2019 Elite League Rosters

[bardown27]

I see Shattuck has a 15 year old Fleming from Rochester on their roster. Any insight?

Played varsity as a 8th and 9th grader at Mayo. led team in points (14-24-38) as a freshman and had 18-27-45 last year in 16 games before and injury ended his season. Has good size to him for a 15yo

[USA218]

This elite league stuff is becoming a joke. North and GP teams play 4 games in 36 hours Versus cities team that play 2x on those weekends. How could schedulers ever thing this is a good idea? Injuries waiting to happen let alone a fresh team playing a team that has already played 2 games in past 22 hours!

North doesnt play Blue Army at all, some others play them multiple times. As others have said, adding points up regardless of competition.

North and GP travel (hotels, hours on the road, eating out, etc...) damn near every weekend. Cities teams have ONE overnight the entire time. There needs to be some balance but seems to get worse every year.

To bad it's going this way cause it has been a great league that's fun to watch. I will still pay my gate fee to watch teams in Fargo when they are there, for now.

[WestMetro]

I’m still trying to get used to the name changes. Not sure dropping the locational names was a good idea

But I’ve found that if I look at the rosters and schedules closely , I can figure out to see the kids I want , and in a game with good competition . And skip the ones I don’t want to see.

But definitely more complicated than prior years

And many kids are playing before and after, so we are missing lots of key kids . Including several non committed kids . I don’t know how the B and A count compares to past years , would be interesting if someone has that data

[InThePipes]

They can never make everyone happy, but there are a few things that just seem to be really odd and relatively easy to fix.

[MWS coach]

This elite league stuff is becoming a joke. North and GP teams play 4 games in 36 hours Versus cities team that play 2x on those weekends. How could schedulers ever thing this is a good idea? Injuries waiting to happen let alone a fresh team playing a team that has already played 2 games in past 22 hours!

North doesnt play Blue Army at all, some others play them multiple times. As others have said, adding points up regardless of competition.

North and GP travel (hotels, hours on the road, eating out, etc...) damn near every weekend. Cities teams have ONE overnight the entire time. There needs to be some balance but seems to get worse every year.

To bad it's going this way cause it has been a great league that's fun to watch. I will still pay my gate fee to watch teams in Fargo when they are there, for now.

I do find this post almost comical.... First off, you can't have it both ways. Power and Corner home play the four home games to minimize the amount of travel. Both also have larger rosters which helps with a rotation on those 4 game weekends. 24 and 25 players. While I agree this is still a lot of games it is done to try and reduce the amount of travel. It isn't quite as bad as you make it out to be when you look at all the facts.

Also all of the teams do have at least two road trips, sure some are Eau Claire Wisconsin, but TCO as an example has Fargo and Grand Rapid trips so again, your opinion really doesn't align with facts. Add in a weekday game down in Shattuck, which gets to be a really late night for northern suburban teams, which neither Power or Corner home make. Nor do either make a trip to Wisconsin.

The other part of the schedule that you fail to recognize, while yes Corner home does have four trips to the "cities" two of those have Saturday/Sunday games, while two have Saturday only games. So if you look at it with eyes open, they really only have two nights that require an overnight hotel stay, which interestingly is the same number of nights TCO has....things that make you say hmmmmmmm.

Instead of complaining and calling it a joke, offer up a solution. Nope not 100% ideal, but I do think it appears there at least seems to be an attempt to try and balance travel. Fact of the matter is, no matter if it is EL, AAA hockey, HS hockey, Youth hockey. If you live in northern part of the state, you will have to travel more, just a matter of geography.

I agree 100% on Blue Army team..... I guess money still talks the loudest.

[6AAGuy]

This elite league stuff is becoming a joke. North and GP teams play 4 games in 36 hours Versus cities team that play 2x on those weekends. How could schedulers ever thing this is a good idea? Injuries waiting to happen let alone a fresh team playing a team that has already played 2 games in past 22 hours!

North doesnt play Blue Army at all, some others play them multiple times. As others have said, adding points up regardless of competition.

North and GP travel (hotels, hours on the road, eating out, etc...) damn near every weekend. Cities teams have ONE overnight the entire time. There needs to be some balance but seems to get worse every year.

