SI State Tournament Article by Michael Farber

Doc Holliday · Post by **Doc Holliday** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:47 pm

Be True To Your School
Brackets? Minnesota's high school hockey tournament is a purist's dream
Michael Farber

THE BOYS made a pledge, like many 13-year-olds do. No contract. No blood oath. Just a promise. In 2004, five eighth-graders from Edina, Minn., teammates in the youth hockey program, committed to the same dream. Brendan Baker, Zach Budish, Marshall Everson, Connor Gaarder and Patrick Regan would not merely win the state high school hockey championship someday. They would win it together, for Edina High.
It might not have been an extraordinary pledge in other sports, but in hockey, star players have the opportunity to leave high school for prep schools, junior leagues or the national development program in Ann Arbor, Mich. The idea of playing against better competition, developing more rapidly and enhancing their value to Division I schools or NHL scouts is too seductive for many boys to resist. Stay at your high school and you'll go to your prom—but you might not go to the pros.

No matter: For kids steeped in Minnesota's puck culture some things are more important. "My heroes [growing up] weren't guys who played for the [NHL's Minnesota] Wild," says Baker, 17, a defenseman who will play for Holy Cross next year. "They were guys who played at the high school."

Of course, by pledging to stay in school Edina's Faithful Five were taking another gamble: No matter how skilled they became, their team still might not win the tournament, a feat that carries huge cultural cachet. (Miracle on Ice coach Herb Brooks always said the highlight of his hockey life was not the Olympic gold medal in 1980, but taking the state title with St. Paul's Johnson High in 1955.) Last year when the Faithful Five were juniors, the Hornets lost in the AA final to Hill-Murray, a result that crushed the boys even as it probably tickled the rest of the state. The citizens of Edina, an affluent Twin Cities suburb, have been scornfully dubbed Cake Eaters for at least 50 years. (A Marie Antoinette joke—that is old-time hockey.)

Last Thursday Edina entered the quarterfinals as the No. 1 seed, facing the unranked Spuds from Moorhead, a city of 35,000 on the Red River known for its russet potatoes and as the destination of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper on the day the music died. Moorhead, a team without a Division I prospect, had lost eight straight during one stretch of the season. Edina was going to eat the Spuds' lunch. Instead, Moorhead ate cake, 5--2.

In a postmatch press conference that bubbled with emotion, Baker was asked if he would have made that eighth-grade vow again knowing that he would never achieve his goal. A catch in his voice, he replied, "I wouldn't give up growing up with my friends for anything."

"This is what youth sports should be about," says Lee Smith, the coach of Eden Prairie, an Edina rival. "It's not about rushing your kids out of their households. They can stay back and do something within their own communities, their own schools."

Consider Eden Prairie's star, Nick Leddy, who on Sunday was named the state's Mr. Hockey and might go in the first round of the NHL draft in June. He made the same decision as the Faithful Five, resisting the blandishments of the USA Hockey development program to be, well, a stay-at-home defenseman. "When Nick comes back for his fifth or 10th high school reunion, he'll be a god," Smith says. "If he had traveled to Ann Arbor, where do you go back to when all is said and done?" Leddy weighed the option but chose to stay at Eden Prairie—because, he said in reference to the huge crowds the state tournament draws each year, "where else can you play before 19,000 people?"

He was off by a few thousand. There were 15,967 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul for the Moorhead--Eden Prairie final—a throng, incidentally, larger than that for the men's Big 12 basketball tournament final in Oklahoma City that same day.

There is the embroidery of big-time sports on the fringe of the Minnesota tournament—impressive crowds, statewide television coverage—but it has retained a dewy innocence. Juxtaposed with March Madness, it is March Sanity, a Norman Rockwell painting in which the subjects leap out of the frame and go hard to the net. There are no names on the backs of players' jerseys. The fans wear so many varsity jackets and letter sweaters that the arena looks like an Ozzie and Harriet convention. Even the cheers from the student sections are G-rated, and clever. When a Spuds player was crunched into the end boards in the final, Eden Prairie students chanted, "Mashed po-TA-toes!"

