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I know that Benilde St. Margaret and Buffalo High School are coming to upstate new york in early December, so i was wondering how are these teams? Are they the best of the best and how will they stack up with middle of the road prep teams? I plan on seeing the games being played in Lake Placid, but if they are going to be a joke then I mine as well not go. <p></p><i></i>

Buffalo is an average, sometimes below average AA (big school). They've never made a state tournament, but I think they will be getting better in the next 5-10 years.<br><br>Benilde has been a solid A (small school) program. They've won a couple class A championships. This will be their first year playing AA, so we'll have to see how they handle playing bigger schools.<br><br>These are two decent programs, but no where near the best of the best.<br><br>What are these prep teams like? Are they like the prep teams in Mass.? <br><br>Should be interesting reguardless. <p></p><i></i>

Which teams from mass. are you referring too? NSA plays in the Midwest Prep league as well as a number of games against EJHL and AJHL teams. Albany plays in the New England Prep West division which has the top teams like Avon, Salisbury, and Taft. Both teams have 1 or 2 D1 caliber players and usually 3 strong lines. If you are talking about teams from mass. like Cushing, St. Seb's, and Thayer then NSA and Albany are a slight level behind them, but still D1 prep none the less. I agree it should be interesting. <p></p><i></i>

Isn't Blake (pre-season #1 in Class A) going out to New Hampshire in December?<br><br>Anyone...Anyone...............Bueller.........Bueller? <p></p><i></i>

The earlier analysis of Buffalo is right on but the "analysis" of Benilde is a little off the mark. True, I would not put them in the top 5 programs - but in any given year they could easily be considered among the "best of the best".<br><br>Benilde is a lot better than a "solid class A" school. Two state titles and several section championship appearances in 5A speaks to a degree of excellence far beyond "solid". Ever hear of Andrew Alberts? Benilde grad and one of the top defensmen for the Boston Bruins. <br><br>This idea that somehow going "AA" is some stretch for Benilde is a joke. Their schedule has been loaded with "AA" teams the last 6 years and the team aways has a great regular season record. Benilde was the first high school team to play Shattuck on a regular basis - and they have defeated or skated with the premier programs in the state - Hill Murray, Moorhead, Duluth East, etc.<br><br>List out the top 25 high school programs each year and if you don't include Benilde, Breck, Blake or Totino Grace then you just aren't paying any attention.<br><br>So, bottom line - it's well worth watching them play out east. You'll see a top hockey program.<br><br><br> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p100.ezboard.com/bmnhs.showUserP ... >Bart82</A> at: 11/19/05 11:42 pm<br></i>

I'm pretty sure Blake will be going to Massachusetts. <p></p><i></i>

Benilde is definitely a quality program, but I wouldn't put them in with the "elite". Calling them "solid" may be a tad of an understatement, but I wouldn't consider that to be too much of a stretch by any means.<br><br>The past does not speak to this year's team... Many teams in the state have had future NHL'ers on their rosters and won state championships and frequent section title games in their history. All the AA teams have always played AA schedules as well, so I don't know how having a schedule loaded with AA teams helps Benilde's cause.<br><br>A top 25 program -as you call them- is not "the best of the best". Top 25 teams could be considered "among of the best", but not the best of the best. Academy of Holy Angels, Bloomington Jefferson, White Bear Lake... schools like those are the best of the best. Benilde has to prove that they are on par with those schools, and right now, they are not. <br><br>I would dispute they are a top 25 program, anyway. In most AA top 20 polls, Benilde-St. Margaret's is not even ranked at all, and keep in mind there's only 65 AA schools. That put's at least 31% of AA schools ahead of them and I know there are a handful of A schools that would rank ahead of them as well.<br><br>"Quality", "solid", and "above average" would all be fitting for the Benilde-St. Margaret program. That being said, I would, if I were the person who started this thread, still venture out to watch them. The gap between the top teams and middle teams is not that great in Minnesota (We all know how many upsets there are throughout the season and section playoffs), so you will still see a very good hockey team. They just aren't the best the state of Minnesota has to offer.<br> <p></p><i></i>

Blake is going to NH mid. December to play Exeder(sp). <p></p><i></i>

(This message was left blank) <p>2A</p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p100.ezboard.com/bmnhs.showUserP ... ldTimer</A> at: 11/20/05 12:55 pm<br></i>

