Thoughts on Duluth East?

[Greatness]

I have to chime in now. I understand the bitter feelings of those who have "outsiders" enter their world and take ice time. It also sucks when someone else gets the promotion at the work place. I'm also a bit embarrassed for those who go to such lengths as to move their family so they can play on a certain hockey team. Are people doing this in belief they have a better shot at the scholarship? Or is it just for the experience of playing on a good team? In big games? I see both sides I guess? But the Oh so bitter folks screaming when a kid moves in and makes the team, I believe, has entitlement issues and most likely is the same person who believes he is getting screwed in every other part of his life.

Its funny that the kids I grew up with who had parents who always made excuses for them continue to make excuses for themsleves or their kids. The glass is always half empty and if you look close enough, you can see the rain cloud above their head.

[karl(east)]

Hmmm what to say about East. I can honestly say that people either LOVE Mike Randolph or HATE him. I guess it depends on who the person is. The people I know who LOVE him are the people who appreciate winning and if their kids played for Mike, fully appreciate his honesty.

The People who HATE him are those who feel they are owed something or their kid was cut for not being the right fit for the team. Parents always think their kids should be there making the play and it's very difficult to accept that sometimes the kids not the right fit. Its not always due to the lack of talent, but maybe attitude?

As far as the goalie situation from what I know and have read. Neither Parker or Skoog is "Home Grown". Its true that the Parker family have two homes and are split between the two and the entire Skoog family moved to Duluth. SO whats right and whats wrong? Who knows.

In the end if both kids moved to East to be the guy, only one will be and that will be up to Randolph. So to end like I started, One will LOVE him and One will HATE him.

While I am largely in agreement with this post, I cut out one line--check your inbox.

[FREDFLINTSTONE]

Watched the state final again for the 20th time. Still can't figure out why Kerr did not get the intereference penalty. If you look at the replay, he stopped and looked for the box....

[east hockey]

Watched the state final again for the 20th time. Still can't figure out why Kerr did not get the intereference penalty. If you look at the replay, he stopped and looked for the box....

Maybe he just thought he saw someone he knew in there...

You've only watched it 20 times? I've watched the East-Moorhead final from '95 at least fifty times.

Lee

[FREDFLINTSTONE]

Watched the state final again for the 20th time. Still can't figure out why Kerr did not get the intereference penalty. If you look at the replay, he stopped and looked for the box....

Maybe he just thought he saw someone he knew in there...

You've only watched it 20 times? I've watched the East-Moorhead final from '95 at least fifty times.

Lee

That can't be it......East didn't have anyone in there the whole game. (I think the ref's were from East). By the way, how is the girl doing that they were holding up the signs for?

[east hockey]

Watched the state final again for the 20th time. Still can't figure out why Kerr did not get the intereference penalty. If you look at the replay, he stopped and looked for the box....

Maybe he just thought he saw someone he knew in there...

You've only watched it 20 times? I've watched the East-Moorhead final from '95 at least fifty times.

Lee

That can't be it......East didn't have anyone in there the whole game. (I think the ref's were from East). By the way, how is the girl doing that they were holding up the signs for?

Rachel's CaringBridge page has updates: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/rachelsandell

Lee

[The New One]

One thing I noted in that game was that Kyle Rau was willing to dish out hits and shots (admire him for this) as well as receive them and if I recall correctly (never have seen a reply) Kerr and Rau had bumped into each other a few times in the game previous to the incident you are referring to and I thought I saw Rau give a pretty hard shot away from the play to Kerr about 20 seconds before the hit you are talking about. No question interferance could have been called on Kerr but maybe the ref saw something previous and didnt want to call anything at that time even though I think East had already received 2 power plays and I dont think Eden Prairie got any.

[karl(east)]

Watched the state final again for the 20th time. Still can't figure out why Kerr did not get the intereference penalty. If you look at the replay, he stopped and looked for the box....

Maybe he just thought he saw someone he knew in there...

You've only watched it 20 times? I've watched the East-Moorhead final from '95 at least fifty times.

Lee

That can't be it......East didn't have anyone in there the whole game. (I think the ref's were from East).

