***Official 23-24 State High School Hockey Tourney Chat***

[Justin Kase]

Hornets win easily but I'm left with a bad taste in my mouth after the way they played. If Giles doesn't get through to them by 7pm tomorrow night no way they beat Chan. Hope they got this out of their system...

Louie called Nevers out on it during the post game interview, let him know they had to get some control.

[Justin Kase]

Rapids unable to do anything offensively and it remains 4-0 Hornets after 2. Game getting a little chippy and Giles needs to give a friendly reminder to his boys to knock that sh!t off....

a real separation between the top two teams and the rest of them in AA. the only thing that can salvage this year's tournament is the championship game. it's been a meh year when you think of the history of the tournament. did you get a chance to see the grainy black and white film of the 1967 championship in the other thread? almost 60 years later and you can see why this tournament got so big. end to end action and the crowd really into it. back when the teams from the north always put in a great showing in the tournament. the announcer said that roseau took the consolation championship over roosevelt and hibbing took third place by beating north st paul.

What thread was that in? I’m sure that was a Championship year for my Greenway Raiders. I watched it live as a youngster, and then we were able to see it several times later in my school years. As a youngster learning to play back then, those were the guys I looked up to….. not the pros or even college guys…. the local High School guys were everything to me. To be able to get to know a bunch of them a little later in life was pretty awesome.

[SWM58]

Pohl was spot on saying Chan and Edina had harder section tourneys than the state tourney so far. Echos what some of you guys are saying above about not many being able to hang with the metro teams anymore. I have not seen Chan play yet but my sense is edinas start slow, bang up a big lead then foot off the gas/no discipline will not work so well tomorrow. I’m thinking 5-2 Chan.

[weimy froob]

Rapids unable to do anything offensively and it remains 4-0 Hornets after 2. Game getting a little chippy and Giles needs to give a friendly reminder to his boys to knock that sh!t off....

a real separation between the top two teams and the rest of them in AA. the only thing that can salvage this year's tournament is the championship game. it's been a meh year when you think of the history of the tournament. did you get a chance to see the grainy black and white film of the 1967 championship in the other thread? almost 60 years later and you can see why this tournament got so big. end to end action and the crowd really into it. back when the teams from the north always put in a great showing in the tournament. the announcer said that roseau took the consolation championship over roosevelt and hibbing took third place by beating north st paul.

What thread was that in? I’m sure that was a Championship year for my Greenway Raiders. I watched it live as a youngster, and then we were able to see it several times later in my school years. As a youngster learning to play back then, those were the guys I looked up to….. not the pros or even college guys…. the local High School guys were everything to me. To be able to get to know a bunch of them a little later in life was pretty awesome.

viewtopic.php?t=63697

on page five. even with the relatively poor quality of film/camera work you can get a real feel for how good of a game that was. amazing that all those players are now in their 70s if they're still with us. rink rats on the big stage giving their all. excellent stuff.

[Hornets]

Hornets win easily but I'm left with a bad taste in my mouth after the way they played. If Giles doesn't get through to them by 7pm tomorrow night no way they beat Chan. Hope they got this out of their system...

Louie called Nevers out on it during the post game interview, let him know they had to get some control.

Yeah, saw that. Lou even told Nevers the penalties were "dumb" so he didn't candy coat it. Nevers acknowledged that Giles was going to give them an earful but I'm worried that for some reason they seem more concerned about making a big check than scoring goals. If I'm Chanhassen I try to get under the Hornets skin early and draw some penalties.

I bleed green so I have to go with Edina 3-2.

[Justin Kase]

a real separation between the top two teams and the rest of them in AA. the only thing that can salvage this year's tournament is the championship game. it's been a meh year when you think of the history of the tournament. did you get a chance to see the grainy black and white film of the 1967 championship in the other thread? almost 60 years later and you can see why this tournament got so big. end to end action and the crowd really into it. back when the teams from the north always put in a great showing in the tournament. the announcer said that roseau took the consolation championship over roosevelt and hibbing took third place by beating north st paul.

What thread was that in? I’m sure that was a Championship year for my Greenway Raiders. I watched it live as a youngster, and then we were able to see it several times later in my school years. As a youngster learning to play back then, those were the guys I looked up to….. not the pros or even college guys…. the local High School guys were everything to me. To be able to get to know a bunch of them a little later in life was pretty awesome.

viewtopic.php?t=63697

on page five. even with the relatively poor quality of film/camera work you can get a real feel for how good of a game that was. amazing that all those players are now in their 70s if they're still with us. rink rats on the big stage giving their all. excellent stuff.

Thanks! I started to watch a little of it. Yeah, all in their 70’s for sure. Those Greenway guys were the ones I looked up to, as I said. I was coached by several of those guys at one time or another growing up. Some of them are still with us, some have passed.

