The Schwan Super Rink in Blaine is the site for plenty of high school hockey holiday tournament play this week with the 2016 Schwan Cup girls and boys high school hockey tournaments.
In addition, the girls and boys championship games and the boys Gold Division quarterfinal and semi final games will be played at Ridder Arena on the University of Minnesota campus.
The girls portion of the Schwan Cup gets underway Monday with opening round games in five divisions. Three Top 10 teams are in the Gold Division as the Centennial Cougars, ranked seventh in Class AA, take on the Buffalo Bison. Perennial power Lakeville North plays in the second game against the Duluth Icebreakers. A Class A state tournament preview could take place if a pair of teams win their quarterfinal games. The first pits Spring Lake Park/Coon Rapids against seventh ranked Proctor/Hermantown. In the second lower bracket game, the East Ridge Raptors battle the fifth ranked Thief River Falls Prowlers.
It's a new look Silver division with six new teams joining incumbents Holy Family/Waconia and Moose Lake. Moose Lake opens the day's festivities against the Irondale Knights, followed by Holy Family/Waconia and Andover. The Anoka Tornadoes face North/Tartan and Cloquet/Esko/Carlton battles the Rogers Royals.
The only Twin Cities area match up in the Bronze Division is the opening round game with the Mahtomedi Zephyrs taking on the Totino-Grace Eagles. Outstate teams comprise the remainder of the bracket. St. Cloud takes on International Falls, followed by the only Canadian team in this year's tournament, the Fort Francis Muskies. Their opponent is the Owatonna Huskies. Wrapping up the bracket will be St. Francis/North Branch and the Green Bay Bay Bears.
In the American Division, the Luverne Cardinals face the Chisago Lakes Wildcats, floowed by the Rochester Mayo Spartans and the Henry Sibley Warriors. Northland Pines from Wisconsin plays the Cambridge-Isanti Bluejackets and the evening wraps up with the "Battle of the Prairies" as Sun Prairie, WI faces Prairie Center.
There's only six teams in the National Division so it will be a round robin format as Arrowhead, WI faces the Eveleth-Gilbert golden Bears, followed by a southern Minnesota showdown between the Marshall Tigers and the Fairmont Cardinals and concluding the first day's action is Northern Lakes from Breezy Point and the North Metro Stars.
As for the boys tournament that begins on Thursday, December 29, head over to Ridder Arena as the Gold Division quarterfinals open with the defending Class AA champion Wayzata Trojans battle the St. Thomas Academy Cadets. The Trojans Lake Conference rivals, the Minnetonka Skippers play the next game against the Centennial Cougars. Two perennial powers play in the third game, the Hill-Murray Pioneers and the Eden Prairie Eagles and it's followed by the Burnsville Blaze and the Edina Hornets. There's plenty of outstanding talent in this division, including Eden Prairie's Casey Mittlestadt.
Back in Blaine, there's the Silver Division bracket with the fourth ranked team in Class A, the Breck Mustangs facing the Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders. The sixth ranked Mahtomedi Zephyrs battle the Buffalo Bison in the second game. The third game is a north suburban shootout as the Mounds View Mustangs face the Anoka Tornadoes. Concluding the day's action is the St.Michael-Albertville Knights and the Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars.
The only non Minnesota team in the boys tournament is the Hudson Raiders and they open up Bronze Division quarterfinal play against Minneapolis. Next up is the Bloomington Kennedy Eagles and the Rogers Royals, followed by a couple of private school powers the Holy Angels Stars and the Blake Bears. The Chanhassen Storm and the Cambridge-Isanti Bluejackets wrap up Bronze Division quarterfinal Thursday.
The final boys division is the Open Division as the Mankato East Cougars begin the quarterfinals against the Spring Lake Park Panthers. The Minnehaha Academy Redhawks fly up Highway 65 to take on the Chisago Lakes Wildcats, followed by the Chaska Hawks and the Princeton Tigers. There could be an "All Tigers Semifinal" as the Marshall Tigers square off with the Simley Spartans.
There it is. Six days of exciting high school hockey. Whether you take in the girls games or the boys games, there's plenty of outstanding talent that will skate on all eight rinks in Blaine and Ridder Arena in Minneapolis. It's a great way to wrap up 2016 in Minnesota high school hockey.
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