Private School Trash talk thread

[mnmouth]

Does anyone have interest in joining me on a venture to open a parochial high school up in Hermantown?

Open one up in Edina instead and make sure they have hockey.

[Mnhockeys]

WOW! I can't say I am surprised this thread was resurrected, since the other threads have a lot of the same discussion.

I think the funniest thing about this thread is that discussion of fans, parents and former players. When it comes to private schools potentially moving up classes it all revolves around the Headmaster, Dean, President..etc, determining if it is really going to make an athletic statement, or pull the "we're an academic first institution." Anyone who has attended a private school and played on or been a fan of a competitive team has always wanted their team to move up to AA.

Be careful what you wish for...how much would you miss the bickering if they actually did separate. Take a situation right now with LVN and Edina, wouldn't everyone be asking, I wonder how good they really are compared to those private schools. Will games during the regular season, or one final game really determine it all?

Take a situation right now with any team lost to a private, wouldn't everyone be asking, I wonder if we don't have to play that private school in sections ...

[east hockey]

Does anyone have interest in joining me on a venture to open a parochial high school up in Hermantown?

Too many Lutherans up here. Besides, there is Marshall, so it fits the dual requirement of having a private school and a Class AA hockey team (at least, as of next year)

Lee

[YearbookWontClose]

This argument has always really baffled me. I don't see how private schools have any more of an advantage of "recruiting" than the majority of public schools in the state. Any public school with open enrollment (which is the vast majority of the schools in the state) can also try to get players from outside of their district to come play for them. If anything, I think the private schools would be disadvantaged here because the parents need to pay tuition now rather than have their kids go to school for free. I have always felt that the biggest reason why people dislike private schools so much is because the families tend to have a lot of money and they just don't want to outright say that so they complain about other things instead. Just my opinion on this topic, feel free to try to open my eyes though.

[Imported from MN]

This argument has always really baffled me. I don't see how private schools have any more of an advantage of "recruiting" than the majority of public schools in the state. Any public school with open enrollment (which is the vast majority of the schools in the state) can also try to get players from outside of their district to come play for them. If anything, I think the private schools would be disadvantaged here because the parents need to pay tuition now rather than have their kids go to school for free. I have always felt that the biggest reason why people dislike private schools so much is because the families tend to have a lot of money and they just don't want to outright say that so they complain about other things instead. Just my opinion on this topic, feel free to try to open my eyes though.

Yearbook it is not a matter of opening your eyes for this lot. It is a matter of shaming you to the point that your next comment will undoubtedly not be PC and you will be the bigger man not respond and get on with your life. This thread is a joke and stinks of small-minded antiquated ideals. Some people don't understand the notion of choice. Chocolate or Vanilla.. heck some people even choose strawberry. So until Minnesota High School Hockey becomes a socialist state keep dreaming gentleman. Maybe you dweebs can start an occupy MSHSL protest. 2100 Freeway Blvd, Brooklyn Center I'll be sure to take a detour on my way to work.

[rainier]

This argument has always really baffled me. I don't see how private schools have any more of an advantage of "recruiting" than the majority of public schools in the state. Any public school with open enrollment (which is the vast majority of the schools in the state) can also try to get players from outside of their district to come play for them. If anything, I think the private schools would be disadvantaged here because the parents need to pay tuition now rather than have their kids go to school for free. I have always felt that the biggest reason why people dislike private schools so much is because the families tend to have a lot of money and they just don't want to outright say that so they complain about other things instead. Just my opinion on this topic, feel free to try to open my eyes though.

I think the issue is private schools in single A. 99% of the private schools are in large cities that have huge combined enrollments between all of their high schools, so if all or a large portion of the hockey talent chooses to go to that private school, they will have an enormous advantage over most A public schools. If a school is drawing from a AA-sized talent pool, they should be in AA.

Yes, there is open enrollment, but where will Thief River Falls get open enrollment kids from? Or International Falls? The Iron Range schools hate each other, so open enrollment is not very common and the larger schools are still 30-40 miles apart. Alexandria, Little Falls, Willmar, Worthington, etc.; there is a significant portion of Class A schools that have no other population centers around them, thus they have what they have when it comes to hockey talent.

