Elk River's Max Michaelis about to score back door versus STMA as the Elks win through the back door on Sunday (an honorable mention surprise)
The Minnesota Hockey Regionals have come and gone...Eight teams are headed to state in PeeWees, Bantams and Girls. We do our best to rank teams, rate players and predict winners. But the great part about sports are the suprises. This weekend there were a lot of them all over Minnesota. Here are five:
In 1983, the North Carolina State Wolfpack won the NCAA Basketball tournament as a number 9 seed (middle of the pack), beating a ton of great teams including Phi Slama Jama's Houston Cougars in the finals. This past weekend, the Predators did their best impression knocking off St. Michael Albertville, Elk River, and Minnetonka to gain a trip to Rogers. Seeded 15 of 24 teams in the Metro, this is truly the biggest surprise of them all.
The Sibley Warriors had a decent season this past year, but nothing remarkable, finishing fifth in their District regular season. Not more than 2 weeks ago the Warriors looked to be overmatched by a very strong District 8 tournament that included several top 10 teams. Since the beginning of the tournament, the red and gold have taken care of business. Taking second in District 8 beating Inver Grove Heights and Eastivew. Then in the Regions, they beat #2 rated Edina and #5 rated Minnetonka and qualified for State.
The Bears finished fifth in District 2 and with only two berths to the North Region were not exactly a YHH pick to state a few weeks back. Since District play ended, the Bears have ripped off six straight wins en route to Silver Bay. In Districts they beat T10 North St. Paul and Stillwater and in Regions they knocked off Virginia, Cloquet and District rival Mahtomedi to complete an improbable sweep.
White Bear Lake is headed to State in PWB
If you look at the Hawks record, it's not pretty. But if you look closely, they played a great schedule and they took on comers. One day, YHH thought they could be the best team in the North Region and on other days they looked to the fifth or sixth. We thought if they were playing on Sunday that would have been a feat considering how deep the field was in Grand Rapids. Losers in the first round to Moorhead stacked the deck even higher against them. But like so many teams in the past, they fought through the back door with four straight wins over Bemidji, Roseau, Brainerd, and Moorhead to make it to Thief River.
Hermantown PWAA headed to Thief River
It comes as a huge surprise at how well received the new seeding system worked out for MN Hockey this year at the new AA level. A year ago, the transition from AA/A was a little rough. Teams didn't know left from right. After two years, the system of who is AA and who is A and how that works is great for the growth of the game. The new seeding process allows for the best 24 metro teams to play off for six spots to state. In some cases the "best" teams made it (Edina PWAA and EP Bantam AA) and in others teams off the radar made it (Woodbury Bantam AA). The whole process made the weekend a hit for all teams involved.
