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What players in the state of hockey are going to make a smooth transition to the varsity level from bantams and make a difference in their first year?

Gage Ausmus - East Grand Forks
Tyler Sheehy - (Freshman) Burnsville
Jordan Gross - Maple Grove
Ryan Lundgren - Duluth East
Connor Valensano - Duluth East
Karson Kulman - Cloquet
Tyler Cline - Blaine

Miers Moore - Greyhounds

Parker, and the younger Schmidt from Forest Lake!! [ NO I'M not The Father of these fine young men]

Luke Voltin for HM. He was a major contributor for the undefeated Pioneer JV team. The Pioneers lost only 5 players from last year's club, but Voltin will definately fill one of those spots. He would be an elite player on most teams (except the deeply talented Forest Lake) but will be a nice player for Hill.

old goalie85 wrote:Parker, and the younger Schmidt from Forest Lake!! [ NO I'M not The Father of these fine young men]

Uncle?

We would gladly take any hill cast-offs. We could even offer the three sport kids a real football conference and baseball team to play on.

anyone in favor of returning to the topic?

How about for GR? State runners up? They gotta have someone from that team that will be a good varsity player this year.

rapidsrapids wrote:How about for GR? State runners up? They gotta have someone from that team that will be a good varsity player this year.

Holum and Bischof will step right in, they are both tough players.

old goalie85 wrote:We would gladly take any hill cast-offs. We could even offer the three sport kids a real football conference and baseball team to play on.

Lets keep the Forest Lake kids clean.

Ryan Winter was a big player for Woodbury's bantam A team last year. He is staying in woodbury and realistically has the most potential of playing on a varsity team due to that fact. I can see him filling in some big shoes left at woodbury with his size and strength.

I would say Guentzel at Hill Murray but he is still quite little. Tyler Zepeda was a small, speedy guy who made and impact his first year at Hill as well but I don't see any open spots for Guentzel this year. Maybe he will start out on first line JV and work his way up to varsity over the course of the season.

Just_Another_Fan wrote:Ryan Winter was a big player for Woodbury's bantam A team last year. He is staying in woodbury and realistically has the most potential of playing on a varsity team due to that fact. I can see him filling in some big shoes left at woodbury with his size and strength.

I would say Guentzel at Hill Murray but he is still quite little. Tyler Zepeda was a small, speedy guy who made and impact his first year at Hill as well but I don't see any open spots for Guentzel this year. Maybe he will start out on first line JV and work his way up to varsity over the course of the season.

I agree on Guentzel. Pretty small, but really knows how to play the game.

Rutt and Wood for Lakeville North should shore up the D for this team.

Regarding the comment on "Guentzel. Pretty small, but really knows how to play the game." For MN HS Hockey, what do you consider a small player for a freshman versus the size needed for a freshman to effectively play varsity in MN? Forward vs Defense?

RockyMtnIce wrote:Regarding the comment on "Guentzel. Pretty small, but really knows how to play the game." For MN HS Hockey, what do you consider a small player for a freshman versus the size needed for a freshman to effectively play varsity in MN? Forward vs Defense?

Small forward to me would mean 5'6-5'8ish. I am a woodbury/ER fan and in recent years I have seen a three year varsity D who was around 5'6. With high school hockey it is obviously great to have some size on a team but quick, smaller players with great vision and hockey sense can be effective. Does that answer the question? That is just my opinion of it but i am just a mere hockey loving parent and not a coach or a scout.

High school hockey is generally the last level where you'll see numbers of small players be effective. Many of the top scorers in the Lake conference stood less than 5' 9" last year. Its at the junior and college level where the number of small players really starts to drop off. Like the saying goes....you can't coach size! Only the highly skilled little guys can survive the jump after high school.

keepyourheadup wrote:High school hockey is generally the last level where you'll see numbers of small players be effective. Many of the top scorers in the Lake conference stood less than 5' 9" last year. Its at the junior and college level where the number of small players really starts to drop off. Like the saying goes....you can't coach size! Only the highly skilled little guys can survive the jump after high school.

I agree but maybe recruiting some "highly skilled little guys" for D1 colleges isn't such a bad strategy, especially if you hope to keep them around for several years and maybe even all 4 years. I remember in 2008 when Boston College easily beat both Minnesota and North Dakota (by 5-2 and 6-1 scores) and going on to win the NCAA championship, and neither WCHA team could match BC's speed and skill. I was curious so I went back and looked to see who their top scorers were both for 2008 and 2010 when they won it again:

2008
1. Nathan Gerbe, 5'6" 160 lbs - 68 points
2. Joe Whitney, 5'6" 165 lbs - 51 points

2010
1. Cam Atkinson, 5'8" 165 lbs - 53 points
2. Brian Gibbons, 5'8" 160 lbs - 50 points
3. Joe Whitney, 5'6" 165 lbs - 45 points

So for any "little guys" (like Guentzel is now) who aspire to play D1, this clearly shows that they've got a shot. But you need to be both highly skilled PLUS very fast and quick to ever hope to match what these guys were able to accomplish.

Great stat hockeyfan, You can't help but like the little dudes, they make the game more fun to watch.

What is the topic here?

Sorry to take you off topic. Thanks for the interesting feedback for a parent of a young, pre-high school player. By the way, I really enjoy reading this forum as a hockey novice, at least in terms of ever playing.