With high school hockey about to officially start in a couple of weeks I thought it may be fun to give a few predictions as to who I believe will be in the State Tournaments this season and take a step away from the professional sports for a second. Now obviously this is pretty difficult to name an exact winner when some of the teams haven’t even been picked yet but it can be fun to throw in some guesses as well. 

The best way to start this is probably with a quick recap of what happened last season. The winners of last season’s tournaments were Gentry Academy for the Boys’ Class A state title and for the Class AA it was Eden Prairie, who many of us are familiar with, have won a title or two. As for the Girls’ it was Proctor/Hermantown for Class A and Edina for AA, once again, teams that has been there a time or two. 

It’s expected those teams will make the tournament this season but there’s always some surprises as well. For the Boys Class A side of things, it’s to be expected that Hermantown will be there. Some other teams to be expected would be Warroad, Delano, and St. Cloud Cathedral. Many people don’t get as hyped up for the Class A schools because they’re considered smaller, but trust me, watching a game that has these teams in it is almost always entertaining. 

As for Class AA in the boys, the bigger schools, Eden Prairie, Hill-Murray, Moorhead and St. Thomas Academy would all be schools I would expect to see this upcoming season. These games always attract a lot of attention and a lot of fans. To wrap up the boys’ side of things, I’ll mention one surprise team I think will make it through and possibly farther than just the first game. 

For Class A I believe it could be the Monticello Moose, they’ve had a strong team in years past and I think they could have the potential to go farther. For Class AA I think it could be Roseau. They aren’t exactly a surprise team because they are typically pretty good every year but they struggle to make it very far. This year could be different. 

Now to the girls’ side, the top teams will more than likely be back but as far as Class A is concerned, I think you’ll be seeing Warroad, Breck, and the Rochester Lourdes. Some may question watching girls’ games because they don’t get to check like the boys do but they are equally entertaining, and I have the perspective from both experience and watching to truly say they are fun to watch. 

Class AA can expect Andover, Minnetonka, and Eastview to appear in the tournament this season. Eastview is a rather new up and coming team but I think they’ll be a steady appearance in years to come. Andover is another team who has gotten good in recent years and it doesn’t seem like they’ll be going away any time soon. 

When it comes to surprise teams, for Class A I think it could be River Lakes, a team that I grew up seeing form themselves as a team and slowly but steadily become a force to be reckoned with. Moving on to Class AA I believe it could be Maple Grove. I’ve seen their name appear off and on over the last few seasons and they could prove to be that team that sneaks up on you and takes it all. 

As I stated at the beginning it’s pretty hard to make predictions this early in the season unless you’ve done this sort of thing for years but it’s also fun to try. It’ll be interesting to see what happens going through this season and who makes it and who doesn’t. I know I’m looking forward to a season that’ll hopefully be full of as many games as possible. To all those high schoolers about to join their teams and go through try-outs and all of that, good luck on your seasons!