A couple years ago, Cloquet’s Association expanded their peewee A tourney to a 16 team, bracket play tourney.  It has become a popular tourney since then.  This year’s field has teams from eight Minnesota Districts entered (2, 5, 8, 9, 10,11, 12, and 15) and one AA team from Omaha NE.  The tourney features the #2 ranked team in the state, Rochester AA, and has Minnesota teams ranked in the top 25 entered.  The games are played in three arenas (Cloquet’s Pine Valley and Northwood Rinks) and neighboring Carlton’s ice arena.

Game 1: NOW ranked #13 Cloquet AA vs Brainerd A

Cloquet took a swing through the Twin Cities last week end tying NOW ranked #12 the Minneapolis Storm AA 3-3, beating Eastview AA 6-4, and Stillwater AA 6-1.  They beat Duluth East AA 5-4 after returning home.  The host Lumberjacks look ready to play in this tourney.

Brainerd A is currently in fourth place in D15’s peewee A league behind NOW ranked #3 Alexandria A, Fergus Falls A, and Detroit Lakes A.  The Warriors have played .500 hockey on the season but have struggled in January losing to Anoka A 3-2, Sartell A 6-2, and Alexandria A 6-0.  They beat Moorhead A 6-3 and Park Rapids A 6-0 in D15 games.

Prediction: Cloquet should win; the Lumberjacks are gearing up for a run in the North AA Regionals to be played at Grand Rapids.     

Game 2: Eveleth-Gilbert/Mesabi East A vs Eastview AA

In late November, the Golden Bears pulled one of the shocks of the 2013-2014 season, beating Grand Rapids AA 8-7 in Grand Rapids.  They followed that by going 2-2 in the Thief River Falls tourney in early December; 2-2 in the Hibbing Tourney in early March.  In their tourney last weekend, EGME took third place.

Eastview lost to #2 Rochester AA three weeks ago in the Rochester tourney in the championship game.  This weekend, both the Lightning and the Red will be testing northern teams instead of southern teams.  The Lightning are currently in the middle of District 8 peewee A league with a 6-7-1 record.  They are NOW ranked #28 and have been playing .500 hockey on the season (5-6-2 in January).

Prediction:  It is nice to see Eveleth on the upswing, the association’s peewee teams have struggled in the past years, but the upswing is not high enough to beat a persistent Lightning attack.  Eastview wins. 

Game 3: NOW ranked #17 Superior AA vs NOW ranked #23 Buffalo AA

The Superior AA team showed some potential at the Big Pumpkin tourney at the end of October.  Since then the Spartans have posted a 18-9-5 record and are leading D11’s peewee AA league with a 4-0-2 record.  They hold January wins over Denfeld A 5-0, Hermantown AA 9-3, and Duluth East 4-3.  They lost 10 days ago to Cloquet 4-3 but beat the Lumberjacks 5-3 earlier in the season.

Buffalo AA is leading District 5’s peewee AA league with an unbeaten 9-0-1 record.  The Bison are the D5’s regular season champs this year.  Their only blemish is a 1-1 tie with Sartell.  Buffalo played in the St. Cloud Tourney two weekends ago.  They lost to Champlin Park AA 4-3, eventually tourney champs Bismarck 2-1 and beat Sartell 3-1 in pool play.  They tied Burnsville AA 2-2 in their fourth game.

Prediction: Superior AA showed good game skills early in the season and have done well since; Buffalo AA has rebounded back to the top of D5 after the last few years of being down.  In a close game, Superior AA wins.

Game 4: Greenway A vs Chisago Lakes A

Greenway had a good season last year.  They made it to the North Peewee A Regional tourney played in Two Harbors and lost a tough opening game to East Grand Forks 4-3 in overtime, beat Crookston 6-5 in overtime, and lost to Proctor 7-2 and were eliminated from state tourney contention.  This season they mired in the middle of D12 managing to be EGME twice.  Greenway could make another run at the state this year by making the North Regional played at Virginia.  At the regional, they would face a tough D12 champion Virginia team and two top teams out of District 2 (most likely Highland and Mahtomedi).  This tourney should be a good experience for Greenway played right before D12 playoffs begin.

