Didn't agree totally with your other points but those two, definitely!goldy313 wrote:Yes, for a few reasons:
2) The skill level is going down, way down. Kids are much better skaters today than 30 years ago but they can't pass, can't catch a pass, move without the puck, back check, hit the net 3 out of 10 times with a shot, etc. The AA team that played the best team hockey won each game handily.
3) The BSM/Woodbury game was possibly the worst game I've seen in 30+ years. This includes some 1AA teams being beaten by 8 goals.
There isn't a single thing you said that I don't agree with 1000%.MNHockey75 wrote:..The fact is, the single A tournament was Horrible. The worst ever. You add the four AA quarterfinal games where the collective scores were 20-3. And you then throw in a 3-0 AA final and a 5-1 A final and the tourney was just bad. That doesn't take away the fact that I had fun, but to me, it was the worst I've been to (been going since 99). Since I was born, my school has been down there once, I was on that team. So I don't know what it's like to have my school/team there like Hill-Murray did this year and win it. For them it's the best year ever. For others it's horrible because there team got whooped. For people like me who go for the atmosphere, the games, the talent, it was a major let down. But that won't stop me from going next year and the year after that.
It's so much more interesting to hear a lucid argument -- from a one-time participant in the tournament! -- than listen to the too-often illiterate "we" rants of those who've been distracted from their homework.
Your conclusion "...major let down...won't stop me from (continuing to be a fan)" is perfectly expressed.
Their kind of team?packerboy wrote:... the so called high school hockey fans whose support of hockey's year end tournament depends on whether their kind of team wins it...
Or their team?
It sure seems so many of the posters in this thread want to personalize (i.e., "their team") what started as a general (i.e., "the tournament") question.
But then 'personalizing the general' is a hallmark of those who actually obey the principles of 'Policital Correctness' all the while proclaiming their opposition to it.
To them, it's politically incorrect to suggest the tournament is, always has been, and always will be, perfection personified.
It's funny in a way that so few outside this State understand the passion we have for this sport (largely ignored by most Americans) and particularly as played at the high school level. And yet the few zealots who want to hold the 4-day competition above any possibility of criticism (or simple comparative evaluation) make me wonder if they aren't, indeed, "the so called high school hockey fans" who melt so rapidly away this time of year.
Another point well taken.ozzie679 wrote:The tournament may have been interesting to see live. But watching the broadcast was brutal. Besides the crappy games, the atmosphere was and the crowd noise was pathetic.
To which I'll add: listening to the broadcasts is equally brutal.
Play-by-play and color-announcing quality continues to decline. Everywhere.
For which we can all thank the 'Boo-Yah!' school of Bristol, Connecticut and its blanket effect on every sport -- at every level -- covering us like liquid pigeon droppings.
Lou switches loyalty to teams faster than Slappy. "Up for Grabs" 4A and AA knows it!
Bandwagon Schmandwagon! 
<~~ APeman Jr. aka pisp
y shortly after Roseau crushed whoever they beat in the quarterfinal, you know, what's their names?, 
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