The Austin Packers (2001 Section 1AA champs) are still winless.
Now Austin does not have the hockey tradition of other cities, but they have made the state tourney twice and have produced some really good hockey players - many players that have played in the USHL, NAHL, MIAC, etc.
The last two years, the Packers have fallen on hard times. Will they ever recover? Has the price of hockey passed by this blue collar town? Have the off-ice incidents doomed them for good.
Now, I am not a Packers fan by any stretch, but this is really sad to see.
So the question is, will they win a game this year?
They have five possible wins left: Dodge County, JM, New Ulm, Mankato East, and Winona.
Which game are they most likely to win?
My guess would be Mankato East.
Will Austin win a game this year?
Moderators: Mitch Hawker, east hockey, karl(east)
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SEMinnHockeyNut
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Yes
They will win a game. They started the year off with one good line that was forced to play every other shift, constantly being double shifted on PP and PK. The young players (and there are a ton) were thrown into varsity action with very few playing JV hockey at all. They are adapting to the speed and skill level better now that the year has gone on.
Austin Hockey still is down and this year shows it, but they will win a game. 5 of the last 7 games have been decided by 2 goals or less. They have a solid goalie in Dooley yet the problem is he sees 45 shots each game. Swatfager is a very solid player on forward as is J. Kirby back on D. Injuries have been an issue all year with 2 seniors in Theolbold and Dooley lost due to knee injuries. I think they will end the year with 2 wins.
They will win a game. They started the year off with one good line that was forced to play every other shift, constantly being double shifted on PP and PK. The young players (and there are a ton) were thrown into varsity action with very few playing JV hockey at all. They are adapting to the speed and skill level better now that the year has gone on.
Austin Hockey still is down and this year shows it, but they will win a game. 5 of the last 7 games have been decided by 2 goals or less. They have a solid goalie in Dooley yet the problem is he sees 45 shots each game. Swatfager is a very solid player on forward as is J. Kirby back on D. Injuries have been an issue all year with 2 seniors in Theolbold and Dooley lost due to knee injuries. I think they will end the year with 2 wins.
Austin
Dooley is playing well, but why isn't Klingfus getting some real playing time? He also can be very good, but is getting no experience. Taking the bantam eligible kids was ludicrous to say the least; TOTALLY depleted the youth ranks for what, some underachieving HS players, one who won't even touch a puck if anyone is close? Didn't make the team better at all. Cut a kid who had rehabbed, poor community effort, then another kid plays a regular shift that was HEAVILY involved in one of the worst hazing incidents EVER? Dooley is the bright spot, and T. Kirby's committment to Air Force is a great thing. I would love to see Austin's program get back to even par, but some better decisions need to be made.
Last edited by jackstraw on Wed Jan 23, 2008 3:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
JackStraw,
The key to giving constructive criticism is having your facts straight when making some of the comments about the Austin program. Your comments would lead me to believe that you do not have a problem with Austin Hockey but you have a problem with the coaching staff. Brady Klingfus is a great kid who has talent but decided not to work hard at the beggining of the season and found himself 3rd on the depth chart. He has changed his attitude and had 2 good Junior Varsity starts which lead to his 1st Varsity start against Waseca and he played well and got a tie. He has earned his postion back at Varisty and will probably rotate with Dooley for the rest of the year. You are way off on the Bantam eligible kids. All the kids were told to sign up for Bantams while given the opportunity to try out for High School . If they did not make the squad there were assured there was a spot back in Bantams. Two kids that are on the JV which have Bantam eligibilty left decided they did not want to play Bantams and there parents did sign them up. So they were not cut because they would have had to sit out the entire year with no Hockey options. The other 2 kids on Varsity would have zero benefit playing Bantams against inferior talent. So if that is depleting the youth program I guess you are entitled to your opinion. The top three players from the Bantams last year which had over 200 points between them now have struggled quite a bit at the varsity level due to poor coaching at the Bantam level and also from playing a Bantam B schedule. I think the 3 have 8 points between them at Varsity. Get your facts straight on the hazing kids. One kid did all the right things to statisfy the court and the High School punishment and has been a model citizen since that point and the other one did not do the right thing and also had another suspension to serve for a completely different violation. Facts are stubborn, opinions are fine but the majority of the things I read on this site are written by people that do not do there homework and get some perverse pleasure out of seeing an individual(Players) ,coach or programs struggle. The kids that play are a great group that have had no off ice issues this year and have every reason to cash it in for the rest of the season but they keep working hard and hopefully will get a few wins.
