elk River has had a busy December going 8-5 in 13 games.  They are 3-1 in December in D10 play (9-1-1 overall).  Andover beat the Elks 3-0 two weeks ago.  The Andover loss was followed losses to Brainerd 4-3 and Sibley 5-4.

Pool B Forecast: Chaska should beat Lakeville South in the opener; the Hawk forwards should be too tough for the Cougars to handle.  Wayzata has one of the top lines in the state but struggled earlier in the season.  Elk River has played tough defensively this season, but not consistently.  NOW ranks Wayzata #11 and Elk River #12.  That made for a difficult pick.  So out came that old zinc penny, a flip, and it came up Elk River.  Monday’s games pit Lakeville South against Wayzata and Chaska playing Elk River.  The South is rising, but not there yet.  The nod goes to Wayzata while Chaska’s forwards beat the Elk’s defense.  Elk River beats Lakeville South on Tuesday and Wayzata loses to Chaska.  That puts Chaska in the Championship semifinals and Elk River (2-1 in pool play) looking at the tie breakers to see if the Elks can advance via a wild card #4 seed.

Pool B Schedule     

Sunday, December 29

4:15 PM Wayzata vs Elk River

5:45 PM Chaska/Chanhassen vs Lakeville South

Monday, December 30

9:30 AM Lakeville South vs Wayzata

11:00 AM Elk River vs Chaska/Chanhassen

Tuesday, December 31

7:45 AM Chaska/Chanhassen vs Wayzata

9:15 AM Elk River vs Lakeville South

Pool C: Eden Prairie AA, Osseo/Maple Grove, Sibley, and Centennial AA

Pool C play opens Sunday with Centennial AA playing Sibley.  Centennial is struggling in D10’s peewee AA league this season.  They have managed only a single win (Woodbury 5-2) and a single tie (Blaine 1-1) in the first half of the season.  The Cougars’ offense has not gotten going this year.  They have been zeroed in 10 of their 22 game played; the Cougars offense has scored three or more goals in 3 of the 22 games played.  The NOW ranked #3 Sibley Warriors have posted a 15-4-1 record so far this season including wins over 6 of the 12 teams entered in the invitational (Eden Prairie AA, Osseo/Maple Grove, Wayzata, Elk River, Lakeville South, and Blaine).  The Warriors have played Edina AA once, losing 5-3.  Their only D8 loss is to Rosemount 3-2 last week.

Pool C Forecast: Centennial AA should feel like an anvil after this pool play is over.  They will be “hammered on” by three teams trying win by 5 goals or more.  They could surprise Sibley, but not likely.  Sibley wins on Sunday.  Osseo/Maple Grove beats Eden Prairie repeating their win from the Spirit.  Monday, Sibley hangs on to edge Eden Prairie; OMG hammers on Centennial.  Tuesday, OMG beats Sibley and Eden Prairie hammers on Centennial.  After the OMG/Sibley game, OMG is the pool winner and the Sibley fans will be scrambling to see what is happening in the rinks next door to see how Blaine and Wayzata fared.  It will be breaker time at Braemar and this year's tie breaker could come down to a coin flip by the tourney officials.  The nod here goes to Sibley.

Pool C Schedule

Sunday, December 29

5:30 PM Centennial AA vs Sibley

8:30 PM Eden Prairie AA vs Osseo/Maple Grove AA

Monday, December 30

10:30 AM Sibley vs Eden Prairie AA

12:00PM Osseo/Maple Grove AA vs Centennial AA

Tuesday, December 31

8:00 AM Osseo/Maple Grove AA vs Sibley

9:30 AM Eden Prairie vs Centennial

Wednesday Championships

Edina AA and Sibley should meet in one semifinal game; Osseo/Maple Grove and Chaska/Chanhassen in the other.  Edina and Sibley have played each other once this year.  The Hornets won 5-3 and will win again.  Edina moves on to the championship game.  OMG and Chaska have not played each other this season.  They would be meeting for the first time, OMG wins.  Overall Crimson strength beats Chaska’s forwards.  That sets up a repeat of the Spirit of Duluth championship game.  Edina wins again and rolls in to the New Year with new win streak that climbs to 15 games.