YHH: Edina AA heads to Michigan

[SKMN]

Calling people morons on this post is a sign you have some issues and are a little insecure about your hockey knowledge. Keep an eye on the first rounders in the NHL. Some of the MN kids come from Shattucks's as well. Edina has kids for outside Edina playing, due to open enrollment. Do you really think Edina kids are just better? Or Hopkins kids are better basketball players? As far as being less expensive? How many kids just play on associations and don't have personal coaches, and play on select teams?

The Edina program is supplemented by MN Made. Good luck trying to beat the Edina Squirt AA and Pee Wee AA. OK, maybe they lose a couple of games. How long will the other programs, and crazy hockey parents, wait until they respond?

The HS system is under assault already. It is only a very select few that get to play, and a lot are leaving early.

Growing up in Canada, we thought that only Canada could produce NHL quality players. There was only one US player in the NHL just 45 years ago. Oh yeah, and the Russians wouldn't have a chance against the NHL:)

When you have coached in multiple organizations and two countries, and played against all these AAA teams, maybe you will have some credibility. Edina Bantams have been playing against Shattucks the last few years. How have they done? 9-4, 10-5? And Shattukcs loses to a lot of these AAA teams.

What happened to HS hockey in NY, MA, CT, NH, VT???? It was huge! No longer.

You could also step out of HS and play D! like I did. Not much anymore. Even Anders Lee had to play a year in the USHL and he was a stud and the most qualified player I've seen with the exception of Leddy.

Bernie, at MN Made is a pioneer (like him or hate him), and he is changing MN hockey.

[SKMN]

One last thing. How many MN players were on the 1980 Olympic team? Pretty much dominated the roster. How many MN players on the US U18 team? 4 out of 30. I am very much in favor of Association hockey and HS hockey over AAA travel teams.

Why do you think MN is the only State, that still uses the old age rules. The rest of NA doesn't. It is entirely to protect HS hockey.

Would you rather play for your HS team, or play for MN against the rest of the country for the National Championship? Play in the World Pee Wee championships in Quebec against the world, or on the local association team?
Have a former NHL hockey coach or a local Dad? Start playing in Sept. or Nov?

I can't answer these questions for kids and their parents, but I can guess what some might decide.

And it is coming, whether you like it or not...............

Would you rather play for Bloomington or open enroll at Edina and travel to Michigan to play the best teams in the country???????????

[O-townClown]

"That means Edina played without it's two best players (physically strong for sure)"

"Their two best players??" Who writes that about 12 year olds. oh my mistake, 14 year olds...maybe last game actually makes it a level playing field with 2000 vs 2000. and who writes an ex NHL kid (99) scores.. Who cares who's son he is. In the articles before the games it mentions fatigue as an excuse. This writer is very partial to MN - not unbiased and in the new article the names are wrong in alot of goal/assists.. At least on LC. Try to write more impartially.

Okay, now you're saying he's partial to Minnesota. Who'da thunk it! The guy has a website called Youth Hockey Hub that focuses on hockey in Minnesota.

If he's the "Edina" guy that makes excuses for Edina, nice try.

Isn't Tony from Bloomington?

Don't let facts get in the way of a good argument.

[Mnhockeys]

"That means Edina played without it's two best players (physically strong for sure)"

"Their two best players??" Who writes that about 12 year olds. oh my mistake, 14 year olds...maybe last game actually makes it a level playing field with 2000 vs 2000. and who writes an ex NHL kid (99) scores.. Who cares who's son he is. In the articles before the games it mentions fatigue as an excuse. This writer is very partial to MN - not unbiased and in the new article the names are wrong in alot of goal/assists.. At least on LC. Try to write more impartially.

Was anyone from Edina actually quoted making excuses for going 2-1 on a trip that was supposed to be a great experience for the kids? As far as making excuses about missing kdis, I think he's trying to give the whole picture. He likely would have told us if HB. LC or Comp were missing key players. I'm not a big fan of identifying the "best" players or ranking players at this age, but times have changed. In the past, we would never have mentioned a Bantam player's name on this board, let alone ranking the best PWs in the state, but I guess that's progress.

Wonder who started naming kids at peewee and even mites .... actually we all know.