Breck is located in the center of a 3 million person metropolis. It does not take much for that school to find enough hockey talent. For a kid to switch to Breck from a nearby public school, it may only take an extra 15 minutes of driving to make it happen, but to open enroll to TRF and the like involves actually moving your family, getting a different job, or maybe sending your kid to live with a relative or friend, all of which are orders of magnitude more difficult than just choosing to go to a metro private school that's only 8 miles further from your house than the public school you go to.

I don't have as much of a problem with a private school using A initially to build a program, but once you're a top team in A, it's time to go to AA. BSM didn't hang around too long, it took STA a few years too long but they did it, Duluth Marshall is doing it without ever winning an A title, yet Breck continues the charade of calling themselves a Class A school. We saw it with STA and we are even starting to see it with public school Hermantown that there are diminishing marginal returns to kicking butt in Class A on a yearly basis, both in satisfaction for these schools and in respect for their programs from the MN hockey community.

If private schools could be trusted to opt up in a timely manner when they get to the top of A, then having them in A wouldn't be as big of a deal, but this hasn't been the case. It's been a steady stream of Class A champions from large city private schools, and it is this fact that makes putting all private schools in AA a feasible idea.

[Froggy Richards]

This argument has always really baffled me. I don't see how private schools have any more of an advantage of "recruiting" than the majority of public schools in the state. Any public school with open enrollment (which is the vast majority of the schools in the state) can also try to get players from outside of their district to come play for them. If anything, I think the private schools would be disadvantaged here because the parents need to pay tuition now rather than have their kids go to school for free. I have always felt that the biggest reason why people dislike private schools so much is because the families tend to have a lot of money and they just don't want to outright say that so they complain about other things instead. Just my opinion on this topic, feel free to try to open my eyes though.

You are partially correct. There are only a handful of Public Schools that get a substantial number of players through open-enrollment. Like Rainier said, you have to have a large population base nearby. This really only fits Twin Cities Metro Public Schools, Duluth Public Schools and Hermantown. Possibly Moorhead too but I have no idea if they pull in Fargo kids or not. All of those schools are AA except for Hermantown and Denfeld. Denfeld loses more players to open-enrollment then they gain, so really, Hermantown is the only school that fits your description. If and when Hermantown and Breck ever see the light, then you have a pretty even playing field in Class A. Also, some of the scrutiny on privates is that the Private School recruits are more public as they usually happen later in a kid's career when more people know about them. In Hermantown for example, some of the kids open-enroll in PeeWees but most of them are open-enrolling when they're Mites and Squirts and not many people know about them. The longer they are there, the better chance they have of flying under the radar and exorcising the "Open-Enrollee" label. Parents are well aware of this.

[BlueLineSpecial]

This argument has always really baffled me. I don't see how private schools have any more of an advantage of "recruiting" than the majority of public schools in the state. Any public school with open enrollment (which is the vast majority of the schools in the state) can also try to get players from outside of their district to come play for them. If anything, I think the private schools would be disadvantaged here because the parents need to pay tuition now rather than have their kids go to school for free. I have always felt that the biggest reason why people dislike private schools so much is because the families tend to have a lot of money and they just don't want to outright say that so they complain about other things instead. Just my opinion on this topic, feel free to try to open my eyes though.

The real issue is this: Many (most?) people that are fans of the great state of high school hockey in Minnesota love the idea of kids playing thru high school in the city or town they grew up in. They love the thought of a group of boys playing their HS career to those they grew up with. We want the players to have pride in their town, and many do. We don't want players 'abandoning' the association that worked with them since peewees or leaving for juniors.

All of this is a direct contradiction to what our society has become in many ways. Which is win at all costs, be the best, and play with the best. Look at all the 'all-star teams' assembled each year in every sport. Heck even college players are colluding to play with each other for an advantage. Parents have websites created to feature their elementary school-aged kids sport skills for goodness sake! We shower praise on little league baseball stars and put them on primetime TV, wheaties boxes, and sportscenter. So I guess with all this attention and pressure, the natural reaction is that parents want their kids to play with the best players, on the best team, and have a higher profile. Inevitably this will lead to 'all star team' private schools that many hate. At least, they hate them until their kid starts getting a little attention. Then they seem to be all for it.

