Hermantown won't complain about private schools now!!

[WestMetro]

Well I wanted to post this on H20's other thread but I see that thread is locked for some reason.

Reminder: HT beat the AA champs Wayzata last Nov,
I recall watching on the stream . I don't think Trojans had any injured or scratches, can't remember who was in goal, schilling I assume

[duluth dave]

Maybe after Plante retires and a couple of other schools win championships people will stop complaining about Hermantown.

[rainier]

Maybe after Plante retires and a couple of other schools win championships people will stop complaining about Hermantown.

By "people" do you mean Mike McGraw and Lou Nanne? You know, two of the people that are paid to be TV analysts for the tourney? Are they the complainers you're referring to?

All of us complainers are only following the example set by Plante. It's only fair to acknowledge his history of complaining when you are complaining about complainers.

[PuckRanger]

Maybe after Plante retires and a couple of other schools win championships people will stop complaining about Hermantown.

The complaining won't stop until they play in AA. I have always been an avid Hermantown supporter when it came to the tourney, but that began to fade last year. This is the first year in 38 years of watching the tournament where I actually cheered for a metro private school over a northern school. Its time for them to get where they belong.

The arguments you make, duluth dave, are not applicable to this program any more. There is still a glut of talent in their AA youth programs all the way down the line with no "down years" in sight. They will continue to dominate class A until they opt up. They are not like Virginia, Hibbing, Greenway, Eveleth, and other teams in their section - or even the typical class A powers such as East Grand Forks, Warroad, Little Falls, etc. - that cycle through ups and downs and rarely get to the level of the top tier of AA teams.

The last time Hermantown had a true "down" year was over a decade ago in 2002-2003. Not sure any class A team will EVER post this type of resume over a 13 year span:

2004 - 7A Final
2005 - 7A Semi
2006 - State 3rd
2007 - State Champions
2008 - 5A Semi
2009 - 5A Final
2010 - State 2nd
2011 - State 2nd
2012 - State 2nd
2013 - State 2nd
2014 - State 2nd
2015 - State 2nd
2016 - State Champions

-11 Section Finals
-9 State Tournament Appearances
-2 State Championships
-6 State 2nd Place Finishes
-1 State 3rd Place Finish
-NO State QF losses

Add to that this year where they beat the AA champions during the regular season and didn't play a game that was closer than 5 goals in the entire post season while outscoring their opponents 52-6 in the process... and, well... the the writing is on the wall... in 10000 pt extra bold blaze orange font. Time to trade in the pull-ups training pants for a pair of boxers or briefs and go play with the big boys.

[bauerman]

completely agree with the previous post, Plante invented whinning, if domination and not enrollment is the measure than they should have moved up long ago, can't believe how he bitched about STA but rationalizes everything is ok for Hermantown

[Jeffy95]

After everything I've read about Hermantown the last 2-3 years and all of the compelling reasons why they are not a Class A team, I think what struck me the most was what someone wrote last week. High School playoffs is the longest stretch of Class A opponents that these kids play in their entire Hockey career all the way up from Squirts. Nobody can possibly rationalize that no matter how hard they try.

[Mite-dad]

What about a rule that requires the A Champion to move up to AA for the following year? That team could move back to A after the year, or (as may be the case with a Hermantown), they could decide to stay, especially if they have some success during their AA year. If there is concern that this result is too harsh, perhaps require a team to switch if it is in the A Championship game two years in a row, and wins it at least once.

If the purpose of A is to give a greater number of teams a chance to win a title, this rule would seem to fit with that sentiment.

Now, better hockey minds than mine--blast away as to why this is a dumb idea.

The problem with that (IMO) is that most true A schools often would have a big dropoff in talent after a championship. There isn't continuous recruitment of quality players in most true A programs. There are exceptions of course. You may be forcing an awful team to play AA the following year.

[HShockeywatcher]

I think the "recruiting" bit is a little old. Many of the top public schools recruit. They just use a different name for it and call it "open enrollment"

Look inside Edina, Lakeville North, Grand Rapids. How many of those kids played on their towns squirt teams growing up? I'm sure many did but I'm also pretty sure some of the "top end" kids didn't.

I personally would love to see Hermantown move up to AA. It would instantly create another great rivalry in this state (Duluth East versus Hermantown)

Honestly I don't even know if Hermantown actively recruits. But when they built a great program, they attract talent from a large metro area that has a hockey tradition. All the schools you mentioned play at the highest level. Herm should follow suit. Why wouldn't they want to???

The vast majority of "recruiting" in any school, public, private, metro, outstate, etc, happens simply in the form of having a good quality product. Most families are "recruited" when they buy their home and settle their family down somewhere. Hermantown is an amazing city with a really good school district. If I was to move my family to the Duluth area, it's probably where I'd end up. It's the same with most other cities. Families choose to live in places like Eden Prairie, Wayzata, etc because of many factors, one of which is often the school systems. On the same token, families who are going to send their children to a private school know there are no limitations in where they can live, so they know they are able to live anywhere and still send their child to the private school they want.
So, does Hermantown recruit? I haven't heard of much in the way that colleges recruit. But they sure provide a desirable product for people and many seem to want it.

completely agree with the previous post, Plante invented whinning, if domination and not enrollment is the measure than they should have moved up long ago, can't believe how he bitched about STA but rationalizes everything is ok for Hermantown

Couldn't agree more. I have never agreed with the opting up system and how illogical it is, but if your basis for opting up is success then it has been hypocritical for years.

[pekyman]

I think the "recruiting" bit is a little old. Many of the top public schools recruit. They just use a different name for it and call it "open enrollment"

Look inside Edina, Lakeville North, Grand Rapids. How many of those kids played on their towns squirt teams growing up? I'm sure many did but I'm also pretty sure some of the "top end" kids didn't.

