2013-14 Season

[blueblood]

The new season begins tomorrow. Here's what we will look forward to for the next 4 months:

1a) Karl's weekly AA rankings

1b) HSHW's responses. BTW - who is going to take over the JV rankings now that STA has moved up to AA

2) Breck bashing, now that STA moved up to AA

3) HappyHockeyFan posting at 3:00am or later

4) Lots of November scrimmages

5) Holiday tourney galore in December

6) Super Saturday in February

7) State Tourney in March

Good luck to all HS teams on your quest to the "X"

-bb

[east hockey]

In response to 1a and 1b, we'll probably see one more weekly Class AA ratings, and one less Class A ratings. As for which one will be considered more important, it's simple--I'll sticky Karl's ratings.

Lee

[old goalie85]

Can't wait !!

[hshockeyfan8]

Karl, could we get a time table for the first rankings?

[HappyHockeyFan]

Wow my late night postings made #3 on the list, I am honored, however if that is #3 it must mean its gonna be a pretty boring season ahead...LOL...Now I could understand my lousy rankings being #3 ... Can't wait for it all to begin !! GO CATS GO !!

[karl(east)]

Karl, could we get a time table for the first rankings?

Preseason rankings will come out Wednesday afternoon.

A few more to add to the list:

-People finding new, creative ways to bash STA now that they are in AA
-Another argument over the location of the 7AA final
-Bruce Plante quotes
-Staking out my usual spot along the railing at the Heritage Center
-The inevitable Saturday night surprise that blows up everything I'd been planning to do with the rankings
-Xcel press box free popcorn and cookies!

What else am I missing?

[almostashappy]

What else am I missing?

- Eager beavers who post "Team A" vs "Team B" forum polls a week before game day;
- Disparaging comments about coaches who "run up the score" and have their top lines out late in the 3rd period of lop-sided first round section games;
- 6AA fans and parents complaining about the strength of their section, relative to every other AA section in the State;
- Fans yearning for "the good old days" when you could finish your checks with impunity;
- Fans complaining about "dirty" players, and "blind" refs who swallow the whistle during the last couple minutes of the game........

[Nevertoomuchhockey]

- parents bitching about teams playing at the wrong level
- parents STILL bitching about the results of tryouts 3 months into the season, and always making sure to tell you their jv player "also" "plays" a period of varsity
- 10,000 miles on my new car, replacing equipment in every tournament city, kids sleeping in our hotel room because I'm the only non-drunk parent and they have to play at 8 am, games that make me laugh and games that make me cry... The best year yet!

[TheOctopus]

What else am I missing?[/quote]

- Whiners that want to hear themselves whine
- Complainers that want to hear themselves complain

last but not least.....

- Bitchers that want to hear themselves bitch

Now.... L E T S P L A Y H O C K E Y!

-----------------------------------------------------------
Just Living The Dream.... Stuck to the ice at the Joe!

[Tenoverpar]

I think we'll see Edina become a perrenial public favorite of the fans for the first time in history...as they are the only public school in the final four in the next 5 years...and they win all 5 (this is joking but seriously)

Edina
Hill Murray
BSM
STA

[bardown27]

I think we'll see Edina become a perrenial public favorite of the fans for the first time in history...as they are the only public school in the final four in the next 5 years...and they win all 5 (this is joking but seriously)

Edina
Hill Murray
BSM
STA

I'll bet $5 or an adult beverage at McGoverns during tourney time that BSM doesn't come out of 6AA

[MNHockeyFan]

I'll bet $5 or an adult beverage at McGoverns during tourney time that BSM doesn't come out of 6AA

I would say that as of right now the odds of ANY ONE SINGLE TEAM coming out of 6AA are less than 50-50.

[TTpuckster]

I think we'll see Edina become a perrenial public favorite of the fans for the first time in history...as they are the only public school in the final four in the next 5 years...and they win all 5 (this is joking but seriously)

Edina
Hill Murray
BSM
STA

What's really interesting about this list is that there are, most likely, several kids "from Edina" on the each of the HM, BSM, and STA teams.

[dueling21]

I'll bet $5 or an adult beverage at McGoverns during tourney time that BSM doesn't come out of 6AA

I would say that as of right now the odds of ANY ONE SINGLE TEAM coming out of 6AA are less than 50-50.

I'd give 100 percent odds that a team will come out of Section 6AA.

[thestickler07]

I look forward to all the tears, all the tears.

And the Hawks winning 5 in a row!

[greenway1969]

Wondering why Hermantown doesn't opt up. The constant reminder that they are the "4 time defending champions" would indicate that they have the program to compete with the big boys. The constant whining about STA seems like it could apply to Hermantown. Mike Randolph is right again. Know some class A Northern schools that would opt up if they were in Hermantown's position. Maybe they like being the big fish in the little pond.

