Moving from AA to A

[elliott70]

Which teams should, might move to single A?

[elliott70]

Page stat's bottom ten AA teams are (from bottom toward the top)
St Paul Johnson 7-17-2
Northern Edge 2-22-1
Tartan 3-22-1
Rochester Mayo 3-22-1
Anoka 4 -22-0
Waconia 7-18-1
Irondale 13-13-0
Apple Valley - Burnsville 5-21
Hopkins 7-19
Blake 2-24

Would they be better served in single A, would MN Hockey be better by moving them to A?

[elliott70]

And teams considering moving down (not electing to opt up) such as Roseau.

There is talk in the town of doing that.

[elliott70]

And what about the teams that recently moved up - will they stay.

Such as Duluth Denfeld, Duluth Marshall, Rock Ridge?

[SpreadOut!]

And teams considering moving down (not electing to opt up) such as Roseau.

There is talk in the town of doing that.

Roseau no longer fields AA teams at Bantam or Peewee. I believe 2022-23 was first season they dropped down. It is time to make the move at the high school level as well. I don’t see them being a competitor to make AA state tourney again. I think this year was their last chance.

Warroad, as wonderful as a community that it is—such a great hockey town—seems to be jumping on the recruiting train, unfortunately. Given that, I’d like to see Warroad and Roseau swap classes.

East Grand Forks has had a number of super strong peewee and bantam teams and now competes at AA in youth level. I think they could make the jump to AA for high school, too.

Let Roseau and Thief River Falls battle it out in Section 8A moving forward.

Of course, we all know it’s WAY past time for Hermantown to make jump to AA (their Bantam AA team was state runner up last weekend), but I am beating a dead horse from another thread bringing them up.

[ClassAGuy]

Just a random idea of trying to balance out the sections and bring in some teams

1A (11 Teams)
Albert Lea
Austin
Dodge County
Faribault
La Crescent
Northfield
New Prague
Red Wing
Rochester Lourdes
Waseca
Winona

2A (11 teams)
Blake
Bloomington Kennedy
Breck
Delano
Hutchinson
Litchfield Dassel Cokato
Minneapolis
Mound Westonka
Orono
Providence Academy
Waconia

3A (11 teams)
Fairmont
Luverne
Mankato East
Mankato West
Marshall
Minnesota River
New Ulm
Southwest Christian
Redwood Valley
Windom
Worthington

4A (11 teams)
Apple Valley/Burnsville
Mahtomedi
Irondale
Hopkins
Simley
South St Paul
St Paul Johnson
St Paul Academy
St Paul Highland Park
Tartan
Two Rivers

5A (11 teams)
Cambridge
Chisago Lakes
Becker Big Lake
Monticello
Mora
Moose Lake
Northern Edge
Pine City
Princeton
Sauk Rapids
St Cloud Cathedral

6A (11 teams)
Alexandria
Breckenridge Wahpeton
Detroit Lakes
Fergus Falls
Little Falls
Morris Benson
Northern Lakes
River Lakes
Prairie Centre
Wadena Deer Creek
Willmar

7A (11 teams)
Cloquet
Duluth Denfeld
Duluth Marshall
Ely
Greenway
Hermantown
Hibbing
International Falls
North Shore
Rock Ridge
Proctor

8A (11 teams)
Bagley Fosston
Bemidji
Crookston
East Grand Forks
Kittson County Central
Lake of the Woods
Park Rapids
Roseau
Red Lake Falls
Thief River Falls
Warroad

[east hockey]

The problem with having 11 teams in each A section is it only leaves 56 teams (assuming more contraction doesn't occur!) in AA. The State League would obviously not allow that, be it right or wrong.

Lee

[WestMetro]

And can't have the Rams and Warriors in same class in same section ! That would violate the Roseau County wink and nod understanding from the early 90s? Warriors 41 and Green and White Fan to provide full historical context .

[grindiangrad-80]

Fun fact- greatest moment in US sports history. 1/3 of the team was from north of Highway 2.

All players from teams that would qualify for single A.

Thanks for your time.

[grindiangrad-80]

I should clarify that moment was in my lifetime as the 1960 team was 2 years prior to my birth.

[ClassAGuy]

Great Point Lee!

