Role of the Minnesota State High School League

[Eagles93]

Recruits?

Why all the ire at Eden Prairie only when top programs routinely attract players? Edina, Burnsville, Jefferson, etc.... Wayzata added Clayton Keller's brother and you're upset with Eden Prairie for having kids from Eden Prairie that you don't think should be there? GMAB Not your call.

I think it's cool that HS hockey in Minnesota still attracts players.

Totally agree with OTC here. I've been reading a lot of comments about EP this year and "recruiting" and maybe I don't know the players well enough but Steeves would be the only one that I understood that got people riled up. Best player on the team (Mr. Hockey candidate) moves into the state for his senior year. I thought I read that his parents are originally from MN? So not that crazy, and no different than Hogg or Aitken, to use two recent examples.

Langenbrunner, I guess I don't know if the "closer to the airport" was a legit reason but he obviously did move to EP, whether it was an apartment or the family moved, I don't know.

Blake grew up in EP, right? Just left for SSM for a year then came back - and sat out for it. Doesn't seem like recruiting to me?

Are there other players on EP this year that people think are recruits?

Smith has brought in more then anyone over the last fifteen years.

Can you give examples? I'm legitimately asking as I don't remember hearing recruiting complaints about EP in the past?

[O-townClown]

Just left for SSM for a year

not even

[O-townClown]

My belief is that the number of transfers is out of control.

What is that number?

Seriously, you are way out past left field here. Are there transfers? Yes. Out of control?

https://legacy.mshsl.org/mshsl/

Go to this website and click on the "Schools" and "Activities" dropdown. MSHSL oversees all of this. How often does someone transfer to Ada-Borup with an interest in being a part of their One Act Play.

My belief is that you lack perspective. I am all for a level playing field, but the "I'm from Duluth" mindset is really missing a great deal. The people that run MSHSL aren't just from Duluth, and they are concerned with creating a healthy environment for the entire spectrum. This includes private schools, rural communities, co-ops, suburban behemoths, and urban programs in sometimes disadvantaged areas.

Duluth's metro population is 280,000 and the sport we are passionate for only has 2 1/2 high school teams anybody cares about. To MSHSL this isn't the tip of the iceberg, but at best a small needle in a giant haystack.

Good luck if you want to fight this battle. To me it seems quixotic. The leaders at member institutions served by MSHSL will continue to work at improving their rules and enforcement. A radical idea like putting a kibosh on activities for anyone open enrolling in a state that led the way isn't likely to float.

[O-townClown]

There really aren’t that many of them in the grand scheme of things.

Exactly. A few more than we hear about probably because it is only a problem when a team enjoys a little success!

I'm all for a level playing field. Since people won't ever agree on what that looks like I see it as a fool's errand to waste a lot of time in this area.

[karl(east)]

My only contribution to this conversation will be a general observation about how the Duluth area seems to magnify this issue (if it really is an issue) in a way other places don't. In the Metro, people don't necessarily love it, but there's an understanding that player movement is a pretty common thing. There are also a lot of different places to come from or go to, and they tend to change over time. (Remember when Holy Angels was the top destination? Or even Holy Family just a couple years back? How quickly these things come and go.) A handful of programs like Edina and Hill do stay good year after year, but beyond that, there's a pretty natural churn over time, as I've written about elsewhere. I'd also posit that community loyalty across generations is somewhat rarer among suburbanites, though there are of course exceptions to that.

In most of Greater MN, geography makes a lot of movement impractical, so there isn't a ton of it (though there obviously is some), and loyalty tends to run pretty deep. Due to the numbers game, talent also tends to be more cyclical; even if a Greenway pulls in a few transfers when they have a good core, they aren't going to stay perpetually good because the numbers aren't there. The Duluth area is small enough to get some loyalty, and it's easy to trace movement from one school to another and point fingers, especially when there are couple of programs that do have the numbers to stay consistently good and can reliably be destinations year after year. The divides become clear here in a way they don't anywhere else.

[WestMetro]

Kids are so desperate to play MSHSL hockey that they’ll rent apartments and change legal guardianships and we see this as a bad thing? I hate that kids break the spirit of the rule if not the letter of it, but if the alternative is making transfers so restrictive that we start driving kids to AAA and juniors, I’ll settle for a bit of rule bending from the handful of kids who have the talent, means, and desire to do so. There really aren’t that many of them in the grand scheme of things.

Well Stated Exiled One

[O-townClown]

The divides become clear here in a way they don't anywhere else.

Nailed it. As usual, Karl. You see it. Others don't. MSHSL meeting...what are we going to do about the kid that open enrolled into Hermantown? I don't know...we've got Alpine Skiing to discuss and Cross Country and …………

[HockeyCrazy1970]

A major role of MSHSL is to protect the players. This thread is a lot about movement of players and how so many are screaming foul about ambiguous rules which require interpretation and to some have a level of subjectivity and may be hard to prove. The MSHSL if very clear about the cages goalies must wear. I have never seen a year where several of the goalies blatantly wore illegal cages. What ref worth their stripes can't spot the difference in these cages and they must know these are not allowed in high school hockey. They are a distinct advantage to those who cheat (and wear "cheater" cages) and they are unsafe. I was really saddened to see a 12 year old wearing a "cheater" at Braemar (didn't happen to be a Hornet) in February. The young goalies will wear what they see at the X, on the jumbotron, and at their home rink. It was so bad this year the MSHSL might as well just let them go to cat-eyes and ditch the required "dangler" neck protection (which some HS goalies simply just wear so high and tight they aren't protecting them either)...
Pics attached of MN goalies this year. Helen K. can spot the obvious differences...

