The Hermantown Thread

[northwoods oldtimer]

"Why is Scott Pionk the only "hockey guy" in Hermantown calling for a move up to AA level? Can anybody answer that question? With enough hockey clout pressure that wimp of an AD would cave in to a move up. The hockey athletes at Hermantown deserve a better fate than what is being dealt by their AD handler."

Are we sure that Scott Pionk is the only hockey guy making a call for a move up? It seems to me that if he had zero support from his peers in HT, he wouldn't be stepping forward. I would guess he is one of at least a handful of hockey guys that feel this way and is most likely the obvious choice to step forward and say something. Seems like everyone has gone from trashing all of Hermantown to now trashing all but Pionk.

??
Well @zooomx please enlighten us with your inside knowledge. Seeing as the article mentions but 2 Hermantown hockey guys: Scott Pionk and current head coach Andrews with the coach backtracking from his earlier statements on the subject regarding move to AA.

I do not have any inside knowledge. It just seems that it is a sillier assumption that everyone in HT, besides Pionk, is happy to stay at Class A versus the assumption that Pionk does not stand alone. People are calling out everyone in HT hockey. I am just saying there is a good chance that there are at least a handful of HT hockey people who would love to see them go to AA.

I hear ya

[HHawks4Ever]

Scott Pionk is my hero!

I was particularly impressed how much emphasis he puts on the Hawks' dominance hurting small Northland programs, as opposed to just focusing on them being good enough for AA. It's great that he sees the bigger picture.

I hope every Hermantown decision maker and parent reads this article, so they realize just how strong their program is now. They are as good as any AA program at this point, and the kids should be given the chance to prove it.

AD Clark only says a few words, but they encapsulate perfectly the problem with Hermantown in Class A: "RIght now, were not going to move up. We're comfortable where we're at." Being comfortable is not a good place to be in life, AD Clark. Successful people (and hockey programs) push themselves to do better, always taking on the next challenge once the last one has been mastered.

My only issue with the article is how Mr. St. George characterized Hermantown's enrollment as being on par with TRF. While numerically true, functionally the enrollments of the schools couldn't be more different. 150,000 people live within a 15 minute drive of open-enrollment-happy Hermantown, while TRF program has only the 8,800 people that live in the isolated town. Hermantown defenders, either willingly or ignorantly, do not grasp the incredible advantage this gives them.

But, I love the hard numbers St. George gave about Hermantown's 7A dominance. They are eye-popping.

It appears Hermantown will be in A for the next two years. Sadly, this means Greenway will not be going to state at all with their excellent group, and the great bantam crop from Denfeld will have to wait until their senior year for a legitimate shot, assuming Hermantown finally does move in two years.

What I'd really like to see is the Hermantown players post an open letter stating their position.

"Pionk admits his views almost certainly reside in the minority among the Hermantown community." If you are a Minnesota AA team quit scheduling the sandbaggers!!!
Scotty Pionk is a man's man. Telling it like it is.

The issue with this is there really isn't motivation for AA teams to not schedule Hermantown. Cities programs likely care little about what is happening in 7A and why pass on the opportunity to get a good team on the schedule. For other AA programs Hermantown is a geographical opponent.

The most geographical AA opponent has been able to avoid playing Hermantown forever.

[HHawks4Ever]

So punish the communities that want to play in the real tournament? Isn't that a little counter intuitive to what people are wanting here? Jeffy and Rainer's teams will still never go to state.

Not to mention DE, Moorhead, and Brainerd will be about the only "Northern" teams left.

I guess you could say I'm old school and care about the Tradition and Nostalgia of the game. I grew up taking trips for tournaments to Hibbing, Virginia, Eveleth, I-Falls, TRF, Crookston, Bemidji, Roseau and Warroad. A few of my teammate's Dads played in those towns and several other Dads in our program. So I got to hear all of the stories and then live them at those rinks while looking at all of the pictures and trophies on the wall. Then when my kid played I was lucky enough to do it all over again. So yeah, I guess you could say those are "my" teams. Roseau in particular was always my favorite place to visit and team to cheer for. But every time I read one of your smug and condescending posts that takes a small hit for me. I have to go read a few from Green and White fan and the other Rams on here, close my eyes and reminisce about getting dressed in the same locker room as Neal Broten and Butsy Erickson did, and that brings me back to the baseline.

I don't want to see the Range teams die off and if nothing is done that could definitely happen. Hermantown's system is set up to grab every player they can and kill off all of the other 7A teams. And don't give me your crap talking point of, "Well, you get rid of them and then everyone will be whining about someone else." Not true. EGF is the evidence. They won two straight titles with their own kids and nobody on here or anywhere else said boo. Then they went through the natural cycle of every other Class A team in the State, minus Hermantown of course, and TRF had a chance to give their program a boost. Hermantown has outscored their section playoff opponents 196-21 since 2010. That's an average game of 7.26-.78. Does anyone on here really think that will ever be repeated by anyone else? Nobody else is set up Geographically to pull of what Hermantown has. They send buses to pick up kids in Duluth and Proctor every day. They're even pulling in kids from the Range now in the last five years. It used to be unheard of for kids to go that far. But when you have no hope because you have to get through a Metro AA program that can take kids from anywhere, well, "If you can't beat em, join em." The middle class is shrinking in this country. We're pretty close to the point where this could be a game for just wealthy families. People on the range and outstate have always made the sacrifice and found a way to make it work. But when you get to the point where you have no sliver of hope for success, it becomes a lot easier for those parents on the range to say, "What the hell, it's not worth it anymore. Let's grab a jug of Windsor and go ice fishing."

