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Ken Pauly of Benilde-St. Margaret’s in Class AA and Bruce Plante of Hermantown in Class A have been named the Coach of the Year in their respective divisions by the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association.

For more: http://www.mnhockeyhub.com/news_article ... r_id=32770

Congrats to both coaches.

I guess everyone doesn't think Bruce Plante is a "bozo" and an embarrassment to Hermantown like some ppl posted on here about comments he made during the tourney interviews....all in fun i might add. Thats how many times he's won this now? Congratulations to both coaches!!!
Funny though how the coach of the AA champion team wins and the coach of the 2nd place A team wins it.

This is ridiculous.. Pauly is a horrible coach. Just look at the way his players act on the ice. They have no discipline and continuously disrespect the refs and opponents. He doesn't hold his players accountable for anything. The team's skill overtook Pauly's coaching this year.

Oldtimehockeyguy23 wrote:This is ridiculous.. Pauly is a horrible coach.

Obviously you don't hold sway over all the coaches in the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association who felt differently.

Oldtimehockeyguy23 wrote:He doesn't hold his players accountable for anything.

I believe I heard the Channel 45 announcers mentioned that Pauly suspended Quale for six games earlier in the season for an unspecified infraction. They gave the distinct impression that this was a more severe punishment than what may have been required under MSHSL rules.

MNHockeyFan wrote:
I believe I heard the Channel 45 announcers mentioned that Pauly suspended Quale for six games earlier in the season for an unspecified infraction. They gave the distinct impression that this was a more severe punishment than what may have been required under MSHSL rules.

Dylan Parker from Duluth East sat out five games for a similar issue.

Oldtimehockeyguy23 wrote:This is ridiculous.. Pauly is a horrible coach. Just look at the way his players act on the ice. They have no discipline and continuously disrespect the refs and opponents. He doesn't hold his players accountable for anything. The team's skill overtook Pauly's coaching this year.

Glad to see your green is showing just in time for St. Patty's Day.

Congrats to Ken Pauly on a job well done this year, both on & off the ice.

MNHockeyFan wrote:

Oldtimehockeyguy23 wrote:This is ridiculous.. Pauly is a horrible coach.

Obviously you don't hold sway over all the coaches in the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association who felt differently.

Oldtimehockeyguy23 wrote:He doesn't hold his players accountable for anything.

I believe I heard the Channel 45 announcers mentioned that Pauly suspended Quale for six games earlier in the season for an unspecified infraction. They gave the distinct impression that this was a more severe punishment than what may have been required under MSHSL rules.

Well actually this was the minimum punishment because this was Q's second violation.

The standard has been set: If you want to be AA Coach Of The Year you have knock H-M out of contention for the State Championship.

East Side Pioneer Guy wrote:The standard has been set: If you want to be AA Coach Of The Year you have knock H-M out of contention for the State Championship.

you have to beat the best to be the best

sachishi4 wrote:

East Side Pioneer Guy wrote:The standard has been set: If you want to be AA Coach Of The Year you have knock H-M out of contention for the State Championship.

you have to beat the best to be the best

Or in this case, Hill-Murray.

Lee

Oldtimehockeyguy23 wrote:This is ridiculous.. Pauly is a horrible coach. Just look at the way his players act on the ice. They have no discipline and continuously disrespect the refs and opponents. He doesn't hold his players accountable for anything. The team's skill overtook Pauly's coaching this year.

Oh you must be the one that knows all and sees all. Please...

east hockey wrote:

sachishi4 wrote:

East Side Pioneer Guy wrote:The standard has been set: If you want to be AA Coach Of The Year you have knock H-M out of contention for the State Championship.

you have to beat the best to be the best

Or in this case, Hill-Murray.

Lee

big words coming from the 1 seed that lost to Lakeville

sachishi4 wrote:

east hockey wrote:

sachishi4 wrote: you have to beat the best to be the best

Or in this case, Hill-Murray.

Lee

big words coming from the 1 seed that lost to Lakeville

Oh, ouch!

Lee

love bruce plante old school

lhddh

Oldtimehockeyguy23 wrote:This is ridiculous.. Pauly is a horrible coach. Just look at the way his players act on the ice. They have no discipline and continuously disrespect the refs and opponents. He doesn't hold his players accountable for anything. The team's skill overtook Pauly's coaching this year.

