Hermantown won't complain about private schools now!!

JohnnyBuck · Post by **JohnnyBuck** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 1:33 pm

duluth dave wrote:I don't think Hermantown High School has any say in what happens with mite programs.

I am not saying they do. My point is that families are gravitating to Hermantown at young ages and many solely for hockey. This is why the Hermantown small enrollment argument does not hold water for me. Families are moving in early (as they do at East) with hopes their kid will play on the next state tournament team. I do not blame Hermantown for this as this happens throughout the state and is what is destroying hockey as we know it. Now you have maybe 30 elite teams throughout the state that battle for 12 spots in state each year (4 classes in A do not count as these are true A sections IMO). If there is a true A team that gets to state the old fashion way (with your buddies) they have no chance of competing with a hopped up multi community Hermantown team.

duluth dave · Post by **duluth dave** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 3:38 pm

Well I think and hope they do opt up. Its sad to look at whats happening to the small schools because of financial reasons. Cotton school is gone some kids don't have much choice other then go 30 miles to school.

tezer13 · Post by **tezer13** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 8:26 pm

Hey Hermantown, if you don't like it in AA, you can always go back. If I am not mistaken, once you opt up you only are committed to 2 or 3 years.

And please stop with Hermantown is the best team in the state because they beat Wayzata (at home) in the first couple weeks of the season - Nov 27th to be exact.

You can't even BEGIN to make that argument. And here is why

1. They would be in section 7AA.

2 and 3. That means they would have to get by 2 of these 3 teams: East, Grand Rapids and Elk River - just to get to State. People tend to forget how effing good ER and GR have been the last several years because East had their number - would Hermantown. Getting to the section finals would have been more difficult than getting to the class A final. Does anyone think any of these 3 teams couldn't beat Hermantown in any season?

4. Not to mention a possible first round matchup with Cloquet or Marshall - two teams that would have loved to knock them off and if not probable, certainly capable.

5. Seeding for the Tourney may not have been the same, but as it was, they would have played Bemidji in the first round and based on the logic people state for them being the best, they would be playing a team that beat them earlier in the year and would have been in the Consolation bracket anyway.

6. I'm assuming many here watched both Championship games. I don't know what anyone else felt, but they were completely different games played at completely different levels.

OK this is getting way too long

- 2 more points and I'll shut up

7. That means at least 5-6 games to win, and all at least as chanllenging and likely far more challenging than the one Title game they played.

8. The main reason they have ZERO claim is that they play in the wrong class.

JohnnyBuck · Post by **JohnnyBuck** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 1:42 am

Quote from Plante today in the Duluth News-Tribune about coming back next year, “I haven’t decided yet,” the 67-year-old said Tuesday. “We’ll see if these guys are coming back; a couple of them will have an opportunity to go to juniors. We’ll see what they want to do. If we get most of the team back, I would consider going one more year thinking that would be it.”

Why is his decision based solely on a couple of his studs coming back? So he can sleepwalk to another title? If he lost two of his top kids he would still be a heavy favorite in A. Another example of Hermantown sandbagging. This group of Seniors to be were AA runner ups as pee wees. There is not question they can compete at the A level, minus a couple of kids.

This is what bothers me with Plante. He will only coach if he is guaranteed a championship?

Doc Holliday · Post by **Doc Holliday** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 2:30 am

Couldn't agree with you more; this is something Phil Jackson does, not Bruce Plante.

Whether players return for another year bears any factor in whether or not to return to a HIGH SCHOOL coaching position is laughable. Actually, it's not laughable, it's pretty sad...

pekyman · Post by **pekyman** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 3:08 am

tezer13 wrote:Hey Hermantown, if you don't like it in AA, you can always go back. If I am not mistaken, once you opt up you only are committed to 2 or 3 years.

And please stop with Hermantown is the best team in the state because they beat Wayzata (at home) in the first couple weeks of the season - Nov 27th to be exact.

You can't even BEGIN to make that argument. And here is why
1. They would be in section 7AA.

