Sectional Alignment for Girls Hockey 2006-2007

With eight new teams joining the WIAA for girls hockey next year, the teams in each sectional are likely to change radically from this past season. I was wondering how the heck the WIAA decided which teams to place in which sectional, so I spent some time reading through their site. Unfortunately, I was not able to find an answer to my question.

My assumption is that when deciding which teams will play in each sectional they attempt to pair teams so that travel is kept to a minimum. Using this assumption I took some time to try to figure out what teams might fall into each sectional. Thanks to Yahoo maps I could get some quick calculations of distance and driving time from each pairing of cities to help set up the sectionals. Here's how I believe they would best be set up to minimize travel:

Section 1

Superior
Siren
Hayward
New Richmond
Hudson

Section 2

Eagle River
Tomahawk
Chippewa Falls
Eau Claire
Mosinee
Wisconsin Rapids

Section 3

River Falls
Menomonee
Onalaska
Viroqua
Reedsburg
Baraboo

Section 4

Madison
Appleton
Fond du Lac
Milwaukee NS
Arrowhead

Not knowing anything about the new teams other than Altoona and Appleton, here's my thoughts:

If this is how the sectionals lay out, Superior would be the clear favorite in Section 1 in my mind. Section 2 would be wide open with so many new teams, and maybe Eau Claire is the favorite if indeed Altoona has back many of the players from this year's club team that was very good. In Section 3 River Falls and possibly Baraboo could provide a test for Onalaska, but Onalaska is clearly the favorite to return to the State Tournament. Section 4 could be a real battle. Reigning State Champions Fondy/Waupun and Milwaukee North Shore would be the favorites to advance, with Madison and Appleton as dark horse candidates to advance.