Geyer Signal Center Ice Classic Peewee A Tournament

[Ron Hextall]

Black Division:
Bemidji 11-4-2, D16 3rd place: It will be interesting to see how Bemidji does against the 2 city teams, as they have only played Armstrong so far to 4-4 tie and their only losses have come to top 15 teams (Roseau, East Grandforks and Cloquet).

Eagan 11-14-2, D8 9th place: Stumbling a little bit, have struggled against top teams and played in some tough tournaments. I would expect them to rebound here with a slightly easier pool than what they have dealt with to date.

North Metro 8-12-0, D3 6th place: Fresh off a runner-up in the Governor’s Cup tourney last weekend. Giving up 3 goals for every two you score makes it hard to advance in tournament pool play.

Sartell 6-10-1, D5 2nd place: Play the pool at their home rink, so they should have a little bit of an advantage but not enough to overcome Eagan or Bemidji.

Blue Division:
Buffalo 10-6-2, D5 4th place: Typical year for Buffalo, top team from their district, beating the teams there (7-0-2), struggling outside of D5 (3-6-0).

Grand Forks Greyhounds: The Blue Ox bracket champions from Bemidji tournament a few weeks ago make another appearance at a Minnesota tournament. Cannot find how they did in Crookston tournament, could give Mpls Park a push for second in this pool.

Burnsville 28-7-0, D6 4th place: 5-5 in their last 10 suggest they may be falling after a 23-2 start, but those 5 losses have come by a total of 7 goals and 4 of the 5 to top ten teams. Already beat Mpls Park 5-1 earlier, favorite to win pool, easily.

Mpls. Park 16-9-2, D3 4th place: Regrouped after a sub .500 December by going up to Int. Falls a beating up teams up there, hopefully finding their scoring touch. Runner-up finish in this pool to Burnsville unless they can score the upset.

Red Division
Hopkins 6-16-4, D3 7th place: 61st ranked team by Minnesota Hockey Rankings and have not beaten a team in the top 60. Will that change in St. Cloud? Remains unlikely when they give up almost 2 goals for every 1 they score.

Inver Grove 16-6-2, D8 3rd place: Beating teams they are suppose to, but losing to the teams that could establish them as a top team. Is the Woodbury victory a beginning or an end? Winning this pool will go towards the trend, stumbling into Sunday will make people wonder.

Moorhead 7-7-1, D15 3rd place: A team that always improves as the season goes along, wouldn’t surprise me if they win the pool or go 0-3.

Rogers 6-12-2, D10 3rd green: They show they can score against lesser competition and are starting to do it against better teams, recent 3-3 tie with Elk River makes them an intriguing team to watch in this tournament.

Green Division:
Moundsview 18-7-3, D2 2nd place: Were really stingy in the goals against department in December, with a 1.08 GAA. Will be tested in this pool with all three games, so look for some tight games.

Minnetonka 10-14-2, D6 5th place: Up and down team, that seems to always be up for tournaments. Went deep into Burnsville tournament and the Spirit, lost to Osseo 4-1 in quarters at Bloomington. Depending on which team shows up they could make another tournament run.

Osseo/Maple Grove 23-6-2, D3 1st place: Big team, that has the ability to handle most teams. How there legs hold up against better skating teams will determine how far they go.

St. Cloud 19-6-3, D10 2nd green: Lost to Moundsview and Osseo earlier, are they still carrying some momentum from the Paul Bunyan championship with them? Teams with some offensive fire power seem to find the back of the net on them. Emerging from this pool wouldn't be surprising but I can say that about all four of these teams.

Predictions:

Semifinals
Bemidji vs Burnsville
Inver Grove vs Osseo/Maple Grove
Championship
Inver Grove vs Burnsville
Third
Osseo/Maple Grove vs Bemidji

Consolation Semifinals
Eagan vs Mpls Park
Rogers vs Moundsview

Consolation
Moundsview vs Eagan

[Bronc]

I think you typically find that big strong teams that skate well tend to do very well in tournament weekends and the smaller teams tend to have a tough time with multiple games in a short period of time.

My nod goes to Osseo/Maple Grove to bring home the "Big Trophy"

[Ron Hextall]

Bronc,

I agree with you completely, but Osseo got put into a tough pool in Bloomington and had to play Burnsville on the olympic sheet, then Woodbury, then Apple Valley; then on to Minnetonka before losing in a shootout to Lakeville North. All three are top 30 teams in the state and number 12 for Lakeville North pretty much took over in the third period to rally his team, because he can skate.

In St. Cloud they will play St. Cloud, then Moundsview, then Minnetonka. All within about 27 hours. They are a strong team it will be interesting to see if they can handle the load.

[dogeatdog1]

This was a great tourney. What happened to OMG. I watched a few games and they looked like a different team. Heights didn't impress either. Are these teams slumping or just not that good?