The 4 A games begin at 9:45 AM on Saturday at Pop Weaver (Fairgrounds).  

The second round of 4 A games isn't quite as interesting as the first round.  As I said before, I expect the top three teams to distance themselves from the bottom five in today's games.  However, (cue the suspenseful chimes), If any team has the potential to "upset" Carmel, it's Carroll.  

Game Watch:  #1 Carmel vs #5 Carroll 

When you look at this game initially, it's easy to pass over.  #1 versus #5 is one thing, but then you see Carmel against one of the lower seeded 4 A teams and the game becomes an after thought.  Even if you look a little deeper and see Carroll has an outstanding  25-3-1 record, it's not hard to see that the majority of those wins came against a comparatively weaker Fort Wayne schedule.  However, Carroll was absolutely destroying their Fort Wayne competition, routinely putting up double digit scores, notched wins against Zionsville and Penn, and played a highly competitive game against Carmel in mid-January before losing 4-6.  Additionally, INHockey.net had Carroll ranked as one of the top 3 teams for the better part of the season. 

Still, the Icehounds are going to be tough to beat.  Their offense is spread across the entire team with an incredible 12 players in double digit points.  Lead by forward Matt Hutton (51 pts in league play), the Icehounds may cruise to another state title.  But they have to go through a very good Carroll team first. 

The 3 A games begin at 3:15 PM on Saturday at the Fuel Tank in Fishers.  

You really couldn't go wrong if you sat in on any of these games as you would see  lots of competition between fairly similar teams.  If I had to predict a tournament winner, I'd lean towards Lake Central Blue but it really could be any one of the six teams.  The good news is it makes for a very entertaining division for the hockey fan.

Game Watch: #1 Lake Central Blue vs. #3 Central Indiana

This game should be on your radar specifically because of Lake Central Blue.  They're the lead dog in this division for good reason.  They've beat Carmel Gold and Penn while putting together a respectable 21-17-3 record.  However, they've laid a few eggs in a couple of games they should have won so this isn't a game to look past.  

On the other hand, Central Indiana has been a tad more consistent, beating the teams they should beat and losing the games you would expect them to lose.

If Lake Central wins this game, I think they'll take the division but if Central Indiana wins, the class 3 A championship is up for grabs.

Watch for Andrew Fralich (62 pts) and Nick Spaletto (67 pts) from Central Indiana, and Ryan Greene (30 pts) and Michael Faso (32 pts) from Lake Central.

The 2 A games begin at 11:30 AM on Saturday at the Fuel Tank in Fishers.  

I'm really excited about round two of the class 2 A tournament.  This group of games is in the prime "middle-of-the-day" time slot which allows enough time for the players to get plenty of sleep but not enough time to waste their energy all day before the games.  Couple that with the competitive nature of the teams and the table is set for a dynamite two hours of hockey.  

Game Watch: #2 Munster vs #6 Valpo

Munster has their sites on bringing home the 2 A title and assuming they beat Adams Marian in round one, should find themselves pretty confident going into this game against Valpo.  Considering that Valpo is on a major slide coming into the tournament, losing 7 of their last 8, this is a trap game for the Mustangs.  Here's why... 

Based on seeding, Munster plays their toughest game on Friday night.  They then go on to play the #6 and #7 seeds.  If they beat Adams Marian on Friday, it'll be pretty tempting to start thinking about running the tournament.  

Now, take a look at the last 8 games for Valpo.  Despite having 7 losses in that time, the goal differential is only -7.  I had Valpo as one of my Game of the Week picks earlier in the season and they burned me with a tie.  So I'm a little hesitant to choose them as my favorite, but if I was looking at upset potential this weekend, this game has some mojo.    

Also, if you get a chance, keep an eye out for Valpo's Woody Weisler (forward, 39 pts) who just signed with D-1 Robert Morris University (Congrats, Woody!).  

The first round of 1 A games begin at 8:00 AM on Saturday at the Fuel Tank in Fishers.  

Unfortunately for the class 1 A teams, they drew the short straw and had to play their 1 st round games on Saturday morning and turn around to play their 2nd round games on Saturday evening.  Somewhere in the back of the room I hear coaches grumbling....  

Game Watch:  #2 Carmel Blue vs #3 Bishop Noll

Regardless of who actually wins the class 1 A title, this is your championship game (unfortunately it's at 8:15 AM and the same "bracket").  Carmel and Bishop Noll both have impressive wins during the regular season and would have been competitive in class 2 A.  Not to say Culver B or any of the other teams haven't played decent games against stronger opponents but Carmel Blue and Bishop Noll did it consistently.  

If you're an early bird or maybe hoping to catch some hockey before the significant other decides there's better use of your time, this is the game for you.  Put these players down in your game notes:  Alex Sobilo (23 pts), Bishop Noll, Jason Kasper (15 pts and former INHockey.net Featured Player), Bishop Noll, Jarod Cheslock (28 pts), Carmel Blue, and goalie Nick Hartich (.910 SV%), Carmel Blue.