Yote 53

Ahh, gotcha.

Confused because your location says Twin Cities. You must be referencing players leaving HS early for Juniors, or a program like Gentry. Players don't normally transfer into Edina to play, those teams are homegrown (except for their goalie this year who played for Nashville Jr Preds U15 AAA team, no idea how he got to Edina). Edina is a youth program that not only produces players for Edina's HS roster but also schools like Benilde St. Margaret's and other private school programs. What is Moorhead's perspective on scheduling ND schools? If the openings where there would they do it? Or would it effect their SOS playing out of state teams (would the state of MN "Count" the games)? Scheduling is a two way street. ETA: See somebody beat me to the Edina comment. That youth program provides players for a lot of schools.

I wasn't even talking about ND High School hockey. Reread and you notice I left you guys out of that. I said SD, IA, NE, and even WI. First sentence of the third paragraph.

You guys already have a Tier 1 before and after team with Team North Dakota. You could make a serious case for a full season Tier 1 program in Fargo/Grand Forks. The question that can't be answered is how many players may have been able to move on to juniors or college if they were in a full season Tier 1 program to develop them. Talent doesn't just happened, it needs to be developed. This weekend Team North Dakota plays Sioux Falls Power for a trip to nationals. Team ND doesn't even field a U18 team (what's up with that?) and the Power are favorites at the 16, 15, and 14 levels. So maybe that is a litmus test to see if B&A is working for ND. Before and after teams work, Team Wisconsin is one of the top programs in the country. It works over there, but there are also more hockey players to pull from. With that statement you just described hockey in South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, and even Wisconsin. These youth teams compete in and against MN programs from Squirt to Bantam and then at High School the programs drop off the map. The development, literally, slows to a crawl because they become insulated leagues and don't compete against the better MN programs. Also, many of the better players leave for Tier 1 because these HS leagues are no pathway to a higher level of hockey. Though North Dakota HS hockey might be in better shape, at least one or two of the programs I am really torn on High School hockey because I really love the idea of it. It obviously works for Minnesota and, maybe, Michigan, though they have like 8 Tier 1 programs there too.. I question whether HS (in other states) aids in player development, or if players just stagnate and backslide. For full disclosure, we have struggled with this personally as my oldest left HS hockey in Iowa and moved away to play Tier 1. I know the expense and sacrifice more than anybody. I also know he would be nowhere close to being the player he is today if he had stayed in the HS program, not even close.

Are there any updates on that potential MJHL team in Grand Forks? Interested to see if that develops.

Is that sarcasm? I can't tell because there actually has been some good things that have come out of it. Class A hockey is getting better and better. There has been great growth in interest and quality of play in the small school outstate areas because they actually have something they can compete for. The Class A tournament the last few years has been very compelling. I realize the nostalgia for the single class event, but I think it would be detrimental to small school hockey. Yes, the feel good story of a Warroad or Greenway making a run and winning the entire thing sounds great, the reality is that would be the rarest of things in the current environment.

I remember that. I think it was just a couple of years ago as they have only recently started televising the event on Midco.

Haven't checked in here since Thursday, was on the road for a tournament in Wisco. Loved that Prep45 provided a free stream of the tournament this year so I was able to catch the entire thing, even while in travel status. Some excellent games, was hoping for something other than an Edina v EP final (was going for Moorhead & Blaine in AA and Greenway & EGF in A) but at least it was a good game that went to OT. So the Edina boys and Edina girls swept state titles this year. That entire program from youth to high school is just a machine. This time of year always sucks. The tournament is over, my oldest boy's season ended yesterday, another hockey season in the books, now we head into spring tryouts season. Ugh, just sucks. The South Dakota state tournament will be on Midco this weekend. I'll probably tune in.

OT

Yeah, I didn't doubt Eden Prairie's qualifications for being seeded because they do play a pretty tough schedule. But here we are, start of 3rd period and it's a 2-1 game with South. I'm putting the Eagles on upset alert! If they seeded 1-8, I would bet 9/10 years 3A and 1AA would get 8 seeds.

To WBL's defense, Blaine was the #2 seed and a dang tough draw, WBL played pretty well today. I watched the section final between WBL and Hill-Murray last week. WBL won, but I didn't think it was pretty at all and actually thought Hill-Murray was the better team for very big stretches of that game. I didn't expect WBL to do much in this tournament. My big question regarding seeding for this tournament, how the heck does Moorhead draw Edina in the QF? Moorhead is better and has a better resume than both WBL and Lakeville South. I understand only the first 5 are seeded, are the next 3 just random draw? If so that stinks for Moorhead and, actually, stinks for Edina because they got a tougher draw in round 1.

Pfft. The check the Big Ten cuts Illinois is for the same amount as the one they cut Penn State. The media rights check from the conference office is over $50 million per Big Ten team now. There isn't a single BIG athletic program who can use the "we can't afford it" excuse when it comes to hockey. They can ALL afford it, it's whether they want to do it or not. Somebody get all over Iowa's butt next. There is a brand new 7,000 seat ice arena going up in Coralville/IC. No excuse for Iowa to not have a program too. Nebraska as well. Pinnacle Bank Arena is ice ready.