2 and 3. That means they would have to get by 2 of these 3 teams: East, Grand Rapids and Elk River - just to get to State. People tend to forget how effing good ER and GR have been the last several years because East had their number - would Hermantown. Getting to the section finals would have been more difficult than getting to the class A final. Does anyone think any of these 3 teams couldn't beat Hermantown in any season?

4. Not to mention a possible first round matchup with Cloquet or Marshall - two teams that would have loved to knock them off and if not probable, certainly capable.

5. Seeding for the Tourney may not have been the same, but as it was, they would have played Bemidji in the first round and based on the logic people state for them being the best, they would be playing a team that beat them earlier in the year and would have been in the Consolation bracket anyway.

6. I'm assuming many here watched both Championship games. I don't know what anyone else felt, but they were completely different games played at completely different levels.

OK this is getting way too long - 2 more points and I'll shut up

7. That means at least 5-6 games to win, and all at least as chanllenging and likely far more challenging than the one Title game they played.

8. The main reason they have ZERO claim is that they play in the wrong class.

The only one on here that said that is that Herm2000 character who seems to just like to stir the pot.
Nothing but respect for Wayzata and appreciate that they play Herm in Herms first game of the season.
I hope it continues. Wayzata is the champs no debate here. Congrats!

Jeffy95 · Post by **Jeffy95** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 3:52 am

JohnnyBuck wrote:Hermantown has gutted the Twig program. Many of the Twig parents (Pike Lake & Saginaw area) wrestle with the difficult decision of moving schools by the fourth grade in fear that their kid will get left behind in hockey. Yes, this is not recruiting, but sad that as a society we have become so obsessed with chasing a championship that we are willing to roll the dice when our kids are ten. How many of these kids wash out and do not even play high school hockey? This is another reason Hermantown should play AA. It is a fact that they are drawing outside of their geographical boundary.

The answer is a lot of them. Many parents from the Twig program have sent their kids to Hermantown to play in the last 10 years. Only a handful ever made the Varsity team. It's just way too early to know how good a kid is going to be at a particular sport. So instead of playing High School hockey with their buddies in Proctor they're left resenting Mom and Dad for trying to live out their dreams through them. You're right, it is sad.

thestickler07 · Post by **thestickler07** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 4:19 am

Looking back on things, definitely proud I was among the first to call out Plante for being a knob.

The lovefest for the guy back in the STA(a) days was shameful, he was never an arbiter of "purist" community hockey - he was just salty that he was losing.

pekyman · Post by **pekyman** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 4:25 am

Jeffy95 wrote:
JohnnyBuck wrote:Hermantown has gutted the Twig program. Many of the Twig parents (Pike Lake & Saginaw area) wrestle with the difficult decision of moving schools by the fourth grade in fear that their kid will get left behind in hockey. Yes, this is not recruiting, but sad that as a society we have become so obsessed with chasing a championship that we are willing to roll the dice when our kids are ten. How many of these kids wash out and do not even play high school hockey? This is another reason Hermantown should play AA. It is a fact that they are drawing outside of their geographical boundary.
The answer is a lot of them. Many parents from the Twig program have sent their kids to Hermantown to play in the last 10 years. Only a handful ever made the Varsity team. It's just way too early to know how good a kid is going to be at a particular sport. So instead of playing High School hockey with their buddies in Proctor they're left resenting Mom and Dad for trying to live out their dreams through them. You're right, it is sad.

