St. Louis JR. Blues win Tier III Jr. A championship.
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clutterbuck22
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St. Louis JR. Blues win Tier III Jr. A championship.
Congrats to the Blues on winning the Tier III Jr. A championship. They beat the South Shore Kings from the EJ league 4-3. This is the last year the tournament will be held in Marlborough, MA. Ice Hawks will host the national tournament next year at the Rec and the Graham. Should have a lot more fans as they don't have anything to compete with like they do near Boston. Also this is the last year the EJ league will be in the Tier III as they are moving up to Tier II. Should be interesting to watch next year.
I heard they were trying to get out of tier III and become something between the NAHL and tier III. Like Tier III AA or something like that. I'm guessing since they lost the championship this year they won't be doing that. No basis for it since they aren't any better than the teams they compete with now.
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clutterbuck22
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- Joined: Sat Dec 26, 2009 12:28 pm
They didn't fair very well in the best of the rest pool either. Guess its better for the Ice Hawks if the league doesn't make the trip next year to Rochester. Make it easier for them to play in the championship game in front of the home fans.huville wrote:I heard they were trying to get out of tier III and become something between the NAHL and tier III. Like Tier III AA or something like that. I'm guessing since they lost the championship this year they won't be doing that. No basis for it since they aren't any better than the teams they compete with now.
St. Louis did a nice job this year, but don't get too carried away with comparisions to the EJHL.
South Shore outshot the Blues 45-20, and the Monarchs outshot the Blues 48-25. The Blues had a hot goalie and, to their credit, took advantage of it.
The EJHL Best of the Rest team included only players that have not yet made college commitments. Over 140 EJ players have already committed or, on average, about 10 per team. The other leagues (a) don't have anywhere near that number of NCAA bound players; and (b) didn't restrict their rosters to uncommitted kids. If the EJ wanted to win the tournament, instead of promoting the kids who have not signed college deals yet, it could easily have sent a team of 20 Division I signed players.
South Shore outshot the Blues 45-20, and the Monarchs outshot the Blues 48-25. The Blues had a hot goalie and, to their credit, took advantage of it.
The EJHL Best of the Rest team included only players that have not yet made college commitments. Over 140 EJ players have already committed or, on average, about 10 per team. The other leagues (a) don't have anywhere near that number of NCAA bound players; and (b) didn't restrict their rosters to uncommitted kids. If the EJ wanted to win the tournament, instead of promoting the kids who have not signed college deals yet, it could easily have sent a team of 20 Division I signed players.
jr natls
Don't get carried away with the shot totals.. I was at the semifinal games South shore outshot the IceHawks 55 - 20 but at least 20 of those shots were from the blue line and a few from the SS defensive Zone. Even the goalie probably got credited with a shot or 2. Pretty much same story with SL and NH.
The reason for all of the D-1 Committements is the fact that the EJ is geographically located so close to all of those schools. If I was a scout I wouldn't go anywhere else either.
I'm not saying that the EJ players aren"t good, I'm just saying there was no difference in the skill level, speed or size for any of the 4 semifinalist teams. You could add Dubuque and the Bobcats too.
Not sure how you can say it was only the goalie for St L. either.. though I didn't see the game the stats say SL scored two shorties,, must not have been any D1 guys on the blue line during the pp.
bottom line... have the teams put on each others jerseys and you wouldn't notice any difference, might actually be a good thing for the officials from what I saw... very inconsistent,,, but officials don't win or lose games,, no excuses
The reason for all of the D-1 Committements is the fact that the EJ is geographically located so close to all of those schools. If I was a scout I wouldn't go anywhere else either.
I'm not saying that the EJ players aren"t good, I'm just saying there was no difference in the skill level, speed or size for any of the 4 semifinalist teams. You could add Dubuque and the Bobcats too.
Not sure how you can say it was only the goalie for St L. either.. though I didn't see the game the stats say SL scored two shorties,, must not have been any D1 guys on the blue line during the pp.
bottom line... have the teams put on each others jerseys and you wouldn't notice any difference, might actually be a good thing for the officials from what I saw... very inconsistent,,, but officials don't win or lose games,, no excuses