MN High School Hockey Tournament

As a White Bear Alumni (who is still in the tournament for now), anyone but hill murray for state champion

Hill and Gentry play tonight

Justin riegel wrote:

How sections are set up kind of bothers me. If you look at the Let’s play hockey top ten, at most only 4 of the schools will be at the tourney. This makes the first round of the state tourney almost pointless.

BigWerm wrote:

Chan-Tonka might be the real championship game. They should consider seeding the metro sections from top to bottom to allow more of the top teams to make state. The top 6 ranked AA teams are in 2 sections this year, while sections 1-6 are predominantly metro teams.

Totally agree, the problem is that too often the real championship games are played at the section level, not at the actual tournament. Just looking at this year’s rankings, you have to get all the way down to #16 to get to a non-metro area team (Grand Rapids). Way too many good teams are being eliminated at the section level.

This tournament only gets interesting in AA if somebody knocks off Minnetonka and the best chance of that seems to be in the section playoffs, not the tournament which is a shame.

Walleye Hungry wrote:

As a White Bear Alumni (who is still in the tournament for now), anyone but hill murray for state champion

Better worry about Stillwater first. And again to my comment above, WBL and HM is one of the greatest rivalries in MN hockey because of a section that only allows one of what has often been two great teams to advance.

And today at least everybody should be a Hill Murray fan because the Pioneers square up against Puck U / Gentry Sport-Academy-Masquarading-as-a-High-School in Section 4. Sport academies do not belong in the MSHSL and the inclusion of Gentry sets a terrible precedent for all MN high school sports. High school sports are for real high schools that have a student body with diversity beyond one sport. I was glad to see Gentry did not make it to the Girls tournament, hopefully, this is a trend that will continue on the boy’s side.

tswoboda wrote:

20 posts and nothing on Hermantown yet?!

Don’t tell us Hermantown STILL playing in A? I wonder how many Hermantowners were amongst the legions of Pitchfork Nation Play-up-ers who were burning hockey sticks outside of St Thomas Academy when the Cadets were just going to too many tournaments in A?

Simply put, class AA is dominated by “metro” area teams now. That’s just how it is. The last AA state champ I believe was Grand Rapids in 2017 and the one before that was Roseau in 2007. So that’s only 2 “non-metro” class AA teams that have won in the last 16 years.

Tonka-Chan and Edina-Wayzata section finals are easily the top two section games in class AA this week. Any four of them could win the state tournament. If I was betting on this, I would say the winner of each of those sections would meet for the state class AA final.

If you want to see a non-metro team win class AA, play better. Roseau chose to move up to class AA because they wanted to play stiffer competition. Its a simple fact that the metro area teams are better than the non-metro ones in class AA, and the recent state champions reflect that.

They are better because they have far more kids to choose from. I miss the days of Greenway, etc winning titles like crazy those were the days.

CaptainMusky wrote:

They are better because they have far more kids to choose from.

That’s probably part of it. My theory is that they are just better hockey players.

gimruis wrote:

That’s probably part of it. My theory is that they are just better hockey players.

They have MORE better players, but there are certainly some excellent hockey players in these small schools. Just look at the NHL rosters with players from Hermantown, Roseau, Warroad, etc. I bet there are actually more from there than say Tonka.

Wait till next year as Moorhead’s AA
Bantam team skated to a tie with the #1 team in the nation Shattuck St Mary’s…

Way more opportunities in the metro for specialized hockey training year round.

Definitely a couple outlier programs like warred and hermantown but those are not easy to duplicate.

futurepoorperson wrote:

Wait till next year as Moorhead’s AA
Bantam team skated to a tie with the #1 team in the nation Shattuck St Mary’s…

ITs happened before and MOorhead chokes every time when the get to the tourney. I would love for them to win and get the monkey off their back though.
Not all that long ago they had the best peewee and bantam A teams.

CaptainMusky wrote:

ITs happened before and MOorhead chokes every time when the get to the tourney.