Teams like Wayzata, EP LN etc. that have 10 Bantam teams. East has 5-6 BN teams and clearly has recruited. How many kids do you think don't make the HS team?
Hermantown actually given many more kids to a awesome hockey experience that it has prevented.
You guys can go crawl in your hole and vote for Bernie. He will make everything even for you and everybody will be mediocre at best and get a trophy.

skiumah · Post by **skiumah** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 4:41 am

pekyman wrote:
Jeffy95 wrote:
JohnnyBuck wrote:Hermantown has gutted the Twig program. Many of the Twig parents (Pike Lake & Saginaw area) wrestle with the difficult decision of moving schools by the fourth grade in fear that their kid will get left behind in hockey. Yes, this is not recruiting, but sad that as a society we have become so obsessed with chasing a championship that we are willing to roll the dice when our kids are ten. How many of these kids wash out and do not even play high school hockey? This is another reason Hermantown should play AA. It is a fact that they are drawing outside of their geographical boundary.
The answer is a lot of them. Many parents from the Twig program have sent their kids to Hermantown to play in the last 10 years. Only a handful ever made the Varsity team. It's just way too early to know how good a kid is going to be at a particular sport. So instead of playing High School hockey with their buddies in Proctor they're left resenting Mom and Dad for trying to live out their dreams through them. You're right, it is sad.
Teams like Wayzata, EP LN etc. that have 10 Bantam teams. East has 5-6 BN teams and clearly has recruited. How many kids do you think don't make the HS team?
Hermantown actually given many more kids to a awesome hockey experience that it has prevented.
You guys can go crawl in your hole and vote for Bernie. He will make everything even for you and everybody will be mediocre at best and get a trophy.

Sounds like the Hermantown model...play mediocre teams and get a trophy.

JohnnyBuck · Post by **JohnnyBuck** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 4:48 am

pekyman wrote:
Jeffy95 wrote:
JohnnyBuck wrote:Hermantown has gutted the Twig program. Many of the Twig parents (Pike Lake & Saginaw area) wrestle with the difficult decision of moving schools by the fourth grade in fear that their kid will get left behind in hockey. Yes, this is not recruiting, but sad that as a society we have become so obsessed with chasing a championship that we are willing to roll the dice when our kids are ten. How many of these kids wash out and do not even play high school hockey? This is another reason Hermantown should play AA. It is a fact that they are drawing outside of their geographical boundary.
The answer is a lot of them. Many parents from the Twig program have sent their kids to Hermantown to play in the last 10 years. Only a handful ever made the Varsity team. It's just way too early to know how good a kid is going to be at a particular sport. So instead of playing High School hockey with their buddies in Proctor they're left resenting Mom and Dad for trying to live out their dreams through them. You're right, it is sad.
Teams like Wayzata, EP LN etc. that have 10 Bantam teams. East has 5-6 BN teams and clearly has recruited. How many kids do you think don't make the HS team?
Hermantown actually given many more kids to a awesome hockey experience that it has prevented.
You guys can go crawl in your hole and vote for Bernie. He will make everything even for you and everybody will be mediocre at best and get a trophy.

Hey Pecky, no need to get hostile. I was just bringing up a point that many kids do not get the high school experience because too many parents are climbing over in an attempt get to the top. You confirmed this with your examples with Wayzata and EP. Way more kids playing youth hockey than there is room for at the high school level. This is my point that with parents moving their kids by the age of ten they are putting too much stock in the fact that this will guarantee them a spot on the high school team. I have said this for years, Denfeld, Proctor and a few others could make a nice class A team with the kids that are cut from East and Hermantown (hell Denfeld did this last year).

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 5:03 am

pekyman wrote:
Jeffy95 wrote:
JohnnyBuck wrote:Hermantown has gutted the Twig program. Many of the Twig parents (Pike Lake & Saginaw area) wrestle with the difficult decision of moving schools by the fourth grade in fear that their kid will get left behind in hockey. Yes, this is not recruiting, but sad that as a society we have become so obsessed with chasing a championship that we are willing to roll the dice when our kids are ten. How many of these kids wash out and do not even play high school hockey? This is another reason Hermantown should play AA. It is a fact that they are drawing outside of their geographical boundary.
The answer is a lot of them. Many parents from the Twig program have sent their kids to Hermantown to play in the last 10 years. Only a handful ever made the Varsity team. It's just way too early to know how good a kid is going to be at a particular sport. So instead of playing High School hockey with their buddies in Proctor they're left resenting Mom and Dad for trying to live out their dreams through them. You're right, it is sad.
Teams like Wayzata, EP LN etc. that have 10 Bantam teams. East has 5-6 BN teams and clearly has recruited. How many kids do you think don't make the HS team?
Hermantown actually given many more kids to a awesome hockey experience that it has prevented.
You guys can go crawl in your hole and vote for Bernie. He will make everything even for you and everybody will be mediocre at best and get a trophy.

