Class A hockey
Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2016 9:49 pm
Making the early prediction- Virginia blue devils, will be in the tournament in 2018-2019 seasons! Go blue!
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Awesome! I like those BlueDevilsbackrinkrat wrote:Making the early prediction- Virginia blue devils, will be in the tournament in 2018-2019 seasons! Go blue!
You must be assuming that Hermantown moves up to AA starting in 17-18. I'd love to see an Iron Range team win 7A, but until the Hawks go to AA I don't think anyone has a realistic shot.backrinkrat wrote:Making the early prediction- Virginia blue devils, will be in the tournament in 2018-2019 seasons! Go blue!
In my opinion, there is single A hockey, then Hermantown hockey, then on top you have double AA high school hockey.greenwayraider wrote:As usual, ranier is right on the money with his analysis. Greenway will be competitive in Class A for the next three years, but the PeeWee age group of last year was really bad. So they will go through a rough couple of years. Virginia has experienced average teams the last few years and will be on the upswing as their bantam team matures (Greenway bantams beat Virginia to go to state last year). Things will not be looking too good for Hibbing after this year. Eveleth should be fielding better teams the next few years. The Falls is not even on the radar. Range hockey cannot compete with Hermantown, they are small schools with no open enrollment benefits. A bigger challenge than the small enrollment is the socio-economic makeup of the enrollment. Range schools are more like an "urban" school than a "suburban" school. Greenway has 60% free or reduced lunches. Not a pretty picture but a realistic one. Maybe there will be a second Miracle on Ice at some point.
In the MSHSL's opinion, there is only A and AA.kniven wrote:In my opinion, there is single A hockey, then Hermantown hockey, then on top you have double AA high school hockey.greenwayraider wrote:As usual, ranier is right on the money with his analysis. Greenway will be competitive in Class A for the next three years, but the PeeWee age group of last year was really bad. So they will go through a rough couple of years. Virginia has experienced average teams the last few years and will be on the upswing as their bantam team matures (Greenway bantams beat Virginia to go to state last year). Things will not be looking too good for Hibbing after this year. Eveleth should be fielding better teams the next few years. The Falls is not even on the radar. Range hockey cannot compete with Hermantown, they are small schools with no open enrollment benefits. A bigger challenge than the small enrollment is the socio-economic makeup of the enrollment. Range schools are more like an "urban" school than a "suburban" school. Greenway has 60% free or reduced lunches. Not a pretty picture but a realistic one. Maybe there will be a second Miracle on Ice at some point.
St. Thomas Syndrome.Jeffy95 wrote:I don't think anyone should just assume that Hermantown will opt up to AA. They already play a AA schedule during the season and then get the automatic trip to State where they are the favorites to win every year. That is why so many of the top kids from other Associations open-enroll there. Without that automatic trip to state every year it might not be quite as attractive. They might be shooting themselves in the foot if they opted up to AA.
I would not mind whatsoever the Hawks stay in A for the playoffs. It's kinda fun living and driving through the most dominant hockey program ever in A hockey. Hermantown is making history.Jeffy95 wrote:I don't think anyone should just assume that Hermantown will opt up to AA. They already play a AA schedule during the season and then get the automatic trip to State where they are the favorites to win every year. That is why so many of the top kids from other Associations open-enroll there. Without that automatic trip to state every year it might not be quite as attractive. They might be shooting themselves in the foot if they opted up to AA.
It would be nice to live through Hermantown and cheer for them if they were truly a homegrown program that just pumps out hockey players and was a small town dominant team. But the number of players that they recruit makes it so that I can't support them. They would still be a great A program if they didn't have the recruits.kniven wrote:I would not mind whatsoever the Hawks stay in A for the playoffs. It's kinda fun living and driving through the most dominant hockey program ever in A hockey. Hermantown is making history.Jeffy95 wrote:I don't think anyone should just assume that Hermantown will opt up to AA. They already play a AA schedule during the season and then get the automatic trip to State where they are the favorites to win every year. That is why so many of the top kids from other Associations open-enroll there. Without that automatic trip to state every year it might not be quite as attractive. They might be shooting themselves in the foot if they opted up to AA.
Think about it. All the traditional powers in the state recruit. Both public and privates. It's just the way it is. I'm not going to complain though. It's never going to change. I'll just cheer my team and know we will do our best every year!!GP4Lhockey wrote:It would be nice to live through Hermantown and cheer for them if they were truly a homegrown program that just pumps out hockey players and was a small town dominant team. But the number of players that they recruit makes it so that I can't support them. They would still be a great A program if they didn't have the recruits.kniven wrote:I would not mind whatsoever the Hawks stay in A for the playoffs. It's kinda fun living and driving through the most dominant hockey program ever in A hockey. Hermantown is making history.Jeffy95 wrote:I don't think anyone should just assume that Hermantown will opt up to AA. They already play a AA schedule during the season and then get the automatic trip to State where they are the favorites to win every year. That is why so many of the top kids from other Associations open-enroll there. Without that automatic trip to state every year it might not be quite as attractive. They might be shooting themselves in the foot if they opted up to AA.