I've fought the good fight and the awareness is now there. That was always my goal. Five years ago most in the State thought Hermantown was this tiny little community with magic water. The rest of the State is now full aware of what they're doing. I know there are people on here that are sick of hearing me talk about it and quite frankly, so am I. (Believe it or not) My work on this is done. Godspeed and let's pray that they can play those games outside tomorrow. Great job Bemidji, you've made us old school guys proud!

Hermantown’s evil system has been set up to destroy 218 hockey and Joffrey is the savior. What a bunch of exaggerated crap.

LOL just seeing this post now and couldn't agree more, pekyman.

In the early 1990s after decades of mediocrity, the Hermantown Hockey Association came together and hired a brain trust to devise a plan to steal every great hockey player in the 218 area code, destroying every other 7A program in the process, and 30 years later we've seen this amazing plan come together to fruition perfectly. I mean give me a break.

[thestickler07]

Stop complaining about the Hawks playing in A - they don't belong with the big boys.

Small time mindset for a small time program.

[Bigfoot12]

I guess there are buses leaving early and fanning out throughout the area every morning to pick up only good hockey players. They looked really hard and found 34 players to try out this year. I hear they somehow have this huge metropolitan area of 150000 people to choose from.

[rainier2]

I guess there are buses leaving early and fanning out throughout the area every morning to pick up only good hockey players. They looked really hard and found 34 players to try out this year. I hear they somehow have this huge metropolitan area of 150000 people to choose from.

Here it is folks, this comment is a perfect example of why Scott Pionk is a lone voice in the Hermantown hockey wilderness. They truly do believe they are small-town, community hockey, and that being a suburb in an urban area of 120,000 (metro area of 270,000) has absolutely no effect on the success of their program. As Bigfoot pointed out, they only had a paltry 34 players try out this year, but somehow, some way, the magic of Hermantown hockey was able to turn this small handful of hyper-local kids into a top AA-level team. Open-enrollment and transfers have nothing to do with it. Those top players over the years from Hibbing, Proctor, Virginia, Ely, Hayward, Colorado, and Duluth sacrificed everything to move to the isolated hamlet of Hermantown, where they arrived as teenagers who barely know how to skate, yet leave as NHL draft picks after the Hermantown magic is bestowed upon them.

This comment is why Coach Andrews can't move his team to AA. The AD and parents live in this fantasy land where all the many doctors who live in Hermantown obviously work in downtown Hermantown at Hermantown General Hospital, and the many former D1 players involved in the program all played at The University of Minnesota-Hermantown. The metropolitan area of Duluth has had nothing to do with their success. It doesn't matter that it is a million times easier for a player to switch schools or a family to relocate to a large city than it is in a rural community. They truly believe Hermantown has no advantage over TRF or I-Falls, for example, and the "crappy programs" at these rural schools are the sole reason they can't compete with the Hawks.

And in the same breath they will whine about STA or Breck. "They have so many players to choose from, so their enrollment doesn't matter and it's not fair to a small community program like Hermantown." It is amazing the blind spots people are able to maintain in the name of protecting their cherished beliefs.

(Note: for those unfamiliar with the Twin Ports, there is no downtown Hermantown, no Hermantown General Hospital, and certainly no University of Minnesota-Hermantown. Hermantown is a bedroom community that would not exist if not for being attached to Duluth.)

[northwoods oldtimer]

I guess there are buses leaving early and fanning out throughout the area every morning to pick up only good hockey players. They looked really hard and found 34 players to try out this year. I hear they somehow have this huge metropolitan area of 150000 people to choose from.

Here it is folks, this comment is a perfect example of why Scott Pionk is a lone voice in the Hermantown hockey wilderness. They truly do believe they are small-town, community hockey, and that being a suburb in an urban area of 120,000 (metro area of 270,000) has absolutely no effect on the success of their program. As Bigfoot pointed out, they only had a paltry 34 players try out this year, but somehow, some way, the magic of Hermantown hockey was able to turn this small handful of hyper-local kids into a top AA-level team. Open-enrollment and transfers have nothing to do with it. Those top players over the years from Hibbing, Proctor, Virginia, Ely, Hayward, Colorado, and Duluth sacrificed everything to move to the isolated hamlet of Hermantown, where they arrived as teenagers who barely know how to skate, yet leave as NHL draft picks after the Hermantown magic is bestowed upon them.

This comment is why Coach Andrews can't move his team to AA. The AD and parents live in this fantasy land where all the many doctors who live in Hermantown obviously work in downtown Hermantown at Hermantown General Hospital, and the many former D1 players involved in the program all played at The University of Minnesota-Hermantown. The metropolitan area of Duluth has had nothing to do with their success. It doesn't matter that it is a million times easier for a player to switch schools or a family to relocate to a large city than it is in a rural community. They truly believe Hermantown has no advantage over TRF or I-Falls, for example, and the "crappy programs" at these rural schools are the sole reason they can't compete with the Hawks.

