Hermantown vs Hibbing showdown part 2

hermantown2000 · Post by **hermantown2000** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 12:23 pm

The first game was a laugher (7-O). Will the Hawk express continue to chug all the way St.Paul or can Hibbing's coach channel in his own inner Herb Brooks and get the Jackets to pull of mega upset? The keys for Plantes team
1.Don't start talking state tournament stuff (hotels, days off school etc). Stay focused on task ahead. Premature talk can get into a teams head (Eveleth 1999 7A QF!!)
2.Continue to play your same game plan. No alterations. Play solid defense and get good goaltending.
3.Expect to see a different Hibbing team

Hibbing keys
1.Don't get in "oh and awe" of Hermantown.Show up and and play.
2.Keep emotions under control.Don't get frustrated if you give up first goal early
3.Defense!!Defense!! Clog the Hawk passing lanes.Be aggressive. Rattle them early and get them frusterated. Harass Luke Olson by swarming net and get constant pressure Put some good but clean hits on the Hawk skaters
4.Avoid stupid penalties(Elk River learned this last year against East)
5.Believe in each other. Believe in miracles!! With all that said I don't think it will be 7-0 but Hawks prevail 3-1

WendyClark · Post by **WendyClark** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 12:56 pm

I just love the 2 miracle on ice comparisons

. Dont count out Hibbing, they are a top 5 team

Ill take Hermantown only cause i would love to see them hang another runner-up banner

PASTRAPIDSFAN · Post by **PASTRAPIDSFAN** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 2:59 pm

Hawks 6-2

kniven · Post by **kniven** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 3:08 pm

PASTRAPIDSFAN wrote:Hawks 6-2

The Hawks from Hermantown are really, really good. Do they "toy" with Hibbing or do they take the game and approach it as one they could loose.

PASTRAPIDSFAN · Post by **PASTRAPIDSFAN** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 3:13 pm

kniven wrote:
PASTRAPIDSFAN wrote:Hawks 6-2
The Hawks from Hermantown are really, really good. Do they "toy" with Hibbing or do they take the game and approach it as one they could loose.

They better stay on the gas.

thespellchecker · Post by **thespellchecker** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 4:03 pm

Hermantown 7 Hibbing much less
H'Town one of many state championships crowned in 2016.

hockeyfan2612 · Post by **hockeyfan2612** » Mon Feb 22, 2016 7:09 am

7-3 Hawks

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Wed Feb 24, 2016 3:56 pm

Hermantown with the big win and will be the #1 seed with a bullet at state. Breck is the only team I can see having even the slightest chance of beating the Hawks, provided they get by Delano.

Hibbing had a great season, but the Hawks were a buzzsaw.

north_bear · Post by **north_bear** » Wed Feb 24, 2016 5:40 pm

That doesn't matter. Hermantown always beats themselves in the championship game. I bet the runner up banner is already printed!

Congrats to Hibbing on a terrific season. Hopefully more of them to come.

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 1:37 am

Since moving back to 7A, Hermantown is 9-0 in section playoffs, having won by a combined score of 70-6!

Crazy when you consider the last couple years 7A has had top five A teams such as Marshall and Hibbing, along with top ten A teams Denfeld and Greenway. There are good A teams in the section, but Hermantown is light years ahead.

Playing AA throught youth and having a HS schedule that is mostly AA is a great way to prepare for the Class A playoffs, apparently.

hshockeyfan53 · Post by **hshockeyfan53** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 2:12 am

rainier wrote:Since moving back to 7A, Hermantown is 9-0 in section playoffs, having won by a combined score of 70-6!

Crazy when you consider the last couple years 7A has had top five A teams such as Marshall and Hibbing, along with top ten A teams Denfeld and Greenway. There are good A teams in the section, but Hermantown is light years ahead.

Playing AA throught youth and having a HS schedule that is mostly AA is a great way to prepare for the Class A playoffs, apparently.

Do you complain about everything in life or just high school hockey?

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 2:33 am

hshockeyfan53 wrote:
rainier wrote:Since moving back to 7A, Hermantown is 9-0 in section playoffs, having won by a combined score of 70-6!

Crazy when you consider the last couple years 7A has had top five A teams such as Marshall and Hibbing, along with top ten A teams Denfeld and Greenway. There are good A teams in the section, but Hermantown is light years ahead.

Playing AA throught youth and having a HS schedule that is mostly AA is a great way to prepare for the Class A playoffs, apparently.
Do you complain about everything in life or just high school hockey?

Are you complaining about me complaining?

Just giving the facts, take them how you wish.

RRubberbeeskit · Post by **RRubberbeeskit** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 2:38 am

rainier wrote:Since moving back to 7A, Hermantown is 9-0 in section playoffs, having won by a combined score of 70-6!

Crazy when you consider the last couple years 7A has had top five A teams such as Marshall and Hibbing, along with top ten A teams Denfeld and Greenway. There are good A teams in the section, but Hermantown is light years ahead.

