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Sectional play is now complete, and the Class AA State Tournament teams have been finalized. Here are the teams going to St. Paul, and their season records:

1AA Farmington (16-11-1)
2AA Eden Prairie (19-6-2)
3AA Eastview (16-10-2)
4AA Hill-Murray (23-4-1)
5AA Blaine (23-3-2)
6AA Edina (25-1-1)
7AA Forest Lake (20-5-3)
8AA Roseau (19-8-1)

Questions:
Which teams will be seeded 1 to 5?
Do you foresee any upsets?

Note:
nu2hockey will likely post a separate Class AA State Tournament "pick 'em" contest; Be sure to participate if you dare!

That will be the case...

I will have the resulrs of the SECTIONS CONTEST later today, have to get new computer, old one crapped out...

MNHockeyFan wrote:Sectional play is now complete, and the Class AA State Tournament teams have been finalized. Here are the teams going to St. Paul, and their season records:

1AA Farmington (16-11-1)
2AA Eden Prairie (19-6-2)
3AA Eastview (16-10-2)
4AA Hill-Murray (23-4-1)
5AA Blaine (23-3-2)
6AA Edina (25-1-1)
7AA Forest Lake (20-5-3)
8AA Roseau (19-8-1)

Questions:
Which teams will be seeded 1 to 5?

I'll take a stab at this:

1. Edina
2. Hill-Murray
3. Blaine
4. Eden Prairie
5. Forest Lake

Random draws: Farmington, Eastview and Roseau

MNHockeyFan wrote: I'll take a stab at this:

1. Edina
2. Hill-Murray
3. Blaine
4. Eden Prairie
5. Forest Lake

Random draws: Farmington, Eastview and Roseau

That matches exactly what I put in the other thread. Blaine could be #2 (1 fewer loss than HM), but I think HM gets it based on past performance. Personally, I don't think that should matter, but we're talking coaches here. Granted, being seeded 2 or 3 really makes no difference at all. EP v FL will be a very interesting game. I'm not really betting on any of the unseeded teams to have much of a chance in the QFs. But that's why they play the game. Not many gave Farmington a chance against the two Lakevilles or Roseau against Brainerd...

Well I was wrong on just the Blaine v HM seedings in my brackets in the other thread. The fact I got the 3 non-seeded teams exactly right last night shows you how "random" it really is.


Official Games:

#2 Blaine v Roseau
#3 Hill-Murray v Eastview
#1 Edina v Farmington
#4 Eden Prairie v Forest Lake

Sparlimb wrote:Well I was wrong on just the Blaine v HM seedings in my brackets in the other thread. The fact I got the 3 non-seeded teams exactly right last night shows you how "random" it really is.


Official Games:

#2 Blaine v Roseau
#3 Hill-Murray v Eastview
#1 Edina v Farmington
#4 Eden Prairie v Forest Lake

I am a little surprised that Blaine was seeded #2 and Hill-Murray #3, but as you say it really doesn't make much (if any) difference (although I suppose playing a LITTLE earlier gives a team a LITTLE more time to recoup - spreads the 3 games in 3 days out a LITTLE more).

Official bracket here:
http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/showXMLbrack ... acket=7390

Re: the #4 vs. #5 matchup, Eden Prairie needed a late 3rd period goal to send their game against Minnetonka into OT, whereas Flake had an easier time with a strong ER/Z squad. Hard one to predict!

As in the CLASS A discussion...

Here are the sectional Goalie stats for CLASS AA:

team..........GAA..........SV%

Edina 0.00 1.000
Blaine 0.00 1.000
HM .67 .967
EV 1.00 .959
Farm 1.00 .958
Roseau 1.39 .944
EP .92 .938
Flake 2.31 .919


For the season:
Flake 1.45 .937
EP 1.41 .935
HM 1.27 .935
Edina 1.04 .930
Blaine 1.02 .921
Roseau 1.90 .914
Farm 2.01 .912
EV 2.21 .906

I really don't consider GAA and SV% to be very reliable goalie stats. Very difficult to compare, depending on the team in front of the goalie. I would say they are more a team statistic than a goalie statistic. Notice the three on the bottom for the season are the non-seeded teams. Does not mean their goalies are not as good.

MNHockeyFan wrote:

Sparlimb wrote:Well I was wrong on just the Blaine v HM seedings in my brackets in the other thread. The fact I got the 3 non-seeded teams exactly right last night shows you how "random" it really is.