It was the same group of refs that called zero penalties on Edina the night before, ignoring some obvious ones in the process. They sure liked to swallow the whistle. (Either that, or someone gave them good odds on Edina in the semis and DE in the final...)

I don't think I'm up to 20 yet, but I have watched both of those games several times. It could be a while before we see another tournament as good as that one.

[northwoods oldtimer]

Ask for extra butter Lee! This thread is starting to make me want to

[blueblood]

where do you come up with those great emoticons...

[DMom]

where do you come up with those great emoticons...

right click on them, click on properties...that's where they come from

I share that because it's great to see a little creativity coming back to the bored, and I'd like to see more.

[allstatebenders]

East's homecoming is this week... hope it was for hockey

[Duluth 4]

one last thought on that weekend of hockey, that was by far the most exciting week stretch of hockey i have ever been a part of. what makes it so great is that East was as close to being eliminated in the section finals and not beginning their run as they were to win the state finals. thats a memory ill take with me for the rest of my life.

[pioneers]

I was reading on mnhockeyhub.com that Jake Randolph suffered a concussion in elite league play. What's his status right now? I hope he has a fast recovery. He's one of the many exciting players to watch in MNHS hockey.

I heard he's off the Elite team. No point in risking another concussion right after the first one. He'll be ready to go in November.

Lee

FYI Randolph is back playing again

[stella218]

This is a discussion about hockey. Not peoples character. I could honestly care less if the coach is the worst human being to ever live... He wins hockey games.

So you're okay with a coach, that is supposed to be a positive role model for our young adults, but points the finger at individuals, sets up an elitist group that is exclusive to who he chooses and allows players to join the team who shouldn’t even be eligible to play? This is not what we should be focusing on with our players. It’s about teamwork, respect, and character building.

[luvuvgame]

My goodness people, can we just give all the coach bashing a rest...The bottom line is he's not going anywhere until he decides he is. Sure some people have legit beefs with the guy, but that is between them. It is the same arguments that have been going back and forth for 15 years. At some point you just have to give in and support the team or don't. For crying out loud. All this negative garbage does nothing but take away from the kids on the team. If for no one else, please stop with all the crap, for the kids...you know the ones everyone is so worried about???? For those of you who have to bash him or your day just can't go on, please go to one of the countless threads that is dedicated to that very thing...


GO HOUNDS!!!!

[dizlutheastt218]

winning

[FREDFLINTSTONE]

With a 25 game schedule, will #3 get an interference penalty called against him in one of these games?

[tezer13]

Hi All, I just joined and thought I would chime in on this

Both the juniors and seniors come from Bantam A teams that were some of their best. It is also the first year in a long time that they have not lost one of their top players to juniors (Welinski last year and Forbort the year before, just to name two of them). My guess is they come out ranked 1-3 and have the potential to stay there. Anything can happen, but they aside from the unanswered question at goalie they should be solid and deep at F and D.

As to the rather heated (at times) discussion on Randolph.

Here are some stats I thought you might be interested in:
TOP AA Teams by Wins 1990-2011
Team (GP) Wins-Losses : GF-GA
1. Duluth East (37) 24-13 : 129-98
2. Moorhead (35) 20-15 : 120-103
3. Edina (30) 19-11 : 98-79
4. Hill-Murray (33) 16-17 : 117-102
5. Bloom. Jeff (26) 16-10 : 96-59
6. Roseau (25) 14-11 : 92-81
7. White Bear Lake (26) 12-14 : 89-86
8. Blaine (26) 12-14 : 84-85
9. Holy Angels (12) 10-2 : 44-25
10. Eden Prairie (16) 8-8 : 44-46

Along with some of this topic's bashing of Randolph, I remember reading in a post last year about how Randolph's teams always choke (made me chuckle). What you see here are the State Tourney (AA) records since 1990. I guess you can take off 2 wins, from Duluth East for the year Randolph got canned or whatever. I would probably argue that it really was his team and it was loaded.

After that post, I got curious so I compiled these stats from http://www.minnhock.com/. I think that is you Lee. I plopped em into a spreadsheet and loaded them into a Database.

Even if you take out those two wins, Randolph has more tourney wins than anyone or any team at the AA level.

I get long winded, so that's all I got.

