STA is an Overrated team based on Elite League performance.

[Wallyworld]

STA Overrated??

I keep hearing these glowing reviews about STA and how they would be a top 5 team if in AA... I don't get it....Other than great Goalie and nice D, their Forwards are not the special. In the just completed Elite League with 4-5 STA forwards on the SE team, only Alex Johnson had more than 5 goals (he had 8 which was OK- but only 4 asst.). Other than that, Austin Satler had 1 goal, Matt Perry had 2, and Henry Hart had 5. That's in a 21 game season.. Where is their O going to come from.

They play Hill Murray twice during the season and, for comparison, in the Elite League, Hill had 4 Forwards playing (3/4 are Jrs) - SSM transfer Mitch Slattery, Zach Lavalle, Willie Brown, & Tyler Funk. All 4 had more points than STA's highest scorer, just mentioned. Brown made the Elite League all star team (MN Red) while Slattery had 18 pts. and Zach Lavalle had 13 pts in 13 games before Football injury. Funk was 3rd in scoring on a lousy WI team... So no comparison whatsoever when it comes to O.

As far as Goaltending, Hill's Dugas made an ELeague all star team (MN White) as did with the STA goalie (MN Red) so that position is basically a wash.

So that's how they stack up against an AA team in their own conference. I wouldn't rate Hill Murray as a top 5 team - maybe in the 7-9 range. So where does that leave STA, besides overrated...

Can someone tell me what I'm missing???

[puckster15]

Not missing anything. Probably makes sense that they are in class A. Will see how they do against BSM and Edina during high school season. I would take the AA teams.

[karl(east)]

Well, STA's #2-returning scorer, Novak, didn't play Elite League. (He's only a sophomore and lives in WI, which is probably why.) And while they had a few players who perhaps did not belong in the Elite League, they return an awful lot off of last year's team, which would have been Top-10 in AA, and they keep on bringing in young talent. Their depth is phenomenal. That is made even more glaring in Class A, where even some of the best teams often only have 1 line that does most of the scoring. In his riff against STA at last year's tourney, Bruce Plante of Hermantown pointed out that this was the big difference between STA and his team; whatever you think of his decision to make those comments, they were accurate.

Comparing their players in the Elite League to potential top-10 teams like Andover and Grand Rapids, they come out looking pretty good. I think they'd certainly be top 10 in AA, and in contention for top 5, though that's no guarantee. Their front-line, upper-class talent is not on the level of BSM, Edina, or EP, but they have an awful lot of pretty good hockey players.

[observer]

Karl,

We like you, your rankings and analysis but please do not become a fan of STA. Their fandom is limited to those that attend and their parents. Period.

[PuckU126]

Karl,

We like you, your rankings and analysis but please do not become a fan of STA.

I wouldn't worry about Karl switching to be an STA backer.

He's all about the East.

[east hockey]

Karl,

We like you, your rankings and analysis but please do not become a fan of STA. Their fandom is limited to those that attend and their parents. Period.

Heh. Wait until he starts including STA in his AA ratings each week.

Lee

[PuckU126]

Heh. Wait until he starts including STA in his AA ratings each week.

Lee

One could only hope that's a sign of foreshadowing.

[karl(east)]

Karl,

We like you, your rankings and analysis but please do not become a fan of STA. Their fandom is limited to those that attend and their parents. Period.

Heh. Wait until he starts including STA in his AA ratings each week.

Thing is...while preparing for the rankings, I go through the returning rosters of just about any AA team with a shot at contention. This year, I did my usual collection of AA schools...and STA.

Why? It was probably out of a combination of curiosity, frustration, and wishful thinking. But if I say any more, I'll have to move my comments over to the "Trash Talk" thread.

[blueblood]

C'mon karl, let loose one time on STA...PRETTY PLEASE???????

[Nuts&Bolts]

Since Karl won't tear into STA, let's use the last two weeks before we get the real season going to rip the "Elite" league, the flawed "Elite" process and HS politics at its finest - oh, and the uniforms.

The "Elite" bias towards certain schools, coaches involvement and kids with certain names/resumes queers the league. One "Elite" coach routinely visits the STA facility and gets 9 STA kids placed while another "Elite" coach from a school that lost to Armstrong in the quarterfinals last year wants his 7 kids to get the developmental opportunity with an extra 20 games - both are good recruiting stories. STA may have some talent and depth but lacks upperclassmen leaders and a solid defensive corp.

