ESPN at Hermantown Hibbing game?

[hermantown2000]

Heard that ESPN was at the game last filming a story. Where they filming a story about Bruce Plante or Hermantown's program in general.

[WestMetro]

Yes, I am very interested in hearing about this also!

[YouthHockeyHub]

ESPN has been in touch with us about two stories related to HS puck, neither specific to Bruce or Hermantown.

1 of the 2 had to do with Hockey Hair, the other had to do with Hockey culture. Our contact with them has gone silent the last few weeks...who knows.

[WendyClark]

Maybe they were there wanting to interview Plante on reaching 6 straight A finals without winning

[ndirishfighting]

They were there to look at all those banners n runner up banners!
How they recruit better than some colleges?
To see and wonder why they are so afraid to jump up to the big boys!
See what ole Bruce has got to say about why Rochester Century, EGF, Breck, Luverne, Mahtomedi, Totino Grace, Princeton, St. Cloud Apollo n Cathederal, Warroad, Thief River Falls and Hibbing haven't moved up to AA?

[hockeyfan2612]

They were there to look at all those banners n runner up banners!
How they recruit better than some colleges?
To see and wonder why they are so afraid to jump up to the big boys!
See what ole Bruce has got to say about why Rochester Century, EGF, Breck, Luverne, Mahtomedi, Totino Grace, Princeton, St. Cloud Apollo n Cathederal, Warroad, Thief River Falls and Hibbing haven't moved up to AA?

Just a question, what players on the Hermantown team have been recruited? All I here is about recruiting and no one says how or whom they recruit.

[CornerBar]

They were there to look at all those banners n runner up banners!
How they recruit better than some colleges?
To see and wonder why they are so afraid to jump up to the big boys!
See what ole Bruce has got to say about why Rochester Century, EGF, Breck, Luverne, Mahtomedi, Totino Grace, Princeton, St. Cloud Apollo n Cathederal, Warroad, Thief River Falls and Hibbing haven't moved up to AA?

Just a question, what players on the Hermantown team have been recruited? All I here is about recruiting and no one says how or whom they recruit.

Eric Gotz is from Hibbing

[hockeyfan2612]

They were there to look at all those banners n runner up banners!
How they recruit better than some colleges?
To see and wonder why they are so afraid to jump up to the big boys!
See what ole Bruce has got to say about why Rochester Century, EGF, Breck, Luverne, Mahtomedi, Totino Grace, Princeton, St. Cloud Apollo n Cathederal, Warroad, Thief River Falls and Hibbing haven't moved up to AA?

Just a question, what players on the Hermantown team have been recruited? All I here is about recruiting and no one says how or whom they recruit.

Eric Gotz is from Hibbing

Gotz family purchased a house in Hermantown 5 min away from the school. No one asked him to move or even thought of it until his mom got a job in the Duluth area.

[rainier]

They were there to look at all those banners n runner up banners!
How they recruit better than some colleges?
To see and wonder why they are so afraid to jump up to the big boys!
See what ole Bruce has got to say about why Rochester Century, EGF, Breck, Luverne, Mahtomedi, Totino Grace, Princeton, St. Cloud Apollo n Cathederal, Warroad, Thief River Falls and Hibbing haven't moved up to AA?

Just a question, what players on the Hermantown team have been recruited? All I here is about recruiting and no one says how or whom they recruit.

While a few posters have mentioned that Hermantown youth coaches are well known for recruiting in the Duluth area, the more salient point about Hermantown is that they allow open enrollment in a metro area of 150,000 people, so the "small town hockey" label they like to give themselves is simply not accurate.

It doesnt matter how they get kids from Duluth, Proctor, Hibbing, Colorado, Virginia, etc to come to Hermantown, the fact is that they do get players from these other places, which makes their enrollment numbers meaningless.

Hermantown is good enough to be a top 15 AA team almost every year, and they would be the #1 or #2 seed in 7AA almost every year. Their youth teams play AA and their HS schedule is mostly AA teams.

There is no reason for this team to stay in Class A. Well, except one...