Firestick -> Silk or Firefox Browser App -> www.prep45.com -> use the remote as your pointer and click to stream I'm sure this is on Midco somewhere as well. The Girls Tournament was on two weeks ago.

It's usually on two channels, one on the HD section of the lineup and on the SD section, though they are both SD. Look over by the ME TV stations. You can also stream the tournament online at Prep45 dot com.

Reading that article, is that the announcement that Augie is going D1? I ask because I guess I must have missed the announcement where they officially announced their transition to Division 1. I know that they have talked about it, studied it, etc., but did not know they announced it. So has it just been assumed and therefore it is?

Agree. Got younger in the process. I like this kid.

4 in a row. I guess they are not dead just yet.

Wrestling, gymnastics, basketball, soccer, tennis, baseball...actually the only sport that has not become "specialized" is football. Football coaches will take any athlete they can and make them a football player because most football programs are struggling for bodies these days. USA Hockey preaches playing multiple sports, then runs their camps in the spring and summer. If your kid is young have them play as many sports as possible. As they get older and into high school age, if you want to play at a high level, it becomes almost impossible to play three sports. Two sports max, and that becomes difficult if it's a sport like baseball where gym work started in January. All sports are guilty of pushing specialization.

South Dakota High School hockey is not a varsity sponsored sport by the SDHSAA. It is club based and registered/rostered under USA Hockey's high school division. It's one of the reasons teams from South Dakota/Iowa/Nebraska cannot schedule Minnesota teams for regular season games. Because they are not HS varsity sports. As to the expansion of HS hockey in NoDak, does it being a Varsity sponsored sport actually hinder it's expansion? When you are dealing with school districts and athletic departments things like resources, budgets, and even Title 9 come into play.

"Full season" in this context refers to playing the entire hockey season on one team as opposed to Team North Dakota Before/After and HS season, not year round. The season runs from Sept-March. Also, we're talking about midgets here, 15-18 year olds, at that age kids across all sports have started to specialize, including hockey, and it falls in line with USA Hockey's LTAD model. I'm not talking about Squirt or Pee Wee hockey here. The way it is right now, between the fall elite league/AAA hockey in the fall, winter hockey, spring camps/clinics/tryouts, and summer Junior tryouts, if you are an upper level player in the 16-18 year old range that is looking to play hockey beyond high school (junior/college) you are on the ice 10-11 months of the year.

Would NDAHA allow full season Midget AAA in Grand Forks/Fargo? There is already the Team North Dakota B/A program, but they seem to be falling behind the Sioux Falls Power AAA as of late. It would definitely impact the quality of HS hockey in North Dakota. One could argue that between USHL, NAHL, and Sioux Falls AAA program that is already happening so might as well provide a full season opportunity closer to home. Be careful with this. The quality of the Midwest High School League in Iowa has been destroyed because all of the best players now leave to play for Omaha, Iowa Wild, Sioux Falls, Madison, etc. AAA programs. In order to have a chance to play meaningful junior, or someday college, hockey players know HS hockey is not a viable option. It's too bad, really.

I attribute the rise in level of play to the internet. Player development is dependent on having good coaching from the youngest ages on up. Years ago, the traditional hockey playing states, the 3 M's, had the coaching because dad and grandpa knew the game and knew what to teach their kids. In non-traditional hockey markets there were dad coaches who didn't know how to skate and had no clue how to run a practice. I grew up in Iowa and was fortunate that we had a semi-pro USHL team and the kids I grew up playing with were the kids of those players who were originally from Toronto. They knew hockey and knew how to teach us to play. Other areas didn't have that. Today you can go online and pull up a thousand different lesson plans or videos. There is so much information available. That sharing of information has elevated the level of play in no-traditional markets.

Ok, let me preface this by saying I need to remember I am on a NoDak message board. I have taken teams all over the place for tournaments. In NoDak and northern Minnesota, body contact at the Pee Wee level is dang near full on checking. When you get to the Cities things get called a little bit tighter but still pretty failry allow contact. You get into Southern Minnesota and even less contact is allowed. Go over to Wisconsin or down into South Dakota, Iowa or Missouri and if you even breathe or look cross ways at the opponent and they fall down you will get called for a "checking" penalty. Body contact rules are not applies evenly across different areas of the country, is the point.

Allowing body contact, yes. It used to be that way. Doesn't need to be full on, open ice checking.

I'm almost positive this was discussed last go around a couple of years ago and dropped. There are things that come up on the agenda every year and don't go anywhere. That said, this would be a disaster. If anything, checking needs to be moved back to Pee Wees and some would even say Squirts. Checking is a skill just like skating, stickhandling, and shooting and is one that should be taught from a young age, how to deliver a proper check and how to protect yourself and receive a proper check. I guess Johnny Toe Drag will soon be making an appearance at the Bantam level now.