[pekyman]

This argument has always really baffled me. I don't see how private schools have any more of an advantage of "recruiting" than the majority of public schools in the state. Any public school with open enrollment (which is the vast majority of the schools in the state) can also try to get players from outside of their district to come play for them. If anything, I think the private schools would be disadvantaged here because the parents need to pay tuition now rather than have their kids go to school for free. I have always felt that the biggest reason why people dislike private schools so much is because the families tend to have a lot of money and they just don't want to outright say that so they complain about other things instead. Just my opinion on this topic, feel free to try to open my eyes though.

You are partially correct. There are only a handful of Public Schools that get a substantial number of players through open-enrollment. Like Rainier said, you have to have a large population base nearby. This really only fits Twin Cities Metro Public Schools, Duluth Public Schools and Hermantown. Possibly Moorhead too but I have no idea if they pull in Fargo kids or not. All of those schools are AA except for Hermantown and Denfeld. Denfeld loses more players to open-enrollment then they gain, so really, Hermantown is the only school that fits your description. If and when Hermantown and Breck ever see the light, then you have a pretty even playing field in Class A. Also, some of the scrutiny on privates is that the Private School recruits are more public as they usually happen later in a kid's career when more people know about them. In Hermantown for example, some of the kids open-enroll in PeeWees but most of them are open-enrolling when they're Mites and Squirts and not many people know about them. The longer they are there, the better chance they have of flying under the radar and exorcising the "Open-Enrollee" label. Parents are well aware of this.

Open enrollment in Hermantown is CLOSED and has been for years. Do you know how many open enroll kids are on the current HS Varsity team? I think it's 2 and one of them lives much closer to Hermantown and has never went to school or played in Proctor. Also, Hermantown actually LOST 3 top kids to Marshall this year.

As far as the open enroll kids at lower level, this all happened when they closed Duluth Central and families along the Arrowhead corridor realized that Hermantown was much closed than sending their kids down the hill to Denfeld. I know 2 families that live off the Arrowhead road with a total of 9 kids that all open enrolled into Hermantown. Guess what, none of them play hockey. Most of these families would not have moved if Central HS would have stayed open. After the closure of Central, Hermantown filled up. I have no idea how many open enroll kids are at the lower levels or how many play hockey, but I do not blame them for doing what they did. To say that they are all top players is just false. Most were leaving a bad situation rather than going to a good one and the majorities were not hockey players.

As far as Proctor, Duluth is not that far from you; neither is Hermantown. It is not any of these schools/communities faults that kids choose to leave Proctor. You need to do something to get kids/families to want to stay and play there. Bashing other successful programs is not going to help. It is disappointing to me that with all the resources that Proctor has, they cannot develop a more competitive program. Take one step into your arena and it’s not hard to see why. I don’t think it would take too much and I will help you out. You need to start by doing something about your arena. There doesn’t seem to be much pride in that building which reflects on your program.

[Imported from MN]

This argument has always really baffled me. I don't see how private schools have any more of an advantage of "recruiting" than the majority of public schools in the state. Any public school with open enrollment (which is the vast majority of the schools in the state) can also try to get players from outside of their district to come play for them. If anything, I think the private schools would be disadvantaged here because the parents need to pay tuition now rather than have their kids go to school for free. I have always felt that the biggest reason why people dislike private schools so much is because the families tend to have a lot of money and they just don't want to outright say that so they complain about other things instead. Just my opinion on this topic, feel free to try to open my eyes though.

You are partially correct. There are only a handful of Public Schools that get a substantial number of players through open-enrollment. Like Rainier said, you have to have a large population base nearby. This really only fits Twin Cities Metro Public Schools, Duluth Public Schools and Hermantown. Possibly Moorhead too but I have no idea if they pull in Fargo kids or not. All of those schools are AA except for Hermantown and Denfeld. Denfeld loses more players to open-enrollment then they gain, so really, Hermantown is the only school that fits your description. If and when Hermantown and Breck ever see the light, then you have a pretty even playing field in Class A. Also, some of the scrutiny on privates is that the Private School recruits are more public as they usually happen later in a kid's career when more people know about them. In Hermantown for example, some of the kids open-enroll in PeeWees but most of them are open-enrolling when they're Mites and Squirts and not many people know about them. The longer they are there, the better chance they have of flying under the radar and exorcising the "Open-Enrollee" label. Parents are well aware of this.

