MN Boys HS hockey – postseason

I didn’t want to bundle this onto the existing Wild/NHL thread, so I started a new one.

The regular season is over, and sections begin around the state this week in both class A and AA for boys HS hockey. State tournament starts 2 weeks from tomorrow in St Paul.

The two favorites have to be Warroad and Minnetonka. Warroad went 25-0 this season, and beat some pretty solid class AA teams along the way. Minnetonka went 23-2 and played a juggernaut of a schedule the whole season.

Here is a link to the sections brackets.

https://www.mnhockeyhub.com/postseason

I was looking at the Class A rankings and I was very surprised to see some of the teams in the top 10. Many from NW Minnesota and very few of them ever to be known for hockey. That is cool to see hopefully some of them can make it to the tourney for their first ever run!

BTW those brackets are terrible most of the first round dont have teams in the matchups.

CaptainMusky wrote:

BTW those brackets are terrible most of the first round dont have teams in the matchups.

Hmmm, I didn’t click on all of them, but ones I looked at have teams listed. I do know that some sections have an odd number of teams so there are play-in games and the top seeds get a bye.

I was only looking at the Class A ones.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I was only looking at the Class A ones.

Did you scroll over to the right? The bracket is too big to fit on one page, but all the teams are listed in each section. There are definitely some byes in there.

I was looking on the far left side which should be the first games right?

Look at section 1A for example there are no teams listed halfway down. Yeah, there are a few teams that get buys, but the bottom two matchups are blank. I saw this for every section I looked at.

Lots of play-in games makes the brackets look wonky I guess. There’s more A teams than AA so more play-in games there.

Ya that section has a lot of teams, so a number of them get byes. In that specific one, the first matchup in the bottom half is La Crescent vs Dodge County on 2/23/23, whereas the lower seeds in that section start playing tonight. Its just how the section bracket is set up.

tswoboda wrote:

Lots of play-in games makes the brackets look wonky I guess. There’s more A teams than AA so more play-in games there.

Makes sense.

Cant wait will be there all day Thursday and Friday. Going to miss the 3rd place and chip game Saturday night. God son will get my tickets I will be at Devils wishing I was at the game. Great time and get to see friends and people I only get to see at this time of year. Since many live out of state but come back for the games Thursday -Saturday.

The girls start tomorrow I believe. Man has girls hockey come a long ways since its origination.

Angler II wrote:

Man has girls hockey come a long ways since its origination.

You got that right! They would beat my HS team from when I played.

That Shaugabay kid out of Warroad is something to see. He passed Oshie’s Warroad total points record back in January.

29 goals and 50 assists in 25 games. Think about that for a second. The guy is a 3+ points per game player. Wow.

My cousin’s daughter will be in goal for Andover trying to win a 3 rd title and her second as the Huskies starter. Pretty impressive what Andover has done with both boys and girls programs up there.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

That Shaugabay kid out of Warroad is something to see. He passed Oshie’s Warroad total points record back in January.

29 goals and 50 assists in 25 games. Think about that for a second. The guy is a 3+ points per game player. Wow.

And, even though they’re class A, they’ve been playing a lot of the top teams in the state. It’ll be fun to watch him into the future. And don’t they have 3 or 4 other D1 commits? Including the goaltender Slukynsky.

Joe Jarl wrote:

And, even though they’re class A, they’ve been playing a lot of the top teams in the state.

I wouldn’t say that. Although they played and beat a few AA teams, I wouldn’t say they’ve been playing the top teams in the state. Notable wins against ranked AA teams include Grand Rapids, Wayzata, and Moorhead. The 3-0 win over Wayzata is probably their best victory of the season.

Another item that I failed to indicate with my original post is that they didn’t go 25-0. They tied their last game against Sartell, 1-1. So technically they went 24-0-1.

That being said, their primary competition in class A will be from Hermantown, whom they beat 3-1 this season already. That wouldn’t happen until the State A Championship game, should they both make it that far.

Shaugabay is a Minnesota-Duluth commit and could join the Bulldogs as early as next season. That would be quite a feat on its own, going directly from class A HS to D-1, which is very rare nowadays.

That is pretty impressive Grouse! I dont seem to follow HS hockey much but that is really good.

I’ll admit saying “a lot of the top teams” is an exaggeration, but when a class A team beats Wayzata (ranked #1 at the time I believe) 3-0 that’s saying something.

Joe Jarl wrote:

but when a class A team beats Wayzata (ranked #1 at the time I believe) 3-0 that’s saying something.

Absolutely, that’s their marquee win of the season for sure.

There are a few A teams that consistently could hang with AA teams. Hermantown, all those private schools (most moved up now though), Warroad, etc. I do miss the old format, but maybe they could add an additional championship game for the winner of A and AA. That would be fun.

The last time Warroad won the State A championship was way back in 2005. Didn’t realize it had been that long of a drought.

The last time a non-metro based team won in class AA was in 2017, which was Grand Rapids. Been a good run for the metro teams, and I don’t see that changing this time around either.

No it wont because they just have sheer numbers vs the outstate schools.

CaptainMusky wrote:

No it wont because they just have sheer numbers vs the outstate schools.

I’m sure that’s part of it, but the metro teams haven’t always been so dominant either. So maybe they are just producing better players and teams too at the moment.

Remember the runs Elk River, Moorhead, Duluth East had? They were there like every year now I dont remember the last time they were in the tourney. I think the changing of the sections must have had something to do with that.

Part of that section realignment was needed because you had teams like Edina, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie, and Wayzata all in the same section. That’s just ridiculous. All of those teams could win the state AA title any given year and instead they just knocked each other out in sections.

I remember dominance by Bloomington Jefferson too many years ago. I can’t even remember the last time they played in the state tournament.

Yeah Jefferson was a powerhouse back in the day. I agree those changes needed to happen, but its kinda sad that they dont seem to make it much anymore.

Sections are realigned every few years – most AA sections have 4+ good teams every year aside from maybe 1 (South) and 8 (Northwest). Numbers is the big deal between shear population growth and then hockey programs and numbers in the burbs. How many of the suburban public schools have doubled their enrollment in the last 30 years? Andover didn’t even exist 20 years ago.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Yeah Jefferson was a powerhouse back in the day. I agree those changes needed to happen, but its kinda sad that they dont seem to make it much anymore.

Back in the day been almost 40 years now.

Anybody have any Class AA tickets to get rid of? I signed up to get on the list 5 years ago and on a couple thousand waiting list have not moved up 10 spots. Meaning all those families that get the ticket package for about a $100 a year and can transfer rights to any relative they want, haven’t been given up any of their tickets. What a bunch of B.S. If your not getting the tickets already, there is no chance that in 20 years you will get tickets.