3 Privates & EP walk into a pub

[ThatMNHockeyGuy62]

HS hockey fans will still watch, less of the average fans will though, and that makes up a pretty good portion of the typical viewership. Like was said above, you don’t have the town/community following either at the game or on tv as you otherwise would, but you also don’t have the same Cinderella story or single villain that Minnesotans so love to cheer for and against. If we had to pick, I guess STA is the Cinderella story?? It’s a strange year indeed.

I’d say Blake. Not a lot of (recent?) tournament success.

I did think about that one too. Though both of these programs have seen traditionally more success when they were at the A level, STA has been here a lot in AA, just never to the championship. STA is more the underdog I suppose though as a section 5 seed.

[Slap Shot]

I want to watch skilled hockey. I'm a h.s. hockey fan and attended my first tournament in 1972. I can no longer attend them so I will take the time to watch and appreciate what hockey means in Minnesota. This a showcase event I don't care if there are no true Davids left in the AA tournament.

[WarmUpTheBus]

I'll be at Mariucci instead with 100 other people. But, better than watching two games where the public doesn't care to even pick a side. Gonna be a snoozefest relative to most Friday nights.

I have been to a few Blake games this year and they are far from snooze fests.

[norcon]

There will be 4 great hockey games played today at the X. If people can get over ther names and zone in on the games, they can be entertaining. I think everyone should remember when watching these games, they are HIGH SCHOOL teams. Cant find anything else like it

I guess for me, it's more that I just don't care who wins now, which makes me lose interest. Does it allow me to be more objective? Sure, but where is the fun in that? Having some vested interest just inherently makes sports more interesting to watch. And it's not that I have anything against the kids at these private schools, but I just don't have the interest in what they are selling.

I'll probably toss the games on still, but I won't be paying close attention overall.

The AA matchups tonight are a northern high school hockey fan's worst nightmare. I applaud defense and BlueLineSpecial for keeping it real. Speaks to being a just a fan of good hockey. Having 3 privates and Eden Prairie in the semis heralds the end to the high school hockey season for me. I will watch the A games, being a partisan, provincial northern hockey guy who would love to see a Hermantown-Warroad matchup. But AA is where it's at.

If recruiting is how great teams are being built, then I implore Grand Rapids to get Christian Galatz and family to move there this offseason. I hear that he's leaning toward joining the Wilderness next season. It is obvious that based on last night's results (and last year's and the previous year's and . . . ), goal scorers are absolutely required at every level of hockey. A team can count on them for getting a goal per game, and they raise the level of play of their teammates. Galatz would look great on in orange, particularly if Peart returns and DelGreco comes back healthy, stronger and more skilled.

That type of thing doesn’t typically happen in Rapids, but what a great addition that would be with what they have coming back. From a very reliable source...Peart is coming back. Will play in Fargo-USHL before and after the high school season. Currently there now. DelGreco’s injury healing nicely. Should have no issues.

[BlueLineSpecial]

I don't feel like this is some great changing of the guard or a reason for everyone to be pessimistic about the state (and future state) of MN HS Hockey. It's not like these 4 teams ran away with it and they were the best of the best throughout the season, sections or even these first couple of games of the tourney:

STA was the 5th seed in section 3AA. All public schools ranked ahead of them. They upset #4 Eastview, #1 Rosemount & #2 Burnsville to get to state. Then they clipped the consensus #1 in state, scoring machine public Andover school in the tourney and frankly they rightfully should have lost that game.

Hill had to come back from down 0-2 against public school WBL to win it's section, with a short-handed goal with 6 minutes left being the winner. WBL beat them in the regular season and could have just as easily won the section.

Moorhead, a northern public school, had another great team. Just ran into a buzz saw. The Hill v Moorhead matchup a week ago was far more even and could have gone either way.

Maple Grove v Blake was a great game. The public school almost won. Blake is a newcomer to AA and frankly just has a bunch of Edina kids on their team. So swap out the name "Blake" for "Edina" and does anyone feel any better about things? Everyone except people in Edina hate Edina.

