What happened to Bemidji?

[rainier2]

What has happened to this once proud program? It seems like just yesterday George Pelawa was barreling around the ice like a Mack truck on skates, and it wasn't that long ago the Jacks were making Edina sweat a little during their QF matchup at state.

Now, players are leaving early, the Jacks' record has been God-awful the last few years, and they can't even beat the Class A teams on their schedule, not to mention they always lose to tiny little Roseau. And what's worse, their good coach is now at rival Grand Rapids, a town of 8,000 that wins AA titles, while 25,000 person Bemidji has all but gone the way of the dodo. And their youth teams? They aren't even above .500!

Moorhead doesn't have a problem staying good every single year, so what the heck is going in in Bemidji that has turned them into the "mistake by the lake".

So why are they bad?
Sure, cyclical and all but come on?
Any Bemidji commentators?

[BSUBeaver]

Your populations are off. Bemidji had a population of 15,366 in 2017, Grand Rapids 11, 242. Even if you add the BSU population, you only get to around 20,000.

Outside of that, I will let people closer to the prgram respond as I am not in the area.

[rainier2]

Your populations are off. Bemidji had a population of 15,366 in 2017, Grand Rapids 11, 242. Even if you add the BSU population, you only get to around 20,000.

Outside of that, I will let people closer to the prgram respond as I am not in the area.

Fair enough, I stand corrected.

[Sparlimb]

To be honest, they've been a bit of a disappointment ever since ChrisK moved to the Cities. A depressed fan base can do that...

[elliott70]

To be honest, they've been a bit of a disappointment ever since ChrisK moved to the Cities. A depressed fan base can do that...

[elliott70]

Maybe we need a history and fact lesson.
Ranier is close to correct about the number of people, but so is BSU guy.
Current population of Bemidji is 15000 plus a couple. But the surrounding townships add enough to push the number toward 30,000.

This is my recollection/perception of Bemidji high school hockey.
First it did not start until 1963 or 64.
In initially all practices and home games were played outdoors. The college rink was opened in 1967 or so and some inside ice was available but games went inside which brought more community involvement. Within a few years 2 rinks were built and after about 10 years the Jacks were at state in 1972. But shortly thereafter the Brotens and their friends controlled section 8. So the Jacks did not see state again until the Pelawa years.

During all this time Bemidji was a basketball town. At this point Bemidji had more state appearances than anyone. It was also the start of the growth of the wrestling program.
Today Bemidji is more of a football, baseball, soccer town as well as individual sports.

I to the 1990's Bemidji suffered some lean years - late in the 90's they challenged Roseau and Moorhead but could not break through. But the youth program, to a large part due to the Pelawa following had drawn big numbers. In 2000 the bantam team played in the maya state and won the VFW state. Unfortunately several key players from that group left for juniors.

The program suffered. But some of the parents from the successful 70 and 80 teams had kids on the ice and they were very competitive and finally broke through to state.
Unfortunately the talent level and depth fell off and last year was a struggle. This year they have no real goal scorers, no experienced goalie and young guys that as of yet are ready to play every shift.

[rainier2]

Maybe we need a history and fact lesson.
Ranier is close to correct about the number of people, but so is BSU guy.
Current population of Bemidji is 15000 plus a couple. But the surrounding townships add enough to push the number toward 30,000.

This is my recollection/perception of Bemidji high school hockey.
First it did not start until 1963 or 64.
In initially all practices and home games were played outdoors. The college rink was opened in 1967 or so and some inside ice was available but games went inside which brought more community involvement. Within a few years 2 rinks were built and after about 10 years the Jacks were at state in 1972. But shortly thereafter the Brotens and their friends controlled section 8. So the Jacks did not see state again until the Pelawa years.

During all this time Bemidji was a basketball town. At this point Bemidji had more state appearances than anyone. It was also the start of the growth of the wrestling program.
Today Bemidji is more of a football, baseball, soccer town as well as individual sports.

I to the 1990's Bemidji suffered some lean years - late in the 90's they challenged Roseau and Moorhead but could not break through. But the youth program, to a large part due to the Pelawa following had drawn big numbers. In 2000 the bantam team played in the maya state and won the VFW state. Unfortunately several key players from that group left for juniors.

The program suffered. But some of he parents from the successful 70 and 80 teams had kids on the ice and they were very competitive and finally broke through to state.
Unfortunately the talent level and depth fell off and last year was a struggle. This year they have no real goal scorers, no experienced goalie and young guys that as of yet are ready to play every shift.

Thanks for making me feel like a jerk, Elliott. An earnest reply to my sarcastic post wasn't what I was hoping for.

