Illinois High School Hockey Comparison

[Nevertoomuchhockey]

I tend NOT to share social media with my children. Just sayin'.

[Froggy Richards]

I tend NOT to share social media with my children. Just sayin'.

Also a good point. I just read it again and there is no way that was written by a High School Junior. Too many words and analogies that a 17 year old kid wouldn't even think of, much less care to type after midnight on a school night. Dad wrote it through the eyes of his son. Sad thing is it was a good post and probably accurate, but he ruined it by pretending to be someone else.

[notTONIGHT]

I tend NOT to share social media with my children. Just sayin'.

Also a good point. I just read it again and there is no way that was written by a High School Junior. Too many words and analogies that a 17 year old kid wouldn't even think of, much less care to type after midnight on a school night. Dad wrote it through the eyes of his son. Sad thing is it was a good post and probably accurate, but he ruined it by pretending to be someone else.

lets not forget..... these privates offer such a better education, maybe it is a junior.

[mnmouth]

I tend NOT to share social media with my children. Just sayin'.

Also a good point. I just read it again and there is no way that was written by a High School Junior. Too many words and analogies that a 17 year old kid wouldn't even think of, much less care to type after midnight on a school night. Dad wrote it through the eyes of his son. Sad thing is it was a good post and probably accurate, but he ruined it by pretending to be someone else.

lets not forget..... these privates offer such a better education, maybe it is a junior.

By the time I was a junior in high school, I was writing better than 95% of all adults. Give the dude the benefit of the doubt because the information is wonderfully stated and likely valid.

[Traxler]

I was thinking the same thing.

To be fair, I guess he could be using Dad's account. Totino would make sense. He said he played for a small, Class A Private.

Based on his posts from 2008 about Roseville and Mounds View I assume that rbhockey97's son was playing youth hockey in the north metro in 2008. That makes me think it even more unlikely that he was playing hockey in Illinois two years ago.

Maybe some Illinois hockey stud (his own words) hacked rbhockey97's account and posted under his name, but I'm starting to think rbhockey97 was just trying to make up a story to explain how much better Minnesota hockey is than Illinois hockey.

Anonymity makes people do strange things.

[bauerman]

from my experience in coaching a team that was made up of high school players that played CYA and Mission in addition to the Schattuck midget team, the AAA teams could play with good high school teams not the best but good teams, the Schattuck midget team would be the equal to a good JV team

[eagle4life9]

The thing that really separates MN HS hockey and hockey in any other area/state is the [i]quality[/i] depth that MN has. It's much like Canada's Olympic teams - yes, many of the other countries can compete with them in terms of top talent (USA, Russia, Sweden) but Canada's depth is what makes them the best hockey country in the world. Just look at some of the players that didn't make their Sochi team. Illinois's top AAA teams may be able to compete with MN HS teams but I believe someone said there are only 6 AAA teams? Whereas most metro AA and many out-state teams both A and AA could probably compete with the Illinois AAA teams.

Basically, we have maybe 50ish? teams that would compete/beat the top 6 teams they have.

[Froggy Richards]

Also a good point. I just read it again and there is no way that was written by a High School Junior. Too many words and analogies that a 17 year old kid wouldn't even think of, much less care to type after midnight on a school night. Dad wrote it through the eyes of his son. Sad thing is it was a good post and probably accurate, but he ruined it by pretending to be someone else.

lets not forget..... these privates offer such a better education, maybe it is a junior.

By the time I was a junior in high school, I was writing better than 95% of all adults. Give the dude the benefit of the doubt because the information is wonderfully stated and likely valid.

No thank you. A Junior in High School did not write it, so no benefit of the doubt is needed.

[mnmouth]

lets not forget..... these privates offer such a better education, maybe it is a junior.

By the time I was a junior in high school, I was writing better than 95% of all adults. Give the dude the benefit of the doubt because the information is wonderfully stated and likely valid.

No thank you. A Junior in High School did not write it, so no benefit of the doubt is needed.

How about proof otherwise? Is that needed?

[Froggy Richards]

By the time I was a junior in high school, I was writing better than 95% of all adults. Give the dude the benefit of the doubt because the information is wonderfully stated and likely valid.