[hockeyfan2612]

They were there to look at all those banners n runner up banners!
How they recruit better than some colleges?
To see and wonder why they are so afraid to jump up to the big boys!
See what ole Bruce has got to say about why Rochester Century, EGF, Breck, Luverne, Mahtomedi, Totino Grace, Princeton, St. Cloud Apollo n Cathederal, Warroad, Thief River Falls and Hibbing haven't moved up to AA?

Just a question, what players on the Hermantown team have been recruited? All I here is about recruiting and no one says how or whom they recruit.

While a few posters have mentioned that Hermantown youth coaches are well known for recruiting in the Duluth area, the more salient point about Hermantown is that they allow open enrollment in a metro area of 150,000 people, so the "small town hockey" label they like to give themselves is simply not accurate.

It doesnt matter how they get kids from Duluth, Proctor, Hibbing, Colorado, Virginia, etc to come to Hermantown, the fact is that they do get players from these other places, which makes their enrollment numbers meaningless.

Hermantown is good enough to be a top 15 AA team almost every year, and they would be the #1 or #2 seed in 7AA almost every year. Their youth teams play AA and their HS schedule is mostly AA teams.

There is no reason for this team to stay in Class A. Well, except one...

Yes I can completely agree that Hermantown is not considered a small town team. I also to believe that Hermantown should go up. My only complaint is when people say that they recruit.

For people who have never been to Hermantown it is fairly spread out community with about 10,000 right outside of Duluth. Its very nice because you can get a small town feel while being right next to a major city. For the most part it is a upper middle class community, Which hockey normally thrives in. So it isnt a real shocker when families get jobs in the Duluth area they move to Hermantown. It also as a good school with only 600 kids.

Also on the open enrollment, take a look on how the school lines are drawn, its absolutely ridiculous. For example there are a couple players on hermantown that live in pike lake which is proctor school district. But u literally have to drive passed the Hermantown High school to get there and then drive another 15 minutes.

And latley, one kid moves from Hibbing to Hermantown and every one is all upset. While last year Hibbing got 2 kids from Eden Prarie who were pretty solid, and Virginia had a good foreign exchange student. just saying if that happened to Hermantown this forum would be upsidedown.

The Hawks are a great hockey team. And im just tired of people calling them recruiters when that is 100% false.

[rainier]

Just a question, what players on the Hermantown team have been recruited? All I here is about recruiting and no one says how or whom they recruit.

While a few posters have mentioned that Hermantown youth coaches are well known for recruiting in the Duluth area, the more salient point about Hermantown is that they allow open enrollment in a metro area of 150,000 people, so the "small town hockey" label they like to give themselves is simply not accurate.

It doesnt matter how they get kids from Duluth, Proctor, Hibbing, Colorado, Virginia, etc to come to Hermantown, the fact is that they do get players from these other places, which makes their enrollment numbers meaningless.

Hermantown is good enough to be a top 15 AA team almost every year, and they would be the #1 or #2 seed in 7AA almost every year. Their youth teams play AA and their HS schedule is mostly AA teams.

There is no reason for this team to stay in Class A. Well, except one...

Yes I can completely agree that Hermantown is not considered a small town team. I also to believe that Hermantown should go up. My only complaint is when people say that they recruit.

For people who have never been to Hermantown it is fairly spread out community with about 10,000 right outside of Duluth. Its very nice because you can get a small town feel while being right next to a major city. For the most part it is a upper middle class community, Which hockey normally thrives in. So it isnt a real shocker when families get jobs in the Duluth area they move to Hermantown. It also as a good school with only 600 kids.

Also on the open enrollment, take a look on how the school lines are drawn, its absolutely ridiculous. For example there are a couple players on hermantown that live in pike lake which is proctor school district. But u literally have to drive passed the Hermantown High school to get there and then drive another 15 minutes.

And latley, one kid moves from Hibbing to Hermantown and every one is all upset. While last year Hibbing got 2 kids from Eden Prarie who were pretty solid, and Virginia had a good foreign exchange student. just saying if that happened to Hermantown this forum would be upsidedown.

The Hawks are a great hockey team. And im just tired of people calling them recruiters when that is 100% false.