Open enrollment in Hermantown is CLOSED and has been for years. Do you know how many open enroll kids are on the current HS Varsity team? I think it's 2 and one of them lives much closer to Hermantown and has never went to school or played in Proctor. Also, Hermantown actually LOST 3 top kids to Marshall this year.

As far as the open enroll kids at lower level, this all happened when they closed Duluth Central and families along the Arrowhead corridor realized that Hermantown was much closed than sending their kids down the hill to Denfeld. I know 2 families that live off the Arrowhead road with a total of 9 kids that all open enrolled into Hermantown. Guess what, none of them play hockey. Most of these families would not have moved if Central HS would have stayed open. After the closure of Central, Hermantown filled up. I have no idea how many open enroll kids are at the lower levels or how many play hockey, but I do not blame them for doing what they did. To say that they are all top players is just false. Most were leaving a bad situation rather than going to a good one and the majorities were not hockey players.

As far as Proctor, Duluth is not that far from you; neither is Hermantown. It is not any of these schools/communities faults that kids choose to leave Proctor. You need to do something to get kids/families to want to stay and play there. Bashing other successful programs is not going to help. It is disappointing to me that with all the resources that Proctor has, they cannot develop a more competitive program. Take one step into your arena and it’s not hard to see why. I don’t think it would take too much and I will help you out. You need to start by doing something about your arena. There doesn’t seem to be much pride in that building which reflects on your program.

Goetz... really its been closed for years? Grow up.

[SFA1992]

If STAA and Hill make it to the final do they play in their own league next year?

Or does the MSHSL accept defeat at the hands of the axis of evil, the world ends as we know it, and ends hockey for the near future

[pekyman]

You are partially correct. There are only a handful of Public Schools that get a substantial number of players through open-enrollment. Like Rainier said, you have to have a large population base nearby. This really only fits Twin Cities Metro Public Schools, Duluth Public Schools and Hermantown. Possibly Moorhead too but I have no idea if they pull in Fargo kids or not. All of those schools are AA except for Hermantown and Denfeld. Denfeld loses more players to open-enrollment then they gain, so really, Hermantown is the only school that fits your description. If and when Hermantown and Breck ever see the light, then you have a pretty even playing field in Class A. Also, some of the scrutiny on privates is that the Private School recruits are more public as they usually happen later in a kid's career when more people know about them. In Hermantown for example, some of the kids open-enroll in PeeWees but most of them are open-enrolling when they're Mites and Squirts and not many people know about them. The longer they are there, the better chance they have of flying under the radar and exorcising the "Open-Enrollee" label. Parents are well aware of this.

Open enrollment in Hermantown is CLOSED and has been for years. Do you know how many open enroll kids are on the current HS Varsity team? I think it's 2 and one of them lives much closer to Hermantown and has never went to school or played in Proctor. Also, Hermantown actually LOST 3 top kids to Marshall this year.

As far as the open enroll kids at lower level, this all happened when they closed Duluth Central and families along the Arrowhead corridor realized that Hermantown was much closed than sending their kids down the hill to Denfeld. I know 2 families that live off the Arrowhead road with a total of 9 kids that all open enrolled into Hermantown. Guess what, none of them play hockey. Most of these families would not have moved if Central HS would have stayed open. After the closure of Central, Hermantown filled up. I have no idea how many open enroll kids are at the lower levels or how many play hockey, but I do not blame them for doing what they did. To say that they are all top players is just false. Most were leaving a bad situation rather than going to a good one and the majorities were not hockey players.

As far as Proctor, Duluth is not that far from you; neither is Hermantown. It is not any of these schools/communities faults that kids choose to leave Proctor. You need to do something to get kids/families to want to stay and play there. Bashing other successful programs is not going to help. It is disappointing to me that with all the resources that Proctor has, they cannot develop a more competitive program. Take one step into your arena and it’s not hard to see why. I don’t think it would take too much and I will help you out. You need to start by doing something about your arena. There doesn’t seem to be much pride in that building which reflects on your program.

Goetz... really its been closed for years? Grow up.

Quite sure Goetz lives in Hermantown and is not open enrolled. You need to grow up...

