Edina - The City of Hockey

[Hornets17]

I saw this mini documentary with a little history behind the Edina hockey program which I thought some people might find interesting. It has some cool historical shots of Braemar along with interviews from a lot of people around the program.

https://safenetconsulting.wistia.com/medias/ljjclganfk

[Sanford]

No arguements here.
I
love cake.

[O-townClown]

Nothing better.

[MrBoDangles]

I guess I'll say it.. Massive naturally equals success. I rolled my eyes the whole time while having to read the "hockey town Minnesota" article in LPH a few weeks ago.. Great success, but can't touch Roseau per capita.

Great video and all, but Roseau is the pinnacle of historical success with such a small population.

Man, the Edina folks have been pushing this lately..

[zooomx]

I guess I'll say it.. Massive naturally equals success. I rolled my eyes the whole time while having to read the "hockey town Minnesota" article in LPH a few weeks ago.. Great success, but can't touch Roseau per capita.

Great video and all, but Roseau is the pinnacle of historical success with such a small population.

Man, the Edina folks have been pushing this lately..

By massive, do you mean the size of the association or the size of the wallets tucked in those $1,000 jackets? I guess you could call Edina the suburb of hockey, but if you are talking true Minnesota Hockey, I can think of many other cities in Minnesota to hold up. Roseau definitely at the top of the list.

[green4]

I guess I'll say it.. Massive naturally equals success. I rolled my eyes the whole time while having to read the "hockey town Minnesota" article in LPH a few weeks ago.. Great success, but can't touch Roseau per capita.

Great video and all, but Roseau is the pinnacle of historical success with such a small population.

Man, the Edina folks have been pushing this lately..

Massive compared to Roseau, yes. Massive compared to the metro, no.
https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-h ... minnesota/

Edina is 20th in enrollment, the population of the city is 49,000,which is 19th, in between Apple Valley and St. Louis Park.
Much larger than Roseau, and any historically great northern town. But it is not too big when you look at other metro towns. Yet, they have more youth teams then any other city, and by a lot.
Look at Wayzata, the largest high school and with Plymouth, a much larger city. They have two less squirt teams, 4 less pee wee and 4 less bantam teams.
The point they are making is that there is a passion for hockey in this city, one that I would argue is stronger than any other metro city's passion. I can't compare it to Roseau since I don't live up there, but I would imagine it can't be far off.
Edina has a larger population, which will give them more success than smaller towns, no question. But there is a reason Edina is getting more kids to the rink than anyone else. It can't be all about population or else Minneapolis and St. Paul would dominate. It can't be all about money because EP, Tonka and Wayzata have more then enough of that. There is a reason Edina since the late 60's has been competitive. They fill out one of the best varsity teams each year, and not to mention probably a whole other varsity team worth of private school kids.
The point is Edina has the passion and drive of a northern city for hockey, but with a large population that creates a lot of success.

[MNHockeyFan]

It's hard to compare Edina to small towns up North; two different animals IMO. But when it comes to winning State Tournaments over the years, especially since they went to two classes, it's hard to argue against Edina being the preeminent success story in Minnesota High School hockey. Edina is not the richest suburb in the Cities, nor is it the biggest. And it's become an older community, one that's producing fewer numbers coming up through its ranks. Which makes its continued success all the more admirable...and I say that with no connections whatsoever to the city or its hockey program.

[green4]

Edina is not the richest suburb in the Cities, nor is it the biggest. And it's become an older community, one that's producing fewer numbers coming up through its ranks. Which makes its continued success all the more admirable...and I say that with no connections whatsoever to the city or its hockey program.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Edina in a decade or two. If you have been in the town recently you would have noticed the crazy amount of houses that are being torn down and being rebuilt into very large homes, on very small lots. Of course, the houses that are going down are very affordable, and being replaced by million dollar houses. This is only going to make the town get older. It will be very hard for young people to move into Edina if they keep up this pace on tear-downs.

[O-townClown]

I guess you could call Edina the suburb of hockey, but if you are talking true Minnesota Hockey, I can think of many other cities in Minnesota to hold up. Roseau definitely at the top of the list.

I'll enjoy their videos too. Going back 50 years to interview not only coaches, but also public works officials. This is very well done.