East has 4 BN and 4 PW teams, Hermantown has 3 at each level. I'm sure that extra B team gives East a HUGE advantage over the Hawks.

And god forbid Hermantown might have to play against teams with larger associations. How many A teams have 11 mite teams and 5 squirt teams?

Instead of complaining about East, you should concentrate on improving your own program.

JohnnyBuck · Post by **JohnnyBuck** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 5:15 am

More Plante Quotes from the New Tribune article, “Some of those other teams did the same thing,” Plante said. “Like when we played St. Thomas some of those years, we played our best game of the year. Some of those games, St. Thomas was way better than us. We took them into overtime and we played some great hockey, but I don’t want it to be misleading that those guys didn’t do well. Two of those years for sure, St. Thomas had four first lines.”

He credits his team for their outstanding play against St. Thomas and even taking them to OT. They had four lines? If they had four great lines and you took them to OT, what does this say about your team? Most A teams have a tough time putting together one top line. How many lines deep was Hermantown this year? Was their third and fourth lines better then some A schools top line?

Pecky I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Jeffy95 · Post by **Jeffy95** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 5:17 am

rainier wrote:
pekyman wrote:
Jeffy95 wrote: The answer is a lot of them. Many parents from the Twig program have sent their kids to Hermantown to play in the last 10 years. Only a handful ever made the Varsity team. It's just way too early to know how good a kid is going to be at a particular sport. So instead of playing High School hockey with their buddies in Proctor they're left resenting Mom and Dad for trying to live out their dreams through them. You're right, it is sad.
Teams like Wayzata, EP LN etc. that have 10 Bantam teams. East has 5-6 BN teams and clearly has recruited. How many kids do you think don't make the HS team?
Hermantown actually given many more kids to a awesome hockey experience that it has prevented.
You guys can go crawl in your hole and vote for Bernie. He will make everything even for you and everybody will be mediocre at best and get a trophy.

East has 4 BN and 4 PW teams, Hermantown has 3 at each level. I'm sure that extra B team gives East a HUGE advantage over the Hawks.

And god forbid Hermantown might have to play against teams with larger associations. How many A teams have 11 mite teams and 5 squirt teams?

Instead of complaining about East, you should concentrate on improving your own program.

East only has three Bantam teams. The AA team is a city-wide team that has kids from Denfeld and Marshall also. So pretty much the same as Hermantown.

JohnnyBuck · Post by **JohnnyBuck** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 5:18 am

More from Plante's article.

Plante all along has maintained the Hawks don’t have the numbers to consistently compete in the larger classification. They have good players; they don’t have enough of them.

Really? Seven straight years in the State Championship game all along playing a AA schedule until the playoffs. They have competed quite well for seven straight years and will again next year. The last time I checked they were getting more kids, not losing them. Argument doesn't fly with me.

Doc Holliday · Post by **Doc Holliday** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 5:41 am

The problem in his logic is he's comparing Hermantown to the top AA teams. Over 90% of the AA teams have difficulty competing against these teams.

We don't have enough depth compete in AA. How many AA teams had 4 lines of quality depth that he's talking about? I count 1 (Wayzata).

In past years, it usually isn't more than a handful.

I really used to think it was about the community hockey experience for him; that's clearly not the case anymore...the quotes in this article show this.

pekyman · Post by **pekyman** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 6:03 am

rainier wrote:
pekyman wrote:
Jeffy95 wrote: The answer is a lot of them. Many parents from the Twig program have sent their kids to Hermantown to play in the last 10 years. Only a handful ever made the Varsity team. It's just way too early to know how good a kid is going to be at a particular sport. So instead of playing High School hockey with their buddies in Proctor they're left resenting Mom and Dad for trying to live out their dreams through them. You're right, it is sad.
Teams like Wayzata, EP LN etc. that have 10 Bantam teams. East has 5-6 BN teams and clearly has recruited. How many kids do you think don't make the HS team?
Hermantown actually given many more kids to a awesome hockey experience that it has prevented.
You guys can go crawl in your hole and vote for Bernie. He will make everything even for you and everybody will be mediocre at best and get a trophy.