To bad it's going this way cause it has been a great league that's fun to watch. I will still pay my gate fee to watch teams in Fargo when they are there, for now.

I do find this post almost comical.... First off, you can't have it both ways. Power and Corner home play the four home games to minimize the amount of travel. Both also have larger rosters which helps with a rotation on those 4 game weekends. 24 and 25 players. While I agree this is still a lot of games it is done to try and reduce the amount of travel. It isn't quite as bad as you make it out to be when you look at all the facts.

Also all of the teams do have at least two road trips, sure some are Eau Claire Wisconsin, but TCO as an example has Fargo and Grand Rapid trips so again, your opinion really doesn't align with facts. Add in a weekday game down in Shattuck, which gets to be a really late night for northern suburban teams, which neither Power or Corner home make. Nor do either make a trip to Wisconsin.

The other part of the schedule that you fail to recognize, while yes Corner home does have four trips to the "cities" two of those have Saturday/Sunday games, while two have Saturday only games. So if you look at it with eyes open, they really only have two nights that require an overnight hotel stay, which interestingly is the same number of nights TCO has....things that make you say hmmmmmmm.

Instead of complaining and calling it a joke, offer up a solution. Nope not 100% ideal, but I do think it appears there at least seems to be an attempt to try and balance travel. Fact of the matter is, no matter if it is EL, AAA hockey, HS hockey, Youth hockey. If you live in northern part of the state, you will have to travel more, just a matter of geography.

I agree 100% on Blue Army team..... I guess money still talks the loudest.

This is a great post, MWSCoach. Well put. They are doing their best to address the travel for all participants, and probably have done a better job giving a nod to Northern teams than most any other league.
All said, the games have been fun to watch and is solid, consistently good hockey with all kids going hard and competing well. Not sure about the difference between having 7 teams this year or 6 teams in the past, but it seems like a pretty good and consistent pool of talent. And the games are as fun to watch (based on skill level and teamwork) as most high end high school games (though they don't have the same rivalry-cache).
Kudos to the HS Elite League organizers for a pretty well run program with high end talent.

[MrBoDangles]

Funny Kilen didn't make the second tryout. More fishy business. I'm told he will prob. Be a 3rd liner at Hermantown. Very small and doesn't pass.

Complete travesty that Cody Croal of NB isn’t on an EL roster (to my knowledge) Kid made National 15 Camp & is a really nice player. Politics have been a big joke in EL Selections for over a decade & it just keeps getting worse with each passing year.

Agree on the lack of NB skaters part. Actually surprised there weren’t 3 (4)... Still mostly juniors but this season should be a huge wake up call for many. Possibly challenge for a state title for the next two seasons and then no varsity team the next is what it’s looking like.

Old youth association put the cart ahead of the horse and a sad reality is coming after these glory years..

[muckandgrinder65]

Glad to see JT make it for NB.
Under-rated goalie taking advantage of his opportunity.
NB seems to have a way of coming up with good goalies without a rink.
Practice/play home at Chisago Lakes

[O-townClown]

Several shots at Blue Army. How is their participation different from Norway in years past? I think I saw a Norway box score this year versus a Fall 18U team in the Minnesota Hockey league. More appropriate competition for them perhaps.

Teams guest play in the league. I can see being against guest play (Norway, Blue Army, NTDP) but don't think singling out one of the teams makes sense.

[612hockeytown]

Several shots at Blue Army. How is their participation different from Norway in years past? I think I saw a Norway box score this year versus a Fall 18U team in the Minnesota Hockey league. More appropriate competition for them perhaps.

Teams guest play in the league. I can see being against guest play (Norway, Blue Army, NTDP) but don't think singling out one of the teams makes sense.

NTDP goes against a made up team of elite league “stars.” Stats are exhibition. AFAIK - only Team CCM played bs games against squads like AAA Iowa Wild and padded their stats. No one cared because CCM was already getting the shaft in less games played, etc.

Blue Army? Why not at least play a formidable opponent like the u18 Blades? Or a decent tier 1 squad? It’s a rhetorical question because MAP South is trying to control things. I wouldn’t doubt they buy an ownership stake of the league of the league like bantam elites.

