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Any early thoughts on who might want to be head coach at the new high school in woodbury/cottage grove. I heard rumours that wes walz wants to coach there, but might need to work out visa issues.

Also, any comments on how the boundaries will change the make up of hockey in this area, who will make out better, woodbury, east ridge, or park?

Is the school opening this coming fall?

The school opens 09-10,with no senior class the first year. Park may lose 2-3 current bantams but thats it.Not sure the effect on woodbury yet.But a lose of one to park can hurt.Not much depth.

http://www.sowashco.k12.mn.us/ERHS/

Web site for the new school.

It will hurt Woodbury the most.

I heard Walz applied for the Breck job also, guess we'll see. Being from the southeastern side over here I think in the long run it will be good for all schools educationally. Athletically I agree, it will probably hurt Woodbury the most rt away.

This is just a bad idea in general in my opinion, but that really ahs nothing to do with hockey. I have no idea who will be coaching there, but it appears that Woodbury will be hardest hit athletically because about 2/3 of the students who will attend are from Woodbury, & the majority of those students will come from Lake Junior High, which seems to produce better athletes than Woodbury Junior High.

It sounds like eastridge will be the stronger association/school soon after inception. Seems like whoever is left at woodbury or park will suffer from the boundaries that were chosen.

Would Eastridge play Class A for the first year or two?

With the RAPTORS coming on board, I'd imagine that the talent that lies within Woodbury and Cottage Grove will be further split and all 3 of these programs will NEVER touch the top 10 in AA for years to come. (after the 3 are redistricted). I think that Washington county needs to reboundary these schools over into Afton and south of I94. That would capture some of the overcrowded population at Stillwater. Just a thought. There already isn't enough ice for the youth programs in the 2 towns, or talent for that matter, will we have a new EASTRIDGE JR Raptors youth program as well?

I heard that they would need to start a new association when they start the high school team. Should be interesting sharing ice time, and with the new rink in cottage grove.

I heard that Eastridge will be playing their games at Cottage Grove Arena,not Bielenberg, at least to start.

That makes sense. Oh, isn't Eastridge being built right next to bielengberg.But then again its not like gas is $5 a gallon.

The word is that the new cottage grove rink will be their home ice for a couple of years. Then what happens i'm not sure, are they going to expand the bielenburg arena for them?

What about the new association that will be formed, do they take ice from both cg/bielenberg? Should be fun times.

curiousgeorge wrote: What about the new association that will be formed, do they take ice from both cg/bielenberg? Should be fun times.

Is there going to be a youth association formed? Or are they going to do it like Rochester and St. Cloud where they keep youth and High School totally sepearate, 1 city = 1 association.?

the thing about this new school is that a lot of woodbury kids wont be going there that are so close. my friend can see the contruction from his house, but he is outside the lines of the new school, its really stupid

sachishi4 wrote:the thing about this new school is that a lot of woodbury kids wont be going there that are so close. my friend can see the contruction from his house, but he is outside the lines of the new school, its really stupid

there are certain parts of woodbury that have kids in one house going to eastridge and kids in the house directly across the street foing to woodbury. it makes no sense

Tenoverpar wrote: There already isn't enough ice for the youth programs in the 2 towns

There is talk of a major add-on to Bielenberg Sports Center in the coming years. From what I've heard, this would consist of 3 new sheets of ice, 10 more baseball fields, 4 more football, and 4 more soccer. I can't verify that any of this is true, but if it is, it would make Bielenberg one of the larger sports complexes in the Twin Cities.

komada77 wrote:

sachishi4 wrote:the thing about this new school is that a lot of woodbury kids wont be going there that are so close. my friend can see the contruction from his house, but he is outside the lines of the new school, its really stupid

there are certain parts of woodbury that have kids in one house going to eastridge and kids in the house directly across the street foing to woodbury. it makes no sense

...and some will have one kid in one school and another kid in the other. It basically sucks.