And in the same breath they will whine about STA or Breck. "They have so many players to choose from, so their enrollment doesn't matter and it's not fair to a small community program like Hermantown." It is amazing the blind spots people are able to maintain in the name of protecting their cherished beliefs.

(Note: for those unfamiliar with the Twin Ports, there is no downtown Hermantown, no Hermantown General Hospital, and certainly no University of Minnesota-Hermantown. Hermantown is a bedroom community that would not exist if not for being attached to Duluth.)

HAHA this is so true, that old head coach was all unhinged when STA was in single A.

[GoldenBear]

Here it is folks, this comment is a perfect example of why Scott Pionk is a lone voice in the Hermantown hockey wilderness. They truly do believe they are small-town, community hockey, and that being a suburb in an urban area of 120,000 (metro area of 270,000) has absolutely no effect on the success of their program. As Bigfoot pointed out, they only had a paltry 34 players try out this year, but somehow, some way, the magic of Hermantown hockey was able to turn this small handful of hyper-local kids into a top AA-level team. Open-enrollment and transfers have nothing to do with it. Those top players over the years from Hibbing, Proctor, Virginia, Ely, Hayward, Colorado, and Duluth sacrificed everything to move to the isolated hamlet of Hermantown, where they arrived as teenagers who barely know how to skate, yet leave as NHL draft picks after the Hermantown magic is bestowed upon them.

This comment is why Coach Andrews can't move his team to AA. The AD and parents live in this fantasy land where all the many doctors who live in Hermantown obviously work in downtown Hermantown at Hermantown General Hospital, and the many former D1 players involved in the program all played at The University of Minnesota-Hermantown. The metropolitan area of Duluth has had nothing to do with their success. It doesn't matter that it is a million times easier for a player to switch schools or a family to relocate to a large city than it is in a rural community. They truly believe Hermantown has no advantage over TRF or I-Falls, for example, and the "crappy programs" at these rural schools are the sole reason they can't compete with the Hawks.

And in the same breath they will whine about STA or Breck. "They have so many players to choose from, so their enrollment doesn't matter and it's not fair to a small community program like Hermantown." It is amazing the blind spots people are able to maintain in the name of protecting their cherished beliefs.

(Note: for those unfamiliar with the Twin Ports, there is no downtown Hermantown, no Hermantown General Hospital, and certainly no University of Minnesota-Hermantown. Hermantown is a bedroom community that would not exist if not for being attached to Duluth.)

A beautiful post Ranier!!

[blueline_6]

I guess there are buses leaving early and fanning out throughout the area every morning to pick up only good hockey players. They looked really hard and found 34 players to try out this year. I hear they somehow have this huge metropolitan area of 150000 people to choose from.

Elk River had 36 kids tryout this year. Will be interesting when the Elks drop down to single A next year based on tryout numbers, since that is apparently the qualifier now.

[zooomx]

I guess there are buses leaving early and fanning out throughout the area every morning to pick up only good hockey players. They looked really hard and found 34 players to try out this year. I hear they somehow have this huge metropolitan area of 150000 people to choose from.

Here it is folks, this comment is a perfect example of why Scott Pionk is a lone voice in the Hermantown hockey wilderness. They truly do believe they are small-town, community hockey, and that being a suburb in an urban area of 120,000 (metro area of 270,000) has absolutely no effect on the success of their program. As Bigfoot pointed out, they only had a paltry 34 players try out this year, but somehow, some way, the magic of Hermantown hockey was able to turn this small handful of hyper-local kids into a top AA-level team. Open-enrollment and transfers have nothing to do with it. Those top players over the years from Hibbing, Proctor, Virginia, Ely, Hayward, Colorado, and Duluth sacrificed everything to move to the isolated hamlet of Hermantown, where they arrived as teenagers who barely know how to skate, yet leave as NHL draft picks after the Hermantown magic is bestowed upon them.

This comment is why Coach Andrews can't move his team to AA. The AD and parents live in this fantasy land where all the many doctors who live in Hermantown obviously work in downtown Hermantown at Hermantown General Hospital, and the many former D1 players involved in the program all played at The University of Minnesota-Hermantown. The metropolitan area of Duluth has had nothing to do with their success. It doesn't matter that it is a million times easier for a player to switch schools or a family to relocate to a large city than it is in a rural community. They truly believe Hermantown has no advantage over TRF or I-Falls, for example, and the "crappy programs" at these rural schools are the sole reason they can't compete with the Hawks.

And in the same breath they will whine about STA or Breck. "They have so many players to choose from, so their enrollment doesn't matter and it's not fair to a small community program like Hermantown." It is amazing the blind spots people are able to maintain in the name of protecting their cherished beliefs.

(Note: for those unfamiliar with the Twin Ports, there is no downtown Hermantown, no Hermantown General Hospital, and certainly no University of Minnesota-Hermantown. Hermantown is a bedroom community that would not exist if not for being attached to Duluth.)

Dude, you really need a Snickers bar.

[pekyman]

I guess there are buses leaving early and fanning out throughout the area every morning to pick up only good hockey players. They looked really hard and found 34 players to try out this year. I hear they somehow have this huge metropolitan area of 150000 people to choose from.

