Final Elite League Tryout Date?

[SuperStar]

Nice to see that this year there are ALOT of Seniors. According to my quick calculations:

Class:
Seniors - 79 players
Juniors - 40
Sophs - 8
Fresh - 1

Schools leading the way in number of players:
Edina - 7
Lakeville North - 6
Duluth East - 5
Wayzata - 5
Benilde - 5
Bemidji - 4
Eden Prairie - 4
Holy Family, St. Thomas Academy, Grand Rapids, Hermantown, Hill-Murray, ER, Moorehead, Warroad, Prior Lake & Grand Forks area all with 3 each.

Other schools with 1 or 2 - Blake, Breck, Eastview, Centennial, Mounds View, Mahtomedi, Maple Grove, Eagan, Delano, Buffalo, Hopkins, Jefferson, White Bear, Blaine, Lakeville South, Minnetonka, Eastridge, Cretin, Burnsville Andover, Marshall, Denfield, Alex, Cloquet, Virginia, East Grand, Thief River, Devils Lake - ND, Fargo South, Bismarck, East Grand Forks, Detroit Lakes, Holy Angels

Nice to see Rochester & Luverne area getting picks - 2 from Lourdes, 2 from Luverne and 1 from Century.

I have notcied from the last couple years that STA & EP are down in the picks. Edina has stayed about even - Lakeville North is up this year.

No one from Roseau?

[WestMetro]

Yes, Edina could have had 2-3 more, but already led with 7

Other top teams could also have had a few more solid choices

At some point, some leveling had to take over...

[MNGuide]

Is Cameron McClure really playing for Denfeld this year, or is that a mistake? With Dow already having bolted for East, is there a mutiny at Marshall?

Not a mistake. McClure has left Marshall for Denfeld and Dow has left Marshall for East.

[Whiner33]

Here are the rosters

http://www.hselitehockey.com/news_artic ... r_id=44822

As I mentioned in an earlier thread, there was well deserved sophomore Hank Sorenson who made the team without having to tryout

Two very undeserving Luverne kids make team great plains right Trout?

Meanwhile on planet earth, Congrats to Toby and Chaz representing Luverne and SW Minnesota in the big show.

Looks like more expense for TROUT!

Hope it's in the budget big fella

[Froggy Richards]

Is Cameron McClure really playing for Denfeld this year, or is that a mistake? With Dow already having bolted for East, is there a mutiny at Marshall?

Not a mistake. McClure has left Marshall for Denfeld and Dow has left Marshall for East.

Interesting. Hermantown gets placed in their section and now all of a sudden that Marshall Education isn't quite so valuable. Oh wait, it's "Economic Hardship", otherwise they wouldn't be eligible at the new school. I find it really ironic after all of the talk about the Private School advantages in the last few years. The top youth players in the Duluth area have figured out that you can just open enroll or move to Hermantown and save the $14,000 per year. I would love to hear Bruce Plante's thoughts on the "Private School advantage" now.

[HawkeyPower]

Is Cameron McClure really playing for Denfeld this year, or is that a mistake? With Dow already having bolted for East, is there a mutiny at Marshall?

Not a mistake. McClure has left Marshall for Denfeld and Dow has left Marshall for East.

Interesting. Hermantown gets placed in their section and now all of a sudden that Marshall Education isn't quite so valuable. Oh wait, it's "Economic Hardship", otherwise they wouldn't be eligible at the new school. I find it really ironic after all of the talk about the Private School advantages in the last few years. The top youth players in the Duluth area have figured out that you can just open enroll or move to Hermantown and save the $14,000 per year. I would love to hear Bruce Plante's thoughts on the "Private School advantage" now.

The top players players from Marshall went to East and Denfeld not Hermantown.

[Froggy Richards]

Not a mistake. McClure has left Marshall for Denfeld and Dow has left Marshall for East.

Interesting. Hermantown gets placed in their section and now all of a sudden that Marshall Education isn't quite so valuable. Oh wait, it's "Economic Hardship", otherwise they wouldn't be eligible at the new school. I find it really ironic after all of the talk about the Private School advantages in the last few years. The top youth players in the Duluth area have figured out that you can just open enroll or move to Hermantown and save the $14,000 per year. I would love to hear Bruce Plante's thoughts on the "Private School advantage" now.

The top players players from Marshall went to East and Denfeld not Hermantown.

I said "Youth" players. Those two Marshall kids don't have a choice if they want to remain eligible. They have to return to their home district. My point was that starting at Marshall used to be the easy path to State. That is now Hermantown so the parents of the top players in surrounding Associations are open enrolling or moving there. That's great for Hermantown. Not so great for West Duluth and Proctor. Those Associations are going to struggle pretty bad.