[Slap Shot]

Now I'm pissed. ANOTHER completely undisciplined Hornet penalty. Rapids has goaded them several times to tonight and Edina has taken the bait. This is NOT Edina hockey...

Gus I respect that program, but Edina has always been skilled and chippy. As in most fans outside Edina would agree.

[Sellingguy]

So the discussion at the local establishment the other day was about the so called imbalance.
One of the people in the conversation is a Stillwater Hockey parent.
There simply is not anything you can do to make it far/balanced. Remember Hermantown screamed for how long about St Thomas. And once St Thomas moved up, Hermantown didnt automatically win. I think the next 2 years they lost to East Grand Forks.

Is New Ulm a top 8 team in Single A? I doubt it. Or Northfield?
Yeah a lot of good hockey players never make it to state. That is life.

[Hornets]

So the discussion at the local establishment the other day was about the so called imbalance.
One of the people in the conversation is a Stillwater Hockey parent.
There simply is not anything you can do to make it far/balanced. Remember Hermantown screamed for how long about St Thomas. And once St Thomas moved up, Hermantown didnt automatically win. I think the next 2 years they lost to East Grand Forks.

Is New Ulm a top 8 team in Single A? I doubt it. Or Northfield?
Yeah a lot of good hockey players never make it to state. That is life.

Yep....nailed it. Life isn't fair and I think that the State Hockey tournament has been an amazing success through the years the way it is. Every year there are several teams and certainly LOTS of individual players who unfortunately don't get to make an appearance in St. Paul. A handful of teams that didn't make it are arguably better teams than Grand Rapids and Cretin. But part of the charm of the tourney is that the way the sections are laid out it gives many teams the chance to be a state tournament participant whereas they wouldn't have that same opportunity if somehow there was a final 8 ranking in each class that determined who goes. It gives us the occasional opportunity to see David take down Goliath....

Personally I was disappointed for many years that they went to 2 classes instead of 1, but now I'm ok with it.

[Miller73]

This Chan team was very good 2 years ago, with so many sophomores....I have never followed much Edina hockey, but I would have been very surprised if Chan didn't make it to state, even having to play Edina...It should be a very entertaining game, I'll go 5-3 Chanhassen

[Miller73]

^ Minnetonka

[ocsid]

a real separation between the top two teams and the rest of them in AA. the only thing that can salvage this year's tournament is the championship game. it's been a meh year when you think of the history of the tournament. did you get a chance to see the grainy black and white film of the 1967 championship in the other thread? almost 60 years later and you can see why this tournament got so big. end to end action and the crowd really into it. back when the teams from the north always put in a great showing in the tournament. the announcer said that roseau took the consolation championship over roosevelt and hibbing took third place by beating north st paul.

Didn't see that film yet but will at some point. I'm sure teams like Minnetonka, Wayzata, BSM, etc....are shaking their heads knowing they are better than most of the teams in this tourney but that's the way the seedings go so no use complaining I guess. Last years championship between Edina and Tonka was really good and hopefully we'll have another barn burner tomorrow night.

there's becoming some real separation between the sections. it's becoming a west metro tourney. that's why i like to see a hill-murray in the tournament. they can usually compete with those sections. centennial's section can have real good teams too. if lakeville's down in section one then it's a week section. moorhead's never won a championship. when's the last time that section's won a title? GR won one not all that long ago and that was great because it showed that it could still happen for a team from that section. but who knows when it will again? we might not be around.

the four sections in A that played today are still competitive. that's where the best games were in the semis by a mile.

I just looked up all the sections in A and AA. Some really odd things stood out.
I know quite a bit about football sections. They're almost entirely based on adjusted enrollment (actual enrollment minus reduced lunch).

How on earth is hockey placement decided? Plus with so many co-ops now. There are schools that enrollment-wise would definitely be AA, but obviously can't field a team alone, or are still placed in A. Any insight as to this?

[weimy froob]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

i think a team can opt into the AA section if they want to--even if their enrollment is small enough for them to qualify for the A section.

[Sellingguy]

Anyone can move up to AA. For a big school to move down, there are some policy to that i believe.

[TheLokNesMonster]

Now I'm pissed. ANOTHER completely undisciplined Hornet penalty. Rapids has goaded them several times to tonight and Edina has taken the bait. This is NOT Edina hockey...

Gus I respect that program, but Edina has always been skilled and chippy. As in most fans outside Edina would agree.

Munger was said to be the Billy Smith of his day.

[Hornets]

Now I'm pissed. ANOTHER completely undisciplined Hornet penalty. Rapids has goaded them several times to tonight and Edina has taken the bait. This is NOT Edina hockey...

