The consensus among high school hockey fans in southeastern Minnesota is that the Section One, Class A tournament is up for grabs.
That was evident during Tuesday's opening round.
No. 1-seeded New Prague is considered the favorite, but it wouldn't be a shock if the Trojans aren't representing the section at the Class A state tournament again this season.
It migh not even cause a major ripple if New Prague didn't make it out of the section quarterfinals, considering its opponent will be eighth-seeded Rochester Lourdes, a team the Trojans edged by one goal when they met during the regular season.
That was one of 11 one-goal losses the Eagles suffered during a 5-18-2 regular season.
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Lourdes finally turned that around, at the most opportune time, Tuesday night. With the Eagles trailing 2-0, Griff Slightam scored twice in the final 4:42 of regulation, then set up Tucker Chapman for the game winner just 39 seconds into overtime as No. 8 seed Lourdes beat No. 9 Mankato East 3-2 at Graham Arena in a Section 1A first-round playoff game.
It was one of four close games played in the section tournament on Tuesday and one of two that went to overtime.
Sixth-seeded Red Wing had an equally tough battle with No. 11 Waseca. The Wingers won 1:39 into the second overtime when Tyler Defore scored his second goal of the game. That capped the Wingers' rally after trailing 4-2 with five minutes to go in the third period.
Fourth-seeded Faribault had to eke out a 2-1 victory against 13th-seeded Austin, a team the Falcons beat twice during the regular season.
No. 5 seed LeSueur-Henderson/St. Peter also held off No. 12 Winona in a close game, beating the Winhawks 5-3.
Albert Lea, the No. 7 seed, was the only team in the section to cruise to a win on Tuesday, beating No. 10 La Crescent 7-1.
Tuesday's winners all advance to the Section 1A quarterfinals, set for Thursday, with the higher-seeded team in each game playing host to the lower seed.