[old goalie85]

SK- MN High School hockey/ Texas football/Indiana hoops will never go away !! Why? because "it's something to do" . The deal is "we" love to watch the kids from "our" town play vs other towns. It's fun!!! How many fans in the stands @ your T1 games ?? If you don't like it leave !!!! We will be fine !!! Seee ya !!!

[Snap Happy]

SK- MN High School hockey/ Texas football/Indiana hoops will never go away !! Why? because "it's something to do" . The deal is "we" love to watch the kids from "our" town play vs other towns. It's fun!!! How many fans in the stands @ your T1 games ?? If you don't like it leave !!!! We will be fine !!! Seee ya !!!

Additionally our pinnacle the HS state tourney is waaaaay more exciting than your pinnacle - the tier 1 national tourney. And with 2 of our HS teams beating Shattuck this year (in a season with a lot of parity), the lure of tier 1 just isn't very heavy.

[Puckstopper81]

Personally, I thought Edina would come home 0-3. Congratulations on a great weekend! However, all it really does show is that a team with '99s can beat any team with just 2000s. Plain and simple.

[Shinbone_News]

Personally, I thought Edina would come home 0-3. Congratulations on a great weekend! However, all it really does show is that a team with '99s can beat any team with just 2000s. Plain and simple.

OK, I'm pretty tired of this stupid argument. That's not "all it really does."

Let me frame the issue like this: Detroit, go ahead and field a team of 99s and 00s and 01s BUT THEY HAVE TO BE FROM A SINGLE SUBURB of less than 50,000 population. You may not draw on the entire 5 million+ population of greater Detroit.

This weekend, what Edina accomplished they did not accomplish because they have a line of 99 Peewees and Detroit doesn't. They accomplished it by being among the very best youth hockey programs on the continent, Tier 1 or otherwise, and proving it. (By far the best community-based program in the US. I don't say Canada, because Canada too still has very strong community-based youth hockey.)

I love to hate on Edina as much as the next guy, but in Mo-town they're my homies. Same with Shattuck. I hope every MN HS team beats 'em, but when they win Nationals again, they're from MINNESOTA dammit!

[NextGoalWins]

[quote="NextGoalWins"]Sure but remember he is still just a young prospect with promise - he, like most other young players are still in tryout phase - that's why he got a 2 year deal. The newer Faulk has the spot on the first power play. J has had a good run but is clearly the softest defencemen on the team and has gotten into a lot of trouble because of it this season. That's a problem for a d man. Average NHL career is 4 years. Most of the young players are in danger of not lasting.[/quote]

JSR: Like I said...
Carolina Hurricanes' Most Pressing Concerns Early in the NHL SeasonBy Mark Jones(Featured Columnist) on February 10, 2013

"Three defensemen—Jamie McBain, Bobby Sanguinetti and Joe Corvo—have all been a healthy scratch for at least two games to date as a training camp roster spot battle has escalated into a seemingly permanent rotation.

Sanguinetti is a minus-six with zero points, but, as the youngest of the bunch, he's made more appearances (eight) than either of the others. Corvo, making his first appearance in the last four games, had a two-point effort Saturday in Philadelphia. McBain sat out the team's first two matches but is a plus-four since then.

Several glaring defensive gaffes have kept all three from gaining the upper hand in the ongoing battle. Sanguinetti blew a simple crease-clearing situation to allow Toronto's only goal last Monday. McBain missed embarrassingly on a poke check attempt to allow an Ottawa goal last Thursday; Corvo committed a series of dangerous turnovers two weeks ago in a close loss to Boston.

The longer the rotation lasts, the more instability grows within the Hurricanes' already fragile defensive unit. Kirk Muller needs to make a decision (and stick with it) soon."

[Slipped in the crease]

Shin, to compare these suburbs to Detroit is impossible. To compare the demographics would create a race riot.......88% of Edina, white, affluent, ect.

Detroit the same demographic MOVED out of the immediate area. You ever been there? Apocalyptic !! That's why you have kids from a large area in Detroit.
Until, we send 00' to play 00's (or 99's to play 99's), we'll never really know. Believe me, Michigan could careless if we send an All star team comprised of all Minnesota.
Do we have great players, YES, nobody would ever dispute that. Even the Michigan fans would acknowledge that.

