How many Titles would Eden Prairie have with Mike Randolph in the last 20 years?

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edgeless2
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How many Titles would Eden Prairie have with Mike Randolph in the last 20 years?

Post by edgeless2 » Fri Dec 14, 2018 10:28 pm

I’m not sure how to put up the poll on the new template. But I think it’s a valid question considering the after careers of both teams.

GatorLand
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Re: How many Titles would Eden Prairie have with Mike Randolph in the last 20 years?

Post by GatorLand » Fri Dec 14, 2018 10:45 pm

I am not smart enough to go 20 years back, but I wonder how Randolph(or anyone) would have helped EP win a title in ‘16-‘17 with Casey Middlestat and a bunch of 1998 seniors. EP got a slim win, I think, over Holy Family in sections, then lost to Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids was good, but maybe not as deep as EP.

O-townClown
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Re: How many Titles would Eden Prairie have with Mike Randolph in the last 20 years?

Post by O-townClown » Fri Dec 14, 2018 11:06 pm

What kind of titles?

None? I think Eden Prairie won two state championships. Maybe Mike Randolph would have won one. Two?
Be kind. Rewind.

WarmUpTheBus
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Re: How many Titles would Eden Prairie have with Mike Randolph in the last 20 years?

Post by WarmUpTheBus » Fri Dec 14, 2018 11:38 pm

The last Duluth East champion was in 1998 so technically over 20 season ago so my guess is he would have won more than zero if he would have been at EP.

goldy313
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Re: How many Titles would Eden Prairie have with Mike Randolph in the last 20 years?

Post by goldy313 » Fri Dec 14, 2018 11:46 pm

I contend and have for years Lee Smith is held to a standard no one else is. Yes, he has a top 3 enrollment but he has the toughest section to come through. Many hold to him to a Mike Grant standard but hockey games are not football....a goalie, or pitcher in baseball, can steal a game, Mike Grant can’t steal a game. Armstrong can steal a game come sections. Randolph is a great coach but most years come sections has a one game playoff. EP has a much deeper section year in and year out, so the margin for error is much less.

Jeffy95
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Re: How many Titles would Eden Prairie have with Mike Randolph in the last 20 years?

Post by Jeffy95 » Sat Dec 15, 2018 12:45 am

Easy guys, Randolph doesn't get out the white lab coat until after January 1st. He has his own lab and he keeps mixin up potions until he gets the right mix. And then he looks at the sky and scream, "It Verks, It Verks.!!!!

You ask how many titles Randolph would have won with EP? Given those resources, he would have won all of them!

karl(east)
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Re: How many Titles would Eden Prairie have with Mike Randolph in the last 20 years?

Post by karl(east) » Sat Dec 15, 2018 11:34 am

Interesting question. While I think the elite talent to come through EP over the past decade or so is arguably the best in the state, they've never really had a super team with 6+ D-I players on the par of 2013-2014 Edina or 2015 Lakeville North or 2018 Tonka (or failed super teams like 2010 Tonka, 2012 Duluth East, or 09/15/18 Edina). The closest was the 2011 team that won it all anyway. The only real what-if seasons over the past decade that I can think of are Casey's junior and senior years. But even those two teams, particularly the 2017 one, were not overwhelmingly deep or obvious favorites to win it all. EP just has not produced the depth of an Edina or a Duluth East over the past decade.

It's hard to do hypotheticals. Randolph's greatest strengths as a coach are probably his in-game tactical abilities and his ability to get lower lines to buy into a system that gives them productive ice time against more skilled teams. Maybe that would've been the necessary missing piece in the Casey years. On the flip side, the Randolph system can sometimes (though not always) suppress offense, especially early in a season when they're drilling the systems. Maybe that could've hurt the explosive potential of some of those teams, or annoyed some of EP's stars if they were pegged into a rigid system.

On the whole I think Smith has done a pretty good job with EP. He closed the deal twice when he had the talent to do it, and has been a consistent state entrant out of a very tough section. No matter how good, every coach has a few years he wishes he could have back, as is the case with Randolph at East for 1997 or 2012, maybe 2009 or even last year also. You can certainly poke holes at an occasional lack of discipline or a personnel decision or two last season; his teams couldn't match the toughness of 2016 Wayzata (few could) or stem the momentum of Rapids' date with destiny in 2017. I'm also not really qualified to comment on the first ten years of the 20-year period mentioned in the original post. But since then, I don't think the record is one of failure at all.

wannagototherink
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Re: How many Titles would Eden Prairie have with Mike Randolph in the last 20 years?

