The Hermantown Thread

[headsupsticksdown]

I had a chat with a kid who open enrolled and he quickly frowned and said how much crap he got for the decision, which was a no brainer but was hard to see the clear expression of hurt when talking about it. I’m sure some will debate it until they’re blue in the face, but what parents see are the said opportunities that HTown and the program offer their kids. Whether it be coaching, system, programs, etc., they see a lot more glitter when compared to other programs. Then when you look at the Dogs roster and see how many players HTown “produces”, it becomes a no brainer. Again, from said parents perspective.

That’s not a knock on other programs such as Proctor where kids basically have the keys to the rink; it takes more than that. I’ve always thought Proctor could be doing so much more developing the community to increase population and attract families there vs. the likes of Hermantown. I have no idea what I’m talking about, but Hermantown as a community (not hockey) has done a great job building an attractive destination for families to raise children. I feel as if Proctor has dropped the ball a bit here…. I’ve posed the question in the past, but would HTown be a destination for kids of the education sucked, and the community was “meh” from a livability perspective?

Disclaimer: I believe Hermantown should be AA and have a soft spot for Proctor, Duluth, Range and northern hockey in general so don’t gaslight me..

[Rails Hockey]

"And you have a nephew that used to play for Hermantown. He’s graduated now, but you would think someone might mention that when they say they “don’t a have a relative playing for Hermantown."

That's common knowledge or should be to anyone that reads this.
But old news as he is out of college now.
His parents no longer live in Hermantown.

So, no, I don't have any relatives playing for Hermantown except maybe a second cousin, mite but I also have relatives elsewhere int he Duluth area.

And again, the argument is should A level only play A level.

Pionk is wrong and if you think that will solve 'the problem' you are wrong.

And if you think it is fine for high schoolers to get booed you are wrong again.

And by you, I mean generally speaking about all people.



Remember, it is just a game.

I only responded because you called me out and said they were MY numbers and implied that I didn’t know what I was talking about when I’ve watched it with my own eyes. I never addressed the A can only play A argument and I agree that would never work without a conference exception. For me the reason they should play AA is exactly what Scott said, because they accumulate talent from everywhere on a level that no other Class A Team ever has or ever could possibly match. I provided the facts to back that up. (And by the way the number on this year’s team is historically low). I really don’t care about the rest.

The only reason I joined this conversation is because people were questioning the motives of a guy who has given a hell of a lot to the game in Northern MN. He means what he says and says what he means. And he’s 100% correct. It hurts the growth of the game up here.

For the record, I honestly don’t care that much about any of this. I get to watch my kid play a game he loves and I’m more than happy with that. Would it be nice if more kids up here could start each Season with at least some hope of making a run? Of course it would. But as you said it’s just a game and I realize that more and more every day as it gets closer to the end. I know what’s important in life a heck of a lot more now then when I was a crazy Squirt Parent.

[elliott70]

I apologize to you.
As stated, this year's number are low.

Aas far as Mr. Pionk's motives go, I should not be questioning them as no one knows what is in the mind and heart of another individual.
Not knowing the man, all I have to go by is where he is coming from and what he is trying to do. But looking at it from the outside it definitely looks suspicious, no question about that.

AS to the numbers you have, well I have to take your word that you looked at the numbers but my source also looked at the numbers and they do not look strange.

I am not changing my mind about this 'solution'; the ramifications are worse than the cure.

[Rails Hockey]

I apologize to you.
As stated, this year's number are low.

Aas far as Mr. Pionk's motives go, I should not be questioning them as no one knows what is in the mind and heart of another individual.
Not knowing the man, all I have to go by is where he is coming from and what he is trying to do. But looking at it from the outside it definitely looks suspicious, no question about that.

AS to the numbers you have, well I have to take your word that you looked at the numbers but my source also looked at the numbers and they do not look strange.

I am not changing my mind about this 'solution'; the ramifications are worse than the cure.

Certainly no apology necessary but I appreciate you saying that.

[Duluthguy]

I would add on the Stella Maris part of all of this: That hockey program is a long way off. The school currently has only a freshman class. Someone with better knowledge can give the exact numbers, but that freshman class has something like 15 kids. And certainly not all are boys, and very few are hockey players. As this freshman class moves up, Stella Maris will add classes behind it, but how many hockey players will that include? Think about those numbers. The build of a hockey program will be incredibly slow, one day starting at the JV level and adding varsity only when ready.

