HighSchoolHockeyForums.com

I heard there was an 8th grader that made the St. Thomas varsity team. Is this true? Details?

JSR wrote:I heard there was an 8th grader that made the St. Thomas varsity team. Is this true? Details?

What state is he from ?

JSR wrote:I heard there was an 8th grader that made the St. Thomas varsity team. Is this true? Details?

Tryouts are next week bro...

http://www.cadets.com/athletics-and-act ... eam/about/

Do the privates get to start tryouts earlier than the publics?

SquirtC'00 wrote:

JSR wrote:I heard there was an 8th grader that made the St. Thomas varsity team. Is this true? Details?

Tryouts are next week bro...

http://www.cadets.com/athletics-and-act ... eam/about/

This is why I am asking.... I am not from MN but heard some stuff at the Nike/Bauer through the "grapevine" so I came here to get the straight story.... Interestingly do you note the line in the parantheses in your link (is that line always there???).... because while tryouts are nice and are mostly on the up and up we all know some decisions are sometimes made in advance of tryouts.... just wondering... thanks

JSR wrote:

SquirtC'00 wrote:

JSR wrote:I heard there was an 8th grader that made the St. Thomas varsity team. Is this true? Details?

Tryouts are next week bro...

http://www.cadets.com/athletics-and-act ... eam/about/

This is why I am asking.... I am not from MN but heard some stuff at the Nike/Bauer through the "grapevine" so I came here to get the straight story.... Interestingly do you note the line in the parantheses in your link (is that line always there???).... because while tryouts are nice and are mostly on the up and up we all know some decisions are sometimes made in advance of tryouts.... just wondering... thanks

I don't know why, but if I were to guess it has to do with how their tryouts are run or for the coach to tell them don't bother trying out because you're a first year bantam and that their is already enough players who have aged out of youth hockey trying out.

Well, it's been known to happen in the rare case where a gifted 8th grader* can and should play on a top varsity line. No one argues that Joey Anderson should have played bantam last year instead of Hill Murray Varsity.

Haven't heard of any Bantam superstars on STA's horizon though.


*Necessary caveat: Anderson is a 98, so old for an 8th grader last year I think.

JSR wrote:

SquirtC'00 wrote:

JSR wrote:I heard there was an 8th grader that made the St. Thomas varsity team. Is this true? Details?

Tryouts are next week bro...

http://www.cadets.com/athletics-and-act ... eam/about/

This is why I am asking.... I am not from MN but heard some stuff at the Nike/Bauer through the "grapevine" so I came here to get the straight story.... Interestingly do you note the line in the parantheses in your link (is that line always there???).... because while tryouts are nice and are mostly on the up and up we all know some decisions are sometimes made in advance of tryouts.... just wondering... thanks

Bantam try-outs are a month before the start of the high school season. This puts kids who are still eligible to play bantams but think they might be good enough for a high school team in a bind. It's bad form (and in some cases rather expensive) for a kid to try-out and make a Bantam AA squad, only to later chase a varsity roster spot (they are abandoning a coveted Bantam AA roster spot that can't be back-filled by promoting someone from the B1 team). On the other hand, if the kid doesn't tryout for Bantams, but subsequently gets cut from the high school program (or maybe only makes JV) they can't go back and get a spot on that Bantam AA team.

High school coaches are well aware of the situation. They also have (or should have) a pretty good idea of what their November roster will look like (or what it will need) by the end of their summer programs. They can't guarantee an eighth-grader a varsity spot in August (at least not in principle), but they can offer some candid advice on whether a player should try-out for Bantams. Suggesting that they bypass Bantam try-outs and sign-up instead for high school captain's practices is as good as a golden ticket.

At least that's what it seems like from my perspective. Your mileage may vary.

Jeff -

1) wrong school

2) all schools have had summer camps and captains practice and kids have been encouraged to attend if they are interested in varsity.

3) Kids usually know where they stand during the captains practices.

As Shinbone said, Anderson was an older 8th grader This kid is actually a young 8th grader. (summer 2000 birthday)

And no, he is NOT my kid.

Can confirm that a '98 is joining STAA, but he's not an 8th grader considering he's from the Czech school system.

thestickler07 wrote:Can confirm that a '98 is joining STAA, but he's not an 8th grader considering he's from the Czech school system.

So I'm guessing that's a different zip code than Hermantown's?

thestickler07 wrote:Can confirm that a '98 is joining STAA, but he's not an 8th grader considering he's from the Czech school system.

Can you now confirm that STA had been sandbagging for many years??

Iforgotmypasswordagain2 wrote:
1) wrong school

2) all schools have had summer camps and captains practice and kids have been encouraged to attend if they are interested in varsity.

3) Kids usually know where they stand during the captains practices.

As Shinbone said, Anderson was an older 8th grader This kid is actually a young 8th grader. (summer 2000 birthday)

And no, he is NOT my kid.

Like I said, the rumor mills are usually 99% wrong in their info. This board usually muddles it's way through all the mess to where you usually get the right info and most of the nonsense gets swept aside......

almostashappy wrote:

JSR wrote:

SquirtC'00 wrote: Tryouts are next week bro...

http://www.cadets.com/athletics-and-act ... eam/about/

This is why I am asking.... I am not from MN but heard some stuff at the Nike/Bauer through the "grapevine" so I came here to get the straight story.... Interestingly do you note the line in the parantheses in your link (is that line always there???).... because while tryouts are nice and are mostly on the up and up we all know some decisions are sometimes made in advance of tryouts.... just wondering... thanks

Bantam try-outs are a month before the start of the high school season. This puts kids who are still eligible to play bantams but think they might be good enough for a high school team in a bind. It's bad form (and in some cases rather expensive) for a kid to try-out and make a Bantam AA squad, only to later chase a varsity roster spot (they are abandoning a coveted Bantam AA roster spot that can't be back-filled by promoting someone from the B1 team). On the other hand, if the kid doesn't tryout for Bantams, but subsequently gets cut from the high school program (or maybe only makes JV) they can't go back and get a spot on that Bantam AA team.

