Class A GHS Sectional Play Starts
Can New Prague end 3 years of losing to the Wingers in 1A?
This is the second part of YHH’s coverage of girls high school hockey sectional tourneys. Class A sectional play downs began Tuesday, February 3rd when two Section 3A quarterfinal games are played. Fairmont hosts Windom Area in one game and Marshall hosts Worthington/Fulda in a second game. The winners will advance to the Section 3A semifinals. Fifty one Class A teams will play eight sectional tourneys with the eight winners making the trip to the Xcel February 18th to play in the Class A State tourney. This post will be updated daily as the eight Class A Sectionals progress and provide a state wide view of the girls tourney. For fans wondering where they can go, dates and places for most of the sectional games are given in this post (not all sections have posted their draw).
Section 1A draw went as expected; Red Wing with a late surge (winning 10 games in a row before being tied by Rochester John Marshall 4-4 Saturday) took the #1 seed. The Wingers will host #8 seed Albert Lea in their quarterfinal opener. Monday, Red Wing (19-4-1) finishes their regular playing at Tartan. The #2 seed went to New Prague. The Trojans lost Saturday to Mound/Westonka to finish their season with a 15-7-3 record placing third in their first year in the Wright County Conference behind Orono and Westonka. New Prague will host #7 seeded Waseca. The #3 seed, Northfield, hosts #6 seed Winona and #4 seeded Faribault hosts #5 Austin to complete the opening round games. All four games will be played Wednesday, Febuary 4th starting at 7:00 PM. Semifinal games will be played Saturday February 7th at the higher seed’s site. The Class 1A championship game will be played in Owatonna Thursday, February 12th.
Hutchinson did not post an impressive overall record in January going 3-7-1, but they impressed the seeders and took Section 2A’s #1 seed. Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato had impressive wins over Holy Family Catholic 4-2 and Orono 3-2 in the last week of the season, but lost to Hutchinson 3-2 the week before. LDC got Section 2A’s #2 seed. Hutchinson gets a first round bye and will play the winner of the quarterfinal game between #4 Willmar and #5 St. Peter/LeSueur-Henderson/Tri-City United. LDC also gets a first round bye and will play the winner of #3 seeded Mankato East/Loyola and #6 seeded Mankato West. LDC’s wins over Holy Family Catholic and Orono last week and are quality wins that make LDC a favorite in a “Rodney Dangerfield” section (“I get no respect”). The Dragons could have turned a corner. Section 2AA’s two quarterfinal games are played Thursday, February 5th at the high seed’s site. The semifinal games will be played Saturday, February 7th at Litchfield and Hutchinson. The championship game will be played Thursday, February 12th at Gustavus Adolphus College’s Lund Arena in St Peter.
Section 3A has no surprises either. New Ulm, on a quest for its seventh straight trip to the Xcel was seeded #1 and has a first round bye. They will play the winner of the #4/#5 game between Fairmont and Windom. Fairmont, the #4 seed, will host the game. Luverne is seeded #2 and also has a first round bye. Luverne will play the winner of the game between the #3 seeded Marshall and the #6 seeded Worthington/Fulda played at Marshall. First round games are played Tuesday February 3rd. The semifinal games are played Friday February 6th at New Ulm and at Luverne. The Section 2A championship game will be played Tuesday February 10th at the Redwood Falls Community Center.
Red Wing celebrates beating New Prague in the 2013 Section 1A championship game played in Owatonna. The Wingers and the Trojans are on a path to play a 4th championship game in four years Feb 12.
St. Paul United took the #1 seed in Section 4A; South St. Paul took the #2 seed. The team to watch in this section is #3 Simley. Simley is likely to end up in the championship game against United. The Spartans have lost only two games since the Holidays. Section 4A has a big day of hockey planned for this Saturday, February 7th at the St. Thomas Arena when the four quarterfinal games will be played. The #2 seed South St. Paul opens the tourney at 11:00 AM playing the #7 Seed Henry Sibley. The #3 seed Simley plays #6 seeded Minnehaha United in the 1:15 PM game followed by the #4 seed Mahtomedi playing the #5 seed Chisago Lakes at 3:30 PM. In the night cap played 7:00 PM, the #1 seed St. Paul United plays the #8 seed St. Paul Blades. Semifinal games are played at St. Thomas Tuesday February 10th with the championship game played Thursday February 12th.
The big news in Section 5A is Blake got the #1 seed edging Breck. Blake recovered after losing three straight games two weeks ago to beat St. Paul United 5-1 and Holy Angels/Richfield 6-0 in their last two games. After beating Blake 5-4 two weeks ago to even their season record with the Bears 1-1, Breck lost to Dodge County 3-1 and Edina 4-1 in the last two weeks of the season and ended up with the #2 seed. Orono, the #3 seed, #4 seeded Princeton/Big Lake/Becker, and #5 seeded Mound Westonka have been up and down the last two weeks. All of this points to a third meeting between Breck and Blake in the Section 5A championship game. Blake draws the winner of the #8 Minneapolis and #9 St. Louis Park in their quarterfinal game. Minneapolis and St. Louis Park play Monday (tonight) at Parade in a 7:30 PM game. All Section 5A games are played at Parade. Breck plays #7 Totino Grace in a 5:30 PM game Thursday February 5th and Orono plays #6 seed Holy Angels in the 7:30 PM game. Friday, February 6th, Blake plays their quarterfinal game at 5:30 PM at Parade and #4 seeded Princeton/Big Lake/Becker plays #5 seeded Mound/Westonka. Semifinals games are played Tuesday, February 10th with the championship game played Thursday, February 12th.
The Section 6A draw has not been posted; Alexandria has a Tuesday game against Section 6A foe Northern Lakes that will figure in the seeding that will be done Wednesday, February 4th. The top two seeds will get byes. Two quarterfinal games will be played Saturday, February 7th at the highest seed’s site. Semifinals will be played Tuesday, February 10th at the highest seed’s site. The championship game will be played Friday, February 13th at a TBD neutral site.
Blake's Karlie Lund (hidden behind Breck's #4) scores this goal to tie the game 2-2 in Blake's 3-2 win over Breck. Breck would beat Blake 5-4 later in the season setting up a showdown third game in the Section 5A championship
In Section 7A, Proctor/Hermantown continued to roll getting the #1 seed. The Mirage will play the winner of the game between #4 Moose Lake and #5 Eveleth-Gilbert. Hibbing, the #2 seed, plays the winner of the game between #3 International Falls and #6 North Shore. The two quarterfinal games will be played at the highest seed’s site Thursday, February 5th. The two semifinal games will be played Tuesday, February 10th, at Virginia’s Miners Memorial Arena. The championship game will be played Friday the 13th at Miners Memorial. International Falls could be a surprise in Section 7A. The Broncos could end up challenging the Mirage in the championship game, re-igniting an old rivalry between Twin Ports and District 27 Range teams (Hibbing is too far west for old school being part of District 28).
Section 8A’s seeding produced no surprises; the #1 ranked team in the state, Thief River Falls, won their last two games beating Detroit Lakes 5-1 and Moorhead 3-1 and posted a 21-1-3 record for the season and took 8A’s #1 seed. The only Prowler loss this season was to #3 ranked Minnetonka. All Section 8A games will be played at Crookston. The only first round game (#4/#5 game) will be played Thursday February 5th at between Crookston and Park Rapids. Monday February 9th, Thief River Falls will play the winner of the Crookston/Park Rapids game in one semifinal; #2 seeded East Grand Forks will play the #2 seed Warroad in the second semifinal game. The Section 8A championship game will be played February 12th at 7:00 PM.