No thank you. A Junior in High School did not write it, so no benefit of the doubt is needed.

How about proof otherwise? Is that needed?

No, it's not. If you read the whole thread like I did then you would probably have come to the same conclusion. But since you don't have the time I'll summarize it for you. That account has been active since 2008, when a Junior in High School would have been in 6th Grade. Could a 6th Grader be an active poster on this forum? I guess it's possible. Would a sixth grader also pretend to be the father of two hockey players in Metro Youth Assocations? Not likely. And would the 6th Grader continue the charade for years, up until his sons were playing at Totino Grace? Well, I'll let you decide that.

[mnmouth]

No thank you. A Junior in High School did not write it, so no benefit of the doubt is needed.

How about proof otherwise? Is that needed?

No, it's not. If you read the whole thread like I did then you would probably have come to the same conclusion. But since you don't have the time I'll summarize it for you. That account has been active since 2008, when a Junior in High School would have been in 6th Grade. Could a 6th Grader be an active poster on this forum? I guess it's possible. Would a sixth grader also pretend to be the father of two hockey players in Metro Youth Assocations? Not likely. And would the 6th Grader continue the charade for years, up until his sons were playing at Totino Grace? Well, I'll let you decide that.

I don't have to decide. I don't care who wrote it. Why should you? There are all kinds of persona people can assume on this type of forum. I could be a girl, of all things, with a whiskey bottle in one hand and desire to chop up small minds like yours. Yet I can post anything I want and let the moderators decide if it's plausible and suitable. Back it up, brudda.

[Traxler]

I don't have to decide. I don't care who wrote it. Why should you?

The reason we care who wrote it is because we would like to know whether it was true. Since the account it was posted on has been posting on here since 2008 about Minnesota Youth hockey I don't believe that the poster was playing hockey in Illinois two years ago.

I think the entire post was fabricated.

[MrBoDangles]

I was thinking the same thing.

To be fair, I guess he could be using Dad's account. Totino would make sense. He said he played for a small, Class A Private.

^

Thanks for your opinion, RBK(jr).

There's no need for a hangin'

[Froggy Richards]

mnmouth wrote:

I don't have to decide. I don't care who wrote it. Why should you?

Of course you don't care now. You cared a lot when you thought you were right. I get it. I used to do that in grade school. Every day we would race to the lunch room. On the days that I lost, I would say that I wasn't really racing.

[Nevertoomuchhockey]

GUESS WHAT? I heard from Sara who heard from Jane who read it on Molly's facebook that it said on Sam's twitter that mnmouth is a mean alcoholic chic that goes to TG! Hehehe.

[karl(east)]

Getting us back on topic...

So this is not comparable. That sucks. Seems like your leagues and divisions don't have inter-league. We have no rules or restrictions. AAA teams play HS teams. HS teams play AA teams. Whoever wants to play can play.

Well thanks for your effort. I guess I will have to just trust, myhockeyrankings.com. #FAIL

Start getting some high school team to Chicago for a tournament.

In MN, the only AA/AAA winter teams at the high school age level are at Shattuck. Shattuck is its own program completely separate from the state high school league, and has a prep team (top team), AAA, AA, and U16. They are all technically free to play MN HS teams, but it doesn't happen often.

The Prep team usually plays 1-3 games against some of the better HS teams, and usually wins, though the games are usually (though not always) competitive, and the HS teams win from time to time. The Shattuck AAA or AA then plays the HS JV teams, depending on who they think is a better fit.

The AA and A in MN technically has nothing to do with talent level; it's just a class distinction for playoff purposes, with AA schools being the bigger (and mostly better) schools and Class A being the small schools (with some exceptions, but we won't get into that). There are lots of games between AA and A teams over the course of a season.

I think New Trier has a whole bunch of teams? In MN, no HS has more than a varsity and a JV.

An Illinois team could easily come to MN to play, or vice versa; MN HS teams play high schools in WI/ND often, and a couple of the east coast prep schools used to do a home-and-home with some of the bigger MN private schools. It can easily be arranged...just know what you're getting yourself into. There have been some truly brutal scrimmages between MN teams and teams from other states.

[RonBurgandy]

Hey Sortsdevotee--

I know a couple of the kids on the Shattuck AA team. They have played some highschool teams in MN, but they primarily play Junior Gold teams in MN.