The wholesomeness, coupled with the quality of play, makes the tournament's appeal universal—or at least intercontinental. There are eight or nine fans who come from Sweden every year. (When tiny but storied Roseau High, a tournament darling, didn't get out of its sectional, the Swedes were so disappointed, you would have thought somebody had overcooked their meatballs.) Says Tim Schroeder, a 59-year-old physician's assistant and native Minnesotan who lives five hours away in Dubuque, Iowa, but takes vacation annually to attend the event, "If you like hockey, it's the best you'll ever see. Better than colleges or pros. The Wild is boring compared to high schools."

You might have missed it, but last Saturday's final will never be forgotten by the players and their towns. Leddy went coast-to-coast and snapped in an NHL-heavy 35-foot wrist shot, and Eden Prairie won its first championship, 3--0. Moorhead players were disconsolate, but the news that a celebration was scheduled for them back home the next day should have lightened their moods. "Little kids are asking us for our [broken] sticks and our autographs all the time," says Trent Johnson, Moorhead's 18-year-old captain. "They look up to us." Johnson is 5'4".

Future Spuds don't have to raise their gazes too high to see a reflection of themselves. Like the Edina seniors who gambled and lost a state championship but won everything else, the Moorhead players are a template for the valor and value of youth sports in a nation where kids' fun and games have lost their way.

America, these Spuds are for you.

Indians forever · Post by **Indians forever** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:55 pm

Very nice artilce! Thanks for sharing.

hockeyjunkie2 · Post by **hockeyjunkie2** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:59 pm

Does anyone else find it a little funny that they clearly wanted to go with the Edina team to headline this anticipating they would win the state title and it would be this great story since they stayed together. But once they lost they had to fade away from their intro just a little. That's sort of the feel I got when reading this anyway.

Good story though glad to see the tournament getting large cover by the country. I do like how it is more encouraging for players to stay at home!

bigbopper · Post by **bigbopper** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:00 pm

That's what I'm talking about!
Go boy's.
Stay home and play, it goes by fast enough!

MrBoDangles · Post by **MrBoDangles** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:42 pm

Gotta give the cake eaters some credit.

Post by **karl(east)** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:51 pm

Great article.

Poolside · Post by **Poolside** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:27 pm

hockeyjunkie2 wrote:Does anyone else find it a little funny that they clearly wanted to go with the Edina team to headline this anticipating they would win the state title and it would be this great story since they stayed together. But once they lost they had to fade away from their intro just a little. That's sort of the feel I got when reading this anyway.

Good story though glad to see the tournament getting large cover by the country. I do like how it is more encouraging for players to stay at home!

The author was very clear on that when they interviewed him on television. He specifically intended to write the story on the Edina oath, but once they lost he had to come up with a different angle. He was considering dumping the story. It's good to see he didn't. Very good story.

oldmansundays123 · Post by **oldmansundays123** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:49 pm

i dont buy it..

This is done by the same guy who found it necessary to bash the gophers and St. Paul after they lost to Harvard a few years back. Also notice the absence of Anders Lee. Its almost as if they didnt want the ex cadet to be a scar on the supposedly homegrown cakeeaters

Papa Bergundy · Post by **Papa Bergundy** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 8:04 pm

Why do people feel the need to say anything negative about this article?

It was great, even though we all love to hate Edina. What a perfect depiction of MN hockey at it's finest. Bet those boys who left EP for the Juniors are kicking themselves in the ass now. Great way to show how there's nothing better than winning games for the hometown team.

hockeyjunkie2 · Post by **hockeyjunkie2** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:13 pm

oldmansundays123 wrote:i dont buy it..

