Hermantown had a great month.  East Grand Forks had a great month less one game.  Both are on a path to win their sectional tourneys and the Hawks are likely to end up with the #1 seed.  The Green Wave is on a similar path.  Last year’s Class A champions are loaded with returning players and are heavy favorites to win the Section 8A title and end up with the #2 seed.  But once the #1 and #2 seeds are settled, it will be a tough seeding debate filling the remaining three seeds for the Class A tourney.  Unbeaten Alexandria in Section 6A with a 3-0 win over Moorhead last week and Mahtomedi in Section 4A with a 5-3 over Grand Rapids over the holidays are in the mix for two of the next three seeds; but are vulnerable.  The Zephyrs playing a tough Metro East schedule can lose in the remainder of the regular season schedule.

Hermantown stands out.  Over the holidays, the Hawks won the Duluth Marshall Tourney (beating Duluth Marshall and East Grand Forks) and ripped Grand Rapids 10-2.  The Hawks can finish the season with a 23-2 record and on a 20 game winning streak.  For the Class A fans who are going to the Xcel in March, a great championship game is possible with Hermantown and a veteran East Grand Forks meeting for the second year in a row for the Class A state title.  The Hawks want that championship banner.

Bulldogs beat Hutchinson 6-5

YHH was at Le Sueur when the Bulldogs (LSHSPTTCUC or Le Seuer/Henderson/St. Peter/Tri-City United/Cleveland) opened the high school hockey season with a 4-1 over Austin.  The Bulldogs have played well since posting a 9-4 record.  YHH was at Hutchinson Saturday to watch the Bulldogs come from behind last second win over Hutchinson.  A Section 1A team, the Bulldogs remain on a path to host their first two playoff games in the newly re-modeled Le Sueur Community Center Ice Rink.  They are currently third in the Big South Conference behind Luverne and New Ulm, two Section 3A teams and have a 2-1 Section 1A record with five games left to play (Mankato East, at Waseca, Waseca, La Cresent, and at Faribault.  The Bulldogs are favorites to win the first four games.  Their challenge will come at Faribault where a win should put the Bulldogs into one of the top three Section 1A seeds.

Hutchinson is having a great season also; the junior dominated team has posted a 9-3-1 record including the loss to the Bulldogs.  The Tigers are in a Section 3A battle with three other teams for the top seed (Luverne is the 3A favorite).  Hutchinson has nine Wright County Conference games left on their schedule including Holy Family Catholic and two games with New Prague.  But Saturday’s loss to the Bulldogs was a set back to the Tigers in Section 3A seedings.

The Game

The game turned into a battle between the Sam and Nathaniel Wenner line and the top scorers for Hutchinson (Matthew Cowger, Kyle Graf, Josh Carlson, and Kendall Glaser).  Nathaniel Wenner scored the first three goals for the Bulldogs with Sam Wenner assisting; then Sam Wenner scored the last three goals to end the game with six points.  Sam Wenner is the Bulldogs leading scoring with 57 points/31 goals in 13 games.  The Tigers countered with two goals by Cowager and Carlson and a single goal by Graf.  Cowager leads the Tigers in scoring with 40 points/24 goals.

It was a wide open game with both teams consistently turning the puck in their defensive zone and rushing the opponent’s net; but most of the rushes resulted in shots from the perimeter on the net with a big rebound into the slot.  Neither team could take advantage of the rebound.  The Bulldogs out shot the Tigers 47-42 in an entertaining wide open game that came down to a dramatic Bulldog comeback in the last three minutes.

Trailing 5-4 with three minutes left on the clock, the Bulldogs’ Brett Zallek took a short pass from Mac Malecha on a right side rush on the Tiger’s net.  Zallek, behind the end line, flipped a short pass back in front of the breaking Malecha but the puck was tipped hard into the slot where Sam Wenner picked the rebounding puck.  Wenner broke across the slot right to left and buried the puck on the high left side to tie the game 5-5.  Zallek and Malecha got the assists.

With the game tied 5-5 and the clock ticking down to under 15 seconds, the Bulldogs turned a rush into multiple shots on the Tiger’s goal with the puck finally rebounding into the center slot area.  Sam Wenner reached the rebounding puck and managed in one quick motion to flip the puck past goalie Alex Nelson on the left side high for the winning score.  The goal was scored unassisted and was truly a “buzzer beater” with the puck hitting the back of the net as the buzzer went off ending the game.

After Hermantown, after EGF, who?

