A Rankings of Remaining Teams

[HShockeywatcher]

There are 21 teams remaining in the playoff hunt. Taken from the rankings last week with 7 teams added, here are the remaining teams. 13 more will be eliminated a week from today.

1. [1] St Thomas Academy (20-6)
The Cadets are definitely the favorite to win the section, as the remaining opponents have combined for 4 goals against them in 5 meetings, and they are going to the #1 seed if they do win the section.

2. [2] Rochester Lourdes (23-3-1)
The Eagles are definitely the favorite to win their section with two wins over the team they play in the finals. I suspect they will be the #2 seed at state if Breck wins 2A and the #4 seed if Blake makes it.

3. [3] Totino-Grace (20-5-1)
Probably the favorite to beat the Packers, but will they were shut out the one time they played St Thomas.

4. [4] Breck (18-8 )
The Mustangs look to defend their section and state championships. Can they beat Blake again?

5. [5] Blake (22-2-2)
The Bears could easily win the section and get the #2 seed at state, but nothing is definite as they recently lost to Breck.

6. [6] Hermantown (22-3-2)
Hermantown should easily get to state, but where they are seeded between 1 and 4 depends on who else is upset and how the coaches view their schedule.

7. [7] Mahtomedi (13-12-1)
The Zephyrs are definitely a very good team, but probably don’t have two more upsets in them.

8. [8] Warroad (19-8 )
The only team into the section 8A finals thus far. Would need a couple upsets to occur to be seeded at state if they can get by the winner of TRF/LOW.

9. [9] Thief River Falls (17-8-1)
Recently lost to LOW in a low scoring game, can they win this time?

10. [10] South St. Paul (17-9)
The game against TG is really up in the air with no regular season match up, but they are probably the team who has the better opportunity of upsetting St Thomas, as they basically lost by 1 to them in Mendota Heights during the season.

11. [11] Virginia/MI-B (20-7)
The most likely team to win the section. Probably won’t get seeded at state, but will be the team that a seeded team should least likely want to get paired up with.

12. [14] Lake of the Woods (17-6-3)
The Bears will have to beat two good teams to get to state. They are definitely not a team to be taken lightly as they have the best goalie in state.

13. [16] Rogers (18-8-1)
The Royals were shut out the first time they played Hermantown and recently needed OT to beat Proctor. The is little doubt this meeting will be any different than the first.

14. [19] Hibbing/Chisholm (16-9-2)
The Bluejackets have had an up and down season, no one would be surprised to see them beat Virginia, although they are definitely not the favorite.

15. [-] Delano (18-7-1)
Lost to Blake by 1 earlier this season, next game is against Breck.

16. [-] Orono (16-9-1)
Beat Providence Academy by a bigger margin than either Breck or Blake has all season. A possible upset is sections wouldn’t be out of the question.

17. [-] New Ulm (21-4-1)
Beat New Prague this season, but also lost to Litchfield. Should be a good section final in 3A

18. [-] New Prague (15-11-1)
Lost to Lourdes by a score of 1-3 twice this season. Anything’s possible in postseason play.

19. [-] Litchfield (16-10-1)
Wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see them beat New Ulm again.

20. [-] Alexandria (11-15-1)
With a one goal early season win over Wilmar, Alex is the favorite going into the section final, but anything can happen.

21. [-] Wilmar (16-8-3)
Wilmar lost the head to head match up with Alexandria early in the season, but have only lost 3 games this year. It would be no surprise to see them at the X and possibly even win their first game there.

[MNHockey75]

1. St. Thomas Academy 20-6 -- Will they finally sink Mahtomedi? I think so.
2. Hermantown 22-3-2 -- Have been the most consistent Class A team this season behind STA.
3. Totino-Grace 20-5-1 -- Should handle SSP if they play well.
4. Rochester Lourdes 23-3-1 -- I don't think they're the fourth best team in the state, but they deserve it.
5. Breck 18-8 -- It's a toss-up in 2A, but Breck has the tougher match-up against Delano.
6. Blake 21-3-2 -- They struggled past Chaska, yikes.
7. Virginia 20-7 -- They beat Marshall, they should beat Hibbing.
8. Warroad 19-8 -- Got outplayed by EGF. Hmm...
9. Hibbing 16-9-2 -- Are playing extremely well at the right time.
10. Mahtomedi 13-12-1 -- I'm still not sure what to think of their OT win over Chisago.
11. Thief River Falls 17-8-1 -- If they beat LOW, they move up. Still not sold.
12. South St. Paul 17-9 -- Overrated all season long.
13. Delano 18-7-1 -- Heinonen will keep it close against Breck.
14. Rogers 18-8-1 -- Congrats on making their first section final in school history!
15. Willmar 16-8-3 -- Cards vs. Cards. I can't wait! They have the upper hand without a doubt.
16. Lake of the Woods 17-6-3 -- Struggled against RLF, but Lyon is probably in TRF's heads.
17. Orono 16-9-1 -- Crushed a garbage Providence team, and have a chance against Blake.
18. New Prague 14-11-2 -- I picked them to lose to Lourdes in the final a couple weeks ago, it will come true this week.
19. New Ulm 20-4-2 -- Have had a good season, but they don't play anyone.
20. Alexandria 11-15-1 -- Had an easy road, but have a chance to repeat. Who would've thought?
21. Litchfield 16-10-1 -- Can beat New Ulm, but it doesn't matter one bit in the grand scheme of things.