Okay so from what I can gather Benilde is better then Buffalo? Do these teams have more then 1 solid line? Are they physichal? When you come east alot of the prep teams have 4-5 kids 20 years old or over that will just hammer you. I expect that these teams from Minn. will have some talent, but how much i won't know. <p></p><i></i>

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>Originally posted by <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>prephockey</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--></em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Okay so from what I can gather Benilde is better then Buffalo?<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br>Yes.<br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Do these teams have more then 1 solid line? <hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br>Benilde, yes. Buffalo, questionable.<br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Are they physichal?<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br>They both can be if necessary. Its unlikely that it will be a priority though.<br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>When you come east alot of the prep teams have 4-5 kids 20 years old or over that will just hammer you. I expect that these teams from Minn. will have some talent, but how much i won't know.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br>These kids will be mainly 16-18 years old. <p></p><i></i>

Hey prephockey, yeah Buffalo isn't much of a team and Benilde isn't bad. They won't have much of a shot this year at making the AA state tournament, but they have several solid players. If one of the teams you were sayin play several EJHL games, if they are actually able to compete, I feel they should take care of buffalo pretty easily and benilde shouldn't get passed em eh? I'd love to see our top-notch high school teams head out there and see how they fair. I think it could be much different. But I'm just guessing. <p></p><i></i>

As best as I can tell, it looks like Blake is playing two eastern prep teams in mid December; Governor Drummer Academy and Tilton. I'm not sure if that is part of a tournament or not. Should be interesting. Both are Div I prep teams. GDA is an average team, finishing with something like a 13 - 9 record in prep play. Tilton is one of the weaker programs, with only 4 or 5 wins last year. Still, the prep school league is very competitive, so both teams should provide a good match to Blake.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

Actually Blake is playing 3 teams at the Exeter Invitational. Along with GDA and Tilton they will finish the long weekend on Saturday Dec 17 with Wyoming Seminary. I didn't find too much info on em other than they're not far from Wilkes-Barre PA. Maybe ya could fill us in MassMan. <p></p><i></i>

Wyoming Seminary is from Penn. as you have found out. They are a boarding school with their best players coming from Eastern European countries like the Czech and Ukraine. The rest of their roster will most likely be filled out by kids north of the boarder or from the Philly or Pitt. area. They have a pretty good program and are competitive year in and year out. They like NSA are in the Midwest Prep league. <p></p><i></i>

I see that Buffalo beat Albany Academy 5-1. Where does Albany Academy rank out there? <p></p><i></i>

Im not sure where AA is ranked, but Buffalo had two game miscunducts and DQs and had to fight off two 5 on 3 for 5 min apiece. AA never scored on these powerplays and Buffalo still came out on top 5-1.. Buffalo jv tied thier Varsity b team 4-4 . Albany Academy has 23 players, 13 from NY, 6 from Canada, 2 from Serbia, 1 from Ukraine and 1 from Sweden . Not sure what thier record was at this time. <br><br>Up to Lake Placid they lost 5-1 to an older National Sports Academy, this was thier 23rd game this year, record as of saturday was 15-8. They play 60 some games a season and almost half are to Juniur teams (NLCAA) (EJHL) (MPHL) (AJHL) 1 sophomore and the rest junior/seniors. Buffalo jv beat Lake Placid High School Varsity Team to the tune of 6-1.<br><br>Just talking to some of these players out East they hear alot about Minnesota High School Hockey. Sounds like they have much respect for Minnesota Hockey and telling them that the State Tourny can draw 18 thousand pluss people a game, games are on T.V, coverd in the papers and so on you could see them just get the chills. <br><br>Talking to some of thier parents, the ones I talked to anyways come to these schools for hockey, they pay anywhere from 27 to 32k a year for thier kids to play. (ouch) and to have "at best" a mediorce team from Minnesota go out with maybe 3 games under thier belts this year come back 1-1<br><br>Over all it was a very good experience for the players to mingle and sit down and have lunch or dinner or watch World Class athletes train in Lake Placid.. <br><br>These two teame were prep teams (NSA) has 7 or 8 players that were post grads . If Minnesota were to have sent out some of our top teams this last weekend, then these two teams (NSA) (AA) would have been in sorry shape <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START ;) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=";)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>