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2019 Minnesota State Boys Hockey Tournament Thread


CreaseAndAssist

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2019 Minnesota Boys State Hockey Tournament Preview

 

I know the Wild are in a heckuva battle to try to make the playoffs, but the Tourney is almost on!  I preview all 16 of the teams that made it and provide predictions for all of the quarterfinals games and the respective final in Class A & Class AA.  We all know who @Antti_Laxative is rooting for.  

 

In case you missed it...

 

Breck was Class A Girls Champion

 

Edina was Class AA Girls Champion

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17 minutes ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

2019 Minnesota Boys State Hockey Tournament Preview

 

I know the Wild are in a heckuva battle to try to make the playoffs, but the Tourney is almost on!  I preview all 16 of the teams that made it and provide predictions for all of the quarterfinals games and the respective final in Class A & Class AA.  We all know who @Antti_Laxative is rooting for.  

 

In case you missed it...

 

Breck was Class A Girls Champion

 

Edina was Class AA Girls Champion

Ha yup!  GO 🎂's

 
Good write-ups again dude - I'll be there Friday and probably Saturday
 
And yes, I did attend (for the umpteenth year in a row) the finals for 2AA and 6AA at the Mooch last Wednesday. That is always every bit as good as the State Finals themselves, IMO)
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2 hours ago, Antti_Laxative said:

Ha yup!  GO 🎂's

 
Good write-ups again dude - I'll be there Friday and probably Saturday
 
And yes, I did attend (for the umpteenth year in a row) the finals for 2AA and 6AA at the Mooch last Wednesday. That is always every bit as good as the State Finals themselves, IMO)

 

Thanks, I try.  Minnetonka was very good and they got beat twice by Edina.  IMO, barring some unforeseen collapse the Class AA is theirs.  Duluth East is my darkhorse for an upset.  Say what you will but Mike Randolph is like Bill Lechner is at Hill-Murray...if they get in the tournament they're capable of beating anyone.  

 

As for Class A I think its more wide open especially with Hermantown not making it this year for the first time in 9 years.  

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Thanks for doing what you do Derek. Was really hoping you would still do the high school tourney.

 

Definitely Edina's tourney to lose in AA and like you said its up in the air for single A but I got to go with my Greenway Raiders and hope they continue the upsets. They need there goalie to continue his hot streak 🤞but the favorites got to go to Cathedral and Mahtomedi final.

 

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16 minutes ago, WileyOz44 said:

Thanks for doing what you do Derek. Was really hoping you would still do the high school tourney.

 

Definitely Edina's tourney to lose in AA and like you said its up in the air for single A but I got to go with my Greenway Raiders and hope they continue the upsets. They need there goalie to continue his hot streak 🤞but the favorites got to go to Cathedral and Mahtomedi final.

 

 

Donte Lawson and Ben Troumbley are fantastic.  IMO, they're a lot like Duluth East.  If you can take down Hermantown, you can beat anyone in Class A...

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AA

Edina over Moorhead 4-1

East over Academy 4-3

Lakeville over EP 3-2

Blaine over WBL 5-3

 

A

Mahtomedi over New Ulm 7-1

Greenway over Delano 4-3

EGF over MN River 5-1

Cathedral over North Branch 6-2

 

 

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4-for-4 on my predictions so far, but this was the easy part.  IMO, you don't always know its going to be just blowouts but it often turns out that way.  Part of that is a byproduct of seeding.  

 

For as much as @Antti_Laxative likes to snipe schools like North Branch, etc...you never know if you'll get a Northfield or MAML making a remarkable surprise run.  As one sided as some of the scores were, I still think the quality in some of the outstate areas has improved.  

 

The tricky part for those outstate programs is to get a tougher schedule.  To get more experience against the better teams.  Luverne has tried to improve their schedule by playing more city schools but they were no where near making state this year.  But they're still trying to climb the ladder and as much as snobbery as you wish to place on the Class A tournament, I still like it.  

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2 minutes ago, Antti_Laxative said:

?? ^

😕

 

There are not tryouts for most single A schools for example Greenway........they have what they have 20 kids and that's the team

Turn that around to AA schools for example Duluth East...... they choose the cream of the crop and then cut 20 kids. Enrollment numbers are huge. I think single A schools should be 500 or less. AA has depth single A rarely has none minus the Hermantown's.

 

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Why didn't you say that? :)  I couldn't figure out that post 

 

You meant     "than"   not    "then"   - the "then" threw me off

 

It appears as though you were proposing a 50-team tourney....that got whittled down to 20 and then 5 (mathematical impossibility ;) ) That's even worse than the ill-fated, two year "Two-Tier" experiment of '92 and '93 

 

 

 

 

 

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LOL. Nobody is insinuating people can't enjoy the Class A Tourney. I just don't. 

 

Anyway...I did 6-and-a-half minutes of research to verify my point. Here is just a sampling of a few first round Class A wipeouts … only going back as far as 2010. 

 

IMO This should never happen when you are down to the final 8 teams…first round of sectionals maybe. It’s a trend not an exception.

 

2010

Warroad - 9 Rochester Lourdes - 0

Breck - 11 New Ulm -1

Mahtomedi -7 Alexandria -1

----------------------------------------------------

2011

St. Thomas Academy – 13 New Ulm – 2

----------------------------------------------------

2012

St. Tomas Academy -7 Little Falls – 0

Breck -7 Duluth Marshall – 0

Hermantown -7 Rochester Lourdes -2

----------------------------------------------------

2013

St. Thomas Academy -12 St. Cloud Apollo -0

----------------------------------------------------

2015

Hermantown - 8 Spring Lake Park – 0

----------------------------------------------------

2016

Breck – 8 Mankato- West -0

Hermantown – 11 Litchfield/DC – 3

----------------------------------------------------

2019

Mahtomedi – 6 New Ulm – 0

St. Cloud Cathedral – 7 North Branch - 0

 

** New Ulm – Since 2010 – they have represented their section 5 times and have been outscored in the quarter-finals: 41-7 in those 5 appearances. Ban them and their section if that’s the best they can send

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I was 2 for 2 on my championship predictions.  Ban New Ulm and their section...go and tell your Hutchinson friends that because that's the same one.  So sure they'd appreciate that point of view there @Antti_Laxative?  Breck, St. Thomas Academy and to be honest... Hermantown shouldn't be in Class A either.  

 

(sigh)  The last hockey hair video.  It will be interesting to see if the kids still grow it out without that video being there.  So next year will tell us a lot about Minnesota's love for Flowetry.  

 

I loved those videos and John King did a fantastic job but I am sure pressure and life just made it too too busy and stressful to do.  I know how that feels, feeling like you have to go one better and that expectations are exceeding what you can possibly deliver for doing something that is really just a labor of love.  

 

Anyone see they mentioned the hair and his videos on the Today Show this morning?  Fellow Elk River alum Joe Fryer did the report for NBC.  

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