[GoldenBear]

Very enjoyable and well done. Nice to go down memory lane with the photos and interviews. It's easy to not like them---to be jealous--- but a lot of dedication by Edina Alumni coming back to the community to coach their kids to keep the tradition going. What I really liked is that it brought back a lot of good memories of my youth hockey experiences--- skating outdoors, shoveling rinks, dads flooding rinks, frozen feet and most of all playing a great sport with your buddies. GB

[Ozzie82]

Mr. BoDangles - it's the 50th anniversary of Braemar being built. I wouldn't consider that "pushing." They are celebrating an anniversary.

The Edina Historical Society opened an exhibit about the history of Edina hockey, too. Among the facts of interest... the city was designed and built with hockey in mind. The civic planners decided that every person in Edina should be able to walk to an outdoor rink and they built the city parks accordingly.

[Sats81]

I've said this before and I'll say it again. I don't like Edina. However, I have great respect for the program they have built and continue to maintain. They are not only the most successful youth program, but the most successful HS program in the history of MN hockey. Anyone who wants to argue that is simply jealous or delusional. Period.

[DrGaf]

I've said this before and I'll say it again. I don't like Edina. However, I have great respect for the program they have built and continue to maintain. They are not only the most successful youth program, but the most successful HS program in the history of MN hockey. Anyone who wants to argue that is simply jealous or delusional. Period.

I have to agree.

Edina is the a terrible town, terrible city, terrible team, with terrible fans.

All that being said, helluva program there. They've built a juggernaut that would take a decade of mistakes to become even average.

And after all of that being said ... Fedina.

[Zoochu]

I guess I'll say it.. Massive naturally equals success. I rolled my eyes the whole time while having to read the "hockey town Minnesota" article in LPH a few weeks ago.. Great success, but can't touch Roseau per capita.

Great video and all, but Roseau is the pinnacle of historical success with such a small population.

Man, the Edina folks have been pushing this lately..

Massive compared to Roseau, yes. Massive compared to the metro, no.
https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-h ... minnesota/

Edina is 20th in enrollment, the population of the city is 49,000,which is 19th, in between Apple Valley and St. Louis Park.
Much larger than Roseau, and any historically great northern town. But it is not too big when you look at other metro towns. Yet, they have more youth teams then any other city, and by a lot.
Look at Wayzata, the largest high school and with Plymouth, a much larger city. They have two less squirt teams, 4 less pee wee and 4 less bantam teams.
The point they are making is that there is a passion for hockey in this city, one that I would argue is stronger than any other metro city's passion. I can't compare it to Roseau since I don't live up there, but I would imagine it can't be far off.
Edina has a larger population, which will give them more success than smaller towns, no question. But there is a reason Edina is getting more kids to the rink than anyone else. It can't be all about population or else Minneapolis and St. Paul would dominate. It can't be all about money because EP, Tonka and Wayzata have more then enough of that. There is a reason Edina since the late 60's has been competitive. They fill out one of the best varsity teams each year, and not to mention probably a whole other varsity team worth of private school kids.
The point is Edina has the passion and drive of a northern city for hockey, but with a large population that creates a lot of success.

You're quoting the High School enrollment, and that's because Edina High School only hosts grades 10-12 right now. With the expansion approved, they will move the 9th graders to the High School and the Enrollment is expected to be around 2600.
That is if we are talking HS enrollment but HS enrollment doesn't matter much.

Edina is the biggest hockey association by number of kids who are in the system learning hockey and who will try to make the roster for the Varsity team.

As of now Edina is the biggest hockey association in the state with 1280 kids. And Wayzata is the second biggest I believe with 1084.

Source : http://assets.ngin.com/attachments/docu ... _FINAL.pdf

So High school enrollment doesn't say much, what matters more is how many kids are playing hockey through the ranks of that association and how many of them will therefore compete for the varsity roster.

[Zoochu]

It's hard to compare Edina to small towns up North; two different animals IMO. But when it comes to winning State Tournaments over the years, especially since they went to two classes, it's hard to argue against Edina being the preeminent success story in Minnesota High School hockey. Edina is not the richest suburb in the Cities, nor is it the biggest. And it's become an older community, one that's producing fewer numbers coming up through its ranks. Which makes its continued success all the more admirable...and I say that with no connections whatsoever to the city or its hockey program.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/f ... -no-1.html

I totally agree with you on the older part, Edina however is the richest suburb in the twin cities according to this link.

The article ranks the top 7 richest Twin Cities Suburbs by zip code and in the Top 7 , Edina is ranked twice with two different zip code, top 1 and top 7.

I think it's going to be interesting to see how the program evolves though as the population grows older. I just hope it doesn't fall apart. It's a very historical program.