Rumor has it that there will not be an East Ridge Youth Association formed since CG doesn't want to give up their numbers. Woodbury is rumored to be using the Lakeville approach (one association, 2 teams) which makes no sense since some of the players will be from CG. I understand that there is no "law" that says the youth association must align with the HS but one would think that that would be what is wanted.

slapstkhound wrote:

komada77 wrote:

sachishi4 wrote:the thing about this new school is that a lot of woodbury kids wont be going there that are so close. my friend can see the contruction from his house, but he is outside the lines of the new school, its really stupid

there are certain parts of woodbury that have kids in one house going to eastridge and kids in the house directly across the street foing to woodbury. it makes no sense

...and some will have one kid in one school and another kid in the other. It basically sucks.

Rumor has it that there will not be an East Ridge Youth Association formed since CG doesn't want to give up their numbers. Woodbury is rumored to be using the Lakeville approach (one association, 2 teams) which makes no sense since some of the players will be from CG. I understand that there is no "law" that says the youth association must align with the HS but one would think that that would be what is wanted.

There will be no Eastridge Youth Hockey Association. Both Woodbury and Cottage Grove hockey associations agreed to keep their respective borders for the time being.

Lakeville would be a good example to follow. It will take time, but the numbers and quality will improve, and hopefully all three high school programs will be competitive. Will probably take five years or so to see it, but there are a lot of good athletes who are late bloomers who will now get a better shot to play high school hockey.

Elvis wrote:Lakeville would be a good example to follow. It will take time, but the numbers and quality will improve, and hopefully all three high school programs will be competitive. Will probably take five years or so to see it, but there are a lot of good athletes who are late bloomers who will now get a better shot to play high school hockey.

Agreed. It will be good to see more kids get the opportunity to play high school hockey. Remember that the game is about the kids and giving them experiences that they will take forward into their "real" life. It's not about having winning programs so that alumni can gloat.

dueling21 wrote:

Elvis wrote:Lakeville would be a good example to follow. It will take time, but the numbers and quality will improve, and hopefully all three high school programs will be competitive. Will probably take five years or so to see it, but there are a lot of good athletes who are late bloomers who will now get a better shot to play high school hockey.

Agreed. It will be good to see more kids get the opportunity to play high school hockey. Remember that the game is about the kids and giving them experiences that they will take forward into their "real" life. It's not about having winning programs so that alumni can gloat.

Like it or not, high school sports are all about winning. Schools (and not just private ones) recruit good players and coaches. Coaches get fired after just a few bad seasons. Entire families are willing to move so their kids play for a winning program. Great athletes get benefits in the classroom just so they're academically eligible to play. Believing that HS sports are about participation and not winning is delusional.

komada77 wrote:

dueling21 wrote:

Elvis wrote:Lakeville would be a good example to follow. It will take time, but the numbers and quality will improve, and hopefully all three high school programs will be competitive. Will probably take five years or so to see it, but there are a lot of good athletes who are late bloomers who will now get a better shot to play high school hockey.

Agreed. It will be good to see more kids get the opportunity to play high school hockey. Remember that the game is about the kids and giving them experiences that they will take forward into their "real" life. It's not about having winning programs so that alumni can gloat.

Like it or not, high school sports are all about winning. Schools (and not just private ones) recruit good players and coaches. Coaches get fired after just a few bad seasons. Entire families are willing to move so their kids play for a winning program. Great athletes get benefits in the classroom just so they're academically eligible to play. Believing that HS sports are about participation and not winning is delusional.

Yes and it's a shame. Great story in the Pioneer Press this week about the Como kid and his family.

Elvis wrote:Lakeville would be a good example to follow. It will take time, but the numbers and quality will improve, and hopefully all three high school programs will be competitive. Will probably take five years or so to see it, but there are a lot of good athletes who are late bloomers who will now get a better shot to play high school hockey.

I really liked Lakeville's approach and if you have read any of the articels about the age advantage, 2 teams helps negate that and the teams will probably end up with the same quality of players after they start to develop more.

We have 4 high schools with hockey programs in our city, and two of them have still managed to be powerhouses in AA and A hockey. In Duluth we have 3 different youth "areas". Like the East kids will play at Lester Park, Portman, and Congdon and the Denfeld and Central kids play in their leagues. Marshall just kinda steals from all 3, mostly ours though.