[JSR]

"That means Edina played without it's two best players (physically strong for sure)"

"Their two best players??" Who writes that about 12 year olds. oh my mistake, 14 year olds...maybe last game actually makes it a level playing field with 2000 vs 2000. and who writes an ex NHL kid (99) scores.. Who cares who's son he is. In the articles before the games it mentions fatigue as an excuse. This writer is very partial to MN - not unbiased and in the new article the names are wrong in alot of goal/assists.. At least on LC. Try to write more impartially.

Okay, now you're saying he's partial to Minnesota. Who'da thunk it! The guy has a website called Youth Hockey Hub that focuses on hockey in Minnesota.

If he's the "Edina" guy that makes excuses for Edina, nice try.

Isn't Tony from Bloomington?

Don't let facts get in the way of a good argument.

Otown is right that no one from Edina made any excuses. However the OP was correct in that the YHH person who wrote teh article did make alot of excuses and his bias was pretty overwhelming. The way he kept pointing out injuries for Edina, I have a hard time believeing none of the other three teams were without injury but that was not reported on one way or another, the way in his articles he kept incessantly pointing out in almost an over teh top way where each player from the AA teams was from as if to try and further illustrate some sort of nonsensical point about Edina being from one community but HB being from multiple communities (as another poster pointed out, greater Detroit is wasteland, there is more money in 50,000 person Edina than all of Detroit right now and yes that means soemthing in hockey), the way he talked of "fatigue" guess what most AAA teams play 5 games in a weekend on a fairly regular basis and they do so away from home the majoirty of the time the way "fatigue" was harped on before the series was played and after the games were played was almost comical, it was excuse making at it's highest form and the funy part was it wasn't necessary..... Edina did well, they should have done well, they are a great team but even Minnesotans have to admit Edina is a bit of an ananomoly amongst association teams even in MN so all this nonsense about it being the MN Model versus the AAA model is silly. It was a great bunch of games that included four great teams with a bunch of great kids (presumably since I do not know any of them personally)

[O-townClown]

Edina did well, they should have done well, they are a great team but even Minnesotans have to admit Edina is a bit of an ananomoly amongst association teams even in MN

And the best of the five sponsored programs in Detroit are an anomaly for Tier I hockey across the United States.

[SKMN]

Again, everyone is assuming the Edina kids come from Edina. Why do you think Bloomington, Richfield, Hopkins, MN SW, and St Louis Park programs are so weak, and they are right next to Edina. What this tourney showed is the Edina MN Made AAA model against Detroit. And yes, the demographics are very different. When you take a bunch of kids who have been playing at MN Made together from different towns. Give them great coaching, and work their buts off, they can compete at the AAA level against the other top teams in the country. They won't dominate though, and they will lose to teams from everywhere in the country. When you have them play against the best association teams in the State. They will kill them! This is not by accident. The Edina program, already a huge success, will dominate everyone for years to come. Even the biggest programs will not be able to compete with them. Beating them once every 3-5 years is not competing. Edina is already a AAA program. They are going out of state to get competition because the other programs are not competitve. These kids play together at MN Made for 3-4 years, then they come over to the association program as a team, in squirts. They win 10-0 on a regular basis. Because Edina kids are such natural hockey players? Get a grip, the hockey landscape has changed, and Edina is changing it (with the help of MN Made). The association program in Canada is still heathly, but not for elite players. They all play AAA as well. If you took any other association team from MN and put them against any other AAA team in the country (I mean anyone) they will lose. Dallas, LA, Florida, Tennesse,... You name it, they lose, and lose big. Honey Baked loses to them on occassion as well. Go to myhockeyrankings.com and you will get a flavor of hockey outside of MN. MN is still great hockey and will always be. And yes, the association model is the best for kids. But it is not for some parents. They pay the bills, and they want to see little Johnny in the NHL! Probalby won't happen, but try to convince them of that. Unless you have been to some of these AAA tourneys, you might not really know what you are talking about. How long can one State have a different age goup classification from everywhere else in North America, not be allowed to play anyone else outside of the state, without special USA hockey permission, and claim to be the state of hockey?

