Heading into the state tournament, New Prague High School’s cooperative floor hockey team seems ready to begin a strong defense of its state championship from a year ago.
The opening round is the big question mark. New Prague will face Shakopee-Prior Lake-Chaska-Chanhassen tomorrow evening, Friday, Feb. 27, 8 p.m., at Bloomington Jefferson High School’s activities center. See the team congratulations page in the print edition for the bracket information.
“The first round is always the big question,” New Prague Head Coach Jeremy Kalal said. “The kids aren’t used to playing at 8 p.m. so you never know what you’ll get.”
The 9-0 Trojans have some members who played in last year’s state championship team when New Prague, a cooperative effort with Tri-City United, Jordan and Belle Plaine schools, topped Stillwater Area in the title game. But Kalal isn’t taking anything for granted.
Teams aren’t accustomed to playing late at night. They’re also not accustomed to playing two games in one day as the Trojans hopes to do in the semifinal and final round.
New Prague has defeated Shakopee-Prior Lake-Chaska-Chanhassen twice this year. But the Shakopee-based team is much-improved, Kalal said. The road to the title tilt also features a possible semifinal clash against the South Suburban Jets, a team NP has also defeated this year.
The other side of the bracket features teams New Prague knows well. Stillwater Area opens against Mankato, a team the Trojans topped for automatic qualification to the state tournament. South Washington and Burnsville-Farmington-Lakeville will also face one another in the opening round. New Prague has faced both those teams in previous state tournaments.