Mr. Hockey 2010-2011

[FREDFLINTSTONE]

While this is true let's not forget that people in the media also get to vote for the award. I can't say for sure who gets to vote for the award from the media but I'm willing to bet that a lot of these media votes come from the metro area. They are probably partial to the Gophers I would imagine. Plus many kids who win the award are from the city area so these media folk vote for who they have seen play in person. And since these kids are from the metro they also tend to be Gopher fans and choose them over other schools. There are several factors that lead to the gophers getting mr hockey winners. But overall, I would say there is some bias toward a player committed to the Gophers. Let's not be naive.

I would like to know in what year did a gopher recruit get the Mr. Hockey award when the player clearly should not have.

My memory isn't great, but with the benefit of hindsight...

2002 - Gino Guyer won, David Backes was a finalist.

The jury is still out on 2009 (Hanowski/Leddy) and 2008 (Gardiner/Ness)

The jury can't still be out. If the people doing the voting could wait to see what type of players these kids turn out to be it would be easy. AA will always get the nod over A, and the Gardiner/Ness is a toss up. Ness had great years of HS hockey. Thats what it's about. It's not who goes farther after HS. What about Fischer? This is the one that jumps out at me. Never saw this kid in HS, but was not impressed with him as a gopher.

[MNHockeyFan]

I don't claim to be any kind of expert here, but aren't scouts looking at players from a totally different perspective? I would think their ratings judge them from a potential standpoint, i.e. how well will they perform at the next level rather than what they accomplished during their high school career.

[muckandgrind]

How a player does after HS should have no bearing on whether or not that kid was the right pick for Mr Hockey. Spehar is the perfect example of this...He was most definitely the best HS player of that year and deserved the award.

[Just_Another_Fan]

How a player does after HS should have no bearing on whether or not that kid was the right pick for Mr Hockey. Spehar is the perfect example of this...He was most definitely the best HS player of that year and deserved the award.

Agreed. I know it's not the same but look at college football. The year Tim Tebow won the Heisman he really was the best college football player. Will that skill translate to the pros? Probably not, we'll have the see. Mr. Hockey is and should be the best senior player over that year, not who has the most pro potential.

[warriors41]

How a player does after HS should have no bearing on whether or not that kid was the right pick for Mr Hockey. Spehar is the perfect example of this...He was most definitely the best HS player of that year and deserved the award.

Agreed. I know it's not the same but look at college football. The year Tim Tebow won the Heisman he really was the best college football player. Will that skill translate to the pros? Probably not, we'll have the see. Mr. Hockey is and should be the best senior player over that year, not who has the most pro potential.

When in doubt make a Tim Tebow analogy. Whether he will succeed ot not, he's just too darn likable to disagree with haha.

[Just_Another_Fan]

How a player does after HS should have no bearing on whether or not that kid was the right pick for Mr Hockey. Spehar is the perfect example of this...He was most definitely the best HS player of that year and deserved the award.

Agreed. I know it's not the same but look at college football. The year Tim Tebow won the Heisman he really was the best college football player. Will that skill translate to the pros? Probably not, we'll have the see. Mr. Hockey is and should be the best senior player over that year, not who has the most pro potential.

When in doubt make a Tim Tebow analogy. Whether he will succeed ot not, he's just too darn likable to disagree with haha.

Exactly. You want to hate him but you just can't.

[The Exiled One]

The jury can't still be out. If the people doing the voting could wait to see what type of players these kids turn out to be it would be easy. AA will always get the nod over A, and the Gardiner/Ness is a toss up. Ness had great years of HS hockey. Thats what it's about. It's not who goes farther after HS. What about Fischer? This is the one that jumps out at me. Never saw this kid in HS, but was not impressed with him as a gopher.

Speaking of great years of HS hockey, it's hard to argue for Ness over Gardiner and then NOT argue for Hanowski over Leddy.

[ACTUALFORMERPLAYER]

The jury can't still be out. If the people doing the voting could wait to see what type of players these kids turn out to be it would be easy. AA will always get the nod over A, and the Gardiner/Ness is a toss up. Ness had great years of HS hockey. Thats what it's about. It's not who goes farther after HS. What about Fischer? This is the one that jumps out at me. Never saw this kid in HS, but was not impressed with him as a gopher.

Speaking of great years of HS hockey, it's hard to argue for Ness over Gardiner and then NOT argue for Hanowski over Leddy.

Gopher Conspiracy????