I think one of the programs that is on the rise in terms on number of kids is Wayzata , because of the fast population growth and expansion of Plymouth / MG. I think in the future the wayzata hockey association might overcome Edina in terms of numbers, in terms of quality, we will have to see.

I am not too worried for Edina though, look they survived the second ring suburbs growth good so far, they still have more kids than EP , Wayzata, Minnetonka , Lakeville or MG.

[MrBoDangles]

Mr. BoDangles - it's the 50th anniversary of Braemar being built. I wouldn't consider that "pushing." They are celebrating an anniversary.

The Edina Historical Society opened an exhibit about the history of Edina hockey, too. Among the facts of interest... the city was designed and built with hockey in mind. The civic planners decided that every person in Edina should be able to walk to an outdoor rink and they built the city parks accordingly.

Just a little too much, chest pounding, cake crowning and self titling in the LPH article.. A little jealousy just brings out my opinion..

[green4]

I guess I'll say it.. Massive naturally equals success. I rolled my eyes the whole time while having to read the "hockey town Minnesota" article in LPH a few weeks ago.. Great success, but can't touch Roseau per capita.

Great video and all, but Roseau is the pinnacle of historical success with such a small population.

Man, the Edina folks have been pushing this lately..

Massive compared to Roseau, yes. Massive compared to the metro, no.
https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-h ... minnesota/

Edina is 20th in enrollment, the population of the city is 49,000,which is 19th, in between Apple Valley and St. Louis Park.
Much larger than Roseau, and any historically great northern town. But it is not too big when you look at other metro towns. Yet, they have more youth teams then any other city, and by a lot.
Look at Wayzata, the largest high school and with Plymouth, a much larger city. They have two less squirt teams, 4 less pee wee and 4 less bantam teams.
The point they are making is that there is a passion for hockey in this city, one that I would argue is stronger than any other metro city's passion. I can't compare it to Roseau since I don't live up there, but I would imagine it can't be far off.
Edina has a larger population, which will give them more success than smaller towns, no question. But there is a reason Edina is getting more kids to the rink than anyone else. It can't be all about population or else Minneapolis and St. Paul would dominate. It can't be all about money because EP, Tonka and Wayzata have more then enough of that. There is a reason Edina since the late 60's has been competitive. They fill out one of the best varsity teams each year, and not to mention probably a whole other varsity team worth of private school kids.
The point is Edina has the passion and drive of a northern city for hockey, but with a large population that creates a lot of success.

You're quoting the High School enrollment, and that's because Edina High School only hosts grades 10-12 right now. With the expansion approved, they will move the 9th graders to the High School and the Enrollment is expected to be around 2600.
That is if we are talking HS enrollment but HS enrollment doesn't matter much.

Edina is the biggest hockey association by number of kids who are in the system learning hockey and who will try to make the roster for the Varsity team.

As of now Edina is the biggest hockey association in the state with 1280 kids. And Wayzata is the second biggest I believe with 1084.

Source : http://assets.ngin.com/attachments/docu ... _FINAL.pdf

So High school enrollment doesn't say much, what matters more is how many kids are playing hockey through the ranks of that association and how many of them will therefore compete for the varsity roster.

Yeah... It sounds like you stopped reading my post after the enrollment part, because I clearly talked about how and why Edina has the most kids playing hockey

[@hockeytweet]

Aaaah, Edina. The land where the Moms eat the weak at birth.

You can't make a blanket statement that those tear-downs are leading to older, empty nest buyers and an aging suburb? That is too simplistic...

Many of those buyers are uber-successful, young professionals in their 30's and 40's with kids. And disposable income. The perfect combination to breed hockey players.
They would rather pay 800-900k (and in some cases more) on a beautiful new teardown in "East" Edina, than pay to live in say, Victoria, Plymouth, or Orono. Several friends have done exactly this for the benefit of schools, proximity to work, etc.

To each his own in life, but Edina has perfected the art of attracting the affluent young professionals. Like it or not, they raise the best hockey players money can buy.

[C-dad]

I totally agree with you on the older part, Edina however is the richest suburb in the twin cities according to this link.

The article ranks the top 7 richest Twin Cities Suburbs by zip code and in the Top 7 , Edina is ranked twice with two different zip code, top 1 and top 7.

I think it's going to be interesting to see how the program evolves though as the population grows older. I just hope it doesn't fall apart. It's a very historical program.

