Get Ready for Late March, Early April Madness

 Good news for athletes and fans.  There will be state tournaments for Minnesota high school sports to wrap up the winter season.  

The Minnesota State High School League gave the green light to conduct state tournaments in winter sports at its February 4 Board of Directors meeting. 

Most of the tournaments will be in late March and early April due to the late start of the winter sports season.  

Alpine Skiing leads off the tournament season March 10 followed by Nordic Skiing on the 12th.  The site will be the same, Giants Ridge in Biwabik.  

March 12 and 13 will also be the dates for the State Dance Team Tournament.  The site will be different this year.  Instead of Target Center, the event will be held at Edina High School.  

Two other state tournaments will undergo site changes this season.  The girls gymnastics meet will be held at Champlin Park High School, March 26 & 27.    That same weekend, the state wrestling tournament will also take place.  Site TBD.  

As for the state hockey and basketball tournaments, they also have new dates as well as a format change.  

First up will be the state girls hockey quarterfinals March 26 & 27.  Then the state boys hockey quarterfinals March 30 & 31.  On April 1, it's girls semifinal play followed by the boys on April 2.  The tournament wraps up with Championship Saturday April 3 with one session of two girls finals followed by a boys championship session.  

All games will be played at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.  It will be a one and done format meaning that there will be no consolation or third place games.  Games will be televised on KSTC-TV.

The state tournament season wraps up in March and extends into April with the state girls and boys basketball tournaments.  Quarterfinal play will go back to the early days of the four class format since they will be played at various sites throughout Minnesota March 30 & 31.  No word yet on where the games will be played.  There will be plenty of basketball action at Target Center April 6-10 since those will be the dates for the girls and boys semifinals and championship games.  Semifinal games take place April 6-8 and two days of championship action April 9 & 10.  Those games will be televised on KSTC-TV.  

Will fans be allowed to attend the tournaments or what will the cap on attendance be due to the continuing COVID 19 pandemic.  Will HSGN cover any of the basketball or hockey tournament games?  In a previous post, HSGN mentioned that they won't be covering any regular season games due to restrictions except the games that the blogger is announcing.  

Further developments on the state high school tournaments will be coming up when they are available.