High school coaches are well aware of the situation. They also have (or should have) a pretty good idea of what their November roster will look like (or what it will need) by the end of their summer programs. They can't guarantee an eighth-grader a varsity spot in August (at least not in principle), but they can offer some candid advice on whether a player should try-out for Bantams. Suggesting that they bypass Bantam try-outs and sign-up instead for high school captain's practices is as good as a golden ticket.

At least that's what it seems like from my perspective. Your mileage may vary.

Actually not true. USA hockey rosters are not set until January 1. So if a current Bantam AA player leaves his team to join a high school team in November, the Bantam AA team can most certainly promote a player from A or B1. It happens all the time. Happened in White Bear last year. One player left for varsity, one bantam B1 player was promoted.

almostashappy wrote:So I'm guessing that's a different zip code than Hermantown's?

I can only confirm that the Czech Republic's country code is 420, and Prague's telephone prefix is 31.

MrBoDangles wrote:

thestickler07 wrote:Can confirm that a '98 is joining STAA, but he's not an 8th grader considering he's from the Czech school system.

Can you now confirm that STA had been sandbagging for many years??

I'm still waiting to hear back on this one.

JoltDelivered wrote: Actually not true. USA hockey rosters are not set until January 1. So if a current Bantam AA player leaves his team to join a high school team in November, the Bantam AA team can most certainly promote a player from A or B1. It happens all the time. Happened in White Bear last year. One player left for varsity, one bantam B1 player was promoted.

Good for that B1 player. I did mention that mileage may vary, and that I was speaking from my perspective (based on local conditions and from conversations with parents over the years from at least a couple of other associations).

So when the WBL Bantam AA made the high school team, did he get at least a partial refund on his registration costs, or was that a sunk cost?

Many associations either refund a portion of the money or won't collect future payments if spread out over the season. May be some lost $ for the association but should be support and pride with a kid making the leap which shows success of a good youth program (which probably hasn't been seen in your area since the Zajac era, eh?)

Oh and STAA was sandbagging but a STAA vs. Hermantown regular season game would be worth the price of admission plus travel to a particular zip code.

Nuts&Bolts wrote:Many associations either refund a portion of the money or won't collect future payments if spread out over the season. May be some lost $ for the association but should be support and pride with a kid making the leap which shows success of a good youth program (which probably hasn't been seen in your area since the Zajac era, eh?)

Oh and STAA was sandbagging but a STAA vs. Hermantown regular season game would be worth the price of admission plus travel to a particular zip code.

Might not happen:

1) Does H Town schedule many AA teams?
2) Bruce won't have the enough media there to complain about recruiting, refs, etc.

BP wrote:

Nuts&Bolts wrote:Many associations either refund a portion of the money or won't collect future payments if spread out over the season. May be some lost $ for the association but should be support and pride with a kid making the leap which shows success of a good youth program (which probably hasn't been seen in your area since the Zajac era, eh?)

Oh and STAA was sandbagging but a STAA vs. Hermantown regular season game would be worth the price of admission plus travel to a particular zip code.

Might not happen:

1) Does H Town schedule many AA teams?

This season, Hermantown is playing Hopkins, Grand Rapids, Cloquet, Wayzata, Bemidji and White Bear Lake.

Lee

east hockey wrote: This season, Hermantown is playing Hopkins, Grand Rapids, Cloquet, Wayzata, Bemidji and White Bear Lake.

And they're playing in the SSP Premier Holiday Tournament again, where they might face Anoka, Hastings, North, Woodbury or Eagan.

As mentioned by a poster above, I had the school wrong. I guess it's St. Paul Academy or something like that?? Does that sound right, is that a school? And assuming I have the school correct is it common for 8th graders to play varsity hockey up there?

east hockey wrote:

BP wrote:

Nuts&Bolts wrote:Many associations either refund a portion of the money or won't collect future payments if spread out over the season. May be some lost $ for the association but should be support and pride with a kid making the leap which shows success of a good youth program (which probably hasn't been seen in your area since the Zajac era, eh?)

Oh and STAA was sandbagging but a STAA vs. Hermantown regular season game would be worth the price of admission plus travel to a particular zip code.

Might not happen:

1) Does H Town schedule many AA teams?

This season, Hermantown is playing Hopkins, Grand Rapids, Cloquet, Wayzata, Bemidji and White Bear Lake.

Lee

Good for them. Time for AA then!

BP wrote:

east hockey wrote:

BP wrote: Might not happen:

1) Does H Town schedule many AA teams?

This season, Hermantown is playing Hopkins, Grand Rapids, Cloquet, Wayzata, Bemidji and White Bear Lake.

Lee

Good for them. Time for AA then!

AGREED!!!! But Bruce won't.

JSR wrote:As mentioned by a poster above, I had the school wrong. I guess it's St. Paul Academy or something like that?? Does that sound right, is that a school? And assuming I have the school correct is it common for 8th graders to play varsity hockey up there?

Saint Paul Academy is a real school with a boys hockey team. Boys playing varsity as 8th graders is pretty rare these days. A little more common with girls.

Why does a team Compete at Playoff time at the A level - but then during the season they schedule as many as possible against AA teams. if a team declares "A" then they should have to play 75%+ of thier games against the Same classification. Same obvioulsy goes for AA teams - play 75%+ of your games against AA teams.

Seems like Hermantown is taking advantage of the situation: play top competition during the regular season, then play in state tournament with the easiest part of their schedule.