[PuckNA]

Funny though, Map South beats BA 10-2, Sanford beats BA 8-3 and 4-2, then Sanford beats Map South 6-0.... Sanford can't beat BA by 6 goals but can beat Map South by 6? Map South beats BA by 8... sounds like it's not cut and dried. I guarantee you they are not a HSEL team (though couple could easily play there), but also not a bad team from what the record shows.. Avi's boys struggle with BA, and looks like even though they lost to Blizzard in OT this weekend they beat both teams that Blizzard got beat up by.... U18 Blades good... not special by any means...

I think they need to stop all the guaranteed spots for HSEL and make kids earn it in tryouts... you have coaches who are also advisers for guys on their squads... ick...

[InThePipes]

Funny though, Map South beats BA 10-2, Sanford beats BA 8-3 and 4-2, then Sanford beats Map South 6-0.... Sanford can't beat BA by 6 goals but can beat Map South by 6? Map South beats BA by 8... sounds like it's not cut and dried. I guarantee you they are not a HSEL team (though couple could easily play there), but also not a bad team from what the record shows.. Avi's boys struggle with BA, and looks like even though they lost to Blizzard in OT this weekend they beat both teams that Blizzard got beat up by.... U18 Blades good... not special by any means...

I think they need to stop all the guaranteed spots for HSEL and make kids earn it in tryouts... you have coaches who are also advisers for guys on their squads... ick...

The transitive property doesn't always work well with these fall games, depends on who's present and how engaged they are. Local U18 (and U16) teams have all leveled out a little from past years when it was primarily just the Blades as the premier non-HSEL team. The Blades, Blue Army and Blizzard all have solid squads, not sure that any are spectacular.

[GoBigorGoHome]

Several shots at Blue Army. How is their participation different from Norway in years past? I think I saw a Norway box score this year versus a Fall 18U team in the Minnesota Hockey league. More appropriate competition for them perhaps.

Teams guest play in the league. I can see being against guest play (Norway, Blue Army, NTDP) but don't think singling out one of the teams makes sense.

NTDP goes against a made up team of elite league “stars.” Stats are exhibition. AFAIK - only Team CCM played bs games against squads like AAA Iowa Wild and padded their stats. No one cared because CCM was already getting the shaft in less games played, etc.

Blue Army? Why not at least play a formidable opponent like the u18 Blades? Or a decent tier 1 squad? It’s a rhetorical question because MAP South is trying to control things. I wouldn’t doubt they buy an ownership stake of the league of the league like bantam elites.

I don't understand the NTDP comment? Did they play against HSEL? If so, who played for team HSEL, and what was the score? Is the info available anywhere? Thanks!

[InThePipes]

Several shots at Blue Army. How is their participation different from Norway in years past? I think I saw a Norway box score this year versus a Fall 18U team in the Minnesota Hockey league. More appropriate competition for them perhaps.

Teams guest play in the league. I can see being against guest play (Norway, Blue Army, NTDP) but don't think singling out one of the teams makes sense.

NTDP goes against a made up team of elite league “stars.” Stats are exhibition. AFAIK - only Team CCM played bs games against squads like AAA Iowa Wild and padded their stats. No one cared because CCM was already getting the shaft in less games played, etc.

Blue Army? Why not at least play a formidable opponent like the u18 Blades? Or a decent tier 1 squad? It’s a rhetorical question because MAP South is trying to control things. I wouldn’t doubt they buy an ownership stake of the league of the league like bantam elites.

I don't understand the NTDP comment? Did they play against HSEL? If so, who played for team HSEL, and what was the score? Is the info available anywhere? Thanks!

It's this coming weekend...the NTDP U17 team is in town, they do this every year.

[6AAGuy]

NTDP goes against a made up team of elite league “stars.” Stats are exhibition. AFAIK - only Team CCM played bs games against squads like AAA Iowa Wild and padded their stats. No one cared because CCM was already getting the shaft in less games played, etc.

Blue Army? Why not at least play a formidable opponent like the u18 Blades? Or a decent tier 1 squad? It’s a rhetorical question because MAP South is trying to control things. I wouldn’t doubt they buy an ownership stake of the league of the league like bantam elites.

I don't understand the NTDP comment? Did they play against HSEL? If so, who played for team HSEL, and what was the score? Is the info available anywhere? Thanks!

It's this coming weekend...the NTDP U17 team is in town, they do this every year.

