51 Hours of Fury: The fault in our sections

White Bear Lake and Hill-Murray duke it out Friday night at Aldrich Arena for the Section 4 title and the final spot in the Class 2A boys' hockey state tournament.

The game serves as the climax of three consecutive days of section finals. And while we will marvel at the play on the ice, we can't help but think, "Why is this game played at Hill-Murray's home rink and not a neutral site?"

Home-ice advantage for the Pioneers is just one of the many faults in our sections. Other grumbling comes from the use of a larger, Olympic-size ice sheet for the Section 2 and 6 finals; the travel involved for Sections 1 and 7; and the lack of livestreaming.

These challenges are complicated despite what passionate fans will say on Twitter or message boards. The concerns of coaches, which we've heard over the years, at best vary and are in some cases contradictory. To that end, know that the inspiration for this blog title comes from "Julius Caesar'' by William Shakespeare. "The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars / But in ourselves, for we are underlings."

Minor penalties

Home ice advantage. Hill-Murray, in Section 4, and Duluth East, in Section 7, receive what amounts to big games in their backyard. Hill-Murray practices and plays home games at Aldrich Arena, site of the section semifinals and final. Duluth East doesn't use Amsoil Arena during the season. But having an arena just down the road is a nice benefit. Counterpoint: Aldrich is one of the best venues, capacity-wise, in the metro area. And Amsoil is a great building, a fitting spot for a huge game. But when the tradition-rich Pioneers and Greyhounds aren't the top seeds in a given season, home-ice advantage feels less appropriate.

2-and-10s

Uneven sections. On Wednesday, Benilde-St. Margaret's coach Ken Pauly referred to Section 6 as the "Section of Death." While every sport can point to inequities in strength of section, hockey faces a unique challenge. Our "State of Hockey" is rife with haves and have-nots. And the sport leads the way in programs who have recently consolidated to ensure survival -- or opted down to Class 1A for a better competitive fit. Schools feeling the most acute pain represent the inner-city and first-ring suburbs, and extreme southern and northern Minnesota. Relief has come to inner-city and first-ring suburbs via the acknowledgement that school enrollment often has no bearing on hockey numbers. This season, Armstrong/Cooper, Cambridge-Isanti, Dodge County, St. Francis and Tartan are playing 1A hockey.

But what about moving metro programs out of Sections 1, 7 and 8? Make Section 1 southern Minnesota's property. Likewise, keep 7 and 8 exclusively north. One metro coach with a dog in this fight objected to this idea because of the numbers imbalance these moves would create within the sections. Counterpoint: Maybe some teams with a history of success would opt up, knowing they are playing regional teams. Yes, looking at you, Hermantown.

Moreover, having a more realistic shot of getting to state means generating more community interest which in turn keeps good players home and helps programs grow.

To those worried such a move would water down the state tournament, know this: We did not see a team from Sections 3 or 5 reach the championship game in the past decade. And only twice did the Section 4 representative get there.

5-minute majors

Mankato East and Mankato West battled for a state tournament appearance and community bragging rights … in Rochester. That's also where Lakeville South and Hastings decided their section final.

The fabulous Amsoil Arena in Duluth served as the ultimate "butts-in-seats" proving ground. The announced crowd was 1,100. The locals, by and large, didn't care. And the metro fans didn't travel. What should have been a great environment wasn't.

Let's have contingency plans for such situations. Just last season the threat of horrible driving conditions got the Lakeville North vs. Lakeville South game moved from Rochester to Burnsville.

Live streaming. In 2019, State of Hockey, a subsidiary of the Minnesota Wild, and Prepspotlight.tv, partnered on the rights and production for free livestreaming of 13 of the 16 boys' section finals and all but one on the girls' side.

This year, the sections raised the fee to $1,000 per section final. No thanks, came the reply. Gate revenue is incredibly important to the section budget, so this topic remains hot.