I personally would love to see Hermantown move up to AA. It would instantly create another great rivalry in this state (Duluth East versus Hermantown)

Honestly I don't even know if Hermantown actively recruits. But when they built a great program, they attract talent from a large metro area that has a hockey tradition. All the schools you mentioned play at the highest level. Herm should follow suit. Why wouldn't they want to???

The vast majority of "recruiting" in any school, public, private, metro, outstate, etc, happens simply in the form of having a good quality product. Most families are "recruited" when they buy their home and settle their family down somewhere. Hermantown is an amazing city with a really good school district. If I was to move my family to the Duluth area, it's probably where I'd end up. It's the same with most other cities. Families choose to live in places like Eden Prairie, Wayzata, etc because of many factors, one of which is often the school systems. On the same token, families who are going to send their children to a private school know there are no limitations in where they can live, so they know they are able to live anywhere and still send their child to the private school they want.
So, does Hermantown recruit? I haven't heard of much in the way that colleges recruit. But they sure provide a desirable product for people and many seem to want it.

completely agree with the previous post, Plante invented whinning, if domination and not enrollment is the measure than they should have moved up long ago, can't believe how he bitched about STA but rationalizes everything is ok for Hermantown

Couldn't agree more. I have never agreed with the opting up system and how illogical it is, but if your basis for opting up is success then it has been hypocritical for years.

What HSHW says about recruiting is true except that it is not recruiting. Produce a quality anything and people will be attracted to it. Hermantown attracts families for a number of reasons with hockey being only one of them. You would need to be blind or stupid to not see that in the Duluth area, Hermantown is a desirable place to live. If your town, school, product stinks, no amount of recruiting is going to help that. If you provide a quality product, it markets itself.

The thing that really ticks me off are the posters on here that have no clue accusing the Hockey program of actively recruiting top players from the area. The reality is just the opposite. As long as I have had an interest in Hermantown Hockey, I know of only 1 player that played for varsity and did not play in the youth program - one. This player did not knock anybody off the team either. Hermantown's numbers are not high. Matter a fact, there has only been 1 or 2 players that only played Bantams. The vast majority of the boys on the HS team have played for their entire life of moved in and bought a house at a very young age. People talk like players open enroll in 10 grade and star on the HS team. It's just a bunch of BS. Aamodt for example. He lives closer to Hermantown and open enrolled as a Kindergarten. He is a Hermantown Hawk to his core. The Hibbing kid actually played 1 or 2 years at Bantams and moved here. Open enrolling in Hermantown ia actually very difficult because the K-12 grades are full and very few spots open up. The HS has a capacity of only approx 650.
I will not name names, but over the past few years coach has actually turned away star players that wanted to come and play here starting at HS. He says go play for your hometown. The latest one when to the NAHL instead.
You want become a Hermantown Hawk? Your options are:
1. Live here
2. Move Here
3. Try to open enroll at a young age. If you have never played in the youth program, your chances of playing on the HS team are about none.

Hermantown Hawks are a small town small school team, a damn good one. The A championship game had an attendance of about 8,200 fans. The population of HT is about 8,500. The Breck side had many open seats; not so on the Hermantown side. At the end of the championship game, any of you notice how many fans stayed until the team just about left the ice? I'll tell you, about 6,000. Where do you think these fans came from that were willing to stay over 1/2 hour after the game ended to watch their team celebrate? That's 6,000 from a town of 8,500 fans celebrating with their team. In contrast, Wayzata with a "school size" of over 3,000 and had a rather small contingent of students, in the hundreds, stay and watch the after game festivities. Quite a difference.

Think what you want about Hermantown and whether they should move to AA, at least do it with a better understanding of what the Hawks are all about and how deep Hawk pride really runs.

[kniven]

Honestly I don't even know if Hermantown actively recruits. But when they built a great program, they attract talent from a large metro area that has a hockey tradition. All the schools you mentioned play at the highest level. Herm should follow suit. Why wouldn't they want to???

The vast majority of "recruiting" in any school, public, private, metro, outstate, etc, happens simply in the form of having a good quality product. Most families are "recruited" when they buy their home and settle their family down somewhere. Hermantown is an amazing city with a really good school district. If I was to move my family to the Duluth area, it's probably where I'd end up. It's the same with most other cities. Families choose to live in places like Eden Prairie, Wayzata, etc because of many factors, one of which is often the school systems. On the same token, families who are going to send their children to a private school know there are no limitations in where they can live, so they know they are able to live anywhere and still send their child to the private school they want.
So, does Hermantown recruit? I haven't heard of much in the way that colleges recruit. But they sure provide a desirable product for people and many seem to want it.

completely agree with the previous post, Plante invented whinning, if domination and not enrollment is the measure than they should have moved up long ago, can't believe how he bitched about STA but rationalizes everything is ok for Hermantown

Couldn't agree more. I have never agreed with the opting up system and how illogical it is, but if your basis for opting up is success then it has been hypocritical for years.

What HSHW says about recruiting is true except that it is not recruiting. Produce a quality anything and people will be attracted to it. Hermantown attracts families for a number of reasons with hockey being only one of them. You would half to be bling or stupid to not see that in the Duluth area, Hermantown is a desirable place to live. If your town, school, product stinks, no amount of recruiting is going to help that. If you provide a quality product, it markets itself.

The thing that really ticks me off are the posters on here that have no clue accusing the Hockey program of actively recruiting top players from the area. The reality is just the opposite. As long as I have had an interest in Hermantown Hockey, I know of only 1 player that played for varsity and did not play in the youth program - one. This player did not knock anybody off the team either. Hermantown's numbers are not high. Matter a fact, there has only been 1 or 2 players that only played Bantams. The vast majority of the boys on the HS team have played for their entire life of moved in and bought a house at a very young age. People talk like players open enroll in 10 grade and star on the HS team. It's just a bunch of BS. Aamodt for example. He lives closer to Hermantown and open enrolled as a Kindergarten. He is a Hermantown Hawk to his core. The Hibbing kid actually played 1 or 2 years at Bantams and moved here. Open enrolling in Hermantown ia actually very difficult because the K-12 grades are full and very few spots open up. The HS has a capacity of only approx 650.
I will not name names, but over the past few years coach has actually turned away star players that wanted to come and play here starting at HS. He says go play for your hometown. The latest one when to the NAHL instead.
You want become a Hermantown Hawk? Your options are:
1. Live here
2. Move Here
3. Try to open enroll at a young age. If you have never played in the youth program, your chances of playing on the HS team are about none.

