Section 1AA

Section 1AA’s #1 seed, Lakeville South plays their quarterfinal game at home tonight against Rochester Mayo, Farmington plays at #4 seeded Dodge County, Owatonna plays at #2 seeded Lakeville North, and Rochester Century plays at #3 seeded Rochester John Marshall/Lourdes.  One of the three rivalry games tonight is the game between the two Rochesters testing two good offenses and two tough defenses.  Century's defense maybe the key to their advancing.

Both Rochester teams have goal scorers.  Offensively, the two teams are even.  Century has the top scorer in the state in senior Jessie Aney (96 points/44 goals).  Aney is backed by the Century’s #2 scorer junior Frankie Mickelson (68 points/37 goals).  Marshall has six players that have topped the 20 point mark this season and is led by Renee Saltness (70 points/37 assists) and Rebecca Freiburger (59 points/38 goals).  Defensively Marshall has an edge.  Century has given up 687 shots on goal that puts them in the top five in the Big Nine.  John Marshall’s defense however, has given up only 401 shots.  As a team, Century has 85% of the 687 shots on net; Marshall has stopped 92% of the 401 shots on goal.  Marshall has beaten Century 4-2 early in the season and 7-0 late in the season.  Century’s defense needs to play well, something they have shown against other teams; but not Marshall.  In their 7-0 loss to JM, Marshall put the game away in the second period out shooting Century 22-1 and scoring three times.  But that may mean nothing tonight at Graham Arena.  It is a rivalry game.

Section 1AA Quarterfinals

6:45 PM-Rochester Mayo at Lakeville South (Hasse Arena)

7:00 PM-Farmington at Dodge County (Kasson Arena)

7:00 PM-Rochester Century at Rochester John Marshall/Lourdes (Graham Arena)

7:00 PM-Owatonna at Lakeville North (Ames Arena)

Section 3AA

The other two rivalry games are in Section 3AA’s quarterfinals; Apple Valley at Eastview and Park at East Ridge.  Apple Valley made a push at the end of the season and were rewarded with the #6 seed drawing archrival #3 seeded Eastview.  One of the games that made a difference in Apple Valley's seed was the Eagles 4-3 over the Lightning three weeks ago.  Apple Valley and Eastview are essentially Apple Valley (the city) split into two areas.  They share the same ice and both teams play their home games at the Apple Valley Arena connected to the Apple Valley High School.  There is no home advantage for this game tonight unless one team likes the home bench better than the other team.  This should be a good game.

The 3AA quarterfinal between is another rivalry game between East Ridge and Park.  Both teams draw players from Park/Cottage Grove and Woodbury Associations.  Both teams finished with identical records (4-11-1) in the Suburban East Conference this year.  East Ridge’s top point getters are ninth grader Grace Heiting and sophomore Katie Scheibner.  Ninth grade goal tender Chloe Heiting has had a good regular season posting a 7-4-1 record giving up an average of 1.8 goals a game while stopping 91% of the shots on goal.  Park’s offense is led by Mariah Houle.

Section 3AA Quarterfinals

7:00 PM-Woodbury at Eagan (Eagan Civic Center)

7:00 PM-Apple Valley at Eastview (Apple Valley High School Arena)

7:15 PM-Burnsville at Hastings

7:45 PM-Park/Cottege Grove at East Ridge (Bielenberg Sports Center)

Section 5AA Play-in

Rogers, seeded #9, plays #8 Anoka in a Section 5AA play-in game that matches a Mississippi 8 Conference team against a Northwest Suburban Conference team. Rogers and Anoka played each other last weekend in their last regular season game.  Rogers won 4-3.  Ninth grader Paetyn Levis scored twice for the Royals.  Ninth grade defenseman, Courtney Johnston, scored once; sophomore Madi Chapman scored once.  Anoka goals were scored by the team’s leading scorer sophomore Gabby Horsch, senior defenseman Sierra Maki, and ninth grader Cassidy Motter.

7:00 PM-Rogers at Anoka (Roseville Ice Arena)

Regular Season Ends

Two regular season games were played Tuesday involving Class AA teams.  Blaine, Section 5AA’s #2 seed, beat Section 6AA’s #1 seed Minnetonka 2-0 and Brainerd/Little Falls beat St. Cloud 3-2.  Blaine’s goalie senior Makayla Tilton stopped 26 Skipper shots to earn the shutout.  Blaine broke a scoreless tie early in the third period on a power play goal by sophomore Paige Beebe.  Ninth grader Gabby Rosenthal got the Bengal’s insurance score.