Luck of draw sows seeds of discontent

On paper, the top four seeds in the Class 2A portion of the state boys' hockey tournament are, in order: Roseau, Edina, Benilde-St. Margaret's and Hill-Murray.

In reality, at least in terms of quarterfinal matchups, those seeds follow a different pattern. This is the second year of seeding the state boys' hockey tournament. The top four teams are seeded; their quarterfinal opponents, however, are not chosen according to seed but by a random draw.

That draw -- which came Saturday after the seeding meeting -- left Hill-Murray, the lowest seed at No. 4, with one of the easiest quarterfinal games (at least according to team record) against Section 1 champion Lakeville South (14-11-3). Top-seeded Roseau will take on a strong squad from Blaine (20-8), while No. 3 seeded Benilde-St. Margaret's faces Woodbury (22-6), an opponent that will be no picnic. No. 2 Edina gets Cloquet-Esko-Carlton (15-11-2).

A coach on the wrong end of the draw might find it irksome; check that -- one such coach did.

"I think we did get the toughest draw for sure. For all intents and purposes, we're the No. 4 seed according to draw," Benilde-St. Margaret's coach Ken Pauly said. "If you're going to seed it, seed it. Go one through eight."

The reason behind only seeding the top four is primarily to avoid branding a team as the lowest seed. Pauly doesn't buy it.

"You can't go halfway on this stuff. It's not like ESPN is covering who is going to play who," he said.

"If the No. 8 team doesn't want to have its feelings hurt, then I'm sure there's a team who lost in a section final that would love to have its feelings hurt."

Regardless, the Class 2A tournament seems to set up for a pair of fantastic semifinals Friday night (Roseau vs. Hill-Murray, Edina vs. Benilde-St. Margaret's) if the top four teams advance. But last year, the first time the tournament was seeded, three of the four seeded Class 2A teams lost in the quarterfinals, including No. 1 Edina.

"Let's hope history doesn't repeat itself," Pauly said. "If everything went according to seeding, you would have public school chants and private school chants filling the arena. It does make for some rather good theater."

After undefeated Roseau, the Class 2A seeds could have gone in various orders. Hill-Murray defeated Benilde; Benilde defeated Edina; Edina lost just twice, compared with three losses for those other two schools, and played a hellacious schedule. Edina was rewarded with the No. 2 seed, followed by BSM and Hill-Murray.

• Three of the four seeded teams in Class 1A are private schools: No. 1 St. Thomas Academy, No. 2 Duluth Marshall and No. 4 St. Cloud Cathedral.

• The best won-loss records in the 1A field belong to unseeded teams: Mankato West (25-2), which will face Duluth Marshall (23-5), and Little Falls (25-3), which faces St. Thomas Academy (23-5).

• The 2004 film "Dodgeball" was subtitled, "A True Underdog Story." Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato might want to borrow that title for this year's state tournament. The squad qualified with a losing record -- 12-14-2 -- and will take on Warroad in the quarterfinals.