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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 4:04 am
by karl(east)
FYI, I've taken down yesterday's blog post. There's just too much misinformation swirling for my comfort.

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 5:36 am
by WestMetro
Karl

Thought your blog was a pretty good hypothesis

Who, when (if ever ) will more fully clarify details?

Also, what is your info on NTDP invites status

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 6:19 am
by Schotzy
mulefarm wrote:Why the shot at East?
.

It is believed that a person or player from East sent information indicating the drinking incident. I do not know if it is true or not, but I have plenty of people close enough to the situation, all saying the same thing.

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 7:25 am
by karl(east)
WestMetro, it may have all fit together nicely, but in the end it was still speculation in trying to make those connections, and if there's some doubt about the facts of the case, I'm not comfortable keeping it up.

I want to make it clear that I thought for a long time about the ethics of that post. I had it written up maybe 18 hours before I posted it. As I hope has been clear down the years on this Forum, I try to do everything I can to make sure people's reputations don't get dragged through the muck unfairly (especially if minors are involved).

I have little interest in the sordid off-ice affairs of hockey players unless they become parts of larger stories. (Someone tweeted his phone number at me last night and offered to tell me about "the behavior of several teams"...yeah, I have no interest in running a high school party gossip mill.) I tried to say as little of that as possible in the post, and referenced it only when relevant to the story about Klatt. I thought (and still think) Klatt's story is worth telling, and while I understand the instinct to circle the wagons in a situation like this and/or insist on privacy, I think transparency is the best way to kill rumors. And there are an awful lot of rumors flying around right now.

I can't say anything certain on what Hain and McLaughlin might do, but they certainly were fans of Klatt, so losing him (and the coaching instability in general...4 in 5 years!) can't help.

I will also say this: coaching is a tough, often thankless job, and there is so, so much that goes into it behind the scenes. LaRoque's comments when he stepped down suggested he'd grown tired of parent stuff, and I recall Rothstein marveling at how it seemed to be a full-time job. GR is the easy example right now, but it's true everywhere.

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 7:28 am
by Mite-dad
It is a different era for sure. I was an idiot when I was playing sports in HS 35+ years ago. I went to some parties and did stupid crap. I took the risk and didn't get caught. I was lucky. Today it isn't worth taking the risk with camera phones and social media. Totally foolish. This, IMO, is on the players and parents (as it was on me and my parents way back then).

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 8:09 am
by warriors41
Social media today makes it so much tougher. The kids are just as dumb today as they were 30 years ago when in reality they need to be a lot smarter. I graduated in 2009 and even since then it's completely different. When Warroad went to state that year one kid got suspended for chewing in the hotel. He wasn't a high caliber player so it wasn't much of a story but it also helped that people couldn't keep retweeting about that stuff. Come to think of it I think the summer before or after my senior year a few Roseau players got suspended for drinking at the memorial but it wasn't a well known story either. This forum didn't speculate about the situation at all; I don't even remember a thread about it.

In some ways it's unfair to the kids today. But mainly its these kids who still put themselves in these situations. I didn't even drink soda during the season. Its all about discipline. What matters more, being at the party Friday night or being able to play the next week? And thinking that the coach needs to know where all 25 players are at all times is ridiculous. If we are gonna hold an adult's feet to the fire over these situations it should strictly be their parents, but even then the players are still old enough to know better. Obvious exception for any incidents that occur on bus trips or hotel stays or other team events.

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 8:45 am
by WestMetro
Karl, i'm sure you talked to some people with firsthand knowledge of the various incidents. And we were all observers of the medal incident. So you are entitled to make reasonable inferences to connect the dots, and your words were very measured

All in all, I thought your post was reasonable and appropriate, if no one was going to be offering any further specifics.

