PWA/AA: Burnsville Scott Benedict Memorial Preview
Alexandria holds the trophy after beating the Minneapolis Storm for the 2013 Blaze Title.
Black Friday is a banner day for local merchants and some have written that this year the busiest shopping day of the year will not be so busy. At YHH we have long held the view that Black Friday is fueled by youth hockey tourneys in the cities. This Thanksgiving, sixty youth tourneys will be played at 18 sites in the Twin Cities. If you run the numbers, that results in 10,000 people attending youth tourney games at those 18 sites with time to spend between games on Black Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Christmas shopping is a natural during tourney down times. Each $100 per person spent at local merchants means a $1 million added to the local economy. Usually each dollar spent is re-spent up to six times before it leaves the cities and that generates $6 million in economic activity. And that does not count the money spent on tourney fees, hotel, food, and gas. Youth hockey tourneys help fuel Black Friday weekend.
Three of the sixty tourneys will be played at the Burnsville Ice Arena this Thanksgiving. The tourney opens early with Wednesday night games and has been one of the best tourney for producing surprises at the peewee A/AA level each year. This year is no different. This post previews Burnsville's Scott Benedict Memorial Classic's peewee A/AA tourney.
Alexandria's Caleb Strong (left) and Ben Doherty celebrate Strong scoring in last year's Burnsville Classic.
Burnsville Scott Benedict Memorial Thanksgiving Classic Preview
Eight peewee A and AA teams are entered in the 2014 Burnsville Scott Benedict Memorial Thanksgiving Classic peewee A/AA tourney. This year, two districts, D2/D8 have combined their peewee A and peewee AA leagues. Three teams of the teams entered (Mahtomedi A, White Bear Lake A, and Cottage Grove A) are playing in the combined D2/D8 peewee A league and three teams (Apple Valley AA, Lakeville South AA, and Eastview AA) are playing in the combined D2/D8 peewee AA league. Centennial Association’s peewee A team plays in District 10's peewee A league and host Burnsville's peewee AA team plays in District 3/District 6 combined peewee AA league.
The eight teams entered are grouped into two four team pools. The teams finishing first in each pool will advance. Pool winners are determined by the team with the most total points in their pool. Points last year were determined by a modified Silver Stick scoring based on 13 points maximum per pool game. Four teams advance from pool play to play a semifinal round Sunday morning with the championship and third place games played Sunday afternoon (note: the 13 point game scoring was used last year and may not be used this year).
Mahtomedi won the Spring Lake Park tourney two weeks ago. Can they repeat at Burnsville?
There are three tourneys being played at Burnsville this week. Besides the 8 team peewee A tourney, a 12 team bantam A/AA tourney and a 12 team squirt A tourney is being played. With three hockey tourneys being played on the Burnsville Ice Arena’s two rinks; there is continuous action on both rinks starting Wednesday evening. Thanksgiving Day is skipped and tournament action continues Friday and Saturday with games played from 7:30 AM to 10:00 PM. Sunday is championship day for all three tourneys.
Burnsville Tourney Preview: Pool A (Centennial PWA, Burnsville PWAA, Mahtomedi PWA, and Apple Valley PWAA)
Pool A starts off with a bang Wednesday evening when Burnsville plays Mahtomedi in the tourney opener in a game that matches two of the strongest entries in the tourney. Burnsville comes into the tourney with a 2-7-2 record that can cause opponents to look past the Blaze, but that should not fool their opponents. Playing in the D3/D6 peewee AA league, the Blaze are 0-5-1 losing to Minnetonka 6-4, NOW ranked #16 Prior Lake 2-0, #24 St. Louis Park 5-4, #10 Minneapolis Storm 4-2, and #3 Osseo/Maple Grove 4-0. They tied #15 Wayzata 3-3. Burnsville has beaten Lakeville South twice (4-1 and 7-2) and tied Eagan 3-3. The Blaze team has potential and this is their tourney.
