Hermantown @ Bemidji Saturday

[elliott70]

Elliott, if you are going to the game you should post some updates on here.
I don't make those long road trips now that I don't have any skin in the game and would appreciate it.
I'm expecting a good close game.

Not going to be close.
Bemidji had 2 players out at the start of the EGF game. Lost 2 more in 1st/2nd period of the game. So 2 of 1 line 2 of 2 line
Unless some of them are ready to go Bemdji will be playing 2 lines instead of 4.

We will see who is on the ice in warm-ups.

[ilovemesomehockey]

Elliott, if you are going to the game you should post some updates on here.
I don't make those long road trips now that I don't have any skin in the game and would appreciate it.
I'm expecting a good close game.

Not going to be close.
Bemidji had 2 players out at the start of the EGF game. Lost 2 more in 1st/2nd period of the game. So 2 of 1 line 2 of 2 line
Unless some of them are ready to go Bemdji will be playing 2 lines instead of 4.

We will see who is on the ice in warm-ups.

Sad to say, I think you are right. I like Bemidji, but even at full strength, they would have their hands full with Hermantown, who has a habit of overwhelming their opponents and causing mass confusion/panic. This has always been their MOA. IF, and that's a big IF, you can get to their goalie, scoring is not terribly difficult. They are fully aware of this weakness, however, and keep shots to a minimum and of the very low scoring chance variety. Not sure how Hopkins got the job done. Good luck, but I think Htown is the real deal this year.

[northwoods oldtimer]

Go Bemidji!!

[GPGT]

Elliott, if you are going to the game you should post some updates on here.
I don't make those long road trips now that I don't have any skin in the game and would appreciate it.
I'm expecting a good close game.

Not going to be close.
Bemidji had 2 players out at the start of the EGF game. Lost 2 more in 1st/2nd period of the game. So 2 of 1 line 2 of 2 line
Unless some of them are ready to go Bemdji will be playing 2 lines instead of 4.

We will see who is on the ice in warm-ups.

Sad to say, I think you are right. I like Bemidji, but even at full strength, they would have their hands full with Hermantown, who has a habit of overwhelming their opponents and causing mass confusion/panic. This has always been their MOA. IF, and that's a big IF, you can get to their goalie, scoring is not terribly difficult. They are fully aware of this weakness, however, and keep shots to a minimum and of the very low scoring chance variety. Not sure how Hopkins got the job done. Good luck, but I think Htown is the real deal this year.

Not to sound cocky. As I don't live in hermantown.... But can you recall a season Hermantown was NOT the "real deal"???

[ilovemesomehockey]

Not going to be close.
Bemidji had 2 players out at the start of the EGF game. Lost 2 more in 1st/2nd period of the game. So 2 of 1 line 2 of 2 line
Unless some of them are ready to go Bemdji will be playing 2 lines instead of 4.

We will see who is on the ice in warm-ups.

Sad to say, I think you are right. I like Bemidji, but even at full strength, they would have their hands full with Hermantown, who has a habit of overwhelming their opponents and causing mass confusion/panic. This has always been their MOA. IF, and that's a big IF, you can get to their goalie, scoring is not terribly difficult. They are fully aware of this weakness, however, and keep shots to a minimum and of the very low scoring chance variety. Not sure how Hopkins got the job done. Good luck, but I think Htown is the real deal this year.

Not to sound cocky. As I don't live in hermantown.... But can you recall a season Hermantown was NOT the "real deal"???

[thestickler07]

Not to sound cocky. As I don't live in hermantown.... But can you recall a season Hermantown was NOT the "real deal"???

Do you open enroll from Proctor?

[GPGT]

Answer the question guys.... Or is an eyeroll and a stupid sarcastic comment supposed to be your answer?

[Froggy Richards]

Answer the question guys.... Or is an eyeroll and a stupid sarcastic comment supposed to be your answer?

i

The Answer is every year. They are a great team and no one will deny that. But you cannot be a AA program, sandbag in Class A for the playoffs, and be called 'The real deal.' They will never be 'The Real Deal' until they opt up to where they belong.

[pekyman]

Answer the question guys.... Or is an eyeroll and a stupid sarcastic comment supposed to be your answer?

i

The Answer is every year. They are a great team and no one will deny that. But you cannot be a AA program, sandbag in Class A for the playoffs, and be called 'The real deal.' They will never be 'The Real Deal' until they opt up to where they belong.

