Blizzard boys headed to Menomonie Thursday, WIAA playoffs begin tonight

The Blizzard have a sizable chip on their shoulder pads as they prepare to head into the first round of the WIAA state playoffs. The Blizz, despite finishing the season with a gaudy 21-2 record and an undefeated conference season, will travel to Menomonie to face off against the 12-10 Mustangs. The Menomonie team finished 4-8 in the Big Rivers Conference, yet achieved the four seed leaving the Blizz to have to settle for the five seed.

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You can check my earlier post about my thoughts on the way this all went down and how it is very fishy to say the least.

But here's the deal. After getting word that they would not be hosting a game the Blizzard quietly whooped up on the Pine City Dragons (scored 11 goals in the first period, won 14-2) and then blanked North Branch 7-0. Even cooler… not one of the players have spouted off about this on Facebook. That's 1. Good self control and 2. Good leadership. There is nothing to do now but to prove people wrong by the way they play, and I'd say outscoring their next two opponents 21-2, is a good start.

As it turns out, the process for choosing seeding is a little different than it is in other sports. Why? Maybe because of distance or scheduling or some other reason. But, the coaches seed the teams via email, not in person, therefore there is not that "look me in the eye and say that" kind of thing happening. There might be a lack of accountability in this situation.

The Blizzard originally received the number 4 seed, but upon Menomonie's appeal, they revoted and awarded the Mustangs the 4 seed, and the home game. The vote from the non-involved coaches was 4-3 in favor of the reseeding. 

This is the second time this has happened to the Blizzard in the past three years where they have been seeded to host a game and then, after a challenge and revote, they were moved to the away team.

Sour grapes? Maybe. But, looking at things from a purely numerical standpoint the Blizzard (at the time of the seedings) were 19-2 and the Mustangs were 11-9. The Blizz had a 7-2 record against Wisconsin teams and they had a large RPI advantage (.538 – .500, the range is generally .400-.600 with some really good and really bad teams outside of that range, but 95% of the teams are within that range)) . Politically, however, it was a different story. The other teams in the section are all play a vast majority, if not all of their games, in Wisconsin. Whereas the Blizz play in a Minnesota conference. To a degree I can understand what the other coaches are thinking because they aren't familiar with the teams, however, that should only account for a small percentage of what goes into a seeding decision.

Regardless, I think the Mustangs better strap their helmets on a little tighter on Thursday night because they've got a very talented, and very upset Blizzard heading their way.