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Any thoughts much appreciated:). I'm getting thirsty for some puck! 7AA is a very talented section this year for sure. Rapids with best skater and goalie in the section and new coach - even though his pedigree is unquestionably awesome. East with the talent, depth, and Randolph. Elk with huge numbers just reloads every year. Andover blowing my mind (see top 3 in PeeWee and Bantam AA last year. CEC has talent, depth, but I'm thinking the locker room/parents will be unstable (I really hope not). Duluth Marshall opt up to AA recently. Total respect and they don't fold for anybody on the ice -great coach. Marshall game plan against CEC in the play-offs last year scary good! Almost beat the team in purple that game.

Hi Kniven

Here is my two cents worth:

Assuming no early departs:

GR
East
Cloq
Elk
Rest

WestMetro wrote:Hi Kniven

Here is my two cents worth:

Assuming no early departs:

GR
East
Cloq
Elk
Rest

WestMetro. Is the above still good with you, as the season gets closer, and comings and goings more clear?

Kniven, since Gavin and Zach have now announced, but Blake Mr. Hockey is staying and Gabe IS best goalies in state .....

After watching action this weekend...
But not knowing full Cloquet outcome ...
And just to be honest I don't know Andover at all....I haven't seen them since Maddie was a senior, and haven't seen their Bantam teams

Anyway, at this point I would say :

East
Rapids
Cloquet/Elk , flip of coin
Andover
Rest

Kiv, Elk does not have huge numbers, not small but would guess somewhere in the middle. 404 boys including Jr Gold and 68 Bantams is no where near the Wayzata, Edina, and OMGHA's of the world which are the huge associations. I know for past several years there were not even 40 players that tried out for HS teams....

MWS coach wrote:Kiv, Elk does not have huge numbers, not small but would guess somewhere in the middle. 404 boys including Jr Gold and 68 Bantams is no where near the Wayzata, Edina, and OMGHA's of the world which are the huge associations. I know for past several years there were not even 40 players that tried out for HS teams....

I was thinking of their numbers compared to the other 7AA hockey programs.

kniven wrote:

MWS coach wrote:Kiv, Elk does not have huge numbers, not small but would guess somewhere in the middle. 404 boys including Jr Gold and 68 Bantams is no where near the Wayzata, Edina, and OMGHA's of the world which are the huge associations. I know for past several years there were not even 40 players that tried out for HS teams....

I was thinking of their numbers compared to the other 7AA hockey programs.

knivvy or MWS could you put up the youth numbers for the 7AA? Not sure if I have seen them to compare. Thanks

alcloseshaver wrote:

kniven wrote:

MWS coach wrote:Kiv, Elk does not have huge numbers, not small but would guess somewhere in the middle. 404 boys including Jr Gold and 68 Bantams is no where near the Wayzata, Edina, and OMGHA's of the world which are the huge associations. I know for past several years there were not even 40 players that tried out for HS teams....

I was thinking of their numbers compared to the other 7AA hockey programs.

knivvy or MWS could you put up the youth numbers for the 7AA? Not sure if I have seen them to compare. Thanks

This is what I could find off the interwebs, either on association sites or district sites. This is the number of teams each youth association had last year at the Bantam and Peewee levels. So it's not an exact head count of players, but a pretty fair gauge of size I think. I'd say Elk River is hardly "huge" in 7AA, roughly same size as East, Andover, FL and GR.

Elk River
-Bantams 4
-Peewees 4

Duluth East
-Bantams 4
-Peewees 3

Andover
-Bantams 4
-Peewees 4

Forest Lake
-Bantams 4
-Peewees 4

Grand Rapids
-Bantams 3
-Peewees 4

St. Francis (co-op with North Branch)
-Bantams 3
-Peewees 3

Cambridge/Isanti
-Bantams 1
-Peewees 3

Cloquet
-Bantams 3
-Peewees 3

Princeton
-Bantams 2
-Peewees 2

Grand Rapids had 2 Bantam teams and 3 Pee Wee teams last year.
That has been the normal number for many years.

I see Duluth East has 11 players in this years elite league. 10 on team North and 1 on CCM

Usthockey13 wrote:I see Duluth East has 11 players in this years elite league. 10 on team North and 1 on CCM

Not surprised. Hermantown has a 10 grader on the team.

http://www.hselitehockey.com/news/elite ... s-released

Does anything change in your pre, pre, pre season ranks with coach Smalley on board at CEC. I think their stock went up as a team with the hiring. The best thing to do to shut a parent up or a poison in the locker room is cut the kid or sit his arss. I think coach Smalley will be more than happy to oblige.

An idiot once said, " if you think your better than everybody else.....than you need to go play with yourself. "

kniven wrote:Does anything change in your pre, pre, pre season ranks with coach Smalley on board at CEC. I think their stock went up as a team with the hiring. The best thing to do to shut a parent up or a poison in the locker room is cut the kid or sit his arss. I think coach Smalley will be more than happy to oblige.

An idiot once said, " if you think your better than everybody else.....than you need to go play with yourself. "

Does this help HF ?

Well, apparently last year's seeding flare-up was the last straw. 7AA will use QRF to seed this coming season.

If nothing else, it'll make this board more boring. I'm going to miss our endless squabbles and attempts to psychoanalyze all of the coaches' votes.

karl(east) wrote:Well, apparently last year's seeding flare-up was the last straw. 7AA will use QRF to seed this coming season.

If nothing else, it'll make this board more boring. I'm going to miss our endless squabbles and attempts to psychoanalyze all of the coaches' votes.

