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RYHA has not had a North/South team for 10 years. Was too watered down then and 75% of the players were north and 25%. So the bottom north kids had to play with the south kids. Was a disaster.

RYHA has had the top 15 skaters on 1 A teams for 10 years. Then 1 or 2 A2 teams. Then B1's B2's and C's. With 5 levels, virtually all players are at a good level for their ability.

Agreed the number of top end kids are lower than the past. Could be discussion as to why. But it's not because there are too many A teams!

I don't have any kids in youth hockey and I haven't been to a youth hockey game in over 10 years so you're right, I don't know how the RYHA is established when it comes to the breakdown of organizing A's, B's, C's. Based off what you've just stated, if the whole city of Rochester which is over 105,000 cannot put together a top 10 A-1, B-1 and C-1 team, something is very wrong. If the A-1 team has the top 15 kids in Rochester on it at each level, what is going on? Rochester used to win state tournaments and people would get excited about the up and coming high school kids that were leaving Bantams. Now, I don't hear that excitement. There isn't anybody saying, "Hey, you really need to keep your eye on this kid". That was how things used to be and it wasn't long ago. Where did things go wrong and stop blaming a drop in hockey players or the sport is too expensive. It's always been expensive and there is more advertising and support for hockey now than there ever has been.

You are telling us. If the kids lose half their games every year they aren't not going to try and get better because you are on the A team?

Chalktalk -

It depends on the child's motivation, personality, etc. It depends how the kids was raised. I would think that most kids don't like to lose, but I can also see how kids like to be with their friends and it doesn't matter if they win or lose.

It's hard to say what is causing youth hockey to be down. Coaches, parents, lack of players, lack of local camps, kids not being as motivated?

I say we have a round table discussion with some of the past coaches that have had success. RYHA needs some consulting. Bring in Kirk Gill, Todd Lampmann, John Notermann, etc. Success breads success. Learn from the people that have made an impact. Don't re-invent the wheel.

HockeyRoch wrote:

You are telling us. If the kids lose half their games every year they aren't not going to try and get better because you are on the A team?

Chalktalk -

It depends on the child's motivation, personality, etc. It depends how the kids was raised. I would think that most kids don't like to lose, but I can also see how kids like to be with their friends and it doesn't matter if they win or lose.

It's hard to say what is causing youth hockey to be down. Coaches, parents, lack of players, lack of local camps, kids not being as motivated?

I say we have a round table discussion with some of the past coaches that have had success. RYHA needs some consulting. Bring in Kirk Gill, Todd Lampmann, John Notermann, etc. Success breads success. Learn from the people that have made an impact. Don't re-invent the wheel.

I agree with going back to what was successful. The people in charge now aren't going to want to admitt failure. Good chat

There could be alot of reasons. But a drop in numbers is a huge one. Somebody else (Goldy I think) was right that school enrollments are down over the past 20 years. Each grade used to have over 1,500 kids with JM, Mayo and LHS. Now is down 150+ per grade, yet the town has 30k-40k more people. Why is that? And public schools have 30% minority population compared to 10%. I don't see many Somali's playing hockey. So a huge change in the K-12 age population. Mite numbers are down. That feeds down the line. There are 6 Bantam teams total with about 90 players. Used to be 10 teams and 150 kids. And LHS was not a factor for "recruiting" players back then. Add LHS as a factor and Century and you just sized the pie from 2/3 ways to 4 ways. You figure it out. Baseball, football, soccer numbers are down too. People are pining to be like Jefferson. They have 3 Bantam teams TOTAL. A-B-C, that's it. What's their problem. Kennedy can't field teams and co-op with Jefferson. Richfield is gone. Most other programs you would remember have merged. No more Fridley, Columbia Heights, Brooklyn Park.

Within the last 4-5 years, RYHA teams have made State tournaments. A Bantam team finished #2 in State a couple years ago. Yet you didn't hear about that? Come out to the rinks and watch some youth games. Somebody will know you and might just buy you a cup of coffee!

grandmeadowhockeyfan wrote:None of the three big schools would stay close, but the Rochester
All stars aka Lourdes might stay within five. I would venture that
The top ten teams in AA would probably actually win vs the ice hawks.
The top three in A would probably beat the ice hawks.

No need to say "probably" at all. The Ice Hawks wouldn't stand a chance against any decent AA team, and they'd get absolutely smoked by a top 10 AA team.

Lucia4President wrote:

grandmeadowhockeyfan wrote:None of the three big schools would stay close, but the Rochester
All stars aka Lourdes might stay within five. I would venture that
The top ten teams in AA would probably actually win vs the ice hawks.
The top three in A would probably beat the ice hawks.

