Pre-Season Mr. Hockey Top Ten

[CarGuy]

i for one believe whether NESS is a junior or counted as a senior, it would be nice to see a defenseman win the award....i think it should go to the BEST hockey player regardless of year in school....just like the hobey baker award.....with applying a little logic, a student is a junior or senior based on the number of credits he or she has completed, not the number of years a student athlete has played a sport...if that was the case, someone playing varsity in any sport as an 8th grader which is very common in sports like swimming, diving, and cross country and even hockey int he case of nate schmidt for st. cloud cathedral would not be eligible to compete in sports as a senior...so i say let NESS compete for the prestigous award if he has the type of season that is needed to win it.

[The Exiled One]

I put in an email to the Chairman of the Minnesota Minutemen (Loren Feldkamp) to see if Ness would be eligible. That was this morning and I haven't heard back yet.

[breakout]

Can anyone tell me what the definition of Mr. Hockey is?

How is Mr. Ness stacking up to the senior D in the Elite League?

[5th Line Center]

Can anyone tell me what the definition of Mr. Hockey is?

How is Mr. Ness stacking up to the senior D in the Elite League?

I don't think Mr. Ness played very many games in the "Elite" league since he contracted mononucleosis at the start of it. (Hopefully he's spent the last month and a half resting and hitting the books. Any physical activity--especially contact sports--within three or four weeks of mono could put him in danger or rupturing his spleen.)

As far as using the "Elite" league statistics as a metric for comparing players goes, I would pass on that exercise. I watched the elite league games for three weekends and thought they were of little more value than conditioning and recreation activity for the players.

Regarding how good a player Ness is... Let's just say that there is one other defenseman in the state that is of comparable calibre. I'll let you figure out who that might be.

[Gopher Blog]

Any physical activity--especially contact sports--within three or four weeks of mono could put him in danger or rupturing his spleen.)

He played for the USA NTDP for a couple of games two weeks ago out in Colorado so they must feel he is safe.

[boblee]

I'm tired of all this talk about how a defenseman has to win the award. A defenseman won it last year. It isn't like it is something that hasn't happened in 30 years.

[5th Line Center]

Any physical activity--especially contact sports--within three or four weeks of mono could put him in danger or rupturing his spleen.)

He played for the USA NTDP for a couple of games two weeks ago out in Colorado so they must feel he is safe.

How did he look? Did he look like his normal self, or did he still seem to be dragging a plow? Mono usually takes a couple of months to shake--even though the symptoms (fever, sore throat, swollen glands, headaches, significant fatigue) can disappear within a month, a person may not be back to normal strength for awhile, possibly months...

[Gopher Blog]

How did he look? Did he look like his normal self, or did he still seem to be dragging a plow? Mono usually takes a couple of months to shake--even though the symptoms (fever, sore throat, swollen glands, headaches, significant fatigue) can disappear within a month, a person may not be back to normal strength for awhile, possibly months...

I didn't see the games so I can't answer that question. But he was in the lineup for them and considering that is a much higher level of play than the Elite League, I am guessing he couldn't have been too incapacitated by any illness situation.

[The Exiled One]

I put in an email to the Chairman of the Minnesota Minutemen (Loren Feldkamp) to see if Ness would be eligible. That was this morning and I haven't heard back yet.

Here's portions of the response I received from Loren Feldkamp. It looks like he will need updates about Aaron's academic progress to prove he's on pace to graduate. He's also going to ask the coaches and scouts who vote on the award for their input. If Aaron's interested in winning the award, somebody close to Aaron should start corresponding with him. PM me if you want his email address.

Good question! I think I recently read about Aaron's attempt to complete his high school requirements this year.

I'm wondering if Aaron's credits are coming to fruition so that the NHL scouts and college hockey coaches (that vote on the award) will be able to be notified that Aaron's junior and SENIOR years are both happening this school year and that he will likely graduate in the spring. Are you a Roseau area resident that you or someone from the school district could document Aaron's progress and subsequent likelihood of graduating this spring? I responded that I was neither

I usually start my Mr. Hockey annual responsibilities by updating the list of scouts and coaches so that I know that I have an accurate ballot list. I could poll some of the veteran scouts and see if they are aware of Aaron's situation.

Thank you for your communications,

Loren Feldkamp

[EREmpireStrikesBack]

I'm tired of all this talk about how a defenseman has to win the award. A defenseman won it last year. It isn't like it is something that hasn't happened in 30 years.

Last year, the year before, the year before that...

Pretty sure 4 of the last 8 have been defenseman. The best senior in the state should win, regardless of position (except goalies, they have their own award).