[Imported from MN]

Open enrollment in Hermantown is CLOSED and has been for years. Do you know how many open enroll kids are on the current HS Varsity team? I think it's 2 and one of them lives much closer to Hermantown and has never went to school or played in Proctor. Also, Hermantown actually LOST 3 top kids to Marshall this year.

As far as the open enroll kids at lower level, this all happened when they closed Duluth Central and families along the Arrowhead corridor realized that Hermantown was much closed than sending their kids down the hill to Denfeld. I know 2 families that live off the Arrowhead road with a total of 9 kids that all open enrolled into Hermantown. Guess what, none of them play hockey. Most of these families would not have moved if Central HS would have stayed open. After the closure of Central, Hermantown filled up. I have no idea how many open enroll kids are at the lower levels or how many play hockey, but I do not blame them for doing what they did. To say that they are all top players is just false. Most were leaving a bad situation rather than going to a good one and the majorities were not hockey players.

As far as Proctor, Duluth is not that far from you; neither is Hermantown. It is not any of these schools/communities faults that kids choose to leave Proctor. You need to do something to get kids/families to want to stay and play there. Bashing other successful programs is not going to help. It is disappointing to me that with all the resources that Proctor has, they cannot develop a more competitive program. Take one step into your arena and it’s not hard to see why. I don’t think it would take too much and I will help you out. You need to start by doing something about your arena. There doesn’t seem to be much pride in that building which reflects on your program.

Goetz... really its been closed for years? Grow up.

Quite sure Goetz lives in Hermantown and is not open enrolled. You need to grow up...

His old man was/is a school teacher in hibbing. He open enrolled no more than two years ago. He played his youth hockey in hibbing.

[pekyman]

Goetz... really its been closed for years? Grow up.

Quite sure Goetz lives in Hermantown and is not open enrolled. You need to grow up...

His old man was/is a school teacher in hibbing. He open enrolled no more than two years ago. He played his youth hockey in hibbing.

He did not open enroll, he lives in Hermatown in an actual house I think. You don't like that either? Move to China then.

That's all you gotz?

[Mnhockeys]

This argument has always really baffled me. I don't see how private schools have any more of an advantage of "recruiting" than the majority of public schools in the state. Any public school with open enrollment (which is the vast majority of the schools in the state) can also try to get players from outside of their district to come play for them. If anything, I think the private schools would be disadvantaged here because the parents need to pay tuition now rather than have their kids go to school for free. I have always felt that the biggest reason why people dislike private schools so much is because the families tend to have a lot of money and they just don't want to outright say that so they complain about other things instead. Just my opinion on this topic, feel free to try to open my eyes though.

The real issue is this: Many (most?) people that are fans of the great state of high school hockey in Minnesota love the idea of kids playing thru high school in the city or town they grew up in. They love the thought of a group of boys playing their HS career to those they grew up with. We want the players to have pride in their town, and many do. We don't want players 'abandoning' the association that worked with them since peewees or leaving for juniors.

All of this is a direct contradiction to what our society has become in many ways. Which is win at all costs, be the best, and play with the best. Look at all the 'all-star teams' assembled each year in every sport. Heck even college players are colluding to play with each other for an advantage. Parents have websites created to feature their elementary school-aged kids sport skills for goodness sake! We shower praise on little league baseball stars and put them on primetime TV, wheaties boxes, and sportscenter. So I guess with all this attention and pressure, the natural reaction is that parents want their kids to play with the best players, on the best team, and have a higher profile. Inevitably this will lead to 'all star team' private schools that many hate. At least, they hate them until their kid starts getting a little attention. Then they seem to be all for it.

The town of St Thomas just opened a car dealership!

[nahc]

SFA: If Hill and St ThomasAA make it to the championship finals this year hell would have frozen over so there would be no need to play hockey anymore!!!!!!!!!!!

[Froggy Richards]

This argument has always really baffled me. I don't see how private schools have any more of an advantage of "recruiting" than the majority of public schools in the state. Any public school with open enrollment (which is the vast majority of the schools in the state) can also try to get players from outside of their district to come play for them. If anything, I think the private schools would be disadvantaged here because the parents need to pay tuition now rather than have their kids go to school for free. I have always felt that the biggest reason why people dislike private schools so much is because the families tend to have a lot of money and they just don't want to outright say that so they complain about other things instead. Just my opinion on this topic, feel free to try to open my eyes though.

