7 teams clinch spot in state hockey tournament, 9 more to come
Seven teams have punched a ticket to next week's Minnesota Boys Hockey State Tournament and nine more will do the same over the next 48 hours before the official state tournament brackets are unveiled Saturday morning.
Here are the seven teams that clinched Wednesday night:
- Edina: Hornets defeated Wayzata 4-1 in the Section 6AA title game
- Elk River/Zimmerman: 3-0 shutout over upstart Buffalo/Annandale to win Section 8AA
- Northfield: 4-1 victory over Dodge County in the Section 1A championship
- Orono: 4-1 win over Minneapolis to win Section 2A
- New Ulm: Topped Marshall 4-2 to clinch Section 3A
- St. Cloud Cathedral: 4-1 win over Monticello to claim Section 4A
- Hermantown: Blanked Hibbing/Chisholm 4-0 to win Section 7A
There are seven more section championship games Thursday night followed by the final two section title matchups on Friday night. Below is the schedule:
Class AA
Section 1 championship
- #1 Lakeville South vs. #2 Rochester Century/John Marshall
- Thursday, Feb. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Rochester Rec Center
Section 2 championship
- #1 Minnetonka vs. #2 Chanhassen
- Thursday, Feb. 29 at 7 p.m. at Braemar Ice Arena in Edina
Section 3 championship
- #3 St. Thomas Academy vs. #5 Cretin-Derham Hall
- Friday, March 1 at 7 p.m. at Braemar
Section 4 semifinals
- #1 Hill-Murray vs. #3 White Bear Lake
- Friday, March 1 at 7 p.m. at Aldrich Arena
Section 5 championship
- #1 Maple Grove vs. #2 Centennial
- Thursday, Feb. 29 at 7 p.m. at FTC Event Center in Elk River
Section 7 championship
- #1 Grand Rapids vs. #2 Andover
- Thursday, Feb. 29 at 7 p.m. at Amsoil Arena in Duluth
Class A
Section 4 semifinals
- #1 Mahtomedi vs. #2 Southwest Christian/Richfield
- Thursday, Feb. 29 at 7 p.m. at Aldrich Arena
Section 6 championship
- #1 Alexandria Area vs. #2 Northern Lakes
- Thursday, Feb. 29 at 7 p.m. at MAC in St. Cloud
Section 8 championship
- #1 East Grand Forks vs. #2 Warroad
- Thursday, Feb. 29 at 7 p.m. at The Gardens in Warroad
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.