The key to giving constructive criticism is having your facts straight when making some of the comments about the Austin program. Your comments would lead me to believe that you do not have a problem with Austin Hockey but you have a problem with the coaching staff. Brady Klingfus is a great kid who has talent but decided not to work hard at the beggining of the season and found himself 3rd on the depth chart. He has changed his attitude and had 2 good Junior Varsity starts which lead to his 1st Varsity start against Waseca and he played well and got a tie. He has earned his postion back at Varisty and will probably rotate with Dooley for the rest of the year. You are way off on the Bantam eligible kids. All the kids were told to sign up for Bantams while given the opportunity to try out for High School . If they did not make the squad there were assured there was a spot back in Bantams. Two kids that are on the JV which have Bantam eligibilty left decided they did not want to play Bantams and there parents did sign them up. So they were not cut because they would have had to sit out the entire year with no Hockey options. The other 2 kids on Varsity would have zero benefit playing Bantams against inferior talent. So if that is depleting the youth program I guess you are entitled to your opinion. The top three players from the Bantams last year which had over 200 points between them now have struggled quite a bit at the varsity level due to poor coaching at the Bantam level and also from playing a Bantam B schedule. I think the 3 have 8 points between them at Varsity. Get your facts straight on the hazing kids. One kid did all the right things to statisfy the court and the High School punishment and has been a model citizen since that point and the other one did not do the right thing and also had another suspension to serve for a completely different violation. Facts are stubborn, opinions are fine but the majority of the things I read on this site are written by people that do not do there homework and get some perverse pleasure out of seeing an individual(Players) ,coach or programs struggle. The kids that play are a great group that have had no off ice issues this year and have every reason to cash it in for the rest of the season but they keep working hard and hopefully will get a few wins.
WOW
Perhaps you see things through different glasses. Are you serious that you have Bantam eligible kids that would make D4 A Bantams look like, as you say," inferior talent"? You could not be further from reality. It is the right time of the year to be spinning things and you are doing a whale of a job of it.
Is that the best you can do jackstraw. No comment on the rest of the topics you seem to be an expert on. Two kids that skipped Bantams playing Jv has a big impact on Youth Hockey ?. Sederquist came back from Kasson Jv and had no intentions of playing Bantams and Gorman will develop into a good Varsity player spending time with both Jv and Varsity. You sound like a Board Member of Youth Hockey or a mad Austin Bantam coach or the biggest fan of Austin Hockey Joe Serratore.Which one are you? It is hard to SPIN facts Jackstraw. Please, I am sure you can do better.
?
You throw names out on a public forum in a very harsh way. The only names I will bring up are in a positive way. The one guy is an aquaitance, even a friend. I see things very different than you, and I do know all involved, I even have worked with these kids at times. The Austin program is in shambles and I wish it wasn't. I feel some very poor decisions were made this year that started with the HS, but this is much deeper and started a few years ago. I even know some of these people you bring up away from the rink, your take on some of these people is WAY different than mine.
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Irishmans Shanty
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YES: It Can Happen
Near winless seasons happen and sometimes in places you wouldn't expect. Greenway had a season to forget two years ago, I recall Bemidji having a one win season in the early 90's as well. If a sparsely populated place like Kittson County can continue to field a team, I don't care how blue collar Austin gets, they'll survive. [/b]
Near winless seasons happen and sometimes in places you wouldn't expect. Greenway had a season to forget two years ago, I recall Bemidji having a one win season in the early 90's as well. If a sparsely populated place like Kittson County can continue to field a team, I don't care how blue collar Austin gets, they'll survive. [/b]
Kids choose high school over bantams for a variety of reasons, I don't think you say it's a bad decision unless you're in that families shoes. You can say I wish they were in this place or that but the reality is people have to make choices based on what's best for them not what's best for the bantams or high school.