Playing AA throught youth and having a HS schedule that is mostly AA is a great way to prepare for the Class A playoffs, apparently.

rainier, I believe the only thing missing is...Academy... A nearly perfect snapshot of STA without the class A championship banners.

Roseau does nearly the same thing with homegrown boys but they have AA Championship banners to hang in there hockey arena.

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 2:51 am

RRubberbeeskit wrote:
rainier wrote:Since moving back to 7A, Hermantown is 9-0 in section playoffs, having won by a combined score of 70-6!

Crazy when you consider the last couple years 7A has had top five A teams such as Marshall and Hibbing, along with top ten A teams Denfeld and Greenway. There are good A teams in the section, but Hermantown is light years ahead.

Playing AA throught youth and having a HS schedule that is mostly AA is a great way to prepare for the Class A playoffs, apparently.

rainier, I believe the only thing missing is...Academy... A nearly perfect snapshot of STA without the class A championship banners.
Roseau does nearly the same thing with homegrown boys but they have AA Championship banners to hang in there hockey arena.

Yep, except the Hermantown team relies on surrounding communities to fill out their roster. Here's the tally on this year's team:

Top three defenseman are from Proctor, Proctor, and Hibbing.
Two 2nd liners are from Proctor and Colorado.

So if Hermantown played with Hermantown players only, they would have a great top line, one very good defenseman, and a very good goalie. So, in other words, they would be TRF.

It's great that they have a program that can attract so much talent from the surrounding communities, but they are no different than a metro private when it comes to drawing from AA-sized talent pools.

mulefarm · Post by **mulefarm** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 3:13 am

Did these players transfer, open enroll or is their family living in the school boundaries?

Thunderstruck · Post by **Thunderstruck** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 3:19 am

I have boys playing on a different 7A team but I like having Hermantown in section 7A. It will make it sweet the year one of the other teams knocks of a great team. Reminds me of Rapids and others back in the day with the one class system. Competion is good. TO BE THE BEST YOU HAVE TO BEAT THE BEST.

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 3:31 am

mulefarm wrote:Did these players transfer, open enroll or is their family living in the school boundaries?

I believe it is a combination of all three.

Just to be clear, I have no qualms with anyone wanting to go play at Hermantown. As far as I know, they all follow the rules and it is great that they have a strong program that can attract so much talent. But, they are drawing from a AA-sized local talent pool, so they way they build their team is the exact same as how an STA, BSM, East, Edina, etc. builds their team.

I think this fact should be pointed out because when the shaming campaign was in full effect for STA, the Hermantonians were all on board, but now that the spotlight of shame has been directed at them, this method of building a Class A powerhouse is suddenly okay.

And the coach was the most vocal of all about the metro privates, but yet it's perfectly okay that half of his best ten players are not actually from Hermantown.

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 3:42 am

Thunderstruck wrote:I have boys playing on a different 7A team but I like having Hermantown in section 7A. It will make it sweet the year one of the other teams knocks of a great team. Reminds me of Rapids and others back in the day with the one class system. Competion is good. TO BE THE BEST YOU HAVE TO BEAT THE BEST.

Being 9-0 in 7A playoffs with a combined score of 70-6 is "competition"?

It's great that you're okay with a suburban Duluth team that gets players from all over a metro area of 150,000 people pounding on actual small community schools, but I'm not. Especially when that team would be the #1 seed in 7AA, again.

And take a look at what 7A coaches say when they get trounced by Hermantown:

Clafton (Greenway): "I have nothing but respect for their players and coaches."

Versich (Hibbing): "They are talented and well-coached."

Plante when they get trounced by STA:

Plante: "This isn't fair. They pick from a million kids."

You can say I'm whining, but I'm just following Plante's example.

mulefarm · Post by **mulefarm** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 3:45 am

At what point is a player considered from that community? Squirts, PW, Bantams? Not just for HT, but in general for all communities?

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 3:49 am

mulefarm wrote:At what point is a player considered from that community? Squirts, PW, Bantams? Not just for HT, but in general for all communities?

I don't know the answer to that, but I do know that if your team regularly draws talent from a AA-sized area, then your team should be in AA. (Regardless of how or why the players get there.)

pekyman · Post by **pekyman** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 3:54 am

rainier wrote:
mulefarm wrote:Did these players transfer, open enroll or is their family living in the school boundaries?
I believe it is a combination of all three.

Just to be clear, I have no qualms with anyone wanting to go play at Hermantown. As far as I know, they all follow the rules and it is great that they have a strong program that can attract so much talent. But, they are drawing from a AA-sized local talent pool, so they way they build their team is the exact same as how an STA, BSM, East, Edina, etc. builds their team.

I think this fact should be pointed out because when the shaming campaign was in full effect for STA, the Hermantonians were all on board, but now that the spotlight of shame has been directed at them, this method of building a Class A powerhouse is suddenly okay.

And the coach was the most vocal of all about the metro privates, but yet it's perfectly okay that half of his best ten players are not actually from Hermantown.

