Classic Suburban ousts St. Thomas

[Bulldog3489]

Holy Angels placed in the Tri-Metro

[stpaul]

Holy Angels placed in the Tri-Metro

The MSHSL continues to disappoint those private school haters. TG placed in the NW Suburban, BSM in the Metro West, AHA in the Tri-Metro and St. Thomas Academy back in the Metro East. All decisions based on enrollment, geography and competitive balance. Surely they should be out to punish and segregate the private schools.

[stpaul]

Just to finish up the STA point and get back on topic. STA has been placed into the Metro East Conference as of today. It was the correct decision based on the criteria. Keeping STA, losing Richfield, and adding Hastings makes for a more competitive conference overall.

All that time and energy spent to just add Hastings and to get a new name. The conspirators who worked so hard to kick out STA have to be very disappointed.

Hastings
Henry Sibley
Hill-Murray
Mahtomedi
North St. Paul
Simley
South St. Paul
St. Thomas Academy
Tartan

[Pioneerprideguy]

STA picked the perfect time to have a "down year" in football.

[HShockeywatcher]

Just to finish up the STA point and get back on topic. STA has been placed into the Metro East Conference as of today. It was the correct decision based on the criteria. Keeping STA, losing Richfield, and adding Hastings makes for a more competitive conference overall.

All that time and energy spent to just add Hastings and to get a new name. The conspirators who worked so hard to kick out STA have to be very disappointed.

Hastings
Henry Sibley
Hill-Murray
Mahtomedi
North St. Paul
Simley
South St. Paul
St. Thomas Academy
Tartan

It was a very interesting process. It'll be interesting to see how relations continue within the conference now

[WB6162]

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_230 ... -st-thomas

The Classic Suburban voted 6-2 to kick STA out of the conference, STA now has to apply to other conferences and if no one accepts them the MSHSL will place them in a conference.

Kind of interesting to me at least, my guess is the two no votes were STA and Hill-Murray. I just don't think you can become as dominant as STA has been, run the score up incessantly on your peers and expect them to just stand by forever. STA may be close to some those schools geograpically but they're light years away socio-economically and probably a better fit in the South Suburban or Suburban East.

You have to understand that the parents have money and 100% of their happiness and self confidence is tied to how well little Tommy does on the rink.

[MNHockeyFan]

You have to understand that the parents have money and 100% of their happiness and self confidence is tied to how well little Tommy does on the rink.

Certainly not unique to STA parents....

[alcloseshaver]

As an outside casual observer this looks like the conference they belong in. If say a school like Holy Family starts to dominate they would be asked to leave their small league also in the ever evolving conference shuffle. The frustrating thing for most schools is the recruiting and aid the athletes get, hard to compete. That St. Thomas took this long to move up to AA in hockey is a joke. Holy family is trying to build a hockey program and they are AA.

[EliteHockeyMind]

As an outside casual observer this looks like the conference they belong in. If say a school like Holy Family starts to dominate they would be asked to leave their small league also in the ever evolving conference shuffle. The frustrating thing for most schools is the recruiting and aid the athletes get, hard to compete. That St. Thomas took this long to move up to AA in hockey is a joke. Holy family is trying to build a hockey program and they are AA.

Who cares how long it took STA to move up to AA, they are there now. Don't forget it was the administration - Headmaster who is now retired, and AD - who has passed away this year. They took a lot of heat from the STA parents and alumns and the constant banter in the papers. They are in AA now, get over it.

[inthetwine]

People have to remember, this is not just about hockey, it is all sports. St. Thomas is not dominate in every sport.

[puckbreath]

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_230 ... -st-thomas

The Classic Suburban voted 6-2 to kick STA out of the conference, STA now has to apply to other conferences and if no one accepts them the MSHSL will place them in a conference.

Kind of interesting to me at least, my guess is the two no votes were STA and Hill-Murray. I just don't think you can become as dominant as STA has been, run the score up incessantly on your peers and expect them to just stand by forever. STA may be close to some those schools geograpically but they're light years away socio-economically and probably a better fit in the South Suburban or Suburban East.

You have to understand that the parents have money and 100% of their happiness and self confidence is tied to how well little Tommy does on the rink.

Yep.

As as also said, it's a lot of parents.

[EliteHockeyMind]

People have to remember, this is not just about hockey, it is all sports. St. Thomas is not dominate in every sport.

Exactly. And IMO this should have been a discussion of Class vs Conference. Isn't it all really just about winning a state championship and not a conference? Or is that just me?

STA became dominant in 1A hockey and finally moved up 2A, everyone is happy.

STA is good at football, not great. Only has 1 state championship, they moved up to 5A, and still lose in section playoffs to SSP, Sibley, Washburn, etc.

I can understand schools getting upset when it comes time for playoffs when it really matters, but conference play should all be relative to the conference criteria. It's just funny to me that SSP, Sibley, Simley and other Classic Suburban teams went as far to kick a team out of a conference, when all they should be worrying about is what they should be doing when it comes time for playoffs.

This isn't a professional sport, there is no salary cap, and one school to the next will never be equal on grounds of recruiting or facilities. Just get in the class you think you can compete in and try your best...

[HShockeywatcher]

People have to remember, this is not just about hockey, it is all sports. St. Thomas is not dominate in every sport.

It's quite comical when you actually take a look at all the sports. There are two that St Thomas has been dominant in; Swimming and Alpine Skiing.
And I highly doubt anyone is trying to boot them for either of those. Heck, if it were about hockey, Hill would be the team to go after, not St Thomas.

Bottom line, this has never made sense for any reason. Now the MSHSL has confirmed that.