Chisago Lakes is mired in D10 in sixth place in D10’s 12 team peewee A league.  The Wildcats have completed D10 play and have posted 33 points (5-11-4 D10 record).  They are currently in sixth place and only eight teams will make the D10 playoffs.  Princeton A is tied with the Wildcats and need only 1 point in their last two games to move past Chisago Lakes in D10 standings; Centennial A with a 7-8-1 record has four games yet to play or be reported and are also likely to move past the Wildcats and drop them out of D10 post season play.

Prediction: Chisago Lakes played in their tourney last weekend won by Eagan.  The Wildcats beat a good North Metro team in their tourney 3-0.  The Wildcats win.

Game 5: NOW ranked #2 Rochester AA vs Denfeld A

The Rochester Red AA team comes into this tourney the second highest ranked AA team in the state.  Three weeks ago, they won their own tourney beating Eastview AA 7-3 in the finals.  The Red won the consolation championship at Eden Prairie’s Thanksgiving Day tourney beating Sibley AA 5-4 and Blaine AA 1-0 in pool play and losing to Prior Lake AA 3-1.  The Red won the consolation championship beating Andover AA 4-3 and Eden Prairie AA 2-1.  The Red is a District 9 team, but does not play in D9’s peewee A league and play an independent schedule.  They have posted a 29-3-1 record going into the Barn Burner.  Their other two losses were to Duluth East AA 2-1 and Minnetonka AA 4-1 two weeks ago. 

Denfeld A plays with Hermantown AA, Superior AA, Cloquet AA, and Duluth East AA in D12 peewee AA league.  They are currently in fourth leading only Duluth East.  Denfeld had a good November tourney at Spring Lake Park placing second to the host, NOW ranked #1 Spring Lake Park.  Denfeld played in the St. Cloud Tourney a week ago, going 1-3.  They lost to Burnsville AA 2-1, beat STMA 4-2, and lost to #1 Spring Lake Park again 4-2.

Prediction: Denfeld’s size could give Rochester some problems, but not enough to beat the Red.  Rochester wins.

Game 6: NOW ranked #20 Hermantown AA vs Mounds View A

For the Hermantown, this tourney is being played in what could be the second home for the neighboring Hawks.  Hermantown has posted an 8-4-1 record in January winning their last three games (beating a good Orono A team twice 8-0 and 8-3 and beating Denfeld 6-2 in District 11.  Going into the last week of District 11 play, the Hawks are in third place; Superior AA WI leads the league.  The Hawks struggled at the Roseau tourney two weeks ago, losing to Eden Prairie 6-0, Moorhead 5-3, beating Osseo/Maple Grove 6-4.  A week ago, they lost to Barn Burner Host Cloquet 4-1 in D12 play.

Mounds View A is last District 2’s peewee AA/A league.  The 12 team league is split equally with 6 AA teams and 6 A teams.  Unfortunately for the Mustangs, this year, NOW ranked #5 Highland, NOW ranked #8 Mahtomedi, and NOW ranked #18 Tartan are all D2 peewee A teams.  Add to that, White Bear Lake A and Stillwater A are ranked in the top thirty.  That makes D2 tough going for Mounds View this year.

Prediction: Hermantown should win.  The Mustangs can compete, but have to show up ready to play.   

Game 7: Hibbing/Chisholm AA vs Omaha

The Bluejackets are playing well under .500 hockey this season and have continued to struggle in January.  As one of two District 12 AA teams, Hibbing will get the #2 seed to the North Regional at Grand Rapids (Grand Rapids will get the #1 seed) and end up playing District 16’s #1 seed (Roseau).