Legal.jpg (41.84 KiB) Viewed 6828 times

Cheater.jpg (32.85 KiB) Viewed 6828 times

[defense]

A major role of MSHSL is to protect the players. This thread is a lot about movement of players and how so many are screaming foul about ambiguous rules which require interpretation and to some have a level of subjectivity and may be hard to prove. The MSHSL if very clear about the cages goalies must wear. I have never seen a year where several of the goalies blatantly wore illegal cages. What ref worth their stripes can't spot the difference in these cages and they must know these are not allowed in high school hockey. They are a distinct advantage to those who cheat (and wear "cheater" cages) and they are unsafe. I was really saddened to see a 12 year old wearing a "cheater" at Braemar (didn't happen to be a Hornet) in February. The young goalies will wear what they see at the X, on the jumbotron, and at their home rink. It was so bad this year the MSHSL might as well just let them go to cat-eyes and ditch the required "dangler" neck protection (which some HS goalies simply just wear so high and tight they aren't protecting them either)...
Pics attached of MN goalies this year. Helen K. can spot the obvious differences...
Legal.jpg
Cheater.jpg

You sure mshsl actually has outrulled those? I think mshsl still rules in facemasks.

[HockeyCrazy1970]

On the 2019-2020 MSHSL Boys hockey page https://legacy.mshsl.org/mshsl/activity ... actnum=410
it has an active link under "Activity Administration:" titled "Goalie Mask Markings" for https://legacy.mshsl.org/mshsl/sports/H ... rkings.doc
from clear back in 2011 which reads in part, "The “H.E.C.C.” initials, manufacturer’s identification, size, and model identification must be visible to referees without removal of the mask or helmet. The “H.E.C.C.” marking shall appear ONLY on HECC Certified products and sanctions will be imposed if any such marking is used on non-certified products. USA Hockey, the National Federation of High Schools, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association will be notified of this marking and referees will be instructed that only masks bearing the marking are HECC Certified goalie masks.

[Duluthguy]

In case you missed it in yesterday's Star Tribune, an article on the transfer rule:

https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-h ... 570753382/

In short, it quotes a legislator who believes the transfer rules should be less stringent than many of us commenting here....

[Jeffy95]

In case you missed it in yesterday's Star Tribune, an article on the transfer rule:

https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-h ... 570753382/

In short, it quotes a legislator who believes the transfer rules should be less stringent than many of us commenting here....

I only skimmed it, but it looks this entire article was about repeating grades and remaining eligible, not transferring.

[Duluthguy]

In case you missed it in yesterday's Star Tribune, an article on the transfer rule:

https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-h ... 570753382/

In short, it quotes a legislator who believes the transfer rules should be less stringent than many of us commenting here....

I only skimmed it, but it looks this entire article was about repeating grades and remaining eligible, not transferring.

The student in the article did transfer, which added to the frustration of their dealings with the League. From the article:

"She missed a great deal of time at school and withdrew from Visitation because she needed a fresh start. She transferred to Mounds Park Academy, a private school in Maplewood located about 16 miles away, for the 2018-19 school year and repeated her junior year.

Because her family did not change its residence, Driano was automatically ruled ineligible for tennis, track and field and speech based on Bylaw 111. She appealed but was denied by the league. She pressed and was granted a hearing before the league’s eligibility committee, which approved her case without explanation."

[OldGopherFan]

Not wanting to drag things away from the transfer topic, but I wanted to talk about the goalie cages. The goalies go to combines and junior camps and see these cages being used. They try them and like the difference it makes. It is very easy to swap out the cage portion of the mask.They choose to leave them on and then have to deal with the chance they may be caught. I was at a HS game this winter where the goalie was caught with one of these cages during warm ups. He was told he could not use the mask. He used the back up goalies mask for the entire first period and then switched back to his in between periods. I had to have someone explain to me what was going on. After that, I was told that he was checked before every game to make sure that he did not put it back on. If you are not a goalie it is really hard to tell the difference on some of these cages. However, it seems that at least some of the refs know what to look for.

Now, back to the transfer rule. I am not a fan of the current setup. It is just too easy to work around. If they just go to a rule that says that you cannot play varsity sports for one year from the date of transfer it will keep things more in check. It will be a hard thing for the kid that has to move for non-hockey reasons but will stop the pretenders. I am not a fan of kids moving all over before they start ninth grade to get into a better hockey situation but I think that is fair that they get to choose their high school. Then they just need to stay there or sit out a year.

[goldy313]

Meh, Eden Prairie hired a wrestling coach (Scott Davis) who was fired from Owatonna for breaking MSHSL rules on recruiting. He used a school computer to do this.

I expected more from AD Mike Grant