[FREDFLINTSTONE]

The jury can't still be out. If the people doing the voting could wait to see what type of players these kids turn out to be it would be easy. AA will always get the nod over A, and the Gardiner/Ness is a toss up. Ness had great years of HS hockey. Thats what it's about. It's not who goes farther after HS. What about Fischer? This is the one that jumps out at me. Never saw this kid in HS, but was not impressed with him as a gopher.

Speaking of great years of HS hockey, it's hard to argue for Ness over Gardiner and then NOT argue for Hanowski over Leddy.

Who's Hanowski?

[The Exiled One]

The jury can't still be out. If the people doing the voting could wait to see what type of players these kids turn out to be it would be easy. AA will always get the nod over A, and the Gardiner/Ness is a toss up. Ness had great years of HS hockey. Thats what it's about. It's not who goes farther after HS. What about Fischer? This is the one that jumps out at me. Never saw this kid in HS, but was not impressed with him as a gopher.

Speaking of great years of HS hockey, it's hard to argue for Ness over Gardiner and then NOT argue for Hanowski over Leddy.

Gopher Conspiracy????

I don't believe there is a conspiracy, but I do believe the criteria could be made more transparent.

[ACTUALFORMERPLAYER]

Does anybody have a list of voters?

Scouts, if Mike McGraw has a vote it loses credibilty.

Div. I coaches. Only the Minnesota based schools???? or do the ones who get the best players like Hakstol and Eaves get a vote?

[breakout]

Does anybody have a list of voters?

Scouts, if Mike McGraw has a vote it loses credibilty.

Div. I coaches. Only the Minnesota based schools???? or do the ones who get the best players like Hakstol and Eaves get a vote?

Wisconsin had Mr. Hockey from 2004 (Gorowski/Centennial) and Mr. Hockey in 2007 (McDonough/CDH).

As for the Sue, not sure if Western Canada has a Mr. Hockey award.

[warriors41]

Does anybody have a list of voters?

Scouts, if Mike McGraw has a vote it loses credibilty.

Div. I coaches. Only the Minnesota based schools???? or do the ones who get the best players like Hakstol and Eaves get a vote?

Wisconsin had Mr. Hockey from 2004 (Gorowski/Centennial) and Mr. Hockey in 2007 (McDonough/CDH).

As for the Sue, not sure if Western Canada has a Mr. Hockey award.

The Sioux got both the best players in the state of 2005 with Brian Lee and T.J. Oshie. They are also getting Brock Nelson within the next few years depending on if he does juniors or not.

By the way, someone should tell "The Don" the Nelson was pretty good. He wasn't even offered a scholarship but the last few Mr. Hockey winners were and they haven't worked out so far. Lucia doesn't know how to recruit for a winning team and that's why the Gophers have problems. He needs to leave.

[Cowboy]

Lucia doesn't know how to recruit? Minnesota consistently has one of the top rated classes year after year. Some classes haven't panned out and The Don might have some issues but recruiting isn't a problem. Maybe he hasn't been accurate in a recruit's future potential but usually all other scouts missed on the same player.

[warriors41]

Lucia doesn't know how to recruit? Minnesota consistently has one of the top rated classes year after year. Some classes haven't panned out and The Don might have some issues but recruiting isn't a problem. Maybe he hasn't been accurate in a recruit's future potential but usually all other scouts missed on the same player.

The Gophers do get the best players in Minnesota. I won't argue that. When I say he doesn't know how to recruit I mean he doesn't know how to gather a winning team together. He consistently gets the best players but the problem with that is that every player who goes there is just thinking of spending two years there and jumping ship to the NHL. When the kids don't stick around very long it's very tough to build a team that can win a national championship. He also only takes only the best kids from high school. The kids they get don't have much experience against bigger stronger players. There was a thread earlier about how Lucia had basically told a prior commit who was doing very well in juniors that the Gophers didn't have room for him. Why would you choose a kid who does well in high school over a kid who does well in the USHL? I have more faith in the one who shows promise at the higher level of competetion. That makes very little sense to me. He may get the best players but that doesn't mean he recruits a championship team.

[ACTUALFORMERPLAYER]

Does anybody have a list of voters?

Scouts, if Mike McGraw has a vote it loses credibilty.

Div. I coaches. Only the Minnesota based schools???? or do the ones who get the best players like Hakstol and Eaves get a vote?

Wisconsin had Mr. Hockey from 2004 (Gorowski/Centennial) and Mr. Hockey in 2007 (McDonough/CDH).

As for the Sue, not sure if Western Canada has a Mr. Hockey award.

Maybe you answered my question. I think we are back to the conspiracy theory. If the Gophers coaches and their scout buddies are voting for the Gopher recruits it really makes it extra special for another schools recruits when they do win Mr. Hockey.