[SKMN]

Again, everyone is assuming the Edina kids come from Edina. Why do you think Bloomington, Richfield, Hopkins, MN SW, and St Louis Park programs are so weak, and they are right next to Edina. What this tourney showed is the Edina MN Made AAA model against Detroit. And yes, the demographics are very different. When you take a bunch of kids who have been playing at MN Made together from different towns. Give them great coaching, and work their buts off, they can compete at the AAA level against the other top teams in the country. They won't dominate though, and they will lose to teams from everywhere in the country. When you have them play against the best association teams in the State. They will kill them! This is not by accident. The Edina program, already a huge success, will dominate everyone for years to come. Even the biggest programs will not be able to compete with them. Beating them once every 3-5 years is not competing. Edina is already a AAA program. They are going out of state to get competition because the other programs are not competitve. These kids play together at MN Made for 3-4 years, then they come over to the association program as a team, in squirts. They win 10-0 on a regular basis. Because Edina kids are such natural hockey players? Get a grip, the hockey landscape has changed, and Edina is changing it (with the help of MN Made). The association program in Canada is still heathly, but not for elite players. They all play AAA as well. If you took any other association team from MN and put them against any other AAA team in the country (I mean anyone) they will lose. Dallas, LA, Florida, Tennesse,... You name it, they lose, and lose big. Honey Baked loses to them on occassion as well. Go to myhockeyrankings.com and you will get a flavor of hockey outside of MN. MN is still great hockey and will always be. And yes, the association model is the best for kids. But it is not for some parents. They pay the bills, and they want to see little Johnny in the NHL! Probalby won't happen, but try to convince them of that. Unless you have been to some of these AAA tourneys, you might not really know what you are talking about. How long can one State have a different age goup classification from everywhere else in North America, not be allowed to play anyone else outside of the state, without special USA hockey permission, and claim to be the state of hockey?

[SKMN]

Again, everyone is assuming the Edina kids come from Edina. Why do you think Bloomington, Richfield, Hopkins, MN SW, and St Louis Park programs are so weak, and they are right next to Edina. What this tourney showed is the Edina MN Made AAA model against Detroit. And yes, the demographics are very different. When you take a bunch of kids who have been playing at MN Made together from different towns. Give them great coaching, and work their buts off, they can compete at the AAA level against the other top teams in the country. They won't dominate though, and they will lose to teams from everywhere in the country. When you have them play against the best association teams in the State. They will kill them! This is not by accident. The Edina program, already a huge success, will dominate everyone for years to come. Even the biggest programs will not be able to compete with them. Beating them once every 3-5 years is not competing. Edina is already a AAA program. They are going out of state to get competition because the other programs are not competitve. These kids play together at MN Made for 3-4 years, then they come over to the association program as a team, in squirts. They win 10-0 on a regular basis. Because Edina kids are such natural hockey players? Get a grip, the hockey landscape has changed, and Edina is changing it (with the help of MN Made). The association program in Canada is still heathly, but not for elite players. They all play AAA as well. If you took any other association team from MN and put them against any other AAA team in the country (I mean anyone) they will lose. Dallas, LA, Florida, Tennesse,... You name it, they lose, and lose big. Honey Baked loses to them on occassion as well. Go to myhockeyrankings.com and you will get a flavor of hockey outside of MN. MN is still great hockey and will always be. And yes, the association model is the best for kids. But it is not for some parents. They pay the bills, and they want to see little Johnny in the NHL! Probalby won't happen, but try to convince them of that. Unless you have been to some of these AAA tourneys, you might not really know what you are talking about. How long can one State have a different age goup classification from everywhere else in North America, not be allowed to play anyone else outside of the state, without special USA hockey permission, and claim to be the state of hockey?

[JSR]

Edina did well, they should have done well, they are a great team but even Minnesotans have to admit Edina is a bit of an ananomoly amongst association teams even in MN

And the best of the five sponsored programs in Detroit are an anomaly for Tier I hockey across the United States.

I don't follow????

[old goalie85]

I think I'm seeing triple.

[O-townClown]

I don't follow????

You don't? On average Tier I hockey isn't very good. When people discuss the level of play I find they are invariably talking about the top teams from Detroit.

Go watch an average Tier I team and it is nothing special. Why do you think the Super Series guys try to cut it off at Top 20 or Top 25? The good teams want to play the other good teams.

Just like Minnesota youth hockey, just like Minnesota HS hockey.

[old goalie85]

How many people in the state of Mich? How many in Mn ? How many youth hockey players in Mich? How many in Mn ? We win !!!

[Slipped in the crease]

OT,

Super Series was created for the smaller markets. For what that's worth, to get the best available teams together for a minimal cost. Too many overrides by other tourney's (Ex. hotels).
Top 30 teams are very good, after top 20 it becomes an issue of depth. There are some very good players on lower teams. Too young to billet.