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steelblades
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LivTheGame
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I don't know whether Austin will win a game this season or not, but I can tell you that they are a much improved team. I saw them at the beginning of the year and then again last week. Their players should take pride in the fact that their hard work is paying off. It might not have shown up in the win column yet, but it is apparent watching them on the ice. Good job, boys.
My kids have played hockey in Austin through youth and HS. I have been a board member at youth and hockey mom for many teams.
The current HS team is missing half of what could have been it's first line. This is due to bad behavior on the kid's part. I don't disagree with the schools decisions here. It is hard for any small program like Austin to lose 5 or 6 good players over a few years and still compete.
The seniors currently playing, as well as those that are missing, were the District 4 Champs at Bantam A, they went to regions. Does this point to a weak youth program?
Wolfe has a tough job with these guys missing. He has to rely on the few that remain plus some young ones..
The current HS team is missing half of what could have been it's first line. This is due to bad behavior on the kid's part. I don't disagree with the schools decisions here. It is hard for any small program like Austin to lose 5 or 6 good players over a few years and still compete.
The seniors currently playing, as well as those that are missing, were the District 4 Champs at Bantam A, they went to regions. Does this point to a weak youth program?
Wolfe has a tough job with these guys missing. He has to rely on the few that remain plus some young ones..
Last edited by hocmom on Mon Jan 28, 2008 8:37 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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fubar-errr-what
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[quote the seniors currently playing, as well as those that are missing, were the District 4 Champs at Bantam A, they went to regions. Does this point to a weak youth program?quote]
what year were they dist 4 champs and made it to regions?
2004-2005 i could of swore AL beat Austin to go to regionals? i think the game was in Fairmont and please correct me if i am wrong maybe i am thinking of a different year.
what year were they dist 4 champs and made it to regions?
2004-2005 i could of swore AL beat Austin to go to regionals? i think the game was in Fairmont and please correct me if i am wrong maybe i am thinking of a different year.
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SEMinnHockeyNut
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You may be right...I was not a parent of a player that year...I just remember hearing regions...etc... I remember that it was a successful year. One game away...fubar-errr-what wrote:[quote the seniors currently playing, as well as those that are missing, were the District 4 Champs at Bantam A, they went to regions. Does this point to a weak youth program?quote]
what year were they dist 4 champs and made it to regions?
2004-2005 i could of swore AL beat Austin to go to regionals? i think the game was in Fairmont and please correct me if i am wrong maybe i am thinking of a different year.
Thinking more about the ineligble players... Had there been 5 more juniors and seniors at the beginning of the season I have to believe that most of the bantam eligible players would have played bantams. This would have helped both the HS and Bantam programs. Losing those 5 or 6 guys really hurts the whole program both at HS and Youth.
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The Pitboss
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Greenway and Bemidji play superior opponents then the lowly "competition" that Austin plays.Irishmans Shanty wrote:YES: It Can Happen
Near winless seasons happen and sometimes in places you wouldn't expect. Greenway had a season to forget two years ago, I recall Bemidji having a one win season in the early 90's as well. If a sparsely populated place like Kittson County can continue to field a team, I don't care how blue collar Austin gets, they'll survive. [/b]
My opinion is simple - I do agree with you on your point that it can happen - but I feel other things in mix can play a larger role in it. Austin doesn't have the talent they have had other years – But these kids are not this bad! This is a coaching issue plain and simple. If there are any parents on this board of these kids - ask them how much they get condition? They don't at all and then you have a coaching staff scratching there heads wondering why they lose in the third period or tie in OT. The list could go on but I will spare everybody from that - it's easy to coach from the bleachers.
As a former player, coach and current fan I just feel there is a real lack of leadership and direction let alone depth of true hockey knowledge sitting behind that bench. I really thought Coach Bowe was going to be a great addition to this team - maybe it's too early to tell yet or maybe the theory that good players don't make good coaches is true.-
austinhockey
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Austin Hockey
It has been interesting reading what everyone has had to say about the boy's team. Some of the replies are very insightfull, others are not.
Both kelmitch and hocmom were pretty free to throw Mr. Serratore's name out there without including their own.
