Tourney Time in Madison

The puck drops at 10am this morning for the 50th annual Wisconsin high school boys and girls state hockey tournament at the Dane County Coliseum.  This year, the eight qualifying teams have been split into two divisions: 4 of the bigger schools in Div. 1 play tomorrow, and Div. 2 and the girls' games start today.

Rice Lake qualified with a losing record, as the playoff start a second season, and during the season, they play "up" with larger schools like Hudson and the Eau Claire schoos represented in that geographic division. The schools in the northern part of the state often schedule non-con(ference) games with the Minnesota teams, whose much celebrated state tourney also begins this weekend at the Alliant Energy Center in Saint Paul.  (There used to be a week separation, but in recent years, both states have their hockey tournaments the same weekend.  Minnesota's are all televised, but only the championship game is on tv in Wisconsin, though you can pay to live stream...)

The better competition also makes the Wisconsin teams stronger come playoff time;  I suspect Rice Lake High School is one of the larger schools (population wise) to qualify for Div. II.  They play at 10am against the top seed Fond du Lac St. Mary's which on paper predicts a blowout, but with former professional player, Badger and alum Josh Engel coaching the Warriors, the score might not be too lopsided in the end...

Somerset -- New Richmond's neighbor and rival -- also qualified, though they placed 4th in the Middle Border conference.  I like the split for the smaller schools to compete at State.  In the regular season, with the primarily geography-based conferences for travel, there was little parity in the play.

I was at one playoff game in Superior years ago, Superior won over the New Richmond Tigers to advance to state, despite the great-uncle (and NR alum) of the top-scoring Tiger player being one of the three referees on the ice.  How does that happen in this day and age when most ethical men would recuse themselves with a conflict of interest, and instead ref another game?  Oh, did I mention the part-time ref was also a minister who married the New Richmond coach to his second wife?  During the homily part of the marriage service, he spoke of his long-standing friendship with the coach and his newlywed wife and mother of his son.  (They've since divorced.)

To me, the competition should be more on the ice, not in the seedings, who is reffing, or any other outside advantages that the more crafty coaches would put into play on behalf of their high school players.  Plus, they lost.  I think you are essentially telling your players that you have little confidence overall in their skills, to the point that you have to have someone's uncle alongside on the ice for every little advantage that can be gained...

The Somerset Spartans have always been a defense-minded, gritty team from a smaller school. They held their own in the Middle Border conference, and while New Richmond got wiped out in the first round of the Div. II playoffs, Somerset advanced to the championship round by winning the games that mattered.  I'm rooting for them this year, hoping they can advance to play that number one seed.

The four Div. I teams that will play tomorrow are:
(#1 seed) Green Bay Notre Dame (24-1-1) vs. (4) University School of Milwaukee (20-6-1) at 10 a.m.; and (2) Chippewa Falls (23-4-0) vs. (3) Verona (Madison suburb) (23-4-0), about 12:15 p.m.

ChiHi, with a 12-game winning streak, knocked off Hudson, always ranked high, in the playoffs this year to earn their berth.  Superior, which falls into Div. II now, also fell in the playoffs, to Hayward, and failed to advance to state this year.

Let's Play Hockey!
(Coronavirus who?)
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ADDED:  In the girls' games, which begin this evening with the championship concluding Saturday, I like Hudson.  Experienced and always strong, they are my favorite as Hudson High Schol is one of only two teams in the state to field their own team, without having to resort to a co-op made up of smaller schools in the area.  (The Somerset boys team, I should have noted above, is a co-op team too now, with St. Croix Central high school and a few smaller others coming together to form the team.)

Hudson is a river town, and lots of working Minnesotans cross the border to live there for the good school and less-crowded quality of life.  Educated people often support their girls' sports teams as well as their boys, so it is no surprise to me that the Hudson team has remained strong since its inception.