Observations on the Peewee A tryouts

[frederick61]

The first wave of peewee tryouts is over. What follows is a quick summary of Peewee A teams that have been formed. There is no rhyme or reason about this list. Just observations in the October pre-season.

1. Eden Prairie Peewee A’s-Of the 17 players making the A team, only 2 played A and 7 played B1 last year. That leaves 8 players that could be other second year Peewees or last year’s Squirts. That showed in their 20 man squad scrimmage with Centennial last year. There was a definite break in the talent between the top 10-12 players and the lower group. But the Eagles have a steady experienced coach returning combined with some of the best, fastest forwards, seen in the pre-season tryouts and play. They should be good.

2. Wayzata’s squad has the most number of experienced players of the teams formed to date, 14 of the 17 players played A or B1 last year leaving only three openings for last year’s squirts or other peewees. In their scrimmage with Centennial, they looked solid. They had no outstanding players as they have had in the past seasons. But as the British say, “it’s early innings”.

3. Jefferson squad looks to be improved. They will have a larger more physical team and perhaps the best defenseman in D6 to go with a tough set of workman like forwards that don’t stop pressing their opponents. They return 2 A players with 7 off their B1 squad. White Bear Lake played Edina and Jefferson in tryout scrimmages on successive days. Two observations, the White Bear team was significantly larger then Edina and significantly smaller then Jefferson; and White Bear Lake bottled up Edina in their end of the ice for two periods (Edina scoring on breakaways) but could not score. Jefferson dominated White Bear in the first half of their scrimmage, trapping White Bear in their own zone.

4. Kennedy will go with a short bench with 10 forwards and one goalie. But they will be a more talented team then past years and should make the D6 playoffs. They have a couple of talented forwards, but need to get into the top five in the D6 regular season so they can go two or three games and take a D6 regional seed. If not they will face a grueling six or seven games played on successive days to get the seed.

5. Centennial returned 7 peewee A players from last year along with 3+ from their B1 squads. They played solidly in the early scrimmages, showing a good defense and good team play. It should be their year to shine.

6. White Bear Lake picked their team early, but sort of disappeared until they played well against Edina’s A pool last Friday. They will skate a full squad and have size and speed to contend in D2 especially if they hold their early season form and continue to skate well as a team.

7. Rosemount will have a new coach who will inherit a greener younger set of players from last year that will have to be proven. They will go with 13 players and a single goalie.

8. Farmington is a growing community with potential, but the hockey board is still old school in its thinking. They did not fair well in their scrimmages with Rosemount.

9. Washburn has some size and talent on their tryout team. They look to be a hard working group that will play an aggressive fore checking style that could surprise teams this season. They won’t select their final team till later this week.

10. Burnsville appears to have a younger team with no returning A players and one returning B1 player on a 17 man squad. They have a sound experienced coach and a solid program, but will have to work hard to match last year’s record.

11. Apple Valley-They will skate at the same three levels as last. Coming off two great years, the smaller number of players catch up to them this year. They have four returning Peewee A players, but then it gets thin. With new coaches, they will struggle this year, especially with a tough D6 schedule.

12. Edina-Is this the year that the much touted Squirt A team comes forward? There is only one returning A peewee from last years State Championship team. But their two B1 teams dominated also, playing each other for the state B title (Edina White beat Edina Green 2-1 in OT in D6 championship game, Green returned the favor beating White 2-1 in OT in the state championship game). If their tryout scrimmage against White Bear Lake is any indication, it looks to be a team dominated by last year’s Squirt A’s. The tryout team played exceptionally well as team, but had long periods of play where they relied on their defense to hold White Bear Lake off the board. Typical for Edina, their break out plays led to goals, but they had difficulty holding the offensive zone against the larger White Bear. They are certainly a team to watch this year, but maybe a year away from repeating as state champs.

13. Eagan-It looks like a down year for Eagan after stringing a number of successful seasons together. The A team took the D8 regular season title, made the East Regional before losing to Woodbury in the game to advance to the state. This year’s team looks young and smaller then past teams. Their A pool tryout struggled against Apple Valley’s A pool tryout the past Friday.

14. Roseville will skate 13 forwards and two goalies. Their top line looks to be among the best in the state and they have an excellent defenseman. Depth will be their problem.

15. Cottage Grove was one of the first associations to choose a Peewee A team. Their 17 player squad has four returning A players from a good team from last year. They played their way into the D8 Playoff double elimination rounds by beating Red Wing and Rochester Red only to lose to Lakeville South and home town D8 playoff host, Hastings, 3-2 in double overtime.

16. Maple Grove had a 131 peewee players trying out for 9 teams. They will not likely settle on their A team until late this week. It is appropriate that the association is taking more time then other associations.

