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yeahyeahyeah wrote:Ok someone has to say it, 1:35 am! haha kidding many reasons a person would be cruising the internet at that time of the night. It was Cyber Monday after all.
I did see Elk River play they have solid defense. STMA must be pretty good to have beaten them. Waconia is another team to watch, I was told they only have 2 lines and have been together for a couple years. Edina was beaten by Elk River in the Hopkins tourney 5-4.

Is there no DOMINANT team that will threaten the teams of the past years where we were talking about 35-0 records and Yeah the famous Farmington dad (s) that were touting the greatest squirts of all time. I miss those days. From what I have seen so far the talent level is down across the board at this level maybe it is a cycle that the 98 and 99s are a smaller group or something. It can't be that we are not developing the kids because from all of the AAA/AA talk there has been a ton of $$$ spent on these kids. any other theories out there?

dogeatdog1 wrote:

yeahyeahyeah wrote:Ok someone has to say it, 1:35 am! haha kidding many reasons a person would be cruising the internet at that time of the night. It was Cyber Monday after all.
I did see Elk River play they have solid defense. STMA must be pretty good to have beaten them. Waconia is another team to watch, I was told they only have 2 lines and have been together for a couple years. Edina was beaten by Elk River in the Hopkins tourney 5-4.

Is there no DOMINANT team that will threaten the teams of the past years where we were talking about 35-0 records and Yeah the famous Farmington dad (s) that were touting the greatest squirts of all time. I miss those days. From what I have seen so far the talent level is down across the board at this level maybe it is a cycle that the 98 and 99s are a smaller group or something. It can't be that we are not developing the kids because from all of the AAA/AA talk there has been a ton of $$$ spent on these kids. any other theories out there?

From what I've seen so far this year (although it's still early in the squirt season), the talent level is not as deep as last year. In several early controlled scrimmages I noticed Wayzata dominate Waconia, Tartan, STMA, and then skate even-up with Eden Prairie twice. Edina seems to be down this year with a couple top kids lost to the Fire team. No one is going to dominate this year from what I've seen or heard.

High Off The Glass wrote:

dogeatdog1 wrote:

yeahyeahyeah wrote:Ok someone has to say it, 1:35 am! haha kidding many reasons a person would be cruising the internet at that time of the night. It was Cyber Monday after all.
I did see Elk River play they have solid defense. STMA must be pretty good to have beaten them. Waconia is another team to watch, I was told they only have 2 lines and have been together for a couple years. Edina was beaten by Elk River in the Hopkins tourney 5-4.

Is there no DOMINANT team that will threaten the teams of the past years where we were talking about 35-0 records and Yeah the famous Farmington dad (s) that were touting the greatest squirts of all time. I miss those days. From what I have seen so far the talent level is down across the board at this level maybe it is a cycle that the 98 and 99s are a smaller group or something. It can't be that we are not developing the kids because from all of the AAA/AA talk there has been a ton of $$$ spent on these kids. any other theories out there?

From what I've seen so far this year (although it's still early in the squirt season), the talent level is not as deep as last year. In several early controlled scrimmages I noticed Wayzata dominate Waconia, Tartan, STMA, and then skate even-up with Eden Prairie twice. Edina seems to be down this year with a couple top kids lost to the Fire team. No one is going to dominate this year from what I've seen or heard.

Eden Prairie & Wayzata will be your teams to beat in invitational tournaments, with each district having one to two teams that dominate their district.

I agree this is not a deep squirt group with loads of talent.

Is there no DOMINANT team that will threaten the teams of the past years where we were talking about 35-0 records and Yeah the famous Farmington dad (s) that were touting the greatest squirts of all time. I miss those days. From what I have seen so far the talent level is down across the board at this level maybe it is a cycle that the 98 and 99s are a smaller group or something. It can't be that we are not developing the kids because from all of the AAA/AA talk there has been a ton of $$$ spent on these kids. any other theories out there?

From what I've seen so far this year (although it's still early in the squirt season), the talent level is not as deep as last year. In several early controlled scrimmages I noticed Wayzata dominate Waconia, Tartan, STMA, and then skate even-up with Eden Prairie twice. Edina seems to be down this year with a couple top kids lost to the Fire team. No one is going to dominate this year from what I've seen or heard.

I agree this is not a deep squirt group with loads of talent.

Perhaps the talent level is even deeper this year, it just isn't as concentrated as years past. I say kudos to the parents that allowed their kids to play this summer, and have brought parity to youth hockey.

InigoMontoya wrote:

Is there no DOMINANT team that will threaten the teams of the past years where we were talking about 35-0 records and Yeah the famous Farmington dad (s) that were touting the greatest squirts of all time. I miss those days. From what I have seen so far the talent level is down across the board at this level maybe it is a cycle that the 98 and 99s are a smaller group or something. It can't be that we are not developing the kids because from all of the AAA/AA talk there has been a ton of $$$ spent on these kids. any other theories out there?

From what I've seen so far this year (although it's still early in the squirt season), the talent level is not as deep as last year. In several early controlled scrimmages I noticed Wayzata dominate Waconia, Tartan, STMA, and then skate even-up with Eden Prairie twice. Edina seems to be down this year with a couple top kids lost to the Fire team. No one is going to dominate this year from what I've seen or heard.