The Zephyrs will challenge the Blaze. Mahtomedi returns two players from last season’s Peewee A state tourney runner-up and are currently is in third place in the 14 team D2/D8 peewee A league trailing Farmington and Tartan with a 4-1 record. They lost their league and season opener to Park-Cottage Grove 5-4. Since then the Zephyrs have beaten Johnson/Como/North St. Paul 5-1, Stillwater PWA twice (5-1 and 5-2), and Roseville 9-0. Mahtomedi is currently the NOW #2 ranked peewee A team in the state. After losing to Park-Cottage Grove, the Zephyrs have won eight straight including winning the Spring Lake Park Tourney 10 days ago beating Mound Westonka 8-4 in the title game. Included in the Zephyrs’ winning streak is a 3-1 win over Apple Valley.
This is a tough game to pick, but both teams are likely to advance to Sunday’s semifinals. The nod here goes to Burnsville. The Blaze will be too strong in the opener for the smaller Zephyrs.
Burnsville's Timothy Urlaub scores on this third period breakaway to end the game's scoring 4-1.
Apple Valley and Cottage Grove battle in the Valley's early season win 4-1.
The second Pool A game matches Centennial A and Burnsville AA in a Friday game. Centennial and Mahtomedi have a common loss, they both opened their season losing to Park-Cottage Grove. The Cougars lost 6-0. Since then they have posted a 3-5-2 record (they tied Coon Rapids A 6-6 and Pine City A 2-2 in their last two games) and are currently in fourth place in District 10’s peewee A league with a 3-4-1 record. Centennial trails Champlin Park A, North Branch, and Andover A in the D10 standings. The Blaze should beat Centennial A to go 2-0 in pool play (the Blaze are likely to have 18-19 points based on the tourney’s scoring system going into their third game Saturday).
Apple Valley has a 2-5-2 record going into the tourney. The Eagles play in the D2/D8 league and currently trail Stillwater AA, Eastview and Lakeville South. They lost two tough D2/D8 league games last weekend to Eastview 1-0 and to Owatonna 3-1. The Eagles tied and beat Park-Cottage Grove in their season’s opener (3-3 and 4-1). Apple Valley’s defense has been the strength of the team; the Eagles have held their opponents to an average of 2 goals a game. They open their pool play Friday against Mahtomedi, a team the Eagles lost to 3-1 three weeks ago. The Eagles lose to the Zephyrs again.
Saturday morning, Centennial A plays Mahtomedi. The Zephyrs win. In the second pool game, Burnsville beats Apple Valley. The Blaze should end pool play with a 3-0 record and 29-31 points. Mahtomedi should end pool play with a 2-1 record and 20-21 points. Apple Valley beats Centennial A in an evening game to finish pool play with a 1-2 record and 14-16 points. Valley could still be in the running for the semifinals if the tourney seeds by highest point total once the pool winners have been determined.
Burnsville Tourney Preview: Pool B (White Bear Lake PWA, Lakeville South PWAA, Park-Cottage Grove PWA, and Eastview PWAA)
White Bear Lake A and Eastview open play in Pool B Wednesday evening. The NOW ranked #16 peewee A Bears have posted a 9-5-2 record with losses to Edina A (twice), Tartan, North Branch, and Farmington. White Bear Lake has beaten Centennial A 7-2 and Park-Cottage Grove 4-1, but trail the Wolfpack and Mahtomedi in D2/D8 peewee A standings in fifth place. The Bears’ Sunday 4-1 win over PCG was a league game.
Eastview's Caden Berg (#21) sends this backhanded shot into the net to put the Lightning up 2-0 in the first period.
Eastview is currently #22 in NOW’s peewee AA rankings. The Lightning have a 6-6-1 record and are currently in second place in the D2/D8 peewee AA league. They lost a tough game to #1 ranked peewee AA Cloquet 2-1 on an early November northern swing. The Lightning have beaten Lakeville South 2-1. Last weekend they beat Apple Valley 1-0 and District 9’s Red Wing 5-1.
The White Bear Lake A/Eastview game Wednesday will be a tough game, but the edge here goes to Eastview. The Lightning always play well in the Burnsville Tourney and have the defense to do well again.