East has 4 BN and 4 PW teams, Hermantown has 3 at each level. I'm sure that extra B team gives East a HUGE advantage over the Hawks.

And god forbid Hermantown might have to play against teams with larger associations. How many A teams have 11 mite teams and 5 squirt teams?

Instead of complaining about East, you should concentrate on improving your own program.

Not complaining about East.

There you go again with the mites.
I thought I explained that to you.
Your "Mites" are not 2 years of kids like BN and PW, its 4 years.
There are 8-10 boys per team.
It also includes at least 10 girls so lets say 10 teams of 10 boys.
I'll do this on the high side.

Lets do some math gloomy.

10 teams x 10 boys = 100 skaters spanning grades 1-4.
100 / 4 = 25 per grade.
Grades 1 & 2 = Mini mites = 50
Grades 3 & 4 = Mites = 50

Hermantown has never had 50 boys to make up BN and PW teams.
On average, a really good year at Bantam would be 45 kids.

Bantams: 45 Boys / 3 BN teams = 3 teams of 15 skaters.

Hermantown fluctuates between 2-3 BN teams a year depending on the size of classes coming through.

Next year, Hermantown is only going to have enough boys for 3 PW teams and you'll see 2 bantams after that.

Understand that glooomy??

As far as squirts, that's a small bubble coming through.

Average squirt team size over past 10 years has been 4 or 3.

Hermantown has 15% of it's boys in HS playing Hockey...

Hermantown leads the state in the % of it's HS boys that play hockey.

Edina is right up there also.
15% of Edina boys gives them 10 BN team and Hermantown 3BN teams.

With 300 boys, 15% what it takes to have these numbers.

If you are a public school of 300 boys and want to compete with Hermantown, start by getting 15% of your boys in the Hockey program.
That's a start. Then build a Hockey program that is going 12 months of the year.

When Hibbing has a summer program and 15 % of Hibbing/Chisholm and who ever-else goes there boys are playing Hockey then well talk.

Hermantown needs another sheet of inside ice as it only has 1.

If you are interested in donating, contact HAHA.

HAHA

rainier · Post by **rainier** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 6:41 am

pekyman wrote:
rainier wrote:
pekyman wrote: Teams like Wayzata, EP LN etc. that have 10 Bantam teams. East has 5-6 BN teams and clearly has recruited. How many kids do you think don't make the HS team?
Hermantown actually given many more kids to a awesome hockey experience that it has prevented.
You guys can go crawl in your hole and vote for Bernie. He will make everything even for you and everybody will be mediocre at best and get a trophy.

East has 4 BN and 4 PW teams, Hermantown has 3 at each level. I'm sure that extra B team gives East a HUGE advantage over the Hawks.

And god forbid Hermantown might have to play against teams with larger associations. How many A teams have 11 mite teams and 5 squirt teams?

Instead of complaining about East, you should concentrate on improving your own program.
Not complaining about East.

There you go again with the mites.
I thought I explained that to you.
Your "Mites" are not 2 years of kids like BN and PW, its 4 years.
There are 8-10 boys per team.
It also includes at least 10 girls so lets say 10 teams of 10 boys.
I'll do this on the high side.

Lets do some math gloomy.

10 teams x 10 boys = 100 skaters spanning grades 1-4.
100 / 4 = 25 per grade.
Grades 1 & 2 = Mini mites = 50
Grades 3 & 4 = Mites = 50

Hermantown has never had 50 boys to make up BN and PW teams.
On average, a really good year at Bantam would be 45 kids.

