Coaching staffs. Who are the best?

[duluth dave]

It looks like curt giles and his staff have done a good job of bringing a young team around.

[WBLHockeyfan04]

That's all great, but that's not what the question was. The question was what teams have the best coaching staffs, best preparation, best coaching based on talent they have btwn JV and Varsity, improvement from beginning of season to end, etc.

Whether you wanna bash privates like HM, STA, CDH, AHA, that fact remains NO ONE can dispute how good of a coach Lechner is and how he gets his teams to perform year in and year out. Recruiting or not.

I struggle with this one. Lets face it. Lechner's situation is very smiilar to Joe Torre's with the NY Yankees. He always has top notch talent. Not only do they have top notch talent, but they are always very deep as well. When's the last time HM JV did not dominate at their level?

How hard is it to coach that? How well did Torre do when he went to the Dodgers? I would like to see Lechner at a school like North Branch and see how he does there.

Don't get me wrong, I think Lechner is a very good coach and I liked the way he handled the situation a few years back. I also think very highly of their defense coach. In my eyes, he is the shining star on that staff.

BTW, one that is moving up on my radar is Smith over at EP. He won the tourney, backed it up with another championship, and has a team this year that everybody thought would drop off significantly, and has had a very successful year so far.

I don't think putting him at North Branch and seeing how he does would be a fair test. I think putting him at a place that has pretty good talent every year but is not a traditional powerhouse and seeing if he could get them over the hump would be more fair. Maple Grove, Wayzata, even an Eden Prairie (not in a "getting over the hump" sort of way) per your Smith example.

Coach Lechner is a tremendous coach. Obviously having good players is going to make any coach look better, but you still have to win those games. Would you say Phil Jackson, Bobby Bowden, Joe Torre, etc were only great coaches because they had great talent? My answer would be no. He's not only shown that he can get his team to state on a regular basis, but he also has a state championship on his resume. That '08 team was a pretty good team, that he had playing perfect, defensive hockey come tournament time. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they shutout each team they played at state? Very impressive. As a WBL fan, I really do enjoy the WBL/Hill Murray rivalry, but coach Lechner always has his kids well prepared and that's a credit to him and his staff of coaches.

[mnmouth]

Forget Lechner.

The elephant in the room boys, and no one on this forum, not even the East contingent, can get the damn elephant through the door.

Randolph is staring every one of us in the face, and are we all trying to look right past him? Check his record, don't check his record. One thing about Randolph, when he has the front runner, a true front runner, he takes it home. It's taken two epic OTs (one a semi) and a marvelous effort by an opposing goaltender to keep him from being 4-1 in title games. Hell, if the kid scores on that shorthanded breakaway in the 3rd period of the '91 title game, East goes up 4-2 on Hill and Randolph takes a team from nowhere and wins in his first trip to the dance. Say what you want about him, he gets kids to buy into his system and they produce. I don't know a damn thing about the man, but as a coach the dude kicks it. Five title games and a semifinal that was '91 Twins game-7 worthy. A game they actually won. What other coach can say that?

[mnhockfan99]

Lechner is a very solid coach, and has a very good staff. But to say a lot of high school and college coaches would say he is the BEST high school coach in the state, I call b.s. on that one.

Randolph is a top coach for sure, forget if you like him or not..to build and maintain a standard of excellence is much harder than to take a bad team and simply turn it into a relevant team. And if you watch his teams you often can see the little details of the game are taught vs. some teams who simply rely on out-talenting their opponents..

Lots of real quality coaches in the stae currently...

[UntouchableFlow]

Tough to narrow it down to just one, but Lechner has got to be up there. I've been an avid fan of Hill-Murray for about 7 or 8 years, and the difference between his teams at the beginning of the year and the end of the year is always impressive. He can take a talented team of individuals, and turn them into one of the strongest teams in the state come March, every season. Also have a lot of respect for Schafhauser, because Hill-Murray has one of the strongest defensive cores in the state, year in and year out. Like all teams though, there are some down years, I think that this is definitely a down year, but even with that, they are ranked 10th in the state, an undefeated conference record with two strong wins over St. Thomas Academy, and have a very good shot to make it to the big dance at the Xcel. Never a team that you want to play in March.

[PuckU126]

That '08 team was a pretty good team, that he had playing perfect, defensive hockey come tournament time. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they shutout each team they played at state? Very impressive.

You're close.