I get it recruiting is alive and well in high school sports. But class A doesn't really have a place for it at the level that Hermantown does. I get moving for jobs and other family matters but to transfer simply because of athletics annoys me. I was a player who grew up hearing from everybody that I should transfer to this other school because the school I would attend wasn't very good and they were better but I stuck with my guys and we ended up going to a state tournament. Twice.. It should be about playing for your hometown and the guys you've grown up playin with. Not trying to chase down a championship like you're Lebron James. Have some pride kidskniven wrote:Think about it. All the traditional powers in the state recruit. Both public and privates. It's just the way it is. I'm not going to complain though. It's never going to change. I'll just cheer my team and know we will do our best every year!!GP4Lhockey wrote:It would be nice to live through Hermantown and cheer for them if they were truly a homegrown program that just pumps out hockey players and was a small town dominant team. But the number of players that they recruit makes it so that I can't support them. They would still be a great A program if they didn't have the recruits.kniven wrote: I would not mind whatsoever the Hawks stay in A for the playoffs. It's kinda fun living and driving through the most dominant hockey program ever in A hockey. Hermantown is making history.
That would be great for Virginia! Overcome an early loss to Little Falls and then run the table and make the state tourney.backrinkrat wrote:Watch for the 17-18 season!
Not true. They don't all recruit. Many do but there are some that don't.kniven wrote:Think about it. All the traditional powers in the state recruit. Both public and privates. It's just the way it is. I'm not going to complain though. It's never going to change. I'll just cheer my team and know we will do our best every year!!
It seems like everyone defines the word "recruit" a little differently. And of course with many good players wanting to play for a winning team with a better chance to get more noticed (and possibly go to State) there can be a fine line between "recruit" and "attract".Section 8 guy wrote:Not true. They don't all recruit. Many do but there are some that don't.
Agreed. A fine line....MNHockeyFan wrote:It seems like everyone defines the word "recruit" a little differently. And of course with many good players wanting to play for a winning team with a better chance to get more noticed (and possibly go to State) there can be a fine line between "recruit" and "attract".Section 8 guy wrote:Not true. They don't all recruit. Many do but there are some that don't.
But........but..........one of this board's mantras is "If you're good enough they will find you", so moving to "get noticed" shouldn't be a concern ?MNHockeyFan wrote:It seems like everyone defines the word "recruit" a little differently. And of course with many good players wanting to play for a winning team with a better chance to get more noticed (and possibly go to State) there can be a fine line between "recruit" and "attract".Section 8 guy wrote:Not true. They don't all recruit. Many do but there are some that don't.
Another sometimes overlooked benefit of moving - for the elite player anyway - is the better/more equal talent level they play with at practice everyday. It's also likely that the better team plays a tougher schedule, so they are challenged more in games also. So even if they don't necessarily get more "noticed" there can be a greater opportunity to improve. Of course if moving ends up in the player not skating regular shifts and never being on the power play then it will obviously do more harm than good.zamboniexhaustinhaler wrote:But........but..........one of this board's mantras is "If you're good enough they will find you", so moving to "get noticed" shouldn't be a concern ?
p.s. Fwiw, I think that saying is obsolete in today's world.
I agree. I think we all accept it at the AA level. Every top program is going to get new top players from other Associations. But it should not happen in Class A. The smaller schools are struggling enough that they shouldn't have to compete with a team from a huge population base that any player can open-enroll too.GP4Lhockey wrote:I get it recruiting is alive and well in high school sports. But class A doesn't really have a place for it at the level that Hermantown does. I get moving for jobs and other family matters but to transfer simply because of athletics annoys me. I was a player who grew up hearing from everybody that I should transfer to this other school because the school I would attend wasn't very good and they were better but I stuck with my guys and we ended up going to a state tournament. Twice.. It should be about playing for your hometown and the guys you've grown up playin with. Not trying to chase down a championship like you're Lebron James. Have some pride kidskniven wrote:Think about it. All the traditional powers in the state recruit. Both public and privates. It's just the way it is. I'm not going to complain though. It's never going to change. I'll just cheer my team and know we will do our best every year!!GP4Lhockey wrote: It would be nice to live through Hermantown and cheer for them if they were truly a homegrown program that just pumps out hockey players and was a small town dominant team. But the number of players that they recruit makes it so that I can't support them. They would still be a great A program if they didn't have the recruits.
MNHockeyFan wrote:Another sometimes overlooked benefit of moving - for the elite player anyway - is the better/more equal talent level they play with at practice everyday. It's also likely that the better team plays a tougher schedule, so they are challenged more in games also. So even if they don't necessarily get more "noticed" there can be a greater opportunity to improve. Of course if moving ends up in the player not skating regular shifts and never being on the power play then it will obviously do more harm than good.zamboniexhaustinhaler wrote:But........but..........one of this board's mantras is "If you're good enough they will find you", so moving to "get noticed" shouldn't be a concern ?
p.s. Fwiw, I think that saying is obsolete in today's world.
Yes they did. They had a once every 10 years group come through and took care of business. Every one of those kids was from East Grand Forks so every fan in the State was cheering for them. Now they have to wait for the next great group. Hermantown gets to skip that process.TTpuckster wrote:Well, just a couple of years back, EGF took care of Hermytown when it counted, with no recruiting