Gus I respect that program, but Edina has always been skilled and chippy. As in most fans outside Edina would agree.

Munger was said to be the Billy Smith of his day.

What does that even mean? I wasn't a goalie dontcha know??

[Justin Kase]

So the discussion at the local establishment the other day was about the so called imbalance.
One of the people in the conversation is a Stillwater Hockey parent.
There simply is not anything you can do to make it far/balanced. Remember Hermantown screamed for how long about St Thomas. And once St Thomas moved up, Hermantown didnt automatically win. I think the next 2 years they lost to East Grand Forks.

Is New Ulm a top 8 team in Single A? I doubt it. Or Northfield?
Yeah a lot of good hockey players never make it to state. That is life.

There’s so many ways it can be looked at, and I think it currently is as good as it’s going to get. Up here, with so many Single A teams, there are certainly many clamoring for Hermantown to opt up….. maybe they should, maybe there should be some sort of factor based on recent history that moves teams up and down, but what a scheduling nightmare that creates for school AD’s. Teams typically have their traditions of playing certain other teams. If they are made to change class, they should play a schedule that matches their class size, right? What a domino effect that has on many teams’ schedules.

I also believe that geographical rules for Sections need to be kept in place to some extent…. They do get shuffled a bit here and there, with many of the schools far nearer the Metro area now being included with the Iron Range teams. Way back in the ‘60’s, there were more powerhouses up north, and I can’t remember exactly how it worked, but there was a “back door”, that Range 2nd place teams could play the Duluth area (I think) champ, and get to State that way. If I remember correctly, Hibbing AND Greenway actually made it to State one year. I think one of the years Greenway won it, they had advanced through that back door. Might have even been ‘67.

[weimy froob]

hermantown trailing 1-0 to begin the third period.

[weimy froob]

'The Back Door' was a wonderful quirk in hockey tournament's history
In the Twin Cities, it was a second chance to reach the state tournament. In the North, it came with capital letters.

https://www.startribune.com/the-back-do ... 45%2D91%5D.

you should be able to read this story. if not, put that first sentence into google then you should.

[Sellingguy]

Htowns coach needs to sit a couple of his boys. They dont seem to want to back check.

[Sellingguy]

So the discussion at the local establishment the other day was about the so called imbalance.
One of the people in the conversation is a Stillwater Hockey parent.
There simply is not anything you can do to make it far/balanced. Remember Hermantown screamed for how long about St Thomas. And once St Thomas moved up, Hermantown didnt automatically win. I think the next 2 years they lost to East Grand Forks.

Is New Ulm a top 8 team in Single A? I doubt it. Or Northfield?
Yeah a lot of good hockey players never make it to state. That is life.

There’s so many ways it can be looked at, and I think it currently is as good as it’s going to get. Up here, with so many Single A teams, there are certainly many clamoring for Hermantown to opt up….. maybe they should, maybe there should be some sort of factor based on recent history that moves teams up and down, but what a scheduling nightmare that creates for school AD’s. Teams typically have their traditions of playing certain other teams. If they are made to change class, they should play a schedule that matches their class size, right? What a domino effect that has on many teams’ schedules.

I also believe that geographical rules for Sections need to be kept in place to some extent…. They do get shuffled a bit here and there, with many of the schools far nearer the Metro area now being included with the Iron Range teams. Way back in the ‘60’s, there were more powerhouses up north, and I can’t remember exactly how it worked, but there was a “back door”, that Range 2nd place teams could play the Duluth area (I think) champ, and get to State that way. If I remember correctly, Hibbing AND Greenway actually made it to State one year. I think one of the years Greenway won it, they had advanced through that back door. Might have even been ‘67.

The bottom line is this. They need to stop acting like ever kid needs a shot at state. Look at basketball and football. It is stupid. one idea i saw floated was going to 16 teams for AA since that is the one with the biggest group of good teams not making it. Your section semi's become the game to go to state.

[Justin Kase]

hermantown trailing 1-0 to begin the third period.

3-0 Cathedral now, that might just do it. Hermantown doesn’t seem to have as much in the tank as Cathedral does.

[Justin Kase]

So the discussion at the local establishment the other day was about the so called imbalance.
One of the people in the conversation is a Stillwater Hockey parent.
There simply is not anything you can do to make it far/balanced. Remember Hermantown screamed for how long about St Thomas. And once St Thomas moved up, Hermantown didnt automatically win. I think the next 2 years they lost to East Grand Forks.

Is New Ulm a top 8 team in Single A? I doubt it. Or Northfield?
Yeah a lot of good hockey players never make it to state. That is life.