[Napalm187]

This STA stuff is amusing. My question about STA is why parents send their kids there?? It's one thing to send your kid to a private school, I've done that...but why send them to a school where there are NO GIRLS?? Isn't that setting the boy/man development process a little back? You can tell me that "Vis" is right around the corner...but being in classes with girls, checking out girls in HS hallways and you know, actually dating girls is what HS is all about! Wearing goofy, military uniforms on top of it is the icing on the cake.

Why not send the kids to schools that actually have girls? Or play Class AA hockey? I'm sure the academics are pretty similar at Blake, Breck, BSM, AHA or Hill. Why would STA be more attractive than some of these other schools?

[old goalie85]

I hate the Elite costumes. Looks like bike racers.

[MNHockeyFan]

I hate the Elite costumes. Looks like bike racers.

Yeah they're "dopey".

[karl(east)]

C'mon karl, let loose one time on STA...PRETTY PLEASE???????

Tell you what...if STA wins Class A again this year, I will write some sort of open letter to the school administration. If I ever do let loose, I'm going to make sure it's worthwhile.

Beyond that, I will suggest that Napalm re-post his pleasantly provocative comments on the "Trash Talk" thread, so that we may remain on topic. (Nuts&Bolts's post is fair game for this thread, though.)

[thestickler07]

C'mon karl, let loose one time on STA...PRETTY PLEASE???????

Tell you what...if STA wins Class A again this year, I will write some sort of open letter to the school administration. If I ever do let loose, I'm going to make sure it's worthwhile.

Beyond that, I will suggest that Napalm re-post his pleasantly provocative comments on the "Trash Talk" thread, so that we may remain on topic. (Nuts&Bolts's post is fair game for this thread, though.)

Don't wait until we win again! Get the ball rolling before the section assignment process gets to far underway.

Email the man himself, JZ the AD.
jzahr@cadets.com

or

John "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to supervise" Kenney
jkenney@cadets.com

[thestickler07]

This STA stuff is amusing. My question about STA is why parents send their kids there?? It's one thing to send your kid to a private school, I've done that...but why send them to a school where there are NO GIRLS?? Isn't that setting the boy/man development process a little back? You can tell me that "Vis" is right around the corner...but being in classes with girls, checking out girls in HS hallways and you know, actually dating girls is what HS is all about! Wearing goofy, military uniforms on top of it is the icing on the cake.

Why not send the kids to schools that actually have girls? Or play Class AA hockey? I'm sure the academics are pretty similar at Blake, Breck, BSM, AHA or Hill. Why would STA be more attractive than some of these other schools?

Completely agree! There's no way these STA guys are gonna experience the opposite sex without being in class with them!

[Shinbone_News]

I keep saying it and no one seems to listen: STA plays plenty of AA teams in the regular season. This year: BSM, Edina, Minnetonka, Hill-Murray, Cretin-Derham, Holy Family. If you really hate 'em, go see 'em get beat by the AA teams you love.

You guys get so exercised about this just because of the state tourney. You need to get out and see some games before March. I for one will say I'm not sure they CAN compete with the big boys. Hill Murray is a case in point: they never seem to be able to get by them.

Last year, they lost to every AA team they played except Roseau -- Edina, East, H-M (twice).

OK, they beat Cretin-Derham and Holy Angels while no was watching. Down year for both of those programs.

The question is: If they DID go AA, would you suddenly love them? I doubt it.

On a related note, where's the hate for Totino-Grace? They're OK because they don't get to state as often?

Best games I saw last year, any class, were the STA-TG games that were barn-burners, both of them. And I have no love for the privates.

[rainier]

I keep saying it and no one seems to listen: STA plays plenty of AA teams in the regular season. This year: BSM, Edina, Minnetonka, Hill-Murray, Cretin-Derham, Holy Family. If you really hate 'em, go see 'em get beat by the AA teams you love.

You guys get so exercised about this just because of the state tourney. You need to get out and see some games before March. I for one will say I'm not sure they CAN compete with the big boys. Hill Murray is a case in point: they never seem to be able to get by them.

Last year, they lost to every AA team they played except Roseau -- Edina, East, H-M (twice).

OK, they beat Cretin-Derham and Holy Angels while no was watching. Down year for both of those programs.

The question is: If they DID go AA, would you suddenly love them? I doubt it.

On a related note, where's the hate for Totino-Grace? They're OK because they don't get to state as often?

Best games I saw last year, any class, were the STA-TG games that were barn-burners, both of them. And I have no love for the privates.