You are partially correct. There are only a handful of Public Schools that get a substantial number of players through open-enrollment. Like Rainier said, you have to have a large population base nearby. This really only fits Twin Cities Metro Public Schools, Duluth Public Schools and Hermantown. Possibly Moorhead too but I have no idea if they pull in Fargo kids or not. All of those schools are AA except for Hermantown and Denfeld. Denfeld loses more players to open-enrollment then they gain, so really, Hermantown is the only school that fits your description. If and when Hermantown and Breck ever see the light, then you have a pretty even playing field in Class A. Also, some of the scrutiny on privates is that the Private School recruits are more public as they usually happen later in a kid's career when more people know about them. In Hermantown for example, some of the kids open-enroll in PeeWees but most of them are open-enrolling when they're Mites and Squirts and not many people know about them. The longer they are there, the better chance they have of flying under the radar and exorcising the "Open-Enrollee" label. Parents are well aware of this.

Open enrollment in Hermantown is CLOSED and has been for years. Do you know how many open enroll kids are on the current HS Varsity team? I think it's 2 and one of them lives much closer to Hermantown and has never went to school or played in Proctor. Also, Hermantown actually LOST 3 top kids to Marshall this year.

As far as the open enroll kids at lower level, this all happened when they closed Duluth Central and families along the Arrowhead corridor realized that Hermantown was much closed than sending their kids down the hill to Denfeld. I know 2 families that live off the Arrowhead road with a total of 9 kids that all open enrolled into Hermantown. Guess what, none of them play hockey. Most of these families would not have moved if Central HS would have stayed open. After the closure of Central, Hermantown filled up. I have no idea how many open enroll kids are at the lower levels or how many play hockey, but I do not blame them for doing what they did. To say that they are all top players is just false. Most were leaving a bad situation rather than going to a good one and the majorities were not hockey players.

As far as Proctor, Duluth is not that far from you; neither is Hermantown. It is not any of these schools/communities faults that kids choose to leave Proctor. You need to do something to get kids/families to want to stay and play there. Bashing other successful programs is not going to help. It is disappointing to me that with all the resources that Proctor has, they cannot develop a more competitive program. Take one step into your arena and it’s not hard to see why. I don’t think it would take too much and I will help you out. You need to start by doing something about your arena. There doesn’t seem to be much pride in that building which reflects on your program.

First of all, there are four open-enrollees on the Hermantown High School team, not two. Samberg, Judnick, Aamodt and Hawk all live outside of the Hermantown School district and are open-enrollees. Gotz is a move-in from Hibbing.

Second, I live in Duluth, not Proctor. And I'm not bashing Hermantown. I have friends in Hermantown just like I have friends in Duluth and Proctor. Our Youth programs are similar though in that we've both lost many top youth players to Hermantown via open-enrollment. So do I have an axe to grind? Yes. But like I've said 100 times, it's not with Hermantown. It's with Hermantown competing in Class A and sleepwalking into the State Tourney every year. The parents from neighboring Associations see these kids under the bright lights at the X on TV. That's why they move their kids at the first sign that they are top players. It's not because they have a problem with their current Association or that there is anything wrong with it. Hermantown continues to get better as they acquire more talent and the cycle repeats. So then the Denfeld and Proctor kids who stayed home can get stomped by Hermantown and shake hands with their neighbors and former classmates after the games. That just goes against everything that the Neighborhood, Association based MN Model is supposed to be about. Hermantown would still be great even without all of these kids and the Associations they left would be healthier and thrive too.

If they played in AA where they belong, there would at least be a chance that they didn't make it to State every single year. That might be enough to keep some kids at home and grow the game.

Okay, I think I've finally said everything I can say about this and I'm sounding like a broken record to myself even. I will drop it from here on out unless somebody says anything about Small-Town, Cinderella, Feel-Good Story, Evil Privates, Doing it with Hermantown kids only, Plante tells kids to stay home, etc. in reference to Hermantown.

[rainier]

Quite sure Goetz lives in Hermantown and is not open enrolled. You need to grow up...

His old man was/is a school teacher in hibbing. He open enrolled no more than two years ago. He played his youth hockey in hibbing.