[Froggy Richards]

Wondering why Hermantown doesn't opt up. The constant reminder that they are the "4 time defending champions" would indicate that they have the program to compete with the big boys. The constant whining about STA seems like it could apply to Hermantown. Mike Randolph is right again. Know some class A Northern schools that would opt up if they were in Hermantown's position. Maybe they like being the big fish in the little pond.

They aren't the 4 time defending champions. Stickler is an STA fan and poking fun at them for being, "Public School" champions. They've lost in the Championship game the last 4 years. Four straight title games and a few undefeated regular seasons would be enough for some to consider moving up. But I'm guessing they would have to win multiple titles before they think about it. Of course they like being a big fish in a little pond, who doesn't? They are set up very well for the future. They play AA and A at Bantams and Pewees. Their lower levels are loaded with players and with the new schools coming they will be able to open enroll more players than they do now. What did Mike Randolph say about Hermantown? I must have missed that.

[thestickler07]

They aren't the 4 time defending champions. Stickler is an STA fan and poking fun at them for being, "Public School" champions. They've lost in the Championship game the last 4 years. Four straight title games and a few undefeated regular seasons would be enough for some to consider moving up. But I'm guessing they would have to win multiple titles before they think about it. Of course they like being a big fish in a little pond, who doesn't? They are set up very well for the future. They play AA and A at Bantams and Pewees. Their lower levels are loaded with players and with the new schools coming they will be able to open enroll more players than they do now. What did Mike Randolph say about Hermantown? I must have missed that.

Don't disrespect my favorite Class A squad like that. They are the 4 time defending public school champions, the trophies just got lost in the mail.

And yes, I'm all aboard the 55881 bandwagon this year. Plante and the boys are gonna go all the way!

And lastly show some respect, its STAA now.

[greenway1969]

Duluth East does not (will not) play Hermantown, my guess is because they choose to remain Class A. Randolph has not said anything, he's too smart for that. I'll respect Hermantown a lot more when they put their "big boy" pants on and quit hiding behind their enrollment excuse.

[Froggy Richards]

Duluth East does not (will not) play Hermantown, my guess is because they choose to remain Class A. Randolph has not said anything, he's too smart for that. I'll respect Hermantown a lot more when they put their "big boy" pants on and quit hiding behind their enrollment excuse.

I've never asked Randolph why they don't play Hermantown but my guess is A. They are bitter for getting booted from the Lake Superior Conference and B. They don't want to risk losing to them.

Hermantown hasn't won anything in six years, why would they move up? Shouldn't we let them win a few titles before the STA treatment starts?

[east hockey]

Duluth East does not (will not) play Hermantown, my guess is because they choose to remain Class A. Randolph has not said anything, he's too smart for that. I'll respect Hermantown a lot more when they put their "big boy" pants on and quit hiding behind their enrollment excuse.

Why not stay in Class A? It worked for STA all those years, works for Breck now, worked for Warroad back when they were Class A kings.

Oops, sorry, it's STaa now. I keep forgetting.

Back to Hermantown--if the argument for every successful Class A team (if you apply this logic to Hermantown, the logic is even stronger for Breck) is that they should move up because they could compete in Class AA, then we're left with a huge gap (much larger than currently exists) between Class AA and Class A. You want to hear crickets in the Xcel during the Class A state tournament games? Do exactly that.

Lee

[greenway1969]

My comments are meant as a "shoe on the other foot" for Hermantown fans. They like to complain about STA because they kept losing to them, the arguments they used against STA are also applicable for them moving up to AA. Picking on private schools with smaller enrollments seems to be ok for Hermantown fans, but they have one of the best youth programs in the state, so they need to do some self-examining before they complain about the private schools. By the way, I've always rooted for them at state. They have a great program and would find out that being at the state tournament in AA once in while is far better than being in the A tournament every year. Let's face it, that's what unofficially AA and A tournaments are, the best teams versus the next tier. The current format just masks the true identity of the tournaments which is Tier I and Tier II. A few exceptions exist for Tier II teams that could consistently compete with Tier I schools(Breck, Hermantown,) but basically you have a Tier II tournament.

[thestickler07]

Oops, sorry, it's STAA now. I keep forgetting.

No worries east, you'll get used to it!

[NLHockey]

Oops, sorry, it's STAA now. I keep forgetting.

No worries east, you'll get used to it!

Saint Thomas Athletic Academy

[thestickler07]

Oops, sorry, it's STAA now. I keep forgetting.

No worries east, you'll get used to it!

Saint Thomas Athletic Academy

I like the way you're thinking.