I agree this is not a deep squirt group with loads of talent.

Perhaps the talent level is even deeper this year, it just isn't as concentrated as years past. I say kudos to the parents that allowed their kids to play this summer, and have brought parity to youth hockey.

I think this is closer to reality....More kids are getting more training. To me the game looks faster. There are fewer standouts because the bottom is elevated which is shadowing the ability of the top players. I am not saying there is a team out there that is better or worse than Edina of 08-09 or whoever just saying the overall level of play looks up.

stillwater, looked deep and well coached. jefferson two good lines also well coached. thought prior lake looked strong. thought these three should enjoy solid seasons. [wins-losses]

I think Prior Lake is a good example of what the increase in summer hockey means to winter hockey. Prior Lake is getting better, Shakopee is getting better, New Prague is getting better - I don't know the demographic breakdown of the Magicians 95 through 00, but I'm guessing the rise of that program hasn't hurt the quality of winter hockey in the area.

InigoMontoya wrote:I think Prior Lake is a good example of what the increase in summer hockey means to winter hockey. Prior Lake is getting better, Shakopee is getting better, New Prague is getting better - I don't know the demographic breakdown of the Magicians 95 through 00, but I'm guessing the rise of that program hasn't hurt the quality of winter hockey in the area.

Think the same could be said in the Northwest with Scrabble (I mean Monpoly) and the North east with Cyclone/Legacy/Miracle/easton etc...

I think there are more younger players making squirt A teams. Many of the teams I talk to have several young (2000) kids this year. That is usually a reach, skill is beating out size in tryouts to some degree it seems the kids from AAA are benefitting. Is that the best for the team? maybe not, second year kids, that do not participate in summer programs, make big strides during the season. They just come in cold and do not impress in tryouts. This is where AAA is making a big impact.

I concur. Those Rogers teams are performing the smoothest crossovers in D10.

InigoMontoya wrote:I concur. Those Rogers teams are performing the smoothest crossovers in D10.

And learning Money management skills at the same time! not a shot just humor.

We shall see if the watered down AAA brings skill levels up or dilutes and creates paridy. To my eye speed of the game is down and the skills both at the AA (sorry a shot at all the AAA wanna bees) was down in the fall. at least at the 99 and 00 levels. I see a lot of mite skaters every week and there is a group of 02s that look pretty skilled compared to the group that went through when my sons went through the program. I think that this is just a weak group. could be wrong and hope Im not. lotta hockey to play yet this year and they will get better.

I am interested to know if anyone has information regarding expected registration numbers for 1st year squirts next year (or this year) in your associations. Our asociation has a 2 year decline, this year 1st year squirts and next year first year class are down. After that we jump back up again to healthy numbers. I have talked to a couple other associations, one in particular being Blaine he claimed they are experiencing the same thing.
Do any of you know how your associations are faring?
By the way this is not an economy thing, the slight impact of the economy taken into account, our numbers have been down since mini-mite.

At the Hopkins Tournament Rochester looked solid as well. Also a parent from St Micheal told me 10 of their 13 skaters played with battleship, I mean Monopoly teams this summer. Any truth? If so you see the summer hockey impact.
Another impact of the summer hockey that I saw was the players missing from Edina that are playing for some team in Wisconsin. I've seen a couple of those kids play and they have to be as good as anyone in their peer group.

Can we please keep this to NON AAA talk. It is not AAA season. This thread was started for scores and misc Squirt hockey talk.

anyone have a early top ten.

Metro Top Ten as what I have heard and seen. It is squirt hockey so this can change quickly.

1. Eden Praire
2. Minnetonka
3. Wayzata
4. Mounds View
5. St. Michael/Albertville
6. Elk River
7. Stillwater
8. Bloomington Jefferson
9. Edina
10. Farmington

have you seen moundsview play this year?

No, but an Elk River parent thought they were the best team they played this year and I see they won their tournament. We will know more about the squirts in a couple weeks after the Eden Praire tournament and North St. Paul tournament.

Centennial parents said they beat Mounds View in a scrimmage 5 to 1 and Centennial placed 3rd in the Brooklyn Park Tournament

Anyone know who is in EP and North St Paul tournaments?

Nothing listed on EP site; this from NSP (3 spots still open?) NSP, Lakeville, Minnetonka, Wayzata, Moundsview, Roseville, Apple Valley, Champlin Park and Burnsville

Here is Squirt A Pools for EP:

Black Red White
1 Bloomington Jefferson 1 Minnetonka 1 Eden Prairie
2 Waconia 2 O/MG 2 White Bear Lake
3 St. Michael/ Albertville 3 North Metro 3 Rosemount
4 Roseau 4 Sioux Falls 4 Mankato

Who in their right mind would enter a team like North Metro in that tournament and why? I sincerely wish the North Metro boys good luck.

I thought Edina would be in either NSP and EP tourn...Besides, North Metro, I've heard Mankato is a little week.

tourn this weekend at johnson forest lake, st. paul, park, irondale, mahtomedi, n.s.paul. looks like a distrct 2 warm up. rochester tournament Jan. 8-10 roch.red, armstrong, hopkins, forest lake, andover, champlin, mound, rochester black, stillwater,albert lea, rogers,crow river