AA program?
School is 615 students which makes them 1/2 the size of Mahtomedi.
Hermantown is small and would be the smallest school in AA behind Roseau if they opted up. Also only 1 sheet of inside ice. Roseau has 3 sheets of inside ice.
Put it to rest groggy.
You have no clue what a community hockey program is about.
Your STAA right?

[GPGT]

Answer the question guys.... Or is an eyeroll and a stupid sarcastic comment supposed to be your answer?

i

The Answer is every year. They are a great team and no one will deny that. But you cannot be a AA program, sandbag in Class A for the playoffs, and be called 'The real deal.' They will never be 'The Real Deal' until they opt up to where they belong.

AA program?
School is 615 students which makes them 1/2 the size of Mahtomedi.
Hermantown is small and would be the smallest school in AA behind Roseau if they opted up. Also only 1 sheet of inside ice. Roseau has 3 sheets of inside ice.
Put it to rest groggy.
You have no clue what a community hockey program is about.
Your STAA right?

This is exactly what I was thinking..... How in the hell are they sandbagging with a public school student population of what, 600? whats the AA/A cutoff? around 1000? That is the dumbest thing Ive ever heard froggy...

[Froggy Richards]

i

The Answer is every year. They are a great team and no one will deny that. But you cannot be a AA program, sandbag in Class A for the playoffs, and be called 'The real deal.' They will never be 'The Real Deal' until they opt up to where they belong.

AA program?
School is 615 students which makes them 1/2 the size of Mahtomedi.
Hermantown is small and would be the smallest school in AA behind Roseau if they opted up. Also only 1 sheet of inside ice. Roseau has 3 sheets of inside ice.
Put it to rest groggy.
You have no clue what a community hockey program is about.
Your STAA right?

This is exactly what I was thinking..... How in the hell are they sandbagging with a public school student population of what, 600? whats the AA/A cutoff? around 1000? That is the dumbest thing Ive ever heard froggy...

Enrollment? Really? Minneapolis must be the #1 team in the state this year then. They had 12 Mite teams last year. That's roughly 120 kids. Oh yeah, and they've been in the State Championship game 4 years in a row. When is the last time they lost to an A team? They will play any AA team that will schedule them. They would play all AA outside of the conference if they could, and then drop down to A for the playoffs? You can't have it both ways. STA did that and Hermantown shouted from Rooftops about the injustice. And don't give me the private school recruiting crap. Hermantown pulls in top players from all over the area. The only difference is they have a huge feeder program and STA didn't. JMDAO.

[pekyman]

AA program?
School is 615 students which makes them 1/2 the size of Mahtomedi.
Hermantown is small and would be the smallest school in AA behind Roseau if they opted up. Also only 1 sheet of inside ice. Roseau has 3 sheets of inside ice.
Put it to rest groggy.
You have no clue what a community hockey program is about.
Your STAA right?

This is exactly what I was thinking..... How in the hell are they sandbagging with a public school student population of what, 600? whats the AA/A cutoff? around 1000? That is the dumbest thing Ive ever heard froggy...

They had 12 Mite teams last year. That's roughly 120 kids. Oh yeah, and they've been in the State Championship game 4 years in a row. When is the last time they lost to an A team? They will play any AA team that will schedule them. They would play all AA outside of the conference if they could, and then drop down to A for the playoffs? You can't have it both ways. STA did that and Hermantown shouted from Rooftops about the injustice. And don't give me the private school recruiting crap. Hermantown pulls in top players from all over the area. The only difference is they have a huge feeder program and STA didn't. JMDAO.

Keep spewing your agenda. You are seriously ignorant

[Froggy Richards]

This is exactly what I was thinking..... How in the hell are they sandbagging with a public school student population of what, 600? whats the AA/A cutoff? around 1000? That is the dumbest thing Ive ever heard froggy...

They had 12 Mite teams last year. That's roughly 120 kids. Oh yeah, and they've been in the State Championship game 4 years in a row. When is the last time they lost to an A team? They will play any AA team that will schedule them. They would play all AA outside of the conference if they could, and then drop down to A for the playoffs? You can't have it both ways. STA did that and Hermantown shouted from Rooftops about the injustice. And don't give me the private school recruiting crap. Hermantown pulls in top players from all over the area. The only difference is they have a huge feeder program and STA didn't. JMDAO.