I will do a final top 20 next weekend (with everyone eligable) and one after the state tournament as well.

[MNHockey75]

No love for Hibbing and Virginia? I think Hibbing has accomplished a lot more than Rogers and especially LOW.

Willmar should be above Alex. Willmar won the most recent meeting, beat a good Sartell and have a much better record.

Otherwise good stuff. 4A sure could go any which way this week.

Possible upsets:
New Prague over Rochester Lourdes
Mahtomedi over St. Thomas Academy
Thief River Falls over Warroad
Hibbing over Virginia

Sure things:
New Ulm over Litchfield
Thief River Falls over Lake of the Woods
Willmar over Alexandira
Hermantown over Rogers

[HShockeywatcher]

No love for Hibbing and Virginia? I think Hibbing has accomplished a lot more than Rogers and especially LOW.

Willmar should be above Alex. Willmar won the most recent meeting, beat a good Sartell and have a much better record.

Otherwise good stuff. 4A sure could go any which way this week.

Possible upsets:
New Prague over Rochester Lourdes
Mahtomedi over St. Thomas Academy
Thief River Falls over Warroad
Hibbing over Virginia

Sure things:
New Ulm over Litchfield
Thief River Falls over Lake of the Woods
Willmar over Alexandira
Hermantown over Rogers

Since none of the teams have played each other, I simply took the teams that lost out of the rankings from last week then added the unranked teams from last week. Wilmar should be above Alex, I missed their 2nd meeting.

How is TRF over LOW a sure thing?

[rainier]

I agree that Hibbing should get more credit. They tied Hermantown, split with Virginia, beat Warroad, and beat Mahtomedi 9-3. 3-1-1 against the remaining A teams is pretty darn good. Tough break with the state seeding, too bad the northern teams don't play some of the metro private schools during the season to get a better comparison.

[MNhockeyfan12101]

Mahtomedi played there back up goalie against Hibbing... Starter was out

[goalieguy_14]

Mahtomedi played there back up goalie against Hibbing... Starter was out

Have they been doing that all year?

[MNhockeyfan12101]

Marshall did miss around 7 games.. Or could it be that Mahtomedi plays one of the hardest single A schedule's??

[MNHockey75]

How is TRF over LOW a sure thing?

It's a sure thing, trust me. I got a guy on the inside...

It's just my personal opinion. LOW doesn't fair well in section play and has yet to beat TRF in the new Ralph. I've seen both teams play this season and despite the loss in Baudette, I'd be willing to bet my entire fortune on TRF.

[PuckU126]

I just don't get why so many people are drinking the Mahtomedi over STA Kool-Aid...

Wake up!

[HShockeywatcher]

Yeah, I don't get why people would want a private school to lose either...

I agree that Hibbing should get more credit. They tied Hermantown, split with Virginia, beat Warroad, and beat Mahtomedi 9-3. 3-1-1 against the remaining A teams is pretty darn good. Tough break with the state seeding, too bad the northern teams don't play some of the metro private schools during the season to get a better comparison.

I agree that when only looking at the current remaining teams, Hibbing should be higher. As I said, I didn't change the top 14 at all, as the Bluejackets have lost to CEC, Proctor, Central and before ending the season tying Hermantown they got shut out in Virginia.

Part of the reason I don't have Hermantown much higher.

How is TRF over LOW a sure thing?

It's a sure thing, trust me. I got a guy on the inside...

It's just my personal opinion. LOW doesn't fair well in section play and has yet to beat TRF in the new Ralph. I've seen both teams play this season and despite the loss in Baudette, I'd be willing to bet my entire fortune on TRF.

