Hermantown won't complain about private schools now!!

JohnnyBuck · Post by **JohnnyBuck** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 12:06 pm

I don't hear anyone saying he is a bad guy. The issue is many feel he is selling the program short and can/should compete at the AA level. To say that he is a great coach I won't disagree, although I will say a monkey could have coached this year's team to a class A state title. Also, they will have no problem replacing him with a great coach and to say his son could replace him is no stretch. Finally, I agree that there will be a drop off in talent, but it is not like they are bottoming out. They may have to regroup like most high schools and may only get to the tournament once every four years. You are not supposed to make it every year.

jdh · Post by **jdh** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 12:11 pm

I believe that St. Cloud Tech and Apollo are merging for hockey, putting them into AA, so Section 8AA will have eight teams again.

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 12:59 pm

Duluthguy wrote:
In addition....while the coming class of '17 will be even better than this year's team based on their performance at the bantam and peewee levels, there's a drop off in the talent of the couple of classes after that--again based on performance at the youth levels.

I see that you agree that Hermantown should be in AA, but the "drop-off in talent" statements still irk me. It irks me because to some people the idea that Hermantown won't be a top 5 AA team every year is used as an excuse to stay in A. To some it seems the thought of not going to state every year is too painful to even contemplate.

Yes, the Hermantown youth teams don't have gaudy records, but as I posted before the bantams did beat #2 Edina, #3 Blaine, #4 Sibley, #6 EP, #12 Brainerd, #14 Moorhead, tied #5 Wayzata, went 4-1 against fellow 7AA teams Duluth and GR, and played the top team in 7AA, Cloquet, very tough. And as I've said before, the big metro programs will lose players to private schools and Hermantown won't, so that closes the gap some also. Not to mention that if Hermantown goes AA and the new coach welcomes any transfers with open arms, the Hawks may attract even more talent. (Imagine how much more insanely good the Hawks would have been had Plante had welcomed that top Cloquet player to join the team.)

Yes, they also lost to some of these top teams also, but that's what happens when you play with teams of the same caliber: parity. And there's no reason to think this group of players won't be the #2 seed in 7AA when they are seniors. I find it mind-boggling that there are Hermantown fans out there that think this isn't better than continuing to kick butt in A

Hermantown beat the best "7A" team, Virginia, a team ranked #4 amongst A programs, 9-3! So if these Hawk bantams are still in A in 3 years, they will be beating up on Virginia and Greenway teams that will probably be top ten in A. Nothing will have changed.

For pete's sake, friggin' Edina didn't make the tourney this year. Everyone has years where they just aren't as good, and if you play against comparable teams, that means you are going to not go to state some years. If Hermantown stays, their "down" years will continue to be like 2014, which was the weakest Hawk team I've seen in a long time, yet they still went to the A title game!

If Hermantown has to face a season or two where they would be lower than the #2 seed in 7AA, I think the program will still survive.

thestickler07 · Post by **thestickler07** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 3:59 pm

JohnnyBuck wrote:I don't hear anyone saying he is a bad guy. The issue is many feel he is selling the program short and can/should compete at the AA level. To say that he is a great coach I won't disagree, although I will say a monkey could have coached this year's team to a class A state title. Also, they will have no problem replacing him with a great coach and to say his son could replace him is no stretch. Finally, I agree that there will be a drop off in talent, but it is not like they are bottoming out. They may have to regroup like most high schools and may only get to the tournament once every four years. You are not supposed to make it every year.

I'm saying he's a bad guy.

He's a hypocrite and a sore loser.

pekyman · Post by **pekyman** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 4:43 pm

thestickler07 wrote:
JohnnyBuck wrote:I don't hear anyone saying he is a bad guy. The issue is many feel he is selling the program short and can/should compete at the AA level. To say that he is a great coach I won't disagree, although I will say a monkey could have coached this year's team to a class A state title. Also, they will have no problem replacing him with a great coach and to say his son could replace him is no stretch. Finally, I agree that there will be a drop off in talent, but it is not like they are bottoming out. They may have to regroup like most high schools and may only get to the tournament once every four years. You are not supposed to make it every year.
I'm saying he's a bad guy.

He's a hypocrite and a sore loser.

If I wrote what I honestly think about you this thread would get locked so I'll keep it to myself.
Then again, in addition to your opinion, there is so much other garbage on these 4 pages it should get locked anyway.