These two obviously do not know Joe very well. I have known Joe for a very long time and have had frequent discussions with him about hockey. Joe puts in a lot of time to help kids with the opportunity for hockey. Over the years he has often rented ice and made it available to all players including Austin players. In fact most of the kids he has made it available for are from Austin.
Joe has done countless things over the years providing opportunities for hockey and other sports for our youth. More important he has done so without expecting anything return.
If hocmom
and kelmitch have a problem with Joe they should go directly to him, not on some website blog.
As far as what Bitboss :D had to say, I think he is correct on most of the things he says. This team is better than their record and their top line is better than about half of the other teams' top line. They work very hard, However they are wearing down in the third period. This could be helped by playing more kids earlier in the game so the top line is rested. There used to be a thing called a "checking line" their goal was to not let the other team score by concentrating on defense. Maybe if this was worked on in practice the top line would still have some juice left to score in the third period.
As far as kids moving up with bantam years left. I don't recomend it , but their are very large financial reasons to move up. I have dealt with this in the past and understand the financial ease it has when your kid is finally in the high school program.
hocmom mentions that the team is short five or six players from their top line. That is not true, they have had injuries to some key players lately but they did start the season in good shape. Plus, you work with the kids you have ,not the players you could've had. Over the years kids move and kids don't come out. The kids there now are the ones you teach and coach.
I think coach Bowe will do just great down the road. He is a very knowledgable coach who knows hockey. He is in his first year and sometimes first year coaches don't want to rock the boat, or they are just trying to find a style.
Good luck to the boy's tonight against New Ulm. I am pulling for you.
Thank you for everyone that is volunteering their time to coach in our youth hockey system , it is appreciated .
Both kelmitch and hocmom were pretty free to throw Mr. Serratore's name out there without including their own.
These two obviously do not know Joe very well. I have known Joe for a very long time and have had frequent discussions with him about hockey. Joe puts in a lot of time to help kids with the opportunity for hockey. Over the years he has often rented ice and made it available to all players including Austin players. In fact most of the kids he has made it available for are from Austin.
Joe has done countless things over the years providing opportunities for hockey and other sports for our youth. More important he has done so without expecting anything return.
If hocmom
and kelmitch have a problem with Joe they should go directly to him, not on some website blog. As far as what Bitboss :D had to say, I think he is correct on most of the things he says. This team is better than their record and their top line is better than about half of the other teams' top line. They work very hard, However they are wearing down in the third period. This could be helped by playing more kids earlier in the game so the top line is rested. There used to be a thing called a "checking line" their goal was to not let the other team score by concentrating on defense. Maybe if this was worked on in practice the top line would still have some juice left to score in the third period.
As far as kids moving up with bantam years left. I don't recomend it , but their are very large financial reasons to move up. I have dealt with this in the past and understand the financial ease it has when your kid is finally in the high school program.
hocmom mentions that the team is short five or six players from their top line. That is not true, they have had injuries to some key players lately but they did start the season in good shape. Plus, you work with the kids you have ,not the players you could've had. Over the years kids move and kids don't come out. The kids there now are the ones you teach and coach.
I think coach Bowe will do just great down the road. He is a very knowledgable coach who knows hockey. He is in his first year and sometimes first year coaches don't want to rock the boat, or they are just trying to find a style.
Good luck to the boy's tonight against New Ulm. I am pulling for you.
Thank you for everyone that is volunteering their time to coach in our youth hockey system , it is appreciated .
I think the ahs coach needs to quit blaming everyone else for his teams shortcomings. Last year he blamed the prior coach and this year he is stooping to all time low by blaming the youth hockey coaches. What we see as fan is too much individualism--this team needs to start playing as a team. the coach needs to quit criticizing the team and maybe start coaching them.
I am speaking of the boys that have fallen on the wayside the past several years. There are 3 guys skating Jr. Gold in Albert Lea that would have been an asset at varsity had they remained eligible. There are two more that would probably have filled in the JV.hocmom mentions that the team is short five or six players from their top line. That is not true, they have had injuries to some key players lately but they did start the season in good shape.
Austin is facing these same problems across all sports. Our upper classmen seem to have a problem remaining eligible.
I am not complaining about the standard, I like the firm stance the district has taken.
I guess this is not a new problem...I know we had some of the same issues when my daughter played.