Minnesota Boys’ High School Hockey Tournament At Xcel Through Saturday

The State of Hockey will crown its high school champions this Saturday night at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Two teams — one from Class A and one from Class AA — will emerge from the 8-team brackets victorious, entering the history books as the 2015 titleholders in Minnesota’s favorite winter sport.

Here is a graphic showing the schools who’ve won the most state boys’ hockey championships in Minnesota history (Click to Enlarge):

This year, in the Class AA bracket, six perennial powers and two up-and-comers will battle for the title. Defending champions Edina, along with Duluth East, St. Thomas Academy, Hill-Murray, Eden Prairie and Blaine have all won the championship before — in fact, they have captured a whopping 28 state titles between them. The final two teams in the bracket — Bemidji and Lakeville North — have never won a championship, though the Panthers from Lakeville North enter the tournament as the undefeated top seed and look poised to change that.

The Class A bracket is wide open. Breck is the only team to have one multiple state championships (4), while five teams — New Ulm, New Prague, Mahtomedi, Spring Lake Park and St. Cloud Apollo — have never one a title. Last year’s champion was East Grand Forks, and Hermantown enters this year’s tournament with the #1 seed.

So, will Edina win their third straight state tournament and add a 13th championship banner to it’s rafters in the Class AA pool? In Class A, will Breck skate past the competition to collect their 5th Class A championship? Or will teams who have yet to taste the title hoist the trophy this Saturday night?

Here is the schedule — all games will be played at the Xcel Center and be televised on KSTC45.

Wednesday, March 4 — Class A Quarterfinals

11 a.m. — New Ulm (18-8-2) vs. Mahtomedi (24-2-2)
1 p.m. — New Prague (20-8) vs. East Grand Forks (23-4)
6 p.m. — Spring Lake Park (16-11-1) vs. Hermantown (25-2-1)
8 p.m. — St. Cloud Apollo (22-4-2) vs. Breck (21-7)

Thursday, March 5 — Class AA Quarterfinals

11 a.m. — Bemidji (23-3-2) vs. Edina (24-1-2)
1 p.m. — Duluth East (14-10-4) vs. St. Thomas Academy (24-4)
6 p.m. — Hill-Murray (21-7) vs. Lakeville North (28-0)
8 p.m. — Eden Prairie (18-9) vs. Blaine (22-5-1)

Friday, March 6

11 a.m. — Class A Semifinals
1 p.m. — Class A Semifinals
6 p.m. — Class AA Semifinals
8 p.m. — Class AA Semifinals

Saturday, March 7

9 a.m. — Class A 3rd Place
12 p.m. — Class A Championship
4 p.m. — Class AA 3rd Place
7 p.m. — Class AA Championship

Author’s Picks: Edina and Breck win, carving themselves out a little larger slice of the all-time championship puck pie.