Bantams: 45 Boys / 3 BN teams = 3 teams of 15 skaters.

Hermantown fluctuates between 2-3 BN teams a year depending on the size of classes coming through.

Next year, Hermantown is only going to have enough boys for 3 PW teams and you'll see 2 bantams after that.

Understand that glooomy??

As far as squirts, that's a small bubble coming through.

Average squirt team size over past 10 years has been 4 or 3.

Hermantown has 15% of it's boys in HS playing Hockey...

Hermantown leads the state in the % of it's HS boys that play hockey.

Edina is right up there also.
15% of Edina boys gives them 10 BN team and Hermantown 3BN teams.

With 300 boys, 15% what it takes to have these numbers.

If you are a public school of 300 boys and want to compete with Hermantown, start by getting 15% of your boys in the Hockey program.
That's a start. Then build a Hockey program that is going 12 months of the year.

When Hibbing has a summer program and 15 % of Hibbing/Chisholm and who ever-else goes there boys are playing Hockey then well talk.

Hermantown needs another sheet of inside ice as it only has 1.

If you are interested in donating, contact HAHA.

HAHA

How do you think Hermantown gets 15% of their boys into hockey? Why do you think they are similar to Edina in that respect? I'll tell you: They are both affluent suburbs in metro areas.

Why do you think there is so much wealth in Hermantown? Is it because there are so many hospitals, factories, mines, and other huge business operations in the city of Hermantown? Not at all, Hermantown is a bedroom community. Many affluent people in the Duluth metro area moved/are moving to Hermantown. That is how they get 15% of their boys to play hockey.

Why don't you see this? How can you possibly believe that being a wealthy suburb in Duluth has nothing to do with your team being a dominant A program?

And I'm getting tired of you saying that the Hibbing program is terrible. Hibbing was a top five A team this season, for sure. They have a player that played with the national team for a few games this year and just had another player invited to the national team camp. They also have a sophomore that led the Elite Prep league in scoring and have a couple of other high quality players. They are developing talent in the program.

In fact, considering the only teams ranked ahead of Hibbing were Hermantown, Breck, Apollo, and Delano, I'd say Hibbing was the best true small town program in the state this season. Maybe Versich should have went Plante on it and proclaimed Hibbing "public school champs not from a metro area."

There are two Hibbing kids in D1 now, a couple that finished D1 recently, and there were two possibly three D1 players on the team this year. Does that sound like a "lame" program? I'd say they're doing pretty good for a school with 37% reduced lunch rate, which is 3.5 times as much as in Hermantown.

Greenway, Virginia, and even Eveleth have some solid A teams coming up, but you like to say their programs are "lame" too just because they can't beat Wayzata and GR.

Maybe ten years ago Hermantown was "small town hockey". When they went undefeated in 2007, they played two AA teams, Hopkins and Cloquet. This year they played 14 AA teams. The longest stretch of A opponents Hermantown played during the regular season this year was 3. The Class A playoffs may have been the easiest 6 game stretch of the season for them.

Hermantown is not "small town hockey" and the more you say it, the more people roll their eyes at you.

SFA1992 · Post by **SFA1992** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 6:54 am

thestickler07 wrote:Looking back on things, definitely proud I was among the first to call out Plante for being a knob.

The lovefest for the guy back in the STA(a) days was shameful, he was never an arbiter of "purist" community hockey - he was just salty that he was losing.

Exactly. I wonder if he sees the similarities today, deep down. I'd be shocked if he didn't. Can't wait for the first Hermantown - STA battle in AA. Too bad he wont be on the bench for it.

kniven · Post by **kniven** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 7:08 am

SFA1992 wrote:
thestickler07 wrote:Looking back on things, definitely proud I was among the first to call out Plante for being a knob.

The lovefest for the guy back in the STA(a) days was shameful, he was never an arbiter of "purist" community hockey - he was just salty that he was losing.
Exactly. I wonder if he sees the similarities today, deep down. I'd be shocked if he didn't. Can't wait for the first Hermantown - STA battle in AA. Too bad he wont be on the bench for it.