He did not open enroll, he lives in Hermatown in an actual house I think. You don't like that either? Move to China then.

That's all you gotz?

I think the kids moved to Hermantown with Mom, and Dad still lives in Hibbing and teaches there. So he does live in Hermantown, so it isn't open-enrolling. The kid moved to Hermantown, they have to take him in at the school.

Tough break for Hibbing. Gotz and his younger brother are both fine players that would have been part of some excellent Hibbing teams the next few years. What I hear is that Dad didn't get the head coach job in Hibbing two years ago and doesn't see eye-to-eye with the guy that got it, so he sent the fam to Hermantown.

[thestickler07]

I think the kids moved to Hermantown with Mom, and Dad still lives in Hibbing and teaches there. So he does live in Hermantown, so it isn't open-enrolling. The kid moved to Hermantown, they have to take him in at the school.

Tough break for Hibbing. Gotz and his younger brother are both fine players that would have been part of some excellent Hibbing teams the next few years. What I hear is that Dad didn't get the head coach job in Hibbing two years ago and doesn't see eye-to-eye with the guy that got it, so he sent the fam to Hermantown.

It is good to hear that northerners value their children's academic well being just as much as many metro parents. Case study of transferring for the right reasons.

[Zamman]

Last time I checked you need to designate your school when you are in 9th grade. The only other way would be if you physically move from one district to another, or in private school, physically change addresses. Otherwise you sit out that is for both public or private. Unless you can find that loop-hole, I left private school due to financial situation, divorce. But moving from one private to another does not get the financial reason say going from Breck to AHA.
Fact is many players have left schools and transferred and got around the rules. I know first hand about these and so does Edina, for sure. The days of building an All STAR team are gone year to year. you will need to be crappy for a couple of years in order to get freshman to come in and learn a new system. Take a look at AHA, had their hay day, now way down and looking to build from in-coming freshman.

Some of these cities with large player bases will start looking to sending their lesser players, say a level and b level to local private schools. Good players, just not the elite.

[Froggy Richards]

His old man was/is a school teacher in hibbing. He open enrolled no more than two years ago. He played his youth hockey in hibbing.

He did not open enroll, he lives in Hermatown in an actual house I think. You don't like that either? Move to China then.

That's all you gotz?

I think the kids moved to Hermantown with Mom, and Dad still lives in Hibbing and teaches there. So he does live in Hermantown, so it isn't open-enrolling. The kid moved to Hermantown, they have to take him in at the school.

Tough break for Hibbing. Gotz and his younger brother are both fine players that would have been part of some excellent Hibbing teams the next few years. What I hear is that Dad didn't get the head coach job in Hibbing two years ago and doesn't see eye-to-eye with the guy that got it, so he sent the fam to Hermantown.

If this is true then he would be an illegal transfer. The entire family has to move in order for a player to be eligible. His Dad still teaches in Hibbing so he must commute every day.

[pekyman]

You are partially correct. There are only a handful of Public Schools that get a substantial number of players through open-enrollment. Like Rainier said, you have to have a large population base nearby. This really only fits Twin Cities Metro Public Schools, Duluth Public Schools and Hermantown. Possibly Moorhead too but I have no idea if they pull in Fargo kids or not. All of those schools are AA except for Hermantown and Denfeld. Denfeld loses more players to open-enrollment then they gain, so really, Hermantown is the only school that fits your description. If and when Hermantown and Breck ever see the light, then you have a pretty even playing field in Class A. Also, some of the scrutiny on privates is that the Private School recruits are more public as they usually happen later in a kid's career when more people know about them. In Hermantown for example, some of the kids open-enroll in PeeWees but most of them are open-enrolling when they're Mites and Squirts and not many people know about them. The longer they are there, the better chance they have of flying under the radar and exorcising the "Open-Enrollee" label. Parents are well aware of this.

Open enrollment in Hermantown is CLOSED and has been for years. Do you know how many open enroll kids are on the current HS Varsity team? I think it's 2 and one of them lives much closer to Hermantown and has never went to school or played in Proctor. Also, Hermantown actually LOST 3 top kids to Marshall this year.

