Two Tier System for ND Hockey

[scpa0305]

Yep, they could play shattuck, Sioux Falls power, Manitoba teams, etc.  it should have been done a while ago. 

ND hockey wants so bad to be like MN, it’ll just never happen.  Mn has too many solid programs.  ND doesn’t, and never will.  Everything is fine until the kids get to high school.

[Frozen4sioux]

tier 1 AAA... flying all over the country.. tens of thousands MORE per year to "keep up" more and more kids leaving home....

This is EXACTLY OPPOSITE of what we need to be developing in ND. Absolutely unnecessary when there is a solution at hand. 

Really isnt a valid reason not to attempt a better solution.

Kids arent dumb, if the end game final career goal in hockey for a kid from hazen or Bottineau or Watford or Jamestown is to maybe possibly not get beat "that" badly in the regions...

Those athletes are choosing other things to do than play hockey.

A balanced competative class of teams offers so much more ability to retain youth through HS and grow the game, at the same time offering the ability for established programs with the luxury of higher participation and developed athletes to participate in similar levels. Really EXACTLY the same reasons there are classes in football, basketball l, and every other sanctioned HS sport in ND.

Remember growing the game isn't just keeping these kids in hockey, it's that hockey culture they bring to their children, experienced players to be coaches to assist the next generation.

ND isnt MN, many if not the vast majority of ND hockey players in youth right now are 1st or maybe 2nd generation hockey families. mom and dad didnt play.

I believe that growth and retention of youth players through high school can and will grow the sport in ND. We have to think larger than "this year" "this generation" ... culture needs to mature. 

Dwindling programs getting blown out 90% of the time is demoralizing, and with no goal of competative HS do kids stay  in the youth programs ... or do they just pick up a basketball instead.. 

Create the passion, cultivate the culture, grow the game.

[Yote 53]

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.

9 hours ago, scpa0305 said:

Yep, they could play shattuck, Sioux Falls power, Manitoba teams, etc.  it should have been done a while ago. 

ND hockey wants so bad to be like MN, it’ll just never happen.  Mn has too many solid programs.  ND doesn’t, and never will.  Everything is fine until the kids get to high school.

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.

 

[OgieOgilthorpe]

10 hours ago, scpa0305 said:

Yep, they could play shattuck, Sioux Falls power, Manitoba teams, etc.  it should have been done a while ago. 

ND hockey wants so bad to be like MN, it’ll just never happen.  Mn has too many solid programs.  ND doesn’t, and never will.  Everything is fine until the kids get to high school.

I hope your comment is 100% about quantity and not quality. MN has more TEAMS than ND has PLAYERS, so of course they're going to produce more solid programs overall. MN has 5.5 MILLION people and ND has 750k so I would sure hope they could come up with more solid programs. MN high school hockey isn't as glamorous as the state tournament makes it seem. There are 10 absolutely horrendous teams for every solid program that we see on TV. Even some of the HUGE twin city schools produce garbage teams that would get taken to the woodshed by GFC and probably even Century and Davies year in and year out. When you're funneling hundreds and hundreds of teams down into two 8 team tournaments, it's deceiving to us here in ND to think that MN quality is much higher than ND...but it's really not true overall. The years that some traditionally good ND teams are down, it just seems to be more glaringly obvious in ND because there aren't dozens of other teams to fill that gap during their down years. 

Comparatively, if you took every single team from both states, top to bottom and averaged them out, I would take the ND team hands down year after year. Look how well Whap and Mayville did against garbage MN teams, and they didn't even get into the bottom feeder leagues in the SW. Look how bad GFC beats up on teams every year, and look how well Minot, Grafton and DL always do in that Warroad tournament they've attended over the last 5 years.

Also, if you compare percentages instead of sheer numbers, ND actually produces just about the exact same % of D1 players that MN does.

If the top team in ND out of only 18 teams is legitimately better than ALL of the A teams and comparable to the top 5 AA teams, then I don't think it's fair to bash on the compete level of ND HS hockey like we are. 

MN no doubt has the numbers, but overall quality is right on par with ND. Unfortunately with the lower numbers, the spread can get pretty large some years, especially the past 2 years with an elite GFC team. GFC has been at an elite level for two years straight, so now all of the sudden everyone is freaking out and wants a change. Did everyone already forget that the west claimed to state titles in a row a few years ago? Minot and BHS won state 2 years in a row in 2014 and 2015.