Most other T1 orgs outside Detroit lack in depth. That's about the only difference. Colorado T-Birds, LA Kings, Dallas Stars, St Louis Blues, TPH......a ton more in the northeast. All put kids on the map for higher levels, and all lack the depth that the Detroit teams seem to have. But undoubtedly, these teams can beat one another on any given day, with maybe the exception of the top 5 teams.
At the same time the Detroit teams have moving variables.....kids move from one team to the other for many reasons. example Honeybaked may be the 00 team this year but may move over to Belle Tire in two years.... If you haven't been there and experienced it.........Detroit really is Hockey Town.
PS, I would not personally want to live there for any amount of hockey.

[paultabor]

There have been a number of things written about this trip, and I'd like to make a few comments. I helped get this thing going, and am probably in a good position to comment. Hopefully, no excuses will be given for anything... To be blunt, no excuses needed. It was a great trip, and the kids, coaches and parents could not have had a better time. The key figure in MI who put this together with us was Trevor Edwards - coach of 2000 Honeybaked. Trevor could not have been nicer, more helpful, or more complimentary. He had great things to say both about our team, and our style of play. He told me we were the best team they faced all year. They were the best team we played all year as well. Well coached, physical, and very skilled. They play a style of hockey that is much more in line with what hockey becomes as the kids get older. We were probably the better skating team (our "style" focuses on this in MN), and they were better at the little things - power play, penalty kill, positioning, etc... I would say Edina lost and HB won (2-4) based on what determines most things in a close game with good teams - timely scoring and goaltending. The shots were 36-18 for Edina (there was some confusion about this on here, but we have the scoresheet and the scoring was done by MI parents). But that was not indicative of play. The game was basically even in play - HB did a great job of finishing on their chances when they had them. They're a great team. Both teams competed hard. Tough competition on the ice, followed by great conversation and pizza and drinks (provided by HB) afterwards. Class all-around. Little Caesars was much of the same. They are tough and gritty, and competed every shift. The score (6-2 Edina) was again not indicative of the play. Close game. Close shots (25-24 I think?). Tough up and down the ice. I feel it necessary (FICA!) to say, because it was mentioned on the site, that my son received the major penalty in this game - and it was the correct call. The final game against Compuware was another battle to the end, two good teams, and we won in OT on a sweet goal (4-3). We took this trip to test the kids and have a great experience. Both occurred in spades. At no point were we worried about winning or losing (oh no - not undefeated!) We all knew we could lose 1 - or all 3 - against 3 very good teams. The point was to compete - and that's what happened. We are all very fortunate to have the ability to take a trip like this. I would love to see this happen with more teams in the future - not just Edina. Rosemount and Maple Grove come to mind as having a great crop of squirts who could compete at this level. And not just Machine and Blades kids. A number of kids on our team who are some of our top players do not play for either team in the summer. Finally, I wanted to comment on the BIG undercurrent on this site: 99's playing against 2000's. It was a complete non-issue. All 4 teams were very comparable in size and strength - AND age. We had the 5 oldest kids (5 99's, all later in the year). We also had 6 of the youngest kids. Our team has six 6th graders. HB (I spoke to their coach - he should know...) had one or two 6th graders (he actually wasn't sure exactly, but he said 1 or 2). The fact is there were 4 teams who played, made up entirely of a mix of 6th and 7th graders in some capacity. All very well balanced. Funny how in other sports birthyear is irrelevant. A senior on the basketball team is a senior. Period. At what point during the 2 birth years each school grade is made up of is not even discussed. They're seniors. Hockey gets too wrapped up in that. No one looked like a varsity player out there - I guarantee you. And the biggest kids on each team were all the same size - same with the smallest. 4 very good, evenly matched teams played each other this weekend. It's a non-issue. In closing, I want to thank Tony for his YHH coverage, and for all the positive posts about a great experience. I loved the one about how rooting for the cake-eaters in something like this is akin to how you feel about your sister: you can badmouth her all you want; someone else does it and you slug them. So true. Let's see if we can, as a state, get more of these games going in the future. There will always be teams here that can compete nationally. It does nothing but promote the game, show us what we are doing well and not so well, and make us all better in the long run. I don't know what the future holds for "the Minnesota model" versus the rest of the nation. My guess is that there will be a hybrid of sorts in our state in the future - one where some kids play AAA in the winter and others association - and very good players come out of both. Mostly because puberty is the great equalizer. Thanks to all the Michigan people for a wonderful time (especially Marty!). I also want my liver back. Paul.

