3A

[sniper1675]

What was the reasoning behind switchin up the venues for the finals anyone?

[goalieguy1]

What was the reasoning behind switchin up the venues for the finals anyone?

There's a little history behind it. For several years, this section held its semis and finals at Aldrich. When St. Thomas and Lourdes became regular fixtures in the semis, the attendance went down so much that the section was losing money, because Aldrich charges a fairly high rent, relative to other arenas.

(And this isn't any sort of "private school bashing." The simple fact is that these schools - although they have great hockey programs - didn't bring a lot of fans to these games. Lourdes, in particular, doesn't have a lot of people who will make the drive all the way from Rochester to Aldrich on a weeknight.)

So for the 2005-06 season, they moved the semis and finals to Inver Grove, where they had a cheaper rental rate. It turns out that Inver Grove is woefully inadequate as a site. When you have four schools on the same night for the semis, there is not nearly enough parking...Folks were parked on an adjacent road without any shoulder space, many were ticketed, many were very unhappy. Also, IGH tried to sell the tickets through one little window, leaving folks in line for 20-25 minutes just to get into the building. And once inside, there wasn't enough seating, the concessions are inadequate, the restrooms quickly became big messes. In short, it was a fiasco.

The section wanted to change for this year, but was unable to find another rink on the semifinal date, so they had to stay there for this year. Again, with four schools and two games on one night, it's going to be a terrible mess, because IGH just doesn't have the capacity for this kind of event.

They were able to change the final by getting 2AA to agree to a doubleheader at the Coliseum. And after this year, it won't go back to IGH again.

Long answer to a short question, I realize, but that's the history.

[sniper1675]

yes i remember aldrich its a shame they had to move from there.... alot of great and not so great memories in that place.

[goalieguy1]

yes i remember aldrich its a shame they had to move from there.... alot of great and not so great memories in that place.

There were some great semifinal nights there when the section had Mahtomedi, Northfield and Red Wing all with strong, and relatively equal programs...Lots of community support and they'd fill the building.

[Slapper Al]

I think it also helps that it could be Finals with STA and Cretin Back-to-Back. Could be a good draw for St Paul hockey fans. Not that big of deal for the out-of-towners, just a further drive.

[doubleOHseven]

Bracket update

[goalieguy1]

Bracket update

Nice work, 007....Thank you!

Does anyone think there's a quarterfinal upset possibility in this bracket? SSP gave Red Wing a pretty tough game earlier at SSP....Northfield's skaters are much better than Richfield's, but the goaltending disparity is pretty big...any thoughts?

[warriors07]

not a chance STA back in the tourney again

[southernmnscout]

not a chance STA back in the tourney again

Does this mean not a chance STA will make it or not a chance there will be upsets???

[Mikey]

OK, we have the seeds and the speculation... what's the scouting report for the play-in games? I don't know much about these teams, but here's what I think:

LaCrescent vs. Minnehaha: One big scoring line for Minnehaha with Lundeen leading the way, and LaCrescent has a great player in Hayes. Should be a close one... I'll take Minnehaha 5-3 due to the home ice advantage... not so much for the fans and last change as the C-C-C-C-COLD TEMP!

SPA vs. Simley: Simley has the tougher schedule, but neither team has beaten anybody of note... both teams beat Sibley in close games, SPA lost twice to Minnehaha, and Simley blew Minnehaha out earlier in the season. SPA has a great player in McMillan, Simley has a good goaltender... I'll take Simley 4-1 because of their goaltending and that they see plenty of great players throughout the year, so they won't be run over by McMillan.

[goalieguy1]

Is Simley capable of giving Lourdes a decent game in the quarterfinals?

[southernmnscout]

Is Simley capable of giving Lourdes a decent game in the quarterfinals?

Lourdes handled them pretty easily at home a couple of weeks ago. I think it was 5-2 or 7-2 or something like that if I remember right? I do know that Lourdes out shot them and out played them pretty bad.

[HShockeywatcher]

I would love to see South St Paul give it to Red Wing. Since then both teams have done quite well, so it will probably be a close one. Although, an all CSC semifinal is probably not very realistic at all. Possible, but not realistic. I see the top seeds getting out of the quarters and again out of the semi's. Just me.

Goalieguy, do you know why they couldn't get another venue for the semi's? I know it would be a home site, but how would St Thomas Ice compare? Or Richfield has a nice arena with two sheets of ice and would probably be closer for everyone. Just throwing it out there.

[goalieguy1]

I don't believe either would be any better. IGH has seating for 1,300, and it's too small for section semis, as we will see again next Saturday. Richfield at least has a better parking situation, but it also has only 1,300 seats, (along with standing room for about 500). St. Thomas would have parking limitations similar to IGH, and has only 1,200 seats.

Aldrich, by comparison, has 3,400 seats and acres of parking. It really was a perfect venue for this, but the section couldn't keep losing money.

(All seating figures are from rinkfinder.com.)

Maybe I'm missing an arena, but I'm having a hard time thinking of a facility in the section that is smaller than Aldrich, but big enough to handle a 1,500-2,000 crowd. Wakota, perhaps? The Rochester Rec Center would work very well, but it's not convenient for anyone except Lourdes, and there are probably conflicts with 1AA and the Ice Hawks.

With standing room, maybe you could make Richfield work, but imagine the chaos with everyone moving in and out that rinkside entrance towards the small restrooms and that little concession area? (Remember, with two games, the semis are about a 5- to 5-1/2 hour event. Not like a Shattuck/AHA or CDH/STA game where people can come in, be in one place for two hours, then get up and leave. You need space for people to move around.)

Perhaps the solution is to let the higher seeds host the semis, so the games are at separate venues, but I think there's a commitment to having neutral-site games as much as possible once you get that far along.

I'm sure if anyone has an idea, the ADs from 3A would love to hear it.

[hawkfan70]

it is nice to see you boys finally getting along

[goalieguy1]

it is nice to see you boys finally getting along

I've always said we're happy to discuss reasonable questions, not junk like "In sections, do they play OT until someone scores?"

And speaking of Hawks, my Hermantown sources say they're pretty worried about Hibbing; They were a little lucky to win the last one. Agree?

[hawkfan70]

we are always worried about Hibbing
they are always a quality team and (I am assuming) the coaching staff and players have the upmost respect for them
again assuming, they feel the same about Hermantown

but first things first
we first have to win 2 games to get them (as do they)

sounds like i am running for office

[HShockeywatcher]

I've gotten along all the time. Forgive me for asking a question and you continuing to bring it up after I explained why I asked it.

Not to say you're wrong, but the thing I was thinking about Richfield is that there are two rinks, could possibly utilize that. When one game gets over, no waiting, the other one starts. As for St Thomas, you have a very good point about the rink. I was surprised the first time I went in there with how little seating there is. As for parking, they hosted a state football game on the same night as UST had a hockey game, they have the ice arena parking, the school parking and a big stretch of the road, so parking wouldn't be an issue, but yes, seating would suck. Yes, a neutral site is always good, why not have them at two different sites? Would that be that huge of a deal? Problem solved right there.

[goalieguy1]

The second Richfield rink only has 200 seats.

[hawkfan70]

The second Richfield rink only has 200 seats.

the cadets don't mind sitting on laps

[HShockeywatcher]

touche

[southernmnscout]

"the cadets don't mind sitting on laps"

[ocanadaourhome]

touche

You really are lame....

HS=BS Its simple math

[power92]

how about simple mathrunner?

[gongshow]

the cadets don't mind sitting on laps

niether does HSHockeywatcher! He loves his St. thomas boys