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What teams have the best coaching staffs around the state, not based on the teams win and loses, but by the way the team has improved from the start of the season, how they play the game, coaching up the kids, being prepared to face a team in a upcoming game. Coaching a team based on the talent they have between jv and varsity.

Who are some of the best?

DeCenzo & Hibbing, has his teams playing there best hockey down the stretch every year and they will go from section 7 again

nortstar52 wrote:DeCenzo & Hibbing, has his teams playing there best hockey down the stretch every year and they will go from section 7 again

Agreed. DeCenzo does a great job. Hibbing has made it to 9 straight 7A finals, and not once in that time were they the #1 seed. They made it to state 3 of those times and played some outstanding Hermantown, Marshall, and Virginia teams very tight in the finals they lost. DeCenzo gets the most out of his players.

Esse at Cloquet.

Tony Couture at Little Falls does a great job with his team.

And the only recruiting he does is at the mite level.

I have always liked the way Sager has coached his teams at WBL

The Best in the Bizz3 wrote:I have always liked the way Sager has coached his teams at WBL

Oh, are you serious?

Lechner at Hill Murray is IMO the best HS hockey coach in the state and I am sure A LOT of respected HS and College coaches would strongly agree with that.

The Best in the Bizz3 wrote:I have always liked the way Sager has coached his teams at WBL

Agreed Puck U.

In 10 years and 200 athletes, have you ever heard of any player giving any credit? Here I will answer that "NOPE"

rainier wrote:

nortstar52 wrote:DeCenzo & Hibbing, has his teams playing there best hockey down the stretch every year and they will go from section 7 again

Agreed. DeCenzo does a great job. Hibbing has made it to 9 straight 7A finals, and not once in that time were they the #1 seed. They made it to state 3 of those times and played some outstanding Hermantown, Marshall, and Virginia teams very tight in the finals they lost. DeCenzo gets the most out of his players.

Rumor mill on the range is that this will be his last run before retiring.

PuckRanger wrote:

rainier wrote:

nortstar52 wrote:DeCenzo & Hibbing, has his teams playing there best hockey down the stretch every year and they will go from section 7 again

Agreed. DeCenzo does a great job. Hibbing has made it to 9 straight 7A finals, and not once in that time were they the #1 seed. They made it to state 3 of those times and played some outstanding Hermantown, Marshall, and Virginia teams very tight in the finals they lost. DeCenzo gets the most out of his players.

Rumor mill on the range is that this will be his last run before retiring.

Hopefully DeCenzo and Adam Johnson stay for next season, but if not, all the best to them both.

Sats81 wrote:Lechner at Hill Murray is IMO the best HS hockey coach in the state and I am sure A LOT of respected HS and College coaches would strongly agree with that.

I think it's more of a combination of the recruiting of the physical specimens from nearby youth programs along with the hiring of the psychologists that control the mental portion of these young lads to perform

nortstar52 wrote:

Sats81 wrote:Lechner at Hill Murray is IMO the best HS hockey coach in the state and I am sure A LOT of respected HS and College coaches would strongly agree with that.

I think it's more of a combination of the recruiting of the physical specimens from nearby youth programs along with the hiring of the psychologists that control the mental portion of these young lads to perform

That's all great, but that's not what the question was. The question was what teams have the best coaching staffs, best preparation, best coaching based on talent they have btwn JV and Varsity, improvement from beginning of season to end, etc.

Whether you wanna bash privates like HM, STA, CDH, AHA, that fact remains NO ONE can dispute how good of a coach Lechner is and how he gets his teams to perform year in and year out. Recruiting or not.

PuckU126 wrote:

The Best in the Bizz3 wrote:I have always liked the way Sager has coached his teams at WBL

Oh, are you serious?

I'm not going to bash on Sager for his coaching, but the decision to add Matt Greer to his staff before last season was a great move IMO. I believe he was a big part in them finally getting back to state last year.

I'm just a long distance admirer but it seems Morinville does a great job in Moorhead. Love the way they compete every year regardless of their talent level.

Gotta go with the Tonka staff. Seems they have decent youth teams and then become top 5 hs team year in and year out!

PuckU126 wrote:

The Best in the Bizz3 wrote:I have always liked the way Sager has coached his teams at WBL

Oh, are you serious?

WBLHockeyfan04 wrote:... the decision to add Matt Greer to his staff before last season was a great move IMO. I believe he was a big part in them finally getting back to state last year.

I agree.

As far as I am concerned, Sager is the only one who is the problem.

The remaining coaching staff members are good for the program.

Gustafson and his staff at Elk River

While Lechner does a great job, I think a lot of credit needs to be given to his defensive assistant, Pat Schafhauser. Much of the Pioneer's defensive fortitude over the years has come from Schafhauser. A potent coaching staff.

St. Louis Park has Shjon Podein, Mike Stuart, Corey Peterson and Paul Ranheim pretty loaded coaching staff that took over this year and turned their team around.