EP is EP. They're a massive, massive school with wealth and everything else going for them. This is going to happen in the west metro every year. Whether it be Edina, EP, Minnetonka, Wayzata.

So with a few different bounces and the favorites taking care of business, the tourney could have just as easily looked like this:

Andover
Rosemount
WBL
Maple Grove
Moorhead
EP
Blake or Benilde
Lakeville South or Hastings

It didn't happen literally due to a play here and a play there. If the above was the field I think the majority of even the purists on this board would have been excited. Well it almost happened! Probably should have! So, again.. This is what it is. I'm happy to see my Pioneers playing on Friday. I think Blake v EP is going to be a great game. Good luck to the teams, I'll be tuned in all day today enjoying HS hockey.

[MNHockeyFan]

BlueLineSpecial you make some great points.

I don't have any favorites at this point, nor do I "hate" any of the teams. Just hoping to see some great hockey games from here on out. And I don't think I'll be disappointed.

[WBLPuck99]

I don't have any "hate" either. I just look at it as a lack of vested interest. Some of that was lost when my WBL bears couldn't hold their lead, rest of it was lost with the QF results.

I sincerely hope all these star players go on to do great things because I think it's good for high school hockey in Minnesota, I just don't have as much interest in this specific tournament at this time.

[Zamman]

As a private school guy and supporter, I am not liking this at all. Two schools I never have like could very well be playing for the championship. But I am pretty confident that EP will prevail and Hill Murray will also, so we will have a nice final. NO STA or BLAKE for me.....

[defense]

I'm going Blake Bears!! Why not??

[TheNightman]

Definitely cheering for Blake. They're a Minneapolis school with a good amount of Minneapolis kids, I'll just ignore that they pay 26k a year for school.

[WBLPuck99]

Definitely cheering for Blake. They're a Minneapolis school with a good amount of Minneapolis kids, I'll just ignore that they pay 26k a year for school.

Spoiler alert: the ones on the ice don't all pay that.

[defense]

Definitely cheering for Blake. They're a Minneapolis school with a good amount of Minneapolis kids, I'll just ignore that they pay 26k a year for school.

I figure they are the one who hasn't done a lot in the recent past. Never even played in class A championship.

[Bonin2121]

I'll be at Mariucci instead with 100 other people. But, better than watching two games where the public doesn't care to even pick a side. Gonna be a snoozefest relative to most Friday nights.

I have been to a few Blake games this year and they are far from snooze fests.

Not saying the hockey isn't great, but great state tournament game experiences involve the neutral crowd wanting to pick a side.

[Stang5280]

Maple Grove v Blake was a great game. The public school almost won. Blake is a newcomer to AA and frankly just has a bunch of Edina kids on their team. So swap out the name "Blake" for "Edina" and does anyone feel any better about things? Everyone except people in Edina hate Edina.

I agree with almost everything in your post, but Blake actually has more kids from Minneapolis than Edina (as others have referenced above). Yes, you have Sabre, Dexheimer, and Witzke from Edina, but here are some of the Blake kids from Minneapolis:
Miller
Svenddal (x2)
Nelson
Reid (x2)

Blake has always drawn heavily from Minneapolis, even dating back to the olden days when I played against them.

[BlueLineSpecial]

Maple Grove v Blake was a great game. The public school almost won. Blake is a newcomer to AA and frankly just has a bunch of Edina kids on their team. So swap out the name "Blake" for "Edina" and does anyone feel any better about things? Everyone except people in Edina hate Edina.

I agree with almost everything in your post, but Blake actually has more kids from Minneapolis than Edina (as others have referenced above). Yes, you have Sabre, Dexheimer, and Witzke from Edina, but here are some of the Blake kids from Minneapolis:
Miller
Svenddal (x2)
Nelson
Reid (x2)

Blake has always drawn heavily from Minneapolis, even dating back to the olden days when I played against them.

