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Monday, February 23, 2009

2008-2009 Section Predictions

Here are my predictions on the Sections for 2008-2009:

Class AA

Section 1AA:

Winner: Rochester Mayo
Challenger: Lakeville South
Dark Horse: Rochester Century

You could literally flip a coin to try and decide who will come out of Section 1AA. Records don't matter anymore. The regular season is over. However, if I had to pick a team, I like Mayo's top line of Tom Alexander (33-26-59), Alex Whitney (23-31-54), Brad Fisher (16-31-47), and defenseman Rick Weber (6-23-29) to get them to the X. I also like the experience senior goaltender Jordan Yaggy (16-8-1, 2.82 gaa, .898 save percentage) brings in goal.

Even though Lakeville North defeated Lakeville South twice during the regular season, both games were one-goal games, one game took overtime. It's hard to beat a team three times in one season that are so close in comparison. Senior captain Bill Simon (19-24-43) should lead Lakeville South to the semifinals but, there is no Hakan Yumusaklar in goal for the Cougars this year. It has been goaltending by committee this season as four goaltenders have had they equal shot in goal. To help Simon on offense, look for Travis Seurer (15-17-32), Jake Binder (11-20-31), Justin Parizek (16-14-30) to lead the Cougars.

Rochester Century has a shot as they have defeated Tartan and Duluth East. Duluth East, though, was without some of their top players and Matt Cooper was not in goal in that 3-2 loss. The Panthers lost to Lakeville South and Lakeville North both by one goal. They were 0-2-1 against Mayo.

Section 2AA:

Winner: Bloomington Jefferson
Challenger: Edina
Dark Horse: Academy of Holy Angels

It's the classic battle of a powerful offense against a stifling defense, right? So, which team has which?

Well, Edina, of course, has arguably the best and most infamous first line in the state with Anders Lee & Marshall Everson, both players are on the Mr. Hockey Finalists list, and Connor Gaarder. That line brings 77 goals with them into the playoffs. The rest of the team? 50 goals. Those three players contributed to 60.6% of the goal production for the Hornets during the regular season. Four players, including Charlie Taft, have more than 10 goals. The next in line, six goals.

Edina has not been shutout this season but they have had four games where they have scored two or less goals. They were 1-3-0 in those four games. Still, Edina averaged 5.08 goals per game will giving up 1.88 goals to their opponents. They have shut out six opponents.

Edina has arguably played the most difficult schedule in Class AA this season. They have played 19 teams in the Class AA Top 20. That is the most games played against the Top 20 than any other team by far. They went 15-4-0 against those teams.

As for Bloomington Jefferson, they scored 135 goals on the season, 5.4 goals per game. They have shutout nine opponents allowing just 33 goals, or 1.32 goals per game.

As Mister Miyagi would say to his young apprentice, 'Must learn balance Daniel-son'! Well, the Jaguars certainly have balance on offense. They have six players that are in double-figures for goals. They also have players with nine, eight, and seven goals respectively. Caleb Herbert 26, A. J. Siiro 19, T. J. Gallus 15, Joe Faust 12, Zach Knight 12, Tyler Dietzler 10, Jeffrey Pauluk nine, David Hedlund eight, and Drew Kahl seven. And, don't forget, they also have defensemen Tim LaBombard & Connor Cline who can score but they prefer to shutdown opposing offenses. Plus, senior Casey O'Connor was selected as the goaltender of the year for a reason.

Bloomington Jefferson has all three elements, just like Hill-Murray last year, to not only win Section 2AA, but win their sixth state championship. Their last championship was in 1994.

Then, there is Holy Angels. It's hard to know what to expect from the Stars since their schedule became 'lighter' than the rest since the Schwan Cup in late December. However, they are 3-1-0 against Top 20 Class AA teams since that time including wins over Hill-Murray, Elk River, and Benilde-St. Margaret's and a 3-2 loss to Minnetonka. They were also shutdown by a non-MSHSL team in Shattuck-St. Mary's 7-0. They did lose to Edina back on January 1st in the Schwan Cup Gold championship game, 5-2. Still, Danny Mattson, John Haeg, and the three Reillys (Connor, Ryan, and Mike) are hard to overlook. Tommy Burke has been solid in goal.

