5AA section quarter final upset?!

[Berty14]

So last night was the first games of the section tourniments. For the 5AA section the ranks were as follows:
1. Centennial
2. Blaine
3. Irondale
4. Andover
5. Anoka
6. Mounds View
7. Coon Rapids
8. Spring Lake Park

It was predicted that Centennial and Blaine would be in the finals to go to state. Last night Blaine lost to Coon Rapids 3-4 in over time eliminating them from the play offs. Adding to the upset Irondale went on to loose to Mounds View 3-4 in a double overtime also knocking them out from the race to state. Andover defeated Anoka 5-2 and Centennial over SLP 4-0.

So with the #2 and #3 seeds out interfering with many predicted stats. What are your opinions on the upsets with Blaine and Irondale?
Who do you favor to win the section?

Wednesday's schedule for Aldrich is as follows:

Coon Rapids vs. Mounds View @ 6:00 p.m.
Centennial vs. Andover @ 8:00 p.m.

As you know the winners will go on to the section finals to play for the golden ticket to state.

With the suprising outcomes from saturday night what do you believe will come out from this mystery section?

[MNHockeyFan]

You've got to think Centennial's road to State got a lot easier with Blaine and Irondale now out of it. But they still have two more games to play, and more upsets are not out of the question. Andover's Nelson and Gilbert can do serious damage, but their goalie will have to play really well to stop Centennial's balanced attack. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Centennial outshoot Andover by a 2-1 margin. The only question will be how many go in, and will it be more that Nelson and Gilbert combine for.

[chickendance]

If Centennial thinks that way, they may find themselves watching like Blaine and Irondale. Clearly those two teams didn't give up with both games going to overtime. Should be a good final out of that section.

[Hansonbrother]

that section is a joke anyways, at least when they had Stillwater in it, it gave it some validity. Same goes with Section 1AA. There isn't enough quality teams in it to make it a threat. Its a good thing they all have a good draw in the big tournament to make it look a little more respectable.

[MNHockeyFan]

that section is a joke anyways, at least when they had Stillwater in it, it gave it some validity. Same goes with Section 1AA. There isn't enough quality teams in it to make it a threat. Its a good thing they all have a good draw in the big tournament to make it look a little more respectable.

Gotta disagree here. Going into Saturday's games, 5AA had three teams ranked in the last Let's Play Hockey Top 20:

9 Centennial
15 Blaine
16 Irondale

If anything, the fact that only one of these teams is left shows that the section has good balance.

[Hansonbrother]

that section is a joke anyways, at least when they had Stillwater in it, it gave it some validity. Same goes with Section 1AA. There isn't enough quality teams in it to make it a threat. Its a good thing they all have a good draw in the big tournament to make it look a little more respectable.

Gotta disagree here. Going into Saturday's games, 5AA had three teams ranked in the last Let's Play Hockey Top 20:

9 Centennial
15 Blaine
16 Irondale

If anything, the fact that only one of these teams is left shows that the section has good balance.

Well if that's your criteria, a balance of mediocrity, please refer to my prior comment of Section 1AA. Moundsview who finished 6th out of 9 in the SEC and Coon Rapids who also did the same in their conference. Based on this section, Centennial pretty much got a free pass to the state tournament. Outside of 1 & 5, every section had at least 3 or 4 top teams in the state.

[MNHockeyFan]

Well if that's your criteria, a balance of mediocrity, please refer to my prior comment of Section 1AA. Moundsview who finished 6th out of 9 in the SEC and Coon Rapids who also did the same in their conference. Based on this section, Centennial pretty much got a free pass to the state tournament. Outside of 1 & 5, every section had at least 3 or 4 top teams in the state.

Hansonbrother, I see what you're saying, but remember we are talking sections, not what conferences they're from. And as we know upsets can happen at any time, and it's not unusual to see them happen in the playoffs. I would bet not too many would have predicted both Irondale and Blaine to lose their first round games. Based on the seedings, these are the two biggest upsets so far.

According to the "experts" at LPH, Section 5 had 3 of the top 16 AA teams in the State, which is at least representative. I totally agree with you on Section IAA, by the way. They currently have no teams in LPH's top 20. And if anything, Section 8AA would have to be considered the second weakest, with just Elk River in there at No. 19.

[hacker]

Centennial should not look past anyone. Yes it did get a little easier but anything can happen in playoffs.

