HighSchoolHockeyForums.com

Lets face it class A will never get any respect from the older fans in Minnesota. The thing I find funny is that the Class A title game was hands down the best game of either class A or AA. Isnt that what a "true" hockey fan should want? Good hockey is good hockey. Knock class A all you want but there are some great games, in fact Warroad was maybe in the best two all season, with the Class A final and there match up with Moorhead(1-1 tie) <p></p><i></i>

hey toold2think, how can u say that noone would be interested in an all Private schools tournament? Besides Warroad, thats what the class A tournament is and u could add teams such as AHA Hill and Benilde (going up to AA this year) and probably a few others. Teams such as AHA, Hill, Benilde, Breck, Blake, Sta, Totino, Duluth Marshal and a few others would bring people in to watch the games so who are u to say there should be no television coverage and noone would be interested? just because u went/go to a public school doesnt mean what u think is universal, some great players come out of these private schools that people would love to watch. <p></p><i></i>

Look at the MN All State Team. What was the ratio of AA players vs. A players on the All State, 2ND team and Honorable Mention. Hmmmmm? <p></p><i></i>

Where do we find the list. of all state players? <p></p><i></i>

lets not forget warroad tied AA's second place team. <p></p><i></i>

its stupid to relate bantam b's to class A. People w/ common sense would realize that the good teams in class A are equivalent to the good teams in AA. Class A just doesnt have the depth of good teams that AA has.<br><!--EZCODE EMOTICON START ;) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... s/wink.gif ALT=";)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>

Exactly, Bantam B is where the lower kids play, while Class A is good players in which the good Class A teams can compete with the top Class AA teams, just not as deep in the number of teams with talent. No way you can compare Class A varsity hockey with B bantam hockey. <p></p><i></i>

AP All State Teams were in the Star Tribune either yesterday or Tuesday <p></p><i></i>

Hey sabreman, looks like you're still bitter that your starless Sabres didn't make it to state. Get over it. <p></p><i></i>

Comparing A and AA to Bantam A and B is a very poor comparison. Players on the Bantam B's are the ones who aren't good enough to make the A's. I think we can all agree that there are plenty of Class A players that could still stand out even in Class AA. AA just has more depth than A, just because a player plays for a AA school doesn't make him better. It is true that Class A will never get the respect that AA does but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't give respect where respect is due to some Class A teams. <p></p><i></i>

Warroad had a very nice team that could beat anybody on a given night. So could about 40 teams in the state of Minnesota which is proven weekly.<br><br>Warroad played 2 teams in the top 15 in AA going 1-0-2. So in three games against solid AA competition they had two blemishes. They tied Moorhead in ONE game. Yippee! Stillwater beat WBL who beat Moorhead so what does that say? Nothing!<br><br>If Warroad played a schedule like WBL, Centennial, Duluth East, or Jefferson the 4 toughest schedules according to PagStat they would most likely have numerous losses.<br><br>Relying on two lines will work playing Albert Lea, STA and Totino but not in a 3 day AA tourney. If they want to be compared to AA then play up.<br> PagStat Top 15<br> 1. Moorhead<br> 2. Centennial<br> 3. Bloom. Jefferson<br> 4. Holy Angels<br> 5. White Bear Lake<br> 6. Hill-Murray<br> 7. Apple Valley<br> 8. Eden Prairie<br> 9. Roseville<br>10. Wayzata<br>11. Tartan<br>12. Osseo<br>13. Rochester Century<br>14. Duluth East<br>15. Hastings <p></p><i></i>

Relying on 2 lines obviously didn't work Totino-Grace. Totino played right with them playing 3 lines, so i dont kno wat you are talking about carpenter.<br><br><br><br>"Relying on two lines will work playing Albert Lea, STA and Totino but not in a 3 day AA tourney" <p></p><i></i>

Didn't Warroad win the A title? <p></p><i></i>

Yes but it could've gone either way. I misunderstood ur quote. Sorry. I thougth you wrote work meaning as in kill the team. <p></p><i></i>

I'm not sure what my point is here, but here are some interesting stats.<br>The smallest school to still field a hockey team has to be Kittson Central/Hallock. (Town population 1100) The 2005 graduating class will be 33. Grades 9-12 maybe have 140 kids total. Let's assume that the boy/girl ratio 1:1. Let's say half the boys play b-ball (they don't have wrestling) that leaves only 35 guys for both JV and Varsity squads. No one is cut, because for the most part in order to field a team you have to keep everyone. They generally finish in the middle of the pack in section 8A. (Their last state tourney team was '61). <br>I'm not saying people should feel sorry for them, I'm just stating the facts. <br>People from the Twin Cities would say this is just nuts to even have a team. "Why do you still have a team? " Because hockey has been part of this community even longer than Warroad and Roseau. The first organized hockey game was played in Hallock in 1895; Roseau wouldn't pick up the game until 11 years later (Roseau's hockey tradition stems from the introduction of the game by Archie and Art Alley of Hallock in 1906. Archie and Art, who traveled from Hallock to look over the Roseau area in 1906 saw some local youngsters playing cross tag on the Roseau River, so the next time the two were in town Archie and Art brought sticks and a puck cut from a tree and introduced hockey to Roseau.<br>In the next couple of years after its introduction, hockey gained popularity and two rinks were constructed in Roseau utilizing high boards. 1908 also marked the first match-up of the Warroad-Roseau hockey rivalry. Roseau won this first match-up at a Warroad rink.) In December of 2002 Hallock hosted an alumni tourney. 165 skaters showed up. The oldest player was 77. <br><br>. <p></p><i></i>

