State Tourney - Day Two Update

No way I was going to miss this action!  Even if I was in a coma... nope, still not a good enough excuse.

Saturday came with a full slate of games, including the first two rounds of 1A competition.  Just like Friday, the only thing you could count on is that there would be plenty of surprises.  And boy, were there ever!

4A Division

The day started off with a stunner that few would have predicted except for the Carroll Charger faithful (and our own Jeremy Kuntz, who stated in our preview edition that "if any team has the potential to upset Carmel, it's Carroll.")

With the Icehounds still reeling from their OT loss to LSJ, the Chargers did exactly what they needed to do in this one:  jump on them early.  Senior Nick Ramsey found the back of the net just 23 seconds in and Sophomore Zach Hartley added another just two minutes later to keep Carmel back on their heels.  Carroll would tally twice more while Junior netminder Clayton Grinstead and the Charger defense would hold the high-powered 'Hounds to only one meaningless score late in the third.

Lakeshore/St. Joseph would square off against a salty Columbus team still smarting from Friday's 6-0 pounding by Carroll.  The Icemen made it clear that they wouldn't go down without a fight, as this one was a slugfest.  Both teams traded punches through all three rounds, and even when up against the ropes late in the game the Icemen still kept swinging.  Tempers flared, play became sloppy, and there was even one ejection resulting from mistreatment of an official -- completely unacceptable no matter what the situation -- but in the end both teams skated through the handshake line battered, bloodied, and proud.

The Warriors 8-5 victory sets up a Sunday showdown with Carroll to decide who advances to South Bend.  Either one of these teams could have made a run through the weekend, but no one could have foreseen both of them knocking off the favored Icehounds.

On the other side of the bracket, Culver handled it's business like it usually does -- with quiet domination.  Penn proved to be a feisty opponent but couldn't match up with the deep Eagles bench, eventually falling 6-0 in game that was more competitive than the score would indicate.

Bloomington continued it's Cinderella run, topping Zionsville 4-1 and setting up another winner-goes-on/loser-goes-home matchup on Sunday.  Despite their #7 seed, don't expect Culver to walk away with this one.  The Blades have an experienced keeper in Senior Colt Turner, and plenty of firepower on the offensive end.

3A Division

Sunday morning finds the Central Indiana Knights and the St. Joe Indians with the inside track, but this horserace is far from over.  We predicted that 3A could be the most entertaining division of the tourney, and is it ever!

Suffering a second OT loss, this time to the CI Knights in a 5-4 shootout, top-seeded Lake Central Blue finds itself winless on the weekend but still having amassed two points in the standings.  HSE bounced back from it's Friday loss to St. Joe's to stun the second-seeded Evansville Thunder 7-1.  Westfield continues to battle but again came up two goals short, falling to St. Joe's 4-2.

Should both Lake Central and HSE pull out a win in their final games, Sunday afternoon might just find four teams tied atop the standings.  An Evansville victory over winless Westfield would make it five.  If this ends up the case, the tournament committee will have it's hands full sorting out the tiebreakers.

2A Division

Just as predicted, the "Deuce" has shown itself to wild and ...unpredictable.  The only two teams to wake this morning without anything to play for but pride are #1 seed Riley and #2 Munster.

Crown Point continues to light up the scoreboard, following up it's six-goal showing Friday to wallop the Riley Wildcats 9-3.  Bishop Dwenger, who beat Riley on Friday, came up short in OT against the eight-seeded South Stars 3-2.  The Bulldogs and Saints will square off this morning with the winner advancing to next weekend's championship.

Adams/Marian followed up it's Friday victory over Munster to nip the Leo Lions 5-4.   A win today over Valparaiso, who also edged the Mustangs 3-2, and A/M gets to play in it's backyard next weekend for the title.  A loss, however, muddies the water - especially if Leo can also knock off Munster.

1A  Division

For some reason, the ISHSHA does a very poor job of promoting it's premier event of the season.  While it's great that the games are free to the public (even though parking at the fairgrounds will set you back $5), scores are impossible to come by.  As of this writing (7am), I'm still unable to track down a score for Bishop Noll v. Homestead.  Most of the time, I get scores from the various teams Twitter feeds long before I see them through ISHSHA.  We hope next year they step up their game, as this tournament is definitely worth promoting.

Cramming two rounds into one day is not an ideal way to run a championship tournament, but these kids are used to it.  Culver B put up two solid showings, running away from Lake Central White 5-0 in the opener and squeaking by Summit City 2-1 in their second game.  Brebeuf bounced back from it's 4-1 loss to Summit City to top Lake Central White 6-4, setting up a showdown with Culver on Sunday.  Things could get interesting with a Brebuef win combined with a Summit City victory over Lake Central, ending up in a three-way tie in pool A.

It's difficult to tell what today will be like without knowing the Bishop Noll/Homestead score.  The Warriors topped Carmel Blue 4-2 in their morning matchup, while the Spartans thumped the Fort Wayne Bruins 7-3.  The Icehounds edged the Bruins 2-1 in their contest, so as far as we know everyone has two points at the moment.

Regardless, the 'little brothers' division has some quality teams in it, and there's some great hockey still to be played today across all divisions.

I can't wait to see how this all turns out...