Hockey….did you know?

The high school tourney started today.

Thanks for reminding me. I can’t get out of work.
DT

Did you know Edina didn’t make it in the tourney

They were ranked 2nd in the state too.

DT Hermantown is dominating Luverne but the score is only 2-1 Hermantown in the 3rd.

High school hockey is so damn cool!!!

2-2 with 2:00 left.

Big time goalie play by the Luverne kid.

Hermantown scores :48 seconds into overtime. I’m tired of Hermantown. Why don’t they pull on their big boy pants and move up a class.

Go Moose! Ain’t no silver spoons in those boys mouths. Some Northfeild boys gonna get “maple laked” tomorrow at 11.

Dutchboy wrote:

The high school tourney started today.

How could you NOT know that? It’s the greatest time of the year

From what I saw, St. Cloud had the best hockey hair of class A

I was impressed with the level of play of the class A games last night along with how competitive and back and forth they were.

It was probably the most exciting class A day one in a long time. Usually its full of blow outs and not very fun…kinda like a day of fishing with @sticker1

Evan Pheneger wrote:

I was impressed with the level of play of the class A games last night along with how competitive and back and forth they were.

It was probably the most exciting class A day one in a long time. Usually its full of blow outs and not very fun…kinda like a day of fishing with @sticker1

You are a terrible guide!

I agree, very competitive, couple upsets, one overtime,and very good hockey. I am excited for the Class AA games today.

I always enjoy the videos regarding hockey hair. The guy that does them has a fantastic deadpan delivery!

Great flow!

And look no major snow storms insight!

Anybody know if it is broadcasted on any radio station? I can’t find it.

I haven’t been able to find it either.

http://www.msbnsports.net/#

Go to watch. I believe they have all of the state hockey games streaming this year again, but you get audio only. Just answer a few general questions and off you go.
You can get video thru “Prep45” on the MSHSL site, but those are individual pay per view.

Dutchboy wrote:

Hermantown scores :48 seconds into overtime. I’m tired of Hermantown. Why don’t they pull on their big boy pants and move up a class.

Why don’t the other A schools work harder to get better than H-town??
Not like they are some private school that recruits kids from all over to play for them. I’m not a fan of H-town (my son goes to Esko) but everyone up here knows the level of effort they give, to be that good. Maybe the others just need to step it up to compete.

And truth be told, with Duluth East waiting in 7AA, I dont see them moving up in the near future. Too much State Hockey history for these two to see only one of them with a shot at state each year.

xplorer wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dutchboy wrote:</div>
Hermantown scores :48 seconds into overtime. I’m tired of Hermantown. Why don’t they pull on their big boy pants and move up a class.

Why don’t the other A schools work harder to get better than H-town??
Not like they are some private school that recruits kids from all over to play for them. I’m not a fan of H-town (my son goes to Esko) but everyone up here knows the level of effort they give, to be that good. Maybe the others just need to step it up to compete.

Agreed, I think this all stems from Bruce ripping STA for years, which is a different argument imo.

Ah…. I can see where that is a bit of an irony.
Just out of curiosity, how has STA done since moving up? I see they are the #2 seed this year. I really think the presence of East will keep them in AA for the foreseeable future.

Most of the haters of Hermantown are just envious of their success – which is pretty understandable. As a guy who grew up in Hermantown and played hockey for Bruce for 3 years, it’s sad to see how much hate the man gets for choosing to stay down in “A” when in reality, he is the best coach I have ever played for and should get props for what he has done for that program. He is an old school guy and a firm believer that Hermantown belongs in “A” based on the enrollment. Regardless of rumors spread, Hermantown does not recruit. Recruiting is the last thing you would ever find Bruce doing. You can’t stop other people from moving and enrolling in the district and when you have the success Hermantown has had, it is going to attract the people who are looking to jump ship from their less successful program. It doesn’t help any that Hermantown is the only town in the Duluth area that is growing and with that, newer housing and better facilities and brand new schools are also going to attract more people to the city. This is going to be Bruce’s last year and they will be moving up to “AA” under the new coach in 2 years when they get the option to opt up again.