Hermantown Hawks are a small town small school team, a damn good one. The A championship game had an attendance of about 8,200 fans. The population of HT is about 8,500. The Breck side had many open seats; not so on the Hermantown side. At the end of the championship game, any of you notice how many fans stayed until the team just about left the ice? I'll tell you, about 6,000. Where do you think these fans came from that were willing to stay over 1/2 hour after the game ended to watch their team celebrate? That's 6,000 from a town of 8,500 fans celebrating with their team. In contrast, Wayzata with a "school size" of over 3,000 and had a rather small contingent of students, in the hundreds, stay and watch the after game festivities. Quite a difference.

Think what you want about Hermantown and whether they should move to AA, at least do it with a better understanding of what the Hawks are all about and how deep Hawk pride really runs.

Koby Bender CEC?

[kniven]

Honestly I don't even know if Hermantown actively recruits. But when they built a great program, they attract talent from a large metro area that has a hockey tradition. All the schools you mentioned play at the highest level. Herm should follow suit. Why wouldn't they want to???

The vast majority of "recruiting" in any school, public, private, metro, outstate, etc, happens simply in the form of having a good quality product. Most families are "recruited" when they buy their home and settle their family down somewhere. Hermantown is an amazing city with a really good school district. If I was to move my family to the Duluth area, it's probably where I'd end up. It's the same with most other cities. Families choose to live in places like Eden Prairie, Wayzata, etc because of many factors, one of which is often the school systems. On the same token, families who are going to send their children to a private school know there are no limitations in where they can live, so they know they are able to live anywhere and still send their child to the private school they want.
So, does Hermantown recruit? I haven't heard of much in the way that colleges recruit. But they sure provide a desirable product for people and many seem to want it.

completely agree with the previous post, Plante invented whinning, if domination and not enrollment is the measure than they should have moved up long ago, can't believe how he bitched about STA but rationalizes everything is ok for Hermantown

Couldn't agree more. I have never agreed with the opting up system and how illogical it is, but if your basis for opting up is success then it has been hypocritical for years.

What HSHW says about recruiting is true except that it is not recruiting. Produce a quality anything and people will be attracted to it. Hermantown attracts families for a number of reasons with hockey being only one of them. You would half to be bling or stupid to not see that in the Duluth area, Hermantown is a desirable place to live. If your town, school, product stinks, no amount of recruiting is going to help that. If you provide a quality product, it markets itself.

The thing that really ticks me off are the posters on here that have no clue accusing the Hockey program of actively recruiting top players from the area. The reality is just the opposite. As long as I have had an interest in Hermantown Hockey, I know of only 1 player that played for varsity and did not play in the youth program - one. This player did not knock anybody off the team either. Hermantown's numbers are not high. Matter a fact, there has only been 1 or 2 players that only played Bantams. The vast majority of the boys on the HS team have played for their entire life of moved in and bought a house at a very young age. People talk like players open enroll in 10 grade and star on the HS team. It's just a bunch of BS. Aamodt for example. He lives closer to Hermantown and open enrolled as a Kindergarten. He is a Hermantown Hawk to his core. The Hibbing kid actually played 1 or 2 years at Bantams and moved here. Open enrolling in Hermantown ia actually very difficult because the K-12 grades are full and very few spots open up. The HS has a capacity of only approx 650.
I will not name names, but over the past few years coach has actually turned away star players that wanted to come and play here starting at HS. He says go play for your hometown. The latest one when to the NAHL instead.
You want become a Hermantown Hawk? Your options are:
1. Live here
2. Move Here
3. Try to open enroll at a young age. If you have never played in the youth program, your chances of playing on the HS team are about none.

Hermantown Hawks are a small town small school team, a damn good one. The A championship game had an attendance of about 8,200 fans. The population of HT is about 8,500. The Breck side had many open seats; not so on the Hermantown side. At the end of the championship game, any of you notice how many fans stayed until the team just about left the ice? I'll tell you, about 6,000. Where do you think these fans came from that were willing to stay over 1/2 hour after the game ended to watch their team celebrate? That's 6,000 from a town of 8,500 fans celebrating with their team. In contrast, Wayzata with a "school size" of over 3,000 and had a rather small contingent of students, in the hundreds, stay and watch the after game festivities. Quite a difference.

Think what you want about Hermantown and whether they should move to AA, at least do it with a better understanding of what the Hawks are all about and how deep Hawk pride really runs.

Koby Bender CEC?

[pekyman]

The vast majority of "recruiting" in any school, public, private, metro, outstate, etc, happens simply in the form of having a good quality product. Most families are "recruited" when they buy their home and settle their family down somewhere. Hermantown is an amazing city with a really good school district. If I was to move my family to the Duluth area, it's probably where I'd end up. It's the same with most other cities. Families choose to live in places like Eden Prairie, Wayzata, etc because of many factors, one of which is often the school systems. On the same token, families who are going to send their children to a private school know there are no limitations in where they can live, so they know they are able to live anywhere and still send their child to the private school they want.
So, does Hermantown recruit? I haven't heard of much in the way that colleges recruit. But they sure provide a desirable product for people and many seem to want it.
Couldn't agree more. I have never agreed with the opting up system and how illogical it is, but if your basis for opting up is success then it has been hypocritical for years.