There is no comparison to STA or any private school that is a joke. Is not every other team in the Duluth Area pulling from that same huge metro talent pool? These are Hermantown boys except for the few that came in from Duluth Heights area as open enrolled. The Aamott lives on Pike lake, which is closer to HT than Proctor and has never went to a Proctor school. He was never going to play for Proctor as with the others. Not sure who the Colorado kid is but give me a break. Most if not all of these boys live in and have been playing for Hermantown since mites. You are one jealous, pathetic whiner. By the way, your Hibbing team made stupid mistakes and were out muscled again. Hermantown has been Hermantown, but you Hibbing team with Adam Johnson would have kicked this years team butt. Your right, there is no competition for Hermantown in 7A anymore so my hope is AA starting the 2017-18 season. Your team needs to get a serious summer program going so when Hermantown does leave your team has a chance down there to even get to the final game. If the Hibbing program has an attitude like yours, good luck.

WendyClark · Post by **WendyClark** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 3:56 am

Thunderstruck wrote:TO BE THE BEST YOU HAVE TO BEAT THE BEST.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 4:09 am

pekyman wrote:
rainier wrote:
mulefarm wrote:Did these players transfer, open enroll or is their family living in the school boundaries?
I believe it is a combination of all three.

Just to be clear, I have no qualms with anyone wanting to go play at Hermantown. As far as I know, they all follow the rules and it is great that they have a strong program that can attract so much talent. But, they are drawing from a AA-sized local talent pool, so they way they build their team is the exact same as how an STA, BSM, East, Edina, etc. builds their team.

I think this fact should be pointed out because when the shaming campaign was in full effect for STA, the Hermantonians were all on board, but now that the spotlight of shame has been directed at them, this method of building a Class A powerhouse is suddenly okay.

And the coach was the most vocal of all about the metro privates, but yet it's perfectly okay that half of his best ten players are not actually from Hermantown.
There is no comparison to STA or any private school that is a joke. Is not every other team in the Duluth Area pulling from that same huge metro talent pool? These are Hermantown boys except for the few that came in from Duluth Heights area as open enrolled. The Aamott lives on Pike lake, which is closer to HT than Proctor and has never went to a Proctor school. He was never going to play for Proctor as with the others. Not sure who the Colorado kid is but give me a break. Most if not all of these boys live in and have been playing for Hermantown since mites. You are one jealous, pathetic whiner. By the way, your Hibbing team made stupid mistakes and were out muscled again. Hermantown has been Hermantown, but you Hibbing team with Adam Johnson would have kicked this years team butt. Your right, there is no competition for Hermantown in 7A anymore so my hope is AA starting the 2017-18 season. Your team needs to get a serious summer program going so when Hermantown does leave your team has a chance down there to even get to the final game. If the Hibbing program has an attitude like yours, good luck.

That's fine they have been playing for Hermantown since mites, but that's not the point. The point is that you draw from a AA-sized area, just like STA does.

And you are wrong about that Hibbing team beating this year's team, just like you are wrong about the Skrbich-Thomas teams being better than this year's Hawk team. No chance. The top two lines, top three D, and goalie are all elite level players. You can keep downplaying how good your team is, but no one is buying it.

Hibbing was an excellent A team this year, beating EGF, TRF, Greenway twice, Cloquet, and Brainerd. They also played close games with Apollo and GR, so saying they aren't that good just isn't true. It just shows you how great Hermantown is, and how insane it is that they are still in A.

It's fine I am "a jealous, pathetic whiner". But, how do you feel about your coach? He said the same things. Is he a "a jealous, pathetic whiner"? Why is it okay for him to whine in public, but not okay for me to do on a forum?

duluth dave · Post by **duluth dave** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 4:44 am

Double A sized pool? You have Duluth East, Marshall and Hermantown all within 5 miles of each other. I don't think there numbers quite add up to metro numbers.

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Thu Feb 25, 2016 5:15 am

duluth dave wrote:Double A sized pool? You have Duluth East, Marshall and Hermantown all within 5 miles of each other. I don't think there numbers quite add up to metro numbers.

They get talent from:
Hermantown: 615
Proctor: 599
Denfeld: 863

Total: 2077 students

A better way to look at it is to imagine taking the town of Hermantown and placing it where TRF is now and all they have is the kids within the Hermantown school borders. Without a Proctor or Denfeld supplementing their talent pool through move-ins or open enrollement, how good are they?

A great top line, one very good defenseman, and a very good goalie. In other words, they would be TRF!

As a poster from Proctor said, the reason their program has been suffering is because "You all left for Hermantown!" And Denfeld coach Smalley mentioned how many hockey families have relocated to Hermantown.

When you get a significant portion of your talent from surrounding communities, then enrollment numbers become meaningless, just as they do with STA, BSM, HM, etc.

Apparently, I am a "pathetic whiner", but people who were saying the exact same things just a few years ago, people such as Plante and loads of Hermantown fans, are not.