Here it is folks, this comment is a perfect example of why Scott Pionk is a lone voice in the Hermantown hockey wilderness. They truly do believe they are small-town, community hockey, and that being a suburb in an urban area of 120,000 (metro area of 270,000) has absolutely no effect on the success of their program. As Bigfoot pointed out, they only had a paltry 34 players try out this year, but somehow, some way, the magic of Hermantown hockey was able to turn this small handful of hyper-local kids into a top AA-level team. Open-enrollment and transfers have nothing to do with it. Those top players over the years from Hibbing, Proctor, Virginia, Ely, Hayward, Colorado, and Duluth sacrificed everything to move to the isolated hamlet of Hermantown, where they arrived as teenagers who barely know how to skate, yet leave as NHL draft picks after the Hermantown magic is bestowed upon them.

This comment is why Coach Andrews can't move his team to AA. The AD and parents live in this fantasy land where all the many doctors who live in Hermantown obviously work in downtown Hermantown at Hermantown General Hospital, and the many former D1 players involved in the program all played at The University of Minnesota-Hermantown. The metropolitan area of Duluth has had nothing to do with their success. It doesn't matter that it is a million times easier for a player to switch schools or a family to relocate to a large city than it is in a rural community. They truly believe Hermantown has no advantage over TRF or I-Falls, for example, and the "crappy programs" at these rural schools are the sole reason they can't compete with the Hawks.

And in the same breath they will whine about STA or Breck. "They have so many players to choose from, so their enrollment doesn't matter and it's not fair to a small community program like Hermantown." It is amazing the blind spots people are able to maintain in the name of protecting their cherished beliefs.

(Note: for those unfamiliar with the Twin Ports, there is no downtown Hermantown, no Hermantown General Hospital, and certainly no University of Minnesota-Hermantown. Hermantown is a bedroom community that would not exist if not for being attached to Duluth.)

Dude, you really need a Snickers bar.

There is no Denfeld, Marshall or Proctor that has access to this huge metro area either.

Hermantown is successful because they have an excellent Hockey program and the highest % of boys that play hockey in the state. 1 Hermantown grade has about 75 boys of which 22 play hockey at the Bantam level which is 30%. That is what is needed for a school as small as Hermantown to compete with the big boys. The program and community attract hockey people and the culture/program develop good Hockey players.
Denfeld and Proctor are in the same "metro area" as Hermantown yet have not had the success that Hermantown has. What % of Hibbing, Proctor and Denfeld boys play Hockey? If you could get 30% of them to play Hockey at Bantams and create a program that develops them throughout the year, you too will have success. For Proctor and Denfeld, Hermantown already has off season programs that they can/do take advantage of, so your work is easier. Yes, Hermantown may have some advantages but it's success was built by hundreds of volunteers/parents and guys like Scott willing to put time into the program and developed a Hockey culture. Hockey is a numbers game and If you are a small school it is tougher because you must get a higher percentage of your boys to play hockey. I have looked at all the schools and it’s clear that if you want to have any success at the AA level, you program needs to have a minimum of 4 PeeWee/3 Bantam teams in their youth program. HT has grown over the last 10 years and now I think it consistently has the 4-3 ratio but that can change. Hibbing/Denfeld/Proctor, get 30% or whatever % you need to get the 3 Bantam teams in your youth program. Develop them throughout the year and see what happens. If you do that I guarantee you would be at least competitive with HT. Then again, it’s easier to just come on here and bitch about a successful program.

[That guy for that thing]

Here it is folks, this comment is a perfect example of why Scott Pionk is a lone voice in the Hermantown hockey wilderness. They truly do believe they are small-town, community hockey, and that being a suburb in an urban area of 120,000 (metro area of 270,000) has absolutely no effect on the success of their program. As Bigfoot pointed out, they only had a paltry 34 players try out this year, but somehow, some way, the magic of Hermantown hockey was able to turn this small handful of hyper-local kids into a top AA-level team. Open-enrollment and transfers have nothing to do with it. Those top players over the years from Hibbing, Proctor, Virginia, Ely, Hayward, Colorado, and Duluth sacrificed everything to move to the isolated hamlet of Hermantown, where they arrived as teenagers who barely know how to skate, yet leave as NHL draft picks after the Hermantown magic is bestowed upon them.

This comment is why Coach Andrews can't move his team to AA. The AD and parents live in this fantasy land where all the many doctors who live in Hermantown obviously work in downtown Hermantown at Hermantown General Hospital, and the many former D1 players involved in the program all played at The University of Minnesota-Hermantown. The metropolitan area of Duluth has had nothing to do with their success. It doesn't matter that it is a million times easier for a player to switch schools or a family to relocate to a large city than it is in a rural community. They truly believe Hermantown has no advantage over TRF or I-Falls, for example, and the "crappy programs" at these rural schools are the sole reason they can't compete with the Hawks.

And in the same breath they will whine about STA or Breck. "They have so many players to choose from, so their enrollment doesn't matter and it's not fair to a small community program like Hermantown." It is amazing the blind spots people are able to maintain in the name of protecting their cherished beliefs.