The 2008 HM team shutout 2/3 opponents at State.
Quarterfinals: Defeated Lakeville South 3-0
Semifinals: Defeated Roseau 6-2
Finals: defeated Edina 3-0

However, the 2004 Centennial team did accomplish that feat at State. I believe they are the only team ever to do so. Not bad for their only State appearance in school history.
Quarterfinals: Defeated Holy Angels 2-0
Semifinals: Defeated Wayzata 3-0
Finals: Defeated Moorhead 1-0

Centennial was armed with Tom Gorowsky ('04 Mr. Hockey), RJ Anderson and Greg Stutz between the pipes that year. They were a great team that grew up together like EP's teams in recent years.

[tourneytickssince59]

That's all great, but that's not what the question was. The question was what teams have the best coaching staffs, best preparation, best coaching based on talent they have btwn JV and Varsity, improvement from beginning of season to end, etc.

Whether you wanna bash privates like HM, STA, CDH, AHA, that fact remains NO ONE can dispute how good of a coach Lechner is and how he gets his teams to perform year in and year out. Recruiting or not.

I struggle with this one. Lets face it. Lechner's situation is very smiilar to Joe Torre's with the NY Yankees. He always has top notch talent. Not only do they have top notch talent, but they are always very deep as well. When's the last time HM JV did not dominate at their level?

How hard is it to coach that? How well did Torre do when he went to the Dodgers? I would like to see Lechner at a school like North Branch and see how he does there.

Don't get me wrong, I think Lechner is a very good coach and I liked the way he handled the situation a few years back. I also think very highly of their defense coach. In my eyes, he is the shining star on that staff.

BTW, one that is moving up on my radar is Smith over at EP. He won the tourney, backed it up with another championship, and has a team this year that everybody thought would drop off significantly, and has had a very successful year so far.

I agree that it's fairly easy to coach when you recruit top notch talent. Put most of the players in the public schools they should attend and things would be way different. As far as Smith at EP goes, were it not for the fact that he had the extraordinary amount of talent he graduated last year, this team would not even really be noticed. If I remember properly, many in EP were calling for Smith's head not that many years ago. A lot of this depends on reputation of previous year's squads.

You can have all of the talent in the world and still not be a good coach. You need to know how to put them together to get the most out of what they have to offer.
If Lex went to NB, they'd probably be a state contender too

[2good4u]

hmmm how about the guy with over 400 wins that resides in hermantown... just saying its an impressive feat and what the staff and him do to turn those players around from the quality from bantams to high school is very impressive

[Video Guy]

St. Louis Park has Shjon Podein, Mike Stuart, Corey Peterson and Paul Ranheim pretty loaded coaching staff that took over this year and turned their team around.

St. Louis Park Alum....Hockey we never played hockey it was boot hockey...Nice to finally see a change...

[Video Guy]

St. Louis Park has Shjon Podein, Mike Stuart, Corey Peterson and Paul Ranheim pretty loaded coaching staff that took over this year and turned their team around.

St. Louis Park Alum....Hockey we never played hockey it was boot hockey...Nice to finally see a change...

[GTTN]

Maybe we should add handling crazy parents to the criteria haha

[EHSHack]

hmmm how about the guy with over 400 wins that resides in hermantown... just saying its an impressive feat and what the staff and him do to turn those players around from the quality from bantams to high school is very impressive

Yeah he is tops 2 undefeated regular seasons in the last 4 IIRC years? I was gonna mention him but too lazy to google how to spell Laraoque.

[DanFromWoodbury]

... the decision to add Matt Greer to his staff before last season was a great move IMO. I believe he was a big part in them finally getting back to state last year.

I agree.

As far as I am concerned, Sager is the only one who is the problem.

The remaining coaching staff members are good for the program.

8)

I don't know who was coaching WBL 10-15 years ago, and I don't know if this Lechner guy was coaching Hill Murray 10-15 years ago either, but I just remember some great section finals between those two programs for a number of years, with WBL and their .500 record edging the 2 or 3 loss Pioneers a few times to get to State. Are they the same guys who coach now, because if they are, I'm giving WBL guy my nod. Different story once they get to St. Paul, but still.

[Sats81]

Lechner is a very solid coach, and has a very good staff. But to say a lot of high school and college coaches would say he is the BEST high school coach in the state, I call b.s. on that one.

Randolph is a top coach for sure, forget if you like him or not..to build and maintain a standard of excellence is much harder than to take a bad team and simply turn it into a relevant team. And if you watch his teams you often can see the little details of the game are taught vs. some teams who simply rely on out-talenting their opponents..