This is done by the same guy who found it necessary to bash the gophers and St. Paul after they lost to Harvard a few years back. Also notice the absence of Anders Lee. Its almost as if they didnt want the ex cadet to be a scar on the supposedly homegrown cakeeaters

Anders left and came back he was not part of the group that never left. That would be why he is left out.

Poolside, I didn't catch the interview with him during the tournament I was at the X, thanks for clearing that up.

EHSHack · Post by **EHSHack** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:42 pm

Word is they wanted to do the article on the East vs Edina semifinal game, which never happened lol, but I liked this article very much. I do, in a way, feel proud of Moorhead, as I was in the same hotel as their faithful and quickly became a fan after our loss and their upset. I'll never forget those boys walking into our hotel at 1200 am and holding that trophy up, looking downtrodden, and well over 100 people bursting into applause from all 8 floors balconies and the ground floor. Hell, I clapped for a good 10 minutes. This is what HS hockey is all about!

TheHockeyDJ · Post by **TheHockeyDJ** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:30 am

link to the article page?

sicknasty7722 · Post by **sicknasty7722** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 11:07 am

Papa Bergundy wrote:Why do people feel the need to say anything negative about this article?

It was great, even though we all love to hate Edina. What a perfect depiction of MN hockey at it's finest. Bet those boys who left EP for the Juniors are kicking themselves in the ass now. Great way to show how there's nothing better than winning games for the hometown team.

Who and how many players left and for where?

halla · Post by **halla** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 11:09 am

oldmansundays123 wrote:i dont buy it..

This is done by the same guy who found it necessary to bash the gophers and St. Paul after they lost to Harvard a few years back. Also notice the absence of Anders Lee. Its almost as if they didnt want the ex cadet to be a scar on the supposedly homegrown cakeeaters

You don't buy what, exactly? This is a fantastic article about Minnesota hockey and the positives of sticking with your community and hometown team. Do you think Minnesota hockey is dull and kids are better off leaving to go play elsewhere?

The author apparently has said some stuff in the past that you don't like. Does this mean you must despise every article he writes for the rest of his life? Are you saying we should all dismiss this as crap because of what he has said elsewhere and because not mentioning Lee somehow is creating false perceptions?

So again, I'd like to know what it is you're not buyin'. Really, it seems like you're sore about something and so just felt like leaving a snide comment.

breakout · Post by **breakout** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 11:18 am

halla wrote:
oldmansundays123 wrote:i dont buy it..

This is done by the same guy who found it necessary to bash the gophers and St. Paul after they lost to Harvard a few years back. Also notice the absence of Anders Lee. Its almost as if they didnt want the ex cadet to be a scar on the supposedly homegrown cakeeaters
You don't buy what, exactly? This is a fantastic article about Minnesota hockey and the positives of sticking with your community and hometown team. Do you think Minnesota hockey is dull and kids are better off leaving to go play elsewhere?

The author apparently has said some stuff in the past that you don't like. Does this mean you must despise every article he writes for the rest of his life? Are you saying we should all dismiss this as crap because of what he has said elsewhere and because not mentioning Lee somehow is creating false perceptions?

So again, I'd like to know what it is you're not buyin'. Really, it seems like you're sore about something and so just felt like leaving a snide comment.

Well done

Judgeandjury · Post by **Judgeandjury** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 5:15 pm

hockeyjunkie2 wrote:Does anyone else find it a little funny that they clearly wanted to go with the Edina team to headline this anticipating they would win the state title and it would be this great story since they stayed together. But once they lost they had to fade away from their intro just a little. That's sort of the feel I got when reading this anyway.

Good story though glad to see the tournament getting large cover by the country. I do like how it is more encouraging for players to stay at home!

There's no doubt the story was going to be about Edina. I'm glad they decided to write the story.
Did SI ever do a story on Roseau when they won the State tourney two years ago? That's the story of Minnesota hockey. Before that it would be Jefferson's run in the state tourney. Edina does deserve some press but lets not get carried away........

breakout · Post by **breakout** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:52 pm

Judgeandjury wrote:
hockeyjunkie2 wrote:Does anyone else find it a little funny that they clearly wanted to go with the Edina team to headline this anticipating they would win the state title and it would be this great story since they stayed together. But once they lost they had to fade away from their intro just a little. That's sort of the feel I got when reading this anyway.