 Instead of restructuring the entire ND system trying to mirror a style that MN runs which is made for a MUCH larger pool of teams, I think we will quickly realize it just doesn't work. I honestly think we're wanting to make these changes just because of Grand Forks and because people watch the MNHS tournament on TV. The truth is that we have an outlier situation here in ND because of Grand Forks alone. It is the biggest hockey town in the country year after year and produces high quality players at a higher rate than any other town in the country per-capita, so I think it's unfair that we're acting like the NDHS hockey competition is so poor, because without Grand Forks making everyone else look bad, we would have a much different outlook on the situation. 

[OgieOgilthorpe]

57 minutes ago, Yote 53 said:

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.

 

You're a complete bozo. How has ND development completely dropped off the map during High School? Development comes to a complete crawl? What are you basing this off of?

ND produces D1 players every single year and a lot of them have played all the way through their SR seasons. Williston, Minot, DL, Grafton, Bismarck, Fargo Grand Forks...all have produced D1 players just in the last 5 years and it'll only keep increasing. FYI you basing your thoughts off of IOWA hockey (probably not even recent Iowa hockey) makes no sense for this conversation.

In MN, a lot of the top talent players on poor teams transfer to private schools or public schools with open enrollment that have better hockey. Because of this transferring, and because of the sheer numbers, MN is able to keep HS hockey competitive at the very top level. Is that really that much better? Edina's star goalie and a few other of their top players didn't even grow up with any of those guys and aren't even Edina natives. Some of them were just brand new there that season.

[Frozen4sioux]

16 minutes ago, OgieOgilthorpe said:

Instead of restructuring the entire ND system trying to mirror a style that MN runs

Howsabout, restructuring a system to mirror how EVERY OTHER SPORT in ND is run. 

And yes there are a lot of teams in smaller towns in MN, If those teams had to play EDINA and Duluth East a couple times a year, instead of similar like schools, how long would those kids stick around in the sport?

Noncompetitive is Nonsustainable. 

[OgieOgilthorpe]

14 minutes ago, Frozen4sioux said:

Howsabout, restructuring a system to mirror how EVERY OTHER SPORT in ND is run. 

And yes there are a lot of teams in smaller towns in MN, If those teams had to play EDINA and Duluth East a couple times a year, instead of similar like schools, how long would those kids stick around in the sport?

Noncompetitive is Nonsustainable. 

Every other sport in ND has 100+ teams, and hockey has 19...so you're comparing apples and oranges there. ND high school hockey is unique, hence the unique league setup. 

The only "restructuring" I could ever see working would be if all the JR GOLD teams joined the High School sponsored league and some of the current struggling bottom teams joined them in a lower class. But 75% of the JR GOLD teams would fold before they'd ever get their small high schools to sponsor an expensive team who would end up covering the entire state for travel. 

If that all somehow panned out, they'd have to get teams to volunteer to join the lower class instead of trying to break it up by enrollment. Teams and schools would fight being put in the lower class. The only teams I think would join would be HB, Bott, and Mayville. Highly unlikely Whap would come back to join knowing they'd have to travel to Watford City, Crosby, Langdon, HB, and Bott instead of their easy current travel schedule.  

[OgieOgilthorpe]

All this 2 league talk is pretty unrealistic and silly for ND, IMO. Things will even themselves out on their own...and I think it'll be as soon as next year.

Even so, for the future, I think the one and only fix that needs to be made is that GFC and RR have some sort of regional alignment for enrollment. The past 4 seasons of RR and GFC bouncing back and forth as an elite team has 100% stemmed from the GF Aviator kids wanting to stick together when they hit HS so they all transfer to the same school to play and essentially turn GF into a one HS team. If those kids had been split up the last 4 seasons instead of all on one team I see a GF team with 2 championship the last 4 years instead of all 4 and we wouldn't even be having this conversation. Century and Davies would each have one. 

Fargo and Minot now have AA bantam teams who don't seem to be too far behind GF. They faired much better against the GF team than a lot of the Winnipeg and MNPLS teams did this season. Bismarck can't be far behind on creating one as well.  

I'm also hopefully that with the growing populations of Williston, Dickinson, Mandan, Fargo, and others that competition will keep growing just because of the numbers. 

[Yote 53]

24 minutes ago, OgieOgilthorpe said:

You're a complete bozo. How has ND development completely dropped off the map during High School? Development comes to a complete crawl? What are you basing this off of?