What HSHW says about recruiting is true except that it is not recruiting. Produce a quality anything and people will be attracted to it. Hermantown attracts families for a number of reasons with hockey being only one of them. You would half to be bling or stupid to not see that in the Duluth area, Hermantown is a desirable place to live. If your town, school, product stinks, no amount of recruiting is going to help that. If you provide a quality product, it markets itself.

The thing that really ticks me off are the posters on here that have no clue accusing the Hockey program of actively recruiting top players from the area. The reality is just the opposite. As long as I have had an interest in Hermantown Hockey, I know of only 1 player that played for varsity and did not play in the youth program - one. This player did not knock anybody off the team either. Hermantown's numbers are not high. Matter a fact, there has only been 1 or 2 players that only played Bantams. The vast majority of the boys on the HS team have played for their entire life of moved in and bought a house at a very young age. People talk like players open enroll in 10 grade and star on the HS team. It's just a bunch of BS. Aamodt for example. He lives closer to Hermantown and open enrolled as a Kindergarten. He is a Hermantown Hawk to his core. The Hibbing kid actually played 1 or 2 years at Bantams and moved here. Open enrolling in Hermantown ia actually very difficult because the K-12 grades are full and very few spots open up. The HS has a capacity of only approx 650.
I will not name names, but over the past few years coach has actually turned away star players that wanted to come and play here starting at HS. He says go play for your hometown. The latest one when to the NAHL instead.
You want become a Hermantown Hawk? Your options are:
1. Live here
2. Move Here
3. Try to open enroll at a young age. If you have never played in the youth program, your chances of playing on the HS team are about none.

Hermantown Hawks are a small town small school team, a damn good one. The A championship game had an attendance of about 8,200 fans. The population of HT is about 8,500. The Breck side had many open seats; not so on the Hermantown side. At the end of the championship game, any of you notice how many fans stayed until the team just about left the ice? I'll tell you, about 6,000. Where do you think these fans came from that were willing to stay over 1/2 hour after the game ended to watch their team celebrate? That's 6,000 from a town of 8,500 fans celebrating with their team. In contrast, Wayzata with a "school size" of over 3,000 and had a rather small contingent of students, in the hundreds, stay and watch the after game festivities. Quite a difference.

Think what you want about Hermantown and whether they should move to AA, at least do it with a better understanding of what the Hawks are all about and how deep Hawk pride really runs.

Koby Bender CEC?

I'm not saying.

Would he be considered a "Star Player"?

[duluth dave]

Go hawks! Go Bulldogs! duluth area hockey rules-quit whining!

[rainier]

Honestly I don't even know if Hermantown actively recruits. But when they built a great program, they attract talent from a large metro area that has a hockey tradition. All the schools you mentioned play at the highest level. Herm should follow suit. Why wouldn't they want to???

The vast majority of "recruiting" in any school, public, private, metro, outstate, etc, happens simply in the form of having a good quality product. Most families are "recruited" when they buy their home and settle their family down somewhere. Hermantown is an amazing city with a really good school district. If I was to move my family to the Duluth area, it's probably where I'd end up. It's the same with most other cities. Families choose to live in places like Eden Prairie, Wayzata, etc because of many factors, one of which is often the school systems. On the same token, families who are going to send their children to a private school know there are no limitations in where they can live, so they know they are able to live anywhere and still send their child to the private school they want.
So, does Hermantown recruit? I haven't heard of much in the way that colleges recruit. But they sure provide a desirable product for people and many seem to want it.

completely agree with the previous post, Plante invented whinning, if domination and not enrollment is the measure than they should have moved up long ago, can't believe how he bitched about STA but rationalizes everything is ok for Hermantown

Couldn't agree more. I have never agreed with the opting up system and how illogical it is, but if your basis for opting up is success then it has been hypocritical for years.

What HSHW says about recruiting is true except that it is not recruiting. Produce a quality anything and people will be attracted to it. Hermantown attracts families for a number of reasons with hockey being only one of them. You would half to be bling or stupid to not see that in the Duluth area, Hermantown is a desirable place to live. If your town, school, product stinks, no amount of recruiting is going to help that. If you provide a quality product, it markets itself.

The think that really ticks me off are the posters on here that have no clue accusing the Hockey program of actively recruiting top players from the area. The reality is just the opposite. As long as I have had an interest in Hermantown Hockey, I know of only 1 player that played for varsity and did not play in the youth program -1. This player did not knock anybody off the team either. Hermantown's numbers are not high. Matter a fact, there has only been 1 or 2 players that only played Bantams. The vast majority of the boys on the HS team have played for their entire life of moved in and bought a house at a very young age. People talk like players open enroll in 10 grade and star on the HS team. It's just a bunch of BS. Aamodt for example. He lives closer to Hermantown and open enrolled as a Kindergarten. He is a Hermantown Hawk to his core. The Hibbing kid actually played 1 or 2 years at Bantams and moved here. Open enrolling in Hermantown ia actually very difficult because the K-12 grades are full and very few spots open up. The HS has a capacity of only approx 650.
I will not name names, but over the past few years coach has actually turned away star players that wanted to come and play here starting at HS. He says go play for your hometown. The latest one when to the NAHL instead.
You want become a Hermantown Hawk? Your options are:
1. Live here
2. Move Here
3. Try to open enroll at a young age. If you have never played in the youth program, your chances of playing on the HS team are about none.

Hermantown Hawks are a small town small school team, a damn good one. The A championship game had an attendance of about 8,200 fans. The population of HT is about 8,500. The Breck side had many open seats; not so on the Hermantown side. At the end of the championship game, any of you notice how many fans stayed until the team just about left the ice? I'll tell you, about 6,000. Where do you think these fans came from that were willing to stay over 1/2 hour after the game ended to watch their team celebrate? That's 6,000 from a town of 8,500 fans celebrating with their team. In contrast, Wayzata with a "school size" of over 3,000 and had a rather small contingent of students, in the hundreds, stay and watch the after game festivities. Quite a difference.

