"nu2hockey", I'm still waiting for you to answer the question I posed to you earlier about whether or not you believe Hermantown has an extremely unique advantage compared to any other Class "A" team in the state...
"defense", you keep asking when or, why can't the other Duluth area schools do what Hermantown does/attract players like Hermantown does? There are a number of reasons why Proctor, Denfeld, and North Shore aren't able to do what Hermantown has done or is currently doing, many of them fairly nuanced and involving "inside youth/high school hockey" stuff. But, I'll do my best to try and explain.
Reason one is socioeconomic in nature. Meaning, compared to Proctor, Denfeld, Cloquet, and North Shore, the demographics of Hermantown significantly skew toward the middle to upper-middle class tax brackets more than those other communities. Which, makes it easier for more of Hermantown's citizens to afford to play hockey. It's the same reason why Duluth East's numbers are always so strong. Meaning, both currently, and for the last 20 years, Hermantown's youth association has had more of its' kids playing youth hockey than any other Class "A" youth association in Section 7A for the last two decades. That means that initially, Hermantown had a slight advantage in building its' program using kids living within their own boundaries. And, to the great credit of their youth association and high school program, they did a great job developing those players and building a legitimate Class "A" program.
But then, Minnesota Hockey changed their eligibility rule so that a youth player could play at the youth association where they attend school. Even if they continue to live in their original youth hockey association's geographic boundary. By the time this rule changed (around 2008 or 09 if I recall), Hermantown had already been to state a few times and established themselves as one of the top public school Class "A" teams in the state. I say "top public school teams" because prior to Minnesota Hockey changing its' eligibility rule, only the Twin Cities metro private schools had the advantage of being able to attract/recruit top players from a large population center that didn't force kids/families to move to be immediately eligible. Which, is why Bruce Plante became so aggravated with St. Thomas Academy. His main issue with them was that they were a Twin Cities all-star team and, that they could draw so many talented kids from such a large surrounding metro area. That's actually one of my biggest issues with Hermantown not choosing to go up to "AA". Their success the last 10 years is based on the exact same advantage that Bruce used to rail on STA about. It's hypocrisy at it's absolute finest! Anyway, once Minnesota Hockey changed its' eligibility rule, Hermantown was uniquely situated -- both from the standpoint that they were already extremely successful, as well as their geographic location -- to take advantage of the rule change/situation. Or, stated more succinctly, people want to play for a "winner". By the time the youth rule changed, Proctor, Denfeld, Two Harbors, and Silver Bay (now the North Shore co-op) had been trending downward in overall numbers (high school & youth) and competitiveness for a number of years.
The other factor as to why Hermantown became THE program to migrate to in the Duluth area (even more so than Duluth East) -- especially once Minnesota Hockey changed the eligibility rule -- is that the first summer "AAA" hockey program in our area was started by a couple dads, one whose son played in the Hermantown youth program and the other who was in the East Duluth youth program but, eventually played at Marshall. Although there were a number of other Hermantown kids on those teams the first few years, there were also a number of other top kids from not only the greater Duluth/Cloquet area but, also from the Range as well. Again, once the eligibility rule had changed, Hermantown had already become a Class "A" power and, the unintended positive consequence of summer "AAA" hockey was that all of these top players evolved friendships that often resulted in some of those kids choosing to open-enroll to Hermantown. It was especially true for the Duluth area kids. Then, Hermantown came back to Section 7A and it became obvious they were going to be the prohibitive favorite to get to state every year which obviously became THE attractant for kids from outside their program.
Obviously, with Proctor opening its' new facility two years ago, along with the youth association hiring Scott Pionk as their hockey director as well as likely being the new boys high school head coach as well, their leadership is hopeful that they will get the ship turned in the right direction. I know their Mite numbers are up the last two years which is obviously a great sign.
As for Denfeld, with their coaching staff of Dale Jago, Ryan Geris, and Jake Johnson, they may have the best overall boys high school coaching staff in the Duluth area. This year's Denfeld Bantam "A" team had a solid year and had 3-4 legitimate Bantam "AA" level players on it. But, they also had 3-4 legitimate Bantam "B" level players as well and, to the coach's credit, he played the whole roster pretty equally throughout the season so, the Denfeld high school program should only improve, at least for the next two years.
Unfortunately for the North Shore co-op between Two Harbors and Silver Bay, long-time boys and girls coach, Mike Guzzo, just retired after a tremendous career and there is absolutely no one who has put his heart and soul into first, the Silver Bay boys program, but then the co-op program as well. He has also been an integral part of the Silver Bay youth program as well and, his unrivaled passion for "his" kids will be missed. The other significant challenge, is that, despite Mike Guzzo's efforts, the two youth programs are definitely not on the same page. For instance, this past season the Two Harbors Association decided to have their own Bantam team, versus having a combined team with Silver Bay. Two Harbors had so few Bantam aged kids that they tried to have at least 6 of their second year Pee Wees move up to Bantams so they could have a legitimate team. Almost every one of the parents of the Pee Wee players contacted the Duluth Amateur Hockey Association to see about playing in the East Duluth Pee Wee program. I don't believe any of them made the move. In fact, I know at least a few of them eventually did move up to Bantams. The point is, considering they co-op at the high school level and, considering the latest player development research from USA Hockey regarding how best to run proper ADM practices at the youth level, along with what each of their individual numbers are at the Pee Wee and Bantam levels, it's extremely clear they should be co-oping at the Pee Wee and Bantam levels as well. Unfortunately, there are some parents/administrators who care more about winning petty turf wars versus doing what's best for their kids. So, I wouldn't expect to see North Shore's boys' program in the top 4 of 7A for awhile.
Finally, there haven't been many kids from East or Cloquet that have open-enrolled to Hermantown over the last ten years. However, with some of the undercurrents of frustration that are currently in place at both East and Cloquet, I wouldn't rule out a few kids from either of those two programs moving over to Hermantown in the next couple years. Not saying it will definitely happen, just saying it wouldn't surprise me.
Anyways, that's my attempt to explain why it's unlikely that the other Duluth area 7A schools will ever reach the consistent level of success that Hermantown has experienced the last two decades. My only caveat to that is, because of Scott Pionk's involvement -- yes, he and I are friends so I'm definitely biased -- along with their new facilities, there is a chance that Proctor could rise up and be a consistent thorn in Hermantown's side.
