It all comes down to Day Three, as it should.  The top two seeds - Culver A and Central Indiana - control their own destiny and will make to the title game with a win in regulation.  CMA can even afford an overtime loss and still make the finals based on points.  Should they lose in regulation, and Zionsville close out their pool play with a win over Penn, we could end up with a three-way tie.

Pool B is a bit more complicated.  If the Knights win in regulation, they punch their ticket to Fort Wayne.  Should they lose in regulation, then LSJ is in... provided St. Joe's loses to Lakeshore Blue.  If the Warriors pull off the upset and St. Joe's wins, St. Joe's will head to the finals.  There are several other scenarios involving OT, but for the sake of our sanity we'll just leave it at that and wait for things to play out.

Pool A is about as clean as it gets.  Munster takes on HSE-A with a trip to the finals on the line.  Winner moves on, loser goes home.

Pool B, however, is where things get interesting.  Crown Point currently has the edge with five points and will move on with a win, but Culver B could shake things up with another upset.  CMA became the lowest seed in any bracket to win, downing Bloomington 3-1.  The Eagles have more to prove than anyone else in 3A, so expect them to play with a chip the size of Mt. Everest on their shoulder.

Adams can advance with a win over the Blades and a Culver upset.  Should CMA win in OT, things will be decided by tiebreakers.  Should Adams lose and Culver win in regulation, the seventh-seeded Eagles will head to the finals.

While the points are slightly messier in 2A, the road to the championship is straight forward.  Purists who clamor for the state tourney to switch to a single-elimination bracket instead of pool play will appreciate how this group played out.  Columbus takes on Bishop Dwenger, while Leo faces off against Carmel Blue, and the two winners will square off next weekend for all the marbles.

As we mentioned previously, the Lions and Saints should have been seeded in 3A (in our humble opinion), and both classes would be better for it.  Swapping these two for any combination of Riley, Carroll, or Culver B - even in spite of the upset - would have created more balance in both brackets.  Not to disparage any of three, but the aim of the seeding committee is to create the most competitive tournament possible, and this move would have gone a long way to accomplishing just that.

The Fort Wayne League didn't fare well outside of its own in the regular season, which is likely why both Leo and Dwenger were placed in 2A.  But we expect a bit of 'league pride' to be a motivating factor today, as these two clubs aren't just playing for themselves, but in essence for all of the FW.  Besides, a state championship is still a state championship, regardless of what class you're in.  And you can bet that everyone in the Fort Wayne League would love to see the most exciting battle between Lions and Saints since the days of the Old Testament.

Despite falling 3-2 to Lake Central White in a shootout, the Spartans are headed to the finals.  Homestead racked up six points with wins over Westfield and South Stars White, which meant Lake Central would have needed to win in regulation to have a shot the title.  In this case, tiebreakers would be needed to settle it as Westfield's six points would have created a three-team logjam.  But the Spartans only needed to send the game to overtime to move on, so the final result didn't matter.

The stars are aligned for an All-Fort Wayne final, which means the Icehouse will be rocking next weekend.  The only question remaining is whether it will be the Bruins or the Panthers filling out the other side of the bout card.  Both teams have easily dispatched their opponents in the first two rounds, setting up this day three showdown.  Summit City is the higher seed by one, but Fort Wayne has yet to surrender a goal in the tournament.  The two teams split the regular season series, and the Bruins hold only a one-goal edge in scoring.  Play in pool B has been far from interesting to this point, but today's matchup might prove to be the most exciting of the weekend in any class.