The 16 teams entered in this year’s Eagan Meltdown were divided into four pools (1, 2, 3, and 4).  Each team played one pool game Friday and two pool games Saturday.  Each game consisted of two 20 minute halves with a three minute break between halves.  The four pool winners were seeded into championship semifinal games Sunday morning.  These games are high schools hockey equivalent to “spring training”.  They are the first games that most younger players (bantams) experience at the high school levels.  Rosters are informal, but the action on the ice is real.  Last year’s Meltdown winner won the Class AA state title.

Pool 1: 1-Farmington, 2-Burnsville I,3- Eagan I, and 4-South St. Paul

Friday, Farmington beat Burnsville I 5-3.  The Tigers took a 2-1 lead into the second half, fell behind 3-2 and rallied to score two goals late in the period to take a 4-3 lead.  The winning goal came on a hard shot from the slot by beating Burnsville’s goalie on the left side.   The third Farmington goal came off a quick cut off the end boards by a Farmington forward behind the Blaze net.  His cut carried him to lower right crease and he slid the puck through the Blaze goalie’s legs for the tie.  Farmington added an empty net goal to end the scoring 5-3.  Eagan I’s 5-3 win over South St. Paul was almost identical to Farmington.

Farmington won their two Saturday games easily to claim the Pool 1 championship.  The Tigers opened Saturday play with a 5-2 win over Eagan I and beat South St. Paul in the night cap 8-0.  Burnsville I blitzed South St. Paul 7-2 in their morning game and Eagan I 4-2 in Saturday’s night cap game to take second in the pool.  Eagan I’s Friday win over South St. Paul put them in third place.  

Pool 2: 1-Tartan, 2-Eastview, 3-Burnsvile II, and 4-New Prague

Eastview was one of the surprises of this year’s Meltdown.  The Lightning beat Burnsville II 2-0 Friday playing outstanding defense with good goaltending.  They skated two strong lines.  Tartan and New Prague tied 1-1 in their first Friday game.

Saturday, the Titans beat Burnsville II 4-0 in the first game Saturday morning.  Eastview tied New Prague 3-3.  With one evening game left in pool play, Tartan, New Prague, and Eastview were all in the running for the Pool 2 Championship.  Burnsville II was out of contention, but edged New Prague 2-1 to knock the Trojans out of the championship.  Eastview tied Tartan 0-0 but lost the tiebreaker and the Pool 2 Championship to Titans.  This pool was tough and highly competitive.  New Prague placed fourth despite being outscored by one goal in all three pool games.    

Pool 3: 1-East Ridge, 2-Eagan II, 3-St. Francis, and 4-Owatonna

In Friday’s games, Owatonna showed up with a thirteen skaters and pushed a full rostered Eagan II to their limits before losing 3-2.  Owatonna forwards had success against a good Eagan defense by moving the puck in combination passes that resulted in low attacks on the Wildcat goal.  The Wildcat scoring came mostly off individual rushes often led by on off Eagan’s defensemen.  East Ridge beat St. Francis 2-1 in Friday’s night cap. 

Saturday East Ridge tied Owatonna 2-2 in the early game and Eagan II beat St. Francis 6-3.  That set up a pool championship game between East Ridge and Eagan II.  The Raptors edged Eagan II 6-5 in their night cap game to claim the Pool 3 Championship.  Eagan II finished second.  St. Francis beat Owatonna 3-0 in the evening game to claim third in the Pool 3.   

Pool 4: 1-Lakeville North, 2-Rosemount, 3-Andover, and 4-Benilde/St. Margaret’s

Rosemount was a surprise in Pool 4.  The Irish tied Lakeville North 3-3 in Friday’s game.  Andover opened pool play with a 3-1 win Friday over Benilde/St. Margaret.  Those two games set the course for Saturday’s Pool 4 action.  Rosemount and Lakeville North dominated their pool play Saturday and turned the pool into a race between the Irish and the Panthers-who could beat the other two pool teams and win the tie breaker.  Both teams beat Andover by identical 3-2 scores.  North beat BSM 4-1 and Rosemount beat BSM 3-1.  The Irish lost the tiebreaker and an opportunity for a coin flip pool championship win by a single goal.  North, by the barest of margins, won the Pool 4 Championship.

