Page 1 of 1
Phil Housley HHF
Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 8:18 pm
by WestMetro
He gave a very classy HHF acceptance speech
Who will be the next Minnesota high schooler?
Re: Phil Housley HHF
Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 8:51 pm
by MNHockeyFan
WestMetro wrote:He gave a very classy HHF acceptance speech
Who will be the next Minnesota high schooler?
Congrats to Mr. Housley. I would not want to predict which Minnesotan will eventually be awarded this "NHL Hall" honor. But I believe it's safe to say that we will not see another high school player - no matter which state he's from - to make the jump directly from high school right to the NHL and eventually be inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame.
An incredible achievement for what I would argue is the best Minnesota high school hockey player, ever.
Re: Phil Housley HHF
Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 9:05 pm
by thespellchecker
An incredible achievement for what I would argue is the best Minnesota high school hockey player, ever.[/quote]
He had a tremendous size advantage. Have you seen his jersey on display at Wakota? Sorry, Woog Arena.
Re: Phil Housley HHF
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 1:21 am
by MNHockeyFan
thespellchecker wrote:He had a tremendous size advantage. Have you seen his jersey on display at Wakota? Sorry, Woog Arena.
Not sure what your implying here, thespellcecker. Did you jump straight from high school to the NHL? If so, who are so, really?

Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 7:11 am
by mulefarm
There is Housley, then you can argue who is the 2nd best player from Mn.
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 9:51 am
by Sats81
Broten 2nd best MN born NHL player ever.
Re: Phil Housley HHF
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 9:53 am
by Sats81
MNHockeyFan wrote:WestMetro wrote:He gave a very classy HHF acceptance speech
Who will be the next Minnesota high schooler?
Congrats to Mr. Housley. I would not want to predict which Minnesotan will eventually be awarded this "NHL Hall" honor. But I believe it's safe to say that we will not see another high school player - no matter which state he's from - to make the jump directly from high school right to the NHL and eventually be inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame.
An incredible achievement for what I would argue is the best Minnesota high school hockey player, ever.[/quote
He is young and its very early in his career, but I would say player with best shot at attaining that honor would be Justin Faulk...remarkable how quickly he has gone up....playing great for Canes. Not best hockey market but if he continues to improve and produce offensively from back end there is a chance.
Re: Phil Housley HHF
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 9:54 am
by Sats81
MNHockeyFan wrote:thespellchecker wrote:He had a tremendous size advantage. Have you seen his jersey on display at Wakota? Sorry, Woog Arena.
Not sure what your implying here, thespellcecker. Did you jump straight from high school to the NHL? If so, who are so, really?

he's referring to the 200 foot jersey at wakota with Housleys number retired....
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 10:04 am
by keepyourheadup
I've been following high school hockey since 1969 and only two other high school players made a similar impact on the game at that level. Henry Bouche and Cory Millen. What Phil accomplished straight out of high school is just insane, He went from running the SSP power play to running the Buffalo Sabres power play! I Don't expect to see anything like it again in my lifetime. Antonavich was close but these three guys were the finest high school players I ever had the pleasure to watch.
Re: Phil Housley HHF
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 10:15 am
by MNHockeyFan
Sats81 wrote:he's referring to the 200 foot jersey at wakota with Housleys number retired....
Ah, my apologies thespellcecker.

Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 3:20 pm
by @hockeytweet
Congratulations to a great hockey player.
I don't see how a high school player can jump into the NHL. He did it and made an impact right away. It's amazing.
HOF!
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 4:19 pm
by BodyShots
Truly amazing to go straight from HS to the Pros.
Did his SSP team make it to state, and if so, how did they do?
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 6:22 pm
by mulefarm
Some more guys that are high on the list would be Gary Sargent, George Pelawa, Larry Olimb, Dave Spehar, Mike Cowley as far as great high school players.
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 6:33 pm
by MNHockeyFan
mulefarm wrote:Some more guys that are high on the list would be Gary Sargent, George Pelawa, Larry Olimb, Dave Spehar, Mike Cowley as far as great high school players.
According to this "100 Best" list John Mayasich was the best HIGH SCHOOL player ever.
http://www.mnhockeyhub.com/page/show/35 ... p-100-list
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 7:09 pm
by WestMetro
In terms of going from High School right into pros, is it a matter of age or interpretation of the term High School? Lets look at age, regardless of USA or Canadian. McDavid and Eichel were both 18 or early 19? I think MacKinnon was only 18 when he started with the Avs?
Could happen again someday in Minnesota I think, with the increased year round Youth Hockey and High School conditioning. Increased speed, body weight and muscle mass is giving the youngsters a more relative earlier advantage compared to when the 30 year old prime of career NHLer started out. Also, longer season and more games experience when considering summer and fall scrimmages and tournaments, NTDP for some , Elite League and USHL before and after option for others. Almost starting to approach the level of Canadian kids regimen.
The right Minnesotan just hasnt come along since Housley, but he will. We need to encourage more births by our Scandinavian heritage parents, their kids always start bigger anyway and are more naturally inclined to get up on skates earlier!
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 8:51 pm
by HILARY2016
WestMetro wrote:In terms of going from High School right into pros, is it a matter of age or interpretation of the term High School? Lets look at age, regardless of USA or Canadian. McDavid and Eichel were both 18 or early 19? I think MacKinnon was only 18 when he started with the Avs?
Could happen again someday in Minnesota I think, with the increased year round Youth Hockey and High School conditioning. Increased speed, body weight and muscle mass is giving the youngsters a more relative earlier advantage compared to when the 30 year old prime of career NHLer started out. Also, longer season and more games experience when considering summer and fall scrimmages and tournaments, NTDP for some , Elite League and USHL before and after option for others. Almost starting to approach the level of Canadian kids regimen.
The right Minnesotan just hasnt come along since Housley, but he will. We need to encourage more births by our Scandinavian heritage parents, their kids always start bigger anyway and are more naturally inclined to get up on skates earlier!
I approve of your 3rd paragraph. Your a bright person at your keyboard. You vote should count more then others.
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 4:58 pm
by cigar
Phil was by far the best high schooler i've seen play in MN...
Sats, you mention Justin Faulk... He is very good but I don't think he will come close to making it..
although, to have two in HHOF from SSP would be sweet for us Packer backers...
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 5:02 pm
by Sats81
cigar wrote:Phil was by far the best high schooler i've seen play in MN...
Sats, you mention Justin Faulk... He is very good but I don't think he will come close to making it..
although, to have two in HHOF from SSP would be sweet for us Packer backers...
Point I was trying to make was of current Minnesota born players I would give him the highest likelihood based off his trajectory, being an offensive d-man, his young age and role he plays with Canes (PP, lots of ice time, etc)
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 8:23 pm
by DubCHAGuy
To put in perspective. Phil went from HS hockey in 1982, to scoring 66 pts. as a defensemen for the Buffalo Sabres. Recent Canadian Jr. players to make an impact as 18 year olds (all forwards):
Patrick Kane (2008)- 72 pts.
Steve Stamkos (2009)- 46 pts.
John Tavares (2010)- 52 pts.
Taylor Hall (2011)- 42 pts.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2012)- 52 pts.
Nathan Mackinnon (2014)- 63 pts.
Pretty amazing what Housley did going straight from HS hockey. I don't think we'll see anything close to that ever again. He had 77 pts. (31 goals) as a defensemen in his 2nd NHL season, when he was still eligible to be playing Jr. hockey!
And since someone asked. No, SSP did not make it to state his senior year. I believe they were beat by Henry Sibley in sections. They won 3rd place his junior year and lost the consolation game his soph. year.
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 9:03 pm
by WestMetro
Dub Cha: a shocking bit of context indeed, especially since Phil was D and had a few other things to worry about on the ice.
(But in a way, you make my point earlier in this thread. MacKinnon was "virtually" Minnesota highschool, yes ? )
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 9:48 pm
by MNHockeyFan
DubCHAGuy wrote:Pretty amazing what Housley did going straight from HS hockey. I don't think we'll see anything close to that ever again.
I agree. Just look at Mike Reilly, an All-American defenseman who played three years of D1 but didn't make the Wild roster, let alone score 66 points. Different era to be sure, but not to take anything away from what Housley accomplished. If it was easy even back then someone else would have done it too.
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 11:27 pm
by DubCHAGuy
WestMetro wrote:Dub Cha: a shocking bit of context indeed, especially since Phil was D and had a few other things to worry about on the ice.
(But in a way, you make my point earlier in this thread. MacKinnon was "virtually" Minnesota highschool, yes ? )
He played 2 years of Canadian Major Juniors (QMJHL in his case) prior to his draft year, but yes all of those players listed above would have been the age of high school players going straight to the NHL.
Nugent-Hopkins came from the WHL, while the rest of them played in the OHL during their "high school" years.
There will be another Housley to come out of MN, no doubt. I just highly doubt he'll play HS hockey as a Sr., nor will he have an immediate impact at the NHL level.
Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2015 9:53 am
by WestMetro
Agree highly doubtful, but my point also being that Natahan also played a couple years at Minn Shattuck H.S., which is only half the time beating the MSHSL Elites nowadays