Mite-dad wrote: ↑Thu Dec 02, 2021 1:55 pm
Some interesting thoughts to add:
Sartell - Will they become more relevant now that they are in AA or will they decline. There seems to be excitement in the growing program there, and an additional rink. We shall see.
Out of relevance:
SCC - Is this just a short time of irrelevance? Or do we already see signs of a resurgence?
Agree with Northern Lakes. It seems they still have some good kids in the youth program. We will see if there is staying power there.
River Lakes - This program has struggled to get to prominence. They've had some decent teams in the recent past, but never good enough to win the section. There are some great athletes in this area of the state west of St. Cloud. If a bunch decided to play hockey, this program could be solid.
Rock Ridge???
Interesting thoughts on Class A and 1 AA Program
Sartell- Growing community full of young families their enrollment has skyrocketed in the last 10 years and are now AA. I didn't realize they had 2 sheets of ice but a great sign and growing youth numbers. In 8AA they should be able to make gains as the section is not crazy deep. However, even in the Class A era teams never seemed to reach their potential come playoff time. I am not sure they have ever made a Section Final. However, as STMA showed you don't have to be a traditional program to make a splash and get to the X. Will be interesting to watch their program over the next few years.
SCC- Appears to be clawing back after a very uncharacteristic down year last season. They have played some top 10 Class A Ranked teams very tough so far this year. Also, their leading scorer is a freshman and their lineup on hockeyhub is full of sophomores. The most important being their sophomore goaltender who has a .913 SV% pretty impressive for young man making his debut against the likes of Warroad. I would guess we will see SCC back at the X soon.
Northern Lakes- I think is here to stay as a solid Class A team. They draw from a very affluent area of young families and they have been keeping their kids in house more of late. They have a nice squad coming back this year and anytime you make state its big however the Covid year was not great as so many young kids didnt get a chance to head to st paul and dream of playing there someday.
River Lakes- I thought the move to Class A would be the shot in the arm this program was looking for. They did make some headway winning playoff games in the past few years but they seem to not have the numbers again. As Mite Dad said man they draw from Albany, Rocori, New London-Spicer, Paynesville area. Anyone who has seen those programs on the Gridiron knows they have athletes who are big and fast always thought what could they be on skates... Imagine Eric Decker playing hockey!!
Rock Ridge- Too early to tell... I think they will develop into a very solid Class A club. However, with Hermantown in the Section it makes it hard to grow your program when it's so easy for families to just opt to move to the Hawks and get a trip to state. Again, curious to se how this current squad develops and what this program looks like in 5 years.
