Congrats to Sleepy Eye

[HShockeywatcher]

Sleepy Eye has always been the team people use in discussion when talking about a team that can't do anything. You have to go back to 01-02 to find a year where they weren't the lowest ranked team in PageStat. (looks like they didn't play in 02-03) Although it seems the streak has continued to this year, they got two wins against the same team during the season and got a section win last night against a team they lost to twice during the season

This is their first section win in ten years. While I doubt they will beat Hutchinson in the quarterfinals, this is a great accomplishment for the program in my opinion.
Does anyone know much more about the program and the age of players etc?

Good luck Indians.

[Edger]

Nice post. It's refreshing to see posts that are positive, rather than the usual ..... "they suck".
You pretty much pointed out the long hard road it has been for them. Year to year they have been plagued by declining numbers and lack of talent. They actually had some decent teams around the turn of the 2000's. Believe it or not, had one of the states top scorers in Loren Havermeier, think he was the top scorer in the state as a senior. Since that time, when they did get good players, I believe some went to New Ulm to play in a better program.
Their youth levels play in District 4, and they've had some "B" decent teams the last couple years. Just enough to feed the program a little better each year. They were better this year, very few blow-outs and some tough losses at the end of games. They won't be winning the section anytime soon, and they will be hammered by Hutchinson, but their kids love to play and they will keep showing up.

[golfer5]

Nice Win for the Underdog. Well written thanks.

[brandy38]

Any team that's been able to escape the PC police this long and be called the Indians is worth cheering for.

[Black Ice]

Sleepy Eye has always been the team people use in discussion when talking about a team that can't do anything. You have to go back to 01-02 to find a year where they weren't the lowest ranked team in PageStat. (looks like they didn't play in 02-03) Although it seems the streak has continued to this year, they got two wins against the same team during the season and got a section win last night against a team they lost to twice during the season

This is their first section win in ten years. While I doubt they will beat Hutchinson in the quarterfinals, this is a great accomplishment for the program in my opinion.
Does anyone know much more about the program and the age of players etc?

Good luck Indians.

According to mshsl website, they have most of their team back next season including both goalies(lose 3 srs). They fielded a Bantam B team and an undefeated Peewee B team, so they appear to have enough numbers coming up to sustain and grow the program. A key pt was made that they need to keep their better players from going to New Ulm, which kills any success they may have building. Havermeier was mentioned in this thread. He went on to a 4 yr career @ Gustavus and was one of their best players. Players like that can help turn a program if they keep enough numbers.
Looks like they're in alot better shape than a few years ago. Good to see.

[hockeydad]

According to mshsl website, they have most of their team back next season including both goalies(lose 3 srs). They fielded a Bantam B team and an undefeated Peewee B team, so they appear to have enough numbers coming up to sustain and grow the program. A key pt was made that they need to keep their better players from going to New Ulm, which kills any success they may have building. Havermeier was mentioned in this thread. He went on to a 4 yr career @ Gustavus and was one of their best players. Players like that can help turn a program if they keep enough numbers.
Looks like they're in alot better shape than a few years ago. Good to see.

Not an undefeated B team, but a good one, finished third in the district and qualified for regions.

I congratulate them for their win and wish them luck in teh future

8 to 10 years years ago, when working for a Metro weekly newspaper, I wrote a column defending the two-class hockey system. I cited the small town high school programs like sleepy eye's that had started since the two class system started. I even used Loren Havemeier's in my column. I remember he went on to play juniors, but never heard about him after that. I think he was a good baseball player too.

[Edger]

Another small victory for SE last night, went down but weren't embarassed.
Picking up a goal on the defending section champs in their own building and making it to the second round will help the program a lot.
Hutch is a classy HS program. I get the feeling they didn't put the hammer down. (Unlike Virginia, who decided to win a game last night 22-0.)
Yep. Havemeier (Bear) was a dandy baseball player too, state champ in that if I remember right.

[HShockeywatcher]

Another small victory for SE last night, went down but weren't embarassed.
Picking up a goal on the defending section champs in their own building and making it to the second round will help the program a lot.
Hutch is a classy HS program. I get the feeling they didn't put the hammer down. (Unlike Virginia, who decided to win a game last night 22-0.)
Yep. Havemeier (Bear) was a dandy baseball player too, state champ in that if I remember right.

So, do they have athletic kids and do fine in other sports, it is just their hockey programs that suffer?

[Edger]

Dynasty-like in baseball, or at least they were, for years.
No correlation to the hockey struggles really. There just seems to be a stubborn group that has stuck it out and has always made it work somehow (in hockey). Good to see them having a better go of it lately.
One interesting fact - if you ever go to their rink and the seats look familiar? They are. (to us old folks, anyway)
They have the multi-colored padded chairs from the old Met Center in their seating area. Pretty cool.

[casualobserver]

I was at the Hutch game on Thursday. SE scored a goal in the second period and Hutch scored a goal in the second, so they can claim they played even with them for one period.

The kids worked hard and I liked their goalie. Hutch did not let up at anytime during the game, but did rotate all three lines and mixed in the fourth line in the third.