Post by wannagototherink » Mon Dec 17, 2018 12:45 pm

The better question is, how many would he have won had Marshall not split the talent in East Duluth for the early to late parts of the 2000's?
"I've never seen a dumb-bell score a goal!" ~Gretter

hockey59
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Re: How many Titles would Eden Prairie have with Mike Randolph in the last 20 years?

Post by hockey59 » Mon Dec 17, 2018 1:01 pm

wannagototherink wrote:
Mon Dec 17, 2018 12:45 pm
The better question is, how many would he have won had Marshall not split the talent in East Duluth for the early to late parts of the 2000's?
As someone who grew up in the Twin Ports during the 1970's, Cathedral (now Marshall) has always been around taking some east Duluth players. I mean, that's where Randolph played in HS. In addition, believe it or not...some talented kids from the east side of Duluth (and their parents) simply didn't or don't want to play for a team that plays such a regimented, structured style [-X As an example, after 5 games Donovan has 4 points & Brodz of Blaine has 21 points in 6 games. I realize Blaine's schedule is a lot weaker, but style of play is a factor in this differential. And some talented hockey players also attend DM as a college preparatory school. Accordingly, I consider this modified question somewhat mute.

karl(east)
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Re: How many Titles would Eden Prairie have with Mike Randolph in the last 20 years?

Post by karl(east) » Mon Dec 17, 2018 8:11 pm

hockey59 wrote:
Mon Dec 17, 2018 1:01 pm
wannagototherink wrote:
Mon Dec 17, 2018 12:45 pm
The better question is, how many would he have won had Marshall not split the talent in East Duluth for the early to late parts of the 2000's?
As someone who grew up in the Twin Ports during the 1970's, Cathedral (now Marshall) has always been around taking some east Duluth players. I mean, that's where Randolph played in HS. In addition, believe it or not...some talented kids from the east side of Duluth (and their parents) simply didn't or don't want to play for a team that plays such a regimented, structured style [-X As an example, after 5 games Donovan has 4 points & Brodz of Blaine has 21 points in 6 games. I realize Blaine's schedule is a lot weaker, but style of play is a factor in this differential. And some talented hockey players also attend DM as a college preparatory school. Accordingly, I consider this modified question somewhat mute.
While the East youth teams have always helped fill out the Marshall roster, there have been ebbs and flows in terms of the caliber of players that go that route. Through the decade of the 00s, some legitimate top-end players who played East youth (Connollys, Jacques, a few others whose names now elude me) went to Marshall. This decade, East has basically closed the door. The only player even near that caliber out of the East youth program to go to Marshall was Luke Dow...and he transferred to East as a junior. The gates have been shut for a while now, and most of the Marshall players who played East youth these days would not make East varsity, or are depth players who would play on lower lines.

And, say this about Randolph: yes, his system is very structured, but to his credit, he's also willing to bend that system to fit the talents of special players in a way that some other system-focused coaches are not. He coached arguably the greatest goal-scorer of the modern HS hockey era in Dave Spehar, Garrett Worth last year, players like Phil Beaulieu and Meirs Moore, and some others over the years who he's turned loose or used in ways that accentuate their strengths. His test for this season is finding that niche for Ryder.

northwoods oldtimer
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Re: How many Titles would Eden Prairie have with Mike Randolph in the last 20 years?

Post by northwoods oldtimer » Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:54 am

Horrible thread title.
The thread should read how many titles would Grand Rapids have with Randolph in the last 20 years.

kniven
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Re: How many Titles would Eden Prairie have with Mike Randolph in the last 20 years?

Post by kniven » Tue Dec 18, 2018 2:48 pm

northwoods oldtimer wrote:
Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:54 am
Horrible thread title.
The thread should read how many titles would Grand Rapids have with Randolph in the last 20 years.
Agreed
“218 hockey” Boys of the NOrth ❤️

northwoods oldtimer
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Re: How many Titles would Eden Prairie have with Mike Randolph in the last 20 years?

Post by northwoods oldtimer » Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:14 pm

kniven wrote:
Tue Dec 18, 2018 2:48 pm
northwoods oldtimer wrote:
Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:54 am
Horrible thread title.
The thread should read how many titles would Grand Rapids have with Randolph in the last 20 years.
Agreed
Mike's a 218 guy =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D>

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