yzerman19

Take it a step further...what if your kid is a legitimate NHL prospect...top 10 player in birth year at 15..a chippah...where would you send them until they are ready for junior? Keep them home? The top guys in this tourney are not chippahs....they are good, but the highest ranked prospect is like a potential 4th rounder...

I'm active right now, but not a Forks person, I think it is a legitimate question that I hope people don't make knee jerk responses to

sure...but gotta think if you are his family, the hockey dev is going to be better with Cullen and that crew than at home. 1.5 hour drive is nothing...it would be standard across most of the AAA world around the country

Sidenote- if you are suburban Twin Cities and in class A....who the hell are you?

I love section 7 and 8!!! The private schools kill me...like all the Edina kids on STA...Edina wasn't cake enough you had to attend private school even though you live in Edina???!

I knew Buttsy came from Alex. That is kinda out of area, but not like a crazy import.

Its hard to compare bantam teams with rest of country and Canada, because 2009 players would not be bantam eligible anywhere but Minny and NoDak, but Moorhead is really good. I am really curious to see how that Blue Ox team(2010s from Moorhead and Warroad's bantam teams) does at nationals. They beat SSM in OT to earn the autobid out of Minnesota. The rankings have them 5th behind Little Caesars, SSM, Mount St Charles, and Minuteman Flames (Boston). They could do some damage. Little Caesars is an absolute wagon and won the national tournament last year in the age group and is like 70-2 this year playing top US and Canadian teams.

who other than Ryan Suter's kid is on that team from out of area?

That's true! Ryan was born in Bottineau but moved to Moorhead as a kid.

No, what I am hypothesizing is that the "exceptions" that left early and still made D1 likely matriculated to the NHL at a higher percentage than the bulk of the players that played all 4 years of high school, then eventually went D1. Nothing wrong with the slow and steady path- but think about like NTDP...do they count as leaving early (i would think so)...

There is the slow steady path to D1...redshirt the kid to be a 15 year old freshman...stick around, maybe do some USHL/NAHL pre and post season (high school season is short). I would be curious if they flipped the analysis to NHL as the goal rather than D1...My guess that of the kids that make it all the way, very few played just local high school all the way through being 18. A lot probably depends on circumstances and team too...and if you bail your local association to play at a private school in Minny high school as well.

I will go to our friends at neutral zone again. They have him as a 3.5 star recruit and ranked him 234 in the USHL draft last summer. Size probably his biggest knock.

Serge was such a beauty...I loved that guy...he had hung up the whistle, but was around...loved life, loved the kids...

man, Jeff and Jay...I was southend, they were north end...we had good players...those guys were gross

my condolences to all who knew him and loved him

I too always cheer for section 8...section 7 too for that matter. Do yourselves a favor and watch Freddie Schneider from Edina. 2009 sophomore...next time you see him after this week will be in red, white, and blue for sure

Neutral Zone has him ranked 108th, for whatever that is worth. 3.75 Star.

NTDP 40 man camp letters went out...hoping Marto got one

130 went to natty's last year too

okay, State is over. So, with the kids, who is going to USA camp, who is going to Nationals, and who is going to junior camp? My perspective as an outsider is that Team ND will get destroyed at Nationals as they have historically.

I did a little homework, it looks like the only league where Mattern is protected is the NAHL, so that makes him a free agent across the rest of junior hockey. That also means tougher to get that roster spot, but it does give you freedom. Good luck to him and all the kids.

Around the country, top end talent is gone at 16...will be even more pronounced with the NCAA opening up to CHL. Regardless of where you are from...USHL, CHL or NTDP at 16 is the path of the best

Marvin Windows AAA LOL!!!

are games on the internet?

The other question is at what age does it move from recreational child's play to vocation development...I mean the top 16 year olds in the world are playing junior hockey in N/A or pro in parts of Europe, so if one program is built of and working towards putting bantam players into junior hockey in the next year or two and another program is just "playing" you have a huge disconnect.