WIAA State Boys & Girls Hockey Tournament Preview

Wednesday, February 28th, 2024 -- 5:59 AM

The 54th Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Boys Hockey State Tournament and the 23rd Girls Hockey State Tournament will take place Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 29-March 2 at Bob Suter’s Capitol Ice Arena in Middleton.

BOYS SCHEDULE:

Division 1
Semifinals - Friday, March 1
Game-1:  #1 Chippewa Falls (24-3) vs. #4 Brookfield East Co-op (20-5-1) - 10 a.m.
Game-2:  #2 Notre Dame (17-8-1) vs. #3 Edgewood (24-3) - 2:30 p.m.

Championship Game - Saturday, March 2
Game-3:  Winner of Game-1 vs. Winner of Game-2 - 7 p.m.

Division 2
Semifinals - Thursday, Feb. 29
Game-1:  #1 New Richmond (16-9-2) vs. #4 Tomahawk (18-8) - 9 a.m.
Game-2:  #2 St. Mary’s Springs (18-9) vs. #3 River Falls  (14-13) - 1:30 p.m.

Championship Game - Saturday, March 2
Game-3:  Winner of Game-1 vs. Winner of Game-2 - 9:30 a.m.

GIRLS SCHEDULE:

Semifinals - Thursday, Feb. 29
Game-1:  #1 D.C. Everest Co-op (20-4-1) vs.  #4 Sun Prairie West Co-op (10-16-1) - 5 p.m.
Game-2:  #2 River Falls Co-op  (19-7) vs. #3 De Pere Co-op (21-5) - 7:30 p.m.

Championship Game - Saturday, March 2
Game-3:  Winner of Game-1 vs. Winner of Game-2 - 2 p.m.

FINALS ON STATEWIDE TV NETWORK:  The finals of the boys and girls State Tournaments will be televised live on WKOW Madison, WAOW Wausau, WXOW La Crosse, WQOW Eau Claire, WCWF in Green Bay/Fox Valley and WVTV in Milwaukee. The finals will also be streamed live on the State Television Network’s websites.

LAST YEAR:   Notre Dame won the Division 1 championship with an 8-2 victory over Verona in the title game. New Richmond topped Oregon 5-1 to capture the Division 2 crown. In the girls final, the De Pere/Ashwaubenon/Bay Port/Green Bay East/Green Bay Preble/Green Bay Southwest/Green Bay West/Notre Dame/Pulaski/Seymour/West De Pere co-op captured the championship with a 3-0 win over the Superior/Northwestern co-op in the championship game.

THE BOYS DIVISION 1 FIELD:  Top-seeded Chippewa Falls advances to the State Tournament for the first time since 2020 and for the seventh time overall. The Cardinals’ furthest advance toward a title was to the semifinals in 1999. Their return to State this season comes virtue of a 4-0 shutout win over Stevens Point in the Hudson Sectional final.  The Cardinals have yet to surrender a goal in the Tournament Series. Defending champion Notre Dame was issued the #2 seed in the bracket. The Tritons are making their sixth State appearance in the last seven years and their 11th overall. Their first five appearances came consecutively from 2010-14. The Tritons’ one other State championship came in 2012. They also advanced to the title game in 2020 and finished runner-up. They qualify this season following a 2-0 victory over Bay Port in the Neenah Sectional final. Third-seeded Edgewood is back in the State Tournament for the second time in three seasons and for the seventh time overall. The Crusaders’ most notable experiences were runner-up finishes in 2008, when there was only one division of boys hockey, and in 2022. This year, they advance to the semifinals through the Sun Prairie Sectional with a 4-1 victory over Middleton in the final. The Brookfield East/Brookfield Central/Hamilton/Menomonee Falls/Wauwatosa East/ Wauwatosa West co-op will appear at State for the first time as this configuration of schools. Back in 1997 and 2012, when Brookfield Central and Brookfield East comprised the co-op, the program fell in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. This season, the Stars defeated the Kettle Moraine/Mukwonago/Oconomowoc co-op 3-2 in the Muskego Sectional final to reach the State semifinals.