Plus, where will the hockey players come from? The East program is on much more solid footing today than it was a year ago when the Stella Maris program was announced. At that time you could envision the potential of current Peewee and bantam players looking for options other than the East High School program. A year later, I'd guess the desire to look elsewhere has been lessened by East's strong season. Time will tell whether East will be able to keep that momentum going and keep kids from looking at other options. That means players might have to come from somewhere else. Maybe they'll recruit regionally or nationally. If so, how easy/difficult will that be? Not sure.

Scott's a smart dude. He knows all of this.

Bottom line: Maybe Stella Maris will one day field a hockey team and Pionk will be behind the bench. Maybe they have several freshman and sophomore hockey players set to enroll in September. But I wouldn't be surprised if a hockey program is further in the future than expected or assumed.

Well.....here's an update: during the TV coverage of last night's Section 7A championship, Stella Maris purchased commercial time to promote its hockey program. Scott Pionk was in the commercial, talking about his vision for the new program. The commercial included references to "playing at the highest level" and also "high school hockey."

It also promoted a "Parent Prospect Night" on March 30th.

The commercial is posted on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm0mrKM5sKk

So in the context of "The Hermantown Thread," maybe the connection between Scott's newspaper commentary and Stella Maris is a little stronger than I'd initially thought. Not that he doesn't have credibility to speak about the Hermantown program....

[ClassAGuy]

I would add on the Stella Maris part of all of this: That hockey program is a long way off. The school currently has only a freshman class. Someone with better knowledge can give the exact numbers, but that freshman class has something like 15 kids. And certainly not all are boys, and very few are hockey players. As this freshman class moves up, Stella Maris will add classes behind it, but how many hockey players will that include? Think about those numbers. The build of a hockey program will be incredibly slow, one day starting at the JV level and adding varsity only when ready.

Plus, where will the hockey players come from? The East program is on much more solid footing today than it was a year ago when the Stella Maris program was announced. At that time you could envision the potential of current Peewee and bantam players looking for options other than the East High School program. A year later, I'd guess the desire to look elsewhere has been lessened by East's strong season. Time will tell whether East will be able to keep that momentum going and keep kids from looking at other options. That means players might have to come from somewhere else. Maybe they'll recruit regionally or nationally. If so, how easy/difficult will that be? Not sure.

Scott's a smart dude. He knows all of this.

Bottom line: Maybe Stella Maris will one day field a hockey team and Pionk will be behind the bench. Maybe they have several freshman and sophomore hockey players set to enroll in September. But I wouldn't be surprised if a hockey program is further in the future than expected or assumed.

Well.....here's an update: during the TV coverage of last night's Section 7A championship, Stella Maris purchased commercial time to promote its hockey program. Scott Pionk was in the commercial, talking about his vision for the new program. The commercial included references to "playing at the highest level" and also "high school hockey."

It also promoted a "Parent Prospect Night" on March 30th.

The commercial is posted on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm0mrKM5sKk

So in the context of "The Hermantown Thread," maybe the connection between Scott's newspaper commentary and Stella Maris is a little stronger than I'd initially thought. Not that he doesn't have credibility to speak about the Hermantown program....

Will Stella Maris be fielding a team next year? Just curious

[LPDuluthGuy]

Marshall is most likely to suffer as both a school and a hockey program with the addition of Stella Maris. It'll be interesting to see what it looks like in 5 years. Stella Maris' schools have been the feeders for Marshall for a long time and a decent portion if not majority of those students will likely go to Stella Maris in the future. Plus a lot of the alumni of Duluth Cathedral have continued to support Marshall over the years and some of that support may start going to Stella Maris. Plus Marshall has a very nice, but also a very large campus to maintain. That will start to get difficult if enrollment falls very much. Even though the school does not have a religious affiliation, it has been supported by the Catholic community due to its history.

As far as hockey is concerned, I don't see how both programs (Marshall and Stella Maris) will survive for very long. I'm guessing there will be consolidation at some point down the line, as there just aren't enough kids going to private schools that play hockey to support two teams.

As for Scott Pionk, one could challenge his motives if he hadn't been saying the same thing for 5+ years. When he said the exact same thing 5 years ago, was he assuming that a Catholic High School that didn't currently exist would start up while also starting a hockey team that he'd be the coach of? Come on.

[headsupsticksdown]

The religious affiliation and "methods" lets just call them at Marshall have been a topic of concern for a while... Stella coming in as THE only Catholic high school in the area is their main selling point. There's been a need for one for years---even Scott's kids went to Stella and you can bet that if there were a HS program at the time, his kids would've attended.