I haven't seen either play. TRF having home games in sections is a HUGE advantage. That being said, a hot goalie can help even the worst of teams beat anyone; I wouldn't want to count the best goalie in the state out just yet.

[drop the puck]

According to Hockey Hub Mahtomedi went 6 - 2 with their back up goalies in net.

Hockey Hub also shows that Marshall played half the Hibbing game and gave up 6 of the 9 goals that game.

The only thing that matters now is who shows up ready to play this week.

[The X]

There are 21 teams remaining in the playoff hunt. Taken from the rankings last week with 7 teams added, here are the remaining teams. 13 more will be eliminated a week from today.

1. [1] St Thomas Academy (20-6)
The Cadets are definitely the favorite to win the section, as the remaining opponents have combined for 4 goals against them in 5 meetings, and they are going to the #1 seed if they do win the section.

2. [2] Rochester Lourdes (23-3-1)
The Eagles are definitely the favorite to win their section with two wins over the team they play in the finals. I suspect they will be the #2 seed at state if Breck wins 2A and the #4 seed if Blake makes it.

3. [3] Totino-Grace (20-5-1)
Probably the favorite to beat the Packers, but will they were shut out the one time they played St Thomas.

4. [4] Breck (18-8 )
The Mustangs look to defend their section and state championships. Can they beat Blake again?

5. [5] Blake (22-2-2)
The Bears could easily win the section and get the #2 seed at state, but nothing is definite as they recently lost to Breck.

6. [6] Hermantown (22-3-2)
Hermantown should easily get to state, but where they are seeded between 1 and 4 depends on who else is upset and how the coaches view their schedule.

7. [7] Mahtomedi (13-12-1)
The Zephyrs are definitely a very good team, but probably don’t have two more upsets in them.

8. [8] Warroad (19-8 )
The only team into the section 8A finals thus far. Would need a couple upsets to occur to be seeded at state if they can get by the winner of TRF/LOW.

9. [9] Thief River Falls (17-8-1)
Recently lost to LOW in a low scoring game, can they win this time?

10. [10] South St. Paul (17-9)
The game against TG is really up in the air with no regular season match up, but they are probably the team who has the better opportunity of upsetting St Thomas, as they basically lost by 1 to them in Mendota Heights during the season.

11. [11] Virginia/MI-B (20-7)
The most likely team to win the section. Probably won’t get seeded at state, but will be the team that a seeded team should least likely want to get paired up with.

12. [14] Lake of the Woods (17-6-3)
The Bears will have to beat two good teams to get to state. They are definitely not a team to be taken lightly as they have the best goalie in state.

13. [16] Rogers (18-8-1)
The Royals were shut out the first time they played Hermantown and recently needed OT to beat Proctor. The is little doubt this meeting will be any different than the first.

14. [19] Hibbing/Chisholm (16-9-2)
The Bluejackets have had an up and down season, no one would be surprised to see them beat Virginia, although they are definitely not the favorite.

15. [-] Delano (18-7-1)
Lost to Blake by 1 earlier this season, next game is against Breck.

16. [-] Orono (16-9-1)
Beat Providence Academy by a bigger margin than either Breck or Blake has all season. A possible upset is sections wouldn’t be out of the question.

17. [-] New Ulm (21-4-1)
Beat New Prague this season, but also lost to Litchfield. Should be a good section final in 3A

18. [-] New Prague (15-11-1)
Lost to Lourdes by a score of 1-3 twice this season. Anything’s possible in postseason play.

19. [-] Litchfield (16-10-1)
Wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see them beat New Ulm again.

20. [-] Alexandria (11-15-1)
With a one goal early season win over Wilmar, Alex is the favorite going into the section final, but anything can happen.

21. [-] Wilmar (16-8-3)
Wilmar lost the head to head match up with Alexandria early in the season, but have only lost 3 games this year. It would be no surprise to see them at the X and possibly even win their first game there.

Good accurate rankings HSHW. With the remaining teams this is as close as one can get. Should be a great week of hockey for sure.

[fivehole628]

After watching Willmar on Saturday night, if they (which they most likely will) make it to the X, I can see them pulling off a first round upset. Especially if that Finnish goalie of theirs stands on his head like he has been lately. Granted they don't get matched up against the 1 or 2 seed..

[MNHockey75]

I just don't get why so many people are drinking the Mahtomedi over STA Kool-Aid...

Wake up!

STA was #1 in Class A and heavily favored the last two seasons and blew it against who else but Mahtomedi. The coaches and kids haven't forgotten. Yes, Mahtomedi doesn't have Marshall, Zurn and Adams this year but I can see it happening. I can also see STA winning 7-1 though.