Perhaps GR HS online can keep pushing for further specifics

I would also like to see some public acknowledgemeant of Trent from the captains, but that is just my personal opinion

Aside from the grand rapids community, there are thousands if not tens of thousands of us out here who are emotionally tied to Grand Rapids hockey, in my case for over 50 years. So I feel a lot more daylight on the situation is
appropriate

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 9:03 am
by mnhockey1501
Reading this whole forum made me a little sick in all honesty. Dragging this kid through the mud because he decided to drink? The kid made a mistake! I really forgot all of the members of the forum are perfect people and were perfect as high schoolers! Imagine if he was your kid and you had to read this.

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 9:15 am
by WestMetro
1501

It's way past one kid now

I don't think anyone in this thread mentioned any kids name in a negative way
Nor did Karl or GRHS On line

This is now a statewide news story and I suspect may well have gone national by now.

Like Karl had said , Grand Rapids is THE hockey town in THE hockey state in the country . What happens there matters

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 9:32 am
by mulefarm
Come on, THE hockey town? Don't think so.

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 9:40 am
by TheHockeyDJ
mulefarm wrote:Come on, THE hockey town? Don't think so.
The attendence GR gets at home for regular season games is by far higher than anyone else. If there is another town as crazy about their home team I'd like to see it.

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 10:14 am
by WestMetro
I don't know the exact figures every game , but I heard that Grand Rapids had regular season crowds approaching 3000 at home against Duluth East and also away at Hibbing. As far as I know, the biggest regular season non tournament attendance in the metro this year was 1900 for Stillwater at Hill Murray because I talked to their ticket office that night; and that was probably the highest in the metro since 2011

Meanwhile I heard the section 7 final was over 6000

So yes, I do think there are no other fans like the Thawks, but would defer to Karl, YHH and GRHS for addl perspective

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 11:22 am
by kniven
WestMetro wrote:I don't know the exact figures every game , but I heard that Grand Rapids had regular season crowds approaching 3000 at home against Duluth East and also away at Hibbing. As far as I know, the biggest regular season non tournament attendance in the metro this year was 1900 for Stillwater at Hill Murray because I talked to their ticket office that night; and that was probably the highest in the metro since 2011

Meanwhile I heard the section 7 final was over 6000

So yes, I do think there are no other fans like the Thawks, but would defer to Karl, YHH and GRHS for addl perspective
Well. I'm in Grand Rapids every year for the CEC vs. Rapids matchup. Purple vs. orange. Paper mill town vs. paper mill town. Place is pretty packed for each game. I've been going there once a year since 11-12 season.

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 12:53 pm
by NLHockey
kniven wrote:
WestMetro wrote:I don't know the exact figures every game , but I heard that Grand Rapids had regular season crowds approaching 3000 at home against Duluth East and also away at Hibbing. As far as I know, the biggest regular season non tournament attendance in the metro this year was 1900 for Stillwater at Hill Murray because I talked to their ticket office that night; and that was probably the highest in the metro since 2011

Meanwhile I heard the section 7 final was over 6000

So yes, I do think there are no other fans like the Thawks, but would defer to Karl, YHH and GRHS for addl perspective
Well. I'm in Grand Rapids every year for the CEC vs. Rapids matchup. Purple vs. orange. Paper mill town vs. paper mill town. Place is pretty packed for each game. I've been going there once a year since 11-12 season.
Does any other high school arena in MN have season ticket holders (besides GR)?

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 1:00 pm
by Jeffy95
karl(east) wrote:FYI, I've taken down yesterday's blog post. There's just too much misinformation swirling for my comfort.
Karl, I never had a chance to read it. Please put it back up and post a link. Just put a disclaimer on it and you're good. Thanks!

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 3:26 pm
by mulefarm
NLHockey wrote:
kniven wrote:
WestMetro wrote:I don't know the exact figures every game , but I heard that Grand Rapids had regular season crowds approaching 3000 at home against Duluth East and also away at Hibbing. As far as I know, the biggest regular season non tournament attendance in the metro this year was 1900 for Stillwater at Hill Murray because I talked to their ticket office that night; and that was probably the highest in the metro since 2011

Meanwhile I heard the section 7 final was over 6000

So yes, I do think there are no other fans like the Thawks, but would defer to Karl, YHH and GRHS for addl perspective
Well. I'm in Grand Rapids every year for the CEC vs. Rapids matchup. Purple vs. orange. Paper mill town vs. paper mill town. Place is pretty packed for each game. I've been going there once a year since 11-12 season.
Does any other high school arena in MN have season ticket holders (besides GR)?
Not that I know of. Some have reserved or valet parking!