I agree with much of what you said, just a point I'd make:

A couple posters on here have said the Hermantown youth association is well-known for recruiting. They've given pretty specific names, so I doubt they are making it up. Also, I have a friend whose kid is a talented player for Hibbing, and he told me the Hermantown youth association sent them a letter encouraging him to go play for Hermantown. Call it "recruiting" or call it "getting the word out about your program", but the evidence is there that the Hermantown youth association actively seeks out talent from other communities.

Actually, I could give a crap less about whether a program "recruits" or not. I think that ship sailed a long time ago in HS hockey, especially in AA. The top kids from different communities play on so many all-star teams now that they probably play almost as much with them as they do their hometown teammates. These kids become friends and they are always trying to get each other to leave and come to their school instead. I don't think any "recruiting" is needed. People know who the good teams are.

I agree with you, Hermantown is a good school with a great hockey program. And I also agree with you that they are not small town hockey, that is why it is so annoying when people use that as an excuse for Hermantown staying in A.

[Rocketwrister]

Doesn't Plante have a kid from proctor on his squad? If I remember right he still plays for the hawks...scores some goals too.
BUT they don't recruit.

Denfeld has kids from other towns...BUT they don't recruit. Granted not sure why they would go to denfeld but thats nor here nor there...maybe it's to see how they don't make it out of the second round? I'm sure smalley prays every night for Hermantown to opt up so they have some what of a chance to get out of 7a.

Marshall gets kids and after reading that hockey hub article Randolph, smalley and plante all rip them yet all three of them have or have had kids from other towns.

You can say Bruce doesn't directly call a kid BUT that program recruits like the others all try or do.

[mnhockey1501]

Now, I have no clue whether or not they recruit. But if I wanted my kid to play in a good association, I do think Hermantown would be a good one. A hard working program that plays clean and let's their playing do the talking. Maybe some kids just wanna go there

[MrBoDangles]

They're doing a story on how much booze it takes to make a face purple..

[edgeless2]

They're doing a story on how much booze it takes to make a face purple..

Holy Schnikeys Batman

[JohnnyBuck]

I agree with Ranier that the ship has sailed long ago on the "recruiting" argument. All programs do it to some extent (at least the good ones). It is no longer about your community it is "what is best for my kid". That is the way society is today. No loyalty and people climbing over the backs of others to get a head (perceived "a head" imo. Lots of life lessons lost when parents manipulate systems for perceived success. What ever happened to just working a little harder?).

In regards to Hermantown, many are right. Plante doesn't need to recruit because parents will recruit for him. Many Proctor parents I've had conversation with said they left the Proctor program because how dismal it was. Why is this? Because you all chose to leave. Last year there were eight Proctor kids playing for Hermantown, Marshall and East. No wonder they struggled! One hell of a competitive team if they had all stuck together.

It has regressed so bad that parents now talk about moving their kids in the 2nd grade so they can get into the Hermantown system. Good luck! There is only one puck and 20 roster spots. Lots of good kids playing shinny hockey when they are in high school

My biggest beef since we will never reverse the current trend of kids navigating to winning programs, is that Hermantown plays down in the state tournament. Their argument of "not winning" does not hold any weight with me. They have been to the state tourney so many times that no one gets excited for it anymore. Time to move up with the big boys!

It is programs like Hermantown that have wrecked the State tourney for me. No longer do you see the Cinderella story. Rather you see the same 10-12 teams show up between the two classes. It will continue to decline as the best kids from the "have nots" leave early for juniors. You will see this trend continue until Junior hockey is more attractive then high school hockey. It is going to happen.

[Jeffy95]

I agree with Ranier that the ship has sailed long ago on the "recruiting" argument. All programs do it to some extent (at least the good ones). It is no longer about your community it is "what is best for my kid". That is the way society is today. No loyalty and people climbing over the backs of others to get a head (perceived "a head" imo. Lots of life lessons lost when parents manipulate systems for perceived success. What ever happened to just working a little harder?).

In regards to Hermantown, many are right. Plante doesn't need to recruit because parents will recruit for him. Many Proctor parents I've had conversation with said they left the Proctor program because how dismal it was. Why is this? Because you all chose to leave. Last year there were eight Proctor kids playing for Hermantown, Marshall and East. No wonder they struggled! One hell of a competitive team if they had all stuck together.