Will this benefit the tougher or weaker schedule as a general rule. East, Rapids, and Elk play brutal schedules.

karl(east) wrote:Well, apparently last year's seeding flare-up was the last straw. 7AA will use QRF to seed this coming season.

If nothing else, it'll make this board more boring. I'm going to miss our endless squabbles and attempts to psychoanalyze all of the coaches' votes.

Funny thing is go look at last season QRF before seedings and

Section 7AA Standings (Seeding TBD)
QRF Rank
Seed
Team (QRF)
Section
Overall
For
Agst
Streak
No. 3 1 Elk River/Zimmerman (155.6) 5-1-0 22-5-0 5.2 1.8 Lost 1
No. 17 2 Duluth East (122.5) 8-2-0 18-9-1 3.5 1.9 Lost 1
No. 27 3 C-E-C (101.6) 8-4-0 16-9-2 3.7 2.6 Lost 1
No. 14 4 Grand Rapids (131.2) 6-3-1 23-7-1 4.5 2.4 Won 7
No. 39 5 Andover (84.0) 3-5-2 10-14-2 3.0 3.0 Lost 1
No. 41 6 Duluth Marshall (83.6) 3-6-0 13-12-1 3.9 2.7 Lost 2
No. 55 7 St. Francis (63.2) 2-6-0 9-17-0 3.4 4.9 Lost 7
No. 54 8 Forest Lake (64.9) 1-6-1 6-18-3 2.5 4.4 Lost 1
No. 56 9 Cambridge-Isanti (58.5) 1-4-0 8-16-2 2.6 5.3 Lost 1

kniven wrote:Does anything change in your pre, pre, pre season ranks with coach Smalley on board at CEC. I think their stock went up as a team with the hiring. The best thing to do to shut a parent up or a poison in the locker room is cut the kid or sit his arss. I think coach Smalley will be more than happy to oblige.

An idiot once said, " if you think your better than everybody else.....than you need to go play with yourself. "

There are a lot more people upset with the hiring than parents. You should talk to some of the oldtimers, as for "sitting his arss" that's not this coaches track record. Still much healing to be done and way more than one group of parents that are not happy, your committee of 9 in the hiring was basketball people

Sounds like a total "gong show" over in Cloquet. That's too bad parents and "hockey experts" are ruining such a solid group of talent. Hopefully winning can cure much of the drama and silence critics. All the best to Mr. Smalley he deserves the opportunity.

kniven wrote:Does anything change in your pre, pre, pre season ranks with coach Smalley on board at CEC. I think their stock went up as a team with the hiring. The best thing to do to shut a parent up or a poison in the locker room is cut the kid or sit his arss. I think coach Smalley will be more than happy to oblige.

An idiot once said, " if you think your better than everybody else.....than you need to go play with yourself. "

Can you sit an AC?

I think Rapids lost too much.

1. DE
2. ER
3. DM
4. C-E-C
5. GR
6. Andover
7. FL
8. St Francis
9. Cambridge

Hermantown would be the 2 or 3 seed if they played AA.

northwoods oldtimer wrote:Sounds like a total "gong show" over in Cloquet. That's too bad parents and "hockey experts" are ruining such a solid group of talent. Hopefully winning can cure much of the drama and silence critics. All the best to Mr. Smalley he deserves the opportunity.

Ask Kniven who was on the committee?? 9 members including 7 connected to the basketball program, you wonder why its a gong show?? not just JL who is upset, more like about every past alumni including some very prominent ones, sad class A here they come

SpOilerfan wrote:

northwoods oldtimer wrote:Sounds like a total "gong show" over in Cloquet. That's too bad parents and "hockey experts" are ruining such a solid group of talent. Hopefully winning can cure much of the drama and silence critics. All the best to Mr. Smalley he deserves the opportunity.

Ask Kniven who was on the committee?? 9 members including 7 connected to the basketball program, you wonder why its a gong show?? not just JL who is upset, more like about every past alumni including some very prominent ones, sad class A here they come

I talked to a parent connected to the program at the youth level. It appears that Smalley blew the panel away with a superlative interview. Meisner, although he is an exceptional hockey coach, apparently had much difficulty expressing himself in the pressure cooker of a multi-person interview panel.

I had heard pretty much the same thing. Doesn't surprise me, Smalley is a talker, an "me" guy who can spin yarn with best of them. Unfortunately it's always been about him and not the kids or the program. I really think the panel made a mistake.
Hope kids can adjust, I don't think that once proud program will after this.

Upfan111 wrote:I had heard pretty much the same thing. Doesn't surprise me, Smalley is a talker, an "me" guy who can spin yarn with best of them. Unfortunately it's always been about him and not the kids or the program. I really think the panel made a mistake.
Hope kids can adjust, I don't think that once proud program will after this.

Once proud program. What does that mean? When were they proud? What people have to be proud for the program to be proud? Just curious. I'm an idiot.

Is Hibbing a once proud program in your opinion? Duluth Marshall, Roseau, Warroad. Who determines if a program is a "once proud program". The players current or past? Parents? Coach? I have no idea who decides. If I decide CEC was a once proud program, is that then what it is?

kniven wrote:

Upfan111 wrote:I had heard pretty much the same thing. Doesn't surprise me, Smalley is a talker, an "me" guy who can spin yarn with best of them. Unfortunately it's always been about him and not the kids or the program. I really think the panel made a mistake.
Hope kids can adjust, I don't think that once proud program will after this.

Once proud program. What does that mean? When were they proud? What people have to be proud for the program to be proud? Just curious. I'm an idiot.

Huh, take a look at the banners Kniven??? as for the committee wow, look at the names on it, but hey they got a new gym, ask some alums what they think. wow