(Note: for those unfamiliar with the Twin Ports, there is no downtown Hermantown, no Hermantown General Hospital, and certainly no University of Minnesota-Hermantown. Hermantown is a bedroom community that would not exist if not for being attached to Duluth.)

Dude, you really need a Snickers bar.

There is no Denfeld, Marshall or Proctor that has access to this huge metro area either.

Hermantown is successful because they have an excellent Hockey program and the highest % of boys that play hockey in the state. 1 Hermantown grade has about 75 boys of which 22 play hockey at the Bantam level which is 30%. That is what is needed for a school as small as Hermantown to compete with the big boys. The program and community attract hockey people and the culture/program develop good Hockey players.
Denfeld and Proctor are in the same "metro area" as Hermantown yet have not had the success that Hermantown has. What % of Hibbing, Proctor and Denfeld boys play Hockey? If you could get 30% of them to play Hockey at Bantams and create a program that develops them throughout the year, you too will have success. For Proctor and Denfeld, Hermantown already has off season programs that they can/do take advantage of, so your work is easier. Yes, Hermantown may have some advantages but it's success was built by hundreds of volunteers/parents and guys like Scott willing to put time into the program and developed a Hockey culture. Hockey is a numbers game and If you are a small school it is tougher because you must get a higher percentage of your boys to play hockey. I have looked at all the schools and it’s clear that if you want to have any success at the AA level, you program needs to have a minimum of 4 PeeWee/3 Bantam teams in their youth program. HT has grown over the last 10 years and now I think it consistently has the 4-3 ratio but that can change. Hibbing/Denfeld/Proctor, get 30% or whatever % you need to get the 3 Bantam teams in your youth program. Develop them throughout the year and see what happens. If you do that I guarantee you would be at least competitive with HT. Then again, it’s easier to just come on here and bitch about a successful program.

People are complaining for the very reason you just explained. The 4/3 ratio is the same as other AA power houses. That means HT should be an AA powerhouse. The play like it, why not get the credit for it. I have a very hard time believing that HT would "suffer" at the hand of the MIGHTY DE/CEC/Andover/GR/ER. it's like an AHL team playing with a bunch of NHL starters. Not fair to the players of their team to play so hard, and get shortchanged by an administration that doesn't respect the kids.

[pekyman]

I guess there are buses leaving early and fanning out throughout the area every morning to pick up only good hockey players. They looked really hard and found 34 players to try out this year. I hear they somehow have this huge metropolitan area of 150000 people to choose from.

Here it is folks, this comment is a perfect example of why Scott Pionk is a lone voice in the Hermantown hockey wilderness. They truly do believe they are small-town, community hockey, and that being a suburb in an urban area of 120,000 (metro area of 270,000) has absolutely no effect on the success of their program. As Bigfoot pointed out, they only had a paltry 34 players try out this year, but somehow, some way, the magic of Hermantown hockey was able to turn this small handful of hyper-local kids into a top AA-level team. Open-enrollment and transfers have nothing to do with it. Those top players over the years from Hibbing, Proctor, Virginia, Ely, Hayward, Colorado, and Duluth sacrificed everything to move to the isolated hamlet of Hermantown, where they arrived as teenagers who barely know how to skate, yet leave as NHL draft picks after the Hermantown magic is bestowed upon them.

This comment is why Coach Andrews can't move his team to AA. The AD and parents live in this fantasy land where all the many doctors who live in Hermantown obviously work in downtown Hermantown at Hermantown General Hospital, and the many former D1 players involved in the program all played at The University of Minnesota-Hermantown. The metropolitan area of Duluth has had nothing to do with their success. It doesn't matter that it is a million times easier for a player to switch schools or a family to relocate to a large city than it is in a rural community. They truly believe Hermantown has no advantage over TRF or I-Falls, for example, and the "crappy programs" at these rural schools are the sole reason they can't compete with the Hawks.

And in the same breath they will whine about STA or Breck. "They have so many players to choose from, so their enrollment doesn't matter and it's not fair to a small community program like Hermantown." It is amazing the blind spots people are able to maintain in the name of protecting their cherished beliefs.

(Note: for those unfamiliar with the Twin Ports, there is no downtown Hermantown, no Hermantown General Hospital, and certainly no University of Minnesota-Hermantown. Hermantown is a bedroom community that would not exist if not for being attached to Duluth.)

HAHA this is so true, that old head coach was all unhinged when STA was in single A.

Private schools don't have youth programs and don't develop youth hockey players.
They just benefit from the work the public programs have done.
They are a completely different animal and in my opinion should all be in AA.
Comparing a public school to a private school is just ridiculous.

[Jeffy95]

Here it is folks, this comment is a perfect example of why Scott Pionk is a lone voice in the Hermantown hockey wilderness. They truly do believe they are small-town, community hockey, and that being a suburb in an urban area of 120,000 (metro area of 270,000) has absolutely no effect on the success of their program. As Bigfoot pointed out, they only had a paltry 34 players try out this year, but somehow, some way, the magic of Hermantown hockey was able to turn this small handful of hyper-local kids into a top AA-level team. Open-enrollment and transfers have nothing to do with it. Those top players over the years from Hibbing, Proctor, Virginia, Ely, Hayward, Colorado, and Duluth sacrificed everything to move to the isolated hamlet of Hermantown, where they arrived as teenagers who barely know how to skate, yet leave as NHL draft picks after the Hermantown magic is bestowed upon them.