STA would be a top 10 AA team every year, that is reason enough to move up. If they started to slide like Holy Angels did, then sure, go back to A if you want. But how many titles does a team need to win before they opt up?

If T-G started dominating like STA does, there would be just as much complaining. And no, no one would love them either.

[BodyShots]

TG did move up in football, because they knew they could compete. I think they would do the same in hockey, if that were the case.

[Nuts&Bolts]

TG doesn't get ripped because they don't win meaningless state championships over small schools destined to play single A. TG also doesn't have 9 players selected for the "Elite" league and another 5 in Elite D. Based on math even taught to a cadet, thats about full roster of "Elite" talent. Maybe the SE "Elite" league coach can start working on getting the Army or Air Force to sponsor a team and get some nifty uniforms for next year.

[mnhockey2013]

STA Overrated??

I keep hearing these glowing reviews about STA and how they would be a top 5 team if in AA... I don't get it....Other than great Goalie and nice D, their Forwards are not the special. In the just completed Elite League with 4-5 STA forwards on the SE team, only Alex Johnson had more than 5 goals (he had 8 which was OK- but only 4 asst.). Other than that, Austin Satler had 1 goal, Matt Perry had 2, and Henry Hart had 5. That's in a 21 game season.. Where is their O going to come from.

They play Hill Murray twice during the season and, for comparison, in the Elite League, Hill had 4 Forwards playing (3/4 are Jrs) - SSM transfer Mitch Slattery, Zach Lavalle, Willie Brown, & Tyler Funk. All 4 had more points than STA's highest scorer, just mentioned. Brown made the Elite League all star team (MN Red) while Slattery had 18 pts. and Zach Lavalle had 13 pts in 13 games before Football injury. Funk was 3rd in scoring on a lousy WI team... So no comparison whatsoever when it comes to O.

As far as Goaltending, Hill's Dugas made an ELeague all star team (MN White) as did with the STA goalie (MN Red) so that position is basically a wash.

So that's how they stack up against an AA team in their own conference. I wouldn't rate Hill Murray as a top 5 team - maybe in the 7-9 range. So where does that leave STA, besides overrated...

Can someone tell me what I'm missing???

in the sta players defense, Wyatt Schmidt plays football and is an all state player and Henry Hart was a soccer player also all state. Both sports could effect point totals...

[deacon64]

in the sta players defense, Wyatt Schmidt plays football and is an all state player and Henry Hart was a soccer player also all state. Both sports could effect point totals...

This is no reasonable defense for STA having 14 players in fall elite leagues. Players should earn their spot, money should not be able to buy you everything is life.

[thestickler07]

This is no reasonable defense for STA having 14 players in fall elite leagues. Players should earn their spot, money should not be able to buy you everything is life.

Damn right! Rich kids can't be good at hockey!

[Shinbone_News]

This is no reasonable defense for STA having 14 players in fall elite leagues. Players should earn their spot, money should not be able to buy you everything is life.

Damn right! Rich kids can't be good at hockey!

I don't think it's money, though that probably doesn't hurt. It has more to do with how much sway their coaches have with the league. If there was ever a case to be made for outside, completely objective evaluators -- this would be it. (But then coaches whine that they have no way to incorporate off-ice attitude, coachability, etc. into the evals.)

[DannyCalifornia]

I keep saying it and no one seems to listen: STA plays plenty of AA teams in the regular season. This year: BSM, Edina, Minnetonka, Hill-Murray, Cretin-Derham, Holy Family. If you really hate 'em, go see 'em get beat by the AA teams you love.

You guys get so exercised about this just because of the state tourney. You need to get out and see some games before March. I for one will say I'm not sure they CAN compete with the big boys. Hill Murray is a case in point: they never seem to be able to get by them.

Last year, they lost to every AA team they played except Roseau -- Edina, East, H-M (twice).

OK, they beat Cretin-Derham and Holy Angels while no was watching. Down year for both of those programs.

The question is: If they DID go AA, would you suddenly love them? I doubt it.

On a related note, where's the hate for Totino-Grace? They're OK because they don't get to state as often?

Best games I saw last year, any class, were the STA-TG games that were barn-burners, both of them. And I have no love for the privates.

Why would their be hate for TG?
If anything, we should feel bad for these kids.
Its not the players fault that they have marginal to poor coaching.
Everyone that knows anything about hockey in Minny knows TG gets some really good players and does nothing with them year after year after year after year,etc.....atleast the Breck's and St Thomas's go to the tourney(albeit jv tourney)everyone once in awhile.