ND produces D1 players every single year and a lot of them have played all the way through their SR seasons. Williston, Minot, DL, Grafton, Bismarck, Fargo Grand Forks...all have produced D1 players just in the last 5 years and it'll only keep increasing. FYI you basing your thoughts off of IOWA hockey (probably not even recent Iowa hockey) makes no sense for this conversation.

In MN, a lot of the top talent players on poor teams transfer to private schools or public schools with open enrollment that have better hockey. Because of this transferring, and because of the sheer numbers, MN is able to keep HS hockey competitive at the very top level. Is that really that much better? Edina's star goalie and a few other of their top players didn't even grow up with any of those guys and aren't even Edina natives. Some of them were just brand new there that season.

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.

[scpa0305]

9 hours ago, Frozen4sioux said:

tier 1 AAA... flying all over the country.. tens of thousands MORE per year to "keep up" more and more kids leaving home....

This is EXACTLY OPPOSITE of what we need to be developing in ND. Absolutely unnecessary when there is a solution at hand. 

Really isnt a valid reason not to attempt a better solution.

Kids arent dumb, if the end game final career goal in hockey for a kid from hazen or Bottineau or Watford or Jamestown is to maybe possibly not get beat "that" badly in the regions...

Those athletes are choosing other things to do than play hockey.

A balanced competative class of teams offers so much more ability to retain youth through HS and grow the game, at the same time offering the ability for established programs with the luxury of higher participation and developed athletes to participate in similar levels. Really EXACTLY the same reasons there are classes in football, basketball l, and every other sanctioned HS sport in ND.

Remember growing the game isn't just keeping these kids in hockey, it's that hockey culture they bring to their children, experienced players to be coaches to assist the next generation.

ND isnt MN, many if not the vast majority of ND hockey players in youth right now are 1st or maybe 2nd generation hockey families. mom and dad didnt play.

I believe that growth and retention of youth players through high school can and will grow the sport in ND. We have to think larger than "this year" "this generation" ... culture needs to mature. 

Dwindling programs getting blown out 90% of the time is demoralizing, and with no goal of competative HS do kids stay  in the youth programs ... or do they just pick up a basketball instead.. 

Create the passion, cultivate the culture, grow the game.

Expensive, yes.  But all the good kids are doing that anyway during spring/summer (to keep up with the competition).  If top end ND teams could actually schedule some games against real MN competition there would be no problem.  But they don't.  Not on a regular basis, and definitely not like the Bantam AA team does.

[iluvdebbies]

Three things to understand about a move to a two class system, for hockey, in North Dakota.

1. Zero Junior Gold teams need to move up to high school hockey to get this started.

2. Enrollment should not be a major factor in placement of teams.

3. The NDHSAA doesn't care about hockey enough, to put the work into getting a two class system done.

[scpa0305]

36 minutes ago, OgieOgilthorpe said:

You're a complete bozo. How has ND development completely dropped off the map during High School? Development comes to a complete crawl? What are you basing this off of?

ND produces D1 players every single year and a lot of them have played all the way through their SR seasons. Williston, Minot, DL, Grafton, Bismarck, Fargo Grand Forks...all have produced D1 players just in the last 5 years and it'll only keep increasing. FYI you basing your thoughts off of IOWA hockey (probably not even recent Iowa hockey) makes no sense for this conversation.

In MN, a lot of the top talent players on poor teams transfer to private schools or public schools with open enrollment that have better hockey. Because of this transferring, and because of the sheer numbers, MN is able to keep HS hockey competitive at the very top level. Is that really that much better? Edina's star goalie and a few other of their top players didn't even grow up with any of those guys and aren't even Edina natives. Some of them were just brand new there that season.

Outside of the goalie....who are you talking about?  I live in Edina.

[OgieOgilthorpe]

2 minutes ago, Yote 53 said:

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.

I see that now, sorry.

Although I still completely disagree that kids need to be sent off to Tier 1 and other pathways to be developed into college players, even here in ND. Once in a great while you find a very special kid that has a blatantly obvious skill set that should leave early for some sort of opportunity, especially if it's the NTDP or something of that level. But 95% of the others end up missing out on some of the best years of their lives to play 4th line on some random team in some random town, and all of them end up regretting it whether they admit it or not. Every single year Minot and Bismarck has kids who come back to town after their short mistake, and have to sit in the stands to watch their lifelong friends play out their SR seasons. If there are kids out in Williston, Minot, and Bismarck who are playing through their SR seasons and are still making it D1...why on earth would anyone still go away from home for some of these other random teams? If anything, I'm willing to bet more often than not, going away early actually hurts or kills their opportunities and development.  