[HawkeyPower]

Interesting. Hermantown gets placed in their section and now all of a sudden that Marshall Education isn't quite so valuable. Oh wait, it's "Economic Hardship", otherwise they wouldn't be eligible at the new school. I find it really ironic after all of the talk about the Private School advantages in the last few years. The top youth players in the Duluth area have figured out that you can just open enroll or move to Hermantown and save the $14,000 per year. I would love to hear Bruce Plante's thoughts on the "Private School advantage" now.

The top players players from Marshall went to East and Denfeld not Hermantown.

I said "Youth" players. Those two Marshall kids don't have a choice if they want to remain eligible. They have to return to their home district. My point was that starting at Marshall used to be the easy path to State. That is now Hermantown so the parents of the top players in surrounding Associations are open enrolling or moving there. That's great for Hermantown. Not so great for West Duluth and Proctor. Those Associations are going to struggle pretty bad.

My mistake. And yes it is unfortunate. Denfeld could have been a very strong team the last 5-6 years if their kids stayed home to play.

[Froggy Richards]

The top players players from Marshall went to East and Denfeld not Hermantown.

I said "Youth" players. Those two Marshall kids don't have a choice if they want to remain eligible. They have to return to their home district. My point was that starting at Marshall used to be the easy path to State. That is now Hermantown so the parents of the top players in surrounding Associations are open enrolling or moving there. That's great for Hermantown. Not so great for West Duluth and Proctor. Those Associations are going to struggle pretty bad.

My mistake. And yes it is unfortunate. Denfeld could have been a very strong team the last 5-6 years if their kids stayed home to play.

Not your mistake, my post was not clear. It's kind of refreshing to hear that from a Hermantown guy. I always wonder how the people there feel about the situation. It's always great to bring in top players but I imagine it would be nice to have some healthy local rivalries too. Hermantown-Proctor was a great rivalry until about ten years ago. And for every kid that comes in a Hermantown kid potentially loses a spot. They're even leaving at the Mite level now. That's going to be a tough High School roster to crack in 8-10 years. Some really good players are going to get cut.

[NLHockey]

I said "Youth" players. Those two Marshall kids don't have a choice if they want to remain eligible. They have to return to their home district. My point was that starting at Marshall used to be the easy path to State. That is now Hermantown so the parents of the top players in surrounding Associations are open enrolling or moving there. That's great for Hermantown. Not so great for West Duluth and Proctor. Those Associations are going to struggle pretty bad.

My mistake. And yes it is unfortunate. Denfeld could have been a very strong team the last 5-6 years if their kids stayed home to play.

Not your mistake, my post was not clear. It's kind of refreshing to hear that from a Hermantown guy. I always wonder how the people there feel about the situation. It's always great to bring in top players but I imagine it would be nice to have some healthy local rivalries too. Hermantown-Proctor was a great rivalry until about ten years ago. And for every kid that comes in a Hermantown kid potentially loses a spot. They're even leaving at the Mite level now. That's going to be a tough High School roster to crack in 8-10 years. Some really good players are going to get cut.

Kids leave for so many reasons. Hermantown is no utopia...even they have a departure or two every year. This year one to Denfeld I believe. I think they will get to the point where they have to go AA and then the state trips wont be automatic any longer and the sheen will be gone so to speak. So easy to leave now...its wrong when some can use loopholes (private to public)-if you go you should sit a year. No exceptions.

[Froggy Richards]

My mistake. And yes it is unfortunate. Denfeld could have been a very strong team the last 5-6 years if their kids stayed home to play.

Not your mistake, my post was not clear. It's kind of refreshing to hear that from a Hermantown guy. I always wonder how the people there feel about the situation. It's always great to bring in top players but I imagine it would be nice to have some healthy local rivalries too. Hermantown-Proctor was a great rivalry until about ten years ago. And for every kid that comes in a Hermantown kid potentially loses a spot. They're even leaving at the Mite level now. That's going to be a tough High School roster to crack in 8-10 years. Some really good players are going to get cut.

Kids leave for so many reasons. Hermantown is no utopia...even they have a departure or two every year. This year one to Denfeld I believe. I think they will get to the point where they have to go AA and then the state trips wont be automatic any longer and the sheen will be gone so to speak. So easy to leave now...its wrong when some can use loopholes (private to public)-if you go you should sit a year. No exceptions.

Curious why you think they would get to the point where they have to go AA. I don't think they're even close enrollment wise. You're right, it's pretty easy to leave nowadays. It wasn't even a remote thought when I played. Maybe I'm just old school and naive, but I've always thought building something from the bottom up and winning that way was a lot more special than just joining a juggernaut. I think the 87 Twins were a lot better story than the 97 Yankees.

[HawkeyPower]

My mistake. And yes it is unfortunate. Denfeld could have been a very strong team the last 5-6 years if their kids stayed home to play.

Not your mistake, my post was not clear. It's kind of refreshing to hear that from a Hermantown guy. I always wonder how the people there feel about the situation. It's always great to bring in top players but I imagine it would be nice to have some healthy local rivalries too. Hermantown-Proctor was a great rivalry until about ten years ago. And for every kid that comes in a Hermantown kid potentially loses a spot. They're even leaving at the Mite level now. That's going to be a tough High School roster to crack in 8-10 years. Some really good players are going to get cut.