Even though I think the Stars' defense and goaltender are good, they are not Jefferson, Eden Prairie great and Edina's offense trumps the Stars' top heavy goal scorers.

Burnsville also has fun top line to watch in Zach May, Andy Pearson, and Zack King. The Blaze lack depth on offense and struggle on defense. The Blaze open up the playoffs with Chaska who they played twice this season. Burnsville won both and both games ended up with 10 and 12 goals being scored respectively. It should be another high scoring affair when these two teams meet in Burnsville on Thursday. I just do not see the Blaze getting by Holy Angels in the semifinal game.

Section 3AA:

Winner: Woodbury
Challenger: Cretin-Derham Hall
Dark Horse: Eagan

Woodbury is the beast of the east winning the Suburban East conference and dominating play in the eastern suburbs of St. Paul. The question is if they have what it takes to play anybody else north, south, and especially southwest of Minneapolis.

The Royals went 9-0-0 against the other teams in Section 3AA. They also went 9-1-0 against teams in Section 4AA. They went 1-2-1 against teams in other Sections in Class AA and they went 1-0-1 against Class A teams. Section 3AA's record against teams from other Sections include going 14-8-0 against Section 1AA, 8-21-2 against Section Section 2AA, 1-0-0 against Section 5AA, 1-14-2 against Section 6AA, 6-4-1 against Section 7AA, and 1-3-0 against Section 8AA. In other words, Section 3AA is 31-50-5 against teams not in Section 3AA or 4AA. That is a .360 winning percentage.

Still, Woodbury knows how to win. They have a .800 winning percentage and it doesn't matter what Section in Class AA that a team is in. Winning 20 games is impressive. Their biggest loss was 5-2 against Edina. The other two losses were one-goal games.

Tony Pittman (21-25-46), Max Gaede (16-26-42), Tyler Nowicki (13-13-26), and Connor Delaney lead the Royals in scoring. Mike Ness (15-2-1, 1.70 GAA, .921 Sv %) has been dominate in goal.

Cretin-Derham Hall looks to be Woodbury's biggest obstacle in getting to the X. They've played each other twice during the regular season and the Royals came out on top both times, 4-1 & 3-2. The Raiders are 9-1-0 in their last 10 games with their only loss coming against Woodbury. They are led by Mychal Bangs 12 goals, Ben McClellan 11 goals, and Jesse Perron's 10 goals.

The Raiders, however, are 1-6-0 against ranked teams. Their only win came last week against Duluth Marshall, a Class A ranked team. They too are a team that lacks fire power when facing tougher teams.

Eagan is not a far-fetched pick to win the Section. Even though they have not beaten a ranked team, they were 12-7-0 against teams in the Lake Conference. With Trent Caspar in goal, the Wildcats have a shot in any game they play. Caspar is 15-8-1 with a 2.21 GAA and a .910 save percentage. The problem is that Eagan has moments of not getting the puck in the net having been shutout four times themselves. In eight other games, they scored just two or one goal. The Wildcats are led in scoring by Tony Markstrom (16-14-30), Eric Thorn (5-20-25), Austin Bailey (12-6-18), and Frank Caron (11-5-16).

Section 4AA:

Winner: Hill-Murray
Challenger: Roseville
Dark Horse: White Bear Lake

I am going out on a limb on this one. Tartan leads the season series with Hill-Murray, 1-0-1, but I have a feeling that the Pioneers will not lose a third game if Tartan gets that far. Hill-Murray outshot Tartan 42-25 in the 4-2 loss. It is true that the Pioneers are vulnerable and they have a team revamped with youth after the issues in early January. But, they also have experience during playoff time. Senior captains Tyler Zepeda (18-24-42) and Jeff Westerhaus (13-11-24) have been here before and underclassmen Ben Bahe (7-16-23), Jack Walsh (10-11-21), Chris Casto (3-18-21) and Willie Faust (10-9-19) are stepping up. They also need sophomore goaltender Tim Shaughnessy to become solid goal. In the end, I think leadership will get them back to the state tournament.