Shattuck's AAA team would be a better comparison to MN HS Hockey...then again The Shattuck Prep team has been beaten a few times by some MN highschool teams.

[DubCHAGuy]

Hey Sortsdevotee--

I know a couple of the kids on the Shattuck AA team. They have played some highschool teams in MN, but they primarily play Junior Gold teams in MN.

Shattuck's AAA team would be a better comparison to MN HS Hockey...then again The Shattuck Prep team has been beaten a few times by some MN highschool teams.

Sortsdevotee,
This pretty much sums it up. Obviously every season is different, but over the last 10-15 years I would compare Shattuck to MN HS this way:

Shattuck Prep: Would be the favorite to win the MN AA State Tournament every year, but would definitely be challenged. They play 1-2 top AA HS teams each year and probably win 80% of them. They are usually good games though. Depth is generally the only big factor that separates Shattuck Prep from MN HS top 10.

Shattuck AAA: Would probably be a good fit in MN class A hockey. Probably wouldn't contend for state championships, but they would be in the 5-20 range in most years. In MN, A/AA have nothing to do with skill (A teams play AA teams all season, they just split for our playoffs), AA teams just have more good players and tend to be the better teams (Olympians Backes, Oshie, Faulk, & Wheeler all played at MN class A schools).

Shattuck AA: Best fit to compete against the JV teams of the respectable MN HS teams. Being located in southern MN (usually one of MN's weaker areas), I suppose they could put together a soft Varsity schedule that would allow them to be a .500 team, but they probably wouldn't crack the top 100 overall of MN HS teams.


Best chance for an Illinois team to play a MN team would be in a tournament around Christmas time. There are plenty of them, and teams drop out or go to different holiday tournaments year to year, so there are usually openings.

[FireChoice]

As a point of reference, SSM Midg 2A team played Benilde St M jv last saturday. Final score SSM 6, Benilde 1.

[sportsdevotees]

Hey Sortsdevotee--

I know a couple of the kids on the Shattuck AA team. They have played some highschool teams in MN, but they primarily play Junior Gold teams in MN.

Shattuck's AAA team would be a better comparison to MN HS Hockey...then again The Shattuck Prep team has been beaten a few times by some MN highschool teams.

Sortsdevotee,
This pretty much sums it up. Obviously every season is different, but over the last 10-15 years I would compare Shattuck to MN HS this way:

Shattuck Prep: Would be the favorite to win the MN AA State Tournament every year, but would definitely be challenged. They play 1-2 top AA HS teams each year and probably win 80% of them. They are usually good games though. Depth is generally the only big factor that separates Shattuck Prep from MN HS top 10.

Shattuck AAA: Would probably be a good fit in MN class A hockey. Probably wouldn't contend for state championships, but they would be in the 5-20 range in most years. In MN, A/AA have nothing to do with skill (A teams play AA teams all season, they just split for our playoffs), AA teams just have more good players and tend to be the better teams (Olympians Backes, Oshie, Faulk, & Wheeler all played at MN class A schools).

Shattuck AA: Best fit to compete against the JV teams of the respectable MN HS teams. Being located in southern MN (usually one of MN's weaker areas), I suppose they could put together a soft Varsity schedule that would allow them to be a .500 team, but they probably wouldn't crack the top 100 overall of MN HS teams.


Best chance for an Illinois team to play a MN team would be in a tournament around Christmas time. There are plenty of them, and teams drop out or go to different holiday tournaments year to year, so there are usually openings.

Thanks everyone for all your responses. I did laugh at the suspicion of the fake account and the dad writing it through the kids eyes. I tend to agree. You had some valid points there.

I had no idea how it compared, and was curious. Appreciate the Prep, A, and AAA summary. The depth is far superior than Illinois.

[JSR]

Let me get this straight. You've been You went from playing AAA to Lake Forest Academy?? That's like going from playing on a top AA MN team to Junior Gold. And then you decided you wanted to explore other hockey options in MN? Highshcool to highschool yes MN is way better. AAA to IL or MN highschool you should have stayed in Illinois. If you are good enough to play for a top AAA team you are better off there. If you were a low end AAA player that would be the only hockey reason to leave AAA hockey for highschool hockey.

