Section 3AA Playoff Preview
My pick: Eastview
For me, it comes down to three teams, the top three seeds. Rosemount and Eastview have been visible all year riding in or around the top 10 in the rankings. Woodbury has quietly put a great season together at 19-6-0.
Rosemount's offense is potent with Mr. Hockey Finalist J.T. Brown, Nate Percy, and Dylan Porter. The defense though is the question mark on this team. In their seven losses, they averaged giving up five goals per game. All seven losses except for one were to teams that were ranked at least at one point during the season. The Irish have faced both Woodbury and Eastview this year. They outscored Woodbury 6-5 early in the season and defeated the Lightning twice in close games, 5-4 in overtime in December and 4-2 in January. Rosemount struggled to finish out the regular season losing three out of four games. They gave up 21 goals in those four games.
Woodbury has rattled off seven wins in a row as the regular season ended. Of their seven losses, two were revenged with wins in February over Hastings and White Bear Lake. In their loss to Hopkins in the South St. Paul Tournament in December, the Royals were without leading scorer David Eddy and two other important starters. They also did not start their main goalie Brandon Wigen in that game. He came in during the third period of that game when they were down 6-2.
Eastview has had a strong season. Of their seven losses, they have lost twice to Rosemount and twice to Burnsville, two teams with a powerful offense. The Lightning are 16-0-2 when opposing teams score 3 goals or less against them. That is an incredible stat. Eastview scored 21 goals in their last three regular season games including a 6-2 win over Bloomington Jefferson who only gave up more than four goals one other time during the year. That was five goals to Burnsville.
My choice to pick Eastview as the Section 3AA champion was not easy. I actually chose all three at one point and decided to go with the team in Eastview that is on a scoring frenzy and, again, if they can hold a team under four goals, results in a win. Plus, it is tough to beat a good team three times in one season. The pressure will be on Rosemount to do that to the Lightning if they face each other in the championship game. However, it will not be a surprise to me if Woodbury beats Eastview in the semifinals. The Royals, Irish, and Lightning are all equally capable of moving on to the state tournament. It will be a matter of which team's strength will trump another team's vulnerability.
