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98 Blades fall way short at the Brick in Canada 0-4-1 one point !!!!! The 97 Blades team was the best team ever to play for the Blades at the Brick.
The 97 Blades coaches did a great job last year.

Here is a link to the tournament stat's page.

http://brick.rampinteractive.com/tourna ... stics.html

Tournament won by Team Brick Alberta a team comprised of kids from all over the province. They also won the Subway North American Classic based on their team info.

I propose:

Option one: The Blades and Machine have a playoff to see which team represents Minnesota at this tourney. May the best team win.
May the best team go to this tourney.


Option two: Have tryouts to create All-Star teams to play at each age level.

Isn't the goal to send the best team(s) to this tourney?

puckfan wrote:Here is a link to the tournament stat's page.

http://brick.rampinteractive.com/tourna ... stics.html

Tournament won by Team Brick Alberta a team comprised of kids from all over the province. They also won the Subway North American Classic based on their team info.

Does anyone know if this is the same team that the Machine played earlier this summer and split two games with?

Yes, from the results page of the Subway tournament, they split with this team. Machine won in pool play and lost in championship game.

Why Blades vs. Machine to see who gets to go? - Lake Superior Stars beat the Blades earlier this year (8 to 4) so they should be in the mix if you are talking about teams. Last year Blades and Machine were close - not the case any more.

Simple solution to a complicated situation (Blades have contract with Brick to be only team from MN) is to do it like every other team that participates in The Brick - hold tryouts, pick a team and work with that team for a period of time (2 to 3 months).

Granted the Blades had 2+ years to put this team together so the results are not a reflection as to the amount of prep time but rather (fill in the blank here ___________).

I am sure they had fun but it had to get a little stressful.

Good point! My thought is we should be sending our best team or All-star team to represent Minnesota.
Canada put together a western All-star team to play in the Stars and Stripes tourney. They ended up beating the 96 Machine so it proves it can be done.

no biggy

DuckDuckQuackQuack wrote:Good point! My thought is we should be sending our best team or All-star team to represent Minnesota.
Canada put together a western All-star team to play in the Stars and Stripes tourney. They ended up beating the 96 Machine so it proves it can be done.

no biggy

Anytime you send a team to compete and represent the "entire" state they should have an open tryout and more than just Machine or Blade kids invited. They are very good teams, but I do not believe they have the very best kids from the state on their teams in total.

They just have the best kids on their teams that expressed interest in playing for them.

In reference to the kids I don't think it is right to imply that the kids on the 98 Blades could not compete at that level - if it really matters or if anyone really cares the focus should be on how the adults prepared the kids not the kids themselves.

For the people close to this program/age group knew the probability for the breakdown was probable/imminent.

DuckDuckQuackQuack wrote:Good point! My thought is we should be sending our best team or All-star team to represent Minnesota.
Canada put together a western All-star team to play in the Stars and Stripes tourney. They ended up beating the 96 Machine so it proves it can be done.

no biggy

The western all star team consisted of kids from 3 provinces (BC, Sask. MB) they lost 7-6 in OT, Machine had beaten them earlier in the round robin. The problem with a statewide all star team is getting together for practices. This 96 Machine team recently went to Manitoba and won it against the best teams in Western Canada blowing out teams like Calgary Jr. Flames, Saskatawan Jr. Blades who hadn't lost in two years. And the Machine also won a Tournament in Detroit this spring and beat the best teams in the US and central Canada. There is not a better team in North America than the 96 Machine, unless they combine the best from 3 or more Provinces or states.

The western all star team consisted of kids from 3 provinces (BC, Sask. MB) they lost 7-6 in OT, Machine had beaten them earlier in the round robin. The problem with a statewide all star team is getting together for practices. This 96 Machine team recently went to Manitoba and won it against the best teams in Western Canada blowing out teams like Calgary Jr. Flames, Saskatawan Jr. Blades who hadn't lost in two years. And the Machine also won a Tournament in Detroit this spring and beat the best teams in the US and central Canada. There is not a better team in North America than the 96 Machine, unless they combine the best from 3 or more Provinces or states.

