Article on High School Elite League

[packerboy]

pokecheck, Your idea may be a good one but , again, that is not what elitisim is all about. You cant be in favor of an Elite League and then limit it to 3 players a team. <br><br>Whether you are in favor of the league or not, if your gonna do it, do it. Dont go half way. <p></p><i></i>

[old time hockey]

some nice posts here.<br><br>i agree with packerboy and elliot70. the elite league is all about player development and exposure. playing at a high level with some of the best players in MN obviously helps kids develop. so some of you guys need to take off the blinders. <p></p><i></i>

[Knowlze]

The top few players will always go to the USHL, and there will always be a few more that play on either side or both sides of their High School season.<br><br>There is no comparison between HS and junior players. Just maturity alone, the junior competition will always be closer to D1 hockey for those with that potential.<br><br>The Elite league is certainly a benefit (development to me implies a longer term than 2 months), but is mostly about exposure for the elite players. And it is the exposure that will always keep the league around, marketing or not.<br><br>So lets call it for what it is, an opportunity to expose the elite players to scouts. It is not keeping many players in HS hockey that normally wouldn't play there anyway.<br><br>P.s. mnhshock29, have no fear, the negative posters are the disgruntled commoners. With the exposure to scouts, you will always have a pool of elites to choose from. <p></p><i></i>

[mnhshock29]

Absolutely the USHL offers even better competition. And for some kids, it's their best option. But, what we were facing three years ago when the league started was kids looking to do more than HS and feeling obligated to go, even though they weren't ready because there were no other options. Of the 40+ kids who left for the juniors, around 10-15 were ready physically, emotionally, etc. and were able to fully benefit from the experience as a key cog on their teams. After that, many of these kids were fourth line guys, healthy scratches, etc. Now, those 10-15 have an viable alternative if they choose to do so (RJ Anderson, Jared Hummel, TJ Oshie and Alex Goligoski are a few examples) and the other 30-35 (which based on where the trend was at three years ago would probably be more like 40-45) have another option between the USHL and nothing in addition to HS. <p></p><i></i>