I find myself Rooting Against Hermantown - I think

[tezer13]

I live in Duluth, played at East and always have rooted for the North in the State Tourney.

I don't know maybe it's because St.Thomas, Benilde and so on have moved to the big dance and there is no more Evil Empire, but Hermantown also does not belong in Class A.

SO - here I sit at odds with myself rooting for the North or not wanting to see a clearly superior program dominate and pad their stats.

Here are some thoughts about Hermantown right now.
1) Youth Teams all play AA and often make it to state.
2) Marshall moved up - if they can, so can H-Town
3) Want more Northern Teams in Section 7. Section 7 should be ALL NORTH!
4) Soft as Hell!! Schedule. 25-2-1 playing maybe a handful of tough opponents.

They have numbers, coaching and skill there.

[Nevertoomuchhockey]

I find myself feeling sorry for SLP. I don't really even want to watch the rest of the game.
But I will. Bring on the $10 beer.

[rainier]

I live in Duluth, played at East and always have rooted for the North in the State Tourney.

I don't know maybe it's because St.Thomas, Benilde and so on have moved to the big dance and there is no more Evil Empire, but Hermantown also does not belong in Class A.

SO - here I sit at odds with myself rooting for the North or not wanting to see a clearly superior program dominate and pad their stats.

Here are some thoughts about Hermantown right now.
1) Youth Teams all pay AA and often make it to state.
2) Marshall moved up - if they can, so can H-Town
3) Want more Northern Teams in Section 7. Section 7 should be ALL NORTH!
4) Soft as Hell!! Schedule. 25-2-1 playing maybe a handful of tough opponents.

They have numbers, coaching and skill there.

Agreed. I have always rooted for northern teams, Hermantown in particular, but I am finding hard to root for them this year, mainly because they are more than good enough to compete at the top of AA, but they stay in A.

If they were in AA, I'd be going crazy cheering for them. They have won an A title, been to like 6 or 7 title games and continue to crank out great players. What is there left to prove at the lower level?

The popularity of the tourney was built on the David vs. Goliath, northern vs. southern, big city vs. small town upsets and great games, and the Hawks could add to this legacy, but they'd rather take the sure thing and be top 2 in A every year. They are the Edina of Class A; a fantastic team, but nobody roots for them. The difference is, Edina can't opt up to AAA.

[MNHockeyFan]

They have numbers, coaching and skill there.

No argument with you there, but how many championships have they won? How many titles do you believe a team has to win before it makes sense to say they should opt up?

[topshelf10]

All I want is to see Bruce Plante lose to Breck or Mahtomedi in order to hear what he says.

[MNpuckBlog]

In the past, I have always rooted for Hermantown in Class A. With the possible exception of last season, where it was Hermantown vs. EGF in the final, I was indifferent. But it has reached the point where they could potentially be playing in six straight title games. Regardless of title WINS, that is enough, IMO, for them to move up. If you're in the title game every season in Class A, it seems as if you could play in the AA tournament. Probably not every year, but it would have to feel more rewarding moving up with the big boys and having success. Watching this game vs. SLP is rough. Yes, the Panthers are an average team in Class A, had a weak section, but its tough watching teams get steamrolled. 3A got pounded for years in the first round by Breck/St. Thomas, and I was happy to see New Ulm play a fairly close game earlier today. But this game is getting away from the Panthers in a hurry, and it's a shame to see their first tournament appearance to be such. Hopefully they can get at least one goal at the x, a moral victory if nothing else.

[northwoods oldtimer]

Hermantown has a cup cake walk to the final and will get beat by Mahtomedi or East Grand Forks. I will not cheer for them, not a chance!

[kniven]

They have numbers, coaching and skill there.

No argument with you there, but how many championships have they won? How many titles do you believe a team has to win before it makes sense to say they should opt up?

I actually fell asleep in my chair watching this manhandle game. I guess Hermantown is the Goliath and SLP is David. I am rooting for the Hawks. I am done bashing Hermantown for staying in A. I know Bruce and many of the boys on that team. Nothing but respect for my CEC hockey's neighboring hockey program.

[Tigers33]

I love watching a kid get the hat trick with 1:30 left in a 6-0 game. To me that's classless by plante. Go to AA you chicken s*%#!!!

Slp puts in backup goalie with 330 left in game. If I am the hermantown coach I double shift 3rd and 4th line for rest of game.

Plante real classy!!

[skiumah]

Did Hermantown's #1 line just score 2 goals in the final 90 seconds of running time?

[Hockeywatcher123]

Did Hermantown's #1 line just score 2 goals in the final 90 seconds of running time?

I was scratching my head thinkg thing the same thing. STAA didn't even do that

[east hockey]

Hermantown has a cup cake walk to the final and will get beat by Mahtomedi or East Grand Forks. I will not cheer for them, not a chance!