That wasn't an allstar team although I'm sure the kids were all very good. The organizer of the Subway tourney sent an email stating that they were looking for players to go to the Star and stripes tourney. That was it; I guess the team that went was the result of that email and they obviously did okay. I do agree that the 96 Machine makes the short ist of the top 3 teams in North America

the 96 st. louis jr blues are also among the top couple teams in the united states.

the topic of THIS forum is...........nothing to do with the top 96 teams anywhere.

I read all the Team profiles.

http://brick.rampinteractive.com/tourna ... files.html

Majority of the other teams in this tourney are kids compiled from all over their home states or provinces. I do admit that the Blades have one of the top three programs in the state of Minnesota. I'm curious why they wouldn't want to bring the best players to this tourney? The kids could still play under the Minnesota Blades name and logo?

Minnesota Blades

The 1998 Minnesota Blades are pleased and humbled to represent Minnesota in this great event. Our previous Blades teams have shared stories of their great times at the Brick. We are all looking forward to sharing the ice with the best players from North America . Thank you to our Edmonton hosts and everyone who does so much to make the Brick the best hockey experience in the world for a ten-year-old player. We come from 12 different communities. Our team won the championship in the Minnesota Meltdown Invitational this spring. We will work hard to do the same in Edmonton . Thank you to the entire Brick staff and good luck to everybody!

QuackQuack:

Why would the MN Blades not want to bring the best players to Edmonton?
Please explain yourself.

They will never get all the best kids to play at the Brick as long as Bernie and Arko are around. Bernie wont let the Machine kids play in the tounament under the Blades logo, and Arko will not give up the tournament. Now that the Machine have their tounament at the same time as the Brick, you will never see it happen. It is a great thought, but at this time it's only a dream.

DumpandChase1 wrote:They will never get all the best kids to play at the Brick as long as Bernie and Arko are around. Bernie wont let the Machine kids play in the tounament under the Blades logo, and Arko will not give up the tournament. Now that the Machine have their tounament at the same time as the Brick, you will never see it happen. It is a great thought, but at this time it's only a dream.

Good post. Agreed

The State of Minnesota has to want to make The Brick a priority to allow our top youth players an opportunity to dominate. With how AAA has become diluted in the recent years it will become harder and harder for one team (Blades) to travel up to Edmonton and be competitive.

So if we make this a priority we (meaning Blades primarily since they have the contract with The Brick) have to open the roster and select a coach that can conduct a tryout process to determine their squad.

The kids would wear a Minnesota sweater (not the Blades or any other independents color) and start dominating the tournament.

Or, if this is not an option, then the responsibility falls on The Blades organization to make sure the proper people are in place to prepare the kids.

The Blades have a long and respected tradition at the Brick and for those families that have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to play in the best 10 yr old tournament in NA, it is an experience they've never forgotten. The Blades have tried to get the best 10 year olds in the past to go up to Edmonton with them. Their coaches have not allowed them to go and play with the Blades. Bernie won't let his kids play baseball, much less play with another AAA club for a week.

Blades kids have always filled in with other clubs in the past and have had a history of good relationships with the Icemen, the Fire and even Canadian teams. When the Machine started up, it became all about ego and suddenly this has become an issue. It's only the kids that miss out on this great opportunity. The Blades have the contract and they want to take the best kids to Edmonton.

The "young" parents of the '96 Machine will learn that as their kids get older, it's a compliment to be asked to play with another AAA team in a tournament and the rest of the country does it all the time. Older MN kids (especially Blades players) get invited to play with AAA clubs from all over the country in different tournaments and wear the other teams' jerseys with pride and appreciate the opportunity to do so. Blades players and other MN AAA players understand the tradition and the experience and appreciate the opportunity to develop. The Machine are just too new to the MN hockey world - give them time. Hopefully they'll learn about other opportunities and stop drinking the Koolaide. You should be able to play for the Machine and also have other hockey opportunities - otherwise you will miss out on tournaments like the Brick and there is no other tournament like it For the Machine kids who could have had the opportunity to play and have missed it, I feel bad that your parents made that choice. Hopefully the Blades will hold a tryout next year, and the Machine kids will have "permission" to go.