Lots of real quality coaches in the stae currently...

Why don't you call Mike Guentzel who has sent all 3 of his kids to Hill and ask him what he thinks of Lechner as a HS coach. Poll all the other HS coaches in AA who play Hill and ask them what they think of him. Poll all the d-1 coaches (and d-3 for that matter) that end up with HM alumni playing for them and ask them how well prepared those kids are coming out of his program. Then "call BS on that one."

[almostashappy]

Why don't you call Mike Guentzel who has sent all 3 of his kids to Hill and ask him what he thinks of Lechner as a HS coach. Poll all the other HS coaches in AA who play Hill and ask them what they think of him. Poll all the d-1 coaches (and d-3 for that matter) that end up with HM alumni playing for them and ask them how well prepared those kids are coming out of his program. Then "call BS on that one."

Don't have any reason to argue against this point, but the relatively short distance between home and H-M probably made that an easier choice (hometown assumption based on youth hockey association affiliation).

Now, if the Guentzel family was living in Waconia instead of Woodbury and still sent their kids to H-M, now that would be saying something.

[mnhockfan99]

I'll get right on that Sats...

You have your opinion, I have mine. Period.

Please, feel free to tell me also all of these coaches in the high school AND college ranks who would say that he is the best...as in your words there are "A LOT" of them, based on your quote below. I don't doubt some may say that, but A LOT...I just don't buy that based on my experiences with the coaches I know at those levels.....

"Lechner at Hill Murray is IMO the best HS hockey coach in the state and I am sure A LOT of respected HS and College coaches would strongly agree with that."

[Northhcky]

hmmm how about the guy with over 400 wins that resides in hermantown... just saying its an impressive feat and what the staff and him do to turn those players around from the quality from bantams to high school is very impressive

Yeah he is tops 2 undefeated regular seasons in the last 4 IIRC years? I was gonna mention him but too lazy to google how to spell Laraoque.

Who is Laraoque? I'm thinking the coach he was referring to is Bruce Plante the longtime coach of Hermantown. He now has 2 undefeated seasons, in 07 and now in 12. He has had his teams to "i believe" to 8 state appearances, 1 State Championship, 4 seconds, and a third place finish since 1998. And he has been named the HS coach of the year numerous times. All from a small town school with no open enrollment and a school that has NEVER lost a player to one of the privates or Duluth East!!

[PuckU126]

I don't know who was coaching WBL 10-15 years ago, and I don't know if this Lechner guy was coaching Hill Murray 10-15 years ago either, but I just remember some great section finals between those two programs for a number of years

Past two HM coaches
Steve Rohlik 1993 to 1997
Bill Lechner 1998 to Present

Past two WBL coaches
Bill Butters 1998 - 2002
Tim Sager 2003 - Present

[wbmd]

... the decision to add Matt Greer to his staff before last season was a great move IMO. I believe he was a big part in them finally getting back to state last year.

I agree.

As far as I am concerned, Sager is the only one who is the problem.
The remaining coaching staff members are good for the program.

And that is one major problem.

[wbmd]

I have always liked the way Sager has coached his teams at WBL

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

I have always liked the way Sager has coached his teams at WBL

I can tell you that a large number of Pioneer fans wish Sager a long tenure at White Bear.

[UntouchableFlow]

I have always liked the way Sager has coached his teams at WBL

I can tell you that a large number of Pioneer fans wish Sager a long tenure at White Bear.

Amen to that East Side.

[shotpassskate]

Trebil at AHA, he took a program that was just their and made them into a threat year in and year out in AA, 2 state titles, many players playing college hockey and for only 2 years the only Minnesota born 1st overall pick in the NHL draft in Eric Johnson. It will be sad for MHSH next season that Trebil willn't be behind the bench but his health is what matters most today.

[Sats81]

Trebil at AHA, he took a program that was just their and made them into a threat year in and year out in AA, 2 state titles, many players playing college hockey and for only 2 years the only Minnesota born 1st overall pick in the NHL draft in Eric Johnson. It will be sad for MHSH next season that Trebil willn't be behind the bench but his health is what matters most today.

Good call on Greg. Don't forget all those years from mid 80's-mid 90's that he continually led Jefferson pee wees and bantams to state titles and fed saterdalen with great, smart, disciplined players

[DanFromWoodbury]

Great call on Trebil, interesting to think how good Jefferson would have been the past decade if Trebil hadn't gone to Holy Angels. I think they would have won at least one more title.