Bigfoot12 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 23, 2019 1:24 pm
Jeffy95 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 23, 2019 1:08 pm
Scott is more qualified than anyone to call out Hermantown on their sandbagging and hordes of open-enrollees and transfers. He really gets it.
You seem confused, sandbagging is a golf term whereas a good player plays bad to get in a lower flight to then beat the bad golfers. At no time has Hermantown played bad on purpose
They just have a better handicap than the rest of 7A
As do Montecello, Alex, Maht, SCC, Orono and many others I would be happier if you people would just admit that 7A has been a weak conference for years
Bigfoot and peky’s most cherished belief is that Hermantown’s 7A dominance isn’t due to the Hawks improving that much over the years, it’s just that the rest of 7A has degenerated into a steaming pile of hockey garbage. I, and other forum members who choose to live in reality, disagree. So, while just
calling these bobos delusional would be sufficient, it is far more fun and effective to
prove it.
Let’s start with the past, since apparently Bigfoot can’t remember what happens 10 minutes ago, much less ten years. The numbers next to Hermantown are (overall PageStat ranking/Class A PageStat ranking), other 7A teams have just Class A PageStat ranking.
10-11: Herm (19/2), Hibbing (6), DM (9), Virginia (13)
11-12: Herm (14/2), DM (7), Hibbing (15)
12-13: Herm (9/2), DM (10), Denfeld (11)
13-14: Herm (21/4), DM (6), Denfeld (14)
14-15: Herm (4/1), DM (7), Denfeld (8)
15-16: Herm (1/1), Hibbing (7), Greenway (10)
16-17: Herm (7/1), Greenway (9), Hibbing (10)
17-18: Herm (19/1), Greenway (4), Virginia (12)
So, over the years Hermantown has grown to become a lock for #1 in Class A, spent 3 of the last 4 years in the top 10 overall, and achieved
#1 overall in 15-16, yet Bigfoot and peky would have us believe Hermantown hasn’t gotten any better. And, while they say 7A has gotten progressively worse, the record shows there is at least one other 7A team in the top 10
every season, even after DM went AA.
Now, let’s look to the future, which Bigfoot seems to feel he can read. According to our hairy, mythical friend who haunts the swamp behind the Miller Hill Mall, the rest of 7A sucks and can’t compete with his new hockey-crush programs. (Orono, Alexandria, Monticello) Setting aside the fact that this is a stupid reason to justify keeping Hermantown in Class A, it is patently false, for if you look at the YHH Bantam A rankings, this is what you find (I removed A teams that will play AA in HS from the rankings, such as OMG, Edina, Rogers, etc.):
2. Duluth Denfeld
5. Hibbing
9. Virginia
11. Alexandria
19. Monticello
20. Orono
And while yes, a couple of his favorite squads are indeed at the top of the PWA rankings, lurking close behind are some 7A teams:
1. Orono
5. Alexandria
9. Greenway
13. Proctor
14. Virginia
20. Monticello
Taking into consideration that, in Hermantown, the meaning of the phrase “compete with” means, “beat every team every single time forever”, then yes, I suppose one may think the 7A youth teams can’t compete with his new besties. But if, again, you live and receive your mail in this place called reality, you are more likely to conclude that the 7A teams, while perhaps not winning every time, certainly can compete most years. Also, Alexandria, Monticello, and his other favorite, Mahtomedi, are all near the AA enrollment cutoff and getting closer, so the whole beating these teams in the future argument may likely become moot.
I’m beginning to think Bigfoot is not a person, but an actual Bigfoot, who, instead of being wowed by the magic of a cigarette lighter, has discovered, now that his kid is in HS and gets to play small school teams come playoff time, the even more amazing, ego-inflating joy of woofing about his kid’s hockey success on Facebook. Except, when he then tried to expand this braggadocio to the forum, he was met with a lukewarm response very different from the fawning Facebook back-pats he’d grown accustomed to. In a nutshell: “Look, Hermantown hockey Dad, we wish your kid and his teammates the best as they are clearly hard-working and talented, but your team has been as good as the AA champ every season for 4 years running, so forgive us if we are less than impressed.” This can be a bitter pill to swallow. Perhaps, in your search for truth, you can turn to the wisdom of Lou Nanne, Mike McGraw, Mark Parrish, Scott Pionk, and other highly respected MN hockey minds who have publicly called out Hermantown’s sandbagging.
We get that it is embarrassing to admit that, because of the athletic director, your kid’s team has been put in a position of “interscholastic bullying”, but, what you have to realize is that the only thing more embarrassing than this is closing ranks, putting your Hawk heads in the sand, and pretending that you’re the normal ones, while everyone else is crazy.