Midwest Xposure or Gopher State Festival Tourney?

Daaden · Post by **Daaden** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 10:11 am

Don't know much about these two March invite tournaments, but which would you recommend? They both take place on the same weekend.

Any idea how hard it is to get in to the Midwest Xposure?

Thanks. Happy Hockey Day!

preferhockey · Post by **preferhockey** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 11:05 am

Neither, give me your excess cash...lol

Sats81 · Post by **Sats81** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 3:00 pm

preferhockey wrote:Neither, give me your excess cash...lol

lol. no doubt!

OU812 · Post by **OU812** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 4:50 pm

I wouldn't go quite that far; the elite league runs this tournament with SSM, and if you are a HS player hoping to get an elite league tryout, this is a decent opportunity to show why you deserve a look.

puckbreath · Post by **puckbreath** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 5:11 pm

OU812 wrote:I wouldn't go quite that far; the elite league runs this tournament with SSM, and if you are a HS player hoping to get an elite league tryout, this is a decent opportunity to show why you deserve a look.

So, you have to pay hundreds of dollars, and if from out of town, even more, just to hope to get a spot in a *tryout*...................

Sounds like just another money making scam to me.

Roy01 · Post by **Roy01** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 5:29 pm

I participated in the Gopher State Festival and I thought it was worth my time/money. Scouts were in attendance as well. Not a plethora, but enough to make it worth while. The level of competition wasn't bad either.

As for Xposure, in speaking with my coach about your exact question while in high school, he had advised me to lean toward Gopher State. This coach said to me the Xposure tournament is primarily a money-maker.

Also, worth considering about the difficulty of being invited to Xposure - there were ten teams last year; twelve in years past. Typically a high number of teams means a high number of players participating, which means more money for the tournament. Many players will receive the invite, it's just whether they want to pay the fee (which if I recall was pretty steep...)

That aside though, there is a better turn-out scouting wise at Xposure. Naturally with it being at Shattuck and being tied to the Elite League, it brings more notoriety.

As for which to choose, it really depends on what you are looking for. If advancement toward the Elite League/high scouting is priority and cost isn't an issue, choose Xposure. If you are looking for a more "grounded" tournament, a little less popular but still a good turnout, I'd suggest Gopher State.

Hopefully this gives some insight, though being as I chose Gopher State, I may be slightly biased.

OU812 · Post by **OU812** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:05 pm

So, you have to pay hundreds of dollars, and if from out of town, even more, just to hope to get a spot in a *tryout*..................."

Sounds like just another money making scam to me.

No, you don't have to. You can just throw the invite away if you want.

But if you want to compare these two tournaments, you can keep the Xposure elite league connection in mind.

puckbreath · Post by **puckbreath** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 1:35 pm

OU812 wrote:So, you have to pay hundreds of dollars, and if from out of town, even more, just to hope to get a spot in a *tryout*..................."

Sounds like just another money making scam to me.

No, you don't have to. You can just throw the invite away if you want.

But if you want to compare these two tournaments, you can keep the Xposure elite league connection in mind.

A. It wasn't me asking the question about the leagues.

B. My statement was a general statement of the silliness of having to spend big money on a tournament....................on the hopes of getting an *invite* to *tryout* for....................another tournament ?
Yeah, that make's sense.

Fool and his money, etc.

Whopper2 · Post by **Whopper2** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 4:11 am

xposure by far.Anyone can sign up for gopher fest. weak teams few scouts . they had a hard finding players last year.

Daaden · Post by **Daaden** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 5:42 am

Thanks for the input. I know that someone is making a little money on these events, but I'm fine with that if we can add another 4 or 5 quality games to the end of the short high school season.

NLHockey · Post by **NLHockey** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 7:45 am

Daaden wrote:Thanks for the input. I know that someone is making a little money on these events, but I'm fine with that if we can add another 4 or 5 quality games to the end of the short high school season.

That's the right way to look at it. $210 for 4-5 games over a weekend at Gopher State ....... big deal .... not like they all haven't dropped 2-3X more than that for an out of town squirt (or other youth) tournament once or twice in their lives or a composite stick or two

As for the Xposure tournment....IMHO, you either have a marquee name already and don't need the "xtra xposure" or you know someone that will get you a tryout in the Fall. If neither of these are true, the $1000 bucks or so you will spend on the fee, travel, and hotel for the weekend probably won't buy you a tryout.