There’s so many ways it can be looked at, and I think it currently is as good as it’s going to get. Up here, with so many Single A teams, there are certainly many clamoring for Hermantown to opt up….. maybe they should, maybe there should be some sort of factor based on recent history that moves teams up and down, but what a scheduling nightmare that creates for school AD’s. Teams typically have their traditions of playing certain other teams. If they are made to change class, they should play a schedule that matches their class size, right? What a domino effect that has on many teams’ schedules.

I also believe that geographical rules for Sections need to be kept in place to some extent…. They do get shuffled a bit here and there, with many of the schools far nearer the Metro area now being included with the Iron Range teams. Way back in the ‘60’s, there were more powerhouses up north, and I can’t remember exactly how it worked, but there was a “back door”, that Range 2nd place teams could play the Duluth area (I think) champ, and get to State that way. If I remember correctly, Hibbing AND Greenway actually made it to State one year. I think one of the years Greenway won it, they had advanced through that back door. Might have even been ‘67.

The bottom line is this. They need to stop acting like ever kid needs a shot at state. Look at basketball and football. It is stupid. one idea i saw floated was going to 16 teams for AA since that is the one with the biggest group of good teams not making it. Your section semi's become the game to go to state.

Yeah, that’s ridiculous. It’ll never be perfect to suit some people, but as it sits, every kid does have a chance to go to State, as long as his team has the talent to beat the other teams in their Class and Section. No College selection committee, Section playoffs include every team in the Section, as far as I know.

[ocsid]

Gus I respect that program, but Edina has always been skilled and chippy. As in most fans outside Edina would agree.

Munger was said to be the Billy Smith of his day.

What does that even mean? I wasn't a goalie dontcha know??

you also didn't actually play for Edina.

[ocsid]

The bottom line is this. They need to stop acting like ever kid needs a shot at state. Look at basketball and football. It is stupid. one idea i saw floated was going to 16 teams for AA since that is the one with the biggest group of good teams not making it. Your section semi's become the game to go to state.

Did that proposal mean that the 16 largest teams would move to their own division and the rest would be A, or that the 16 largest would become a separate class?

[Sellingguy]

The bottom line is this. They need to stop acting like ever kid needs a shot at state. Look at basketball and football. It is stupid. one idea i saw floated was going to 16 teams for AA since that is the one with the biggest group of good teams not making it. Your section semi's become the game to go to state.

Did that proposal mean that the 16 largest teams would move to their own division and the rest would be A, or that the 16 largest would become a separate class?

no, they just suggested you take the 16 teams in the AA section finals and seed them into a 16 team 4 game state tourney. Basically they want the sectional final eliminated.

[Tundra Scout]

Time for Chanhassen to piss pound the cake eaters

[ocsid]

The bottom line is this. They need to stop acting like ever kid needs a shot at state. Look at basketball and football. It is stupid. one idea i saw floated was going to 16 teams for AA since that is the one with the biggest group of good teams not making it. Your section semi's become the game to go to state.

Did that proposal mean that the 16 largest teams would move to their own division and the rest would be A, or that the 16 largest would become a separate class?

no, they just suggested you take the 16 teams in the AA section finals and seed them into a 16 team 4 game state tourney. Basically they want the sectional final eliminated.

That's not the worst idea I've heard.

One thing I've heard is that the MSHSL doesn't really care if the best team wins the title. That geographic representation is much more important to them. That's not just a hockey thing - it holds true in other sports as well.

[weimy froob]

Did that proposal mean that the 16 largest teams would move to their own division and the rest would be A, or that the 16 largest would become a separate class?

no, they just suggested you take the 16 teams in the AA section finals and seed them into a 16 team 4 game state tourney. Basically they want the sectional final eliminated.

That's not the worst idea I've heard.

One thing I've heard is that the MSHSL doesn't really care if the best team wins the title. That geographic representation is much more important to them. That's not just a hockey thing - it holds true in other sports as well.

i was going to say the same thing. the fly in the ointment is how are you going to get those first eight games played? it would probably have to be a super saturday before the tournament resumes on thursday.

[ocsid]

no, they just suggested you take the 16 teams in the AA section finals and seed them into a 16 team 4 game state tourney. Basically they want the sectional final eliminated.

That's not the worst idea I've heard.

One thing I've heard is that the MSHSL doesn't really care if the best team wins the title. That geographic representation is much more important to them. That's not just a hockey thing - it holds true in other sports as well.

i was going to say the same thing. the fly in the ointment is how are you going to get those first eight games played? it would probably have to be a super saturday before the tournament resumes on thursday.

Those games just replace the section finals. It's not really that different except the teams would, in some cases, play a different team than they otherwise would.

But I don't think the league would want a tournament where half the AA teams come from the SW metro.