Iron Range Hockey

[kniven]

Had a lengthy chat last night with former Eveleth standout Ross Richards. We talked about how sad it is that the Iron Range teams have depleted and that the e-commerce and population shifts have entirely changed the landscape of hockey. Consider this:

Eveleth used to play the same teams as Grand Rapids. Now, Eveleth plays teams like Bagley while Rapids plays teams like Edina.
Hibbing & Chisholm has combined. Eveleth and Gilbert have combined. We now have Virginia/Mt. Iron/Buhl. International Falls is rarely relevant.

Eveleth is also combined with Aurora/Hoyt Lakes, who had their own High School team at one time. I believe Babbit/Embarrass did as well? I think if/when Section 7A gets back to all Single A programs we could start to see Iron Range hockey come back. It would be great to see.

Totally agree

[hadenuf]

All the range schools had a few D-1 players back in the 70's and 80's. Bob Lakso from Aurora was quite a player with his power and speed. Mark Baron from Chisholm was a very good player at UMD with Lakso. Phil Falcone from Chisholm was a fine player for Harvard before he made his millions in the Hedge Fund world. In fact, Chisholm beat Grand Rapids in 1980 when Rapids won state. Those were good days when kids played for their town and did not selfishly take off for this Junior BS.

[Jeffy95]

Those were good days when kids played for their town and did not selfishly take off for this Junior BS.

Or other Programs......