The NTDP games this weekend are on Saturday and Sunday and they are not against a HSEL all star team, it's the two teams at the top of the standings: Power and Mpls St. Paul Magazine

[GoBigorGoHome]

I don't understand the NTDP comment? Did they play against HSEL? If so, who played for team HSEL, and what was the score? Is the info available anywhere? Thanks!

It's this coming weekend...the NTDP U17 team is in town, they do this every year.

The NTDP games this weekend are on Saturday and Sunday and they are not against a HSEL all star team, it's the two teams at the top of the standings: Power and Mpls St. Paul Magazine

Thanks fellas. Also, doesn't Owens already own all or a piece of HSElite, Bantam Elite, MapSouth, and Blue Army?

[thefatcat]

It's this coming weekend...the NTDP U17 team is in town, they do this every year.

The NTDP games this weekend are on Saturday and Sunday and they are not against a HSEL all star team, it's the two teams at the top of the standings: Power and Mpls St. Paul Magazine

Thanks fellas. Also, doesn't Owens already own all or a piece of HSElite, Bantam Elite, MapSouth, and Blue Army?

I don't believe that he has anything to do with HSEL....he owns MAP South, Blue Army and BEL.

South he bought from Justin at MAP North (then Justin opened MAP East and MAP West). North (Super Rink) and West (PIC) are nice facilities...East (Hudson)...meh.

[muckandgrinder65]

[quote=6AAGuy post_id=737351 time=1569256131 user_id=25289]
[quote=InThePipes post_id=737347 time=1569255432 user_id=21172]
[quote=GoBigorGoHome post_id=737344 time=1569254695 user_id=18559]


I don't understand the NTDP comment? Did they play against HSEL? If so, who played for team HSEL, and what was the score? Is the info available anywhere? Thanks!
[/quote]

It's this coming weekend...the NTDP U17 team is in town, they do this every year.
[/quote]
The NTDP games this weekend are on Saturday and Sunday and they are not against a HSEL all star team, it's the two teams at the top of the standings: Power and Mpls St. Paul Magazine
[/quote]
FatCat
Did NTDP play an all star EL in years past or always the top 2 teams in the standings?
Who and how are opponents selected if not the case?
I think 2 other teams were not originally on roster?
Seems like the updates opponent have more size and higher profile players.
Not arguing the choice just speculating on why the change to the schedule
Thanks

[muckandgrinder65]

-on the schedule

[O-townClown]

Muck, last year the NTDP faced North Southwest. Injured players were replaced, and naturally the invitations were extended to high end players. So there was a mechanism to get an elite player in the game who normally played on another team.

Looking forward to two great games!

[WestMetro]

OTC -you did play by play last year? This year?

[612hockeytown]

Muck, last year the NTDP faced North Southwest. Injured players were replaced, and naturally the invitations were extended to high end players. So there was a mechanism to get an elite player in the game who normally played on another team.

Looking forward to two great games!

That might be what I was thinking. I know they make sure the top end players are on both HSEL squads. They try to stack the teams to give themselves a fighting chance. Last couple years - some close games, OT and even some wins. I like it - and have zero issue with that.

[WarmUpTheBus]

Muck, last year the NTDP faced North Southwest. Injured players were replaced, and naturally the invitations were extended to high end players. So there was a mechanism to get an elite player in the game who normally played on another team.

Looking forward to two great games!

That might be what I was thinking. I know they make sure the top end players are on both HSEL squads. They try to stack the teams to give themselves a fighting chance. Last couple years - some close games, OT and even some wins. I like it - and have zero issue with that.

Two years ago Jack Hughes, #1 in the NHL draft this summer, played for the U17 USNTDP in their games against HSEL. IMHO at the time his skating skill was the best I had ever seen in a high school aged player.

[WestMetro]

Agree on Hughes, but Clayton Keller was equally amazing on the NTDP weekend 5? +/- year’s ago

[GoBigorGoHome]

Looking at the stats, and based on the number of shots being given up, the stars in these games appear to be the goalies. 35+ shots allowed is not unusual. Is anyone playing defense, are the shot totals accurate, or is it just a free-for-all attempt to put up points? I'd love to see the plus/minus stats. Goalies are being used as cannon fodder, but appear to be handling it quite well.