BigWerm wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>xplorer wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dutchboy wrote:</div>
Hermantown scores :48 seconds into overtime. I’m tired of Hermantown. Why don’t they pull on their big boy pants and move up a class.

Why don’t the other A schools work harder to get better than H-town??
Not like they are some private school that recruits kids from all over to play for them. I’m not a fan of H-town (my son goes to Esko) but everyone up here knows the level of effort they give, to be that good. Maybe the others just need to step it up to compete.

Agreed, I think this all stems from Bruce ripping STA for years, which is a different argument imo.

Totally agree, it’s not like Hermantown has won it that often. In fact, winning it was the only thing they couldn’t seem to do. I could be wrong, but I can only recall them winning it twice in the last 10-15 years, so unless they won it way, way back, it’s not like they are running away with it.

I also don’t like this whole trend toward bullying small schools that have had some recent success into moving up to AA. Yeah, St. Thomas is the poster child for the whole argument, but nobody is saying hey, maybe Edina, Minnetonka, Hill Murray, Eden Prarie, and Duluth East should have to “play up” by putting them all in one section so only one of them can get to state every year.

With the A schools, many of them have to work very hard to put together a quality team. If you’re Edina, the hockey talent is going to be there or come to you no matter what, but nobody’s moving to Hermantown just to get their kid on a hockey team.

Grouse

Grouse – you are correct in that Hermantown has only won the state championship twice. Once is 2007 and once last year. The took second place in 1998 and then 6 of the last 7 years or whatever it is.

And if you think Hermantown is bursting at the seems with kids trying out for their program… last year they had 40 kids try out and kept 35. There have been about the same number of “cuts” done each year for the last 15+ years. What I am trying to say is they dont have overwhelming numbers by any means.

I think the harsh words toward Hermantown are not necessarily about their success, but the result of their coach being vocal and opening his mouth about others who he felt should move up (STA).
He is his own worst enemy IMO. Even during the game last night when he was interviewed I was turned off a bit by his comments. Great coach? Clearly! I think his filter that should engage between when he thinks something before saying it needs to be changed.
At any rate I was pulling for Luverne last night.

I 100% disagree. If Hermantown wasn’t in the championship game the last 7 years, you would not be hearing as much whining and complaining from the masses about where Hermantown plays. Success breeds envy. I agree its ironic about the STA thing but what it comes down to is public vs private… It is a well known fact that private schools recruit… If they didn’t, they wouldn’t field a competitive team because they don’t have a feeder youth program. Bruce’s gripe with STA was always that private schools recruiting has no place in the small school tournament. I agree 100% with that logic. When STA was winning championships in single A, they were essentially a metro all star team with kids from programs all over the metro. You shouldn’t be able to pluck the best players from each big public school and then compete against the small schools.

So, since I’m a basketball guy and they have like 5 classes based on size, what is the cutoff between the A and AA schools for hockey?
I’m kinda surprised that there are only 2 classes to be honest. Is it that there just aren’t enough schools to have more than 2, or is it just the tradition that there has always only been 2 in MN?
Like I said, I grew up in SW Wisconsin, and it was all B-Ball. But up here its all about hockey. Esko has been to state in B-ball the last 4 years, and I still can’t find their previous nights scores on the Duluth News Tribune sports website some days. But you can bet that every hockey games stat summary is there hahaha

Oh and an update, #2 STA goes down hard.

I’m not up on the entire history, but there are a lot fewer hockey programs than bball. I also know it used to be just 1 class, and a lot of old schoolers wish it would go back to that. I think they have a great thing going, and personally like seeing the 2 classes.

I work in EP and despite having the #1 team and best player supposedly in decades most of the town isn’t interested. But friends from Roseau and Grand Rapids still discuss the high school team, despite no longer living there. Pretty cool imo and also why I will always root for the outstaters!

