Fall Elite League

[SWPrez]

that is an interesting stat pioneer and knowitall, u know who runs the league-russo(his kid is a coach at BSM)

If a marginal player from BSM was placed in the league there would be validity to your post.

Benilde-St. Margaret's D Horton Jake 11
Advanced 15s - Advanced 16's Final 54 - National Camp 16s
Green Bay Gamblers USHL Pick

Benilde-St. Margaret's F Steinhauser Patrick 12
Advanced 16s and 17s Final 54 - Led BSM in points 09-10 w/ 57pts


Benilde-St. Margaret's F O'Borsky Jake 11
Advanced 15 and 16 Final 54 - 15s National Camp
46 points for Red Wing 09-10

Benilde-St. Margaret's F Horn Christian 11
Advanced 16s and 17s Final 54 - National Camps - Final National squad
National Development invitee (declined)
Led BSM in assists 09-10 with 35 (52 total pts)
Drafted by Omaha Lancers USHL

Benilde-St. Margaret's F Besse Grant 10
Advanced 15 and 16 Final 54 - 15s National Camp
BSM leading goal scorer in 09-10 with 30 (50 total pts)
Drafted by Muskegon USHL

Benilde-St. Margaret's D Daly Patrick 12
Injured most of 09-10. Arguably will be one of the better MN high school defensemen in 10-11
Tried out at Sioux City (USHL) in June

Pretty hard to argue that a "Russo card" was played on these players. They all have built pretty solid resumes on their own and do not need politics to get them through. So which one doesn't belong? Or, better put, make a case for someone who didn't make it and line their resume up to those listed above.

[pioneers]

One thing to remember is that league policy is if you played last year, you have a spot this year.

[ManBearPig]

Parker Reno....Really? You can't tell me there is a more deserving Senior out there? Ridiculous.

[DumpandChase1]

How Schulze from Hill, and Sampson from Edina don't make this league is a total joke. These are 2 of the better players in the state.

[east hockey]

I had the over/under on how many posts would be made after the rosters were announced before the complaining started at three. Pretty close.

Lee

[Sioux Fan]

I am sure that all the positions were earned in an honorable fashion no sense in having a good intense tryout for such valued positions when experts can get her done without even knowing the field.

I am just upset that no outstate So MN players are not in the league first time in a long time.. Sad but true.

[goldy313]

It's hard to complain when we don't know who was invited but turned them down for whatever reasons, all we see is the tryout list and final teams.

That said it is disheartening to see outside the 3 Lakeville kids no one else from sections 1AA, 1A, or 3A are on a team.

[northwoods oldtimer]

I had the over/under on how many posts would be made after the rosters were announced before the complaining started at three. Pretty close.

Lee

Hey Lee I got a complaint for you, there ain't enough East players in the league. I smell a conspiracy

[east hockey]

I had the over/under on how many posts would be made after the rosters were announced before the complaining started at three. Pretty close.

Lee

Hey Lee I got a complaint for you, there ain't enough East players in the league. I smell a conspiracy

Absolutely!! There should have been at least 10-15 Hounds players in that league. What a sham. What a joke. What a disgrace.

Lee

[keepyourheadup]

No selection process is ever perfect but I have to agree with dump on this one. How can the captain at hill not make the league? Sampson was a top guy on the state champs and played extremely well at selects. IMHO both these kids deserved better. Hopefully they'll have big years to help take a little of the sting away. I'm sure we can all come up with players we feel got left out but these two would be at or near the top of everyones list.

[High Flyer]

How Schulze from Hill, and Sampson from Edina don't make this league is a total joke. These are 2 of the better players in the state.

I just looked at the final list and in my opinion (which I know really doesn't matter) I feel there are 28 defensemen that I would have a hard time putting a head of Kevin Schulze. That leaves 11 defensemen and 3-4 of those guys are "comparable" to Schulze.

I was not at the Elite League tryouts, so I guess it is possible that he did not play very well.

But I was at the final 54 advance 17 tryouts this Spring and I thought Schulze was one of the top 4 defensemen that weekend. He was also a top 4 defensemen at the advance 17 section tryouts and was one of the top 6 defensemen during the Advance 17 Spring festival.

I also watch all of the state tournament games and no doubt in my mind the HM d-core (Casto/Johnson & Cotroneo/Schulze) was the best overall of any team in the tournament and Schulze was on the ice 50% of the time for HM.

All this in 2010 and comming off a trip to Rochester, NY in 2009 where Schulze was 1 of 6 defensemen representing MN at the USA Advance 16 National Camp.

This is a huge oversight and I hope it can be corrected.

[money]

Good evening,

Schulze and Sampson are good observations in terms of omissions for this fall Elite League. Both are very good, especially Schulze from Hill.

Another notable player who played in the Advanced 16's - Lakeville's Nate Arentz.
Each year there is no question that people think player A or B should make it. But, for me...Arentz and Schultze are notable players worthy of playing at this level.