I ran into Coach Bruce Plante last night at the Duluth-Iron Range all-star game. Shook his hand, and I congratulated him on Hermantown 's state hockey championship-and I meant it. Again, I truly think the Hawks have a great hockey program going over there. Again, the hockey program is not breaking any laws. Again, if they truly want to compete in A hockey, I am fine with that. Again, I think it would be great if CEC could compete with Hermantown in section 7AA along with East, DM, GR, and ER for the right to go to state. Again, it will be better we 7AA hockey teams if Hermantown stays in single A. Hermantown hockey is really, really good. But man....it would be fun

pekyman · Post by **pekyman** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 8:01 am

kniven wrote:
SFA1992 wrote:
thestickler07 wrote:Looking back on things, definitely proud I was among the first to call out Plante for being a knob.

The lovefest for the guy back in the STA(a) days was shameful, he was never an arbiter of "purist" community hockey - he was just salty that he was losing.
Exactly. I wonder if he sees the similarities today, deep down. I'd be shocked if he didn't. Can't wait for the first Hermantown - STA battle in AA. Too bad he wont be on the bench for it.
I ran into Coach Bruce Plante last night at the Duluth-Iron Range all-star game. Shook his hand, and I congratulated him on Hermantown 's state hockey championship-and I meant it. Again, I truly think the Hawks have a great hockey program going over there. Again, the hockey program is not breaking any laws. Again, if they truly want to compete in A hockey, I am fine with that. Again, I think it would be great if CEC could compete with Hermantown in section 7AA along with East, DM, GR, and ER for the right to go to state. Again, it will be better we 7AA hockey teams if Hermantown stays in single A. Hermantown hockey is really, really good. But man....it would be fun

Wow a voice of reason!
The bashing of Hermantown is wrong.
I agree with everything you said and hopefully the games between HT, Cloquet and everyother 7AA team become more meaningful in 2018.
There is nothing left in A for Hermantown to accomplish.

SFA1992 · Post by **SFA1992** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 8:17 am

pekyman wrote:
kniven wrote:
SFA1992 wrote: Exactly. I wonder if he sees the similarities today, deep down. I'd be shocked if he didn't. Can't wait for the first Hermantown - STA battle in AA. Too bad he wont be on the bench for it.
I ran into Coach Bruce Plante last night at the Duluth-Iron Range all-star game. Shook his hand, and I congratulated him on Hermantown 's state hockey championship-and I meant it. Again, I truly think the Hawks have a great hockey program going over there. Again, the hockey program is not breaking any laws. Again, if they truly want to compete in A hockey, I am fine with that. Again, I think it would be great if CEC could compete with Hermantown in section 7AA along with East, DM, GR, and ER for the right to go to state. Again, it will be better we 7AA hockey teams if Hermantown stays in single A. Hermantown hockey is really, really good. But man....it would be fun
Wow a voice of reason!
The bashing of Hermantown is wrong.
I agree with everything you said and hopefully the games between HT, Cloquet and everyother 7AA team become more meaningful in 2018.
There is nothing left in A for Hermantown to accomplish.

The bashing of Hermantown is absolutely not wrong, that is an absolutely insane thing to say.

Great team and congrats on winning a state title. I'm glad to see you say hopefully it becomes more meaningful in 2018.

Saying there is nothing left to accomplish in A is outdated. That day came and went a couple of years ago. Honestly just pick a year between 2010 and now. Your statement confirms that Plante was out to glory hunt, which is exactly what every private school that was/is Single A is accused of (and rightfully so) once they achieve success (apparently making 7 straight title games isn't enough). 'Okay we got one, lets move on'. He still hasn't said this! We see from the quotes on here that the factors going in to a decision to return are based on returning talent alone. . People realize Hermantown attracts talent on its own and doesn't have to recruit; that's fine, nothing they can do about that, good for them. Same can be said for so many AA schools. You can look at yourself as Single A hockey but the fact of the matter is the people took the reality of it out of your hands. Yikes.