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

I 100% disagree. If Hermantown wasn’t in the championship game the last 7 years, you would not be hearing as much whining and complaining from the masses about where Hermantown plays. Success breeds envy. I agree its ironic about the STA thing but what it comes down to is public vs private… It is a well known fact that private schools recruit… If they didn’t, they wouldn’t field a competitive team because they don’t have a feeder youth program. Bruce’s gripe with STA was always that private schools recruiting has no place in the small school tournament. I agree 100% with that logic. When STA was winning championships in single A, they were essentially a metro all star team with kids from programs all over the metro. You shouldn’t be able to pluck the best players from each big public school and then compete against the small schools.

I will give you a pass since you played for the guy and are not necessarily looking at this from an “outsider” perspective. My comments about the hatred/harsh words toward Hermantown are not ONLY because they win, but also because their coach has a tendency to be a jerk.
His opinion on STA I agree with, but its his actions that made him look like a whiny baby when losing to STA. Take your defeat gracefully, he clearly didn’t. I just saw them replay the video last night that I am remembering from a prior tournament.
There are lots of teams that I despise solely because of 1 person associated with that program and his little or nothing to do with their success.

BigWerm is correct… It used to be a single class system. In 1992 they changed it to two classes and the idea was to give the small towns a shot at getting down to the X (or Civic Center back in the day). There is not an enrollment cutoff number. Every 2 years when they reset the sections, they take the top 64 teams (enrollment wise) and assign those teams to “AA”. There are also “opt ups” like Roseau or Duluth Marshal who could play in “A” but choose to opt up into “AA”. The rest of the teams play in “A”. The most recent numbers I can find online are a few years old but teams 1-64 were enrollments of 1247-2979. Hermantown is somewhere around 600 for enrollment.

In my opinion, the more classes there are, the less meaning it has to win a championship. I think high school hockey should be 1 class but I get why they have 2. Anything more than 2 is just too diluted for my liking.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jake wrote:</div>
I 100% disagree. If Hermantown wasn’t in the championship game the last 7 years, you would not be hearing as much whining and complaining from the masses about where Hermantown plays. Success breeds envy. I agree its ironic about the STA thing but what it comes down to is public vs private… It is a well known fact that private schools recruit… If they didn’t, they wouldn’t field a competitive team because they don’t have a feeder youth program. Bruce’s gripe with STA was always that private schools recruiting has no place in the small school tournament. I agree 100% with that logic. When STA was winning championships in single A, they were essentially a metro all star team with kids from programs all over the metro. You shouldn’t be able to pluck the best players from each big public school and then compete against the small schools.

I will give you a pass since you played for the guy and are not necessarily looking at this from an “outsider” perspective. My comments about the hatred/harsh words toward Hermantown are not ONLY because they win, but also because their coach has a tendency to be a jerk.
His opinion on STA I agree with, but its his actions that made him look like a whiny baby when losing to STA. Take your defeat gracefully, he clearly didn’t. I just saw them replay the video last night that I am remembering from a prior tournament.
There are lots of teams that I despise solely because of 1 person associated with that program and his little or nothing to do with their success.

I completely understand your stance after the STA loss and the remarks at the press conference. My viewpoint on it is that how can you blame a guy for being that passionate? I think anybody who knows anything about high school hockey knows it was a bit ridiculous that those STA teams were playing against the small schools. Plante’s passion is unmatched by anyone I have come across in the game of hockey. He probably shouldn’t have said some of those things but he was sticking up for his players and what he believed was right… Any player that has gone thru his system would skate thru the endboards for the guy.

I actually have to say that when he opened the press conference with stating his 3 players name’s (that were with him at the press conference) and their zip code was extremely clever and further illustrated the point he was trying to convey. We could list the zip codes of all the STA players but would probably run out of paper.

OK, that makes sense.
I think I counted just about 400 schools that play boys HS basketball in MN. So with 4 classes it works out to about 100 per class on average.

I think I came up with about 130 playing boys hockey this year total, so the 64 cutoff is about half that group.