Kids leave for so many reasons. Hermantown is no utopia...even they have a departure or two every year. This year one to Denfeld I believe. I think they will get to the point where they have to go AA and then the state trips wont be automatic any longer and the sheen will be gone so to speak. So easy to leave now...its wrong when some can use loopholes (private to public)-if you go you should sit a year. No exceptions.

One did leave this year because he was not going to play. The same thing happened three years ago when a kid didn't have a spot to play that he felt he deserved. This probably will continue to happen with the bubble kids looking to keep playing. Unfortunately that is the problem you run into when kids open enroll. A kid could play their whole youth hockey career with dreams of playing for their High School. Then a better kid moves into town or open enrolls and they lose their spot. Happens all the time and will continue to happen.
As far as the rivalries are concerned, there still are some good rivalries locally. Marshall, Cloquet and Denfeld usually get the kids fired up top play. Everyone knows everyone and has played with and against each other for years. With Marshall losing their top two players that might make that game less interesting. The playoff rivalries are what will be missed most. I remember before Hermantown was moved into a new section a while back, Hermantown/Hibbing was always great. It seemed like every year they were playing each other to see who goes to State. Those playoff rivalries are the most exciting and will be lost now.

[HawkeyPower]

Curious why you think they would get to the point where they have to go AA. I don't think they're even close enrollment wise. You're right, it's pretty easy to leave nowadays. It wasn't even a remote thought when I played. Maybe I'm just old school and naive, but I've always thought building something from the bottom up and winning that way was a lot more special than just joining a juggernaut. I think the 87 Twins were a lot better story than the 97 Yankees.

I agree with building versus joining. As far as the AA question goes, Hermantown is probably at or around 700 kids in the HS. Half of the AA total. But now as they are competing regularly at the Youth State level in both AA and A levels it will soon be time to opt up. I had a kid that played and I was against moving up just because we didn't ever make it out of Regions let alone to State at the youth level. When your Youth level can do that consistently, I think that is your indicator that you should opt up. Depth is key at the AA level as everyone knows. Hermantown has always had the top end kids to compete a game or two. But to play a whole AA season would be tough. Take out the AA teams that opt up in their schedule( Grand Rapids, Cloquet etc) Hermantown loses to the top 20 AA teams regularly. Eagan, Eden Prairie, White Bear just some recent examples. Now their youth teams are beating those teams and open enrollment kids come in, that conversation needs to come up. I personally don't think it will happen until after Plante retires. Just my opinion.

[NLHockey]

Curious why you think they would get to the point where they have to go AA. I don't think they're even close enrollment wise. You're right, it's pretty easy to leave nowadays. It wasn't even a remote thought when I played. Maybe I'm just old school and naive, but I've always thought building something from the bottom up and winning that way was a lot more special than just joining a juggernaut. I think the 87 Twins were a lot better story than the 97 Yankees.

I agree with building versus joining. As far as the AA question goes, Hermantown is probably at or around 700 kids in the HS. Half of the AA total. But now as they are competing regularly at the Youth State level in both AA and A levels it will soon be time to opt up. I had a kid that played and I was against moving up just because we didn't ever make it out of Regions let alone to State at the youth level. When your Youth level can do that consistently, I think that is your indicator that you should opt up. Depth is key at the AA level as everyone knows. Hermantown has always had the top end kids to compete a game or two. But to play a whole AA season would be tough. Take out the AA teams that opt up in their schedule( Grand Rapids, Cloquet etc) Hermantown loses to the top 20 AA teams regularly. Eagan, Eden Prairie, White Bear just some recent examples. Now their youth teams are beating those teams and open enrollment kids come in, that conversation needs to come up. I personally don't think it will happen until after Plante retires. Just my opinion.

I should have phrased that differently.... I don't think they will HAVE to, but that it would make sense if they did. They have gone AA and beefed up their schedule with their youth teams and competed very well with the big boys at that level. With the talent they have coming up and their apparent preparation at the youth level to make that move, I don't think they will continue to be satisfied beating up on A teams the whole season long and getting one decent game at the state finals every year (even if they can't seem to win that one....but their schedule all year now doesn't exactly prepare them for a state championship). I have no insider information, it just seems to make sense.

[rainier]

If I'm a Hermantown fan, I'm hoping to opt up to AA as soon as possible. The Hawks cruise through their schedule every year and then lose to an AA level team in the A championship game. At some point this has to get old. I'd rather lose in the 7AA title game or at the AA tourney at this point.

If Hermantown had been AA the last 7 years, how many times would they have had a good shot at winning 7AA? 4? 5? This program can already compete well at the AA level, and with an improving youth program and rising enrollment, why not move up now?

After Hermantown builds the new school and has room for more open enrollees, being in AA will make them even more attractive for area kids.