Interesting post Northcote, you have done your research and you are right, where you have good history people have to lighten up and give teams credit. Those kids work hard and get to play and love the game and isn't that what it is all about?? We see lots of big school kids that get cut from teams and never get the thrill of playing varsity hockey. To bad. <p></p><i></i>

Where did carpenter guy get his pagestat rating's? <p></p><i></i>

I don't think anyone in his right mind would say A is better than AA. Taht would be stupid. <br><br>But, there are A teams taht could compete in AA. Warroad is one of them. Perhaps the top five to 10 teams in Class A would have been good enough to compete in the state in the AA level. An argument could even be made that Warroad was the best team in the state this year. It wouldn't be the first time an A school can make that argument. It does make great fodder for this board. The same thing can be said in other sports as well. Some say Braham, a Class AA school in boys basketball, is the best team in the state this year. They have beaten several highly ranked schools in Class AAA and AAAA. <br><br>But why beat on Class A. The reason we have Class A is to give the smaller schools a chance to have a state tournament experience. Has it hurt the overall state tournament? that depends on who you ask. One this is for sure, though, there were 18,000 people at all of the AA sessions, and another 6-8,000 at each of the A sessions. There are a lot of people who dont' have a problem with the way things are set up now. <br><br>Like it or not, two classes are here to stay. If a team wants to prove themselves at the higher level, such as roseau, so be it. If a private school wants to move up to the higher level, great. But right now, the criteria are set up solely on school enrollment, the same as they are in other sports. <br><br>If you want to believe that AA is the best, and choose to ignore A teams, that's fine with me. However, if you choose to ignore the A tournament, you're going to miss out on a lot of great stories and games. The Warroad-Totino game was great. Last year, you would have missed watching one of the best players in the state in Blake Wheeler, or missed the antics of S. St. Paul's goalie. <br><br>What two classes gives us is eight more teams to watch at state. Eleven more games to highlight high school hockey. And in most cases, these are teams that would have no chance against the Jeffersons, the Moorheads, the Duluth Easts, the Elk Rivers, the Holy Angels etc. These teams have to have a few quality players, or they wouldn't have advanced as far. <br><br>So all of you elitists, sit back, shut up, and enjoy watching Minnesota High School hockey. <br><br>End of rant. <br><br> <p></p><i></i>

Hockeydad. DEAD ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <p></p><i></i>

I will use section 8 as an example. For the last 3-4 years section 8A has been much stronger then 8AA. The #2 seed in 8AA would have been a 4 or 5 seed in 8A. Also the top teams in 8A have been competitive with Moorhead - This year Warroad and Moorhead tied and I believe egf and moorhead was a 3 goal game and trf and moorhead was a three goal game. From top to bottem in the state there is no question that AA is better but I would say of the top 35 high school teams in the state 10-15 of them would be class A teams. <p></p><i></i>

no argument there <p></p><i></i>

Well i know in shakopee we did not have a bantam A team because our youth hockey switched into the toughest district in the state. Only reason we had that was because which will encourage kids more.. losing every game or winning half? its a tough decision but i say they could have played A. <p></p><i></i>

HOCKEY DAD.... PERFECT!!!!! <p></p><i></i>

one great player out of 12. Thats the numbers in hockey.If you have 30 players you get 2 or 3. If you have 150 well do the math.If Double a wants to see what single a is like just split your talent and have a team for every 300 kids enrolled. Yould see how small towns really develop good teams for small numbers. The ice time available in small towns is a luxury compared to time in the big cities. Hey and section 4a is improving. Adding Alex and Sartell this year and little falls taking 3rd in peewee state last year, {means they beat a lot of double a programs that year if not all but 1} problem when these talented groups come up in a little program, is the great educational opportunity's at the private schools and larger programs. They leave before high school, Peluso to Brainard, Streans to jrs. ect, Move single "a" out of the metro if you dont have it at the excel. They will draw alot better being closer to their homes. And the city schools that play "a" dont have large fan bases anyways. Would be neat to go to an an event in duluth, rochester,st cloud ect. As far as "a" or "b" if you are much over a 500 record in b's without an "a" team you messed up and should of played "a's" <p></p><i></i>

Totino Grace and Shakopee had large fan bases, so obviously the city teams do have large fan support. I say keep at the xcel, The amount of fans wont change since a lot more people live int he cities. Warroad also had a lot of fans there. <p></p><i></i>