[keepitreal]

that section is a joke anyways, at least when they had Stillwater in it, it gave it some validity. Same goes with Section 1AA. There isn't enough quality teams in it to make it a threat. Its a good thing they all have a good draw in the big tournament to make it look a little more respectable.

Gotta disagree here. Going into Saturday's games, 5AA had three teams ranked in the last Let's Play Hockey Top 20:

9 Centennial
15 Blaine
16 Irondale

If anything, the fact that only one of these teams is left shows that the section has good balance.

Well if that's your criteria, a balance of mediocrity, please refer to my prior comment of Section 1AA. Moundsview who finished 6th out of 9 in the SEC and Coon Rapids who also did the same in their conference. Based on this section, Centennial pretty much got a free pass to the state tournament. Outside of 1 & 5, every section had at least 3 or 4 top teams in the state.

I'll remind you Stillwater and North Metro, last year's state champ and runner-up, each had five or six losses and a few ties coming into sections. Stillwater was ranked 9th by LPH and North Metro was not in the top 20. Neither was in the top ten in QRF. This was in a year that Eden Prairie was so dominant again they were New England Patriots-style favorites to repeat undefeated. We all know what happened there. I'd say there's a good deal more parity this year too.

[Rentley]

Hansonbrother.....The Northwest Suburban conference has consistantly been considered one of the toughest conferences in the state. Rarely can you take a night off even against the so called "bottom dwellers." No question that these were 2 of the biggest upsets, but if you saw the games, they were no fluke.

Coon Rapids has been playing some very good hockey in the last month. Their victory over Blaine was not that surprising IMO. Moundsview dominated the last half of the game, and the overtimes, against Irondale. (Although Irondale did hit a number of pipes early in the game.)

They should be very exciting semi-final match ups. If Centennial does look forward, and not take care of business, Andover could beat them, especially with the explosiveness and speed of Nelson and Gilbert.

I would argue that this might be the most competitive section in AA, as opposed to being a joke.....again, IMO!

[shescores]

I thought Irondale was going to come out of this section. They had beaten five of the teams in the section earlier in the year and had beaten Centennial in a scrimmage before the season started.
I think a review of game video that FSN may have will clearly show a third period goal against Moundsview that everyone saw except the 3 officials working the game. Nevertheless, Moundsview played well enough to win and had worn Irondale down. Irondale played just two lines the entire game. As far as the comment about mediocrity in this section, I'll take Irondale's first two lines against any other two in the state.
I'd say the winner of the CR/Moundsview game will go to state.

[Berty14]

I thought Irondale was going to come out of this section. They had beaten five of the teams in the section earlier in the year and had beaten Centennial in a scrimmage before the season started.

you have to think that that was the beginning of the year.... i know alot of the teams use pre-season scrimmages as the rest of their tryouts. So you have to put together that that wasnt centennials team. They have grown alot since then and pulled around multiple players to get to where they are now. they are a strong team. If they play like ive seen them play i bet they can make it to state

[Hansonbrother]

[quote="shescores"]I As far as the comment about mediocrity in this section, I'll take Irondale's first two lines against any other two in the state.
quote]


I'd say that is a ridiculous statement. Do you know how many good teams there are with two really good lines? Every team in the top 10 to start.

[chickendance]

Every team in the top ten has 2 really good lines? What do you count as a line?

[Bensonmum]

shescores really 'disrespects' Centennial

[shescores]

No, I'm not disrespecting Centennial, just don't think they are going to get to the big dance. As far as the two lines, I was speaking of the forwards only. Of Irondales 6 forwards on their first two lines, 5 of them are in the top 100 as far as points go. I think only Eden Prairie can top that and those are all seniors and I don't know if they consist of their first two lines or not. Irondale's lines consist of a senior, junior, 3 soph and a freshman. Mediocre, I don't think so.

[UWhockey88]

Hey SHESCORES...you stated earlier that Irondale had beaten Centennial before the season started. WHEN WAS THIS???

[findme]

They never played eachother! (?)

[4Real]

They never played eachother! (?)

Hey SHESCORES...you stated earlier that Irondale had beaten Centennial before the season started. WHEN WAS THIS???

