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We have our first three tournament champions, all of them close games. In the first, Eden Prairie uses up another one of their nine lives as they keep their undefeated record intact, defeating Minnetonka 2-1 with a late OT goal. 11 members of our esteemed panel predicted an Eagles championship.

Not as much drama in the Walser tournament as Maple Grove blanked Breck 2-0, despite being outshot 40-27. Seven of our panelists predicted a Crimson championship.

In the final tournament championship, much close than expected, Thief River Falls held off Blaine 2-1. TRF scored 2 goals in the first period and then only managed 3 more shots the remainder of the game, if HockeyHub is to be believed. 17 of our prognosticators predicted a Prowler title.

Nordic and panpan111 were the only two contestants to correctly predict all three tournament champions, so that engenders a change in the leader board as follows:

32 panpan111
28 Hockeymaven, MNHockeyFan
27 Nordic
25 spars46
24 clutterbucket, D6GirlsFan, otter, sinbin
23 blondegirlsdad, maverick2000, rascalbrock
22 4 others
21 3 others

panpan11 would appear to have a nearly insurmountable lead. He picked Blake to win the Kaposia, but if Hill-Murray wins and the stars align, we might have 1 or 2 other players who could sneak in for the weekly title. Good luck to all and Happy (and safe) New Year!

Not sure why the Hub still doesn't have the score up but the paper edition of the Star Tribune has Mounds View winning over Hibbing/Chisholm by a 5-2 score in yesterday's Kaposia quarterfinal. So Mounds View takes on upset-minded International Falls in the lower bracket semi today at 4:45.

MNHockeyFan, thanks. I looked at all the usual sites, Googled it, etc. but it's good that old-school print media came to the rescue.

Not much change at all in the leader board, since all 4 games were unanimous picks by our group, Int'l Falls over SSP the one upset. We did have two correct scores (Knight7 and mnhockey3535) in the MV over H/C tilt, so the leaders now show as follows, heading into the Kaposia semi-finals.

35 panpan111
31 Hockeymaven, MNHockeyFan
30 Nordic
28 spars46
27 clutterbucket, D6GirlsFan, otter, sinbin
26 blondegirlsdad, Knight7, maverick2000, mnhockey3535, rascalbrock
25 2 others
24 3 others

Champions Picked
Hill-Murray 10
Blake 8
Mounds View 1

Good luck to all.

The Kaposia semi-finals are complete and we also have a weekly winner, even prior to the Kaposia championship game.

In the first game, Mounds View toppled International Falls 5-2.

In a very compelling game which did not disappoint, Blake edged Hill-Murray 4-3 in overtime, with the Pioneers unable to overcome a 27-0 minute penalty edge. Blake scored their game-winning OT goal on a power play.

Blake and Mounds View play for the championship. Eight of us can pick up 3 more points with a Bears victory and one rascal in the bunch can prove the rest of us wrong with a Mustang championship.

With one game to go and 3 more points at stake, panpan111 has clinched a victory, with the remaining contestants fighting for rank.

35 panpan111
31 Hockeymaven, MNHockeyFan
30 Nordic
28 spars46
27 clutterbucket, D6GirlsFan, otter, sinbin
26 blondegirlsdad, Knight7, maverick2000, mnhockey3535, rascalbrock
25 2 others
24 3 others

sinbin, I notice that your point totals did not change to reflect the semifinal results.

Arrgh, that's what I get for trying to do 3 things at once, not much is done very well. At least I fixed my snow-blower today, by some miracle. Here's a more recent update.

39 panpan111
35 MNHockeyFan
33 Hockeymaven
32 Nordic, spars46
30 Knight7
29 clutterbucket, D6GirlsFan, otter, sinbin
28 blondegirlsdad, hockeybozo, hugo_lucas, maverick2000, mnhockey3535, rascalbrock, The Bone
27 2 others

Little suspense in the Kaposia championship or the holiday pick the winners challenge. At Kaposia, Blake corralled Mounds View 5-1, although shots were even at 29 a piece.

Without further ado, our leaderboard shows as follows. Panpan11 deserves credit for being the only one to correctly predict not only all 4 tournament champions, but all semi-finalists. MNHockeyFan finishes in second for a second consecutive week, unlucky again to run into a super-human predictive effort. Well, that's quite enough ado for now; here are the final standings.

42 panpan111
38 MNHockeyFan
36 Hockeymaven
35 spars46
33 Knight7
32 Nordic
31 hockeybozo, hugo_lucas, The Bone
29 clutterbucket, D6GirlsFan, otter, sinbin
28 4 others
27 2 others

A lot of tight games that could have gone either way, but certainly kudos to the leaders for their astute prognostication.