Tartan is having a very good season. They deserved their number one seed. The problem I have is that they have not beaten any good Class AA teams except for Hill-Murray. They've lost to Woodbury by six goals and to Rochester Century by three goals. They split games with Mahtomedi and South St. Paul. They lost both games, handily, to St. Thomas Academy. I think a game between Tartan and Roseville in the semifinal game will be tight and low scoring. Roseville beat Woodbury 3-2 in OT while, again, Tartan lost 8-2 to Woodbury very early in the season. I'll go out on a limb and predict a 3-1 or 3-2 Roseville win in that semifinal game. It is quite possible that Tartan will make me regret the prediction.

Tartan is led by Jake McKee (12-18-40), Ben Lovick (18-17-35), Mitch Rowe (15-20-35), and Ryan Abrahamson (17-16-33). In goal, it has been a dual effort thus far with Alex Gierke in goal 13 times and Eric Thayer 11. Gierke is 9-2-1 with a 1.82 GAA and a .928 save percentage. Thayer, 6-5-0, 3.35 GAA, .893 save percentage.

Roseville seems to be a team that is always in the thick of the Section 4AA playoffs even when you think they shouldn't be there. If Ben Podobinski and/or Kyle McDonald are on their game in goal, Roseville will be in the championship game this year. At the same time, the Raiders will also need to find at least three or four goals from an offense that lacks punch. The 15-9-1 Raiders have scored no more than five goals in a game all season. They did that three times. They've scored three or two goals 12 out of their 25 games. Joe Effinger leads the team in scoring with 16 goals, 11 assists. Josh Dishop (8-16-24), Jim Betz (11-6-17), Tom DeBace (9-8-17), and Austin Lensing (8-8-16) follow Effinger. The Raiders should not over look Stillwater before getting to Tartan. Stillwater has the potential to get by Roseville. However, in two games, the Ponies have been unable to score against the Raiders.

Don't count out da Bears. White Bear Lake has struggled during the season but they have the potential to upset. They did beat Centennial and Cretin-Derham Hall and tied Holy Angels. Yet, they have been beaten badly by teams like Minnetonka, Moorhead, Duluth East, and Hill-Murray. I wouldn't be completely surprised if they upset Hill-Murray if they end up meeting in the semifinals. The rivalry itself should make the game close. Chad Lowell (12-21-33), Mike Slator (9-23-32), Brandon Wallin (17-11-28), Sam Swanson (13-14-27), and Max Birkinbine (16-9-25) provide for a balanced Bear attack. It's the defense and a solid effort by Owen Collette in goal that need to provide some spark for this team.

Section 5AA:

Winner: Blaine
Challenger: Centennial
Dark Horse: Maple Grove

I've said it all season. Blaine is the better overall team in Section 5AA. They proved it, so far. The only thing that they did not prove is that they could beat Centennial. Centennial beat them once and tied them once. I'm not sure if it is a coaching thing, cousin (Centennial Coach Erik Aus) knows cousin (Blaine Coach David Aus) thing, or if Centennial just had Blaine's number during the regular season.

For Blaine, it's Nick Bjugstad (26-25-51), Zac Frischmon (14-18-32), Luke Bayer (20-7-27), Eric Scheid (13-13) leading the scoring. For Centennial, it's Tyler Pitlick (27-31-58), Jordan Lovick (14-29-43), Willie Hess (25-15-40), David Schreiner (17-4-21), and James Hughes (12-11-23) leading the way for the Cougars. Centennial has scored seven or more goals in eight of their 25 games, Blaine six. Offensive edge: Centennial

On defense, Blaine seems to have the edge. Blaine has allowed 1.72 goals per game. Centennial has allowed 2.32. Centennial's shutout four opponents, Blaine seven. Blaine has only allowed 4 or more goals three times, Centennial seven times. Defensive edge: Blaine