Sunday’s Championship

In Sunday’s semifinal games, Farmington beat Tartan 4-1 and Lakeville North beat East Ridge 4-1.  In their win over the Titans, Farmington pulled a number of penalties, but never let Tartan control the puck in the Tiger zone on the power play until late in the second period when the Titans converted a 5-on-3 to their only score.  Skating even, the Tiger forwards constantly forced the puck low and took the puck out of the Titan defense control often turning the puck inside Tartan’s zone and going for the net using a short passing game with quick puck movement around the net.

Farmington scored their first goal just as a Tartan power play was ending.  The Farmington defense hit the Grady Hauswirth as the penalty ended in neutral ice.  Hauswirth beat the Tartan defense and then the Tartan goalie with a low right to left shot from the edge of the right crease to put Farmington up 1-0 at the end of the first half.  Farmington scored two quick goals in the early minutes of the second half and scored on a hard shot from the right slot off a nice three pass play to put the game away.  They led 4-0 with little over 9 minutes left to play.  Tartan got their power play goal with two minutes to go when one of the their big centers used his size to beat the Tiger defense to a puck stopped in the middle of the crease and rapped the puck into an open net.

East Ridge and Lakeville North were deadlocked 1-1 half way through the second period when North caught a break.  Under attack by the Panthers in their zone, a Raptor defenseman tipped a hard, high, North shot from the left point deflecting the puck from the right into the upper left corner for the game winner.  North quickly added two more goals in the next minute of play to take a 4-1 lead and eventually win 4-1.  North’s offensive lines played tough, smart hockey in their opponents’ zone during the tourney.  The Panthers will be tough this coming season.          

Notes:

1. WCHA Evaluation-The WCHA used the tourney to evaluate referees for their upcoming season.  The refs were good, hardly noticeable in the game. 

2. Who is #12 for Eastview-The guess here is Cole Anders.  Anders, the Lightning’s #3 scorer last season, played a great game Friday is Eastview’s 2-0 win over Burnsville II.  He was impressively and should be a player to watch at Eagan this coming weekend when Eastview hosts their summer tourney.

3. #4 defense for Eagan II-The Eagan II team had a strong defensive corps in last weekend’s tourney led by #4, Trevor Miklya.  The Eagan II defense was balanced, strong, and played the body well.  Considering that the Wildcats are considered a middle of the pack team in this coming season in the South Suburban (behind Prior Lake, Lakeville North, and Farmington), their defense strength will be needed.

4. Tartan has good size at center-Tartan showed up playing good defense and had two centers that used their size well.   

5. Raptors are scrappy-The “Jurassic World” pic fits East Ridge’s team this season as does their Raptor nickname.  The East Ridgers have some offense punch, and like the raptors in the movie, they succeed when they have a relentless aggressive attack. 

6. Up and Down-Snapshot on teams up and down in this “spring training” season.  Farmington is playing where expected and should contend with Lakeville North for the Section 1AA ticket to the Xcel; North is surprising strong offensively but has to be down after going unbeaten last season; Tartan’s defense is strong and they are up over last season’s #6 seed in Section 4AA; and East Ridge is up and showed last weekend they can skate with Section 3AA rivals Eastview, Eagan, and Rosemount but can they skate with St. Thomas Academy?

Owatonna is up and should do well in the Big 9, but the Huskies need a third line and added depth at defense to get by Farmington and Lakeville North in Section 1AA; Eastview is up and may have something going this season and that makes their tourney next weekend at Eagan interesting; Rosemount was a surprise especially tying Lakeville North last weekend, the Irish are up; and both Eagan and Burnsville split their squads leaving the Wildcats and the Blaze at even for the moment.  The Blaze move to Section 3AA this fall and will join Eagan in an attempt to dislodge St. Thomas Academy. 

Northwest Suburban’s Andover played steady and came close to beating Lakeville North and Rosemount and they are up; New Prague was one of two Class A teams in the tourney and came close to making it to the semifinals, though moving to Section 2A this fall the Trojans remain up; Benilde/St. Margaret’s lost three straight last weekend by almost identical scores (3-1,4-1,3-1) and with the addition of Edina to Section 6AA, the Red Knights are down; South St. Paul, the second Class A team entered, played some tough defense and are even but have to worry about whether Section 4A rivals Jack Becker returns to Mahtomedi and Matt Dahlseide/Devin McCabe at St. Paul Academy; St. Francis played steady at the Meltdown and are up they should improve in the Mississippi 8 conference but will struggle in Section 7AA.