EHSHack wrote:Esse at Cloquet.

As a Rapids fan I have to agree with you on that one. Cloquet is always tough come section time

Sats81 wrote:

nortstar52 wrote:

Sats81 wrote:Lechner at Hill Murray is IMO the best HS hockey coach in the state and I am sure A LOT of respected HS and College coaches would strongly agree with that.

I think it's more of a combination of the recruiting of the physical specimens from nearby youth programs along with the hiring of the psychologists that control the mental portion of these young lads to perform

That's all great, but that's not what the question was. The question was what teams have the best coaching staffs, best preparation, best coaching based on talent they have btwn JV and Varsity, improvement from beginning of season to end, etc.

Whether you wanna bash privates like HM, STA, CDH, AHA, that fact remains NO ONE can dispute how good of a coach Lechner is and how he gets his teams to perform year in and year out. Recruiting or not.

I struggle with this one. Lets face it. Lechner's situation is very smiilar to Joe Torre's with the NY Yankees. He always has top notch talent. Not only do they have top notch talent, but they are always very deep as well. When's the last time HM JV did not dominate at their level?

How hard is it to coach that? How well did Torre do when he went to the Dodgers? I would like to see Lechner at a school like North Branch and see how he does there.

Don't get me wrong, I think Lechner is a very good coach and I liked the way he handled the situation a few years back. I also think very highly of their defense coach. In my eyes, he is the shining star on that staff.

BTW, one that is moving up on my radar is Smith over at EP. He won the tourney, backed it up with another championship, and has a team this year that everybody thought would drop off significantly, and has had a very successful year so far.

BodyShots wrote:

Sats81 wrote:

nortstar52 wrote: I think it's more of a combination of the recruiting of the physical specimens from nearby youth programs along with the hiring of the psychologists that control the mental portion of these young lads to perform

That's all great, but that's not what the question was. The question was what teams have the best coaching staffs, best preparation, best coaching based on talent they have btwn JV and Varsity, improvement from beginning of season to end, etc.

Whether you wanna bash privates like HM, STA, CDH, AHA, that fact remains NO ONE can dispute how good of a coach Lechner is and how he gets his teams to perform year in and year out. Recruiting or not.

I struggle with this one. Lets face it. Lechner's situation is very smiilar to Joe Torre's with the NY Yankees. He always has top notch talent. Not only do they have top notch talent, but they are always very deep as well. When's the last time HM JV did not dominate at their level?

How hard is it to coach that? How well did Torre do when he went to the Dodgers? I would like to see Lechner at a school like North Branch and see how he does there.

Don't get me wrong, I think Lechner is a very good coach and I liked the way he handled the situation a few years back. I also think very highly of their defense coach. In my eyes, he is the shining star on that staff.

BTW, one that is moving up on my radar is Smith over at EP. He won the tourney, backed it up with another championship, and has a team this year that everybody thought would drop off significantly, and has had a very successful year so far.

I agree that it's fairly easy to coach when you recruit top notch talent. Put most of the players in the public schools they should attend and things would be way different. As far as Smith at EP goes, were it not for the fact that he had the extraordinary amount of talent he graduated last year, this team would not even really be noticed. If I remember properly, many in EP were calling for Smith's head not that many years ago. A lot of this depends on reputation of previous year's squads.

BodyShots wrote:

Sats81 wrote:

nortstar52 wrote: I think it's more of a combination of the recruiting of the physical specimens from nearby youth programs along with the hiring of the psychologists that control the mental portion of these young lads to perform

That's all great, but that's not what the question was. The question was what teams have the best coaching staffs, best preparation, best coaching based on talent they have btwn JV and Varsity, improvement from beginning of season to end, etc.

Whether you wanna bash privates like HM, STA, CDH, AHA, that fact remains NO ONE can dispute how good of a coach Lechner is and how he gets his teams to perform year in and year out. Recruiting or not.

I struggle with this one. Lets face it. Lechner's situation is very smiilar to Joe Torre's with the NY Yankees. He always has top notch talent. Not only do they have top notch talent, but they are always very deep as well. When's the last time HM JV did not dominate at their level?

How hard is it to coach that? How well did Torre do when he went to the Dodgers? I would like to see Lechner at a school like North Branch and see how he does there.

Don't get me wrong, I think Lechner is a very good coach and I liked the way he handled the situation a few years back. I also think very highly of their defense coach. In my eyes, he is the shining star on that staff.

BTW, one that is moving up on my radar is Smith over at EP. He won the tourney, backed it up with another championship, and has a team this year that everybody thought would drop off significantly, and has had a very successful year so far.

I don't think putting him at North Branch and seeing how he does would be a fair test. I think putting him at a place that has pretty good talent every year but is not a traditional powerhouse and seeing if he could get them over the hump would be more fair. Maple Grove, Wayzata, even an Eden Prairie (not in a "getting over the hump" sort of way) per your Smith example.