[JSR]

I don't follow????

You don't? On average Tier I hockey isn't very good. When people discuss the level of play I find they are invariably talking about the top teams from Detroit.

Go watch an average Tier I team and it is nothing special. Why do you think the Super Series guys try to cut it off at Top 20 or Top 25? The good teams want to play the other good teams.

Just like Minnesota youth hockey, just like Minnesota HS hockey.

I don't deny there are some teams in Tier 1 that do not belong there and some of them are not very good at all. However I do think the cutoff for good comeptition is higher than 25. We've played alot of games against all level of Tier 1 and I'd say it's somewhere around 50 for quality competition. I mean the 51st ranked Michigan Nationals took Compuware to OT. 61st ranked Phoenix Firebirds only lost 3-1 to Honeybaked.... I guess I am saying #2 Honeybaked likely gets a much better and more competitive game playing against #33 ranked Russell Stover, than #1 Edina gets playing #33 ranked Irondale/St. Francis....... Also, #1 (in MN) Edina can play some good competitive games against #6 Compuware, but if #6 (in MN) Wayzata played Compuware I doubt they'd be very competitive just like Edina's games against Wayzata haven't been real competitive.......

That said let me put it a different way. Before this weekends games were played Edina was 45-0-0 and had won 27 games by MORE than 5 goals (this is not just an arbitrary number, there is some reason and logic behind the 5 goal differential). Let me repeat they won 27 games by MORE than 5 goals and never lost and never tied. After this weekend Edina was 1-1-1 (say that because most regular season Tier 1 games and most association games do not do OT, also even when they do OT they still often record it as a tie for statistical purposes, so in my opinion the Compuware game is a tie). Before this weekend Honeybaked was 46-6-6 and had won a mere 12 games by more than 5 goals

So basically IMHO Edina is way more of an anomoly within their model than these Detroit teams are within theirs...........

[JSR]

OT,

Super Series was created for the smaller markets. For what that's worth, to get the best available teams together for a minimal cost. Too many overrides by other tourney's (Ex. hotels).
Top 30 teams are very good, after top 20 it becomes an issue of depth. There are some very good players on lower teams. Too young to billet.

Most other T1 orgs outside Detroit lack in depth. That's about the only difference. Colorado T-Birds, LA Kings, Dallas Stars, St Louis Blues, TPH......a ton more in the northeast. All put kids on the map for higher levels, and all lack the depth that the Detroit teams seem to have. But undoubtedly, these teams can beat one another on any given day, with maybe the exception of the top 5 teams.
At the same time the Detroit teams have moving variables.....kids move from one team to the other for many reasons. example Honeybaked may be the 00 team this year but may move over to Belle Tire in two years.... If you haven't been there and experienced it.........Detroit really is Hockey Town.
PS, I would not personally want to live there for any amount of hockey.

Totally agree on the depth thing slipped in the crease.... been to enough of these games to tell you for fact that the top line for say the #40 Captiols and the #1 Mission are pretty equal, the difference is that the Missions #2 and #3 lines are pretty much the same as their first line where as the Capitols #2 and #3 lines have a dropoff relatively speaking so depth is a very real issue but a good share of teams have many top end kids

[O-townClown]

JSR, Slipped:

You'll also find kids just as good on some of the Tier II teams around the country. Or from small associations in Minnesota. The older you get the more likely these kids have found their way to face stronger competition.

Of course the top sponsored Detroit programs field teams with more depth than your average Tier I club. That's why they are so much better. Doesn't mean the kids are better than the best on the other teams, just that there are more of them.

Paul Tabor:

Thanks for your recap of the trip. I'm glad it was a success for those involved.

[Slipped in the crease]

JSR, OT,

It looks like we found some common ground! OT, there's no doubt , Tier II has very good players that rival Tier I players.
My point to all: There is a big world out there full of terrific hockey players and some of them are coming from some of the most remote places, not just the Detroit's and Edina's' of the world. My respect to all the kids playing the game, regardless of the level of play.
____
Nice post by Paul, Thanks for the perspective!