[OgieOgilthorpe]

3 minutes ago, iluvdebbies said:

Three things to understand about a move to a two class system, for hockey, in North Dakota.

1. Zero Junior Gold teams need to move up to high school hockey to get this started.

2. Enrollment should not be a major factor in placement of teams.

3. The NDHSAA doesn't care about hockey enough, to put the work into getting a two class system done.

1. Wrong, they would absolutely need the majority of them to join for this to make any sense

2. Agree, enrollment should not be used whatsoever

3. It'll never happen, but probably not because they don't care, but probably because it doesn't make sense with such a small pool of teams to work with. It's a completely different beast than all the other sports because of team numbers. 

[Frozen4sioux]

Watford

Williston

Dickinson

Hazen

Crosby

Bottineau 

Langdon

Jamestown

May-Port

Mandan even...

 

Zero chance to be competative in NDSHS Hockey single class ...Zero. None. Never. 

Why stay active, why make the move to HS?

Either they need to all embrace the junior gold system or a simple easy to experiment with fix could be attempted.

1) Makes competition equitable.

2) Allows competative intrest to attract and retain more youth into HS program.

3) Allows large programs with huge feeder youth clubs to schedule more like competition, challenging those kids development as well.

4) Keeps more kids at home with friends and family vs. leaving home. Tier 1 travel is just travel, junior teams is not having precious time with your child for significant periods of time.

[OgieOgilthorpe]

6 minutes ago, scpa0305 said:

Expensive, yes.  But all the good kids are doing that anyway during spring/summer (to keep up with the competition).  If top end ND teams could actually schedule some games against real MN competition there would be no problem.  But they don't.  Not on a regular basis, and definitely not like the Bantam AA team does.

I think the scheduling could be tweaked as well to help out with this. 

It could be adjusted as needed every single season, but there need to be more 6 point games for some of the obvious upcoming mismatches. That'll allow top end teams to schedule in some games with MN teams. GF and Fargo teams playing Moorhead, Roseau, Warroad, TRF and maybe a few others. Strange they don't all play more often, and it's mainly because everyone is tied up with 2 must-play games against teams like WFS. 

[Walsh Hall]

38 minutes ago, Frozen4sioux said:

Howsabout, restructuring a system to mirror how EVERY OTHER SPORT in ND is run. 

And yes there are a lot of teams in smaller towns in MN, If those teams had to play EDINA and Duluth East a couple times a year, instead of similar like schools, how long would those kids stick around in the sport?

Noncompetitive is Nonsustainable. 

Please explain how the teams get split, and how they will set schedules.  What does this do to D.L., Jamestown, DIckinson... that are stuck in the lower group?  That will encourage growth and development?  Those teams want to play the top teams.  Sure they get killed, but that's just how it goes.  If two classes the top kids from the lower division will jump to the top division schools.  It would be a mess.

Hockey cant be compared to football or basketball in ND due to the number of teams.

The easiest solution is have a Tier 1 or similar team for the very top kids.  99% of aspiring HS players aren't going D1.  

[scpa0305]

4 minutes ago, OgieOgilthorpe said:

I think the scheduling could be tweaked as well to help out with this. 

It could be adjusted as needed every single season, but there need to be more 6 point games for some of the obvious upcoming mismatches. That'll allow top end teams to schedule in some games with MN teams. GF and Fargo teams playing Moorhead, Roseau, Warroad, TRF and maybe a few others. Strange they don't all play more often, and it's mainly because everyone is tied up with 2 must-play games against teams like WFS. 

All the kids go to central now, so them playing an small single A MN team isn't that big of a draw.  Also, I rarely see them ever play Moorhead.  What I meant was they don't play any D6 teams...ever.  The Bantam AA teams spends all winter playing those good teams and good Canadian teams.  The kids get to HS and the competition goes down (unless you're playing as a frosh or soph). 

Also, waiting on a response to that Edina comment.

[OgieOgilthorpe]

2 minutes ago, Walsh Hall said:

Please explain how the teams get split, and how they will set schedules.  What does this do to D.L., Jamestown, DIckinson... that are stuck in the lower group?  That will encourage growth and development?  Those teams want to play the top teams.  Sure they get killed, but that's just how it goes.  If two classes the top kids from the lower division will jump to the top division schools.  It would be a mess.