As far as the open enroll kids at lower level, this all happened when they closed Duluth Central and families along the Arrowhead corridor realized that Hermantown was much closed than sending their kids down the hill to Denfeld. I know 2 families that live off the Arrowhead road with a total of 9 kids that all open enrolled into Hermantown. Guess what, none of them play hockey. Most of these families would not have moved if Central HS would have stayed open. After the closure of Central, Hermantown filled up. I have no idea how many open enroll kids are at the lower levels or how many play hockey, but I do not blame them for doing what they did. To say that they are all top players is just false. Most were leaving a bad situation rather than going to a good one and the majorities were not hockey players.

As far as Proctor, Duluth is not that far from you; neither is Hermantown. It is not any of these schools/communities faults that kids choose to leave Proctor. You need to do something to get kids/families to want to stay and play there. Bashing other successful programs is not going to help. It is disappointing to me that with all the resources that Proctor has, they cannot develop a more competitive program. Take one step into your arena and it’s not hard to see why. I don’t think it would take too much and I will help you out. You need to start by doing something about your arena. There doesn’t seem to be much pride in that building which reflects on your program.

First of all, there are four open-enrollees on the Hermantown High School team, not two. Samberg, Judnick, Aamodt and Hawk all live outside of the Hermantown School district and are open-enrollees. Gotz is a move-in from Hibbing.

Second, I live in Duluth, not Proctor. And I'm not bashing Hermantown. I have friends in Hermantown just like I have friends in Duluth and Proctor. Our Youth programs are similar though in that we've both lost many top youth players to Hermantown via open-enrollment. So do I have an axe to grind? Yes. But like I've said 100 times, it's not with Hermantown. It's with Hermantown competing in Class A and sleepwalking into the State Tourney every year. The parents from neighboring Associations see these kids under the bright lights at the X on TV. That's why they move their kids at the first sign that they are top players. It's not because they have a problem with their current Association or that there is anything wrong with it. Hermantown continues to get better as they acquire more talent and the cycle repeats. So then the Denfeld and Proctor kids who stayed home can get stomped by Hermantown and shake hands with their neighbors and former classmates after the games. That just goes against everything that the Neighborhood, Association based MN Model is supposed to be about. Hermantown would still be great even without all of these kids and the Associations they left would be healthier and thrive too.

If they played in AA where they belong, there would at least be a chance that they didn't make it to State every single year. That might be enough to keep some kids at home and grow the game.

Okay, I think I've finally said everything I can say about this and I'm sounding like a broken record to myself even. I will drop it from here on out unless somebody says anything about Small-Town, Cinderella, Feel-Good Story, Evil Privates, Doing it with Hermantown kids only, Plante tells kids to stay home, etc. in reference to Hermantown.

The problem with your post is that the numbers just don’t support it. Maybe when all these open enrollees get to HS there will be more on the team, but the vast majority of Hermantown is/has been local boys playing for their hometown. You are trying to make HT look like the STA of the North and that simply is not the case. Hawk is a move in since 1st year BN and Aamodt, come on he never was or would have been Proctor. Pike Lake should not even be in Proctor School district.

What you have this year is a Hermantown Varsity team that has 2 open enrollees, both sophomores. All the others, except for Gotz, have been there throughout most of their youth. I would bet that there are many Class A teams in the state with more than that. In another post, somebody stated that Mahtomedi has 5. I know it is hard for you to understand, but the main reason Hermantown is so competitive is because of its youth hockey program and the amount of quality time the boys/coaches/parents put on/off the ice all year around. Does HT have some advantages being close to Duluth, yes; but so could Proctor and Denfeld is in Duluth. Painting Hermantown as AAA team with a majority of players from all over is insulting to all the HT boys that have worked so hard for so many years to get to where they are today.

[pekyman]

Here is an example of some real recruiting...

On a side note, Hurley (D) from STA played in the Dultuh eastside youth program and his family still resides their.

[thestickler07]

Here is an example of some real recruiting...

On a side note, Hurley (D) from STA played in the Dultuh eastside youth program and his family still resides their.

That 2.5 hour commute everyday must be a killer.

[pekyman]

Here is an example of some real recruiting...

On a side note, Hurley (D) from STA played in the Dultuh eastside youth program and his family still resides their.

That 2.5 hour commute everyday must be a killer.

I'm sure he takes his copter!