They win their section almost every year and then flop at state. I don’t think they even made it to their section final this year though. I am pretty sure its Buffalo vs Elk River.

Correct.
There youth programs are top notch. What happens at the High School levels is beyond me. Not sure if kids are leaving or moving onto high level development programs….

gimruis wrote:

The Skippers have 9 division 1 recruits

tswoboda wrote:

Just went through their roster and looks like vast majority played Bantams for Minnetonka. 2 came from out of state AAA and 4 or 5 played Bantams for Chaska/Chanhassen

I believe Chan has 3 or 4 D1 guys as well, and a couple of those D1 guys at Tonka were Chan kids. Braemar is going to be filled to the rafters for that one!

My prediction that comes true every year, many out of towners driving the wrong way on one way roads in St Paul!!!

DaveB wrote:

My prediction that comes true every year, many out of towners driving the wrong way on one way roads in St Paul!!!

Totally agree. When are those from the Godforsaken wilderness areas like Minnetonka and Andover going to learn how to drive on the roads here in civilization?

Oh well. They’re probably just dazzled by our use of electric street lights and indoor plumbing.

DaveB wrote:

My prediction that comes true every year, many out of towners driving the wrong way on one way roads in St Paul!!!

Are you sure they aren’t just avoiding the craters erhm potholes?

Dream State- Warroad Hockey

Ripjiggen wrote:

Wayzata has to punch a ticket first.

Well, you called it. I did not.

Wayzata 1, Edina 4.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
Wayzata has to punch a ticket first.

Well, you called it. I did not.

Wayzata 1, Edina 4.

You thought Lou’s gonna let Edina miss his last tourney?! Stick to the script

Check the youth registration numbers between metro and out-state and it’s obvious why the metro dominates. Then add in how easy it is for a couple D1 class players from Chanhassen to jump over to Tonka

BigWerm wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>DaveB wrote:</div>
My prediction that comes true every year, many out of towners driving the wrong way on one way roads in St Paul!!!

Are you sure they aren’t just avoiding the craters erhm potholes?

Well, that is possible, or road construction has closed any reasonable way to get somewhere. But I literally stop 1-2 cars each week that made a wrong turn into oncoming traffic during tournament week. If its those from Tonka/Wayzata, maybe they are just exercising their privilege??

Death. Taxes. White Bear vs Hill Murray section finals

Walleye Hungry wrote:

Death. Taxes. White Bear vs Hill Murray section finals

Stillwater is still wondering what hit them.

Scrappy game, that Hill Murray vs Puck U. Major penalties to each side.

It ain’t a great rivalry for nothing.

Walleye Hungry wrote:

Death. Taxes. White Bear vs Hill Murray section finals

Should be a good game, looks like they played to a tie back in December.

I did not realize how many shutouts (14) Minnetonka had this year, including one 18-0!! That’s insane.

Charlie W wrote:

I did not realize how many shutouts (14) Minnetonka had this year, including one 18-0!! That’s insane.

They are the most dominant class AA team since Lakeville North went 31-0 in the 2014-2015 season. That team was led by a trio of brothers: Nick, Jack, and Ryan Poehling, who all went on to play D1 at St Cloud State.

Ryan Poehling is currently on the Philadelphia Flyers and recently signed a 2 year contract extension.

I consulted with the hockey gods and since this is Sweet Lou’s last hurrah, they rigged it so Edina will win the AA title.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Walleye Hungry wrote:</div>
Death. Taxes. White Bear vs Hill Murray section finals

Stillwater is still wondering what hit them.

Scrappy game, that Hill Murray vs Puck U. Major penalties to each side.

It ain’t a great rivalry for nothing.

Sounds like Greg Zannon and Thomas Vanek didn’t have their boys ready to play. Look out though Vanek as he has 2 more coming around the corner who are studs.

Tonka down 2-0 in the 3rd!

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Tonka down 2-0 in the 3rd!

I’ve got it on a live stream.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Tonka down 2-0 in the 3rd!

Just saw that. Shocker if it holds.