Official Games:

#2 Blaine v Roseau
#3 Hill-Murray v Eastview
#1 Edina v Farmington
#4 Eden Prairie v Forest Lake

I am a little surprised that Blaine was seeded #2 and Hill-Murray #3, but as you say it really doesn't make much (if any) difference (although I suppose playing a LITTLE earlier gives a team a LITTLE more time to recoup - spreads the 3 games in 3 days out a LITTLE more).

Official bracket here:
http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/showXMLbrack ... acket=7390

Re: the #4 vs. #5 matchup, Eden Prairie needed a late 3rd period goal to send their game against Minnetonka into OT, whereas Flake had an easier time with a strong ER/Z squad. Hard one to predict!

I think there is a big difference between the #2 and #3 seed....you guys are over-looking the importance of last change... It's the little things that make a big difference

Hansonbrother wrote:I think there is a big difference between the #2 and #3 seed....you guys are over-looking the importance of last change... It's the little things that make a big difference

Good point.

MNHockeyFan wrote:

Hansonbrother wrote:I think there is a big difference between the #2 and #3 seed....you guys are over-looking the importance of last change... It's the little things that make a big difference

Good point.

I'm in no way looking past Forrest Lake, but I'm really getting tired of EP and Hill Murray in the second round. Last year was a refreshing change, and such a wonderful outcome.

The nice thing about playing Forrest lake is there are some butts in the seats. You could hear crickets during the EP Hill-Murray game.

luckyEPDad wrote:

MNHockeyFan wrote:

Hansonbrother wrote:I think there is a big difference between the #2 and #3 seed....you guys are over-looking the importance of last change... It's the little things that make a big difference

Good point.

I'm in no way looking past Forrest Lake, but I'm really getting tired of EP and Hill Murray in the second round. Last year was a refreshing change, and such a wonderful outcome.

The nice thing about playing Forrest lake is there are some butts in the seats. You could hear crickets during the EP Hill-Murray game.

EP-HM was 2014 , right?...the biggest crowds will be Thursday morning ...Kids getting out of school for the large schools ensure that...Flake does have a nice following.

nu2hockey wrote:

luckyEPDad wrote:

MNHockeyFan wrote: Good point.

I'm in no way looking past Forrest Lake, but I'm really getting tired of EP and Hill Murray in the second round. Last year was a refreshing change, and such a wonderful outcome.

The nice thing about playing Forrest lake is there are some butts in the seats. You could hear crickets during the EP Hill-Murray game.

EP-HM was 2014 , right?...the biggest crowds will be Thursday morning ...Kids getting out of school for the large schools ensure that...Flake does have a nice following.

Two years in a row the second round opponent was Hill-Murray, 2013 and 2014. Both years the 3rd place game was against Lakeville North. I think both first round games were against teams making their first appearance in the state tournament (Forrest Lake in 2013 I think). It was like the movie "Groundhog's Day". In 2015 it looked like EP would have the top seed and HM second seed. An exciting grudge match in the making for the championship. It was going to be epic, then Edina decided to ruin the party.

Responding to Sparlimb's post added to the 'Score Updates & Results" thread here:

Sparlimb wrote:EP, with a max effort, can beat Edina. Will the show up with enough to do so tomorrow?

While anything is possible, I'm skeptical if EP can overcome Edina's clear advantage when it comes to depth. If the Hornets can keep Rogge in check, I believe they will prevail once again in another low scoring tight game. Average score in their two regular season meetings this year: Edina 1.5, EP 0.5.

Sparlimb wrote:Both games should be entertaining, although after the way the regular season game against Blaine went, I'm not holding my breath on my squad.

I'm expecting both semi's to be great games as well. For the Blaine/Hill-Murray match-up I used the 4-4 regular season tie game when doing my predictions in the AA contest thread, in which I went with Blaine after seeing they outshot the Pioneers 49-20. If the Pioneers allow Blaine 49 shots again I don't like their chances.

I was a little surprised that the Edina/EP game wasn't more closely contested. The Hornets were really buzzing, while the Eagles for the most part didn't seem to have much energy. I don't expect a lack of energy to be a factor for Blaine in tonight's championship game. No horse in the race, but I'm hoping for one of those classic match-ups where the outcome is very much in doubt until the very end.