It has regressed so bad that parents now talk about moving their kids in the 2nd grade so they can get into the Hermantown system. Good luck! There is only one puck and 20 roster spots. Lots of good kids playing shinny hockey when they are in high school

My biggest beef since we will never reverse the current trend of kids navigating to winning programs, is that Hermantown plays down in the state tournament. Their argument of "not winning" does not hold any weight with me. They have been to the state tourney so many times that no one gets excited for it anymore. Time to move up with the big boys!

It is programs like Hermantown that have wrecked the State tourney for me. No longer do you see the Cinderella story. Rather you see the same 10-12 teams show up between the two classes. It will continue to decline as the best kids from the "have nots" leave early for juniors. You will see this trend continue until Junior hockey is more attractive then high school hockey. It is going to happen.

Great post, that should help everyone who isn't from around here understand why Hermantown is not a Class A team and why everyone is so vocal about them moving up.

I agree, nobody gets too bent out of shape over recruiting anymore. You would like to see it stay at the AA level if possible though. Other than with Goalies and the truly Elite kids that aren't already there by PeeWees, Hermantown doesn't recruit as much as they used to. Like you said, they really don't have to and the majority of the kids go there between 3rd-5th grade. You see it every year, the kid looks really good in their last year of Mite 2's or first year of equal B team Squirts and the parents start thinking they have the next Gretzky on their hands and they're way too good for their current program. Hermantown's Squirt A team this year has kids from Seven different Associations. They're ranked #8 in the entire state and are 5-0 in league play, outscoring their opponents 51-3 in those five games. They can only play against a handful of Metro teams to find competitive games. That could be one hell of a Class A team some day!

You're right about Proctor. If those kids were still there and they kept every kid they would probably be playing AA by now. Up until the mid 2000's when everybody stayed home Proctor was always better than Hermantown. Then Hermantown won State in 2007 and now every parent in the area wants their kid to play on TV.

And you hit the nail on the head that most seem to miss with this story. For every one transfer who plays on the High School team there and has success, there are 4-5 kids that flame out and end up quitting hockey altogether. Many parents find out that the kid was only playing Hockey because they enjoyed it with their friends. Once their life was planned around their parent's dreams it became something they never wanted nor had any interest in anymore. Not to mention all the kids who are actually from Hermantown that get bumped down by the transfers. Most of them quit too. Like I've said before, there aren't too many Associations I know of that go from 12 Mite teams to 3 PeeWee teams like the current PeeWee group in Hermantown has done.

[rainier]

Now, I have no clue whether or not they recruit. But if I wanted my kid to play in a good association, I do think Hermantown would be a good one. A hard working program that plays clean and let's their playing do the talking. Maybe some kids just wanna go there

It's fine if kids/parents want to open enroll at Hermantown for hockey, but getting all these players from a metro area of 150,000 people means that they should be in AA.

What's crazy is that people that defend Hermantown now sound exactly like the people that defended STA a few years ago. Here are some examples of excuses I've heard from both groups of defenders:

1. "We're not breaking any rules."

2. "Why should we be punished for out success?"

3. "If you don't like it, make your program better."

4. "We can't compete with the best teams in AA."

5. "It's not that we're so good, it that the rest of Class A just sucks."

6. "Other teams should do more to attract better players."

7. "Our coaches just develop our players better."

The one quote you never hear is "Yeah, we do attract players from all over a large metro area, so our enrollment numbers are meaningless and we have a huge advantage over most A teams."

The same things Hermantown fans railed against not too long ago, they now have no problem using as an opt-up defense. It's understandable though, because winning is a powerful drug, and the thought of giving up the sure thing in A every year in exchange for the uncertainty of AA parity can be scary.

People just want to see parity. Look at the crazy parity in AA this year. BSM has been a step above, but not by much. It was just a few years ago that every lower seeded team won their game in the state AA quarterfinals. That is insane, and that is awesome.

People would like A to be like that too. If the two Class A abusers were in AA this year, the state lineup could be this: Hibbing (or Greenway), TRF (or EGF), Mahtomedi (or SPA), Delano, Luverne, Princeton, Apollo (or Cathedral), and Northfield. I don't see a lot of 9-0 quarterfinal matchups amongst those teams. You'd have some great parity at the A tourney and Breck and Hermantown would both be right in the thick of the AA parity.