If you are looking to play for the extra games and maybe a scout or two, seems to me Gopher State would be the way to go. If you are looking to make the Elite League in the Fall......seems like a better way to spend your money would be to support your local youth hockey at the local pull tab booth and maybe you will get lucky there.

The Talon · Post by **The Talon** » Sat Feb 01, 2014 1:18 pm

Is it the same tryout process for goalies too?

preferhockey · Post by **preferhockey** » Sun Feb 09, 2014 9:12 am

No tryout, send your money and your signed up.

Now next are Junior tryouts, same joke less than 5% of kids make teams. Thats a fact Jack!

Task Force 34 · Post by **Task Force 34** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 10:09 am

Anyone know when they normally announce the teams and game schedule? I wonder if they are struggling to fill rosters? Looks like the games times are set on the website but no mention of participants.

NLHockey · Post by **NLHockey** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 10:46 am

Task Force 34 wrote:Anyone know when they normally announce the teams and game schedule? I wonder if they are struggling to fill rosters? Looks like the games times are set on the website but no mention of participants.

Coaches from each region put together teams - it wasn't a purely application process, although I'm sure those helped fill out the rosters.

justhavefun · Post by **justhavefun** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 11:18 am

past reviews on the Gopher State, from my experience, is that the Sophomore group is a strong tounament with most the top 10th grade players in the state, partly due to theres not much else out there comcentrating on this age group. all these type of tournaments are more for fun and the experience rather then the exposure. just have fun.

Juggernaut · Post by **Juggernaut** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 1:10 pm

I don't know anything about the tournament but I spoke with one of the sophomore coaches at the X last week and he was still looking for players. His comment most of the teams at all levels were still trying to fill their rosters.

Nuts&Bolts · Post by **Nuts&Bolts** » Wed Mar 12, 2014 12:21 pm

Let the spring season begin since golf balls won't fly outside for another 6 weeks. Looking at what's posted so far I'd say the Xposure tournament must have better draw appeal since the rosters appear full with more teams. IMHO though the X looks to be truly a Whose Who??? if you get the humor. Maybe 2 or 3 recognizable names per team but NOWHERE near the quality this tournament used to pull just a few years back. In comparison the Gopher State tourney (only has North and West rosters up) appears to be deeper with talent. Thoughts?

NLHockey · Post by **NLHockey** » Wed Mar 12, 2014 12:27 pm

Yeah. Not much for name recognition in either tourney. Team north should be renamed NW. Not much NE there but good luck to EgF

skills_coach1 · Post by **skills_coach1** » Thu Mar 13, 2014 1:37 pm

Well, all teams are posted on Gopher state festival now, I would agree, it seems as though the talent is there. It is a recreational tourney... It hopefully is fun for the kids participating and potentially enables a few folks to watch... I know they have had difficulty with players committing to both tourneys this time of year. With some teams just finishing up at the X and others with other sports starting up, I got to believe getting firm commits from some is a chore..

Should be fun to watch in either case.

The North, South, East, West boundaries have to be interesting... That much I know..

justhavefun · Post by **justhavefun** » Thu Mar 13, 2014 2:24 pm

just reviewing the sophomore names it seems to list the majoity of sophomores who played regular roles on their varsity teams. i see a few i personally know who played only JV.

the JR / SR group, probably to many other elite options or Junior tryouts so the higher end players by-pass this tournament.

remember it all just for fun anyway.

Marty McSorely · Post by **Marty McSorely** » Mon Mar 17, 2014 9:35 am

So how many scouts were at the Sat/Sun Exposure? Heard that on Friday two had actually signed in.

Sk8 Str8 · Post by **Sk8 Str8** » Wed Mar 19, 2014 5:47 pm

Hoping to see the stats from Xposure any day now...

NLHockey · Post by **NLHockey** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 12:15 am

Xposure posted their stats on their website. Curious to know what's up with all the older goaltenders - Brian Anderson (Maple Grove MNJHL), Joey Bergquist (MNJHL Breezy Point), Paige Skoog (NAHL). Has this become more of a juniors level tournament?

puckbreath · Post by **puckbreath** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 4:51 am

NLHockey wrote:Xposure posted their stats on their website. Curious to know what's up with all the older goaltenders - Brian Anderson (Maple Grove MNJHL), Joey Bergquist (MNJHL Breezy Point), Paige Skoog (NAHL). Has this become more of a juniors level tournament?

More likely, a shortage of goalie bodies for the weekend.

But that's just a guess.