It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out....

[Getitright]

Stella have their own feeder program or will they poach kids from other programs ala hermatown who he has been chastising? Also, will this not dilute local hockey programs even more thus contradicting his position that what hermantown does is hurting other local programs ( which they do)? Seems a little contradictory to me.

[headsupsticksdown]

Stella have their own feeder program or will they poach kids from other programs ala hermatown who he has been chastising? Also, will this not dilute local hockey programs even more thus contradicting his position that what hermantown does is hurting other local programs ( which they do)? Seems a little contradictory to me.

It’s debatable, but if you want a Catholic education they’re your only choice. It’s not like a kid going from Proctor to Hermantown or Denfeld to East. There’s a strong group of kids currently enrolled at Stella, it’ll be interesting to see where they all wind up at, although they’re still 3-4 years out…

[rainier2]

Stella have their own feeder program or will they poach kids from other programs ala hermatown who he has been chastising? Also, will this not dilute local hockey programs even more thus contradicting his position that what hermantown does is hurting other local programs ( which they do)? Seems a little contradictory to me.

Actually, if Stella can poach some kids from Hermantown, that will increase parity in 7A, which is exactly what Scott is interested in. And if Stella poaches a lot of kids from Hermantown, then they'll move up to AA, which also increases parity in 7A.

Keep taking shots at a guy that's been trying to get Hermantown to do the right thing for a decade, it's a great look.

[Rails Hockey]

I would add on the Stella Maris part of all of this: That hockey program is a long way off. The school currently has only a freshman class. Someone with better knowledge can give the exact numbers, but that freshman class has something like 15 kids. And certainly not all are boys, and very few are hockey players. As this freshman class moves up, Stella Maris will add classes behind it, but how many hockey players will that include? Think about those numbers. The build of a hockey program will be incredibly slow, one day starting at the JV level and adding varsity only when ready.

Plus, where will the hockey players come from? The East program is on much more solid footing today than it was a year ago when the Stella Maris program was announced. At that time you could envision the potential of current Peewee and bantam players looking for options other than the East High School program. A year later, I'd guess the desire to look elsewhere has been lessened by East's strong season. Time will tell whether East will be able to keep that momentum going and keep kids from looking at other options. That means players might have to come from somewhere else. Maybe they'll recruit regionally or nationally. If so, how easy/difficult will that be? Not sure.

Scott's a smart dude. He knows all of this.

Bottom line: Maybe Stella Maris will one day field a hockey team and Pionk will be behind the bench. Maybe they have several freshman and sophomore hockey players set to enroll in September. But I wouldn't be surprised if a hockey program is further in the future than expected or assumed.

Well.....here's an update: during the TV coverage of last night's Section 7A championship, Stella Maris purchased commercial time to promote its hockey program. Scott Pionk was in the commercial, talking about his vision for the new program. The commercial included references to "playing at the highest level" and also "high school hockey."

It also promoted a "Parent Prospect Night" on March 30th.

The commercial is posted on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm0mrKM5sKk

So in the context of "The Hermantown Thread," maybe the connection between Scott's newspaper commentary and Stella Maris is a little stronger than I'd initially thought. Not that he doesn't have credibility to speak about the Hermantown program....

Will Stella Maris be fielding a team next year? Just curious

That is their plan but If it’s an actual High School team I assume JV for a few years as only incoming 9th grade or below would be eligible for Varsity minus a family move of some sort. And that’s if they are able to add some more grades above 9th to the School. The other option would be a co-op with Marshall. There could be a mutual benefit there for both programs.

[BlueLineSpecial]

Stella have their own feeder program or will they poach kids from other programs ala hermatown who he has been chastising? Also, will this not dilute local hockey programs even more thus contradicting his position that what hermantown does is hurting other local programs ( which they do)? Seems a little contradictory to me.

Actually, if Stella can poach some kids from Hermantown, that will increase parity in 7A, which is exactly what Scott is interested in. And if Stella poaches a lot of kids from Hermantown, then they'll move up to AA, which also increases parity in 7A.

Keep taking shots at a guy that's been trying to get Hermantown to do the right thing for a decade, it's a great look.