Keep spewing your agenda. You are seriously ignorant

Feel free to point out the innacuracies of what I said if you have the time. Otherwise, we'll just once again give the points to Froggy on this debate. I believe it's 5-0 by my count, but I may have missed one or two.

[east hockey]

Back on topic, boys. Hermantown isn't playing STAA today.

Lee

[warriors41]

They had 12 Mite teams last year. That's roughly 120 kids. Oh yeah, and they've been in the State Championship game 4 years in a row. When is the last time they lost to an A team? They will play any AA team that will schedule them. They would play all AA outside of the conference if they could, and then drop down to A for the playoffs? You can't have it both ways. STA did that and Hermantown shouted from Rooftops about the injustice. And don't give me the private school recruiting crap. Hermantown pulls in top players from all over the area. The only difference is they have a huge feeder program and STA didn't. JMDAO.

Keep spewing your agenda. You are seriously ignorant

Feel free to point out the innacuracies of what I said if you have the time. Otherwise, we'll just once again give the points to Froggy on this debate. I believe it's 5-0 by my count, but I may have missed one or two.

You lose points for referring to yourself in the 3rd person

[Froggy Richards]

Keep spewing your agenda. You are seriously ignorant

Feel free to point out the innacuracies of what I said if you have the time. Otherwise, we'll just once again give the points to Froggy on this debate. I believe it's 5-0 by my count, but I may have missed one or two.

You lose points for referring to yourself in the 3rd person

Really? Wolfman has become a legend on the girls thread for doing just that. I know I'm in not in his league yet, but if I keep working, the sky is the limit!

[goldy313]

AA program?
School is 615 students which makes them 1/2 the size of Mahtomedi.
Hermantown is small and would be the smallest school in AA behind Roseau if they opted up. Also only 1 sheet of inside ice. Roseau has 3 sheets of inside ice.
Put it to rest groggy.
You have no clue what a community hockey program is about.
Your STAA right?

Hill Murray... 599 students.
You could make a real good argument some of these AA co-ops are smaller, they just co-op instead of get kids who open enroll....
Kasson-Mantorville 592 students.
LeSeuer-Henderson 265 students (they petitioned down)
Cloquet 586 students

How many sheets of ice are within 10 miles of Hermantown? 6? 7? more?
Outside the metro, Duluth and Rochester how many class A schools have half that many sheets of ice with in 50 miles? Heck how many outside those areas even have ice more than 6 months of the year? Hermantown has a lot more in common with the private schools than they do nearly all of class A hockey.

Enjoy your program but give the whoa is us routine a rest.

[12thgraders]

Hermantown - 6
Bemidji - 1
FINAL

[Froggy Richards]

AA program?
School is 615 students which makes them 1/2 the size of Mahtomedi.
Hermantown is small and would be the smallest school in AA behind Roseau if they opted up. Also only 1 sheet of inside ice. Roseau has 3 sheets of inside ice.
Put it to rest groggy.
You have no clue what a community hockey program is about.
Your STAA right?

Hill Murray... 599 students.
You could make a real good argument some of these AA co-ops are smaller, they just co-op instead of get kids who open enroll....
Kasson-Mantorville 592 students.
LeSeuer-Henderson 265 students (they petitioned down)
Cloquet 586 students

How many sheets of ice are within 10 miles of Hermantown? 6? 7? more?
Outside the metro, Duluth and Rochester how many class A schools have half that many sheets of ice with in 50 miles? Heck how many outside those areas even have ice more than 6 months of the year? Hermantown has a lot more in common with the private schools than they do nearly all of class A hockey.

Enjoy your program but give the whoa is us routine a rest.

It's 10+ sheets actually, at least half open year round.

[elliott70]

If Bemidji had been full strength it might have been 6-3.
Then again, maybe not.

[kniven]

Hermantown - 6
Bemidji - 1
FINAL

Hermantown is really good A or AA. Well done Hawks!

[TheHockeyDJ]

Hermantown - 6
Bemidji - 1
FINAL

Hermantown is really good A or AA. Well done Hawks!