THE BOYS DIVISION 2 FIELD: Defending champion  New Richmond received the #1 seed in the bracket. The Tigers return for the sixth time in the program’s history. In addition to last year’s championship, the Tigers advanced to the final in 2003 and finished runner-up. Their pursuit of back-to-back State titles continues after  rolling to a 6-1 win over Amery/Clayton/Clear Lake/Unity in the sectional final held at Rice Lake.  St. Mary’s Springs is the #2 seed. The Ledgers  have advanced to the championship game in each of their previous three experiences at State as a stand-alone program, which have all come since 2020. They won State titles in 2020 and 2021 and finished runner-up in 2022. A co-op arrangement they were associated with qualified once. That came in 2018 and resulted in a loss in the semifinals. The Ledgers advance to the State semifinals this season after edging Oregon 3-2 in the final of the sectional played at Oregon. The only other State Tournament experience by third-seeded River Falls was in 1997. The Wildcats advanced to the State semifinals when only one division of the tournament was conducted. They are the representatives from the  Somerset Sectional following a 2-0 blanking of Menomonie in the final. Fourth-seeded Tomahawk will also be experiencing the State Tournament for the second time. The Hatchets’ first pursuit for a State title resulted in a loss in the quarterfinals in 1991. They began celebrating their return to State after an 8-2 triumph over Mosinee in the sectional final played at  Mosinee.

THE GIRLS FIELD: The D.C. Everest/Marathon/ Merrill/Mosinee/Wausau East/Wausau West co-op is the top seeded team in the bracket. The Central Wisconsin Storm makes its fifth appearance at State overall with this configuration of schools in the co-op. This version of the Storm won the championship in 2022. A former co-op arrangement, without Marathon and Merrill, won three titles and made 10 State appearances. The three championships came in 2008, 2012 and 2017. They also advanced to the championship game in 2011 and finished runner-up. To advance to the State semifinals, the Storm outlasted the Superior/Northwestern co-op with a 3-2 overtime victory in the sectional final played at Mosinee. The current River Falls/Baldwin-Woodville/St. Croix Central co-op qualifies for the State Tournament for the first time. The Fusion is the #2 seed in the bracket. Three other renditions of the co-op have a history in the State Tournament. The various other co-op configurations were responsible for State championships in 2009, 2010, 2011 and loss in the 2014 semifinals. This year, the Fusion punched their ticket to State with a 4-1 victory over Somerset/Amery/New Richmond/Osceola/Saint Croix Falls in the sectional final played at Hudson. Defending champion De Pere/Ashwaubenon/Bay Port/Green Bay East/Green Bay Preble/Green Bay Southwest/Green Bay West/Notre Dame/Pulaski/Seymour/West De Pere co-op is the #3 seed. This rendition of the co-op makes its fourth overall appearance at State albeit with a different host school. The Bay Area Ice Bears won the State title in 2014 and finished runner-up in 2017. Another configuration of the co-op, without Pulaski, also placed runner-up in 2010. The co-op returns to State to defend its title following a 3-2 win over the University School of Milwaukee/Divine Savior Holy Angels/Dominican/ Milwaukee King/Nicolet/Saint Thomas More/Shorewood/ Whitefish Bay co-op in the Brookfield Central Sectional final. Fourth-seeded Sun Prairie West/DeForest/ Madison East/Madison La Follette/Sun Prairie East/Waunakee co-op qualifies for the first time, but it’s essentially the fifth time with the only difference being the split of Sun Prairie into two schools. The Cap City Cougars’ most notable experience in the former co-op arrangement was a runner-up finish in 2018. They advance to State from the sectional final played at Janesville following a double-overtime 2-1 win over the Middleton/Dodgeville/ Edgewood/Madison Memorial/ Madison West/Mount Horeb/Verona co-op.

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