In Section 1A, the Bulldogs (LSHSPTTCUC or Le Seuer/Henderson/St. Peter/Tri-City United/Cleveland) win over Hutchinson elevated their standing in a tough, balanced, section.  New Prague, defending Section 1A champions from last season and a Class A semifinalist, is one of two teams that have a small edge in Section 1A.  Faribault is the other team.  Both teams will face tough opposition this season in the 13 team section.

But first, there are four teams at this point, Red Wing, Winona, Austin, and Rochester Lourdes, that appear to be out of the running.  Each of those teams has posted a first half season record well below .500.  Collectively the four are 9-48-3, but one always wonders about Lourdes and Red Wing.  The Eagles, especially with goalie Jack Burkel 2-10-1 record giving up 2.8 goals per game while stopping 91% of the shots on goal, in the nets can be tough.  Still all four struggling teams are likely to travel in the first two rounds of the Section 1A playoffs and an arena like LeSueur's or New Prague's is not an easy place to win.  New Prague (overall 10-4-0) has beaten all five Section 1 foes this season and have only one Section 1A foe left on their regular season schedule, a return match with Rochester Lourdes.   The Trojans beat the Eagles 2-1 in their first game.

Faribault (10-4-0) with a 5-2 Section 1A record looks to have the best chance to beat the New Prague.  The Falcons could even end up with the #1 seed, not that it would matter much in the Section 1A playoffs this year.  A top three seed is needed to play at home before traveling to Rochester’s Rec Center for semifinal games February 21st.  The Falcons will be tested again this week hosting Waseca (also 10-4-0).

Surprisingly the other five Section 1A teams (Mankato West-7-3-1, Mankato East-9-7-0, La Crescent-9-5-0, Northfield-7-4-2, and Albert Lea-7-7) are all well over .500.  Last season only five of the thirteen Section 1A teams finished the regular season with over .500 records and the top two teams in regular season, New Prague and Mankato West played for the championship.  This year, nine teams are contending; New Prague or Faribault look to be the strongest in Section 1A.

This year Section 2A has four strong teams and three other teams that Section 2A teams worry about (Chaska, Blake, and St. Louis Park).  Last year, Orono upset Breck to win the ticket to the Xcel and ended up with the #8 seed playing #1 East Grand Forks and losing 5-1.  This year the Spartans had a slow start losing their first four games to top ranked teams including a 7-2 game to Hermantown.  In their last ten games, the Spartans have comeback posting a 7-2-1 record.  Orono will be challenged this year by Delano this year.  The 11-3-0 Tigers and Spartans are neighboring rivals and that rivalry will heat up again in February at Minneapolis' Parade Ice Gardens where the Section 2A games are played.  Breck still can’t be overlooked despite an 8-6-1 record.  Nor can Kennedy (8-6-0 including a 3-2 win over Luverne in the Schwan Cup over the holidays).  The most likely semifinal match-ups in Section 2A is Orono playing Delano and Breck playing Kennedy.  Delano or Breck looks to be the best in this section.

Section 3A should be Luverne (15-2-0).  The defending Section 3A champs have won three games since losing to Kennedy at in the Schwan Cup championship game and are the favorites in their last eight games but face a tough St. Paul Johnson in Saturday's Minnesota Hockey Day.  Luverne should win all eight and end up posting a 23-2 record.  The Cardinals had a solid state tourney appearance last season and can make a run at the Class A title this year.  In Section 3A, New Ulm, Litchfield, and Hutchinson appear to be their nearest challengers.

Mahtomedi (12-2-1) and St. Paul Academy (11-2-0) look to be the top two teams in Section 4A.  The Zephyrs' two losses were to Hill-Murray and St. Thomas Academy.  Mahtomedi has a great fan base this year and have a repeat shot at Hill-Murray Saturday January 24th.  The Zephyr fans should pack the smaller St. Croix Rec Center rink in what should be one great game.  A win over the Hill would put Mahtomedi on track for a #1 seed in Section 4A.  One sleeper in this section is St. Paul Como (13-1-0).  The Cougars are headed for a 20+ wins this season and can be dangerous if their defense plays well.

