Thursday night, Apple Valley had only 10 forwards on the ice.  Hastings had them outnumbered and the Raider bench rolled all three lines.  Valley’s two top players, Jack Novak and Jared Wright, showed.  The pair along with defenseman Matthew Kochanowski and goalie Matthew Syverson carried the day for the Eagles.  Novak scored both Apple Valley goals.  As the season has progressed, Novak plays more and more like Hudson Fasching when he was an Eagle peewee.  Hastings countered the Apple Valley duo spotting the play of defenseman Jonathon Peine.  Peine is a re-incarnation of former Hastings peewee defenseman Willie Raskob.  Raskob skated for the Hastings peewee A’s against an Apple Valley team that featured Fasching.  Fasching has gone on to play wing for the USA National teams and is currently a junior for the Gophers.  Raskob played a strong defense for the Hastings peewee A’s and had one of the best shots at that peewee level from the point.  He is a junior in his third season at UMD after skating four years at Shattuck-St. Mary’s.

It was quite a game.  Most season ending games can become dull and sort of one sided as the teams look forward to playoffs and other sports.  This was a good well skated enthusiastic game especially for Apple Valley.  One minute into the game, Hastings Luke Savage took the puck off a rushing Eagle forward at the Raiders’ blue line and beat the Eagle defense scoring to put Hastings up 1-0 one minute into the opening period.  Jax Schauer got the assist.  Hastings really put the pressure on the Eagles defense after that forcing the play inside the Eagles’ zone.  Halfway through the period, Apple Valley started to dominate the play.  Gradually, the focus of the action shifted to the Raiders defensive zone.  The Eagles were succeeding at moving the puck low and getting good shots and forcing the Raiders goalie Devin Anderson to make some good stops.  The first period ended with Hastings leading 1-0.  Hastings had the edge in shots on goal 9-8.

The Eagles moved the puck into the Raiders zone at the start of the second period and kept the pressure on the Hastings net.  The Raiders could counter only when Peine hit the ice and moved the puck.  With four minutes gone in the second period, Novak picked up a loose puck moved into the lower right crease area and put a backhand shot on Anderson.  The puck hit Anderson in the upper chest area, climbed somehow over his shoulder and popped into the net.  Valley had tied the score 1-1.  Valley’s Nate Messerich got the assist.  The Eagles continued to dominate and with just under four minutes to play in period went on the power play when Hastings drew a penalty.  Hastings did a good job killing the penalty after some initial pressure and when the Eagles had some confusion adjusting to the return to 5-on-5 play, the Raiders scored.  Hastings’ Jager Kendall got the unassisted score with one minute left in the period.  The Raiders led 2-1 going into the third period.

The Eagles may have skated two lines, but the came out strong in the third period.  Three minutes into the final period, Novak beat the Hastings’ defense breaking through the slot and scored with a hard shot low left to tie the game 2-2.  Wright got the assist.  Apple Valley continued to pressure the Raiders going for the winning score, but drew a penalty.  The slowed the Eagles.  The Apple Valley penalty killers did their job and with six minutes left on the clock, the game swung into high gear.  Both teams got good shots as the battle between Peine, Novak and Wright continued.  But none scored after that.  The game ended in a 2-2 tie.  Apple Valley finished second in the league, Hastings fourth.  Hastings went on to win the Rogers tourney o the weekend.  Both teams now prepare for Valentine’s Day.    

If there is one game in the opening round that has a clear favorite, it is Apple Valley beating Woodbury.  The Eagles beat the Predators twice in regular season 4-2 and 5-0.  The real question for the Eagles in this playoff in how many skaters will be on the bench.  If they have only ten and have to alternate lines, they will be susceptible to a team that rolls three steady lines and if the Eagles take an early loss, it will be tough for them to play back to get to the finals.  Woodbury is a team that will be dangerous for Valley.  The Predators need a win to make a case for gettign a regional seed.  The Predators by beating the #7 ranked team in the state in their opening round game followed by a couple wins in the rest of the playoffs, could get Woodbury a regional seed.

The final match-up of the opening round is likely to be Lakeville North against Rosemount.  This game has double significance for both the teams.  The winner of this game advances in the D8 playoffs and the winner captures a seeding advantage over the other to the regionals.  This season, North opened their D8 play winning their first six games, but have struggled.  Since their first six wins, they have won only three of their last ten league games games.  One of the Panthers' wins was a good one, 3-1 over Apple Valley in mid-January.  Rosemount has had the distinct of losing to Apple Valley five times this season.  If they beat North they could end up playing Valley a sixth time.  The Irish have been losing tough games (4-3 to Eden Prairie) the past two weeks.  This game is another too close to call.

The D8 playoffs will have an effect on the final 24 teams picked for regionals.  Three teams, NOW ranked #4 Cottage Grove, #7 Apple Valley, and #16 Hastings should be seeded into the regionals regardless of how they play in the playoffs.  Two teams, #36 Eastview and #38 Woodbury, need wins to gain the attention.  Three teams, #23 Lakeville South, #24 Lakeville North, and #27 Rosemount need wins to keep their places at seeding time.  That makes the Lakeville North/Rosemount quarterfinal game Sunday evening (the 14th) an interesting game to watch with both playoff hopes and regional seeding on the line.  The Panthers and the Irish will be playing in the same bracket in the D8 playoffs with Apple Valley and Woodbury.  That makes the D8 peewee AA playoffs very interesting.  Beating Apple Valley in this foursome can mean a ticket to the regionals.