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 3:06 am
by blindref
Brainerd and Bemidji have "reserved" areas for boosters

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 3:33 am
by Crusty
So now he's saying he can't coach and be a NHL scout at the same time. Don't ya think he should of maybe known that prior to taking the job..?

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 9:54 am
by zamboniexhaustinhaler
Crusty wrote:So now he's saying he can't coach and be a NHL scout at the same time. Don't ya think he should of maybe known that prior to taking the job..?
That's for public consumption.

Like the line "....to spend more time with my family..." used in various situations.

At the same time, sometimes you don't know about something, until you try it out.

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 4:51 pm
by Section 8 guy
I agree completely that being as transparent as possible (within data privacy rules of course) in these situations is the best policy. It eliminates or reduces the need for rumors and the damage they can cause.

That said, I don't think it's realistic at all to expect a statement from the players or captains. I can't imagine that anyone in a PR role would think its a good idea for kids to be a significant voice or primary source of information on this situation. This is a high school hockey team with players that are kids. It isn't the Wild or Gophers.

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 3:13 am
by GoldenBear
Agree with Section 8. Klatt isn't coaching anymore. He has made his statement. There doesn't need to be anymore communication. I think we all understand most of what caused his resignation. Do we need all of the details? NO. We don't need to get every last detail. Do we want all of the details so we can throw people under the bus, mention names of high school kids and act as if those responsible are very bad people...a lot of people would like that. I personally, would like this discussion to end. Hopefully, the people/players involved will learn from the situation. I highly doubt the mistakes made by players/coaches require significant retribution and flogging. Hopefully the Grand Rapids Community will be forgiving and understanding and move on as well. They have a good thing going on with Rapid's hockey; continue to be proud of what you have and not let a MINOR setback tarnish it. GB

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 3:51 am
by mulefarm
GB, agree. I do think GR going through as many coaches as they have is more than a minor problem. I think in the long run Klatt was a great fit. Will be interesting how the GR hockey community moves forward. This might turn into a positive wake up all for all!

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 4:50 am
by greenwayraider
My big concern is that Rapids ends up hiring Clafton away from Greenway.

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 4:51 am
by WestMetro
GP/Mulefarm

I'm not sure this is just a local Grand Rapids community story. It also affected the section 7 community, the state hockey tournament community, to some extent the national recruiting environment, all of which affects MS HSL hockey reputation

I don't think anyone is talking about flogging individual names. In fact I don't see any further value to discussion of specifics

But I'm just not sure there aren't more appropriate elements of the story

One thing I hope is that this is a learning lesson to reiterate that captains have some responsibility to help keep young man on track throughout the hockey season. Emphasis on help. Parents first, coaches and hockey mentors second , but also the older hockey teammate leaders

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 5:52 am
by zamboniexhaustinhaler
WestMetro wrote:GP/Mulefarm

I'm not sure this is just a local Grand Rapids community story. It also affected the section 7 community, the state hockey tournament community, to some extent the national recruiting environment, all of which affects MS HSL hockey reputation

I don't think anyone is talking about flogging individual names. In fact I don't see any further value to discussion of specifics

But I'm just not sure there aren't more appropriate elements of the story

One thing I hope is that this is a learning lesson to reiterate that captains have some responsibility to help keep young man on track throughout the hockey season. Emphasis on help. Parents first, coaches and hockey mentors second , but also the older hockey teammate leaders
In a perfect world, sure, but we don't live in a perfect world.

I've seen plenty of times, where a kid won't listen to a captain, etc., just for that reason; because they're the captain, they're jealous, etc.