Sophomore Brett Larsen has a .913 save percentage and a 2.17 gaa for Centennial. Junior goaltender Danny Harper has a .914 save percentage and a 1.77 gaa for Blaine. Goaltending edge: Blaine

Maple Grove. After a 14-13-0 season in 2007-2008, the Crimson look to have the team with the best turnaround season of 2008-2009 finishing the regular season at 19-3-3, a 10 win improvement. The Crimson's only losses have come from their Section 5AA foes, Blaine twice and Centennial once. They were able to defeat Centennial once, 5-2, at Centennial Sports Arena. The loss was just 2-1. But, against Blaine, the losses were more definite, 6-1, 7-2.

Usually, it is Maple Grove's defense that is their strength. They shutout six opponents this season and only gave up more than three goals twice in 25 games. One team accomplished that feat twice against the Crimson, that would be Blaine.

I really like Maple Grove's core of Josh Gross (21-26-47), Matt Dee (20-24-44), Alec Horton (21-16-37), Tommy Malone (16-18-34), Dan Carlson (15-14-29), and defenseman Wally Cosette (6-16-22). Sean Elmer has been strong in goal with a 1.75 gaa and a .913 save percentage.

Section 6AA:

Winner: Eden Prairie
Challenger: Minnetonka
Dark Horse: Benilde-St. Margaret's

Eden Prairie leads the pack in a Section that can arguably be called the deepest in Class AA. Since January 17th, The Eagles went 12-0-0 with wins over Hopkins, Burnsville, and Bloomington Jefferson, who was #1 in Class AA at the time. They did lose twice to Edina and once to Jefferson prior to that 12-game winning streak.

Eden Prairie has a balanced attack on offense led by sophomore sensation Kyle Rau who has 24 goals and 21 assists on the season so far. Add Mitch Rogge (13-24-37), Mr. Hockey candidate and University of Minnesota recruit Nick Leddy (8-29-37), Taylor Wolfe (16-19-35), and Mike Erickson (11-18-29) to the mix and the Eagles are hard to slow down. During the 12-game winning, they averaged 6.5 goals per game.

Despite only shutting out two opponents, the Eagles allowed only 1.84 goals per game. They've actually held their opponents to 2 or less goals in 19 out of their 25 games played.

In goal, it's Andrew Ford (11-1-0, 1.41 gaa, .940 save %) and Matt Halloran (11-2-0), 2.23 gaa, .900 save %) sharing duties.

The Minnetonka Skippers are a dangerous team. They rank as the second best team in the Section. Many people pick them to win the Section over Eden Prairie.

Minnetonka is led in scoring by Sam Coatta (21-21-42), University of Minnesota recruit Max Gardiner (15-25-40), Andrew Prochno (10-23-33), and Thomas Schutt (11-16-27). In goal, it's Jim Kruger with 2.08 gaa, .910 save percentage, and 10 wins.

The breakdown on the Skippers is that they are 18-7-0 overall, 7-6-0 against teams in the Class AA top 20, 5-3-0 against teams in Section 6AA. The Skippers are 10-1-0 at Pagel Activity Center, their home ice. Their only loss at home came from Benilde-St. Margaret's, 4-3. On neutral ice or away from home, Minnetonka is a modest 8-6-0. Away from home, they average 3.86 goals per game. At home, 4.55 goals per game. The Skippers opponents at Pagel only averaged 1.36 goals per game. On the road, opponents averaged 2.35 goals per game.

The Skippers will most likely face the Trojans of Wayzata in a semifinal game on Saturday at either Braemar or BIG Arena. In two games during the regular season, Minnetonka won both in games of 2-1 at Pagel and 6-1 at Plymouth Ice Arena.