BodyShots · Post by **BodyShots** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 10:53 am

kniven wrote:
SFA1992 wrote:
thestickler07 wrote:Looking back on things, definitely proud I was among the first to call out Plante for being a knob.

The lovefest for the guy back in the STA(a) days was shameful, he was never an arbiter of "purist" community hockey - he was just salty that he was losing.
Exactly. I wonder if he sees the similarities today, deep down. I'd be shocked if he didn't. Can't wait for the first Hermantown - STA battle in AA. Too bad he wont be on the bench for it.
I ran into Coach Bruce Plante last night at the Duluth-Iron Range all-star game. Shook his hand, and I congratulated him on Hermantown 's state hockey championship-and I meant it. Again, I truly think the Hawks have a great hockey program going over there. Again, the hockey program is not breaking any laws. Again, if they truly want to compete in A hockey, I am fine with that. Again, I think it would be great if CEC could compete with Hermantown in section 7AA along with East, DM, GR, and ER for the right to go to state. Again, it will be better we 7AA hockey teams if Hermantown stays in single A. Hermantown hockey is really, really good. But man....it would be fun

Did you put lipstick on before you kissed his @$$?

blueblood · Post by **blueblood** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 11:36 am

The 2-yr MSHSL section realignment occurs next March. If Hermantown were to opt up, I hypothesize the following:

- Add them to Section 7AA
- Move the Elks to 8AA for 8 teams (4 northern & 4 southern)

Now, if Breck also opts up, I see them moving into Section 6AA with the following additional moves:

- Move Burnsville to 1AA
- Move Jefferson back to 2AA
- Move Cretin back to 3AA

That leaves:
1AA - 9 teams
2AA - 8 teams
3AA - 9 teams
4AA - 9 teams
5AA - 8 teams
6AA - 8 teams
7AA - 9 teams
8AA - 8 teams

Duluthguy · Post by **Duluthguy** » Wed Mar 09, 2016 11:43 am

I have to say, I agree whole-heartedly that Hermantown should be in AA. However, Bruce Plante is a tremendous coach and an even better guy. We'd all hope to have our kids play for a guy like him, in terms of his ability to teach the game, get the most out of his players, and in terms of having him mentor our kids. If you'd ever had the chance to spend time with him, you'd agree.

That doesn't mean I agree with him on the A/AA issue. Certainly they have every right to stay at A based on enrollment. And having all the best teams move up to AA leaves the cupboard bare in A. Those are valid points. My reason for believing they should move up is, don't you want to give your kids the opportunity to play at the highest level possible, particularly when they're up to it? Not moving up sells the Hermantown players short.

In fact, the folks with kids in the program that I know--at both the high school and youth levels--would rather be in AA because they want their kids to play against the best competition. Not only do they play AA at the youth levels (as has been pointed out many times here) but many of those families, particularly of the higher-end players, have their kids play AAA in the summer, HS elite, HP, etc. in search of better competition. I've talked to them. Without exception--of those I've spoken with--they'd love to be in AA at the high school level.

I think most of them thought the program would have been at AA by now. Plante has been year-to-year for about the last five seasons. Having said that, defections have been minimal because families feel the opportunity to play for Bruce offsets the AA/A issue. He's that highly regarded.

The irony is that while they might well move up to AA once he retires, they'll be less able to handle it just by virtue of the fact that he's no longer the coach. It will be very difficult to find someone with his ability to replace him. I'm sure one name that will come up will be his son Derek, which would be great.

In addition....while the coming class of '17 will be even better than this year's team based on their performance at the bantam and peewee levels, there's a drop off in the talent of the couple of classes after that--again based on performance at the youth levels.

The teams/players most equipped to handle AA have been the last few seasons. While I disagree with his decision to remain at A, that doesn't make him a bad guy. That couldn't be farther from the truth, and I hate to see his character questioned just because we happen to disagree with him.

HighSchoolHockeyForums.com

Hermantown won't complain about private schools now!!

If Hermantown goes AA....