Mn High schoo or travel hockey newbie question?

96hockeydad · Post by **96hockeydad** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:49 am

Sorry to ask and if this has been asked before... My wife is relocating to Minneapolis for work and our son Had played travel hockey here in Dallas area and I haven't really found any travel programs there but it looks like high school or bantams might be his option. He is a 96 birth year goalie and has played bantams here already but I'm told he could still play a year there of bantams or move to high school? We are coming up to look at some houses next week and meeting with some jbs for myself as well while there.

I guess my question is how is high school hockey there, pretty competitive and what is a normal practice schedule and game schedule like? Also. When are tryouts for these teams or have they already happened? Here we have already had travel and high school tryouts so I'm concerned he might not get to play if we moved? I appreciate the help and look forward to getting our family moved and used to the cooler weather.

chubbs · Post by **chubbs** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:55 am

You have not missed any sign ups or tryouts. They are not until november and you will find all of that out once you pick a school to enroll your son in. There are many good choices in the metro area. If you are living in minnesota, high school is definitely the way to go

96hockeydad · Post by **96hockeydad** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:09 am

Ok. Thank you for the information. Not sure if one is better than the other but we have looked at some cities already to move into. Andover, Blaine, Coon Rapids area. These are the areas we have seen last time we came up and visited the Super Rink I believe it was called. Also for his birth year is he going to have a hard time finding a spot in these communities? How many games does bantams play or high school play? Is there different levels? He has played for 7 years now locally. Thanks again.

wblhcky24 · Post by **wblhcky24** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:16 am

If in ur that area the best choice would be blaine their always competitive and have made the state tourny 5 years in a row... Andover is decent too... I would stay away from coon rapids. The hardest to get a spot would be blaine but it all depends on how good your son is

BodyShots · Post by **BodyShots** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 8:23 am

If he has a year of bantam eligibility available, I would suggest he start by trying out for that team. There are many levels including "A", "B", and in-house. This will give him the best opportunity to make the most appropriate team for his ability.

Also, if he is a standout during these tryouts, he can always tryout for the High School team which occurs at a later date.

As for number of games, if he makes "A" Bantams, they can play up to 60-70 games in a year. The High School team will only play 25ish.

MnMade-4-Life · Post by **MnMade-4-Life** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 8:45 am

wblhcky24 wrote:If in ur that area the best choice would be blaine their always competitive and have made the state tourny 5 years in a row... Andover is decent too... I would stay away from coon rapids. The hardest to get a spot would be blaine but it all depends on how good your son is

Agreed, Blaine is a perennial powerhouse. Hard to argue with Centennial as well. However, with all the coaching changes going on there ... a bit of a wildcard for now.

However, the Andover kids in that age group are the beginning of a good run for Andover. Look to see the Andover Bantam A in state this upcoming year.

And yes, as of now Coon Rapids should be avoided if you are making your judgement SOLELY on hockey reasons. Although I've heard their Mite and Squirt registration is finally picking up, so hopefully the future looks bright for them and Tenna-B.

BUT of course if your kid is going to be a pro like mine (and by pro, I'm talking about his desk job and not on the ice) ... pick the school first. The area you've chosen has a lot of great hockey programs.

nickel slots · Post by **nickel slots** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 9:09 am

I'm assuming that if he's bantam eligible he's a young 96. My advice is to pick a community that you like, have your son tryout for bantams in that community, and make a home for yourself and enjoy the ride. It's over way too quick.

Seriously, if you are basing your decision on hockey, that's the wrong choice. While some programs are better than others, most of them will fit the bill just fine. IF your son is an above average goalie and you think there might be some post high school potential (juniors, college, etc), your son will get that exposure through the High Performance program through Minnesota/USA Hockey regardless of which program he is in. If he's good enough, they'll find him. If he's not, he'll have fun with it anyway... and you'll be able to look back someday and tell yourself you did the right things for the right reasons.

old goalie85 · Post by **old goalie85** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 9:11 am

Forest Lake is not far.

O-townClown · Post by **O-townClown** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 9:32 am

There are other places to live besides near the Super Rink. Minnesota doesn't have Midget hockey like you may have seen in Texas and HS hockey is a Varsity sport. If he's in 9th grade there's probably a year of Bantams and if he's in 10th he is looking at JV/Varsity hockey if he can make a team and Jr. Gold or possibly even Jr. A hockey if he doesn't.

How good is your son and how important is hockey to him? Those answers will help.

You can live anywhere and attend one of the area's private schools. There are about a dozen that offer good to very good or even the best hockey. If you go the public school route where you live is a big decision. Especially for a goalie where one kid usually gets nearly all the Varsity starts.

ripping1 · Post by **ripping1** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 9:37 am

Where exactly is your wife going to be working. If she is in downtown Mpls, Blaine, Coon Rapids etc are a ways away for commuting. Minnesota has many good programs and a lot of them are looking for good goalies. You can have the best of both, schools and hockey if you do your homework.