How could a kid on Hermantown not wonder what could be if they were in AA? It is beyond embarrassing they play AA at the pee wee and bantam level. Cheering for anyone but them in 7A. Would love to see Hibbing pull off a miracle upset.

[warriors41]

Hermantown - 6
Bemidji - 1
FINAL

Hermantown is really good A or AA. Well done Hawks!

How could a kid on Hermantown not wonder what could be if they were in AA? It is beyond embarrassing they play AA at the pee wee and bantam level. Cheering for anyone but them in 7A. Would love to see Hibbing pull off a miracle upset.

Coming from Warroad, I'll tell you that what class they play in matters a hell of a lot more to people on internet message boards than it does to the players themselves. As to your second point, the class split only occurred a few years ago, they are playing the same teams they used to at the youth level. Same as the high school team. The same people who refer to class A as the jv tournament ask why they won't opt up. They can't even win what you call the jv tourny so why should they? Why is this more important to you than those in the program?

[kniven]

Hermantown is really good A or AA. Well done Hawks!

How could a kid on Hermantown not wonder what could be if they were in AA? It is beyond embarrassing they play AA at the pee wee and bantam level. Cheering for anyone but them in 7A. Would love to see Hibbing pull off a miracle upset.

Coming from Warroad, I'll tell you that what class they play in matters a hell of a lot more to people on internet message boards than it does to the players themselves. As to your second point, the class split only occurred a few years ago, they are playing the same teams they used to at the youth level. Same as the high school team. The same people who refer to class A as the jv tournament ask why they won't opt up. They can't even win what you call the jv tourny so why should they? Why is this more important to you than those in the program?

Hermantown did win it all in 2007. It's interesting that Duluth East and Grand Rapids haven't won it all in 15+ years. Cloquet, my team, has never won it all. I am a freaky fan of my CEC Lumberjacks regardless. Go Jacks ))

[rainier]

Hermantown - 6
Bemidji - 1
FINAL

Hermantown is really good A or AA. Well done Hawks!

How could a kid on Hermantown not wonder what could be if they were in AA? It is beyond embarrassing they play AA at the pee wee and bantam level. Cheering for anyone but them in 7A. Would love to see Hibbing pull off a miracle upset.

Your first statement is my feelings exactly on Hermantown. By not being in AA, Hermantown's players and fans are being robbed of a chance at an even greater level of HS hockey glory.

I can't say that Hermantown is taking advantage of Class A, such was/is the case with metro privates drawing from enormous talent pools, because Hermantown does not allow open enrollment. They do what they do with kids that live in Hermantown, and while it does help that the demographics of the city is conducive to hockey success (i.e. cash), they are still doing it with a relatively small LOCAL enrollment.

What I just don't get is why a program would not want to move up if they can consistently have a good shot at state? Trophy chasing? They do have a state title and many 2nd places now, they got all the Class A hardware they'll ever need.

It would be a fantastic story for Hermantown to go to state and beat the Edinas, Hill-Murrays, and STAs. Just like with Roseau, 99% of the state would be pulling for them. I think it would be great.

Hermantown would at least be the #2 seed in 7AA this season, and over the last 6-7 years, I bet they would have been a top 3 seed almost every year, with a damn good chance to win 2 or 3 of those years.

Yes, they have struggling Pee Wee and Bantam teams this year, but I'm sure they would still put together good HS teams and after that they'd be right back to putting out a top ten AA-caliber team.

Where's the uproar in Hermantown? Don't the kids and families want to move up? I can't imagine not wanting to move up when your team is consistently as good as they are. Perhaps the small exodus of bantam players that went to Marshall this year will motivate some Hermantonians to publicly question Plante's obstinancy on the subject. (If it already hasn't.)

I can't imagine Hibbing staying in A if they had the consistent success the Hawks have had. People in Hibbing would LOVE to get back to the big stage as soon as it was reasonable. I wish they'd do it the next two seasons as the team will be really good. If it weren't for Rapids having an absolute juggernaut of a team coming together the next few years, perhaps they would have opted up. I don't know.

If you can compete with the best in AA, then why, why would you EVER want to stay in A? I just don't get it.

I love Hermantown. I'm glad they have built such a great program, even though it has cost Hibbing a couple trips to the X. I always cheer for them at state, and I'd cheer even harder if they were battling the Hornets or Pioneers.