Daily Dish 5.25
Well. The final regular season chapter of Daily Dish. Thank you all for following along this season - it has been an amazing project to dive into. To the premium subscribers who are reading this… I love you, and I appreciate you for supporting this mission. #DTANation is the best… yes even the trolls!
I think all of the conferences have been wrapped up and most section seeding should be pretty close to finalized at this point.
Congrats to the following 2023 conference Champs:
Big 9: Rochester Mayo
Greater West Metro: Chisago Lakes
IMAC: Tri-mac
Lake: Edina
Metro East: St. Thomas Academy
Metro West: Benilde - St. Margaret’s
Northwest Suburban: Maple Grove
South Suburban: Shakopee
Suburban East: Stillwater
Wright County: To be determined tonight! Holy Family vs Mound-Westonka
A handful of interesting games to end the season - some may have section seeding implications, but, most are OOS matchups:
Cretin Derham Hall v Eden Prairie: This is an interesting game as I think both teams are similar. They have been streaky but have played good teams tough all season. I expect this game to be close and should be a good test for both teams - this will be a quality win for whomever wins to springboard some confidence heading into playoffs.
Holy Family v Mound Westonka: This one will decide the wright country conference championship! Fun way to end the season for both teams. Neither team have a realistic chance to win section 2, unfortunately, so, this becomes a great end of season championship atmosphere. Good luck to both teams!
Orono v Chaska: Maybe some section 2 seeding implications here and conference standing movement but im more intrigued about both of these teams being ones who are trending in the right direction. Both teams are better this year than last, have some nice wins and, in Orono’s case, maybe the most overtime losses in the state. So, they have played a lot of tough close games. I think this will be a fun one for both teams to finish the year on.
STMA v Hill-Murray: Both teams struggled out the gate, but, have slowly been piecing it together. STMA played a close game with EP and Rochester Mayo before their big upset against Chisago Lakes the other night. Hill-Murray has a nice win vs Mahtomedi on their resume and a close game with Moorhead. This is a pick ‘em game for me - should be competitive the whole way through.
Edina v Lakeville North: No real implications for this game other than pride and maybe some confidence heading into the state tournament. And we most certainly could see these two play again in a few weeks. I am excited to see Edina’s defense against Lakeville North’s offense. I think if Edina gets enough possessions they won’t have too much of an issue producing offense but I think the North offense will be a really good test for the Hornet’s D as they prepare for sections. This is honestly a great game for both teams to have right now… the result doesn’t really matter as both teams have probably locked up #1 seeds in sections, but both teams get a high quality opponent to run against and stay sharp before it matters.
New Prague v Rochester Mayo: Section 1 implications here… I am not sure a New Prague win would effect Mayo’s seed in the section, but, it could definitely bump New Prague up with a chance to have a home game in the quarters potentially. NP just had a high scoring OT game with Mankato, so, we will see how they bounce back in this one. Mayo is an athletic team with a good face off guy, strong defense, and a couple great scorers. This will be a good test for the NP defense
Prior Lake v Stillwater: Another game, like north/edina, that has no implications on section or conference play but will give both teams a quality run before they get into sections. Stillwater has played a lot of close games this year but finds a way to win. Prior Lake started off the season rough, but, has turned it on as of late… Another game that could be played again in a few weeks should both teams get through sections.
