Class AA Section Update

Section 1AA

As expected we will see a Farmington vs. Lakeville North Final. Each team won their opening game by an 11 goal margin. Farmington cruised into the section final beating Rochester John Marshall 11-0 and Lakeville South 8-0. Lakeville North put up 13 on Rochester Century and followed that up with a 5-2 win over Dodge County.

Farmington 4. Lakeville North 1.

Section 2AA

EP will play Shakopee tonight in the first semifinal at Braemar.

Eden Prairie beat Prior Lake 6-0 in the opening round. EP jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two periods of play and led in shots 31-12. EP shut it down in the third putting only 5 pucks on net and scoring no more goals. Sydney Langseth scored 3 goals and added 2 assists.

Shakopee as the 3 seed hosted Holy Family who landed the 4 seed in their first year as a stand alone program. The Fire found themselves down 0-2 early in the second when Shakopee’s Madeline Canny scored just :56 into the period. As a young inexperienced team you could expect Holy Family to roll over in a big game like this but they showed maturity and grit beyond their years to get back into it and they did so in dramatic fashion. With the time running out Maeve Kelly was able to find the back of the net with just :08 left in the game to force OT. But Shakopee had outplayed Holy Family for the most part all game and that continued into the overtime session. Paige McNeil scored the OT game winner for the Sabers 2:30 into OT.

EP 5. Shakopee 1.

Minnetonka vs. Bloomington Jefferson in second semifinal.

Minnetonka hosted New Prague and was fairly dominant outshooting New Prague 45-8 and winning 7-2. Minnetonka found themselves up 4-0 early in the second before New Prague scored a shorty on their only shot of the second period to cut the lead to 3. New Prague opened the scoring in the third on a PP goal from Lindsey Bjerke to get within two. But Lacey Martin shut the door on the comeback by scoring back to back goals to get the lead back to 4. Martin would finish with 4 goals and an assist. Maggie Nicholson added 3 assists for the Skippers.

6 seed Jefferson upset 3 seed Chaska Chan thanks to the great performance in net from Jaguar goalie Mara McClain. Mara stopped 34 of 35 shots in the 5-1 win. Celena Rea, Julia Jones, and Cayla Jungwirth each had 3 points for the Jags.

This could be an interesting game if McClain is on her game. But I believe Tonka will meet EP in the final.

Tonka 4. Jefferson 2.

Section 3AA

Eagan will face East Ridge in the final tomorrow night. Eagan got past Hastings 4-1 thanks for Brooke Peplinski’s two goals. They then snuck past Apple Valley 1-0 on a Emily Cronkhite third period goal.

Burnsville as the 2 seed was upset in round 1 by Park of Cottage Grove and that paved the way for 3 seed East Ridge to make it way to the final. East Ridge edged Rosemount 3-2 in game 1. In the semi vs. Park of Cottage Grove they found themselves down 0-2 before scoring 5 unanswered goals to win 5-2. Junior Fiona Clougherty had 2 and 1 in the comeback win.

Eagan has been a little shaky lately. East Ridge has won 5 in a row. I think we might see an upset here.

East Ridge 3. Eagan 1.

Section 4AA

Honestly there isn’t much to write about in Section 4AA. Hill will walk through this section.

Hill meets Roseville in one semi after scoring 7 goals in the first period on the way to 12-0 win over Irondale in the first round.

Hill 7. Roseville 0.

Stillwater meets White Bear in the other semi after an underwhelming win over Woodbury 2-1. WBL beat North St. Paul 4-0 in round 1.

White Bear 3. Stillwater 2.

Section 5AA

Blaine will meet 1 seed Maple Grove in the first semfinal. Blaine routed Anoka 6-0 in round one. Dani Brunette and Maddie Andrle led the way with 4 and 3 points respectively. Goalie Hailey Hansen had the 26 save shutout. MG had a bye.

Maple Grove 4. Blaine 2.

Rogers upset Champlin Park 3-2 on an OT game winner from Ellen Erdahl. Rogers come to play outshooting a typically stingy Champlin team 39-26. Centennial beat Spring Lake Park 4-0 in the opening round. Mackenna Stoterau had the 19 save shutout and Allison Pitlick had 2 goals for Centennial.

Centennial 3. Rogers 2.

Section 6AA

Whoever comes out of this section will most likely be your State Champ.

Blake will face CDH in the first semifinal after dismantling Minnehaha 11-0. Minnehaha didn’t find it very funny. Get it? It was 9-0 after the first period and Blake put only 7 pucks on net over the next two periods. CDH beat BSM in a very tight game 4-3. The Raiders’ Kiera Ryan scored the game winner with 2:43 to play in the game.

Blake 6. CDH 1.

Edina vs. Wayzata in the second semifinal. Edina only beat Hopkins 4-0 in game one but outshot them 47-5. The performance was much more dominant than the score would indicate. Wayzata was just as dominant in their 7-0 win over Osseo/Park Center. Shots were 53-7. Alexa Ocel with 3 and 1.

Edina 4. Wayzata 3.

Section 7AA

As expected we will have a Forest Lake vs. Andover final. But we almost didn’t get it.

Wow!! Instant classic came out of this section this past weekend. Andover eliminated Elk River in a game the went into the 4th OT. Keep in mind that in postseason play each OT is a full period! Andover had 89 shots on net! They survived killing a 3v5 in the 4th OT! I would not want to face Kelsey King 3v5 in an OT session, by the way. The Huskies’ Madelynn Jurgensen scored at the 12:24 mark of the 4th OT. Unbelievable game.

Forest Lake faced Grand Rapids in the other semifinal. Forest Lake came out the victor despite being outshot 34-29. Bailey O’Donovan had 2 and 1 and Breija Parent and Samantha Boerboom each had 1 and 1. Ally Goehner save 31 of 34 shots.

Andover 4. Forest Lake 2.

Section 8AA

Brainerd blanked Moorhead 7-0. North Wright blanked St. Cloud 5-0. Roseau blanked Bemidji 6-0. Sartell beat Buffalo 5-3. This sets up Brainerd vs. Sartell and Roseau vs. NWC.

Brainerd should cruise into the final but Sartell does have Chloe Stockinger. A good goalie is so valuable in the postseason.

Brainerd 3. Sartell 1

NWC played Roseau tight in their only matchup of the year- A 5-4 win for the Rams. In fact NWC had a 3-1 to start the third period before Roseau scored 4 straight goals. This could be another good one.

Roseau 4. NWC 2.