The next Pool B game is played Friday with Eastview playing Park-Cottage Grove. Park-Cottage Grove has posted a 6-5-1 record going into the tourney and is #21 in NOW’s peewee A rankings. They have played four of the other seven teams entered in the tourney and posted a 2-2-1 record. The Wolfpack hold the only win over #2 ranked Mahtomedi, beat Woodbury 2-0, and lost a tough league game to Tartan 2-1 two weeks ago. YHH saw them play Apple Valley when they lost 4-1 and noted then that the Wolfpack have potential to be one of the better teams this year. The Wolfpack will beat Eastview, the win is a small upset.
The second Pool B game Friday matches Lakeville South against White Bear Lake A. South has posted a 7-9-1 record this season; but have won five out of their last six games beating Duluth East AA 5-1, Woodbury AA 3-2, archrival Lakeville North 6-0, Hastings AA 6-4, and Woodbury AA 3-1. Their single loss was to Moorhead AA 3-2. South currently trails Eastview in D2/D8 peewee AA standings. South beats White Bear Lake A.
Cottage Grove's Matthew Wilkinson scoring attempt is blocked to the right by Apple Valley goalie Matthew Syverson in Thursday's game.
Saturday morning games have Lakeville South playing Eastview and PCG playing WBL. South continues to roll beating Eastview; White Bear Lake A beats Park-Cottage Grove for the second time in a week. South beat Park-Cottage Grove for the pool title and the #1 seed to the semifinals based on 32-33 final point total.
The Seeding
Before the final game is played Saturday evening, the prediction here is that Apple Valley may have accrued enough points based on the thirteen point game total to still be in the running for the championship. Eastview and White Bear Lake will have trouble matching Apple Valley because of three tough games will have kept their point totals at 15 or less. Park-Cottage Grove would have to win at least two periods (4 points) against Lakeville South in the final game in pool play to get to 16 points or more. They will not be able to do so, Apple Valley gets the #4 seed to the semifinals and plays Lakeville South. Burnsville gets the #2 seed and plays the #3 seed Mahtomedi.
Championship Sunday
Apple Valley and Lakeville South play in one semifinal game that matches the Eagles defense against a Cougar offense and a Cougar defense that has improved in the past two weeks. Lakeville South gave up four goals in winning their last four games; in losing the previous four games they gave up 18 goals. If the Cougar defense remains solid, they beat Valley. The guess here is that happens, Lakeville South advances to the championship game. Burnsville and Mahtomedi tangle in the second semifinal in what should be one of the best peewee games over the Thanksgiving Holidays. It is a coin flip and the nod goes here to Mahtomedi. The Zephyrs recover from the pool loss to Burnsville to eliminate the Blaze in the semifinal round.
The championship game, if the predictions hold, will be played between Lakeville South and Mahtomedi. In another hard fought game, the Zephyrs win. Burnsville beats Valley for third place.
Mahtomedi's Timothy Bruner (#2 left) is about to bat the puck towards the lower right corner of the Mound/Westonka goal in the Spring Lake Park Tourney Championship game.
What is next?
Thanksgiving Holidays are fueled by hockey being played at the various rinks in the cities. Apple Valley will be holding three tourneys over the holidays, Blaine Super Rink will be holding seven tourneys, Brooklyn Park will be holding three tourneys, Burnsville holds three tourneys, Champlin Park has three tourneys, Chaska has three tourneys, Cottage Grove has two tourneys, Eagan has two tourneys, Eden Prairie has three tourneys, Edina has six tourneys, Forest Lake has one tourney, Hopkins has nine tourneys, Minneapolis has eight tourneys, Prior Lake has one tourney, Rosemount has one tourney, Roseville has three tourneys, Stillwater has two tourneys, and White Bear Lake has two tourneys. All 18 arenas will be playing multiple games making it easy for the fans to watch 3-6 games in two hours at the rink.
The next big hockey tourney week starts the day after Christmas. The 2014-2015 season is going fast and for some it may feel like the season is just starting, but once the Christmas/New Year’s tourneys are over, there is just seven weeks left in the youth hockey season before teams start district and regional playoffs. Hockey makes the winter go by fast.