2011 Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament

[Bryce]

Sorry, was honest in my question. Usually watch all my hockey in the garage with the volume low. Never heard a hockey broadcast announced without homerism or bias. Just part of the game I guess. I'm sure the Sioux broadcasts have changed since I left town though...right?

Ouch on the size. He played bigger than that. Stick him on a d line with Ness and watch another career of wasted talent.

[PierBridge]

Tough day all around for the 218-er's...,.

No surprise with St Thomas winning and the AA final was just a great game!

Better luck next year!

612 OUT!...

[scsavre]

Great hockey. That Rau is as dominant as I have seen in High school in a awhile. Maybe not quite Checko, Kraft. But pretty darn good. He will be an impact player right out of the gates next year. He does play way bigger, but it is high school.

[quackersmacker]

Rau is a good player, but like a lot of high school standouts he is small. Many high school studs have learned size and strength matters at the D-1 level, D-1 everyone is fast, so you need the size. Both the A and AA games were great, I wouldnt say is was no surprise St Thomas won, and East outplayed The University of Eden Prarie most of the game. I heard St Thomas decided to stay A, is there any truth to that? All in all it was a great tourney to watch, already looking forward to next year!

[cjac]

Going back a ways, but Kyle Rau reminds me of Brian Bonin from WBL back in the early 90s. Dominant on the HS level, somewhat close to the same at the D-1 level, but there aren't that many little guys in the NHL.

Martin St Louis with TB comes to mind, but they are far and few between.

That said, fun stuff to watch and an incredible effort bu Rau on the game winner. Congrats to Mr. Hockey Minnesota.

[MinnesnowtaWild]

Guy doesn't have the size to make it into the modern day NHL. He is not like Nick Bjugstad who was bigger and equally talented (ended up going in first round, pretty eaerly too).

[scsavre]

There is no doubt in my mind that Rau will excel at the next level. Its not like we plays like Spehare, this kid is all over the place out there. O love the Bonin comparison, Bonin played hard, very hard.

[jwmiller33]

Quote:

No surprise with St Thomas the metro all star recruiting team winning

fixed for accuracy

[jwmiller33]

I think it's time for all private schools to step it up to AA. Since they can and do recruit, they are taking away from the smaller programs that truly fit in class A. Private schools have won every Class A championship dating back to 1999 with the exception of Hermantown and Warroad. These programs have a true advantage over public schools because they recruit kids from surrounding areas, some kids as far as an hour and a half away, which takes away talent from other programs. Back in the day, kids used to value growing up in a community, playing their whole youth hockey with the same group of kids, and representing their community/city in high school hockey. Nowadays, kids care more about themselves and advancing to the next level. If you are good enough, scouts will find you, regardless of where you play. It's pathetic how kids care more about the name on the back of their jersey than the name on the front. Think about all the kids and programs that dont go to state each year because a private school took their spot. Is it really fair that a team that recruits their players gets to go to state and take the spot of a true class A team? All 3 players on STA's first line came from the Lakeville South program. Think how much different both tourneys would have been if these kids stuck it out in their program that got them where they are today. If MSHSL is going to allow private schools to recruit, make them all step up to AA.

If kids are truly switching schools for academic reasons, why are they doing it in their sophomore, junior and senior years? If academic reasons really is why they transfer, they would be transfering before their freshman year.

[scsavre]

I agree that the private schools should be AA. But I don't really agree with the recuiting comments. I really don't think they recruit like you are saying. I want my kids to go to hill murray. No coach is going to call me to make that happen. Also if you are going to rant about kids going to private schools or switching schools, what the heck do you think happens I. All of these northern schools. Talk about kids from surrounding areas switching schools.

Does anybody else think EP is due for a second highschool yet......

[jwmiller33]

sscavre, I've seen private school coaches recruit with my own two eyes. When I was in high school, a private school coach tried to recruit our best player during a summer hockey camp. I won't name any names, but to say it isn't happening just isn't true. Yes, probably most of the kids that play on private school teams weren't recruited. But the fact remains that some players are recruited, and it isn't just simply isn't fair to the programs that are losing the kids

if you don't mind me asking, what program would your kids play for IF they went to a public school instead of HM?

[quackersmacker]

Private schools recruit, plain and simple. It is not right and it is an unfair advantage. St. Thomas Academy takes it one step further, it is an all boys school. If STA and Hermantown both have 1000 students, this gives Hermantowm approx 50/50 boy girl split, while STA has 100% boys to choose from. What JW said is true, there is no loyalty anymore. I was real happy to see a young northern team take it to the all boys Academy who was going to walk away with the whole show. I for one am glad Hermantown didn't listen to everyone, and showed up to play the game, and what a good game it was.

[titelines]

I heard that St. Thomas actually filled out all the paperwork to go Class AA. Coaches want to do it, kids want to do it, but the administration said "no". Their reason was that they don't want to be known as a "hockey school", or a "football school" etc. They want all their sports teams to be weighed equally, and to stay Class A.

That being said, I think it's a disservice to the other Class A teams. I was, and still am, against the two class system in the state tourney. But, they did it and we have to live with it. But...It seems to me that the reason they did it was so that a team like New Ulm, or Litchfield or some other "true" small, out-state school could have a good year in their lesser talented sections, make the trip to St. Paul and compete in the state tourney and have a chance to win it. Let's be honest, they really don't have a chance to win it. However, there's a big difference between not having a chance to win state and getting served up as sacrificial quarterfinal lambs.

