Little Falls, Edina top seeds for Boys State Hockey Tournament

Sixteen coaches sat at their computers Saturday morning (March 7) and voted to determine the top four seeded teams in each class for the 2009 State Boys' Hockey Tournament. When the tabulation was complete, Little Falls, the only undefeated team in the 16-team field, was chosen No. 1 in Class A, and Edina was chosen No. 1 in Class AA. The coaches logged onto a special page of the League Web site. Each coach ranked the other teams 1 through 7. The highest and lowest rankings for each team were discarded, leaving five rankings for each team. From those rankings, the top four seeds were selected. In conference calls with all eight head coaches of each class, League Associate Director Craig Perry announced the top four seeds. Coaches association representative Mike MacMillan, head coach at Buffalo, also participated in the conference call. League Director of Information Howard Voigt then blindly drew the names of the four remaining teams to establish the opponents for the seeded teams. The Class A tournament opens Wednesday, March 11, at 11 a.m. with No. 2 seed St. Cloud Cathedral (25-2-1) facing Mahtomedi (20-6-2). The second game features No. 3 seed Warroad (26-2-0) versus Hutchinson (19-7-1). The 6 p.m. evening session opens with No. 1 seed Little Falls (28-0-0) playing Virginia (23-5-0), followed by No. 4 seed Breck School of Golden Valley (24-3-1) versus Rochester Lourdes (20-7-0). The Class AA tournament opens Thursday, March 12, at 11 a.m. with No. 2 seed Eden Prairie (25-3-0) facing Hill-Murray of Maplewood (18-9-1). The second game will have No. 3 Blaine (24-3-1) playing Rochester Century (14-12-2). The 6 p.m. evening session opens with No. 1 seed Edina (24-4-0) versus Moorhead (15-9-3), followed by No. 4 seed Duluth East (24-3-1) challenged by Cretin-Derham Hall of St. Paul (20-7-1).