17. New Prague will go with eleven forwards and two goalies this year. The interesting point is that 7 of the eleven forwards are returning from last years D4 South Regional team. Their team looks good and is very even physically with good size. No Mutt and Jeff combos. They look very good for a repeat appearance in the South Regional this year. They have an early scrimmage with Kennedy at New Prague on Saturday Oct 25th. That will be a good game.

Some general observations on the peewee tryouts this year. The earliest date a team selected was September 21. The most popular date in the Twin Cities area to select a team was Oct 5. The second most popular date is Oct 12. With High School football and soccer winding down, the high school boys and girls hockey starts to eat into ice time in a couple of weeks.

In D1, Mpls Park, Irondale and Highland have selected their teams, Washburn and Johnson will have their teams by the end of this week. In D2, all the teams have selected their peewee A teams. In D3, only Maple Grove has yet to complete their tryout process. In D4, most teams will have their teams selected by the end of this week. In D5, Buffalo and Rogers (D10) pooled all their peewee players and scrimmaged in Rogers on Oct 3 and will scrimmage in Buffalo on Oct 25. Buffalo teams will be selected after the scrimmage with Rogers (I think!).

In D6, all the teams will be selected by the end of this week. In D8, most of the teams will be selected by the end of this week. In D10, most of the teams have been selected. In D11, 12, 15, and 16 most of the tryouts have yet to start mostly because local arena’s don’t have ice until middle to late October.

[hkymomx5]

great post fred thank you..

[IMHO]

VERY impressive ! THANKS ...

[Hockeyguy_27]

I talked to WBL coach and he told me Edina didn't even play their top 10 players! This being the case, I expect this Edina team to be even better than you expect.

How do you manage to get to all of these games and eat? Great reporting.

[Hockeyguy_27]

From the reports I've gotten, Wayzata, Edina and Roseau are going to be 3 of the teams to beat in PWA.

[livingthelife]

Fred - impressive description of many teams; I really don't know how you are able to do it.

A couple of corrections on the PWA team from Burnsville. Looking at their website it lists 16 players and of those at least 4 are returning PWA players. I also think that 4 are B1 players returning as PWA. They do appear to have 3 or 4 young players from last years Squirt team and two younger goalies. I agree that they will have to work hard to match last year but they do have some talent to work with so I like their chances.

[tunavichy]

Frederick61,
Thank You good post. Just a couple corrections. Washburn/Richfield is another combo team and Johnson and Como will not even field "A" Pee Wee teams this season.

[DumpandChase1]

Tuna, How many Pee Wee A teams will district 1 have this season?

[elliott70]

Report on District 16

Tryouts will start in a week to 4 weeks depending on the association.

[Can't Never Tried]

Report on District 16

Tryouts will start in a week to 4 weeks depending on the association.

Gotta get those crops in 1st!

Why are they so much later up there Mark?

[Neutron 14]

Report on District 16

Tryouts will start in a week to 4 weeks depending on the association.

Gotta get those crops in 1st!

Why are they so much later up there Mark?

You nailed it CNT! Sugar Beets!

[OGEE OGELTHORPE]

Report on District 16

Tryouts will start in a week to 4 weeks depending on the association.

Thanks for the report.

[RickO'Shea]

Report on District 16

Tryouts will start in a week to 4 weeks depending on the association.

Gotta get those crops in 1st!

Why are they so much later up there Mark?

The boys are still playing football. And we have to wait for the rivers and ponds to freeze.

[elliott70]

Report on District 16

Tryouts will start in a week to 4 weeks depending on the association.

Gotta get those crops in 1st!

Why are they so much later up there Mark?[/quote]


Most don't have ice until the HS programs start.
Bemidji will have ice and will be one fo the first to start along with TRF, Roseau, Warroad, EGF & Crookston.
LOW will not be far behind. RLF, then Hallock and Bagley.

That's 'teh' usual rotation but changes every year depending on what is going on and who is in charge.

[Joey (nine toes) Marcoux]

No try outs for the boys in RLF.....You show up.....You play.

[watchdog]

roseau has had ice since october 1. so the kids are skating for fun. the tryout will start first week of nov. for peewee and bantam. squirts will have theirs 2nd week of nov. or later deer season is top priority!! lol..

[lamplighter]

Frederick61,
Thank You good post. Just a couple corrections. Washburn/Richfield is another combo team and Johnson and Como will not even field "A" Pee Wee teams this season.

If this is the case, I believe District 1 is down to four "A" teams: Highland / Irondale / Mpls. Park / Washburn-Richfield.

