Yote 53

Uh-oh Hermantown. Cathedral up 1-0 early.

I agree with this. You only get one chance to win State with your high school friends. A player this good leaving not only dashes his dreams but the dreams of his friends. Here's the thing, many of these players already have D1 commitments, they are going to go to the USHL (most likely) for a year after high school anyway for some polishing. At class AA hockey their development is not going to be hurt by doing B&A to supplement their high school season. Now, if you are in a class A school that plays weaker opponents I can understand leaving for juniors. If you are a player with no D1 offer in hand your senior year then juniors or even Tier 1 AAA might be necessary to achieve that personal goal. But if you are one of these top players who are a known commodity and have a future set, staying in school is not going to hurt you. One of the players I coach, his family is a billet family for the Sioux City Musketeers. A few years ago their billet player was Avery Peterson out of Grand Rapids who was Mr. Hockey that year. He played B&A with the Muskies and the T-Hawks. I watched him play one of his first games back in Sioux City after the high school season. He was instantly the best player on the ice right when he came back. Playing MN HS didn't hurt him one bit. Oh, and he's a great kid whose character transcends hockey. On the other hand, a player like Jaxon Nelson out of Luverne who is playing in Sioux Falls for the Stampede. It was in his best interest to leave early, and nobody is upset with him, as the competition in class A in southern MN was not enough for him to develop properly. He needed to move on and be challenged.

Crazy finish to this MAML/Northfield game. MAML scores with 3 seconds left to advance to finals.

I liked the Mittelstadt storyline about him coming back to win a state title, I think more of those players who are going to get their shot anyway should do what he has done, but it wouldn't bother me one bit to see a Moorhead and Grand Rapids final. Honestly, really not interested in seeing Lakeville South get there.

Luverne had nothing left in the tank after that OT loss on Wednesday. Not surprised at the EGF result. Mahtomedi getting blown out did surprise me a bit though.

Derrick Brown, current coach at Cathedral, is the former Luverne coach. Good coach who helped build the Luverne program. The irony is that I think Luverne is better now because they focus more on defense. Brown had more talented players when he was at Luverne but they played a very loose style. I thought Cathedral was flying around the ice against EGF. The matchup with Hermantown today will be fun, hopefully, the Hawks have destroyed them once this year already. Matchup of the day is the Eden Prairie and Grand Rapids game. Cannot wait for tonight to watch that game.

I've been streaming at the MSBN website.

Having to listen to this game on the radio. It is really one that I wanted to watch on the tube. Pioneers strike back, 3-2 now.

Spuds storm back to go up 3-1 now.

5-2 final. EGF beats Luverne. I imagine it was tough for Luverne to get up for today's game after such a gut wrenching loss. Not saying it didn't hurt for EGF to lose last night. Just that I think EGF has more depth and Luverne basically went with 10 guys rolling two lines last night. I imagine not much left in the tank. Mahtomedi getting blasted 8-1 kind of surprises me. Looks like they packed it in. Pioneers just put one in to tie Moorhead at 1 each.

Well, that prognostication didn't work out. The carnage continues.

Yeah, because the Blackhawks, for example, are going to be happy to play a regular season game for playoff points with Toews, Kane, Keith, Hossa, Hjalmarsson, Panarin, Anisomov, etc, etc. out of the lineup because they are playing in the Olympics. Last Olympics the Blackhawks had 10 players from their roster in the Games. I used the Hawks as an example but they wouldn't be the only team in this position. Bring up AHL guys to fill in, right, with some teams that would be half the roster. This isn't going to happen.

Yeah, going out on a limb with that one there, eh? Maybe not, you did witness the carnage yesterday. This AA field is even more wide open.

Almost time for Day 2 to start. I'm picking STA over Lakeville South in Game 1 here.

Sorry, I am on the opposite side of this than many of you, this is not on the NHL, they are not the bad guys here. The IOC is a crooked organization that rakes in billions, with a B, and they cancel their contribution of a mere $10 million to provide for travel costs and insurances? I actually side with the NHL on this subject. They are being asked to shut down their league for two weeks, their buildings to sit empty, and their star players put at risk of injury. Lose-lose-lose propositions. What do they get out of it? Grow the game? I'd like to see the best in the world play, but I think the IOC and IIHF need to put up more to get the NHL players to the Olympics. The Winter Olympics primary sports are figure skating and ice hockey. This isn't some obscure sport we're talking about here. It's a main driver of revenue for the IOC. It wouldn't bother me one bit if they turned the Olympics into a U20 tournament. I'd still watch.

You'll see Luverne again. They are building a nice program there. It's turned into a hockey town with every little young athlete strapping on the skates instead of playing hoops.

2-2 tie. Here we go!

Uh-oh. Only 2-1 after 2. Luverne has hope here. Could we get upset #3 of the day?

Two channels in Vermillion. Channel 323 with Twin Cities commercials and channel 593 with Sioux Falls commercials. I'm seeing quite a few Luverne and Go Cardinals commercials so that might be the reason they have thus South Dakota feed.

Thanks guys. I'll let you know the status of TV coverage in Vermillion, not that you will care, LOL. BTW, Roll Cards Roll tonight! I've got a lot of friends in the hockey community in Luverne, parents I know and players my son has played with/against over the years, so pulling hard for their team. Luverne toppling mighty Hermantown would fit the narrative of the day. Upset Wednesday in Class A.

So is this on Midco 595 or 323? I'm at work right now and am just listening to the audio stream but when I get home tonight the TV is immediately getting turned to the Luverne/Hermantown game. Don't have time to be messing around with looking for it.

Should be on Midco 323. Check 595 though.

If I was building this, in that 3rd large space area I would put a hockey dryland training facility and a bar & restaurant/curling facility (if you've been to Fogerty arena in Blaine you can see what I envision there). If not that then it would be a third sheet of ice. I'd also make sure there was plenty of locker room space. A permanent locker rooms for the anchor tenant. Coach's offices in the home locker room as well as an A/V meeting area for team meetings and film discussion and a trainers room. A main visitor locker room and 6 other locker rooms with access to shower facilities (think two locker rooms sharing one shower/bathroom facility in between them). Optional would be two main locker rooms, one for a college/junior team and one for the local high school team. Suppose I would need a girls HS locker room too. Whatever the needs there would be ample locker room space and ample storage space. I've been to too many places that have cramped/inadequate locker rooms and have space wasted on other things that are not important. Icon is really nice. I especially like the locker rooms. Plenty of nice large locker rooms. The fitness area is a huge plus. The concourse does have a lot of wasted space though and there is a lot of money spent on concrete in that concourse area with the steps and circular area that amounts to money spent without adding too much to the functionality of the facility. Yes, there is plenty of space for large crowds to move around but you still have choke points at the entrances to the two arenas and to the upper lounge area. Plus there could be more seating in the arenas to accommodate larger events. 600 seats fill up pretty quick. All in all though, I'd certainly take that facility in my community as is.

Beautiful facility. I can think of several USHL markets that could use something like that. I'm not buying the $20 million price tag though. That seems pretty low.

Midco channel 323. It's not in HD, but better than nothing.