Wayzata went 10-0-0 from December 13th to January 17th and it looked like the Trojans were going to be the biggest threat in Section 6AA during that run. They had some big wins over Breck, Benilde-St. Margaret's, and Moorhead during that winning streak. The defense and goaltending were amazing during that stretch. Ty Simcoe and company shut out four teams during that stretch and three teams only managed one goal against them. The Trojans were establishing themselves as a dominant force in goal and on defense. Then came Burnsville .... Wayzata faced Burnsville on January 20th and they lost 5-4 in overtime. The Trojans went 5-5-0 from that day to the end of the regular season. The losses included the two to Minnetonka. Opponents goals per game average against Wayzata was at 3.5 during those last 10 games. The question is whether or not the Trojans can regain that 10-0-0 attitude, defensive stride, and goaltending dominance going into the playoffs.

Wayzata is led by in scoring by Billy Soule (9-18-27), Kevin Blackley (8-17-25), Scott Holm (9-14-23), Matt Straate (12-10-22), and Danny Walsh (14-6-20). Ty Simcoe is the puck stopper with a .894 save percentage, a 2.35 gaa, and a 13-7-0 record.

Benilde-St. Margaret's is my dark horse for this Section. Even though they play in a weaker North Suburban Conference, they showed that they could score prior to playing their conference games. They have seven players that are in double-figures for goals and one other player with nine. Brett Patterson (14-29-43), Freshman Christian Horn (23-15-38), Bryan Glynn (19-18-37), Will Nelson (11-25-36), University of Nebraska-Omaha recruit Pat Borer (12-18-30), and Patrick Duda (11-19-30) lead the Red Knights with each having 30 or more points. Jacob Meyers has handled the main share of duties in goal going 13-5-0 on the season with a 2.73 gaa and a .883 save percentage. Rob Ankeny had won six games, lost none, 0.97 gaa, and .944 save percentage.

Hopkins has an outside shot in this tough Section. They will need their defense to step up and keep Benilde-St. Margaret's to three or less goals in their quarterfinal game while their top line of freshman Travis Boyd (26-25-51), Archie Skalbeck (18-30-48), and Nate Seashore (19-19-38) will need to find at least three goals between them and added goal or two from the rest of the team. Alex Fons (13-7-1, 2.87 GAA, .901 sv %) will need a Edina-like performance starting with their game against Benilde-St. Margaret's. They could be an opening round spoiler at the very least.

Section 7AA:

Winner: Duluth East
Challenger: Elk River/Zimmerman
Dark Horse: Andover

Duluth East was the favorite to win Section 7AA in 2008. Cloquet/Esko/Carlton spoiled their chances defeating them in a memorable semifinal game, 6-5. The Lumberjacks then went on to defeat Anoka to become 2008 Section 7AA champions.

One year later, Duluth East has already won three more games than last year and their challengers this year in the Section do not look to be as strong. There are no Cloquet rivalry games in their way and all the teams in the upper bracket have records below .500. Actually, there are only three teams left in Section 7AA with records above .500. St. Francis, who was 19-6-1, lost their play-in game to Princeton/Milaca on Saturday. Elk River/Zimmerman, the number two seed, is 15-9-1 while the third seed Grand Rapids is 11-10-4.

The Greyhounds, #4 in the state in Class AA, are led in goal by senior Matt Cooper has eight shutouts this season. He started the season shutting out five of his first seven opponents. Overall, Cooper is 21-2-1 with 1.38 GAA and a .919 save percentage. As a team, the Greyhounds have allowed their opponents to average just 1.56 goals per game and just 16.96 shots per game.

Senior Max Tardy far and away leads Duluth East in scoring with 28 goals and 21 assists on the season. Junior Kyle Lutzka is the only other player in double-figures in goals for the team. He has 11 goals and eight assists for 19 points. The Greyhounds has one player with nine goals, four players with eight, one with seven, and two with six. Still, Duluth East averages 5.08 goals per game. THey have not been shutout all season. That's not too bad when you consider that Greyhounds' Coach Mike Randolph's focus and philosophy tends to be defense first and the scoring chances will come as a result. Senior Joe Arbour (8-11-19) and junior Derek Forbort (4-15-19) anchor Duluth East's solid defensive core.

