AA Rankings for 2/10/13

[scorekeeper]

I agree that teams are becoming deeper, but we have to be careful in our analysis as depth does not necessarily entail talent, as others have alluded too.

Huh? When we are speaking of depth, we are exactly speaking of talent. We aren't talking depth of quantity - that's been constant. We are talking of depth of quality. That maybe not the case in the northwoods, I dunno. Don't see many of their games. But here in the Metro, many teams can roll 3 lines without skipping a beat.

[karl(east)]

Northwoods, Teams are not mediocre. It is parity. There is so much more depth. 2nd and 3rd lines have a lot of more talent and can shut down top lines. Coaching is the problem when it comes to overplaying the first line. That is how East ended up a Mariucci last year. We are way past the days of Olimb, Zmolek, Bonin, and even Ness never leaving the ice. The difference in talent between 1st line and 3rd line has gotten a lot smaller because of the growth of hockey.

While I agree in general, I do disagree with that assessment of East last year. There was plenty of depth on that team, and while the first line had some longer shifts, East still rolled 3 lines, and the top line never looked gassed. (If you're saying the top line should have been broken up, I'd agree with that--and they were for much of the season, and were broken up again in the 3rd period of the South game.) There are other reasons that better explain that loss.

Good depth will usually prevail over a few top-end players--and at the high school level, we've probably known this since Roseau came down to St. Paul in the 70s with Broten-Broten-Erickson and still got beaten pretty handily by Edina. The small northern towns still put out plenty of talent, but unless they have a surge of depth--which does happen from time to time--they are going to struggle to match up with the skill on many of the Metro teams' lower lines. It's also possible for a less skilled but reasonably deep team to roll 3-4 decent lines, muck up the neutral zone, and just slow them down. (This is also why teams like Moorhead and Duluth East, which are not from small towns, have done very well in the northern sections over the past 20 years.)

Given the increase in depth--which has been gradual, and taken place over a very long period of time--and some of the tactical adjustments it allows for, it is a lot harder for a single player to take over a HS game between top-end teams the way some used to. I do think it can still happen, though.

[bemused]

Northwoods, Teams are not mediocre. It is parity. There is so much more depth. 2nd and 3rd lines have a lot of more talent and can shut down top lines. Coaching is the problem when it comes to overplaying the first line. That is how East ended up a Mariucci last year. We are way past the days of Olimb, Zmolek, Bonin, and even Ness never leaving the ice. The difference in talent between 1st line and 3rd line has gotten a lot smaller because of the growth of hockey.

While I agree in general, I do disagree with that assessment of East last year. There was plenty of depth on that team, and while the first line had some longer shifts, East still rolled 3 lines, and the top line never looked gassed. (If you're saying the top line should have been broken up, I'd agree with that--and they were for much of the season, and were broken up again in the 3rd period of the South game.) There are other reasons that better explain that loss.

Good depth will usually prevail over a few top-end players--and at the high school level, we've probably known this since Roseau came down to St. Paul in the 70s with Broten-Broten-Erickson and still got beaten pretty handily by Edina. The small northern towns still put out plenty of talent, but unless they have a surge of depth--which does happen from time to time--they are going to struggle to match up with the skill on many of the Metro teams' lower lines. It's also possible for a less skilled but reasonably deep team to roll 3-4 decent lines, muck up the neutral zone, and just slow them down. (This is also why teams like Moorhead and Duluth East, which are not from small towns, have done very well in the northern sections over the past 20 years.)

Given the increase in depth--which has been gradual, and taken place over a very long period of time--and some of the tactical adjustments it allows for, it is a lot harder for a single player to take over a HS game between top-end teams the way some used to. I do think it can still happen, though.

I watched it happen the other night when Jake Jackson decided his Tartan team was not going to lose. if he comes to play on Saturday heads up!

[FREDFLINTSTONE]

Northwoods, Teams are not mediocre. It is parity. There is so much more depth. 2nd and 3rd lines have a lot of more talent and can shut down top lines. Coaching is the problem when it comes to overplaying the first line. That is how East ended up a Mariucci last year. We are way past the days of Olimb, Zmolek, Bonin, and even Ness never leaving the ice. The difference in talent between 1st line and 3rd line has gotten a lot smaller because of the growth of hockey.

While I agree in general, I do disagree with that assessment of East last year. There was plenty of depth on that team, and while the first line had some longer shifts, East still rolled 3 lines, and the top line never looked gassed. (If you're saying the top line should have been broken up, I'd agree with that--and they were for much of the season, and were broken up again in the 3rd period of the South game.) There are other reasons that better explain that loss.

Good depth will usually prevail over a few top-end players--and at the high school level, we've probably known this since Roseau came down to St. Paul in the 70s with Broten-Broten-Erickson and still got beaten pretty handily by Edina. The small northern towns still put out plenty of talent, but unless they have a surge of depth--which does happen from time to time--they are going to struggle to match up with the skill on many of the Metro teams' lower lines. It's also possible for a less skilled but reasonably deep team to roll 3-4 decent lines, muck up the neutral zone, and just slow them down. (This is also why teams like Moorhead and Duluth East, which are not from small towns, have done very well in the northern sections over the past 20 years.)

Given the increase in depth--which has been gradual, and taken place over a very long period of time--and some of the tactical adjustments it allows for, it is a lot harder for a single player to take over a HS game between top-end teams the way some used to. I do think it can still happen, though.

I watched it happen the other night when Jake Jackson decided his Tartan team was not going to lose. if he comes to play on Saturday heads up!

So if he is that good, why wouldn't he show up?

[black sheep]

growing game = more players + more opprotunities = parity > see summer AAA. Couple that with....

more and more "non" traditional schools are putting together solid hockey programs. pick a random program like eastview and your not thinking hockey, but you can find them in every rankings youth to HS. That makes it tougher to win.

There are a lot MORE quality options now than ever before. BSM's, STA's, HFC's, Open Enrollment, etc...

if you took current edina hs team and made all the kids that have changed programs since PWA come back and play it would be quite interesting...same could be said for any of the major metros

outstate is always cyclical in nature / depth. only ever as good as their 3rd group. and they are starting to find some of there traditional push overs are starting to also be able to play...and there is the ever leaking metro teams into the North sections which takes away a win here or there.

things change.

[MNHockeyFan]

Given the increase in depth--which has been gradual, and taken place over a very long period of time--and some of the tactical adjustments it allows for, it is a lot harder for a single player to take over a HS game between top-end teams the way some used to. I do think it can still happen, though.

Last year's State Championship game comes to mind.