+1

Lee

[coach95]

the coach is a total tool. what a jerk. No one puts their top line out with under 2 minutes to play..

[kniven]

the coach is a total tool. what a jerk. No one puts their top line out with under 2 minutes to play..

Yea the Hawks aren't politically correct. They just want dominate you. I guess they aren't concerned about any body's feelings. The single A version of the Edina Hornets. They will probably go down in history as the best A program in Minnesota high school hockey. Give it another 20- 30 years and I'm sure that will be the case.

[thestickler07]

Yea the Hawks aren't politically correct. They just want dominate you. I guess they aren't concerned about any body's feelings. The single A version of the Edina Hornets. They will probably go down in history as the best A program in Minnesota high school hockey. Give it another 20- 30 years and I'm sure that will be the case.

10/10

[Bluewhitefan]

the coach is a total tool. what a jerk. No one puts their top line out with under 2 minutes to play..

Yea the Hawks aren't politically correct. They just want dominate you. I guess they aren't concerned about any body's feelings. The single A version of the Edina Hornets. They will probably go down in history as the best A program in Minnesota high school hockey. Give it another 20- 30 years and I'm sure that will be the case.

Not politically correct? How about he's a classless jerk. It's about letting all your players play in the state tournament. This is the guy who whined about STA for years. Congrats to the greatest JV program ever.

[whos_it]

I was a big fan of the tiny school in northern Minnesota. Never really looked at the map. Was up north on a trip and went to watch them play. Accidently turned left coming out of the game and ran into a welcome to Duluth sign shortly. This is not a tiny town up north .... it is suburb of Duluth and kids relocate all the time.

[Zamman]

play like this is why people are losing respect for the coach and program. It is not the players it is the coach. You are a good team we all see this, but it might be better to move to AA. But I suppose you will whine about STA again.

[JohnnyBuck]

I had a parent tell me that Hermantown needs to stay in class A because their current Pee Wee team does not have the talent to make it to state. Join the club. It is called work, not entitlement. No one gets a guaranteed trip to the big show every year. That mentality should tell you something and bring more insight to leaving your top line in a game that is running time against the back up goalie. Tough to cheer for the big northern underdog.

[hadenuf]

Agreed, total lack of class by Plànte. Leave him in A so nobody sees his team.

[Sotaboy]

the coach is a total tool. what a jerk. No one puts their top line out with under 2 minutes to play..

Yea the Hawks aren't politically correct. They just want dominate you. I guess they aren't concerned about any body's feelings. The single A version of the Edina Hornets. They will probably go down in history as the best A program in Minnesota high school hockey. Give it another 20- 30 years and I'm sure that will be the case.

Not politically correct? How about he's a classless jerk. It's about letting all your players play in the state tournament. This is the guy who whined about STA for years. Congrats to the greatest JV program ever.

Bruce is the reason why I want Mahtomedi to win so badly....never had class when playingSTA

[SFA1992]

Bruce, your team is becoming eerily similar to the entity you so despise... Unbelievable. Was he the coach in '07?

[tezer13]

Did Hermantown's #1 line just score 2 goals in the final 90 seconds of running time?

I was scratching my head thinkg thing the same thing. STAA didn't even do that

WOW - that was amazingly bad form. What do you think the other coach thought. He just put in his Soph. goalie to give him a chance to play and here comes the top unit to polish off their hat tricks.

I don't even have to say what I think of that, because everyone is already thinking it.

Christ, I only added the "stat padding" comment to stir the flames a bit - hahaha

[Hermhawkey]

Tezer,

As a former teammate of yours and now Hermantown resident I feel that
I might add some perspective. Stating the obvious...our HS enrollment is 630. Half the size of Mahtomedi. We typically have barely enough kids tryout to fill both HS and JV. Our Bantam and PeeWee AA's did not crack the top 20 in rankings this year. All that said, we do have a high participation rate in hockey within our low numbers and lots of parents with high level hockey experience. Like many with hockey background I chose to live in a place where there kids will have great schools, great coaching, and lots of outdoor ice. But, at present time I firmly believe single A is were we belong to grow our program.

[rainier]

I had a parent tell me that Hermantown needs to stay in class A because their current Pee Wee team does not have the talent to make it to state. Join the club. It is called work, not entitlement. No one gets a guaranteed trip to the big show every year. That mentality should tell you something and bring more insight to leaving your top line in a game that is running time against the back up goalie. Tough to cheer for the big northern underdog.

Hermantown Pee Wees didn't have the talent to make it to state...in AA. They beat Virginia and Greenway, the two teams most likely to be Hermantown's biggest challengers in 7A when these kids get to high school, 7-0 and 5-2, respectively. They would have rolled to state if their top team was Pee Wee A. They play almost zero single A teams all throughout Pee Wees and Bantams, yet that's who they measure themselves against once they get to high school. Just doesn't make sense...