Hermantown Offically Moving Up to AA

Papabear · Post by **Papabear** » Sat Mar 11, 2017 9:04 pm

Go back to one class! Problem solved! I'm $ure the high $chool league would di$agree. When it comes down to it why did they really go to a two cla$$ $y$tem to begin with. Just my two cents.

tezer13 · Post by **tezer13** » Sat Mar 11, 2017 11:08 pm

Jeffy95 wrote:
warriors41 wrote:
Jeffy95 wrote: That isn't why they added an A tournament. If it was, they wouldn't allow opt ups. And STA is the only one who has opted up. The rest opted up from the start.
I know for a fact that Roseau did not compete in AA from the start. And I'm also pretty sure Benilde St. Margaret's won a class A tournament and now they play AA, although maybe their enrollment grew. Bemidji just made the decision to opt up just in the last 5-8 years or so. Those are just teams off the top of my head.

As to your other point, the MSHSL also did not intend for the Class A to be a training ground for Class AA. They started the two class system to grow the game. I have no doubt that a town like Luverne wouldn't have grown it's program like it has without the two class system. But surely the didn't want to water down the talent pool in Class A by guilt tripping food programs to opt up. It was a still a compelling David vs Goliath match up between Luverne and H-town on Wednesday.
Forgot about Benilde. I doubt anyone pressured Roseau, Bemidji, Hibbing Cloquet, Rapids or Greenway to move up though. Those are very proud programs that want to compete in AA if at all possible.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe until the merger East could have played single A - so they opted up

Rocketwrister · Post by **Rocketwrister** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 7:34 am

Plante quoted in Duluth paper, "mo we aren't moving up". What a shock.

Slammer and kniven jumped the gun on both these posts

East Side Pioneer Guy · Sun Mar 12, 2017 8:05 am

Papabear wrote:Go back to one class! Problem solved! I'm $ure the high $chool league would di$agree. When it comes down to it why did they really go to a two cla$$ $y$tem to begin with. Just my two cents.

MSHSL was not going to go to two classes. Some whiners went to their legislators and got a bill passed. A competing bill mandating one class also passed. Governor Rudy Perpich, an Iron Ranger, signed the two class bill second, making the two class tournament a matter of state law.

As I recall, the last TV contract for the single class tournament was for $500,000/year. When that had to be renegotiated, the price went way down.

While this was happening, the contract for the arena holding the tournament was re-bid. Norm Green wanted the event badly for his Met Center. he instructed Pat Forcea to go after it hard. A lot of people were uspet when the MSHSL awarded the tournament to the Met Center. One of the justifications was that even though the Met's bid was not much higher than that of the St. Paul Civic Center, the loss of the TV revenue meant they had to make up some of that loss.

It's my understanding that today the TV contract is for all televised high school playoffs, so we don't know what the current rate would be for just boys hockey.

That one class tournament was a cash cow for MSHSL, and it supported other non-revenue generating sports even more than it does now.

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 9:07 am

Well, that's two years in a row that Hermantown has beaten the eventual AA champ during the regular season. But A is where they belong.

They have now won 58 straight games vs A teams, have been to 8 straight title games, have won two straight A titles and now three overall. But A is where they belong.

Their "down" bantam AA teams are still beating fantastic bantam A teams from 7A with ease. But A is where they belong.

99% of players, fans, and coaches in MN think it's insane that they don't opt up. But A is where they belong.

They are a wealthy suburb in a metro area of 250,000 people and excellent players open enroll and move there with regularity. But A is where they belong.

Congrats to the Hermantown players for another great season. You are a talented bunch of hard working kids that deserve the success you've had and I wish you nothing but the best moving forward.

