The Moorhead Spuds are the only outside representative in the large school division of this year’s Minnesota state boys hockey tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. This is the seventh time since Minnesota Hockey split into two divisions that only one outside school is left in the final eight. forum file photo
MOORHEAD, Minn.—The first suburban Twin Cities school to win the Minnesota high school hockey boys state tournament was, of course, Edina. The Hornets defeated Warroad in the 1969 championship game, ending a 24-year streak when an outside school or St. Paul Johnson won the title.
Since the beginning of the state hockey tournament in 1945, Johnson has occasionally intruded into the domain dominated by schools such as Eveleth, Thief River Falls, Roseau, and International Falls. The Governors won championships in 1947, 1953, 1955, and 1963.
In those days, there were kings of the Northern and Iron Mountain schools. Eveleth won five of the first seven state tournaments, and International Falls won five titles in 1957 and 1966. The top level of the tournament was composed mostly of out-of-state teams and schools from the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Suburban schools sometimes appear in parentheses. White Bear Lake played in the first two state tournaments and was a frequent qualifier from 1945–1970. Edina-Morningside qualified for state five times in the late 1950s and early 1960s. St. Louis Park played in the tournament several times in the 1940s and 1950s.
The 1951 state tournament was an amazing collection of statewide representation. White Bear Lake was across from the suburbs. St. Paul Johnson, St. Paul Murray, and Minneapolis Southwest replicated the larger cities. Eveleth came from the Iron Range. Thief River Falls is worthy of the northern part. St. Cloud Tech carried the flag for Central Minnesota throughout the 1940s and 50s.
When Edina won the state title in 1969, the Hornets opened the door for visiting crowds. Demographic changes and the population explosion in the suburbs mean that the epicenter of high school hockey will soon be in the communities of Minneapolis-St. Paul. Outside teams faced tough competition for most of the 1970s, but the future had arrived when Edina East won the state title in 1978.
Suburban schools have since dominated the top level of Minnesota high school hockey, even as more outlying schools started programs and the sport became more easily accessible across the state.
When high school hockey split into two levels in 1992 and then two classes beginning in 1994, the glory days of a small school from the North defeating a giant from the Twin Cities area were over.
Class AA is made up of mostly suburban schools, including a handful of powerful Twin Cities private schools and larger schools in the hinterlands. Of the 66 Class AA schools competing this season, only 17 are from the 80 counties that are not included in the seven-county metro area.
Class A is now a true hockey democracy, with more schools than Class AA and much broader representation of the state. Class A includes large rural schools, small rural schools, schools in the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and even some suburban and private schools.
If you’re looking for a throwback state tournament, check out Class A. This year’s Class AA bracket is even more blueblooded than usual, featuring three private schools from the Twin Cities and four from upscale suburbs.
Which brings us, after a long and winding road, to the point of today’s typing.
The Moorhead Spuds are the only outside representative in the big school bracket.
This is the seventh time since hockey was split into two divisions that only one outside school remains in the final eight.
Put another way: The Spuds are Class 2A hockey’s only defense against the cake-eaters. If all of Minnesota outside of the Twin Cities area has a better reason to cheer for Moorhead, please pass it on.
Blake, Maple Grove, Eden Prairie, Lakeville South, Andover, St. Thomas Academy, Hill-Murray. And Moorhead.
This is a game of numbers. The Class AA state tournament usually has only two outside representatives – one from Section 8 of Moorhead and the other from Section 7 in the northeastern part of the state.
Four Class AA sections do not include any outside teams, and one, Section 2, has only one.
Then there is Section 1, whose nine schools representing southern Minnesota include seven from out-of-state (three from Rochester). Just one problem for them: The section includes south suburban Lakeville North and Lakeville South, who have combined to qualify for 15 of the last 16 state tournaments.
Could this become an issue for Section 7, home of traditional powers of Duluth East and Grand Rapids? The rising northern suburb of Andover won the section for the first time this season. Anoka, another large suburban district in the northwest suburbs, also competes in Section 7 and occasionally qualifies for the state tournament.
Given that Moorhead’s Section 8 includes the growing suburban schools of St. Michael-Albertville and Rogers—SMA won the section in 2018—there could be a year when all eight slots in the Class AA bracket are filled by the Twins’ suburban or private schools. Will be. Cities.
If that happened, could it really be called a “state” tournament? Will external AA coaches demand section changes?
When we reach that bridge, we will cross it.
For now, it’s Spud against the world. Or at least the cake-eaters of the Minnesota high school hockey world.