Also, the Horton kid from Tartan too. Young, but, pretty impressive for his age.

[keepyourheadup]

I don't think Arentz is coming back to Lakeville North. Things change but the rumor is he's headed for Victory honda or another junior team. I agree that he is also deserving of a spot on one of the teams.

[rinkrat555]

the elite league has turned into all the "other stuff"...who's parent knows who, my kid your kid...and my favorite...when they start looking at a kid in peewees and call him all "that" . kids with alot of talent get left out because of this. like many of you people that have posted, over several years, this league, that was supposed to be about seniors in hs has now been watered down for money. yes, i have a hockey player that graduated in 09, and he is doing really good in hockey without making this "elite league".

[observer]

Considering the Elite League is connected with the Elite D League this year having sophomores does seem a little silly. Even a few to many Juniors. Several misses, and interesting choices, but it's hard to know what happened there.

[TheHockeyDJ]

Are the number of players from teams highly indicitive of the success that school will see in the coming season?

[rashreid20]

I don't think Arentz is coming back to Lakeville North. Things change but the rumor is he's headed for Victory honda or another junior team. I agree that he is also deserving of a spot on one of the teams.

Not a rumor. Arentz will skate for Victory Honda in 2010-2011. He leaves in August. That's why he is not on the rosters.

Did Sampson and Schulze tryout? Is it possible they were invited to not tryout but declined playing in the league?

[pioneers]

I don't think Arentz is coming back to Lakeville North. Things change but the rumor is he's headed for Victory honda or another junior team. I agree that he is also deserving of a spot on one of the teams.

Not a rumor. Arentz will skate for Victory Honda in 2010-2011. He leaves in August. That's why he is not on the rosters.

Did Sampson and Schulze tryout? Is it possible they were invited to not tryout but declined playing in the league?

Schulze did try out.

[karl(east)]

Are the number of players from teams highly indicitive of the success that school will see in the coming season?

I was curious about this too, so I went and looked up last year's rosters.

Teams with the most players:
7-STA
6-AHA, Tonka, Grand Forks Central
5-Bloom. Jefferson, Hill-Murray, Blaine, Centennial, BSM, EP
4-Edina, Duluth East, Moorhead

For the most part, these were among the top teams last year. I remember the 7 for STA being the source of many of last year's complaints, so we'll leave that one aside for now.

Holy Angels, BSM, and Centennial seemed to have more players in the Elite League than their records suggested they should have. This doesn't necessarily mean there was favoritism at play. Maybe these teams were top-heavy, and these five or six elite performers carried the team. Maybe injuries or team issues got in the way. And obviously not all Elite League players are created equal; maybe the ones they had were all towards the bottom of the barrel. Just some food for thought.

The teams that didn't have as many Elite League players that ended up doing well in the regular season have one thing in common: youth. This shouldn't shock anyone, since the Elite League is senior-dominated. Teams that did very well that did not have as many in the Elite League include Wayzata (3), Apple Valley (3), Roseau (3), and Burnsville (1). The teams that I listed earlier that got major contributions from young players also tended to overachieve, based on what the number of Elite Leaguers would predict--Edina, maybe H-M and DE.

In single-A, on the other hand, the one year sample looks like a pretty good predictor if we ignore that STA anomaly. State champion Breck had 3, as did runner-up Warroad and a decent St. Cloud Cathedral team. Basically every team that had 2 players--Mahto, Hermantown, Virginia, Delano (exception)--was a contender. Everyone else had 1 or 0, and didn't really come into the picture.

So, my answer: Elite League rosters can be a decent predictor, but we need to look out for teams that might be 1) top-heavy; that is, they are carried by a few elite players; or 2) have a lot of young talent. Adjust for those and you'd have some pretty good preseason rankings.

[Saywhat?03]

Interesting note on the D selection. if I remember right from last year there are 6 teams in the league and there are 18 underclassmen(junior and below) defenseman picks. Could be some interesting match ups during the season if the numbers work out to 3 underclassmen and 3 seniors per team on defense.

[jackstraw]

Second year in a row that nobody South of Lakeville is on a roster. I am pretty sure that the last 2 forwards from that geographic area, Skyler Adams from New Prague and Cory Leiverman from Mankato West were both second in points both 3 and 4 years ago.

[watchdog]

people people its really simple cant get a spot on elite 1 go play juniors.

[russiawithlove]

are u saying to play in the minnesota junior league like benik did last year because i also think that this would be another good option for players who didnt make the elite league

[observer]

Season started last night. Nice game summaries and stories on Hockey Hub.

Team NW 4
Team NE 2

Team SW 3
Team SE 3

www.mnhockeyhub.com

[Husky88]

I like the summary that Hockey Hub did for each of the games ... nice interviews, line combos, and 3 stars of the game.