Moderators: Mitch Hawker, east hockey, karl(east)
Nah, I think it's more like a quality player on a lousy team that didn't get scouted. Heck, it sometimes happens to quality players on quality teams. Robb Stauber -- a walk-on at the U, wins the Hobey Baker, first goalie ever????? Who missed that one????mulefarm wrote:I don't believe they came out of nowhere. they played 2-3 yrs of varsity.The Exiled One wrote:From last year, Jonny Brodzinski and Josh Archibald.
I would say a player that played jv or sparingly as a junior would be a player that came out of nowhere his sr year is what we're talking about?
Agreed. Almost every player that deserves it will be seen these days.mulefarm wrote:Really hard for quality players not to be noticed or found these days. 20-30 yrs ago it happened , but not much these days.
Shinbone_News wrote:It's like I keep saying. Plenty of kids peak at high school. Give them the kudos while they're at it, it might go up in smoke in the USHL or D3.
Same with selects programs. A big percentage of those kids -- bigger than you might think, anyway -- never even play college hockey by choice or otherwise.
Elite league is development (by definition, seems to me) for those kids who go on to higher, faster, bigger level of hockey, for others it may be exposure for the last time.
And I can't imagine that more hockey games, played with the alleged cream of the state crop, while getting to stay at home and go to high school is a less desirable path than, say, jumping to the USHL at age 17.
I'll disagree with you here.Shinbone_News wrote:It's like I keep saying. Plenty of kids peak at high school. Give them the kudos while they're at it, it might go up in smoke in the USHL or D3.
Same with selects programs. A big percentage of those kids -- bigger than you might think, anyway -- never even play college hockey by choice or otherwise.
Elite league is development (by definition, seems to me) for those kids who go on to higher, faster, bigger level of hockey, for others it may be exposure for the last time.
And I can't imagine that more hockey games, played with the alleged cream of the state crop, while getting to stay at home and go to high school is a less desirable path than, say, jumping to the USHL at age 17.
Agreed it's not REAL development, but all the kids talk about how "fast" Elite League games are, and having gone through something like that myself in the paleolithic age, having your eyes opened like that is a form of development too. At the very least, you get a taste for what "the next level" might look like, and realize just how much work you have left to do.auld_skool wrote: Second, Elite may be about alot of things but development is not one of them. Exposure and extra games YES but not developing as players, unless you consider playing games development.
And obviously, what's "desirable" to one kid might not have the same appeal to another. Playing in the USHL with the cream of the national crop is very appealing to some athletes, even though you "can't imagine" it.
We agree then after all. I think the kids that play a game or two in the USHL during HS seek that "next level" experience for real. An "eye-opener" to say the least. Faster, bigger, and tougher than Elite.Shinbone_News wrote:
Agreed it's not REAL development, but all the kids talk about how "fast" Elite League games are, and having gone through something like that myself in the paleolithic age, having your eyes opened like that is a form of development too. At the very least, you get a taste for what "the next level" might look like, and realize just how much work you have left to do.
Minnesota Pride prevents me from going too deeply into why a kid might prefer the state cream to the national cream. Everyone knows the MSHSL state hockey tournament is the be-all and end-all of amateur American sports (bigger than football in Texas, bigger than basketball in Indiana), and the envy of every non-Minnesotan hockey player in the US.