No need to say "probably" at all. The Ice Hawks wouldn't stand a chance against any decent AA team, and they'd get absolutely smoked by a top 10 AA team.

False. Most DECENT High school teams don't have the speed, physicality, or goal tending that the Ice Hawks possess.

Agree with Clutterbuck22. The only HS teams that could beat the Ice Hawks would have to have:
1. 10-12 big strong fast tough smart seniors or
2. 5-6 future D1 caliber players. or
3. A D1 caliber goalie and one goal

And since many of you think LHS is best in Rochester. My take is they have 3-4 NAHL caliber players. 2-3 MnJ caliber players. Remaining players would be over their heads. Goaltending is not there.

If you could create 1 HS team from Rochester. Still probably couldn't play with the Hawks.

clutterbuck22 wrote:

Lucia4President wrote:

grandmeadowhockeyfan wrote:None of the three big schools would stay close, but the Rochester
All stars aka Lourdes might stay within five. I would venture that
The top ten teams in AA would probably actually win vs the ice hawks.
The top three in A would probably beat the ice hawks.

No need to say "probably" at all. The Ice Hawks wouldn't stand a chance against any decent AA team, and they'd get absolutely smoked by a top 10 AA team.

False. Most DECENT High school teams don't have the speed, physicality, or goal tending that the Ice Hawks possess.

Haha, okay. The Ice Hawks can barely complete passes. They hit because they can't skate. They produce no top-level D1 players. Saying that they need 5 or 6 future D1 players or a D1 caliber goalie is hilarious. No team in the history of the Ice Hawks has ever had a group of players with that kind of talent.

Lucia4President wrote:

clutterbuck22 wrote:

Lucia4President wrote: No need to say "probably" at all. The Ice Hawks wouldn't stand a chance against any decent AA team, and they'd get absolutely smoked by a top 10 AA team.

False. Most DECENT High school teams don't have the speed, physicality, or goal tending that the Ice Hawks possess.

Haha, okay. The Ice Hawks can barely complete passes. They hit because they can't skate. They produce no top-level D1 players. Saying that they need 5 or 6 future D1 players or a D1 caliber goalie is hilarious. No team in the history of the Ice Hawks has ever had a group of players with that kind of talent.

Have you actually been to a game? And most DECENT High school teams can't complete passes either.

clutterbuck22 wrote:

Lucia4President wrote:

clutterbuck22 wrote: False. Most DECENT High school teams don't have the speed, physicality, or goal tending that the Ice Hawks possess.

Haha, okay. The Ice Hawks can barely complete passes. They hit because they can't skate. They produce no top-level D1 players. Saying that they need 5 or 6 future D1 players or a D1 caliber goalie is hilarious. No team in the history of the Ice Hawks has ever had a group of players with that kind of talent.

Have you actually been to a game? And most DECENT High school teams can't complete passes either.

What's your definition of decent? Mine is top 20. And yes, I've seen MJ games, unfortunately.

Give me a team like Holy Family, put them on the ice with your HAWKS and we'll see how long it takes Gersich, Peterson and company to pop home 4 or 5 goals. Maybe a shift or two?

Lucia4President wrote:

clutterbuck22 wrote:

Lucia4President wrote: Haha, okay. The Ice Hawks can barely complete passes. They hit because they can't skate. They produce no top-level D1 players. Saying that they need 5 or 6 future D1 players or a D1 caliber goalie is hilarious. No team in the history of the Ice Hawks has ever had a group of players with that kind of talent.

Have you actually been to a game? And most DECENT High school teams can't complete passes either.

What's your definition of decent? Mine is top 20. And yes, I've seen MJ games, unfortunately.

Give me a team like Holy Catholic Family, put them on the ice with your HAWKS and we'll see how long it takes Gersich, Peterson and company to pop home 4 or 5 goals. Maybe a shift or two?

In the last 5 years??? That's laughable to think that a team like Holy Family would put up 5 in one shift.

clutterbuck22 wrote:

Lucia4President wrote:

clutterbuck22 wrote: Have you actually been to a game? And most DECENT High school teams can't complete passes either.

What's your definition of decent? Mine is top 20. And yes, I've seen MJ games, unfortunately.

Give me a team like Holy Catholic Family, put them on the ice with your HAWKS and we'll see how long it takes Gersich, Peterson and company to pop home 4 or 5 goals. Maybe a shift or two?

In the last 5 years??? That's laughable to think that a team like Holy Family would put up 5 in one shift.

Yes, I've been to a few games in the past five years. Saying they'd score 5 on a shift is sarcastic, my apologies. But Gersich and Peterson are more talented than anyone in that league. The MJ is not good hockey.

clutterbuck22 wrote:

Lucia4President wrote:

clutterbuck22 wrote: Have you actually been to a game? And most DECENT High school teams can't complete passes either.