Ok here we go another Stab at it with AA having 64 teams (8 per Section) & A having 80 teams (10 per section). Had to look at MSHSL Map to make the AA ones lots of Metro line Cutting:

Class AA

1AA (8 teams)
Farmington
Lakeville North
Lakeville South
Owatonna
Rochester Century/John Marshall
Rochester Mayo
Rosemount
Prior Lake

2AA (8 teams)
Chanhassen
Chaska
Eden Prairie
Holy Family
Minnetonka
New Prague
Shakopee
Waconia

3AA (8 teams)
Apple Valley/Burnsville
Cretin-Derham Hall
Eagan
Eastview
East Ridge
Hastings
Park Cottage Grove
St. Thomas Academy

4AA (8 teams)
Gentry Academy
Hill-Murray
Roseville
Irondale
Mounds View
Stillwater
White Bear Lake
Woodbury

5AA (8 teams)
Centennial
Champlin Park
Coon Rapids
Maple Grove
Osseo
Spring Lake Park
Rogers
Totino Grace

6AA (8 teams)
Armstrong/Cooper
Benilde-St. Margaret's School
Bloomington Jefferson
Edina
Hopkins
Holy Angels
St. Louis Park
Wayzata

7AA (8 teams)
Andover
Anoka
Blaine
Duluth East
Duluth Marshall
Forest Lake
Grand Rapids
Rock Ridge

8AA (8 teams)
Bemidji
Brainerd
Buffalo
Elk River/Zimmerman
Moorhead
Sartell
St. Cloud Public
St. Michael-Albertville

Class A
1A (10 Teams)
Albert Lea
Austin
Dodge County
Faribault
La Crescent
Northfield
Red Wing
Rochester Lourdes
Waseca
Winona

2A (10 teams)
Blake
Breck
Delano
Hutchinson
Litchfield Dassel Cokato
Minneapolis
Mound Westonka
Orono
Providence Academy
Southwest Christian/Richfield

3A (10 teams)
Fairmont
Luverne
Mankato East
Mankato West
Marshall
Minnesota River
New Ulm
Redwood Valley
Windom
Worthington

4A (10 teams)
Bloomington Kennedy
Chisago Lakes
Mahtomedi
Simley
South St Paul
St Paul Johnson
St Paul Academy
St Paul Highland Park
Tartan
Two Rivers

5A (10 teams)
Cambridge
Becker Big Lake
Northern Edge
Monticello
Mora
Princeton
Pine City
River Lakes
Sauk Rapids
St Cloud Cathedral

6A (10 teams)
Alexandria
Breckenridge Wahpeton
Detroit Lakes
Fergus Falls
Little Falls
Morris Benson
Northern Lakes
Prairie Centre
Wadena Deer Creek
Willmar

7A (10 teams)
Cloquet
Duluth Denfeld
Ely
Greenway
Hermantown
Hibbing
International Falls
North Shore
Moose Lake
Proctor

8A (10 teams)
Bagley Fosston
Crookston
East Grand Forks
Kittson County Central
Lake of the Woods
Park Rapids
Roseau
Red Lake Falls
Thief River Falls
Warroad

Again this will never happen just another stab at it working within the Map and doing 64 AA 80 A split

[ClassAGuy]

My thoughts would be looking at the least most of the Bottom 7 & 8 seeds in AA are same teams every year that never get out of the 1st round.

Instead of having those routs do top 48 to AA gives the #1 and #2 seeds get a bye in AA Sectionals which again would be basically what is happening now

And make 8 12 team sections for 96 Class A teams would allow more flex and let schools that are growing but not AA level for hockey like Waconia, Two Rivers, Cambridge, New Prague etc and co-opts of big schools that are not hockey places like St Paul Johnson, Northern Edge, Armstrong/Cooper etc to be down in Class A

Also would allow places like Apple Valley/Burnsville, Tartan etc. the chance to move down to Class A.

Still wont fix the issue of metro in balance as looking at the Map the West Metro is just too loaded and the MSHSL is not going to go away from Geographic sections. Also, in Class A would still most likely see the same 6 to 7 teams at state most years but its an idea.

I like elliott's idea becuase there is no reason that Northern Edge, Tartan, Sr Paul Johnson etc should be playing AA but yet they allow Minneapolis, Becker Big Lake etc down its no perfect answer but again fun topic because be good to see some tinkering. But when they set the all time attendance forthe Tourney ywo weekends ago it makes me think they wont be in a rush to change much.

[slacsap]

I fully agree with the idea that sopmething should be done about the imbalance in sections. While it would be nice to see AA sections re-aligned so that two sections are not so top heavy, that is not going to happen given the MSHSL criteria for drawing section boundaries.

I'mnot susre there would be a lot of support for the top two seeds in AA sections getting byes. Having coached at teh high school level (not in hockey), My experience is that many coaches don't like post season byes. Coaches are, by nature, paranoid and a lot of them don;t like the idea of getting a bye, sitting around for a week and then having to face a team coming off a win.

AA sections with 8-10 teams are probably the best format, but I am skeptical of the MSHSL making any significant changes.