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It is well said, Everything is relative though....

Redwood Valley, enrollment 285, played in a section semifinal for the first time ever. They traveled 90 minutes for a 9pm faceoff on a Monday evening. They brought their band and what seemed like all 285 students, most of the town, and a radio crew. GAC holds maybe 1200 but it was nearly full and loud.....ear splitting loud. The game also went into overtime and I would be hard pressed to say the kids from Redwood Valley hurt any less than the kids from Duluth East.

The sudden emotion of the ending of an overtime playoff game is something both wonderful and painful to witness. You see the goal scored and the elation but in the next moment you see the kids sprawled out on the ice or bent over in tears, tears that last through agonizingly long minutes as they wait solemnly in line to shake hands with those other kids who are grinning ear to ear and just spent the last few minutes jumping all over each other with joy.....all while you had to watch.

Everything is relative......

I think the venue has a lot to do with it, filling a large arena is great but so is filling a small one. Mariucci stinks, while Amsoil, Aldrich, St. Peter, and Rochester work so well for thier sections.

I love Aldrich, but it stinks for sections, period.

goldy313 wrote:It is well said, Everything is relative though....

Redwood Valley, enrollment 285, played in a section semifinal for the first time ever. They traveled 90 minutes for a 9pm faceoff on a Monday evening. They brought their band and what seemed like all 285 students, most of the town, and a radio crew. GAC holds maybe 1200 but it was nearly full and loud.....ear splitting loud. The game also went into overtime and I would be hard pressed to say the kids from Redwood Valley hurt any less than the kids from Duluth East.

The sudden emotion of the ending of an overtime playoff game is something both wonderful and painful to witness. You see the goal scored and the elation but in the next moment you see the kids sprawled out on the ice or bent over in tears, tears that last through agonizingly long minutes as they wait solemnly in line to shake hands with those other kids who are grinning ear to ear and just spent the last few minutes jumping all over each other with joy.....all while you had to watch.

I love hearing all of this...the emotions are certainly all the same, and the chance to witness that up close, both in victory and in defeat, are a big part of why I enjoy this game at this level so much. If I were down in 3A territory, I'd be glued to it for the same reasons.

If anything makes 7AA (and the north in general) different, it's the degree to which high school hockey is a cultural touchstone here. If I happen to encounter an East grad in another city, the conversation will often turn to hockey, even without me mentioning any of the stuff I do on this forum or elsewhere. This time of year, I always get a rush of messages from old friends, some of whom are only casual hockey fans, wondering where they can find a live stream of a game. It's a central point of the high school experience, and it has been for generations.

The more places we can spread that sentiment to, the better.

I am a section 1 guy, through and through. I know the Iron Range and North are different and I hope always will be, tradition dictates that. That said what is going on in 3A is something to behold.....honestly it would be like the Range taking to lacrosse..... something completely foreign to the oldtimers/tax payers but still something they embrace. You have to understand every hockey player is an athlete not playing basketball or wrestling, sacrilegious to a great degree. These aren't areas that get a whole lot of migration like Minneapolism St. Paul, Rochester and it is not cheap oŕ easy to start a hockey program....TitleIX aside. It is a cultural shock to many people, they never played hockey and most never actually saw a hockey game 20 years ago. Many people bash "Lord Setterholm", without him and others there is no hockey in many of the 3A schools.

Agree 7AA uniqueness is a combination of the history , youth programs and rinks , the high school skill level, the venues , the crowds, national interest in players and contests , in combination with the emotions about a seasons games or single playoff game that go on for decades for the kids and community. It's really unbelievable, you can hardly believe one year can keep topping another .

goldy313 wrote:I am a section 1 guy, through and through. I know the Iron Range and North are different and I hope always will be, tradition dictates that. That said what is going on in 3A is something to behold.....honestly it would be like the Range taking to lacrosse..... something completely foreign to the oldtimers/tax payers but still something they embrace. You have to understand every hockey player is an athlete not playing basketball or wrestling, sacrilegious to a great degree. These aren't areas that get a whole lot of migration like Minneapolism St. Paul, Rochester and it is not cheap oŕ easy to start a hockey program....TitleIX aside. It is a cultural shock to many people, they never played hockey and most never actually saw a hockey game 20 years ago. Many people bash "Lord Setterholm", without him and others there is no hockey in many of the 3A schools.

Do you mean that's Lord's dominant teams and seasons pushed the rest of the section to improve? I'm curious your logic for claiming he is critical in the process. Not saying you're wrong, just curious.