You have to admit that the timing of the opinion piece and this commercial / info about Stella HS hockey is a bit wonky. It seems very.....orchestrated. Perhaps that was intentional

[Rails Hockey]

Stella have their own feeder program or will they poach kids from other programs ala hermatown who he has been chastising? Also, will this not dilute local hockey programs even more thus contradicting his position that what hermantown does is hurting other local programs ( which they do)? Seems a little contradictory to me.

Actually, if Stella can poach some kids from Hermantown, that will increase parity in 7A, which is exactly what Scott is interested in. And if Stella poaches a lot of kids from Hermantown, then they'll move up to AA, which also increases parity in 7A.

Keep taking shots at a guy that's been trying to get Hermantown to do the right thing for a decade, it's a great look.

You have to admit that the timing of the opinion piece and this commercial / info about Stella HS hockey is a bit wonky. It seems very.....orchestrated. Perhaps that was intentional

It’s an interesting question, but I don’t really follow the logic. Does reading that opinion piece make a parent all of a sudden want to pay to send their kid to a Catholic School? I don’t see how that possibly enters the equation when making a decision like that.

[BlueLineSpecial]

Actually, if Stella can poach some kids from Hermantown, that will increase parity in 7A, which is exactly what Scott is interested in. And if Stella poaches a lot of kids from Hermantown, then they'll move up to AA, which also increases parity in 7A.

Keep taking shots at a guy that's been trying to get Hermantown to do the right thing for a decade, it's a great look.

You have to admit that the timing of the opinion piece and this commercial / info about Stella HS hockey is a bit wonky. It seems very.....orchestrated. Perhaps that was intentional

It’s an interesting question, but I don’t really follow the logic. Does reading that opinion piece make a parent all of a sudden want to pay to send their kid to a Catholic School? I don’t see how that possibly enters the equation when making a decision like that.

I suppose it's less that someone reads the opinion piece and makes a decision to send their kid to Stella and more that he's drawing a line in the sand, very publicly, that he feels what Hermantown is doing is wrong. Then suddenly there's an alternative! And guess what? That alternative happens to be spearheaded by the same guy that just laid the gauntlet down. In other words, bash the big bad wolf in town, and then immediately go public offering up something else.

There may well be no correlation between the two. But having worked for many years with a 3rd party public relations company for our organization, I can assure you that they hammer home this idea: don't let your message get muddied or misinterpreted. Well it's evident that unfortunately that's exactly what is happening. People are questioning the motivation and timing of both things. And thats never ideal.

[rainier2]

You have to admit that the timing of the opinion piece and this commercial / info about Stella HS hockey is a bit wonky. It seems very.....orchestrated. Perhaps that was intentional

It’s an interesting question, but I don’t really follow the logic. Does reading that opinion piece make a parent all of a sudden want to pay to send their kid to a Catholic School? I don’t see how that possibly enters the equation when making a decision like that.

I suppose it's less that someone reads the opinion piece and makes a decision to send their kid to Stella and more that he's drawing a line in the sand, very publicly, that he feels what Hermantown is doing is wrong. Then suddenly there's an alternative! And guess what? That alternative happens to be spearheaded by the same guy that just laid the gauntlet down. In other words, bash the big bad wolf in town, and then immediately go public offering up something else.

There may well be no correlation between the two. But having worked for many years with a 3rd party public relations company for our organization, I can assure you that they hammer home this idea: don't let your message get muddied or misinterpreted. Well it's evident that unfortunately that's exactly what is happening. People are questioning the motivation and timing of both things. And thats never ideal.

True, but if you could pick one moment to play your commercial for a new HS hockey program, wouldn't it be during the local HS hockey playoffs? And releasing the opinion piece ripping on Hermantown playoff dominance would best be done right before playoffs, I'd say.

For the sake of argument, let's say this was all a Stella conspiracy to denigrate Hermantown so they could go after their players. So what? This is exactly what Hermantown has been doing for years to other programs!!! "We'll develop you", "A player like you would be a good fit for Hermantown hockey", "We create a complete player", etc. Their entire program is built off of convincing outside talent that they need to upgrade from their "crappy" hometown program. It's just yet another example of how much Hermantown people hate competition.

It's hilarious that these people are crying that someone else is doing to them what they have been doing to others forever. It's no different than their Bruce Plante whining hypocrisy. There is a sense of entitlement up there that is beyond belief.

But it's not shocking that Hawkheads would treat Pionk like he was an evil villain. That's what they do up there. When they no longer have a use for you, they toss you in the scrap heap, like how they'll disavow Bruce now that his statements are embarrassing, or how they'll gleefully give an actual Hermantown kid the boot when they recruit someone better. It's a different world up there.