Hockey cant be compared to football or basketball in ND due to the number of teams.

The easiest solution is have a Tier 1 or similar team for the very top kids.  99% of aspiring HS players aren't going D1.  

Exactly. None of these middle of the road teams are going to want to be forced to play in the lower class because it'll be a program killer. Their good players will always transfer out of town to different schools or even to MN, and competition and numbers will drop. If it ever did happen, the obvious schools would have to volunteer for the lower class, and essentially play JR GOLD with a new label. 

Long story short, this would just kick a few teams out of the NDHS hockey class and into JR GOLD with a new name. 

[scpa0305]

1 hour ago, Yote 53 said:

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.

 

I know....and I'm seeing it in my home state as well.

[Walsh Hall]

6 minutes ago, Frozen4sioux said:

Watford

Williston

Dickinson

Hazen

Crosby

Bottineau 

Langdon

Jamestown

May-Port

Mandan even...

 

Zero chance to be competative in NDSHS Hockey single class ...Zero. None. Never. 

 

I'm not hearing this push for a divided system from any of these schools.  They know that can't compete for a state championship.  That isn't their goal.

[Frozen4sioux]

Absolutely do NOT need to have Jr gold join right away. BUT 1000% Watford Crosby Langdon do exactly that. 

 

10 teams to start. Perfect. These all travel all over right now anyway, the travel argument is a nonstarter. 

Williston

Dickinson

Hazen Beulah 

Mandan

 

Jamestown -VC

May-Port

Bottineau

GFPR or Devils Lake. ( This would be the only schools that would be even a little irked, solved when a Langdon comes in)

And for gods sake NO, these kids do not enjoy getting the piss knocked out of them all year, it does not have to be "the way it is.".... thats foolish.

 

[OgieOgilthorpe]

3 minutes ago, scpa0305 said:

All the kids go to central now, so them playing an small single A MN team isn't that big of a draw.  Also, I rarely see them ever play Moorhead.  What I meant was they don't play any D6 teams...ever.  The Bantam AA teams spends all winter playing those good teams and good Canadian teams.  The kids get to HS and the competition goes down (unless you're playing as a frosh or soph). 

Also, waiting on a response to that Edina comment.

GFC playing Warroad, Roseau, TRF isn't more of a draw than playing Grafton, DL, WF, WFS or FN a second time????? Exactly, they never play Moorhead, because everyone is tied up with 2 league games instead of one. If they got rid of one (following me here?) then they would have open slots to schedule teams like Moorhead. What's so wrong with Davies, RR or GFC playing Moorhead? 

No idea what any of their names are. How about you tell me since you're from there? Is it not true that Edina has open enrollment and several of their players every single season did not even grow up there? You chasing me about names on that team is missing the point of my comment. I used them as an arbitrary example of what happens in MNHS hockey. Good players from poor teams transfer to private schools and schools (like Edina) to play. MNHS hockey overall competition gets pretty lopsided because of this. Edina is the most talked about because they seem to be one of the main in-fluent teams of top talent transfers. 

[sprig]

How many jr gold teams would be able to go HS hockey? Know at least one HS that would never take on the cost of HS hockey (Crosby). There are likely others.

[scpa0305]

3 minutes ago, OgieOgilthorpe said:

GFC playing Warroad, Roseau, TRF isn't more of a draw than playing Grafton, DL, WF, WFS or FN a second time????? Exactly, they never play Moorhead, because everyone is tied up with 2 league games instead of one. If they got rid of one (following me here?) then they would have open slots to schedule teams like Moorhead. What's so wrong with Davies, RR or GFC playing Moorhead? 

No idea what any of their names are. How about you tell me since you're from there? Is it not true that Edina has open enrollment and several of their players every single season did not even grow up there? You chasing me about names on that team is missing the point of my comment. I used them as an arbitrary example of what happens in MNHS hockey. Good players from poor teams transfer to private schools and schools (like Edina) to play. MNHS hockey overall competition gets pretty lopsided because of this. Edina is the most talked about because they seem to be one of the main in-fluent teams of top talent transfers. 

Does it happen?  Yes, every year.  It was just a bad example, Edina's team this year is full of Edina kids....except the goalie.  Edina actually fills Benilde, Blake, St. Thomas (to some extent), St Louis park, Breck, etc. 

Also, Edina does not have open enrollment.  It's why the houses cost so dang much.