Nuts&Bolts wrote:IMO HDM games should always be held up north. Easier to deal with more extreme cold weather than warm and these areas don't get the attention of the metro. Should also shoot for more of a exhibition and avoid conference or section implications. Would also prefer to have a set-up for better TV as the shadows from the pit in ER made it tough. Frankly I liked what GR did on Pokegama last year better than ER though ER is still the higher seed hands down in 7AA this year. Oh also find teams with different colors - what are the odds of 2 purple/wihte/gold teams playing followed by 2 black/red/white teams?
So much wrong in one post. I'll keep my reply to your comment in one paragraph too.
HDM games should NOT be held up north every year. The weather isn't that much colder, unless we are talking Baudette Bay cold, which 40 degrees below zero isn't necessarily ideal. And there is SO much attention on the metro teams and absolutely none paid to the northern teams. I mean, just look at this forum! I can't find anything about Duluth East, Grand Rapids, or ANYTHING on the northern teams! Come on, the northern teams get plenty of "attention". Elk River played Stillwater this year. Elk River is not in the same Section as Stillwater. Elk River is not in the same conference as Stillwater. I don't know what more that you want, but this was about as close to an exhibition as you are going to get. As far as the TV complaint goes, the shadows in the pit were caused by something called the "Sun". This "Sun" is a giant star in the sky that blasts a high amount of light, heat, and radiation at the Earth. We currently have no control over this "Sun" when we are playing outside. I'm sorry that it was a little hard for you to see the puck, but I don't think there is much we can do about it when we are playing hockey outside. I'm glad you liked what Grand Rapids did better than what Elk River did. I thought both cities did a great job, but you certainly have a right to your opinion. However, you did not have to point out that you think that Elk River is the higher seed in Section 7AA, because none of us assumed that because you think that Grand Rapids had the better HDM that they automatically get a higher seed in the Section this year. Finally, the fact that each game had two teams playing with the same color jerseys certainly was a noteworthy observation, but is it really that important that we select teams based on their jersey colors? I mean, are you that nit-picky that you can't even handle same colored jerseys? Geez.
Sorry if that was a little harsh, but somebody had to say it, right?
Alright now it is time to to respond to other comments here. I would love WBL-Hill, but that game is a HUGE money maker for what ever school is hosting it that year, so HDM would have to be hosted by WBL for that to happen. I don't think that HDM will be going to WBL in the near future, but I do think it will happen sometime down the road.
I love the Duluth Harbor idea. I would have to probably drive up there myself and see it in person. They need to do this, and soon.
Harriet Island isn't a bad option, but they already did HDM in St. Paul, so I wouldn't expect them to come back so soon. Johnson needs to be included in this if this does happen.
But again, Duluth Harbor ASAP please.