Elk River/Zimmerman faced Duluth East back on January 10th. The final score ended up 5-3 in favor of Duluth East. The game was played at the DECC. That sounds like it was a pretty close game, right? It was a close game in terms of the scores, which is what really counts. However, the stat sheet showed a shot differential of 49-13 in favor of Duluth East. Freshman Anders Franke kept the Elks in the game and Matt Cooper did not have his best game.

Since that loss, Elk River/Zimmerman went 9-1-1 up through Valentine's Day, February 14th. In that stretch, the Elks defeated Blaine, Centennial, and tied Maple Grove. The Elks, however, did not finish the season on a strong note. They lost by identical scores of 3-1 to Osseo and Champlin Park. I expect the Elks to make it to the championship game at the DECC against Duluth East but I don't think the scoreboard will be as kind as the 5-3 loss it showed earlier in the season.

Elk River/Zimmerman is led by senior C.J. Pullar (11-24-35), junior Chad Hennum (15-19-34), junior Levi Lutz (11-21-32), and junior Ben Jaremko (18-9-27). Freshman Anders Franke has been very good in goal (12-9-1, 2.17 gaa, .906 save %). Elk River will be one to watch next year in this Section.

Andover might have more promise than Elk River/Zimmerman in their potential semifinal matchup on Saturday. The Huskies' year has been odd to say the least. They are below .500, they lost 12 games this season, yet they were only really blown out in three games to Elk River/Zimmerman, 3-0, Centennial, 4-0, and Blaine 5-2. The Huskies had seven losses by one goal. They defeated Osseo 4-3 to start the season, lost to Osseo in OT, won in OT against a 2-23-0 Coon Rapids team, lost to Maple Grove by one goal, tied Centennial in their 2nd to last game of the regular season, and provided a much closer game of 4-2 against Duluth East than Elk River did. All-in-all, Andover has not beaten very good teams but they have been in every game they've played in except three. In the game against Duluth East, the Greyhounds outshot Andover 36-25. Andover held the Greyhounds to 13 less shots than Elk River did and they produced 12 more shots than Elk River did against Duluth East. Granted, the game was played in Andover. It really means nothing except that junior Cal Decowski (13-19-32) and the Huskies have an outside chance to surprise Duluth East IF they can get by Forest Lake first. FYI, the Huskies are loaded with juniors. Their top five scorers, all forwards, are juniors and so is their main goaltender, Matt Ray (8-12-2, 2.83 gaa, .903 save %). If anything, along with Elk River, watch out for these guys next year.

Section 8AA:

Winner: Moorhead
Challenger: Roseau
Dark Horse: St. Cloud Tech

Now, for the team that has the most people scratching their heads, ladies and gentlemen, the Moorhead Spuds. I affectionately have to call them the Cardiac Spuds for the way their season has gone so far. Right out of the chute, Moorhead goes 5-0-1 having averaged 5.5 goals per game defeating teams like White Bear Lake 6-3 and Bemidji 7-1 and shutting out the defending Section 8AA champion Roseau Rams 5-0. They were ALIVE and rollin'.

Then, after a 8-0 win over Buffalo, all of a sudden, the Spuds were dead. They went scoreless in their next three games and they would only score a total of seven goals in eight games. Obviously, they lost all eight games and were finding themselves 5-8-1 in late January. They were definitely on life support. Yet, they were still considered the best in the Section simply because of their thrashing of Roseau back in the middle of December.

At 5-8-1, something started to breathe life back into the team. It was slow and cautious recovery. In their next three games, Moorhead played and won three straight overtime games against Brainerd, Warroad, and Roseau. They actually played a fourth straight overtime against Centennial but the game ended in a tie! That brought their record to an even 8-8-2 record.

In their last five games, they did play two more overtime games, a loss to #1 in Class AA Bloomington Jefferson and 2-2 tie to St. Cloud Tech. They also managed three more wins, two shutouts against Brainerd & Alexandria and a decisive win against the defending state Class AA champion Hill-Murray Pioneers, 5-2.

