City Pages cover story: "Assault on the State of Hockey

VicKevlar · Post by **VicKevlar** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 11:37 am

Nothing new I guess for people hereabouts.

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2015 ... hockey.php

The Exiled One · Post by **The Exiled One** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:07 pm

VicKevlar wrote:Nothing new I guess for people hereabouts.

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2015 ... hockey.php

Thanks for this. It was really well written! It still comes of as anti-WHL (which is fine with me) but it includes many viewpoints, quotes, and realistic data. It's much better than Russo's articles.

Sats81 · Post by **Sats81** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:19 pm

"Twins Nick and Jack, now seniors, rank among the top 100 players in the state for their class."

I would hope they would rank among the top 100 in their class! More like top 5. If they were "just" top 100 we wouldn't even know who they are.

VicKevlar · Post by **VicKevlar** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:27 pm

Interested to see what comes out in next weeks issue:

"Next week in City Pages: How money, dreams, and hustlers have thrust Minnesota into a new era of hockey, where everyone's looking to go pro, and no player is too young."

GoBigorGoHome · Post by **GoBigorGoHome** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 1:24 pm

Sats81 wrote:"Twins Nick and Jack, now seniors, rank among the top 100 players in the state for their class."

I would hope they would rank among the top 100 in their class! More like top 5. If they were "just" top 100 we wouldn't even know who they are.

Sats,

At some point in time you should disclose your relationship with the family. I'm guessing Uncle, maybe....

Sats81 · Post by **Sats81** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 1:49 pm

GoBigorGoHome wrote:
Sats81 wrote:"Twins Nick and Jack, now seniors, rank among the top 100 players in the state for their class."

I would hope they would rank among the top 100 in their class! More like top 5. If they were "just" top 100 we wouldn't even know who they are.
Sats,

At some point in time you should disclose your relationship with the family. I'm guessing Uncle, maybe....

According to goldie, im their dad.

juniorhockey · Post by **juniorhockey** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 1:51 pm

I enjoyed the article too. Has one persons point of view from a couple different angles.

I find the talk on the WHL interesting. There are currently 10 players from Minnesota, by my count, that are Minnesota natives. The league has from ages '94-'98's in it. That's a an average of less then one player from Minnesota / birth year. That's very low. The amount of players that depart Minnesota and head to SSM is much greater then that. These players that leave for SSM are very skilled players that would be fun to watch in HS as well.

I guess my point is, if the WHL has less MN kids in then some of the other options (USHL, NAHL, SSM, etc.) Why all the negative talk about the WHL when other leagues/teams "take" more players?

elliott70 · Post by **elliott70** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:15 pm

Sats81 wrote:
GoBigorGoHome wrote:
Sats81 wrote:"Twins Nick and Jack, now seniors, rank among the top 100 players in the state for their class."

I would hope they would rank among the top 100 in their class! More like top 5. If they were "just" top 100 we wouldn't even know who they are.
Sats,

At some point in time you should disclose your relationship with the family. I'm guessing Uncle, maybe....
According to goldie, im their dad.

I am thinking, 'mother?"

SCBlueLiner · Post by **SCBlueLiner** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:56 pm

juniorhockey wrote:I enjoyed the article too. Has one persons point of view from a couple different angles.

I find the talk on the WHL interesting. There are currently 10 players from Minnesota, by my count, that are Minnesota natives. The league has from ages '94-'98's in it. That's a an average of less then one player from Minnesota / birth year. That's very low. The amount of players that depart Minnesota and head to SSM is much greater then that. These players that leave for SSM are very skilled players that would be fun to watch in HS as well.

I guess my point is, if the WHL has less MN kids in then some of the other options (USHL, NAHL, SSM, etc.) Why all the negative talk about the WHL when other leagues/teams "take" more players?

Because when you go to the WHL you give up your "amateur" status. Going to SSM, USHL, or NAHL a kid isn't giving up his amateur status and is still on track for the college route, which is a more traditional way of doing things in our American system. All the college coaches are telling their recruits they are going to need to spend some time in juniors so it is harder to fault the kid (at least for me) when they skip their senior year to go to juniors so they can get that under their belt and get their college career started quicker. It's more palatable. At least with a lot of these kids we will still get a chance to see them in a college uni at a barn nearby in a few years. I can understand that path because I am an American and the college way is the way things are done in this country. The Canadian junior system is just something foreign to me. When you go to the WHL you are truly "gone".

TTpuckster · Post by **TTpuckster** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:59 pm

elliott70 wrote:
Sats81 wrote:
GoBigorGoHome wrote: Sats,

At some point in time you should disclose your relationship with the family. I'm guessing Uncle, maybe....
According to goldie, im their dad.
I am thinking, 'mother?"

xy · Post by xy » Wed Jan 21, 2015 3:13 pm

To me one interesting part of the article was how Aaron Bader is an apparent success story for the WHL scholarship package - you see spirited debate, on this board and in other places, about how valuable it is, but at least in one case it appears to have served its exact purpose, as he's now working on a Ph.D. I would have liked to have read a little more about just how much it helped him and how much of his expenses it covered.

SCBlueLiner · Post by **SCBlueLiner** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 3:45 pm

xy wrote:To me one interesting part of the article was how Aaron Bader is an apparent success story for the WHL scholarship package - you see spirited debate, on this board and in other places, about how valuable it is, but at least in one case it appears to have served its exact purpose, as he's now working on a Ph.D. I would have liked to have read a little more about just how much it helped him and how much of his expenses it covered.