One thing about the growing older part is that it already happened once. In, what, '72? the school split to East and West and went that way for a decade until the high school numbers dropped and they went back into one school in about '83. Since then, much of the city has turned over again with more young families buying houses from empty nesters who were moving to senior apartments and such. That cycle will likely repeat.

If the schools remain highly rated, and the city remains desirable the parents of the kids in high school now will eventually move out of their big, empty houses and new families will move back in. Often, as with the current population, many of those new parents will be Edina alumni. And EHA alumni as well. It is interesting to see all the names in EHA board and coaching positions who graduated from Edina themselves.

[green4]

It's hard to compare Edina to small towns up North; two different animals IMO. But when it comes to winning State Tournaments over the years, especially since they went to two classes, it's hard to argue against Edina being the preeminent success story in Minnesota High School hockey. Edina is not the richest suburb in the Cities, nor is it the biggest. And it's become an older community, one that's producing fewer numbers coming up through its ranks. Which makes its continued success all the more admirable...and I say that with no connections whatsoever to the city or its hockey program.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/f ... -no-1.html

I totally agree with you on the older part, Edina however is the richest suburb in the twin cities according to this link.

.

The link does not say that. The link says it has the wealthiest zip code in the state. There are 6 zip codes in Edina. 2 that they have ranked. If 1/3rd of the city is wealthy that does not make it the wealthiest city in the state. Also, article is a bit outdate coming from 2011.
This article came out two months ago and shares a much different story, while also using zip codes for data. I woudn't take much from it because it seems to be pretty bad quality and the populations seem off for cities, so the wealth numbers could be off too. But it is more recent.
http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/minnesot ... cities-mn/

This Link claims victoria as the richest and it is a bit more thorough http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/generalm ... ar-AAbYbkq

In the end, all of these are opinions and each one will be different. I don't think Edina is the wealthiest suburb, not even close. They benefit from having areas such as Interlachen and Indian Hills that have a lot of money, but even then, much of the price of houses in influenced by the proximity to Minneapolis. It is much closer than living out on Lake Minnetonka. Other parts of the city are very comparable to south Minneapolis and Richfield.
But that is just my opinion on all that.
It really does not matter because regardless of who is the richest, they are all still rich and have more than enough money to give their kids the opportunity to play hockey.

[green4]

Aaaah, Edina. The land where the Moms eat the weak at birth.

You can't make a blanket statement that those tear-downs are leading to older, empty nest buyers and an aging suburb? That is too simplistic...

Many of those buyers are uber-successful, young professionals in their 30's and 40's with kids. And disposable income. The perfect combination to breed hockey players.
They would rather pay 800-900k (and in some cases more) on a beautiful new teardown in "East" Edina, than pay to live in say, Victoria, Plymouth, or Orono. Several friends have done exactly this for the benefit of schools, proximity to work, etc.

To each his own in life, but Edina has perfected the art of attracting the affluent young professionals. Like it or not, they raise the best hockey players money can buy.

I didn't say that. I didn't even give my opinion on who is buying the houses. I think you are right, it is young, successful people buying and tearing down homes.
I said it would be interesting to see what happens in a few decades. The issue is regarding the future, not now. Rich and successful people moving in now probably means success, but in 20 years when their kids are gone, and so to are the affordable houses who is going to move in? Being rich and successful is great, but they are still the minority.
At some point there will need to be a shift in the housing or the middle class family will move to another city when they can't find a home in their price range. You actually can already see it, one of those new, million dollar homes in east Edina has already been converted into a duplex, it actually is pretty cool.
I love Edina, I hope to raise a family in Edina one day, but I don't have a career lined up that will make me a ton of money. Unless you live in Edina, and see all these houses being taken down each season it might be hard to imagine what I am talking about, but I am not the only resident that foresees a problem.

[@hockeytweet]

green4-
I get you.
Out in the new 'burbs, it's another world.

It is funny how Edina alumni find their way back though.

[green4]

green4-
I get you.
Out in the new 'burbs, it's another world.

It is funny how Edina alumni find their way back though.

That is a good way to put it. And yes, it always seems us Hornet grads find a way back.

I apologize for taking this topic of course, I tend to rant.
It was an interesting video, it was well made and I learned a few things.