[20custom]

Happy to see another Marquee player do the right thing and get out of that program. The rumor mill has an announcement coming this week..oh well it's all the coaching that has produced those 13 appearances at state..the best feeder program in the state had nothing to do with it..

[EHSHack]

Happy to see another Marquee player do the right thing and get out of that program. The rumor mill has an announcement coming this week..oh well it's all the coaching that has produced those 13 appearances at state..the best feeder program in the state had nothing to do with it..

Kansas City Royals have the best farm system in the MLB... coaching has SOMETHING to do with it...

[DuluthHockeyBoy]

Sour grapes, eh? Considering who you are, I mean...

Lee

I thought it might take a little longer for you to throw your cheap comment out there.
Sour, you bet. And what about? Let's try Randolph breaking some rules by telling my kid not to come try out in October (the longest conversation he's had with him in 1 1/2 years and nice to to take our $350 for the summer). How about a player skimming by on the rules and "living" in Duluth while the parents still have a homesteaded house in Sartell. I bet they can't get out of town fast enough come 6/2013. How about telling players to go start recruiting last Spring. As stated before I have no problem with Skoog coming to DE as his family has moved here. But from his play this summer (and DE beating him last year), he's not up to the task.
While you're eager to throw you're two cents in with no dog in the fight, why don't you stop for a minute and think of the senior kid (there's one at DE every year) who's been nothing but hard working, loyal and quite successful when given the opportunity - yep some actually keep goalie stats and Parker ain't the better of the two. Evan Jamar has more character in his little finger than Randolph will ever have, as well as his assistants who are too afraid to stick up for anyone (you really think Larry Trachsel left the program cause he likes Florida - funny to see him at a lot of games).

Evan isn't going to throw in the towel because some pompous coach treats him like crap. He has every intention of playing and signed his junior contract today. You'd be surprise what reputation Randolph has around the country as we talked with Junior coaches this summer. It's not a good one, and none of them were surprised of his actions. I think you'd also be surprised by comments from scouts that no longer want to deal with DE, as they're sick of listening to Mike tell them they're wrong of what they think of players. There's some good examples of good players last year that assumed Mike was going to help them out. Alas no, unless they were wearing #7.
So my educated opinion stands, they struggle at the end of the year when it counts the most. I'm sure in his well-known fashion he'll scream at kids and tell them they blew it for everyone (as he did last year). I hope he looks down the bench and realizes he blew it for the 23 people standing next to him.
If I'm wrong, I'll be the first one on here giving them the big thumbs up. Don't think I'm going to have worry about that. I'll be done with my grapes by then.

"Evan Jamar has more character in his little finger than Randolph"

And obviously, than his father.

Struggle at the end of the season? Most would say they accomplished more last season than what was expected. Maybe that was a fluke. Mike has, I believe, coached thirteen state tournament teams, so I'm going to trust my gut and say Mike knows more about coaching than you do. Including goalies.

But hey, way to voice your opinion. After your son is no longer going to be playing for East, of course. Bravo.

Lee

Enjoy the Kool-Aid Lee, as you have been for years, as the defender of all things Randolph. Hockey heads in Duluth know that it is the DE youth hockey program that feeds the success Mike has enjoyed during his career. GR dropping off in the 80's helped too. Truth is that this is a big, well fed program in a weak section most years during Mike's career. I'll bet Esse would do just fine with what Mike gets every year, and Wentworth didn't seen to have much trouble the year Mike wasn't there (he played seniors too- in a HS sport- what a concept). Mike certainly knows hockey, and is at his best teaching fundamentals to young kids. But when it comes to how he has coached at the HS level- he has contributed little, and not delivered a positive experience to most of the kids he coaches. Duluth is full of former NHL and D1 players, and I have yet to find one that credits DE success to Coach Randolph. Most agree he is poor at developing players for the next level, and actually under-achieves with the talent he has (and brings in) year after year. Talk to former players- not just his buddies- most would tell you it was not great. Just look at how many hang up the skates after their Senior year. I have to admit- I have enjoyed watching his change in philosophy as his kid has moved up the ranks. All that triple A and elite/select stuff he poo-poo'd for years, was suddenly ok when his kid got there- hilarious! At the end of the day- just like all the rest of us- he is a just another hockey dad who thinks his kid is better than he actually is. the only difference is that he gets to make the lines. Lucky for him- his kids linemates may stay around for his kids senior year. If his kid does get a scholarship somewhere, he should write a check to Olson and Tontinato . They won't need it for school though, because they will both be on D1 scholarships despite his help. Time to take off the glasses and set down the Kool-Aid Lee- not everyone who criticizes Randolph is a bitter parent. And even if they are, they are not always wrong.