The Cardiac Spuds look to be back to full recovery with those wins against Alexandria and Hill-Murray. Alex Alterbernd (15-8-23) and Trent Johnson (15-7-22) are carrying the main share of the offensive load with Ian Cochran (1-19-20), Jordan Doschadis (7-11-18), Braden Rahman (6-10-16), and Quinn Buckellew (8-5-13) helping out. Logan Marks (4-9-3, 2.53 gaa, .893) and Michael Bitzer (7-0-0, 1.98 gaa, .910) are currently sharing goaltending duties.

Moorhead should cruise to the 8AA final game if they keep playing like they have lately. However, once they get to that final game, the defending 8AA champions Roseau should be waiting there to greet them.

Obviously, the Roseau Rams are not the team they were in 2007-2008. They lost Mr. Hockey, a dominant goaltender, and a valuable forward for most of the season. Well, that valuable forward is now back in the Rams lineup and he did not play in either of the games with Moorhead. That player is senior Nick Oliver who, in only eight games this season, has 14 points, 4 goals, 8 assists. He has averaged two points per game in seven of his eight games back. Roseau is 6-1-1 with Oliver in the lineup. There only loss was to Zane Gothberg and the Thief River Falls Prowlers. Gothberg stopped 51 Ram shots in a 4-3 overtime victory for the Prowlers. Adding Oliver to the lineup with the likes of Tyler Landman (16-29-45), Adam Knochenmus (26-17-43), and Shane Omdahl (13-27-40) makes a difference. The Rams will not give up their title easily.

The Rams are 7-3-1 since their three goal loss to Warroad on January 15th. In those three losses, each was by one goal, two in overtime.

The Rams biggest question mark comes at the goaltending position. Junior Ethan Kvidt has played well as of late but he has not made anyone forget about Mike Lee who left after his junior season with the Rams to play for Fargo in the USHL. Kvidt played in one of the games against Moorhead where he allowed four goals in a 4-3 loss. He saved 25 of 29 shots for a .862 save percentage. The Rams will need to keep the Spuds at three goals or less if they plan on making a return trip to St. Paul.

St. Cloud Tech could make some noise if they get by Northern Lakes and then upset Roseau in the semifinal. In two games with the Rams, the Tigers lost 6-0 and tied 3-3 in St. Cloud. Tech also tied Moorhead in St. Cloud. It is not out of the question for them to make the dance. Their chances are much better than seeds four through eight plus the semifinal game will be played on the Tigers home ice at St. Cloud State University on Saturday.

Defenseman Gus Miller is Tech's leading scorer with 17 goals and 19 assists. Defenseman Jared Maetche (9-17-26) and forward Jobe Peterson (12-13-25) are next in line. In goal, duties are divided up between Cole Lundell (9-4-1, 2.94 gaa, .879 save %) and Al Patten (4-5-2, 3.09 gaa, .880 save %).

Class A

Section 1A:

Winner: Red Wing
Challenger: New Prague
Dark Horse: Rochester Lourdes

Section 2A:

Winner: Breck School
Challenger: Orono
Dark Horse: Blake School | Why? Coming on strong the last half of the season

Section 3A:

Winner: New Ulm
Challenger: Willmar
Dark Horse: Hutchinson

Section 4A:

Winner: St. Thomas Academy
Challenger: Mahtomedi | Over SSP? Yeah, I don't see the Packers beating the Zephyrs 3 times
Dark Horse: South St. Paul

Section 5A:

Winner: Hermantown | Upset! Why? Championship game will be played in Cloquet
Challenger: St. Cloud Cathedral
Dark Horse: Duluth Denfeld

Section 6A:

Winner: Little Falls
Challenger: Alexandria
Dark Horse: Sartell-St. Stephen

Section 7A:

Winner: Virginia/Mountain Iron-Buhl
Challenger: Duluth Marshall | Watch out VMIB! Experience matters
Dark Horse: International Falls

Section 8A:

Winner: Warroad
Challenger: Thief River Falls
Dark Horse: Bemidji