It's Bernie's and the Machines fault that the Blades had a poor showing at the Brick?

You just don't get it! The Blades people that are posting on this thread are mad because they got "humbled"and got humbled good! Last year when the 97 Blades made it to the championship of the Brick all you heard was about how great the Blades were.

The truth is that the Machine played the team Brick twice and split with them. They are good enough to play in the Brick and would have a shot at the championship every year without the use of borrowed players.

The compietition between these two clubs my seem overboard but in the end is good because it pushes everyone to become better and we will produce better players from our state. It has happened before. 87, 88 age levels

87 Jr North Stars vs 87 Blades
Minnesota 88s vs 88 Blades


As part of one of the Machine clubs I would not have my son jump ship. We have a great passion for our team and if you are not on the inside of one of the Machine teams you have no idea the amount of work these boys are putting in to make these teams what they are.

It's a different model than most of the Blades teams, The Machine doesn't borrow players to compete. They put in a huge amount of ice time to develope their players. If you look at the 96 Machine team it has had the same roster for the last three summers. Compare that to the some 40 players that have moved throught the 96 Blades team over that same amount of time.

Right? Wrong? No just different. The Machine owes the Blades nothing, It's not the Machines fault they had a poor showing and it is not a "state team"or a "Minnesota team" it's a Blades team. This failure only reflects on the Blades because the Brick people have already seen and played the Machine

Why not have a "Team Minnesota" If the Blades really care about having the best players from Minnesota, but are unwilling to take thier name off the jersey then who's ego is in the way? How can can you blame the Machine people for not wanting to put the Blades jersey.

Having had an older son go through already what matters most is the developement the player gets coming up, because they will all get sorted out in the select 15s, 16s and 17s. The vast majority of players that play D1 hockey had good showing at the select festivals. So in a sense the players are really training for the selects.

Koolaide?

That "long and respected tradition at the Brick" might soon be coming to an end.

(meaning Blades primarily since they have the contract with The Brick)

Can anybody explain this......a contract with a tournament for 10 year old kids? How does that work?

puckfan wrote:

(meaning Blades primarily since they have the contract with The Brick)

Can anybody explain this......a contract with a tournament for 10 year old kids? How does that work?

Can someone explain to me why it would be important to gather the best 10 year olds and travel to Canada? I am not the smartest cookie in the jar but I would guess that there are a lot of kids in the state that can skate with those from either team but do not have the ability to pay for the "pride" of playing on either team. Reality is that they are still 10 years old. The same group of kids, in 5-6 years could have developed into 180 pound, 6 foot tall elite players or they could be the bottom of the barrel. It frustrates me to see such passionate people placing the responsibility of being the best on young kids. If winning a tournament of that stature is that important put on your skates and form your own team. Let the kids be kids.. And no, I am not affiliated with either team.

Totally agree, there is way too much parent ego associated with these programs. Let the kids play where they want to play as they fall in their current skill development and most importantly have fun in their development at this age. I'm not assocuited with either program, but this thread is obviously about the parents from the Machine wanting their Johnny to be able to put on his future resume that he played in the Brick.
The competition between the Blades and Machine seems to flip flop every other year with who has bragging rights. 96=Machine, 97=Blades, 98=Machine, 99=Blades. The rights belong to the Blades, so if you want to have Johnny play in the Brick, then have him play for the Blades.

Get over it parents, it just one tournament.

I heard Team Brick Alberta added three of their best players after the Subway Tournament. I had also heard that a couple of the Blades better players had the flu and played sparingly.

100percenteffort wrote:I heard Team Brick Alberta added three of their best players after the Subway Tournament. I had also heard that a couple of the Blades better players had the flu and played sparingly.

Why not just say nice game!