Think what you want about Hermantown and whether they should move to AA, at least do it with a better understanding of what the Hawks are all about and how deep Hawk pride really runs.

We all agree Hermatown is a great school and hockey program. Just please stop saying they are "small town, small school" hockey. It's not true.

And open enrollment is not closed in Hermantown. A few grades are full, but others are not. Here is the article from 4 months ago about it: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/3 ... nt-numbers

Open enrollment is alive and well in the Hermantown school district, as "21% of Hermantown students are open enrollees".

And people in the Duluth metro area continue to flock to Hermantown to live also. "Hermantown experienced a large influx of students in the early elementary school grades this year" with "Much of the increase is due to new residents". These are not poor people moving to Hermantown; I know some of them.

The reduced lunch rate at Hermantown is one of the lowest in the state (11%), lower than even "cake eater" schools such as EP, East, and Wayzata. There is a reason Hermantown has 11 mite and 5 squirt teams: Everyone there can afford to put their kid in hockey! Again, that's a great thing, but it isn't "small town hockey" by any stretch of the imagination. The majority of actual small town schools have rates in the 30-40% range.

Yes, it is a great school/program and they deserve credit for that, but Hermantown should never be described as "small town hockey" again. You can't just have the best players from Proctor open enroll to Hermantown and say "Wow look at what we do with only 600 kids!". You have to factor in the Proctor enrollment and that would put Hermantown/Proctor over the 1200 student AA/A cutoff.

The vast majority of schools in 1A, 3A, 6A, 7A, and 8A, don't have 150,000 people within a ten minute drive which makes open enrolling or moving not that big of deal, relatively speaking. If someone wants to open enroll or move to TRF or Hibbing, chances are Mom and Dad won't be able to do so without having to find new jobs or else have very long commutes. In the Duluth metro area, you can open enroll or move to Hermantown without having to consider leaving your job or deciding if an hour of commuting per day is worth it.

I think your Hawks will announce an opt up next year and I'm glad you also wish to see them in AA starting in 17-18. They are an awesome program and it will be a treat to watch them battle East, GR, Cloquet, and Marshall in 7AA.

[Mite-dad]

The vast majority of "recruiting" in any school, public, private, metro, outstate, etc, happens simply in the form of having a good quality product. Most families are "recruited" when they buy their home and settle their family down somewhere. Hermantown is an amazing city with a really good school district. If I was to move my family to the Duluth area, it's probably where I'd end up. It's the same with most other cities. Families choose to live in places like Eden Prairie, Wayzata, etc because of many factors, one of which is often the school systems. On the same token, families who are going to send their children to a private school know there are no limitations in where they can live, so they know they are able to live anywhere and still send their child to the private school they want.
So, does Hermantown recruit? I haven't heard of much in the way that colleges recruit. But they sure provide a desirable product for people and many seem to want it.
Couldn't agree more. I have never agreed with the opting up system and how illogical it is, but if your basis for opting up is success then it has been hypocritical for years.

What HSHW says about recruiting is true except that it is not recruiting. Produce a quality anything and people will be attracted to it. Hermantown attracts families for a number of reasons with hockey being only one of them. You would half to be bling or stupid to not see that in the Duluth area, Hermantown is a desirable place to live. If your town, school, product stinks, no amount of recruiting is going to help that. If you provide a quality product, it markets itself.

The think that really ticks me off are the posters on here that have no clue accusing the Hockey program of actively recruiting top players from the area. The reality is just the opposite. As long as I have had an interest in Hermantown Hockey, I know of only 1 player that played for varsity and did not play in the youth program -1. This player did not knock anybody off the team either. Hermantown's numbers are not high. Matter a fact, there has only been 1 or 2 players that only played Bantams. The vast majority of the boys on the HS team have played for their entire life of moved in and bought a house at a very young age. People talk like players open enroll in 10 grade and star on the HS team. It's just a bunch of BS. Aamodt for example. He lives closer to Hermantown and open enrolled as a Kindergarten. He is a Hermantown Hawk to his core. The Hibbing kid actually played 1 or 2 years at Bantams and moved here. Open enrolling in Hermantown ia actually very difficult because the K-12 grades are full and very few spots open up. The HS has a capacity of only approx 650.
I will not name names, but over the past few years coach has actually turned away star players that wanted to come and play here starting at HS. He says go play for your hometown. The latest one when to the NAHL instead.
You want become a Hermantown Hawk? Your options are:
1. Live here
2. Move Here
3. Try to open enroll at a young age. If you have never played in the youth program, your chances of playing on the HS team are about none.

Hermantown Hawks are a small town small school team, a damn good one. The A championship game had an attendance of about 8,200 fans. The population of HT is about 8,500. The Breck side had many open seats; not so on the Hermantown side. At the end of the championship game, any of you notice how many fans stayed until the team just about left the ice? I'll tell you, about 6,000. Where do you think these fans came from that were willing to stay over 1/2 hour after the game ended to watch their team celebrate? That's 6,000 from a town of 8,500 fans celebrating with their team. In contrast, Wayzata with a "school size" of over 3,000 and had a rather small contingent of students, in the hundreds, stay and watch the after game festivities. Quite a difference.

Think what you want about Hermantown and whether they should move to AA, at least do it with a better understanding of what the Hawks are all about and how deep Hawk pride really runs.

We all agree Hermatown is a great school and hockey program. Just please stop saying they are "small town, small school" hockey. It's not true.

And open enrollment is not closed in Hermantown. A few grades are full, but others are not. Here is the article from 4 months ago about it: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/3 ... nt-numbers

Open enrollment is alive and well in the Hermantown school district, as "21% of Hermantown students are open enrollees".

And people in the Duluth metro area continue to flock to Hermantown to live also. "Hermantown experienced a large influx of students in the early elementary school grades this year" with "Much of the increase is due to new residents". These are not poor people moving to Hermantown; I know some of them.

