PWAA South Regional Preview
Storm goalie Kiron Morioka in the nets against Andover in October opener.
Seeding was announced Monday by Minnesota Hockey for the South, East, and West Peewee AA Regional Tourneys. This preview has a table that lays out the South Regional Tourney. The table combines game schedule, rankings and comments on the tourney that will open play this Friday at St. Cloud’s MAC Arena.
Minneapolis Storm Charlie Warnert watches his shot rebounding of Osseo Maple/Grove goalie in the Edina Invitational Tourney
The Minneapolis Storm is a strong favorite to win the South Regional. That should surprise no one. The committee seeds only 1-24, they do not seed the teams into each regional. Minnesota Hockey has predetermined what seed goes to what regional and who they will play. The #1 overall seed gets the #1 seed to the South Regional this year and for the 2016 and 2017 South Regionals. The Storm got the #1 seed overall this year and should dominate play in the South Regional.
The Storm played six of the other seven teams in the South this year. The one team Minneapolis did not play is Eagan. They play the Wildcats in the opening game. Minneapolis has posted a 8-1-1 record against the six South Regional teams they have played. The only team in the South Regional to beat the Storm is Andover. The Huskies beat Minneapolis 2-1 in their opening game of the season October 19th (YHH posted a game story). Minneapolis has not lost in their last 22 games. They have been tied three times (Edina AA, Blaine AA, and Burnsville) in those 22 games.
The South Regional has two tickets to state and the next highest rated team at the MAC this weekend will be Blaine. Blaine has three tough teams to contend with in their bracket starting with Minnetonka, but the battle for South's #2 seed to the state tourney should be between Blaine and St. Cloud. The two teams have played each twice this season and have tied both games 2-2. St. Cloud's MAC is a great place to watch a tourney. The two rinks are connected by glass doors at the center ice stands. It is easy to keep track of games being played.
| Friday Feb 27 | Saturday Feb 28 | Sunday Feb 28 | Team District and play | Comments |
| (G1) 11:00 AM Eagan at Minneapolis | (G5) 8:00 AM Winners G2 v G1 | (G7) 11:30 AM Winners G5 v G6-Game 7 winner gets the South's #1 seed to state and will play the North #2 seed in state tourney quarterfinals | Favorite Minneapolis finished first in D3, won D3/D6 regular season, and is ranked #1 by YHH. The Storm was seeded #1 of all 24 teams entered. | Minneapolis has strength all over the ice and should dominate the South Regional |
| Eagan was eliminated early in D8 playoffs and is ranked #28 by YHH. The Wildcats were seeded #24 overall. | Eagan has solid goal tending and has size and strength at forward and defense. They had a good game against White Bear in the D2/D8 peewee AA league this season. | |||
| (G2) 1:00 PM Eden Prairie at Andover | (G6) 2:00 PM Winners G4 v G3 | Andover finished #2 in D10 and is ranked #17 by YHH. The Huskies were seeded #12 overall. | Andover and Eden Prairie have not played this year. Andover is has a good defense, a great penalty kill, and some nice skaters at forward. The Eagles defense is tough. This game is a toss-up | |
| (G13) 4:30 PM loser G7 plays winner G12. Game 13 winner plays the North #1 seed in the state tourney quarterfinals | Eden Prairie finished fifth in D3/D6 and are ranked 19th by YHH. The Eagles got the #13 overall seed. | Eden Prairie plays a tough defense every year. Against Andover, the Eagles should be able to contain the Huskies offense, but can they score? | ||
| (G3) 3:30 PM Minnetonka at Blaine | Blaine won D10's #1 seed by winning the D10 playoffs and are ranked #5 by YHH. Blaine got the #6 overall seed. | It will be an all blue on the ice for this quarter final game when the Bengels and the Skippers meet. The Bengels should win, but Tonka plays well at the end of the year. | ||
| Minnetonka finished last in the D3/D6 league and is ranked #31 by YHH. They ended up with the #19 seed overall. | It has been a long time since YHH has seen a top Skipper Peewee AA team finish last in regular season play. They can play well, YHH has seen that this year. They also can falter in the same game. | |||
| (G4) 5:30 PM Woodbury at St. Cloud | St. Cloud won the D5 AA title this year and is ranked #8 by YHH and were seeded #7 overall. | St. Cloud is a slight favorite in this game, Woodbury had a good D8 playoff and tired. This is the opening game of the regional. | ||
| Woodbury is ranked #23 by YHH and got the #17 seed overall. The Predators were seeded #18 overall. | Woodbury did not finish in the top three in D8 post season play, but the were the only D8 team to challange Rosemount losing 5-3 to the Irish. | |||
| Play Back Round | (G8) 8:15 AM Losers G1 v G2 | |||
| (G9) 2:15 PM Losers G3 v G4 | ||||
| (G10) 7:30 PM Loser G6 v winner G8 | ||||
| (G11) 7:15 PM Loser G5 v winner G9 | (G12) 11:15 AM Winners G10 v G11 | |||
| Team eliminated | Four teams eliminated, losers G8, G9, G10, and G11 | Two teams eliminated losers G11 and G12 | ||