[DuluthHockeyBoy]

Well, now that we've all met and played nice-nice, let's get back to task: "How will East be in 2012?

Saw them at Eagan this summer, they played well and the Randolph - Tonanato - whoever else line was on the ice alot and looked really good. I can see them putting up 150+ points on the year.


Blueblood.... His name is Trevor Olson. Wears number 12. Without Olson, I bet the line goes nowhere. Seperate the line and Olson goes farther. He is the most over looked player on the team. Missing the all-state team and being called whoever for example. He lead the team in points last year. I'm willing to bet he goes for a repeat. Oh and he's a physical player. I don't see Randolph or Toninato laying out the body for the team. Olson is most complete player on the team.

No doubt about that. Amazing how Olson seems to be an afterthought for Mike and DE, yet everyone at the rink wants to know who he is. Obviously the "all state" team is picked out of the "players to watch" list in the media guide- which he was not included in, despite being a team leader in points. The most obvious D1 prospect on this team, with a big upside. I think he is an all-around talent who can develop into whatever type of forward is needed. Will be interesting to see how he progresses after HS. If he has the desire he will go far. Without a doubt the best talent in this group, and the scouts agree.

[east hockey]

My goodness people, can we just give all the coach bashing a rest...The bottom line is he's not going anywhere until he decides he is. Sure some people have legit beefs with the guy, but that is between them. It is the same arguments that have been going back and forth for 15 years. At some point you just have to give in and support the team or don't. For crying out loud. All this negative garbage does nothing but take away from the kids on the team. If for no one else, please stop with all the crap, for the kids...you know the ones everyone is so worried about???? For those of you who have to bash him or your day just can't go on, please go to one of the countless threads that is dedicated to that very thing...


GO HOUNDS!!!!

Good advice. It's unfortunate a few anonymous "brave" posters can't adhere to it. Gotta wonder how many of these people would actually step forward if they had to put their real names to their posts. Few, if any, I'm willing to bet.

Lee

[karl(east)]

A few scattered thoughts.

-History question that largely predates me: how much credit does Randolph deserve for building up the East youth program? Isn't he in large part responsible for taking command of it and setting it up as a feeder program for the high school? Of course, this does not necessarily mean he is a great coach. Building a program and then managing it once it's been built are two very different things that take very different talents. It is possible to be good at one and struggle with the other. But we should give credit where credit is due.

-My observation on East's past eight or so seasons: rarely do the Hounds "meet expectations" relative to their talent level. Either they overachieve (05, the past two years), or they crash and burn with an ugly upset loss (06-09).

-7AA is not as strong a section as the West Metro sections, but most years it is in the upper half in the state in terms of difficulty. It is just about always harder than sections 1, 3, 4, and 8 (or the equivalents of those sections before realignment). Historical computerized rankings confirm this.

-The Jake Randolph fixation amuses me. My observation on watching Jake: there are advantages to being a coach's son that have nothing to do with nepotism. He may not have the potential of an Olson or a Toninato, but one can tell that he knows how to play within the East system as well as anyone. When scouts or people looking towards the next level opine on the East top line, they admire players like Olson. When other high school players or coaches who are fixated on the HS game look at the line, they pick out Randolph. Jake Randolph was raised to play hockey in the East system, and he is a great complimentary player on a line with two other strong forwards. (It was the same way his sophomore year when he had different linemates.) Will he be able to translate those skills to the next level? I don't know. But I think it's a mistake to say he is merely riding on the coattails of better players. He plays his role in the system as well as anyone, and that lets the other players elevate their game.

-It'd be interesting to take an objective look at the careers of the players who left East early and see how they all turned out.