The reduced lunch rate at Hermantown is one of the lowest in the state (11%), lower than even "cake eater" schools such as EP, East, and Wayzata. There is a reason Hermantown has 11 mite and 5 squirt teams: Everyone there can afford to put their kid in hockey! Again, that's a great thing, but it isn't "small town hockey" by any stretch of the imagination. The majority of actual small town schools have rates in the 30-40% range.

Yes, it is a great school/program and they deserve credit for that, but Hermantown should never be described as "small town hockey" again. You can't just have the best players from Proctor open enroll to Hermantown and say "Wow look at what we do with only 600 kids!". You have to factor in the Proctor enrollment and that would put Hermantown/Proctor over the 1200 student AA/A cutoff.

The vast majority of schools in 1A, 3A, 6A, 7A, and 8A, don't have 150,000 people within a ten minute drive which makes open enrolling or moving not that big of deal, relatively speaking. If someone wants to open enroll or move to TRF or Hibbing, chances are Mom and Dad won't be able to do so without having to find new jobs or else have very long commutes. In the Duluth metro area, you can open enroll or move to Hermantown without having to consider leaving your job or deciding if an hour of commuting per day is worth it.

I think your Hawks will announce an opt up next year and I'm glad you also wish to see them in AA starting in 17-18. They are an awesome program and it will be a treat to watch them battle East, GR, Cloquet, and Marshall in 7AA.

Dang it rainer, quit confusing this issue with facts!

[Jeffy95]

What HSHW says about recruiting is true except that it is not recruiting. Produce a quality anything and people will be attracted to it. Hermantown attracts families for a number of reasons with hockey being only one of them. You would half to be bling or stupid to not see that in the Duluth area, Hermantown is a desirable place to live. If your town, school, product stinks, no amount of recruiting is going to help that. If you provide a quality product, it markets itself.

The think that really ticks me off are the posters on here that have no clue accusing the Hockey program of actively recruiting top players from the area. The reality is just the opposite. As long as I have had an interest in Hermantown Hockey, I know of only 1 player that played for varsity and did not play in the youth program -1. This player did not knock anybody off the team either. Hermantown's numbers are not high. Matter a fact, there has only been 1 or 2 players that only played Bantams. The vast majority of the boys on the HS team have played for their entire life of moved in and bought a house at a very young age. People talk like players open enroll in 10 grade and star on the HS team. It's just a bunch of BS. Aamodt for example. He lives closer to Hermantown and open enrolled as a Kindergarten. He is a Hermantown Hawk to his core. The Hibbing kid actually played 1 or 2 years at Bantams and moved here. Open enrolling in Hermantown ia actually very difficult because the K-12 grades are full and very few spots open up. The HS has a capacity of only approx 650.
I will not name names, but over the past few years coach has actually turned away star players that wanted to come and play here starting at HS. He says go play for your hometown. The latest one when to the NAHL instead.
You want become a Hermantown Hawk? Your options are:
1. Live here
2. Move Here
3. Try to open enroll at a young age. If you have never played in the youth program, your chances of playing on the HS team are about none.

Hermantown Hawks are a small town small school team, a damn good one. The A championship game had an attendance of about 8,200 fans. The population of HT is about 8,500. The Breck side had many open seats; not so on the Hermantown side. At the end of the championship game, any of you notice how many fans stayed until the team just about left the ice? I'll tell you, about 6,000. Where do you think these fans came from that were willing to stay over 1/2 hour after the game ended to watch their team celebrate? That's 6,000 from a town of 8,500 fans celebrating with their team. In contrast, Wayzata with a "school size" of over 3,000 and had a rather small contingent of students, in the hundreds, stay and watch the after game festivities. Quite a difference.

Think what you want about Hermantown and whether they should move to AA, at least do it with a better understanding of what the Hawks are all about and how deep Hawk pride really runs.

We all agree Hermatown is a great school and hockey program. Just please stop saying they are "small town, small school" hockey. It's not true.

And open enrollment is not closed in Hermantown. A few grades are full, but others are not. Here is the article from 4 months ago about it: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/3 ... nt-numbers

Open enrollment is alive and well in the Hermantown school district, as "21% of Hermantown students are open enrollees".

And people in the Duluth metro area continue to flock to Hermantown to live also. "Hermantown experienced a large influx of students in the early elementary school grades this year" with "Much of the increase is due to new residents". These are not poor people moving to Hermantown; I know some of them.

The reduced lunch rate at Hermantown is one of the lowest in the state (11%), lower than even "cake eater" schools such as EP, East, and Wayzata. There is a reason Hermantown has 11 mite and 5 squirt teams: Everyone there can afford to put their kid in hockey! Again, that's a great thing, but it isn't "small town hockey" by any stretch of the imagination. The majority of actual small town schools have rates in the 30-40% range.

Yes, it is a great school/program and they deserve credit for that, but Hermantown should never be described as "small town hockey" again. You can't just have the best players from Proctor open enroll to Hermantown and say "Wow look at what we do with only 600 kids!". You have to factor in the Proctor enrollment and that would put Hermantown/Proctor over the 1200 student AA/A cutoff.

The vast majority of schools in 1A, 3A, 6A, 7A, and 8A, don't have 150,000 people within a ten minute drive which makes open enrolling or moving not that big of deal, relatively speaking. If someone wants to open enroll or move to TRF or Hibbing, chances are Mom and Dad won't be able to do so without having to find new jobs or else have very long commutes. In the Duluth metro area, you can open enroll or move to Hermantown without having to consider leaving your job or deciding if an hour of commuting per day is worth it.

I think your Hawks will announce an opt up next year and I'm glad you also wish to see them in AA starting in 17-18. They are an awesome program and it will be a treat to watch them battle East, GR, Cloquet, and Marshall in 7AA.

Dang it rainer, quit confusing this issue with facts!

