The Xcel Energy Center is a fabulous facility anyway. But add in the sweet, sweet smell of mini-doughnuts that hits your nostrils when you walk in the building at 8:15am and this instantly becomes THE best assignment of the year.

Thank you, Mr. Editor Rand

The ice is covered up and we have two courts set up here as usual, We start the day with two quarterfinal matches in Class 3A, with a second round of 3A matches set for 11am.

I'm sitting courtside for Shakopee/Centennial at the moment, and have an eye on the scoreboard of Stillwater/Andover.

Memo to John Millea: the bands are a battling here right now. It's a mish-mash of Shakopee playing some Zeppelin (Immigrant Song) and Centennial cranking out some disco (Kung-Fu Fighting).

Fifteen minutes til first-serve

We'll keep you covered throughout the day, both here and on our Twitter feed.