[BlueLineSpecial]

It’s an interesting question, but I don’t really follow the logic. Does reading that opinion piece make a parent all of a sudden want to pay to send their kid to a Catholic School? I don’t see how that possibly enters the equation when making a decision like that.

I suppose it's less that someone reads the opinion piece and makes a decision to send their kid to Stella and more that he's drawing a line in the sand, very publicly, that he feels what Hermantown is doing is wrong. Then suddenly there's an alternative! And guess what? That alternative happens to be spearheaded by the same guy that just laid the gauntlet down. In other words, bash the big bad wolf in town, and then immediately go public offering up something else.

There may well be no correlation between the two. But having worked for many years with a 3rd party public relations company for our organization, I can assure you that they hammer home this idea: don't let your message get muddied or misinterpreted. Well it's evident that unfortunately that's exactly what is happening. People are questioning the motivation and timing of both things. And thats never ideal.

True, but if you could pick one moment to play your commercial for a new HS hockey program, wouldn't it be during the local HS hockey playoffs? And releasing the opinion piece ripping on Hermantown playoff dominance would best be done right before playoffs, I'd say.

For the sake of argument, let's say this was all a Stella conspiracy to denigrate Hermantown so they could go after their players. So what? This is exactly what Hermantown has been doing for years to other programs!!! "We'll develop you", "A player like you would be a good fit for Hermantown hockey", "We create a complete player", etc. Their entire program is built off of convincing outside talent that they need to upgrade from their "crappy" hometown program. It's just yet another example of how much Hermantown people hate competition.

It's hilarious that these people are crying that someone else is doing to them what they have been doing to others forever. It's no different than their Bruce Plante whining hypocrisy. There is a sense of entitlement up there that is beyond belief.

But it's not shocking that Hawkheads would treat Pionk like he was an evil villain. That's what they do up there. When they no longer have a use for you, they toss you in the scrap heap, like how they'll disavow Bruce now that his statements are embarrassing, or how they'll gleefully give an actual Hermantown kid the boot when they recruit someone better. It's a different world up there.

I've got zero beef with the opinion piece (I've long agreed that H-town isn't living up to the spirit of the rules in place and should just opt up). And I have no beef with Stella forming a HS hockey team. Frankly I didn't even know Stella was a thing.

I do find it interesting the timing of it all. I would just be wary of muddying up the message. As a stand-alone opinion piece, I think most would applaud it. Combined with the timing of the Stella announcement/commercial, it seems like there's underlying motivations. Maybe that's neither here nor there.

I agree that both coming out during local hockey playoffs is smart and logical. Although one could argue that waiting until Hermantown is gearing up to play in the championship game would have been even more of a dagger. But you have to hedge your bets and not assume they'll get there, in which case you might have lost the moment.

[Getitright]

Scott Pionk has done some very good things for the local hockey community. We can all agree to that. But why for some of you is it ok for him to poach from other programs while Hermantown is so very wrong for doing the same thing. Albeit to a less extent. You cannot have it both ways. Poaching is poaching no matter who it is and the fact that he is going to be doing it after going so strongly after hermantown is wrong. Also, I do not know but it is my assumption that very few Hermantown kids will end up at Stella as very few went to Marshall.

[headsupsticksdown]

Scott Pionk has done some very good things for the local hockey community. We can all agree to that. But why for some of you is it ok for him to poach from other programs while Hermantown is so very wrong for doing the same thing. Albeit to a less extent. You cannot have it both ways. Poaching is poaching no matter who it is and the fact that he is going to be doing it after going so strongly after hermantown is wrong. Also, I do not know but it is my assumption that very few Hermantown kids will end up at Stella as very few went to Marshall.

For someone who's trying to build a program from scratch literally, I guess you can say it's fair game. I can bet you his message is "if you want a Catholic education while playing some hockey, come to Stella". There are kids already at Stella at the lower grades, so getting them to come to Stella isn't technically poaching, is it? Didn't his kids go to Stella through middle school and wound up at Hermantown as they didn't have a HS program? I am 99.999% sure his kids would've been in a Catholic HS up in Duluth if there were an option. You can bet there's more behind this, all of his camps have been run out of Proctor for the past few years and you rarely see an HTown kid skating. I wonder why? Proctor and Denfeld have plenty of players to start, but once they start to show promise, they end up open enrolling to either East or HTown for one reason or another. Keeping these kids in their home association/schools comes down to A) loyalty (which means nothing nowadays, sadly) B) education C) the spin that you're playing at a more competitive level w/ better resources.

