A Quick Preview To The 2008 Minnesota Section 8A Hockey Tournament

For Immediate Press Release
Tuesday, February 19, 2008:

A Quick Preview At The 2008 Section 8A Boy's Championships

A season of fourteen grueling weeks of Section 8A hockey has once again passed and now we enter the state of Minnesota's second hockey season. As most of the hundreds of thousands of high school hockey fans set their sights on Minnesota's most coveted crowns, the 2008 Minnesota Class A & AA Hockey Championships.

The Pioneer Sports Department presents the 3rd Annual, 2008 Section 8A Preview and Predictions. If memory serves me correct, last year we predicted 8 of the 9 total games in the tournament only to miss the semi-final game where we had East Grand Forks defeating Thief River Falls to advance to the championship game.

TRF eventually won the contest but fell to the Warroad Warriors, 2-1, in another very memorable Section 8A championship game at the East Grand Forks Civic Center.

Move forward 12 months.

Here are the seedings for this years Section 8A Tournament being hosted by the Thief River Falls at the Ralph Engelstad Arena. The ranking order, team, (2008 season record), players to watch:

#1 Warroad Warriors, (19-6-0), Players To Watch: (F) Bryce Ravndalen, (F) Jeremy Hahn, (F) Dane Shaugabay, (D) Mark McDonald, (D) Michael Pieper and (G) Jared Paquin

#2 Park Rapids Panthers, (23-2-0), Players To Watch: (F) Zach Lehrke, (F) Zach Knapp, (F) Tucker Coborn, (D) Curtis Tolle, (D) Kevin McMorrow and (G) Mark Smith

#3 EGF Green Wave, (11-13-1), Players To Watch: (F) John Grabanski, (F) Joey Wikoff, (F) Jake Useldinger, (D) Kody Vizenor, (D) Nick Ohman and (G) Alex Christiansen

#4 TRF Prowlers, (12-13-0), Players To Watch: (F) Lucas Dillon, (F) Aaron Langen, (F) Brady Johnson, (D) Spencer Johnson, (D) Matt Audett, (G) Zane Gothberg

#5 Bemidji Lumberjacks, (10-15-0), Players To Watch: (F) Dylan Wiznor, (F) JesseNemgar, (F) Mike Rees, (D) Casey Reierson, (D) Ryan Sullivan, (G) Derek Dudgeon

#6 Kittson Central Wolfpack, (17-8-0), Players To Watch: (F) Lukas Dahl,(F) Craig Lindegard, (F) Kellen Albrecht, (D) Jack Deere, (D) Nick Lindegard and (G) Scott Lindegard

#7 LOW Bears, (6-18-1), Players To Watch: (F) Danny Usiski, (F) Jon Carlo Westerlund, (D) Cody Hasbargen, (D) Kyle Hontvedt, (G) Mark Clifford

#8 Crookston Pirates, (4-20-0), Players To Watch: (F) Morgan Terpstra, (F) Jarret Buttenhoff, (F) Josh Prudhomme, (D) Luke Biermeier, (G) Matt Grove

#9 Red Lake Falls Eagles, (6-16-1) Players To Watch: (F) Pat Johanneck, (F) Tyler Cota, (F) Casey Cardinal, (D) Nolan Knott, (D) John Murphy, (G) Zach Page

#10 Bagley-Fosston Flyers, (2-19-0), Players To Watch: (F) Mike Thorson, (F) Charlie Newland, (F) Dillon Spray, (D) Bryant Bolduc, (D) Anders Johnson, (G) Shawn Clark

#11 Walker-Hackensack-Akeley, (1-21-0), Players To Watch: (F) Daniel Nelson, (F) Jake Karst, (F) Channing Alto, (D) Andrew Duchesneau, (D) TJ Knowles, (G) Devon Weberg

The Pioneer Sports Department Predictions:

Game #1: Crookston Defeats Red Lake Falls ( 4-1 ) Play-In
Game #2: LOW Defeats Bagley ( 5-1 ) Play-In
Game #3: Kittson Central Defeats Walker-H-A (7-1) Play-In
Game #4: Warroad Defeats Crookston ( 4-1 ) Quarter-Final
Game #5: TRF Defeats Bemidji ( 4-2 ) Quarter-Final
Game #6: Park Rapids Defeats LOW ( 5-3 ) Quarter-Final
Game #7: EGF Defeats Kittson Central ( 4-3 ) Quarter-Final
Game #8: Warroad Defeats TRF ( 3-1 ) Semi-Finals
Game #9: EGF Defeats Park Rapids ( 4-3 ) Semi-Finals
Game #10: Warroad Defeats EGF ( 3-1 ) Championship Game

The Warroad Warriors, the most prolific team in the history of Section 8A, will capture their 19th Section 8 title with victories over Crookston, Thief River Falls and an old fashioned, barn-burner against the East Grand Forks Green Wave in the title tilt.

Here is a list of selections for the Section 8A (Regular Season) All-Section Teams if it was announced prior to the Section 8A Tourney:

The list would include Warroad's (F) Bryce Ravndalen, (F) Dane Shaugabay, (F) Jeremy Hahn, (D) Mark McDonald; Park Rapids' (F) Zach Lehrke, (D) Kevin McMorrow and (G) Mark Smith; East Grand Forks' (F) John Grabanski, (F) Joey Wikoff, (F) Jake Useldinger and (G) Alex Christiansen; Crookston's (G) Matt Grove and (D) Luke Biermeier; Thief River Falls (D) Spencer Johnson and (F) Aaron Langen; Kittson Central's (F) Lukas Dahl, (F) Craig Lindegard, (F) Kellen Albrecht, (D) Jack Deere, (D) Nick Lindegard and (G) Scott Lindegard; Bagley-Fosston's (F) Mike Thorson; Bemidji's (F) Dylan Wiznor, (F) Jesse Nemgar; LOW's (F) Danny Usiski and (D) Cody Hasbargen; Walker-H-A (G) (G) Devon Weberg; Red Lake Fall's (D) Nolan Knott and (F) Casey Cardinal.

Publishers Note:
This is a mock preview. The intent is to recognize the players from each team and to forecast a potential Section 8A Tournament bracket board and eventual champion. Most of the individual players information is provided by the representing school. All intent is in fun and a chance to correctly choose the brackets, scores and information.