I was interested in reading more about that too. The number given was $15,000 per year played. Bader did give them credit for standing by their scholarship obligations, so that's good.

The Exiled One · Post by **The Exiled One** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 4:01 pm

SCBlueLiner wrote:
xy wrote:To me one interesting part of the article was how Aaron Bader is an apparent success story for the WHL scholarship package - you see spirited debate, on this board and in other places, about how valuable it is, but at least in one case it appears to have served its exact purpose, as he's now working on a Ph.D. I would have liked to have read a little more about just how much it helped him and how much of his expenses it covered.
I was interested in reading more about that too. The number given was $15,000 per year played. Bader did give them credit for standing by their scholarship obligations, so that's good.

All that's true and I don't want to take away from it, but let's keep in mind...

Aaron Bader wrote:"If I was to do it all over again, I would have stayed at Shattuck and gone to play hockey in college," he admits.

I wanted to make it clear that, even though the WHL education package did what it was supposed to, Bader would still have gone the other direction if given the opportunity.

SCBlueLiner · Post by **SCBlueLiner** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 4:11 pm

And if by the grace of God my boy ever develops into that good of a hockey player I already know he will be staying in school and going the HS, USHL/NAHL, college route. Just in csae any of those WHL scouts are looking for my phone number, they need not bother.

imlisteningtothefnsong · Wed Jan 21, 2015 4:25 pm

Sounds like this young man took his nose off the grind stone and put it somewhere else.

On Arron Bader

He netted 15 goals that first season, but finished a minus-18.

His second campaign showed marked improvement. He was named to the U.S. under-18 Select Team.

Yet soon all went south. Woman troubles stained his reputation. Bader won't discuss the matter, but he was traded twice the following year, eventually landing in Saskatoon.

If only 3% of the 36,000 high school players play D1 and only 40 USA born kids make it to the few morning skates with the NHL, where are the bulk of majority of the draft picks/NHLer's coming from? Perhaps it's the CHL

WestMetro · Post by **WestMetro** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 4:35 pm

Not much new in this article.

According to Exiled Ones early depart thread, the number of early departs last year actually dropped to the mid 20s from the previous year high of around 40.
(Lakeville North itself had 5(?) that could have early departed, but decided to stick around)

Although as Exiled One indicates in his footnotes, the truly comparable number to prior year figures is getting more and more difficult to precisely calculate.

Bluelightspecial · Post by **Bluelightspecial** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 4:41 pm

Sats81 wrote:"Twins Nick and Jack, now seniors, rank among the top 100 players in the state for their class."

I would hope they would rank among the top 100 in their class! More like top 5. If they were "just" top 100 we wouldn't even know who they are.

I'll give you top 10. Top 5, no way! Unless you are mom or dad, then they are number 1&2.

Traxler · Post by **Traxler** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 5:25 pm

Bluelightspecial wrote:
Sats81 wrote:"Twins Nick and Jack, now seniors, rank among the top 100 players in the state for their class."

I would hope they would rank among the top 100 in their class! More like top 5. If they were "just" top 100 we wouldn't even know who they are.
I'll give you top 10. Top 5, no way! Unless you are mom or dad, then they are number 1&2.

Well, Stats has been accused of being both their mom and dad...

WendyClark · Post by **WendyClark** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 9:45 pm

Sats is Sats son, am i correct Sats?

Matt Niskanen might be the best athlete in Minnesota high school sports since Noel Jenke

green4 · Post by **green4** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 10:38 pm

WendyClark wrote:
Matt Niskanen might be the best athlete in Minnesota high school sports since Noel Jenke

Anders Lee was Mr. Hockey finalist,Mr. Football finalist and footballs's metro player of the year. He also played varsity baseball.
Many varsity hockey players have been three sport athletes, though. Tough to decide who is the best athlete.

alcloseshaver · Post by **alcloseshaver** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 10:45 pm

Paul Martin

Slap Shot · Post by **Slap Shot** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:43 am

Neil Sheehy says that end is a bogus bill of goods.

He played nine NHL seasons, following that with two decades as an agent. His 14 NHL clients include Niskanen and the Wild's Ryan Suter.

When he's not counseling players, he punches the clock defending "the Minnesota hockey development model."

As proof it still works, Sheehy points to the 35 Minnesotans currently in the NHL. All but one stayed in high school, joined the U.S. National Development Program, or played in the USHL — which doesn't pay players, meaning they retain amateur status.

Only one, Winnipeg's Dustin Byfuglien, became a teen pro in the WHL. He didn't have much choice after being declared academically ineligible in Roseau.

Defensive Zone · Post by **Defensive Zone** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 6:34 am

Sats81 wrote:"Twins Nick and Jack, now seniors, rank among the top 100 players in the state for their class."

I would hope they would rank among the top 100 in their class! More like top 5. If they were "just" top 100 we wouldn't even know who they are.

Nick and Jack who?

blueblood · Post by **blueblood** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 6:43 am

I'd put Tommy Nevers up for best MN athlete.

GoBigorGoHome · Post by **GoBigorGoHome** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 8:03 am

WendyClark wrote:Sats is Sats son, am i correct Sats?

Matt Niskanen might be the best athlete in Minnesota high school sports since Noel Jenke

With all due respect to Matty Niskanen's hockey playing ability, because there is no question he is a world-class professional hockey player, isn't being the best athlete in Virginia-Mountain Iron-Buhl kind of like being the tallest munchkin in Oz?

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City Pages cover story: "Assault on the State of Hockey

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