LOL. The Rainier-Perky debates are what keep me coming back here every day. Perk held his own for awhile until the Duluth News Tribune kept posting articles refuting everything he said. You have to hand it to him though, he has yet to win a debate but he keeps coming back for more.

[pekyman]

The vast majority of "recruiting" in any school, public, private, metro, outstate, etc, happens simply in the form of having a good quality product. Most families are "recruited" when they buy their home and settle their family down somewhere. Hermantown is an amazing city with a really good school district. If I was to move my family to the Duluth area, it's probably where I'd end up. It's the same with most other cities. Families choose to live in places like Eden Prairie, Wayzata, etc because of many factors, one of which is often the school systems. On the same token, families who are going to send their children to a private school know there are no limitations in where they can live, so they know they are able to live anywhere and still send their child to the private school they want.
So, does Hermantown recruit? I haven't heard of much in the way that colleges recruit. But they sure provide a desirable product for people and many seem to want it.
Couldn't agree more. I have never agreed with the opting up system and how illogical it is, but if your basis for opting up is success then it has been hypocritical for years.

What HSHW says about recruiting is true except that it is not recruiting. Produce a quality anything and people will be attracted to it. Hermantown attracts families for a number of reasons with hockey being only one of them. You would half to be bling or stupid to not see that in the Duluth area, Hermantown is a desirable place to live. If your town, school, product stinks, no amount of recruiting is going to help that. If you provide a quality product, it markets itself.

The think that really ticks me off are the posters on here that have no clue accusing the Hockey program of actively recruiting top players from the area. The reality is just the opposite. As long as I have had an interest in Hermantown Hockey, I know of only 1 player that played for varsity and did not play in the youth program -1. This player did not knock anybody off the team either. Hermantown's numbers are not high. Matter a fact, there has only been 1 or 2 players that only played Bantams. The vast majority of the boys on the HS team have played for their entire life of moved in and bought a house at a very young age. People talk like players open enroll in 10 grade and star on the HS team. It's just a bunch of BS. Aamodt for example. He lives closer to Hermantown and open enrolled as a Kindergarten. He is a Hermantown Hawk to his core. The Hibbing kid actually played 1 or 2 years at Bantams and moved here. Open enrolling in Hermantown ia actually very difficult because the K-12 grades are full and very few spots open up. The HS has a capacity of only approx 650.
I will not name names, but over the past few years coach has actually turned away star players that wanted to come and play here starting at HS. He says go play for your hometown. The latest one when to the NAHL instead.
You want become a Hermantown Hawk? Your options are:
1. Live here
2. Move Here
3. Try to open enroll at a young age. If you have never played in the youth program, your chances of playing on the HS team are about none.

Hermantown Hawks are a small town small school team, a damn good one. The A championship game had an attendance of about 8,200 fans. The population of HT is about 8,500. The Breck side had many open seats; not so on the Hermantown side. At the end of the championship game, any of you notice how many fans stayed until the team just about left the ice? I'll tell you, about 6,000. Where do you think these fans came from that were willing to stay over 1/2 hour after the game ended to watch their team celebrate? That's 6,000 from a town of 8,500 fans celebrating with their team. In contrast, Wayzata with a "school size" of over 3,000 and had a rather small contingent of students, in the hundreds, stay and watch the after game festivities. Quite a difference.

Think what you want about Hermantown and whether they should move to AA, at least do it with a better understanding of what the Hawks are all about and how deep Hawk pride really runs.

We all agree Hermatown is a great school and hockey program. Just please stop saying they are "small town, small school" hockey. It's not true.

And open enrollment is not closed in Hermantown. A few grades are full, but others are not. Here is the article from 4 months ago about it: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/3 ... nt-numbers

Open enrollment is alive and well in the Hermantown school district, as "21% of Hermantown students are open enrollees".

And people in the Duluth metro area continue to flock to Hermantown to live also. "Hermantown experienced a large influx of students in the early elementary school grades this year" with "Much of the increase is due to new residents". These are not poor people moving to Hermantown; I know some of them.

The reduced lunch rate at Hermantown is one of the lowest in the state (11%), lower than even "cake eater" schools such as EP, East, and Wayzata. There is a reason Hermantown has 11 mite and 5 squirt teams: Everyone there can afford to put their kid in hockey! Again, that's a great thing, but it isn't "small town hockey" by any stretch of the imagination. The majority of actual small town schools have rates in the 30-40% range.

Yes, it is a great school/program and they deserve credit for that, but Hermantown should never be described as "small town hockey" again. You can't just have the best players from Proctor open enroll to Hermantown and say "Wow look at what we do with only 600 kids!". You have to factor in the Proctor enrollment and that would put Hermantown/Proctor over the 1200 student AA/A cutoff.

The vast majority of schools in 1A, 3A, 6A, 7A, and 8A, don't have 150,000 people within a ten minute drive which makes open enrolling or moving not that big of deal, relatively speaking. If someone wants to open enroll or move to TRF or Hibbing, chances are Mom and Dad won't be able to do so without having to find new jobs or else have very long commutes. In the Duluth metro area, you can open enroll or move to Hermantown without having to consider leaving your job or deciding if an hour of commuting per day is worth it.

I think your Hawks will announce an opt up next year and I'm glad you also wish to see them in AA starting in 17-18. They are an awesome program and it will be a treat to watch them battle East, GR, Cloquet, and Marshall in 7AA.

Where did you read that I said it was closed? What I did say is that the school is full and it can be tough to get in. I'd say 97.8 % is just about full would you not? I also said that, with the closing of Central, anybody in the Kenwood and Duluth Heights area would be crazy not to consider Hermantown. It's much closer than Denfeld and there is no mountain to go up and down in the winter. If you think these open enroll kids are all cherry picked hockey players than I can't help you. Hermantown does not "Pick" from the kids that open enroll. It's first come, first serve.