What's your definition of decent? Mine is top 20. And yes, I've seen MJ games, unfortunately.

Give me a team like Holy Catholic Family, put them on the ice with your HAWKS and we'll see how long it takes Gersich, Peterson and company to pop home 4 or 5 goals. Maybe a shift or two?

In the last 5 years??? That's laughable to think that a team like Holy Family would put up 5 in one shift.

But it's clear that we will never come to an agreement on this, so I'll stop arguing and let the conversation get back to what it was intended to be.

Lucia4President wrote:

clutterbuck22 wrote:

Lucia4President wrote: What's your definition of decent? Mine is top 20. And yes, I've seen MJ games, unfortunately.

Give me a team like Holy Catholic Family, put them on the ice with your HAWKS and we'll see how long it takes Gersich, Peterson and company to pop home 4 or 5 goals. Maybe a shift or two?

In the last 5 years??? That's laughable to think that a team like Holy Family would put up 5 in one shift.

Yes, I've been to a few games in the past five years. Saying they'd score 5 on a shift is sarcastic, my apologies. But Gersich and Peterson are more talented than anyone in that league. The MJ is not good hockey.

I agree that a top 12 team would beat the Ice hawks, but anything below 13-20 would make a pretty good game with the Ice Hawks. Anything below that the Ice Hawks would handle.

Lucia: The analogy I'd use. How many Bantam teams could beat a "decent" high school team? Could a top 10 Bantam team beat a 3rd tier HS team? Maybe. But, if the team only has 1-2 "super-stars" (like a Gersich), or are small, or are young, or don't have a really good goalie, the HS team, being 1-4 years older will wear the Bantams down with strength, depth, experience, etc.

Keep in mind, the MnJ is filled with former 2nd liners from their high school teams that are 2-3 years older, 20 pounds stronger, a heck of alot tougher, and possibly smarter.

Three Rochester teams win on the same night.
Rochester teams 3-0 today. How about that. Last time that happened?

Mayo (2-1) and JM (1-1) face off in a early season showdown tonight at 7:30 at the rec center.
Mayos coming in high after a big win on thursday vs Mankato West and meanwhile JM hasnt played in over a week since defeating St.Paul Johnson.

Whos your guys picks for tonight?

SEMNHOCKEYFAN wrote:Mayo (2-1) and JM (1-1) face off in a early season showdown tonight at 7:30 at the rec center.
Mayos coming in high after a big win on thursday vs Mankato West and meanwhile JM hasnt played in over a week since defeating St.Paul Johnson.

Whos your guys picks for tonight?

I'm guessing Mayo either 4 to 2 or 5 to 2

Mayo defeats JM 2-0

I wasnt able to attend the game because i had to work but from the sounds of it 2-0 is a generious final because Mayo controlled alot of the game and outshot the Rockets 35-16.

The way Mayo's goalie has been I would honestly put Mayo ahead of Lourdes this season at least early on in the season.

Mayo goalie is best in section A or AA. The goalie is huge when
You get to games in late January and then February. I would love to see
That kid stay hot and take out a lakeville team or two in February. But remember it is mid December and there is little to no pressure to win yet. Mayo is a team I am going to make sure I see at the Kiwanis this year. Careful on the mayo comparison. You are comparing mayos strength to Lourdes weakest point. Yes Lourdes does need to address the goalie
Situation.

Chalk_Talk wrote:

HockeyRoch wrote:This debate is pointless in the end because Section 1-A or AA will get manhandled at state. It's happened year after year. Whether it's Rochester Lourdes or Lakeville representing Section 1, they always bow out early at state. Rochester hockey has declined over the past 10 years. Everything is too watered down. There are too many A players that should be on B teams and too many B players that should be C. As a whole Rochester hockey needs to figure something out.

I agree Roch has declined over the past 10 years.

Let me make sure I understand what you are saying. Rochester hockey is declining because kids are playing up at levels that they can't compete? So they must be getting beat by a large number night in and night out? So you think some kids playing on the A teams should play on the B team? Seems like you are going backwards to me. Roch High School teams will improve by doing this? Please explain your thoughts on why that will help

What percentage of the kids on the A teams play Summer(AAA) Hockey?

While I agree that section 1AA is less than stellar, they are 4-2 the last 2 years at the x with a 3rd place and a Consolation title, so they don't always bow out early.

So how does section 1AA being 4-2 has nothing to do with Rochester teams. Last three years or four years have been lakeville teams. Why does that say anything to do with rochester teams. The lakeville teams are 4-2 let's be more specific. Yes the team in section 1AA from the cities is 4-2. Let's get the facts stated.