Bill Lechner should have been AA coach of the year. Reason being, he took a team with one returning D and a young squad all together and coached them to the championship game and shocked a lot of people, including me...

Gems wrote:

Oldtimehockeyguy23 wrote:This is ridiculous.. Pauly is a horrible coach. Just look at the way his players act on the ice. They have no discipline and continuously disrespect the refs and opponents. He doesn't hold his players accountable for anything. The team's skill overtook Pauly's coaching this year.

Bill Lechner should have been AA coach of the year. Reason being, he took a team with one returning D and a young squad all together and coached them to the championship game and shocked :shock: a lot of people, including me...

Any coach of Hill Murray, BSM, St Thomas, etc should rarily be considered for coach of the year. They are handed the top players in the state and are expected not to mess things up too much. BSM's unique situation this year does give credence to Pauly's nomination.

The award should be given to a coach that works directly with promoting hockey in their area, both HS and youth. The coaches should demonstrate a passion for teaching and promoting to the young kids the love of the great game of hockey.

Nothing against either coach as I'm sure they are great coaches and great people. MSHSL stresses it's not about winning to the HS coaches but then time after time they give the coach of the year award to the coaches that have great success in the win lose catagory.

1parent wrote:Nothing against either coach as I'm sure they are great coaches and great people. MSHSL stresses it's not about winning to the HS coaches but then time after time they give the coach of the year award to the coaches that have great success in the win lose catagory.

The MSHSL doesn't give this award, the Hockey Coaches Association does.

longrebound wrote:

1parent wrote:Nothing against either coach as I'm sure they are great coaches and great people. MSHSL stresses it's not about winning to the HS coaches but then time after time they give the coach of the year award to the coaches that have great success in the win lose catagory.

The MSHSL doesn't give this award, the Hockey Coaches Association does.

Of which Pauly is the president. Do I hear ballot stuffing? Floridagate II:lol:

Gems wrote:

Oldtimehockeyguy23 wrote:This is ridiculous.. Pauly is a horrible coach. Just look at the way his players act on the ice. They have no discipline and continuously disrespect the refs and opponents. He doesn't hold his players accountable for anything. The team's skill overtook Pauly's coaching this year.

Bill Lechner should have been AA coach of the year. Reason being, he took a team with one returning D and a young squad all together and coached them to the championship game and shocked :shock: a lot of people, including me...

I agree 100% with you. That squad was a mess the first coule of weeks with 2 F's playing D and they had been decimated by people leaving one way or another. Lechner found the perfect balance with those two lines, juggling things before settling on Willie Brown (Soph) playing with Juniors Guentzel an Lavalle on the top line and putting the two Sampairs together on the second line. But D was the big story as even Lou Nanne at state called them underrated and that again is a goup that started as 1 returning guy in Blake Heinrich.....what really did the BSM coach do? Get 6-7 division 1 players to play together?

**** Elite league..*****

Does anyone know how many invite letters go out for this fall's Elite League that don't involve having to try out in any way? Just lookig for ballpark number...and from there does anyone know how many total players there will be once play begins?

Thanks

Each coach decides along with the league on how many invites go out. All players who played the prior year are invited back. Last year each metro team had no more than 4 or 5 open spots (possibly fewer) available after returners and invited players. Each team invites 12 forwards and 6 defense. Not sure if goalies will rotate (like last year) or if there will be 2 per team. A little off topic but this is pretty close to how it all washes out.

Congrats to both coaches; both had great seasons.

Goalie-Dad wrote:Any coach of Hill Murray, BSM, St Thomas, etc should rarily be considered for coach of the year. They are handed the top players in the state and are expected not to mess things up too much. BSM's unique situation this year does give credence to Pauly's nomination.

These comments are made yearly and others similar. I don't want to say they are incorrect (as the premise isn't), but in general, how many teams win with bad players?

To those of you that have that opinion, what makes a good coach?
I don't have a personal opinion on too many coaches, but I would think the coaching is likely part of the reason they are "handed" so many top players. It's similar are good public schools. Many stay in their program, strong or weak, because of the coaching.

Wallyworld wrote:....what really did the BSM coach do? Get 6-7 division 1 players to play together?

Obviously the majority of Pauly's coaching peers disagree with you. Not many of the "experts" gave BSM much of a chance to win their section, much less State. And naturally, many of the same "experts" now say the team was loaded with talent, so no wonder they won, and coaching had very little to do with their success.