[scoreboard33]

The jury can't still be out. If the people doing the voting could wait to see what type of players these kids turn out to be it would be easy. AA will always get the nod over A, and the Gardiner/Ness is a toss up. Ness had great years of HS hockey. Thats what it's about. It's not who goes farther after HS. What about Fischer? This is the one that jumps out at me. Never saw this kid in HS, but was not impressed with him as a gopher.

Speaking of great years of HS hockey, it's hard to argue for Ness over Gardiner and then NOT argue for Hanowski over Leddy.

Not really... Ness was leading his team to an undefeated season at the time of the voting when Gardiner's team was out the of running. Also, Ness was considered the best player in Minnesota, just smaller than a typical NHL defenseman should be. Gardiner was a close second but didn't control games like Ness did.

Hanowksi was putting up monster numbers on a Class A team that occasionally would play little sisters of the poor, while Leddy was leading an EP that had been ravished by the defections of their top players and was a sophomore heavy team to the State Tournament. Also, the debate about who the best player that year was between Leddy and Budish and Budish was not in the equation.

[warriors41]

The jury can't still be out. If the people doing the voting could wait to see what type of players these kids turn out to be it would be easy. AA will always get the nod over A, and the Gardiner/Ness is a toss up. Ness had great years of HS hockey. Thats what it's about. It's not who goes farther after HS. What about Fischer? This is the one that jumps out at me. Never saw this kid in HS, but was not impressed with him as a gopher.

Speaking of great years of HS hockey, it's hard to argue for Ness over Gardiner and then NOT argue for Hanowski over Leddy.

Not really... Ness was leading his team to an undefeated season at the time of the voting when Gardiner's team was out the of running. Also, Ness was considered the best player in Minnesota, just smaller than a typical NHL defenseman should be. Gardiner was a close second but didn't control games like Ness did.

Hanowksi was putting up monster numbers on a Class A team that occasionally would play little sisters of the poor, while Leddy was leading an EP that had been ravished by the defections of their top players and was a sophomore heavy team to the State Tournament. Also, the debate about who the best player that year was between Leddy and Budish and Budish was not in the equation.

While it is true that Ness was leading his team to an undefeated season, it was a very easy schedule is the regular season. You can't give praise to Ness and tear down Hanowski for the same thing. Roseau's regular season schedule is tougher a little bit, but is still basically a class A schedule. It is very hard for them to schedule quality AA opponents because of their location. Minnetonka I am sure was playing a much harder schedule as they are in a much tougher, deeper section and conference. Let's not forget either that Gardiner was having his first year of playing defense as he was moved from forward.

Anyway, I think both the Ness/Gardiner and Hanowski/Leddy races are still in the air.

[breakout]

Does anybody have a list of voters?

Scouts, if Mike McGraw has a vote it loses credibilty.

Div. I coaches. Only the Minnesota based schools???? or do the ones who get the best players like Hakstol and Eaves get a vote?

Wisconsin had Mr. Hockey from 2004 (Gorowski/Centennial) and Mr. Hockey in 2007 (McDonough/CDH).

As for the Sue, not sure if Western Canada has a Mr. Hockey award.

Maybe you answered my question. I think we are back to the conspiracy theory. If the Gophers coaches and their scout buddies are voting for the Gopher recruits it really makes it extra special for another schools recruits when they do win Mr. Hockey.

Not sure I can answer your question. I believe NHL scouts, college and HS coaches determine who becomes Mr. Hockey. Go to the Mr. Hockey website, I would imagine you will get your answer.

[ACTUALFORMERPLAYER]

Wisconsin had Mr. Hockey from 2004 (Gorowski/Centennial) and Mr. Hockey in 2007 (McDonough/CDH).

As for the Sue, not sure if Western Canada has a Mr. Hockey award.

Maybe you answered my question. I think we are back to the conspiracy theory. If the Gophers coaches and their scout buddies are voting for the Gopher recruits it really makes it extra special for another schools recruits when they do win Mr. Hockey.

Not sure I can answer your question. I believe NHL scouts, college and HS coaches determine who becomes Mr. Hockey. Go to the Mr. Hockey website, I would imagine you will get your answer.

It would have been simpler for you to just say that you don't know.