Good story though glad to see the tournament getting large cover by the country. I do like how it is more encouraging for players to stay at home!
There's no doubt the story was going to be about Edina. I'm glad they decided to write the story.
Did SI ever do a story on Roseau when they won the State tourney two years ago? That's the story of Minnesota hockey. Before that it would be Jefferson's run in the state tourney. Edina does deserve some press but lets not get carried away........

I am a big fan of the Edina story

Kids, stay in school. You will have memories for a lifetime.

Doubt it? Plenty of great players will support my argument.

oldmansundays123 · Post by **oldmansundays123** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 11:01 pm

halla wrote:
oldmansundays123 wrote:i dont buy it..

This is done by the same guy who found it necessary to bash the gophers and St. Paul after they lost to Harvard a few years back. Also notice the absence of Anders Lee. Its almost as if they didnt want the ex cadet to be a scar on the supposedly homegrown cakeeaters
You don't buy what, exactly? This is a fantastic article about Minnesota hockey and the positives of sticking with your community and hometown team. Do you think Minnesota hockey is dull and kids are better off leaving to go play elsewhere?

The author apparently has said some stuff in the past that you don't like. Does this mean you must despise every article he writes for the rest of his life? Are you saying we should all dismiss this as crap because of what he has said elsewhere and because not mentioning Lee somehow is creating false perceptions?

So again, I'd like to know what it is you're not buyin'. Really, it seems like you're sore about something and so just felt like leaving a snide comment.

I completely agree that kids should stay and play for their hometown squad. But Lee was a KEY member of the Edina team and he was not even mentioned. I just find this odd. Congrats to Moorhead on making the national press. They definitely deserved it

Lakeviewing · Post by **Lakeviewing** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 1:44 am

hockeyjunkie2 wrote:
oldmansundays123 wrote:i dont buy it..

This is done by the same guy who found it necessary to bash the gophers and St. Paul after they lost to Harvard a few years back. Also notice the absence of Anders Lee. Its almost as if they didnt want the ex cadet to be a scar on the supposedly homegrown cakeeaters
Anders left and came back he was not part of the group that never left. That would be why he is left out.

Poolside, I didn't catch the interview with him during the tournament I was at the X, thanks for clearing that up.

Come on, Anders left St. Thomas to play QB at Edina. His real talent will be playing hockey.

Papa Bergundy · Post by **Papa Bergundy** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 7:45 pm

sicknasty7722 wrote:
Papa Bergundy wrote:Why do people feel the need to say anything negative about this article?

It was great, even though we all love to hate Edina. What a perfect depiction of MN hockey at it's finest. Bet those boys who left EP for the Juniors are kicking themselves in the ass now. Great way to show how there's nothing better than winning games for the hometown team.
Who and how many players left and for where?

Two players, Blake Thompson and Alec Rush, left for various USHL teams.

One player, Jason Clarke, left for Shattuck.

So it goes.

HockeyMN1 · Post by **HockeyMN1** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 7:51 pm

Lakeviewing wrote:
hockeyjunkie2 wrote:
oldmansundays123 wrote:i dont buy it..

This is done by the same guy who found it necessary to bash the gophers and St. Paul after they lost to Harvard a few years back. Also notice the absence of Anders Lee. Its almost as if they didnt want the ex cadet to be a scar on the supposedly homegrown cakeeaters
Anders left and came back he was not part of the group that never left. That would be why he is left out.

Poolside, I didn't catch the interview with him during the tournament I was at the X, thanks for clearing that up.
Come on, Anders left St. Thomas to play QB at Edina. His real talent will be playing hockey.

Well if he transfered to play QB you'd think he would have gone to EP.