It's hard to decide if I want Hermantown to win it all this year. Would it motivate Plante to take his team to AA or would he retire and the next coach would take them to AA? Or would another hit of state tourney success just sink Hermantown deeper into their trophy-chasing addiction?

[elliott70]

People would like A to be like that too. If the two Class A abusers were in AA this year, the state lineup could be this: Hibbing (or Greenway), TRF (or EGF), Mahtomedi (or SPA), Delano, Luverne, Princeton, Apollo (or Cathedral), and Northfield. I don't see a lot of 9-0 quarterfinal matchups amongst those teams. You'd have some great parity at the A tourney and Breck and Hermantown would both be right in the thick of the AA parity.

Not sure about Mahtomedi and SPA and Hibbing.
But EGF and TRF could be AA in section 8.
Moorhead is almost always a step ahead of everyone else. But EGF and TRF are on par with Bemidji and Roseau and Brainerd. Alexandria should be and perhaps will be. St Cloud (combined) and St Cloud Cathedral should be also.
With those 8 or 9 schools we would have a competitive section with only Moorhead being a perennial favorite. The balance would have a decent shot if not every year but often enough. And Buffalo Rogers and St Mikes could be involved in a western (northwestern) metro section.

It would be nice to have Hibbing's program get a shot in the arm with some economic effort making them AA.

[SFA1992]

i'd like someone other than hermantown to win for consistencies sake alone. i have not seen/heard much on what would happen if they win one, but it'd be interesting to see if they'd still be single A if they won one or two out of the last six. what is the official stance of the school/ Plante, because everytime i see or hear an official statement its always that there isn't any interest in opting up.

[MrBoDangles]

They're doing a story on how much booze it takes to make a face purple..

Holy Schnikeys Batman

Bad one..

[Jeffy95]

i'd like someone other than hermantown to win for consistencies sake alone. i have not seen/heard much on what would happen if they win one, but it'd be interesting to see if they'd still be single A if they won one or two out of the last six. what is the official stance of the school/ Plante, because everytime i see or hear an official statement its always that there isn't any interest in opting up.

Plante's official stance is that they're where they belong.

[Hockeyisnotlife]

They're doing a story on how much booze it takes to make a face purple..

Holy Schnikeys Batman

Bad one..

Classic....

[stromboli]

It's fine if kids/parents want to open enroll at Hermantown for hockey, but getting all these players from a metro area of 150,000 people means that they should be in AA.

By your definition, everyone in the twin cities metro should be AA.

And, why not include "bedroom" communities like Orono and Delano that are no farther from downtown Minneapolis than AA teams like St. Michael and Lakeville/Farmington? A town like Orono benefits from a growing upper middle class (to upper crust) influx of people who like the small town feel and a great education system, yet commute only a short drive for work in the "twin cities" area? The average income levels and real estate values within 15-20 minutes of the 494/694 loop aren't exactly what people remember from a decade or more ago.

How about Mahtomedi? Great school system. In the metro. Consistently a top A program. Should be AA?

Either fight to move back to a single class system, to change the definitions of the current classes, or quit whining. It's an imperfect system, but it's what's in place.

[Jeffy95]

It's fine if kids/parents want to open enroll at Hermantown for hockey, but getting all these players from a metro area of 150,000 people means that they should be in AA.

By your definition, everyone in the twin cities metro should be AA.

And, why not include "bedroom" communities like Orono and Delano that are no farther from downtown Minneapolis than AA teams like St. Michael and Lakeville/Farmington? A town like Orono benefits from a growing upper middle class (to upper crust) influx of people who like the small town feel and a great education system, yet commute only a short drive for work in the "twin cities" area? The average income levels and real estate values within 15-20 minutes of the 494/694 loop aren't exactly what people remember from a decade or more ago.

How about Mahtomedi? Great school system. In the metro. Consistently a top A program. Should be AA?

Either fight to move back to a single class system, to change the definitions of the current classes, or quit whining. It's an imperfect system, but it's what's in place.

Nobody is transferring to Orono or Delano to play Hockey.