This will be the Omaha Jr. Lancers AA team seventh tourney this year.  The Lancers have won three and taken third in a fourth tourney.  At Albert Lea’s tourney in early December the Lancers lost to River Lakes MN 1-0, Luverne A 7-2, beat Albert Lea 8-2, and Sioux City 5-0.  In Hudson tourney in early January, the Lancers beat Amery WI 4-1, Hudson WI 3-1, Cedar Rapids IA 6-2, and Minnetonka A 4-2 to win the tourney.  The 21-9-5 Lancers are currently ranked #150 out 951 Tier II 2001 peewee teams.

Prediction: The Lancers always are schooled well in hockey fundamentals and play solid hockey; with Hibbing struggling this year, the Lancers win.

Game 8: Anoka A vs NOW ranked #10 Moorhead AA

Anoka A is in the middle of District 10’s 12 team peewee A league (D10 has a peewee A and a peewee AA league this season).  The Tornadoes have posted a 10-8-1 record.  St. Francis, Spring Lake Park, Coon Rapids, and Andover A are all ahead of Anoka in the standings; the Tornadoes with one game left to play appear to be locked into a fifth place finish.  The NOW ranked #21 peewee A team in the state, Anoka has posted a good record in January posting a winning record (7-3) included a 5-4 win over league leading St. Francis last weekend.

The Tornadoes were upended by host Hopkins in the Hopkin’s Thanksgiving tourney 3-0 in the quarterfinals, beat Shakopee 6-2 and lost to Edina A 6-3 in the consolation semifinals.  They had a good Northfield tourney in December.  They took second in their own tourney beating Brainerd A 3-2, MAML 3-1, and losing in the championship to the NOW ranked #12 Minneapolis Storm in early January.   

Moorhead’ peewee AA team is NOW ranked #10 in the state among AA teams and is likely to be District 15’s #1 seed to the North Regional played in Grand Rapids this year.  If the Spuds take D15’s #1 seed they will play D11’s #2 seed,likely to be either NOW ranked #20 Hermantown AA or NOW ranked #18 Duluth East AA.  Moorhead and Hermantown are in the same bracket and if both teams win their first two rounds, they could meet in Saturday evening’s second semifinal game.

Moorhead’s AA team is on a five game winning streak posting wins over Hermantown AA 5-3, Eden Prairie AA 9-5, Lakeville South AA 6-3, Lakeville North AA 3-1, and Bemidji AA 4-3.  They have lost twice in January to Osseo/Maple Grove AA 3-0 and to Roseau AA 7-6.  Moorhead won their AA tourney in November and had a good Roseau Tourney a week ago, beating Hermantown AA 5-3 and Eden Prairie AA 9-5, but loss to Osseo/Maple Grove 3-0 and didn’t advance to the championship round.

Prediction: Moorhead should win this game, the Spud’s peewee teams always are improving at this point in the season.  Still Anoka has always been a tough tourney team.  The Tornadoes could catch Moorhead looking ahead and mash the Spuds.

Quarterfinal Games

The toughest quarterfinal game will be Cloquet AA playing Eastview AA.  The two teams would play at 8:30 AM Saturday on the Northwood’s rink.  Both teams matchup well, the nod here goes to Eastview AA.  In the other quarterfinal game in the upper bracket, Superior AA beats Chisago Lakes.

In the two lower bracket games, Rochester AA beats Hermantown in a tough game and Moorhead beats the Omaha Lancers.

On the consolation bracket side, Brainerd A beats Eveleth in another close game, Buffalo beats Greenway, Denfeld beats Mounds View, and Anoka beats Hibbing.

Championship Games

In the semifinal games played Saturday afternoon and evening, Eastview and Superior battle in another tight game.  The Spartans’ defense beats Eastview.  Superior advances.

In the Saturday evening' semifinal game, Moorhead and Rochester have a tough battle with Rochester edging Moorhead.  Rochester Red goes on to beat Superior in the championship game Sunday; Moorhead takes third place.

In the consolation semifinals, Buffalo AA beats Brainerd A and Denfeld and Anoka lock up in what should be one of the best hockey games played at the Barn Burner.  Denfeld edges Anoka, but loses to Buffalo AA in the consolation championship game