Well, Irondale did play Centennial on Saturday, November 10th @ 6:40 p.m. at Centennial Arena I know the Centennial team pretty well and it was the majority of their roster as it is right now. Moorehead was also here as was Wayzata for the scrimmages. SHESCORES does know what actually occurred. As mentioned above. . .Irondale scored in the 3rd period of the game vs Mounds View in the first round of sections at Brooklyn Park arena on Saturday. It was shown as a goal on FSN video and unfortunately Irondale lost their chance to go to the second round of play-offs. The goal had been scored and not one of the 3 refs had seen the goal. #13 had a beautiful goal and wasn't given credit for it. Askanyone that was at that game (except a Mounds View fan). . . it was a goal. What a horrible way for the girls to end their season. You work so hard to get to this point in the season for it to be taken away from you.[/quote]

[ontheroadagain]

You are correct 4real, however it was truly a varsity cut down to 3 lines V
and 1st line JV. The only game played entirely by the V was a 1-0 win over
Wayzata. The starting D and Goalie played the 1st part of Irondale game
and the other 2 goalies split the time between Irondale and Moorhead game. I understand your frusteration you have an AWESOME TEAM!
I don't think anyone would want to face Irondale in next years section!

[Purehockey]

I would say that Centennial has the best shot. But this time of year anybody could win. Coon Rapids has played almost everybody tough this year and they are very young with only 3 seniors 0 juniors 2 10th 5 9th and 7 8th graders starting. They could get dangerous with more confidence.

[talkhockey]

4real get real. There’s no crying in baseball and there’s no whining in hockey….no whining. Bud Grant always said you can’t control the officials, the only thing you can do is score more points. As far as Mounds View posting an upset I beg to differ. Irondale has been over rated all season. Similar to teams like say…Hill Murray, better then average teams that play in a Class A conference. They pad their record with inferior teams and then get anointed a higher seed then they may deserve. So then a team like MV (who in IMO is not that far behind them) beats them, and it’s considered an upset. Hog wash. Look at MV's record, you will see a team who finished strong in arguable the toughest conference in the land. Where as Irondale sucked on the pipe down the stretch losing to…errrr..Chisago Lakes and then where throttled by BSM. So take your upset somewhere else.
Furthermore I agree with the Foil Master, this whole Section was mediocre and primed for upsets. All the teams are just simply average. Like Irondale, Centennial and Blaine were also overrated…overrated….overrated. I will agree Rentley the Conference was strong in the past, but not this year. Mounds View can win this Section and I don’t think it would be an upset, remember they did beat the highest seed left in the bracket in their own tournament.

[hockeytime40]

I thought Irondale was going to come out of this section. They had beaten five of the teams in the section earlier in the year and had beaten Centennial in a scrimmage before the season started.
I think a review of game video that FSN may have will clearly show a third period goal against Moundsview that everyone saw except the 3 officials working the game. Nevertheless, Moundsview played well enough to win and had worn Irondale down. Irondale played just two lines the entire game. As far as the comment about mediocrity in this section, I'll take Irondale's first two lines against any other two in the state.
I'd say the winner of the CR/Moundsview game will go to state.

Is this FSN video on line anywhere, I heard about it but would like to see it - I heard it was a good goal. Also, are there not goal judges at play off games...there should be. What a horrible, painful loss if this is true!

[Bensonmum]

"Rhett, Rhett... Rhett, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?"

[findme]

[quote="ontheroadagain"]You are correct 4real, however it was truly a varsity cut down to 3 lines V
and 1st line JV. The only game played entirely by the V was a 1-0 win over
Wayzata. The starting D and Goalie played the 1st part of Irondale game
and the other 2 goalies split the time between Irondale and Moorhead game. I understand your frusteration you have an AWESOME TEAM!
I don't think anyone would want to face Irondale in next years section![/quote]

Like I said...Centennial never played Irondale. It was a post try out scrimmage-that's it! Don't go tooting your horn that you beat a team when clearly you did not! And to even call it a scrimmage is a joke. It was Centennial's coaching staff using a situation to better their team. On top of it being a Varsity cut down-the two goalies (the younger and less experienced goalie) split their time. And...Centennial had no powerplay, penalty kill or systems! Not once during the entire season has Carpenter split her time as goalie.

In regards to Moundsview beating Irondale and Irondale actually believing that it was a fluke or an upset-Moundsview has a good team-good enough to beat Centennial at their own tourney in December. Good enough to beat the Conference Champs and good enough to beat the #8 rated team in State. (in a actual game!) Hum?