[drop the puck]

I just don't get why so many people are drinking the Mahtomedi over STA Kool-Aid...

Wake up!

STA was #1 in Class A and heavily favored the last two seasons and blew it against who else but Mahtomedi. The coaches and kids haven't forgotten. Yes, Mahtomedi doesn't have Marshall, Zurn and Adams this year but I can see it happening. I can also see STA winning 7-1 though.

Pick one team and stick to it.

[MNHockey75]

I just don't get why so many people are drinking the Mahtomedi over STA Kool-Aid...

Wake up!

STA was #1 in Class A and heavily favored the last two seasons and blew it against who else but Mahtomedi. The coaches and kids haven't forgotten. Yes, Mahtomedi doesn't have Marshall, Zurn and Adams this year but I can see it happening. I can also see STA winning 7-1 though.

Pick one team and stick to it.

Ohh I'm picking the Cadets, but Mahto will bring the noise.

[HShockeywatcher]

STA was #1 in Class A and heavily favored the last two seasons and blew it against who else but Mahtomedi. The coaches and kids haven't forgotten. Yes, Mahtomedi doesn't have Marshall, Zurn and Adams this year but I can see it happening. I can also see STA winning 7-1 though.

Pick one team and stick to it.

Ohh I'm picking the Cadets, but Mahto will bring the noise.

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but the only people who felt like Mahtomedi was a HUGE underdog were those who didn't follow the teams or the section. Seeing the teams tie to end the season doesn't scream "underdog!" nor does beating the team you are supposedly worse than.

Sure, they could win. Little Falls lost to Apollo, anything's possible. Is it likely, or did anything happen this season to suggest it will (unlike both of the last two seasons)? No.

[PuckU126]

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but the only people who felt like Mahtomedi was a HUGE underdog were those who didn't follow the teams or the section. Seeing the teams tie to end the season doesn't scream "underdog!" nor does beating the team you are supposedly worse than.

Sure, they could win. Little Falls lost to Apollo, anything's possible. Is it likely, or did anything happen this season to suggest it will (unlike both of the last two seasons)? No.

STA and Mahtomedi didn't tie this year. 6-1, 5-1 wins all by STA

I'd agree the Zephyrs had a chance if they had Marshall and co. back or showed they could skate with STA earlier in the season.

According to those scores above, they have a very slim chance.

I know LF fell to Apollo; that was a great upset and accomplishment. However, some were not surprised, only some. This was because Apollo did give LF a run for their money earlier in the season in their second meeting. Apollo had their number and they pulled off one of the best upsets in awhile.

I don't seeing STA being a LF this time around. STA on two occasions this year blew Mahtomedi out of the water; I don't see another upset for that reason.

[north*hockey]

I'm a firm believer that once it is playoff time the regular season is thrown out the window. Any game is up for either team to grab. As for the STA v. Maht game..... only time will tell

[HShockeywatcher]

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but the only people who felt like Mahtomedi was a HUGE underdog were those who didn't follow the teams or the section. Seeing the teams tie to end the season doesn't scream "underdog!" nor does beating the team you are supposedly worse than.

Sure, they could win. Little Falls lost to Apollo, anything's possible. Is it likely, or did anything happen this season to suggest it will (unlike both of the last two seasons)? No.

STA and Mahtomedi didn't tie this year. 6-1, 5-1 wins all by STA

I'd agree the Zephyrs had a chance if they had Marshall and co. back or showed they could skate with STA earlier in the season.

According to those scores above, they have a very slim chance.

I know LF fell to Apollo; that was a great upset and accomplishment. However, some were not surprised, only some. This was because Apollo did give LF a run for their money earlier in the season in their second meeting. Apollo had their number and they pulled off one of the best upsets in awhile.

I don't seeing STA being a LF this time around. STA on two occasions this year blew Mahtomedi out of the water; I don't see another upset for that reason.

You are correct, they didn't tie this year. My comment was in response to comments about the #2 seed the last two years, Mahtomedi, being a huge underdog, which they weren't, nor were they thought of as one at the time.
-Two years ago St Thomas won the first meeting by 3, then in the last game of the season, they tied 4-4. Going into the game there was no feeling of dominance, only a feeling of hope that the season's finale wasn't a sign that the tides had turned. They had; Maht won by 3.
-Last year St Thomas won the first meeting by 3, then in the last game of the year Maht won by the same score. They were the favorite to win the section, and they did by 1.
The last two years they had players who are no longer with the team and were an amazing team. This year it is not the same; they are an underdog this year.