SHAKEnBAKE · Post by **SHAKEnBAKE** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 10:17 am

If your son was born before 7/1/1996. He can not play bantams (July 1st is the cut off in Minnesota). He can play HS, U16 or Junior Gold.
H.S will have captain’s practice before tryouts. C.P normally starts late Oct. Tryouts are mid Nov. You can get info from the H.S. about registration.
U16 and Junior Gold are typically for kids that don’t make the HS varsity or J.V. Or don’t want to play H.S. U16 and Junior Gold registration/etc. is after HS tryouts.

If your son was born after 7/1/1996. He can play bantams. You have the option of playing H.S, You can tryout for the bantams see were you end up (A,B or C) and then tryout for H.S. then go back to your bantam team or stay with the H.S. Most 96 Mn. kids have been playing hockey for ~9 years. Goalies have probably been goalies for ~6 years so unless your kid is exceptional that would be unlikely that he would be playing H.S.

Go to http://www.minnesotahockey.org/page/sho ... istrict-10
That will get you to the youth associations in Dist 10. Contact what ever association you end up in. They can fill you in on Bantam registration (or probably H.S. registration).

hockeydad · Post by **hockeydad** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:41 pm

One other thing to consider is that even if your address is, for example "Blaine" doesn't mean that you live in the Blaine hockey territory. The hockey borders generally follow school district boundaries, and the district boundaries seldom follow city boundaries. If you are picking a home based on school, make sure it is in that school's attendance area. In the south metro, if you live in Eagan, you could be in the Eastview, Eagan, Burnsville or Henry Sibley (and I think maybe even Rosemount) high school boundary.

O-townClown · Post by **O-townClown** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 2:17 pm

How come every time someone is moving to the Twin Cities it seems like it is a goalie?

96hockeydad · Post by **96hockeydad** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 3:38 pm

Thanks for the reponses. He was born 08/07/96. So it looks like he could play bantams here then. That seems like a lot of games but I know he would probably enjoy that somehow. My wife works for a large health insurance company that is based out of MN so she is moving up there to be closer to their headquarters for in person meetings and also training purposes. As far as how good he is... Idk. If I say I think he is a pretty good goalie them it sounds like I'm tooting his own horn or something... I can say he does well for himself and has good size ( over 6 ft) and skill and knows how to use his size to his advantage. I have no delusions of him making pros or something like that. Of course his big dream is to play college one day but that's several years off and idk about that. We just want to make sure he is able to keep playing if we move and I think keeping the kids on the ice keeps them from doing other things.

old goalie85 · Post by **old goalie85** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 4:13 pm

Well said. We need goalies at all levels in Forest Lake!!!!

BodyShots · Post by **BodyShots** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 4:32 pm

old goalie85 wrote:Well said. We need goalies at all levels in Forest Lake!!!!

You need a heck of a lot more than just goalies in FLAKE!

MnMade-4-Life · Post by **MnMade-4-Life** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 7:55 am

old goalie85 wrote:Well said. We need goalies at all levels in Forest Lake!!!!

... I heard there's a few too many at East now...

Post by **karl(east)** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 11:59 am

MnMade-4-Life wrote:
old goalie85 wrote:Well said. We need goalies at all levels in Forest Lake!!!!
... I heard there's a few too many at East now...

Yeah, but they'll be graduating pretty soon, and this kid is a bantam. We always welcome new "friends" to the East hockey community.

Hockeydad's wife may not like the 5-hour daily commute, though...

codemanh · Post by **codemanh** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 11:49 pm

96hockeydad wrote:Thanks for the reponses. He was born 08/07/96. So it looks like he could play bantams here then. That seems like a lot of games but I know he would probably enjoy that somehow. My wife works for a large health insurance company that is based out of MN so she is moving up there to be closer to their headquarters for in person meetings and also training purposes. As far as how good he is... Idk. If I say I think he is a pretty good goalie them it sounds like I'm tooting his own horn or something... I can say he does well for himself and has good size ( over 6 ft) and skill and knows how to use his size to his advantage. I have no delusions of him making pros or something like that. Of course his big dream is to play college one day but that's several years off and idk about that. We just want to make sure he is able to keep playing if we move and I think keeping the kids on the ice keeps them from doing other things.

If you're just looking for him to be able to keep playing hockey, almost every community has hockey. In the area you're looking at, you can play hockey wherever you choose.

dlhhockey · Post by **dlhhockey** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 11:17 am

karl(east) wrote:
MnMade-4-Life wrote:
old goalie85 wrote:Well said. We need goalies at all levels in Forest Lake!!!!
... I heard there's a few too many at East now...
Yeah, but they'll be graduating pretty soon, and this kid is a bantam. We always welcome new "friends" to the East hockey community.

Hockeydad's wife may not like the 5-hour daily commute, though...

For East you don't have to have the whole family live there apparently. there are transfers (not necessarily brand new) that have married parents living in multiple locations (homesteaded house still in original town) and the kids go back and forth all the time. I also wonder what the MNSHL rules are on promising a kid a spot and playing time three months before tryouts? I find it hard to believe one would spend the dollars to paint a helmet and buy new matching gear on just an assumption they thought they were good enough. Im sure they use the kids to convey the message just as they did to start the recruiting this Spring (Facebook is a wonderful tool). Nothing new to this program however, but in end it has never been the dramatic difference between winning and losing. Randolph gets another free pass (no smiley face).