Look at the regular season out-of-region records of Regions 1-3:
- Region 1: 5-6
- Region 2: 9-3
- Region 3: 7-6
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Region 1 is DEFINITELY not the toughest region. It has 2 very good teams in Napoleon and EK, but it drops off significantly after that. Region 2's #3 seed, Wyndmere-Lidgerwood, has beaten Region 1's #3 seed, Oakes, twice now, once in the playoffs. After one week, Region 1 is 0-2 in the playoffs.
Region 2 is 2-1 in the playoffs.
Region 3 is 2-1 in the playoffs.
Region 4 has a losing record outside of it's region and is 1-2 in the playoffs.
I tried pulling together outside-of-region records for 5 & 6 but couldn't find complete results. Region 5 is 2-1 in the playoffs and Region 6 is 1-1.
Pure math tells you that Region 2 looks pretty good.