To Plante, Clark, and any other Hermantown bobo that puts trophy chasing ahead of fair play and giving their players a challenge commensurate with their abilities, get bent.

defense · Post by **defense** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 9:48 am

You know, in 5 years Hermantown hockey might suck. They might not win a game. I was around when everyone was trying to push Warroad to AA because they were so dominant. Thing is Hermantown s run is insane better than Warroad was, but the feeling was the same. The feeling was the same for the Cadets too. Thing is, we the fans have created this. One team becomes dominant and we all go nuts. But if they come back to Earth, we forget. If Monticello would have accidently won yesterday, everyone would have been overjoyed for Hermantown losing, but at the same time people would be throwing Monticello to the sharks. They were in fact hating on them during this tourney.
Point is: if we want a decent class A, we need great programs in class A. If we don't want a good class A, we might as well do a two tier program.

MNHockeyFan · Post by **MNHockeyFan** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 10:42 am

defense wrote:Point is: if we want a decent class A, we need great programs in class A. If we don't want a good class A, we might as well do a two tier program.

Exactly.

Jeffy95 · Post by **Jeffy95** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 10:51 am

defense wrote:You know, in 5 years Hermantown hockey might suck. They might not win a game. I was around when everyone was trying to push Warroad to AA because they were so dominant. Thing is Hermantown s run is insane better than Warroad was, but the feeling was the same. The feeling was the same for the Cadets too. Thing is, we the fans have created this. One team becomes dominant and we all go nuts. But if they come back to Earth, we forget. If Monticello would have accidently won yesterday, everyone would have been overjoyed for Hermantown losing, but at the same time people would be throwing Monticello to the sharks. They were in fact hating on them during this tourney.
Point is: if we want a decent class A, we need great programs in class A. If we don't want a good class A, we might as well do a two tier program.

They will not suck in five years. Their current PeeWee team is absolutely loaded. Their only weakness was goalie but they got the best one in the area from Portman last year. Their Squirt group is probably the best group they've ever had. They were ranked #1 by YHH for a good chunk of the year and that was with their best player on the PeeWee AA team. That team is made up of the top players from Hermantown, West Duluth and Proctor/Twig. They will continue to get top players while the top Metro teams lose a few to the privates. If they don't go AA now I really hope they do in the next cycle because their best teams are yet to come. Their current Bantam group is down but only by Hermantown standards. They will continue to sleepwalk through Class A.

MrBoDangles · Post by **MrBoDangles** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 10:57 am

MNHockeyFan wrote:
defense wrote:Point is: if we want a decent class A, we need great programs in class A. If we don't want a good class A, we might as well do a two tier program.
Exactly.

I think you boys are just looking for a David vs. Goliath story.. The AA field had great parity and it was plenty exciting..

8 years of one representative in the A title game is terribly boring.. As we could see with the X clearing out within minutes of their win.

Seedless program..

hockey59 · Post by **hockey59** » Sun Mar 12, 2017 12:12 pm

rainier wrote:Well, that's two years in a row that Hermantown has beaten the eventual AA champ during the regular season. But A is where they belong.

They have now won 58 straight games vs A teams, have been to 8 straight title games, have won two straight A titles and now three overall. But A is where they belong.

Their "down" bantam AA teams are still beating fantastic bantam A teams from 7A with ease. But A is where they belong.

99% of players, fans, and coaches in MN think it's insane that they don't opt up. But A is where they belong.

They are a wealthy suburb in a metro area of 250,000 people and excellent players open enroll and move there with regularity. But A is where they belong.

Congrats to the Hermantown players for another great season. You are a talented bunch of hard working kids that deserve the success you've had and I wish you nothing but the best moving forward.

To Plante, Clark, and any other Hermantown bobo that puts trophy chasing ahead of fair play and giving their players a challenge commensurate with their abilities, get bent.

Perfectly stated Rainer...makes me chuckle now...how Plante would boo hoo it at the press conference after losing year after year after year to STA...but now seems to relish being on the bully pulpit. against the LUVERNS AND MAML's of the world...and is defiant about it... pure Hypocrisy!!! But...HT had a great team this year, congrats to the players! Sadly though, the experience of playing before 18,000 to 21,000 fans in a packed Xcel will never be experienced by their players under the current leadership at HT, including Bruce Plante. You'd think a guy whose son won the Hobey Baker & played on a team that won a Stanley Cup would get it, but sadly he clearly doesn't.