In case it wasn't obvious, I was tongue-in-cheek asking about Bemidji to highlight the ridiculousness of expecting non-city teams to never have down years, leading to people questioning why Hibbing and Virginia have become hockey wastelands, which is far from the truth. They just compare them to Hermantown, SCC, EGF, Mahtomedi, etc. It's like somebody telling their daughter they're ugly because they don't look like Kate Upton.

Bemidji has made it to state recently, and had some great one goal battles with Moorhead. Nothing to be ashamed of. If they have a losing record for a decade and can't field a JV, then there might be a real problem. But if anyone thought Bemidji was a crappy program circling the drain because they aren't as good as EP or HM every year, that would be insane.

[elliott70]

The good news is:
This year with some good younger players and a good new coach, if they can weather the learning curve they could be decent by year end.

Wade Chido did not leave Bemidji to take Rapids job. He left because his wife was offered a very very good job in Rapids. All of Bemidji was sorry to see Wade and his family leave but we're happy for them.

The bantam team is very competitive withe a couple of high end players.
The peewee team is ranked high with depth.
There are two squirt A teams.
More mites than the have had in 20 years.
And the 5&6 year olds - wow, I think I will make hotel reservations in St Paul come March of whatever year that would be.

[WestMetro]

Really enjoyed watching the Jacks at the X

They had a string of good goalies in recent years , Fitzgerald and Hollum to name a couple.
How is the pipeline?

[rainier2]

The good news is:
This year with some good younger players and a good new coach, if they can weather the learning curve they could be decent by year end.

Wade Chido did not leave Bemidji to take Rapids job. He left because his wife was offered a very very good job in Rapids. All of Bemidji was sorry to see Wade and his family leave but we're happy for them.

The bantam team is very competitive withe a couple of high end players.
The peewee team is ranked high with depth.
There are two squirt A teams.
More mites than the have had in 20 years.
And the 5&6 year olds - wow, I think I will make hotel reservations in St Paul come March of whatever year that would be.

Good to hear the Jacks are on the rise!

Do you think people should think Bemidji's program totally sucks because they can't be as good as Edina or EP every year?

[elliott70]

Really enjoyed watching the Jacks at the X

They had a string of good goalies in recent years , Fitzgerald and Hollum to name a couple.
How is the pipeline?

Two decent bantams - time will tell if they put the effort in to get to Fitzy level.
Peewee goalie is pretty good.
Not sure about the JV.
The current varsity guys don't have any experience to speak of...
We will know by new years

[elliott70]

The good news is:
This year with some good younger players and a good new coach, if they can weather the learning curve they could be decent by year end.

Wade Chido did not leave Bemidji to take Rapids job. He left because his wife was offered a very very good job in Rapids. All of Bemidji was sorry to see Wade and his family leave but we're happy for them.

The bantam team is very competitive withe a couple of high end players.
The peewee team is ranked high with depth.
There are two squirt A teams.
More mites than the have had in 20 years.
And the 5&6 year olds - wow, I think I will make hotel reservations in St Paul come March of whatever year that would be.

Good to hear the Jacks are on the rise!

Do you think people should think Bemidji's program totally sucks because they can't be as good as Edina or EP every year?

First, I don't really care what people think.
Edina and EP are a lot bigger and have a lot more resources. Bemidji will be fine and I will keep cheering at least as long as I am breathing.

The important thing about wins and losses is that the kids are having fun and not judging themselves by their record.
Now if there is an outside reason why the losses outnumber the wins then the coaches the school the community need to rectify that (if possible).

[northwoods oldtimer]

Bemidji suffers from the same problems that Rapids does and that is the better athletes can no longer afford the high cost of playing the sport. Let's face it hockey is now a white collar sport and the decades of steady loss of good paying blue collar jobs has lead to the demise of out state hockey from Rochester to Roseau. Reason why the same old rehashed teams are tops year in year out.
Bemidji cranked out some damn good goalies over the years. If you want success you got to put in the extra hours it takes certainly not a cheap endeavor for the families towing goalies around the state.
Jeremiah Graves was a good one, good baseball player too.
Gabe Heifort before heading to the Holy Family that is Catholic

Need to correct Westy, Holum was from the Rapidly Declining.

[WestMetro]

Good catch NW OT! Least I got the Gabe H. part right!

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

...Let's face it hockey is now a white collar sport...

I think it was almost ten years go when I was at Eden Prairie arena and I saw a brochure for stick handling school for 6 & 7 year olds. I think it took place before the school day, too.

Stick handling school. For 6 & 7 year olds.

It makes me wonder if I'm feeding The Beast by attending the state tournament every year.
But it did make me feel good my kid was there playing in the then new Rec League, which he really enjoyed.