This comment is why Coach Andrews can't move his team to AA. The AD and parents live in this fantasy land where all the many doctors who live in Hermantown obviously work in downtown Hermantown at Hermantown General Hospital, and the many former D1 players involved in the program all played at The University of Minnesota-Hermantown. The metropolitan area of Duluth has had nothing to do with their success. It doesn't matter that it is a million times easier for a player to switch schools or a family to relocate to a large city than it is in a rural community. They truly believe Hermantown has no advantage over TRF or I-Falls, for example, and the "crappy programs" at these rural schools are the sole reason they can't compete with the Hawks.

And in the same breath they will whine about STA or Breck. "They have so many players to choose from, so their enrollment doesn't matter and it's not fair to a small community program like Hermantown." It is amazing the blind spots people are able to maintain in the name of protecting their cherished beliefs.

(Note: for those unfamiliar with the Twin Ports, there is no downtown Hermantown, no Hermantown General Hospital, and certainly no University of Minnesota-Hermantown. Hermantown is a bedroom community that would not exist if not for being attached to Duluth.)

HAHA this is so true, that old head coach was all unhinged when STA was in single A.

Comparing a public school to a private school is just ridiculous.

I completely agree with this. Someone tried to compare St. Cloud Cathedral to Hermantown earlier. It's night and day. The player pool that Hermantown draws from is 5 times larger than SCC. And kids can ride the bus and go there for free, they don't have to cough up the $20,000 per year. (Not everyone has $10,000 for school, further limiting the player pool.) It's ten times easier for Hermantown to attract players than SCC and to sustain the success, which we've obviously seen by the results.

[pekyman]

HAHA this is so true, that old head coach was all unhinged when STA was in single A.

Comparing a public school to a private school is just ridiculous.

I completely agree with this. Someone tried to compare St. Cloud Cathedral to Hermantown earlier. It's night and day. The player pool that Hermantown draws from is 5 times larger than SCC. And kids can ride the bus and go there for free, they don't have to cough up the $20,000 per year. (Not everyone has $20,000 for school, further limiting the player pool.) It's ten times easier for Hermantown to attract players than SCC and to sustain the success, which we've obviously seen by the results.

Duluth: 86,066, Metro: 279,227
St Cloud: 67,984, Metro: 194,418

Yep that's 5 times larger like the rest of your fake news.
Is not Denfeld and Proctor also in this "huge" metro area?
Spend some energy working on you program and maybe your kids would stick around.

[That guy for that thing]

Comparing a public school to a private school is just ridiculous.

I completely agree with this. Someone tried to compare St. Cloud Cathedral to Hermantown earlier. It's night and day. The player pool that Hermantown draws from is 5 times larger than SCC. And kids can ride the bus and go there for free, they don't have to cough up the $20,000 per year. (Not everyone has $20,000 for school, further limiting the player pool.) It's ten times easier for Hermantown to attract players than SCC and to sustain the success, which we've obviously seen by the results.

Duluth: 86,066, Metro: 279,227
St Cloud: 67,984, Metro: 194,418

Yep that's 5 times larger like the rest of your fake news.
Is not Denfeld and Proctor also in this "huge" metro area?
Spend some energy working on you program and maybe your kids would stick around.

You are admitting kids are moving to HT to play hockey, and that is because the program is better. Is that not the same thing the private schools do? Those same private schools that you wish were all AA?

[elliott70]

I completely agree with this. Someone tried to compare St. Cloud Cathedral to Hermantown earlier. It's night and day. The player pool that Hermantown draws from is 5 times larger than SCC. And kids can ride the bus and go there for free, they don't have to cough up the $20,000 per year. (Not everyone has $20,000 for school, further limiting the player pool.) It's ten times easier for Hermantown to attract players than SCC and to sustain the success, which we've obviously seen by the results.

Do you just make this stuff up????
5 times larger??
Duluth metro area is larger, yes. Maybe 1.5 times larger.
St Cloud people on average make more money, therefore diminishing the number difference.
$20,000 tuition, more like $9600 and they offer need based scholarships.
SCC can openly recruit....

Your hatred distracts from the obvious reason Hermantown should (hopefully will) move up, because they can compete at the AA level and win.
Leave it to Scott P and others to lead the charge, you are a distraction from that.

[Jeffy95]

Comparing a public school to a private school is just ridiculous.

I completely agree with this. Someone tried to compare St. Cloud Cathedral to Hermantown earlier. It's night and day. The player pool that Hermantown draws from is 5 times larger than SCC. And kids can ride the bus and go there for free, they don't have to cough up the $20,000 per year. (Not everyone has $10,000 for school, further limiting the player pool.) It's ten times easier for Hermantown to attract players than SCC and to sustain the success, which we've obviously seen by the results.

Duluth: 86,066, Metro: 279,227
St Cloud: 67,984, Metro: 194,418

Yep that's 5 times larger like the rest of your fake news.
Is not Denfeld and Proctor also in this "huge" metro area?
Spend some energy working on you program and maybe your kids would stick around.