What does this do for their regional status (South)? The South region is to be comprised of D4 (2 teams), D5 (3 teams) and D1 (3 teams). How can 3 of 4 D1 teams qualify? It does not seem right. Or will there be rework of districts/regions due to the lack of "A" teams in D1? And how much longer can D1 remain viable? Program numbers continue to diminish (and teams disappear). In spite of small numbers, 2-3 of these teams should actually be competitive.

[frederick61]

Frederick61,
Thank You good post. Just a couple corrections. Washburn/Richfield is another combo team and Johnson and Como will not even field "A" Pee Wee teams this season.

'tunavichy"

Thank you for the input. To add to what you said:

Como has peewee trying out on Oct.16, but they do not have any practice times reserved for peewee A team. So you maybe right about Como. Johnson will select their teams by end of this week and still list a peewee A team on their site (plus they have a peewee A tourney in early January).

One question is has D3 combined with either D1or D2 in regular season play? D3 has only five teams (Wayzata, Maple Grove, Hopkins, Orono and Armstrong) and if Johnson fields an A team, D1 will have five teams (Mpls Park, Washburn/Richfield, Highland, Irondale and Johnson).

D1 will have three seeds to the South Region and D3 will have three seeds to the East Region. D2 has eight teams that last year were evenly matched and had one great tight race for the D2 regular season title and playoffs. D3 was searching for regular season games because they had only eight at the peewee A level (other districts play 16 districts games in a season).

I believe that the large associations in D3 are beginning to pay the price for a development program that emphasizes winning and does not encourage competition. The result is no competition. Then they have to search for games, driving the expense up since most teams want a home and home series, not just one game.

Other districts have more associations and they survive because they are evenly balanced (although Edina is about to drive competition out of D6 with their size for in D6 Kennedy, Apple Valley, and Shakopee have low numbers). Waconia won’t play A level in D6, playing B1.

My view is that Edina can’t stop that from happening and is likely to end up in a similar D3 type district with 4 or 5 other teams. Already the Edina high school’s Classic Lake Conference is down to 5 High Schools (Wayzata, Edina, Minnetonka, Armstrong and Hopkins). In football this fall, Wayzata had to find 4 outside games and beat up on Apple Valley, Burnsville (70-0), and others. So that won’t last long. Then the Classic Conference will disappear. There is a lesson to be learned.

My grandmother lived to be a 100. The hardest thing about living a long life is that “all the ones she really loved and called family died before her”. That is sort of like the large associations succeeding but keeping the wealth (of kids) for themselves. Their competition dies (or leaves) leaving the large association alone.

[cclavin]

I cannot speak to this season but in the past when D1 has had three regional seeds they have "returned" one them if the number of teams at a level was low.

[O-townClown]

I talked to WBL coach and he told me Edina didn't even play their top 10 players!

That's just poor coaching.

[SuperStar]

F61 - Nice post(s) as usual. I will have to correct the EP team analysis. They have 4 returners (3 and 1 goalie) from last year and I think 4 or 5 1st yr PeeWees and the others from B1.

[Johnsonpres]

Tuna,
You are right. Johnson is fielding 1 B Pee Wee team and 1 C Pee Wee team. Yes we are having an "A" & "B" Pee Wee tournament and both have been full for some time with Johnson not having a team in the "A" tournament. Como is going B Pee Wee. As far as giving one of District 1 seeds away that is not happening. For the third seed there is a playoff game between Dist 1 and Dist 3 for that spot.

[DumpandChase1]

Seems a little strange that D3 and D1 will get 5 regional spots for 9 total teams. While D6 gets 2 regional spots for 11 teams.

[5thgraders]

[quote="DumpandChase1"]Seems a little strange that D3 and D1 will get 5 regional spots for 9 total teams. While D6 gets 2 regional spots for 11 teams.[/quote]

A little strange ?

More like ALLOTA Strange ?

[Night Train]

Actually the way D1 is handling their 3rd berth this season is to have a one game playoff between the 3rd place D1 team at each level (D1 has 3 berths this year)and the third place D4 team (D4 teams have 2 berths this year) with the winner earning the final berth to Regions. I believe D1 offered D4 the one game playoff for any D1 levels with fewer than 6 teams (Bantam A & PeeWee A).

Remember the districts that face each other each year for berths to regions, and the number of berths (2 or 3) to regions from each district, rotates. Quit fussing and ask yourself,

Is it time to redistrict the entire state?

Should each district have an equal number of teams instead of some with 6 associations and some with over 20?

I like the idea of a total overhaul but it will be painful as a lot of associations (30%?) would be moved. It may be you asked to move to another District. I think the current districts, and associations, don't have the stomach for that. They've moved a few associations around but I don't think the "Band-Aid" approach is the answer. Anyone care to join District 1 for the 2009-2010 season? If MN Hockey can't get it done we'll just invite a few.