[hockeyfan21]

I'm not part of the conference, but from people I've talked to the issue is not as much about the dominance of St. Thomas, but the attitude of St. Thomas, which is why they have made no effort to dump Hill Murray...

[hockeyfan21]

You have to understand that the parents have money and 100% of their happiness and self confidence is tied to how well little Tommy does on the rink.

Certainly not unique to STA parents....

Couldn't agree more. This is not unique to St. Thomas or to Private Schools...

[MNHockeyFan]

Couldn't agree more. This is not unique to St. Thomas or to Private Schools...

It even applies to parents of 7 year-old girls, for those who may have missed this article in yesterday's Star Tribune:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/230597801.html

[EliteHockeyMind]

I'm not part of the conference, but from people I've talked to the issue is not as much about the dominance of St. Thomas, but the attitude of St. Thomas, which is why they have made no effort to dump Hill Murray...

interesting...attitude of students? or parents? I know a lot of people that went to STA, I grew up with a lot of them. I ended up going to CDH, we were always rivals. It's just interesting to see how quickly a school can become so hated. When I was in school STA was just another private school with normal rivals. Now everyone in the state seems to hate them.

I am glad we are now in the same section for playoffs, should be fun to watch the rivalry come playoffs. I was hoping for the same conference for more in season games, but i'll take it.

[thestickler07]

I'm not part of the conference, but from people I've talked to the issue is not as much about the dominance of St. Thomas, but the attitude of St. Thomas, which is why they have made no effort to dump Hill Murray...

interesting...attitude of students? or parents? I know a lot of people that went to STA, I grew up with a lot of them. I ended up going to CDH, we were always rivals. It's just interesting to see how quickly a school can become so hated. When I was in school STA was just another private school with normal rivals. Now everyone in the state seems to hate them.

I am glad we are now in the same section for playoffs, should be fun to watch the rivalry come playoffs. I was hoping for the same conference for more in season games, but i'll take it.

Start to win more and people don't like you. Same reason Cretin got the boot from the St. Paul City Conference.

[HShockeywatcher]

I'm not part of the conference, but from people I've talked to the issue is not as much about the dominance of St. Thomas, but the attitude of St. Thomas, which is why they have made no effort to dump Hill Murray...

Can you elaborate on this attitude you speak of?

[stpaul]

I'm not part of the conference, but from people I've talked to the issue is not as much about the dominance of St. Thomas, but the attitude of St. Thomas, which is why they have made no effort to dump Hill Murray...

Can you elaborate on this attitude you speak of?

There is an age old St. Paul adage that goes like this:
A Cretin kid taunts a STA kid after another athletic victory. The STA kid responds "that's OK, one day you will work for me and I'll take it out on you then".

[almostashappy]

There is an age old St. Paul adage that goes like this:
A Cretin kid taunts a STA kid after another athletic victory. The STA kid responds "that's OK, one day you will work for me and I'll take it out on you then".

I've heard this same attitude expressed by students at colleges/universities with great academic reputations but bad sports teams (e.g. Northwestern University). The associated football stadium cheer is, "That's alright, that's okay, you're going to work for us someday!"

The best counter-cheer for this was expressed by Jefferson fans in a sectional game against Edina a few years back.

"Nobody likes you! clap-clap-clap clap clap. Nobody likes you! clap-clap-clap clap clap"

[karl(east)]

There is an age old St. Paul adage that goes like this:
A Cretin kid taunts a STA kid after another athletic victory. The STA kid responds "that's OK, one day you will work for me and I'll take it out on you then".

I've heard this same attitude expressed by students at colleges/universities with great academic reputations but bad sports teams (e.g. Northwestern University). The associated football stadium cheer is, "That's alright, that's okay, you're going to work for us someday!"

Huh, where I come from, it's "That's alright, that's okay, you're going to work for East someday." Has a nice ring to it.

[nosoupforyou]

Wonder if/when HM and STA will go independent in hockey. This conference will continue to look like the Big Ten back in the 70s and 80s with the big two and everybody else. I don't think any of the other schools have a strong group coming up like Tartan in 05-06 that can break through the big two. The competition for the other 7 teams is for third place.

[hockeyfan21]

I'm not part of the conference, but from people I've talked to the issue is not as much about the dominance of St. Thomas, but the attitude of St. Thomas, which is why they have made no effort to dump Hill Murray...

Can you elaborate on this attitude you speak of?

Mostly complaints of arrogance and condescension from parents and students alike about not only the sports teams but the schools and communities. One guy told me about a parent who tried to pay admission to a bball game with a $100 bill, which they didn't have change for. He was irritated and made a crack about how he forgot he was in the poor part of MN again. I wasn't there so I have no way to verify if this is a regular attitude, but the way he and the other guy with him spoke, this is the norm.

Again, I have no horse in this race.

[thestickler07]

I'm not part of the conference, but from people I've talked to the issue is not as much about the dominance of St. Thomas, but the attitude of St. Thomas, which is why they have made no effort to dump Hill Murray...

Can you elaborate on this attitude you speak of?

Mostly complaints of arrogance and condescension from parents and students alike about not only the sports teams but the schools and communities. One guy told me about a parent who tried to pay admission to a bball game with a $100 bill, which they didn't have change for. He was irritated and made a crack about how he forgot he was in the poor part of MN again. I wasn't there so I have no way to verify if this is a regular attitude, but the way he and the other guy with him spoke, this is the norm.

Again, I have no horse in this race.

Did you hear about the guy that wanted to attend his kids 9th grade football game but couldn't find the valet to park his Bentley?