[Bear55]

I also don't think they recruit like some suspect but they also don't have to. A winning program recruits for itself, kids and parents talk and everyone wants play for a winner. Some kids stay where they are and work harder, others jump schools in hopes of state tournament glory. These private schools have their own gravity and pull in talent from all over. Maybe some of the kids truly go for academics but I would bet for a great many of them the decisions are based on hockey with academics coming in 2nd.

Like I have always said, I like private schools, they are more fun to cheer against.

[jwmiller33]

I heard that St. Thomas actually filled out all the paperwork to go Class AA. Coaches want to do it, kids want to do it, but the administration said "no".

where did you hear this?

[titelines]

where did you hear this?

[DinnerPail]

Years ago I would have said the same about private schools but after working for St Thomas for ten years before moving back north a few years ago, I have a whole different opinion. Schools with good programs (sports & academics)don't need to recruit as they will come without it. I was at St Thomas before the Vanelli brothers starting coaching there and they built their own arena, they were not that good back then. Enrollment went up just on having the new arena and once they starting winning it continued and not because they recruited. Some need to look into what a school like St Thomas has to offer and the caliber of young men that come out of these types of schools. My son says he never regrets going to STA. I felt bad for him as he was in Duluth helping with a special olympics bowling tournament and was getting some funny looks when he was cheering for STA at the bowling alley.

I still cheer for the northern schools when they are there and pull for the underdog. I just don't think it fair to say private schools should be in a certain class just because of who they are.

[scsavre]

I really just dont believe that the private schools recruit. They have no need to. I dont see any reason why they shouldnt be able to either.

I live in Bloomington now, I hope to move back up to the saint paul side town someday, So i guess I would be leaving the Roseville or Moundsview etc for HIll.

By the way, I transferred from Roseville to Hill when I was in High School. Most of the recruiting was done by players. Not the coaches. You go to the select camps and play on the all-star teams and you become friends with players from Hill, or you become friends with other players and you start to think, man it would be fun to play on a team together. Or maybe, your parents went to Hill, or maybe your parents want you to get a good education while playing sports.

I really see no problem with recruiting. You guys all mention these little poor northern towns, come on, they are pulling from a pool of players as big as any.

I bet Warroad was good because TJ Oshie was from there.......

[scsavre]

Someone look up Herman town and Duluth East. I am wondering if they are all from there.

Seems weird that DE is the the only good public school in Duluth.

[cbrooks]

]I really just dont believe that the private schools recruit. They have no need to. I dont see any reason why they shouldnt be able to either.

I can't believe you said this. A high school can recruit kids from other schools but a college like UND recruiting kids from out of state or Canada isn't right. Did you talk about having some pride in your homegrown talent in another thread here.

[scsavre]

Get out of here Brooks. There is a little difference between a kid from Roseville going to Hill than a bunch of non Americans playing for Nodak. I never said Nodak shouldnt recruit kids from North Dakota. theyd wouldnt be able to have a team. I dont even care about kids from Canada, I just said I dont want them at the U, cause I want to cheer for minnesotans.

I hear you on homegrown talent though. Ideally it seems like a great idea. But what do you do if you are from moundsview? your team is terrible every single year. You know you will develop better at Hill or some other school. What do you do?

So who is suppose to go to Hill or the other private schools. When I went to Hill I dont know of anyone that came from farther then 10 maybe 15 miles. How big is Mooreheads radius, 50 Miles? how big is Warroads....I think Eden Prairies city limits might go 15 miles.

Any body in Grand forks ever jump the river to play? What about those Lameroux's sounds like homegrown North Dakota...

[cbrooks]

We lose everybody to the USHL. Some Central kids go to Red River. Not so common anymore. Central has a few kids in Jrs this year. Otherwise they would have had a decent team. Some future D1 kids.

[jwmiller33]

"]Someone look up Herman town and Duluth East. I am wondering if they are all from there.

Seems weird that DE is the the only good public school in Duluth.

I know for a fact that every kid on Hermantown's roster grew up and played their youth hockey in Hermantown. All of the kids on varsity have been in the HAHA program since squirts

If you don't believe recruiting exists, that is up to you, but like I said, I witnessed it first hand (and this was in 2004)

And believe it or not, Duluth East loses kids each year to Duluth Marshal (private school) and they still continue to make it to state almost every year. Imagine what they could do if all the kids stayed at DE. If these kids were really doing it for academic reasons, they wouldn't be doing it in their sophomore/junior/senior years (like what is happening), they would be doing it before their freshman year starts [if they truly are doing it for educational purposes].

[scsavre]

I just cant see coaches doing it. I think they should be able to though. After all private schools dont have districts.

I guess my experience is with Hill, and honestly they dont need to.

So how do you feel about public schools recruiting? Many of them do it especially with influx of the open enrollment now. Actually, do schools have closed districts now? or can you go wherever.

Do you think class A wants STA to stay, it definitely helps with interest. I honestly watched because they were in it. I really wouldnt have cared much about Hermantown and whoever.

[jwmiller33]

A poll on a popular MN high school hockey forum showed an overwhelming majority of MN high school hockey fans wanted STA to move up to AA, so yes