Appreciate the correction. All the more reason to root for them! MPLS throw-back, repping at State

[massalsa]

Arguably only Sabre had a relatively easy path to Varsity at Edina and he has been a Blake kid since elementary school. I have heard that Dexheimer more or less was told that he had very little shot to play at all for the Varsity the rest of his HS career. He looked to move somewhere that he had a chance to play and was essentially released from his Edina commitment.

I am a fan of Blake's style of play and their coaching philosophy. They play a very unselfish style of hockey and move the puck a bunch. Should be an interesting clash of teams against EP. EP has tons of stars and is very talented throughout and arguably Blake has one star who is always looking to make the correct play rather than a "me first" play.

[SpreadOut!]

It’s costs $32,895 a year to attend high school at Blake. Do they give athletic scholarships?

[deacon]

It’s costs $32,895 a year to attend high school at Blake. Do they give athletic scholarships?

Most, if not all private schools offer some form of tuition assistance for all students, whether you play sports or not.

[massalsa]

google search yielded this:

https://www.blakeschool.org/admissions/ ... ordability

https://www.blakeschool.org/admissions/ ... assistance

https://www.blakeschool.org/admissions/ ... -estimator

I am guessing there are similar things at Hill, STA, Breck, bunches and bunches of other privates without hockey, etc. Have not searched those.

[ironranger2]

There will be 4 great hockey games played today at the X. If people can get over ther names and zone in on the games, they can be entertaining. I think everyone should remember when watching these games, they are HIGH SCHOOL teams. Cant find anything else like it

I guess for me, it's more that I just don't care who wins now, which makes me lose interest. Does it allow me to be more objective? Sure, but where is the fun in that? Having some vested interest just inherently makes sports more interesting to watch. And it's not that I have anything against the kids at these private schools, but I just don't have the interest in what they are selling.

I'll probably toss the games on still, but I won't be paying close attention overall.

The AA matchups tonight are a northern high school hockey fan's worst nightmare. I applaud defense and BlueLineSpecial for keeping it real. Speaks to being a just a fan of good hockey. Having 3 privates and Eden Prairie in the semis heralds the end to the high school hockey season for me. I will watch the A games, being a partisan, provincial northern hockey guy who would love to see a Hermantown-Warroad matchup. But AA is where it's at.

If recruiting is how great teams are being built, then I implore Grand Rapids to get Christian Galatz and family to move there this offseason. I hear that he's leaning toward joining the Wilderness next season. It is obvious that based on last night's results (and last year's and the previous year's and . . . ), goal scorers are absolutely required at every level of hockey. A team can count on them for getting a goal per game, and they raise the level of play of their teammates. Galatz would look great on in orange, particularly if Peart returns and DelGreco comes back healthy, stronger and more skilled.

That type of thing doesn’t typically happen in Rapids, but what a great addition that would be with what they have coming back. From a very reliable source...Peart is coming back. Will play in Fargo-USHL before and after the high school season. Currently there now. DelGreco’s injury healing nicely. Should have no issues.

That is simply not true. There are a couple of kids from the east side of the range that are playing in your program right now.

[ChrisK]

Isn't a priest supposed to be part of this joke too? Seems like it would be a good time for a thread about the superiority of the catholic high school hockey player...

[northwoods oldtimer]

Isn't a priest supposed to be part of this joke too? Seems like it would be a good time for a thread about the superiority of the catholic high school hockey player...

LMAO ChrisK its too bad the internet artists got 'please ban me' The ol crew would of taken it to whole new level.

[blueblood]

3 privates and Ep walk in and all Map South players have multiple offers, I mean choices.

[defense]

3 privates and Ep walk in and all Map South players have multiple offers, I mean choices.

Watch it. .....

[jdh]

I'll be at Mariucci instead with 100 other people. But, better than watching two games where the public doesn't care to even pick a side. Gonna be a snoozefest relative to most Friday nights.

I have been to a few Blake games this year and they are far from snooze fests.

There was a David in the 1972 final - Grand Rapida, the backdoor team playing the Region 7 champ. Great game.