I see the concern of how this now might affect the other associations/schools by providing another option (especially as a private), similar to what's happened to MPLS and the STP area public schools losing out to surrounding private schools, but what's the solution there?

[rainier2]

Scott Pionk has done some very good things for the local hockey community. We can all agree to that. But why for some of you is it ok for him to poach from other programs while Hermantown is so very wrong for doing the same thing. Albeit to a less extent. You cannot have it both ways. Poaching is poaching no matter who it is and the fact that he is going to be doing it after going so strongly after hermantown is wrong. Also, I do not know but it is my assumption that very few Hermantown kids will end up at Stella as very few went to Marshall.

I don't think anybody should poach players from other programs, but Hermantown has taken open enrollment and transfers to a new level, and it's not going to stop, so why not root for someone else to beat Hermantown at their own game?

You seem pretty concerned that Pionk is going to steal players from Hermantown. We're you this concerned all these years about the players Hermantown has stolen from other programs? Did you get up and speak about this at a board meeting? Why didn't you speak up if it was so wrong?

You can't have it both ways.

[Getitright]

I said previously I know Scott and I will add I agree with him on 90% of what he says and does. But saying it’s ok for him to do it cause Hermantown has been doing it makes no sense. Wrong is wrong. Whether it’s pionk or anyone else. It’s not even the fact he will be diluting the talent pool and taking kids developed elsewhere( sound familiar). It’s that he argues against the very thing he will be doing. Some would call this “talking out of both sides of your mouth”. My point again being if it’s wrong for those in Hermantown to do it, which it is, it’s wrong for Scott to think it’s ok for him to do it. And if you’re going to do it, that’s fine. But don’t squabble about others doing what you are.

[BSUBeaver]

I said previously I know Scott and I will add I agree with him on 90% of what he says and does. But saying it’s ok for him to do it cause Hermantown has been doing it makes no sense. Wrong is wrong. Whether it’s pionk or anyone else. It’s not even the fact he will be diluting the talent pool and taking kids developed elsewhere( sound familiar). It’s that he argues against the very thing he will be doing. Some would call this “talking out of both sides of your mouth”. My point again being if it’s wrong for those in Hermantown to do it, which it is, it’s wrong for Scott to think it’s ok for him to do it. And if you’re going to do it, that’s fine. But don’t squabble about others doing what you are.

The difference is, at least in my eyes, is that Stella Maris would be a private school and most likely have a tuition involved. The parents would have some "skin in the game" by having to pay something out of pocket, which would make recruiting harder. And yes, I realize that there are probably some creative financial incentives available at privates if they want you bad enough.

Hermantown, being a public school, the parents don't have any "skin in the game". Their kids can open enroll in and the public school money follows them.

[Rails Hockey]

I said previously I know Scott and I will add I agree with him on 90% of what he says and does. But saying it’s ok for him to do it cause Hermantown has been doing it makes no sense. Wrong is wrong. Whether it’s pionk or anyone else. It’s not even the fact he will be diluting the talent pool and taking kids developed elsewhere( sound familiar). It’s that he argues against the very thing he will be doing. Some would call this “talking out of both sides of your mouth”. My point again being if it’s wrong for those in Hermantown to do it, which it is, it’s wrong for Scott to think it’s ok for him to do it. And if you’re going to do it, that’s fine. But don’t squabble about others doing what you are.

The difference is, at least in my eyes, is that Stella Maris would be a private school and most likely have a tuition involved. The parents would have some "skin in the game" by having to pay something out of pocket, which would make recruiting harder. And yes, I realize that there are probably some creative financial incentives available at privates if they want you bad enough.

Hermantown, being a public school, the parents don't have any "skin in the game". Their kids can open enroll in and the public school money follows them.

Yes, and they will send a bus to pick you up. The biggest reason though is that they “poach” all of this talent and then use it to dominate the small Class. If they were AA nobody would be talking about it and there wouldn’t be a Hermantown thread on this board. There are no Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Hill-Murray or Benilde threads. That’s the difference.

[Getitright]

Rationalize it all you want. You lose me. He clearly is doing what he despises htown of doing. It is what it is and that is what he is doing.

[Getitright]

At the end of the day he is diluting local talent and will be grabbing from others. Tell me with a straight face how that is a good thing and how you are making things better?