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Luverne’s chance passes in the boys hockey state rankings

At 13-0, Luverne was the last undefeated team in Class 1A, but it didn’t crack the top 10, and then the Cardinals lost.

By David La Vaque

The Minnesota Star Tribune

January 18, 2024 at 8:39PM

If there’s corn in Blue Mound Arena, it’s not in the rafters with the banners. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii, Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

I traveled to Luverne back in 2016. Lovely town. Great rink, too. Blue Mound Arena, built in 1991 in basketball country amid disparaging comments from locals such as, "That thing will be full of corn in two years."

Respect has been hard to come by in extreme southwestern Minnesota, a reality made evident in the recent Let's Play Hockey coaches rankings.

Luverne was 13-0, the lone undefeated team in Class 1A, the morning the rankings were revealed, and the Cardinals held the No. 16 spot. That night they lost, 6-5 to New Prague.

Then at No. 5 sat defending state tournament champion Mahtomedi (7-8). A difference in strength of schedule plays a massive role in this case, no doubt. But what would it have taken for Luverne to crack at least the top 10 despite whatever asterisks were attached.

Boys hockey state rankings

By Let's Play Hockey

Class 2A

1. Minnetonka (14-0-1); 2. Wayzata (12-0-2); 3. Edina (13-2); 4. Chanhassen (12-4); 5. Benilde-St. Margaret's (10-3-1); 6. Rogers (10-4-2); 7. Maple Grove (9-4); 8. St. Thomas Academy (10-5-1); 9. Eden Prairie (10-4); 10. Shakopee (12-3-1).

Class 1A

1. Warroad (13-3-0); 2. Hermantown (11-3-2); 3. St. Cloud Cathedral (12-4-1); 4. East Grand Forks (11-5-1); 5. Mahtomedi (7-9); 6. Northfield (10-1-2); 7. Orono (10-4); 8. Delano (9-5-1); 9. Monticello (13-2-0); 10. Proctor (12-5-0).

about the writer

David La Vaque

Reporter

David La Vaque is a high school sports reporter who has been the lead high school hockey writer for the Minnesota Star Tribune since 2010. He is co-author of “Tourney Time,” a book about the history of Minnesota’s boys hockey state tournament published in 2020 and updated in 2024.