[Zoochu]

Massive compared to Roseau, yes. Massive compared to the metro, no.
https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-h ... minnesota/

Edina is 20th in enrollment, the population of the city is 49,000,which is 19th, in between Apple Valley and St. Louis Park.
Much larger than Roseau, and any historically great northern town. But it is not too big when you look at other metro towns. Yet, they have more youth teams then any other city, and by a lot.
Look at Wayzata, the largest high school and with Plymouth, a much larger city. They have two less squirt teams, 4 less pee wee and 4 less bantam teams.
The point they are making is that there is a passion for hockey in this city, one that I would argue is stronger than any other metro city's passion. I can't compare it to Roseau since I don't live up there, but I would imagine it can't be far off.
Edina has a larger population, which will give them more success than smaller towns, no question. But there is a reason Edina is getting more kids to the rink than anyone else. It can't be all about population or else Minneapolis and St. Paul would dominate. It can't be all about money because EP, Tonka and Wayzata have more then enough of that. There is a reason Edina since the late 60's has been competitive. They fill out one of the best varsity teams each year, and not to mention probably a whole other varsity team worth of private school kids.
The point is Edina has the passion and drive of a northern city for hockey, but with a large population that creates a lot of success.

You're quoting the High School enrollment, and that's because Edina High School only hosts grades 10-12 right now. With the expansion approved, they will move the 9th graders to the High School and the Enrollment is expected to be around 2600.
That is if we are talking HS enrollment but HS enrollment doesn't matter much.

Edina is the biggest hockey association by number of kids who are in the system learning hockey and who will try to make the roster for the Varsity team.

As of now Edina is the biggest hockey association in the state with 1280 kids. And Wayzata is the second biggest I believe with 1084.

Source : http://assets.ngin.com/attachments/docu ... _FINAL.pdf

So High school enrollment doesn't say much, what matters more is how many kids are playing hockey through the ranks of that association and how many of them will therefore compete for the varsity roster.

Yeah... It sounds like you stopped reading my post after the enrollment part, because I clearly talked about how and why Edina has the most kids playing hockey

Yes you are right, sorry about that, I didn't read until the end.

[Zoochu]

It's hard to compare Edina to small towns up North; two different animals IMO. But when it comes to winning State Tournaments over the years, especially since they went to two classes, it's hard to argue against Edina being the preeminent success story in Minnesota High School hockey. Edina is not the richest suburb in the Cities, nor is it the biggest. And it's become an older community, one that's producing fewer numbers coming up through its ranks. Which makes its continued success all the more admirable...and I say that with no connections whatsoever to the city or its hockey program.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/f ... -no-1.html

I totally agree with you on the older part, Edina however is the richest suburb in the twin cities according to this link.

.

The link does not say that. The link says it has the wealthiest zip code in the state. There are 6 zip codes in Edina. 2 that they have ranked. If 1/3rd of the city is wealthy that does not make it the wealthiest city in the state. Also, article is a bit outdate coming from 2011.
This article came out two months ago and shares a much different story, while also using zip codes for data. I woudn't take much from it because it seems to be pretty bad quality and the populations seem off for cities, so the wealth numbers could be off too. But it is more recent.
http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/minnesot ... cities-mn/

This Link claims victoria as the richest and it is a bit more thorough http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/generalm ... ar-AAbYbkq

In the end, all of these are opinions and each one will be different. I don't think Edina is the wealthiest suburb, not even close. They benefit from having areas such as Interlachen and Indian Hills that have a lot of money, but even then, much of the price of houses in influenced by the proximity to Minneapolis. It is much closer than living out on Lake Minnetonka. Other parts of the city are very comparable to south Minneapolis and Richfield.
But that is just my opinion on all that.
It really does not matter because regardless of who is the richest, they are all still rich and have more than enough money to give their kids the opportunity to play hockey.

I get what you mean. Sure Wayzata itself is prolly even richer than Edina but overall there are more rich people in Edina than anywhere else.

Reason being that Edina is close to 50000 inhabitants and half of the city at least is extremely wealthy. Wayzata is all rich people but the total population of the city is like 4200 inhabitants, past that you're in plymouth and plymouth is even close to wayzata in terms of wealth.

Wayzata, Victoria, Excelsior are very rich but very small, they represent a small number of people.

Eden Prairie might be one of the big second ring suburbs with alot of wealth.

You are right about Edina attracting alot of people to its hockey association for some reason, maybe it's the infrastructure braemar offers, maybe it's the history and success of the program, probably all of them together.

Do you think it might also come from the fact that kids from southwest minneapolis join Edina hockey association ? There is a big pool to draw from if you start attracting people from Southwest.