[MNHockeyFan]

The Gophers do get the best players in Minnesota. I won't argue that. When I say he doesn't know how to recruit I mean he doesn't know how to gather a winning team together. He consistently gets the best players but the problem with that is that every player who goes there is just thinking of spending two years there and jumping ship to the NHL. When the kids don't stick around very long it's very tough to build a team that can win a national championship. He also only takes only the best kids from high school. The kids they get don't have much experience against bigger stronger players. There was a thread earlier about how Lucia had basically told a prior commit who was doing very well in juniors that the Gophers didn't have room for him. Why would you choose a kid who does well in high school over a kid who does well in the USHL? I have more faith in the one who shows promise at the higher level of competetion. That makes very little sense to me. He may get the best players but that doesn't mean he recruits a championship team.

I think Warriors41 just nailed it with this post - as a long time season ticket holder I couldn't agree more. It doesn't matter how many Mr. Hockey award winners you recruit, but the more you get the greater the expectations...

[FREDFLINTSTONE]

Speaking of great years of HS hockey, it's hard to argue for Ness over Gardiner and then NOT argue for Hanowski over Leddy.

Not really... Ness was leading his team to an undefeated season at the time of the voting when Gardiner's team was out the of running. Also, Ness was considered the best player in Minnesota, just smaller than a typical NHL defenseman should be. Gardiner was a close second but didn't control games like Ness did.

Hanowksi was putting up monster numbers on a Class A team that occasionally would play little sisters of the poor, while Leddy was leading an EP that had been ravished by the defections of their top players and was a sophomore heavy team to the State Tournament. Also, the debate about who the best player that year was between Leddy and Budish and Budish was not in the equation.

While it is true that Ness was leading his team to an undefeated season, it was a very easy schedule is the regular season. You can't give praise to Ness and tear down Hanowski for the same thing. Roseau's regular season schedule is tougher a little bit, but is still basically a class A schedule. It is very hard for them to schedule quality AA opponents because of their location. Minnetonka I am sure was playing a much harder schedule as they are in a much tougher, deeper section and conference. Let's not forget either that Gardiner was having his first year of playing defense as he was moved from forward.

Anyway, I think both the Ness/Gardiner and Hanowski/Leddy races are still in the air.

about Ness/Gardiner:

Ness got the Roseau team to the state tournament. Gardiner got Benilde to the state tournament.

[The Exiled One]

The jury can't still be out. If the people doing the voting could wait to see what type of players these kids turn out to be it would be easy. AA will always get the nod over A, and the Gardiner/Ness is a toss up. Ness had great years of HS hockey. Thats what it's about. It's not who goes farther after HS. What about Fischer? This is the one that jumps out at me. Never saw this kid in HS, but was not impressed with him as a gopher.

Speaking of great years of HS hockey, it's hard to argue for Ness over Gardiner and then NOT argue for Hanowski over Leddy.

Not really... Hanowski was leading his team to an undefeated season at the time of the voting when Leddy's team had already lost three games. Also, Hanowski was considered the highest scoring player in the history of HS Hockey in Minnesota, just the size a typical NHL forward should be. Leddy was a close second but didn't control games like Hanowski did.

FYP

[FREDFLINTSTONE]

Speaking of great years of HS hockey, it's hard to argue for Ness over Gardiner and then NOT argue for Hanowski over Leddy.

Not really... Hanowski was leading his team to an undefeated season at the time of the voting when Leddy's team had already lost three games. Also, Hanowski was considered the highest scoring player in the history of HS Hockey in Minnesota, just the size a typical NHL forward should be. Leddy was a close second but didn't control games like Hanowski did.

FYP

Leddy lost 3 games all year. Those 3 games were to either the number one or number 2 ranked team in the state (AA). Honowski payed a soft schedule at best. Did he get to state in the A class. I don't know because I only follow the AA. I guess it's good to have some size, but I think that is why he was a one way player.

[The Exiled One]

Not really... Hanowski was leading his team to an undefeated season at the time of the voting when Leddy's team had already lost three games. Also, Hanowski was considered the highest scoring player in the history of HS Hockey in Minnesota, just the size a typical NHL forward should be. Leddy was a close second but didn't control games like Hanowski did.

FYP

Leddy lost 3 games all year. Those 3 games were to either the number one or number 2 ranked team in the state (AA). Honowski payed a soft schedule at best. Did he get to state in the A class. I don't know because I only follow the AA. I guess it's good to have some size, but I think that is why he was a one way player.

I was trying to draw a parallel between Hanowski's situation to Ness's situation, not really trying to compare Hanowski to Leddy.

Here's one stat that takes Little Falls' soft schedule out of the equation... Hanowski is the leading scorer for the STATE TOURNAMENT since the inception of the Mr. Hockey award.

Again, I think either Hanowski should have won the award OR Gardiner should have won the award. I would not be able to argue that they both should have won the award.