League champion Cottage Grove has the easiest path to the #1 seed.  They draw last place Eastview and have beaten the Lightning twice this season 6-1 and 3-0.  They should win a third time against the defensive oriented Lightning team and play the winner of Hastings and Lakeville South in the semifinals.  South is a tougher opponent for Cottage Grove.  The two teams have split their two regular season games by the same score.  The Wolfpack won 2-1 and lost 2-1.  Cottage Grove beat Hastings twice 4-2 and 5-3.  If Cottage Grove beats Eastview, they will be in a close semifinal game.  In the championship game, CG should face Apple Valley, but the Eagles have a tough road coming out of their bracket.  There is a lot at stake and that makes the D8 peewee AA playoffs the most interesting of all the peewee AA playoffs in the state.

Unlike the peewee AA district tourneys where teams can lose and still make regionals via seeding, the peewee A playoff structure is pre-determined by Minnesota Hockey.  That means 5 of the 8 D8 teams in the peewee A playoff will go home next week.  The eight peewee A teams will be competing for one of three seeds to the East Regional that will be played this year at Cottage Grove.  As shown in the chart on the right, the East Regional field will consist of three teams from District 3, two teams from District 2 and three teams from District 8.  The season will end for the five D8 teams that fail to place first, second, or third in the playoff.

Note that Minnesota Hockey has assigned a different name for the three D8 teams that move on.  Based on the district’s position in the Peewee & Bantam A & B Region Tournament Seeding table, District 8 is in the B column and its three seeds are B1, B2, and B3.  District 3 is in the A column this season and its three seeds are A1, A2, and A3; and District 2 is in the C column this season.  Its two seeds are C1 and C2.  Minnesota Hockey does this to set the number of seeds for each district (A and B columns get 3 seeds, the C column gets 2 seeds) and to set the draw for the regional.  The East Regional opening round draw this year is C1 vs B3, A1 vs B2, B1 vs A3, and A2 vs C2.  Some may find this confusing, but it serves to ultimately eliminate confusion and controversy.  By doing this, they can set the tourney participants and regional draws well before the associations decide on what level of play to designate their teams before they are selected.  It is quite clever.   

There was some jockeying going on at the bottom of the D8 league until last night's last league game was completed.  Inver Grove Heights beat Lakeville North A to throw both teams into a three way with Farmington for fourth place.  As a result of the tie breaker, Farmington finishes fourth, IGH finishes fifth, and Lakeville North A finishes sixth.  Farmington and IGH will now play each other in the opening round of the playoffs.  The winner will advance to play JCNSP.  A North win would have put the Panthers in fourth.  Johnson, South St. Paul and Woodbury A had the top three places locked up last week.  The D8 peewee A playoffs are now set.

In addition to the fourth and fifth place finishers playing  each other, JCNSP will open the playoffs playing Lakeville South,  The Polar Devils, ranked #2 in the state, won the New Hope Invitational over this past weekend beating Rochester Black 8-0, Chaska Chanhassen A 9-1, and Mahtomedi A 8-0.  Johnson finished league play with a perfect 16-0-0 record.  Johnson Como/North St. Paul should beat Lakeville South A in their first quarterfinal game.  The NOW ranked #2 Johnson team has beaten South twice this season 9-1 and 7-3 and should advance.

In the semifinals, the Polar Devils will play the winner of Inver Grove Heights and Farmington.  They have beaten Farmington 9-1 and 8-2 and have beaten IGH 11-3 and 8-1 this season.  The Polar Devils will be favored to win their semifinal game and move on to the championship game.  A semifinal win would locks both teams into first or second in the playoffs and gives them either the #1, #2, or #3 seed to the East Regional.  Johnson will likely play either South St. Paul or Woodbury A.  The JCNSP team has beaten the Packers twice this season 11-2 and 7-2; they have beaten Woodbury A 4-1 and 4-3.  The Polar Devils should end up beating Woodbury for the #1 seed.  There is one caveat, Woodbury A lost to South St. Paul 4-2 and 2-1 this season.  South St. Paul should beat Sibley to get to the semifinals; Woodbury A should beat Lakeville North A to get to the semifinals.  The top three teams in regular season play (JCNSP, South St. Paul, and Woodbury A) are the favorites to take the three D8 East Regional seeds with Farmington and Lakeville North the dark horses.

For those looking ahead, the top three teams in District 3’s peewee A league are likely to be Mound/Westonka, Osseo/Maple Grove A, and Wayzata A.  In District 2, the top two teams in their peewee A league are Mounds View/Irondale and Roseville.  If these teams advance with the projected D8 playoff winners, then the opening round of the East Regional would look like this: Mounds View/Irondale vs Woodbury A; Mound/Westonka vs South St. Paul; JCNSP vs Wayzata A; and Osseo/Maple Grove A vs Roseville.  Two of these eight teams would then advance to state.