Cut it with the mite numbers, these numbers are for 4 years of kids. Hermantown averages between 3 and 4 Pewee teams and 2-3 Bantam teams per season. Slightly larger that Hibbing.

Add Proctor? Give me a brake, no other school gets any open enrolled kids right? Why are you not going after the privates as even the smallest one probably has an enrollment of several thousand based on your criteria. O yea, I forgot there isn't on in the way of your Hibbing team.

Hermantown is small town hockey, sorry to say. Look at your own program and improve that.



QUOTE
"The Hermantown school district was prepared for an increase in students, but not for the large increase in elementary school students that occurred this year, Superintendent Kerry Juntunen said. In Hermantown, the unofficial headcount in October was 2,116 students — an increase of 67 students, or about 3.3 percent, from October 2014 — pushing the district's three buildings to 97.8 percent of capacity, with some grades over capacity.

Juntunen said he believes Hermantown schools' reputation is enticing new students to attend.

Not only are new residents moving into the Hermantown school district, but there also has been an influx of students open enrolling into the district, causing some grades to be closed to more open-enrollment students, he said. About 21 percent of Hermantown's students open enroll into the district."

[bauerman]

the whole point is on this subject either we go by enrollment or dominance at the A level, people were howling and rightfully so at STA now we have apologists like Duluth Dave for hermnatown ,whats it going to be Dave. STA has around 425 boys in their top 4 grades so the equivilent of 850 enrollment --they should be at AA so should Hermantown using the logic that everyone used to hammer STA in the past

[rainier]

Where did you read that I said it was closed? What I did say is that the school is full and it can be tough to get in. I'd say 97.8 % is just about full would you not? I also said that, with the closing of Central, anybody in the Kenwood and Duluth Heights area would be crazy not to consider Hermantown. It's much closer than Denfeld and there is no mountain to go up and down in the winter. If you think these open enroll kids are all cherry picked hockey players than I can't help you. Hermantown does not "Pick" from the kids that open enroll. It's first come, first serve.

That's fine, but as I said before, you can't have the best players from Proctor open enroll to Hermantown and then exclaim "Look at what we do with only 600 kids!" The point is that Hermantown draws from a talent pool that is AA-sized, easily. Doesn't matter how they do it, but if they do it, they should be in AA.


Cut it with the mite numbers, these numbers are for 4 years of kids. Hermantown averages between 3 and 4 Pewee teams and 2-3 Bantam teams per season. Slightly larger that Hibbing.

Those numbers are double the Hibbing numbers, and this is just another way for you to say "Look at how great we are with only 600 kids!" It doesn't matter how "low" your numbers are when a lot of talent from a big metro area is open enrolling/moving in. Your squirt A team has players from seven different associations. That isn't "small town hockey".

Add Proctor? Give me a brake, no other school gets any open enrolled kids right? Why are you not going after the privates as even the smallest one probably has an enrollment of several thousand based on your criteria. O yea, I forgot there isn't on in the way of your Hibbing team.

Is Hermantown in the way of McGraw and Nanne's favorite teams too? How about the GR, Cloquet, East, and other AA people who say you should opt up? Is Hermantown in the way of their favorite team also? What is their motivation?

I guess it was fine for you and Plante to whine about the teams that were in your way, but now no one else is allowed to do it. You whined like crazy about STA and Breck, so you have no grounds with which to criticize other people when they do the same. It so hypocritical it's nauseating.


Hermantown is small town hockey, sorry to say. Look at your own program and improve that.

I am improving it by using the Hermantown model. Step one: Be located in a metro area of 150,000 people. As I said before, you're gonna have to give me some time to work on that step. I love how you think being a suburb of Duluth has nothing to do with your team's success.

Why do so many more doctors live in Hermantown than in Hibbing or TRF or Little Falls? Is it because people in Hermantown get sick so much more often that the demand is higher? No, it is because Hermantown is a suburb in a 150,000 person metro area, and a significant proportion of the doctors needed to serve this metro area decided to live there. Thinking that the huge population surrounding Hermantown has nothing to do with their demographics, school, and hockey program is insane.

Sorry peky, your "small town hockey" fantasy is just that, a fantasy.

[duluth dave]

When Bloomington Jefferson and Edina were dominating in the 80's perhaps they should have opted to D1.

[duluth dave]

In reality, Hermantown probaly should opt up now I think they can compete with any AA schools. And with the program they have probaly could actually recruit in the area. But darn it is fun getting people riled up!

[JohnnyBuck]

Hermantown has gutted the Twig program. Many of the Twig parents (Pike Lake & Saginaw area) wrestle with the difficult decision of moving schools by the fourth grade in fear that their kid will get left behind in hockey. Yes, this is not recruiting, but sad that as a society we have become so obsessed with chasing a championship that we are willing to roll the dice when our kids are ten. How many of these kids wash out and do not even play high school hockey? This is another reason Hermantown should play AA. It is a fact that they are drawing outside of their geographical boundary.

[duluth dave]

How many people in twig? 30 come on we are not talking metro numbers here. I can remember Bloomington Jefferson having over 300 kids trying out for bantams.

[JohnnyBuck]

How many people in twig? 30 come on we are not talking metro numbers here. I can remember Bloomington Jefferson having over 300 kids trying out for bantams.

30 kids out of a program of 70 is nearly half the kids. This is pretty significant. 30 kids is enough to make 2-3 more mite teams. That is also pretty significant IMO.

Let's say 30 kids from neighboring Twig come over by the fourth grade (I won't even begin to talk about the Piedmont and Duluth Heights kids). Statistically about 10 kids will make the high school team. That leaves 20 kids not playing high school hockey. In addition it leaves Proctor starving for enough to field a competitive team.

I do not believe this trend will change so no need to make an issue out of it. Parents are going to do what they think is best for their kid, period. This only adds to the argument that Hermantown should be AA IMO.

[duluth dave]

I don't think Hermantown High School has any say in what happens with mite programs.