Section 5A has only two teams above .500 this season, Spring Lake Park (10-5-0) and Mora/Hinckley-Finlayson (8-6-1).  Spring Lake Park should win this section.  Their nearest challenger may be  Princeton (6-6-2) for Section’s 5A ticket to the Xcel, but Spring Lake Park is a strong favorite to win this section.  Alexandria (11-0-1) is the overwhelming favorite to win Section 6A this year unless a person is a St. Cloud Cathedral or Apollo fan.  The Cardinals are senior led team in offense, at defense, and in the nets.  This is Alex's year to make the Xcel trip.  The one blemish on their record is a 4-4 tie with St. Cloud Apollo, also a Section 6A team.  The Section 6A finals are played at St. Cloud’s MAC.  Typically, Alex travel's to St. Cloud to play either Apollo or St. Cloud Cathedral in a semifinal game, but this year Fergus Falls could be the Cardinals’ challenger.  The Otters have split with the St. Cloud teams, beating Apollo 5-3 and losing to Cathedral 5-3 and have lost earlier in the season to Alexandria 4-3.  All four teams, Alexandria, St. Cloud Apollo, St. Cloud Cathedral, and Fergus Falls should be playing at the MAC in semifinals in front of a packed crowd.  The MAC for these 5A games is a fun place to be.

Finally, this post gets to Section 7.  YHH watched a solid Grand Rapids team over the holidays play tough games with Edina, Eden Prairie, and Elk River, all top Class AA teams.  The Thunderhawks lost all three games, but all three opponents had to play well.  Grand Rapids righted themselves after a tough December and those three games.  The Rapids put a four game winning streak together and took a swing into the Twin Ports last week.  They were badly beaten by Hermantown 10-2; then Grand Rapids beat Duluth East 5-1 two days later.  At YHH, it was like the Minnesota High School hockey community (particularly Section 7A foes) had been rapped across the head by a “two by four”.  What that 10-2 win over Rapids said here, there would be no runner-up banner to put up over the Hawks rink this year.  Hermantown wants the Class A championship banner.  The Hawks beat the Rapids badly.  They built an 8-1 lead out shooting Grand Rapids 34-10 in the first two periods before putting it into cruise control in the third period for the 10-2 win.  Friday the Hawks will host Duluth Marshall, their nearest Section 7A rival and Saturday play a tough Bemidji team.  For Hawks' fans the game to watch will be played at Vadnais Sports Center January 23rd when White Bear Lake hosts the Hawks.

Duluth Marshall has a great season going posting a 12-1-1 record.  Their only loss has been to the Hawks 6-2 in their holiday tourney.  Duluth Denfeld is 10-5-0 and could challenge, but Hermantown is on a roll.       

At this point last season, East Grand Forks took off.  The Green Wave won their last thirteen regular season games, swept through the Section 8 playoffs, and swept the Class A tourney beating Hermantown in the championship game 7-3.  This season, Dixon Bowen, Tanner Tweten, Jace Pesch, Grant Loven, Nathan Peabody, Reed Corbid, Trevor Selk, Austin Monda, and goalies Josh Weber and Garrett Lieberg are back.  EGF has posted a 11-3-0 record and are 3-0 in Section 8 games.  They will be favored in all five remaining section games and should take the #1 seed and are strong favorites to win Section 8A title.  Kittson Central, Warroad, and Thief River Falls are the Green Waves mostly likely challengers.  Kittson Central (9-5-0) has put a five game win streak together.

#1 Hermantown, #2 East Grand Forks, #3?

The top five section winners are seeded prior to the Class A tourney.  Barring an upset, Hermantown (Section 7A) and East Grand Forks (Section 8A) are likely to be seeded #1 and #2.  Sections 1A and 5A are the weakest at this point in the season.  New Prague or Faribault (1A) and Spring Lake Park (5A) will likely be seeded the lowest and draw either Hermantown or East Grand Forks in the quarterfinal games.  Section 3A Luverne and Section 2A Delano or Breck should be contending for the #5 and #6 seeds.  Section 2A Delano or Breck should get the #5 seed.  Luverne should get the #6 seed.  Luverne has one key game left on their regular season schedule and it is played this Saturday as part of Hockey Day Minnesota at Holman Field.  The Cardinals will play St. Paul Johnson and a win should help Luverne in the seeding process but that might not be good enough if Delano does not stumble against one of two Section 3A foes, Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato or Hutchinson, left on the Tigers regular season schedule.  Section 6A Alexandria and Section 4A Mahtomedi or St. Paul Academy should be contending for the #3 and #4 seeds.  The Zephyrs have games left with Hill-Murray, St. Thomas Academy, Holy Angels, and Stillwater on their regular season schedule.  They may not win them all, but the Zephyrs should do well enough for either Mahtomedi or St. Paul Academy to be seeded #3.

Class A State Tourney Draw

This year’s Class A State Tourney draw played in March at the Xcel should look like this: East Grand Forks should play Spring Lake Park in the opening game of the upper bracket; Luverne and Mahtomedi or St. Paul Academy should play in the second upper bracket game.  In the evening games, Hermantown should play New Prague or Faribault in the first game of the lower bracket; Alexandria and Delano or Breck should meet in the second evening game.