Big game at Bielenberg tonight

• Jason Eddy

Forward Jason Eddy recorded a goal and an assist the last time Woodbury played Cretin-Derham Hall this season — a 3-2 Royals win. Woodbury hosts Cretin tonight in the regular season finale at Bielenberg tonight. Staff Photo by Tom Carothers.

Talk about it

Sole possession of the Suburban East Conference title, preferential sectional seeding and good old-fashioned bragging rights are on the line tonight as Woodbury hosts Cretin-Derham Hall in the final regular season boys hockey game of the 2009-10 campaign tonight at the Bielenberg Sports Center.

"It's exciting," Royals coach Wes Bolin said.

Woodbury (15-7-2 overall, 13-2-2 SEC) currently owns a two-point lead in the conference standings over the Raiders (17-7, 13-4) and league upstart Forest Lake (16-6-2 overall, 12-3-2 SEC).

A victory against Cretin — whom the Royals topped by a 3-2 count on the Raiders' home ice at the Highland Arena in St. Paul on Jan. 16 — would lock up Woodbury's third-consecutive SEC championship in its entirety.

It would also give Bolin's club a decisive advantage when seeds for next week's Section 3AA Tournament are determined on Sunday as Woodbury would have swept the season series from its sectional rival.

A tie versus Cretin would also mean the SEC title is all Woodbury's and the Royals would have still been undefeated versus the Raiders.

However, a Woodbury loss throws mayhem into the equasion.

A defeat of the Royals would give Cretin a share of the league championship. What's more, a Forest Lake win over Mounds View combined with a Raiders victory would make for a three-way tie atop the final SEC count.

In that scenario, the Rangers would win a mythical tiebreaker as the one team to not have lost to one of their fellow dead-knotters.

While Woodbury and Cretin would have taken one game from the other and Forest Lake and the Raiders have done likewise, the Royals did not defeat the Rangers this season — having lost once and tied once.

Of far greater importance, a Cretin win could give the Raiders the upper hand in search of a better seed on "Sectional Selection Sunday" as CDH would own a better overall record after both the head-to-head and conference marks being a push.

Puck drop for the varsity game is scheduled to follow the junior varsity contest as well as the ceremonies for "Senior Night" at approximately 7:30 p.m. The JV game is slated to begin at 5:15 p.m.

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