Actually Lake Forest is a prep school in Illinois and is actually one of the few places you'll find decent hockey in Illinois that is not AAA, so your actually off base on your analogy on this one, it's nothing like going from AA to Junior gold in MN, it's more like going from a good MN AA high school team to an average MN A high school team, so a drop but not the astronomic drop you tried to portray....

[JSR]

Hey Sortsdevotee--

I know a couple of the kids on the Shattuck AA team. They have played some highschool teams in MN, but they primarily play Junior Gold teams in MN.

Shattuck's AAA team would be a better comparison to MN HS Hockey...then again The Shattuck Prep team has been beaten a few times by some MN highschool teams.

Sortsdevotee,
This pretty much sums it up. Obviously every season is different, but over the last 10-15 years I would compare Shattuck to MN HS this way:

Shattuck Prep: Would be the favorite to win the MN AA State Tournament every year, but would definitely be challenged. They play 1-2 top AA HS teams each year and probably win 80% of them. They are usually good games though. Depth is generally the only big factor that separates Shattuck Prep from MN HS top 10.

Shattuck AAA: Would probably be a good fit in MN class A hockey. Probably wouldn't contend for state championships, but they would be in the 5-20 range in most years. In MN, A/AA have nothing to do with skill (A teams play AA teams all season, they just split for our playoffs), AA teams just have more good players and tend to be the better teams (Olympians Backes, Oshie, Faulk, & Wheeler all played at MN class A schools).

Shattuck AA: Best fit to compete against the JV teams of the respectable MN HS teams. Being located in southern MN (usually one of MN's weaker areas), I suppose they could put together a soft Varsity schedule that would allow them to be a .500 team, but they probably wouldn't crack the top 100 overall of MN HS teams.


Best chance for an Illinois team to play a MN team would be in a tournament around Christmas time. There are plenty of them, and teams drop out or go to different holiday tournaments year to year, so there are usually openings.

Thanks everyone for all your responses. I did laugh at the suspicion of the fake account and the dad writing it through the kids eyes. I tend to agree. You had some valid points there.

I had no idea how it compared, and was curious. Appreciate the Prep, A, and AAA summary. The depth is far superior than Illinois.

Schattuck's AA midget team is their #3 team. Last year Schattuck's TOP midget team lost to a couple of MN's top high school teams..... Illinois high school hockey does not compare to MN, hoenstly most IL high school hockey teams don't even stack up to WI high school hockey (and WI high school hockey isn't close to MN high school hockey). Green Bay Notre Dame is the #1 team in WI high school hockey and are far superior to any high school team I am have ever seen in Illinois, that Green Bay Notre Dame team would probably rank somewhere in the 20's (combined AA and A rankings) in MN high school, my guess based on observation and anecdotal evidence is the BEST Illinois high school team MIGHT rank somewhere in the 50s or 60's of MN high school hockey and I am not being jerky, just honest in that I think I might even be being a bit generous. That doesn't mean hockey is bad in Illinois, quite the contrary it's jus the good hockey is not played in high school there. The primary reason being that most good players in Illinois do not play high school hockey, whereas tons of good players play it in WI, and pretty much all of them play it in MN.

[goldy313]

An Illinois team could easily come to MN to play, or vice versa; MN HS teams play high schools in WI/ND often, and a couple of the east coast prep schools used to do a home-and-home with some of the bigger MN private schools. It can easily be arranged...just know what you're getting yourself into. There have been some truly brutal scrimmages between MN teams and teams from other states.

Actually it's not that easy. You have to get a waiver to play against non NFHS teams and Minnesota has cracked down on that quite a bit in recent years. The MSHSL is a member of the NFHS, Wisconsin and North Dakota are both NFHS leagues. I know Sioux Falls AAA plays a few games against southwestern teams but largely that is because of the limited number of teams in that area and I believe all those games are all played in Minnesota, not in South Dakota so they're under NFHS rules.

MSHSL Bylaw 411: 2) Member schools may schedule contests with non member schools, provided that: A) (deals with eligibility) B) The state high school/activity association is a member of the National Federation of High Schools, and C) The participation has been approved for competiton by that state association and the MSHSL.