You are correct, it's much larger than 5 times. Besides Duluth and Proctor, Hermantown currently has kids from Hibbing, Ely and Hayward. I'm guessing if you total up the populations in that square you get much more than five. I'm too lazy to actually do it. (And you forgot to remove the families that don't have $10,000 per year for school from the St. Cloud data.)

I don't have a program and my kids are done playing. I root for East, Cloquet, Rapids, Roseau, Warroad, Bemidji and all of the range teams. Not enough energy to work on all of those programs, however. We'll leave that to the young bucks.

[Jeffy95]

I completely agree with this. Someone tried to compare St. Cloud Cathedral to Hermantown earlier. It's night and day. The player pool that Hermantown draws from is 5 times larger than SCC. And kids can ride the bus and go there for free, they don't have to cough up the $20,000 per year. (Not everyone has $20,000 for school, further limiting the player pool.) It's ten times easier for Hermantown to attract players than SCC and to sustain the success, which we've obviously seen by the results.

Do you just make this stuff up????
5 times larger??
Duluth metro area is larger, yes. Maybe 1.5 times larger.
St Cloud people on average make more money, therefore diminishing the number difference.
$20,000 tuition, more like $9600 and they offer need based scholarships.
SCC can openly recruit....

Your hatred distracts from the obvious reason Hermantown should (hopefully will) move up, because they can compete at the AA level and win.
Leave it to Scott P and others to lead the charge, you are a distraction from that.

See previous post on the population estimate. You have to take in the whole range of area that they've brought in players from in the past. Not sure if people in St. Cloud make more money. Datausa.io says Median family income in St. Cloud is $44,485 and Duluth is $45,950. Okay, I was wrong on tuition, I apologize. Bottom line is families have to sacrifice and pay to go there. Hermantown is free.

Private Schools cannot "openly" recruit for sports. That would be a violation. Read the rules. Hermantown can recruit under the table the same as any private. HAHA's board has had to address it with coaches and parents. It's right on their website for all to see if you care to look.

Hatred? My opinion is no different than anyone else outside of Hermantown. Do they all hate too?

There are MANY reasons why Hermantown should move up. I don't see why some are important and others aren't. I am happy to leave the charge to Scott. I'm just an anonymous Dude on a board. Does anyone really care what I say?

[northwoods oldtimer]

I completely agree with this. Someone tried to compare St. Cloud Cathedral to Hermantown earlier. It's night and day. The player pool that Hermantown draws from is 5 times larger than SCC. And kids can ride the bus and go there for free, they don't have to cough up the $20,000 per year. (Not everyone has $20,000 for school, further limiting the player pool.) It's ten times easier for Hermantown to attract players than SCC and to sustain the success, which we've obviously seen by the results.

Duluth: 86,066, Metro: 279,227
St Cloud: 67,984, Metro: 194,418

Yep that's 5 times larger like the rest of your fake news.
Is not Denfeld and Proctor also in this "huge" metro area?
Spend some energy working on you program and maybe your kids would stick around.

You are admitting kids are moving to HT to play hockey, and that is because the program is better. Is that not the same thing the private schools do? Those same private schools that you wish were all AA?

applying the whiny Plante logic.

[pekyman]

I completely agree with this. Someone tried to compare St. Cloud Cathedral to Hermantown earlier. It's night and day. The player pool that Hermantown draws from is 5 times larger than SCC. And kids can ride the bus and go there for free, they don't have to cough up the $20,000 per year. (Not everyone has $20,000 for school, further limiting the player pool.) It's ten times easier for Hermantown to attract players than SCC and to sustain the success, which we've obviously seen by the results.

Do you just make this stuff up????
5 times larger??
Duluth metro area is larger, yes. Maybe 1.5 times larger.
St Cloud people on average make more money, therefore diminishing the number difference.
$20,000 tuition, more like $9600 and they offer need based scholarships.
SCC can openly recruit....

Your hatred distracts from the obvious reason Hermantown should (hopefully will) move up, because they can compete at the AA level and win.
Leave it to Scott P and others to lead the charge, you are a distraction from that.

See previous post on the population estimate. You have to take in the whole range of area that they've brought in players from in the past. Not sure if people in St. Cloud make more money. Datausa.io says Median family income in St. Cloud is $44,485 and Duluth is $45,950. Okay, I was wrong on tuition, I apologize. Bottom line is families have to sacrifice and pay to go there. Hermantown is free.

Private Schools cannot "openly" recruit for sports. That would be a violation. Read the rules. Hermantown can recruit under the table the same as any private. HAHA's board has had to address it with coaches and parents. It's right on their website for all to see if you care to look.

Hatred? My opinion is no different than anyone else outside of Hermantown. Do they all hate too?

There are MANY reasons why Hermantown should move up. I don't see why some are important and others aren't. I am happy to leave the charge to Scott. I'm just posting on an anonymous message board for fun. You won't see me shouting from any rooftops or showing up at any meetings.

St. Cloud is 60 miles from the 3.6 million Mpls/St Paul metro area I forgot to include that.
Hermantown doesn't have anything that any other school does not also have.
Hermantown does not need to recruit, the community and program attracts people for many reasons besides just hockey.

[hockey59]

Do you just make this stuff up????
5 times larger??
Duluth metro area is larger, yes. Maybe 1.5 times larger.
St Cloud people on average make more money, therefore diminishing the number difference.
$20,000 tuition, more like $9600 and they offer need based scholarships.
SCC can openly recruit....

