Championship games in nine of the state's 16 sections are set and two No. 7 seeds are still alive as the section playoffs resume today with four games.
Hibbing/Chisholm plays Hermantown at 5:30 p.m. and Duluth Denfeld plays Rock Ridge at 7:30 p.m. today in Section 7A semifinals at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.
The other two games are Section 3A semifinals between Mankato East and Luverne and Mankato West and New Ulm at the Lund Center on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus in St. Peter.
Five of the section championship games scheduled for Wednesday, March 1, have been set. All have 7 p.m. start times:
Four section championship games are set for Thursday, March 2, all with 7 p.m. start times. They are:
Two of the biggest upsets so far feature No. 7 seeds toppling No. 2 seeds in semifinals on Saturday. In Section 4AA, No. 7 Woodbury beat No. 2 Stillwater 1-0 in overtime. In Section 2A, No. 7 Waconia beat No. 2 Providence Academy 6-3.
Laconia reached a section semifinal for the first time in the program's 15-year history.
The state tournament is set for March 8-11 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Eight games are scheduled for tonight in the aftermath of a winter storm that pounded the state with as much as 21 inches of snow in some areas.
While most games scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday were pushed to later in the week, puck drops for all four of the Section 8A quarterfinals and three of the Section 1AA quarterfinals are set to go off tonight as scheduled.
The other game set for tonight is a Section 2AA quarterfinal in Shakopee between Prior Lake and the host Sabres. Shakopee won two of the teams' three regular season meetings.
Two of the most intriguing games are rematches of surprising regular season results. Red Lake Falls, which beat Thief River Falls 4-1 on Feb. 9 for what is believed to be the Eagles' first win over the Prowlers in a series that dates to the 1955-56 season, reprises its David role tonight. The Eagles play Thief River Falls, a longtime Section 8A Goliath, at 7 p.m. in Thief River Falls.
Rochester John Marshall will try to rekindle the magic - and superb play - that allowed it to stun heavily favored Rochester Mayo 5-3 on Jan. 14 starting at 7 p.m. tonight in the rematch of the intracity rivals.
Ominous forecasts of inclement weather for later in the week caused several section playoff games to be moved to earlier dates and times on Monday.
Both first-round games in Section 3A were originally set for Tuesday but were moved up to tonight. Windom hosts Redwood Valley and Fairmont hosts Worthington in 7 p.m. starts.
In Section 2A, Waconia's first-round game against Mound Westonka in Waconia was moved from Wednesday to Tuesday night.
All four quarterfinal games in Section 6AA, originally scheduled for Thursday evening, were switched to Tuesday. Benilde-St. Margaret's, Edina, St. Louis Park and Wayzata all are set to host games that night.
In Section 2AA two quarterfinal games have been switched from Thursday to Tuesday night. No. 1 seed Chanhassen hosts No. 8 Bloomington Jefferson at the Victoria Recreation Center and No. 2 Minnetonka hosts No. 7 Chaska at the Pagel Activity Center.
Chanhassen (22-3-0), ranked second in Class 2A, received the top seed in Section 2AA in Sunday's coaches vote, finishing a spot ahead of No. 1-2A Minnetonka (23-2-0).
Ten sections determined their seeding order in coaches' voting on Sunday to complete the section pairings for all of the state's 16 sections. The other six sections determined their seeding order earlier in the week.
Chanhassen, which has never won a playoff game in its 12 years of existence, opens quarterfinal play against No. 8 seed Bloomington Jefferson (3-21-1).
Among the other top seeds determined Sunday were No. 6-2A Wayzata (17-6-2) in Section 6AA, No. 8-2A St. Thomas Academy (18-7-0) in Section 3AA and No. 10-2A Rogers (16-6-3) in Section 5AA.
Among the top-ranked small schools, No. 1 seeds included No. 3-1A Mahtomedi (17-8-0) in Section 4A, No. 4-1A Orono (20-5-0) in Section 2A and No. 6-1A Northfield (20-5-0) in Section 1A.
Little Falls, Alexandria and Hermantown received top seeds on Friday in coaches' voting as three more sections set their seeding order for the upcoming playoffs.
Section 5A top seed No. 7-1A Little Falls (16-8-1) is one of the state's hottest teams entering the postseason, having won 10 of its last 11 games.
Section 6A top seed No. 18-1A Alexandria (11-12-1) closed the regular season with victories in nine of its last 11 games, a stark contrast from the Cardinals' 1-9-0 start.
No. 2-1A Hermantown (22-2-1) assumed its usual perch atop Section 7A as the top seed. The Hawks' two regular-season losses came against No. 1-1A Warroad and No. 7-2A St. Thomas Academy.
Warroad, Duluth East and Moorhead all received top seeds in their respective sections on Wednesday as the first wave of the state’s playoff brackets were released.
All three of the initial top seeds offer compelling story lines.
Warroad (24-0-0) is the state’s lone unbeaten team and can complete a perfect regular season on Saturday with a victory over Sartell-St. Stephen. The Warriors feature one of the state’s all-time great career scorers in senior forward Jayson Shaugabay, a lock as a Mr. Hockey finalist who has 288 career points, seventh most in state history. He’s two behind Luverne’s Jaxson Nelson (2013-16) on the state’s all-time scoring chart.
Warroad has another all-time great in goal in senior Hampton Slukynsky, who has eight shutouts this season and 19 in his career, five behind what is believed to be the state record of 24 set by Nick Althaus of St. Cloud Apollo (2012-2016).
Duluth East has engineered one of the state’s most surprising turnarounds, rebounding from an 8-18-1 season a year ago to an 18-6-1 mark and No. 6-2A ranking this season. The Greyhounds, who feature a bona fide Mr. Hockey candidate of their own in leading scorer Cole Christian (27 goals, 34 assists), were the No. 7 seed in Section 7AA last season and lost 6-1 to Grand Rapids in a quarterfinal matchup.
Duluth East enters the playoffs riding a 10-game win streak.
Despite significant losses to graduation and early departures, Moorhead enters its regular-season finale against Hill-Murray on Saturday having won six straight, including a 3-0 victory over Section 8AA’s No. 2 seed Roseau on Tuesday in Moorhead. The Spuds (15-9-0) are ranked No. 14 in Class 2A and boast a goal-scoring phenom in senior Aaron Reierson, whose 26 goals are the most on the team by a whopping 18.
Junior Kai Weigel has been brilliant in goal, posting a .934 save percentage.
Playoff pairings in the rest of the state’s sections will be released throughout the week, concluding Sunday. The state tournament is set for March 8-11 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Teams listed in seeding order.
Teams listed in seeding order.
Teams listed in seeding order.
Teams listed in seeding order.
Teams listed in seeding order.
Teams listed in seeding order.
Teams listed in seeding order.
Teams listed in seeding order.
Teams listed in seeding order.
Teams listed in seeding order.
Teams listed in seeding order.
Teams listed in seeding order.
Teams listed in seeding order.
Teams listed in seeding order.
Teams listed in seeding order.
Teams listed in seeding order.