First, I don't see Dodge Country being a major factor. Yeah, they may beat Rochester and Cities teams in youth, but if I remember correctly they play only at the B level. If they move up to A, yeah they might lose more games, but it will help them in the long run. (Correct me if I'm wrong about no A team)SEMinnyHCKY wrote:I know that Dodge County is not in the Big 9, but they are in 1AA. Look for them to be around .500 this year, playing a tougher schedule (Lourdes, JM, Holy Family, Delano, Farmington) than past years. They could make some noise in the playoffs the next couple of years - young tem that will mature. In the younger levels they have beat many Twin City and Roch teams.
Here's a question - although Rochester almost had to open a third high school, how much has Century taken from Mayo and JM? Also, how much better would all three Roch schools be without losing kids to Lourdes. Lucia and SE Hockey Nut - would like to see what you think, along with others.
As far as Century taking kids from Mayo and JM, I'd say it was a bigger deal when they first opened. Now that the kids who play for Century, JM, Mayo all come up through youth knowing they will play for their respective school, it's different. You can't do anything about losing kids to Lourdes. They have a great program, are well coached, and very competitive every year.
I think this opens up the issue that has been talked about before with RYHA. In my opinion, they need to stop North/South and change to Mayo, Century, JM. I think it will get kids who might not be able to play A hockey to advance quicker, even though they will be sacrificing wins. You get better by playing with and against people who are better than you, so in the long run, it would boost the level of hockey in Rochester so that the HS teams would be able to compete with the better programs to the north.