Your hatred distracts from the obvious reason Hermantown should (hopefully will) move up, because they can compete at the AA level and win.
Leave it to Scott P and others to lead the charge, you are a distraction from that.

See previous post on the population estimate. You have to take in the whole range of area that they've brought in players from in the past. Not sure if people in St. Cloud make more money. Datausa.io says Median family income in St. Cloud is $44,485 and Duluth is $45,950. Okay, I was wrong on tuition, I apologize. Bottom line is families have to sacrifice and pay to go there. Hermantown is free.

Private Schools cannot "openly" recruit for sports. That would be a violation. Read the rules. Hermantown can recruit under the table the same as any private. HAHA's board has had to address it with coaches and parents. It's right on their website for all to see if you care to look.

Hatred? My opinion is no different than anyone else outside of Hermantown. Do they all hate too?

There are MANY reasons why Hermantown should move up. I don't see why some are important and others aren't. I am happy to leave the charge to Scott. I'm just posting on an anonymous message board for fun. You won't see me shouting from any rooftops or showing up at any meetings.

St. Cloud is 60 miles from the 3.6 million Mpls/St Paul metro area I forgot to include that.
Hermantown doesn't have anything that any other school does not also have.
Hermantown does not need to recruit, the community and program attracts people for many reasons besides just hockey.

Correct...another in a LONG, LONG, list of reasons why they shouldn’t be playing in the third flight instead of the Championship Flight (to borrow a sand bagging Golf metaphor)

[Jeffy95]

Do you just make this stuff up????
5 times larger??
Duluth metro area is larger, yes. Maybe 1.5 times larger.
St Cloud people on average make more money, therefore diminishing the number difference.
$20,000 tuition, more like $9600 and they offer need based scholarships.
SCC can openly recruit....

Your hatred distracts from the obvious reason Hermantown should (hopefully will) move up, because they can compete at the AA level and win.
Leave it to Scott P and others to lead the charge, you are a distraction from that.

See previous post on the population estimate. You have to take in the whole range of area that they've brought in players from in the past. Not sure if people in St. Cloud make more money. Datausa.io says Median family income in St. Cloud is $44,485 and Duluth is $45,950. Okay, I was wrong on tuition, I apologize. Bottom line is families have to sacrifice and pay to go there. Hermantown is free.

Private Schools cannot "openly" recruit for sports. That would be a violation. Read the rules. Hermantown can recruit under the table the same as any private. HAHA's board has had to address it with coaches and parents. It's right on their website for all to see if you care to look.

Hatred? My opinion is no different than anyone else outside of Hermantown. Do they all hate too?

There are MANY reasons why Hermantown should move up. I don't see why some are important and others aren't. I am happy to leave the charge to Scott. I'm just posting on an anonymous message board for fun. You won't see me shouting from any rooftops or showing up at any meetings.

St. Cloud is 60 miles from the 3.6 million Mpls/St Paul metro area I forgot to include that.
Hermantown doesn't have anything that any other school does not also have.

I think those people are more likely to choose a private Catholic in their own backyard than commute 60 miles, don't you?

On the contrary, they sure do have something nobody else has. (Which has been pointed out 100 times on here by the way) They can offer AA Hockey throughout all of youth and the High School regular season and then an auto trip to play on TV at the X after they drop a class for the last two weeks of the season. I'd say that's a pretty attractive package, but what do I know?

[Mite-dad]

SCC often has kids from cities/towns outside of the St. Cloud area. So they draw kids (parents actually) from a larger pool also. Not sure it's much different than H-town.

[pekyman]

See previous post on the population estimate. You have to take in the whole range of area that they've brought in players from in the past. Not sure if people in St. Cloud make more money. Datausa.io says Median family income in St. Cloud is $44,485 and Duluth is $45,950. Okay, I was wrong on tuition, I apologize. Bottom line is families have to sacrifice and pay to go there. Hermantown is free.

Private Schools cannot "openly" recruit for sports. That would be a violation. Read the rules. Hermantown can recruit under the table the same as any private. HAHA's board has had to address it with coaches and parents. It's right on their website for all to see if you care to look.

Hatred? My opinion is no different than anyone else outside of Hermantown. Do they all hate too?

There are MANY reasons why Hermantown should move up. I don't see why some are important and others aren't. I am happy to leave the charge to Scott. I'm just posting on an anonymous message board for fun. You won't see me shouting from any rooftops or showing up at any meetings.

St. Cloud is 60 miles from the 3.6 million Mpls/St Paul metro area I forgot to include that.
Hermantown doesn't have anything that any other school does not also have.

I think those people are more likely to choose a private Catholic in their own backyard than commute 60 miles, don't you?

On the contrary, they sure do have something nobody else has. (Which has been pointed out 100 times on here by the way) They can offer AA Hockey throughout all of youth and the High School regular season and then an auto trip to play on TV at the X after they drop a class for the last two weeks of the season. I'd say that's a pretty attractive package, but what do I know?

Nobody is stopping any other team from doing the exact same thing.
It is an attractive package that Hermantown built.
By the way, I think it is time for HT to move on, I just don't buy into all the BS posted on here.