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In the boys' tournament 3 out of the 4 teams to play in the 1A semi's are Northern teams, and we know now it will be an all-Northern final. And as I write this Roseau and Grand Rapids will be playing for the right to meet in the finals in 2A.

Looking 5+ years out, does the North have much of a chance to follow this great tradition in girls' hockey? There is just something special about the way the Northern boys play the game of hockey, and I guess I'm a little surprised we haven't seen more of this from the girls. Sure there have been some very good Northern girls' teams, but at least so far we haven't seen anything close to the level of dominance we are seeing this year from the boys...

MNHockeyFan wrote:In the boys' tournament 3 out of the 4 teams to play in the 1A semi's are Northern teams, and we know now it will be an all-Northern final. And as I write this Roseau and Grand Rapids will be playing for the right to meet in the finals in 2A.

Looking 5+ years out, does the North have much of a chance to follow this great tradition in girls' hockey? There is just something special about the way the Northern boys play the game of hockey, and I guess I'm a little surprised we haven't seen more of this from the girls. Sure there have been some very good Northern girls' teams, but at least so far we haven't seen anything close to the level of dominance we are seeing this year from the boys...

Actually, I think in boys hockey that only once before has it been all North teams in the finals.
I think in A that the north teams will adventually dominate. Not so sure about the north teams in AA though.

Sioux Rule wrote:Actually, I think in boys hockey that only once before has it been all North teams in the finals.

This HAS to be the very first time Northern teams have faced off against each other for both the 1A and 2A titles in the same year.

Sioux Rule wrote:I think in A that the north teams will adventually dominate. Not so sure about the north teams in AA though.

You are probably right, if only because there are many more 1A schools in the North than 2A. I heard one of the guys broadcasting the boys' tourney say that Roseau is the last of the small schools that has chosen to play up to 2A - looks like that was a good decision! To the best of my knowledge there are no 1A girls teams playing up at this point...

I guess in order for the Northern schools to really emerge in 2AA girls hockey, schools like Duluth East and Moorhead will need to get more girls in youth hockey to improve their programs. Cloquet and Grand Rapids/Greenway are pretty close already - they were VERY competitive this year but not quite at the dominating level. In 1A you've got Roseau, Warroad, Alexandria, Hibbing, Silver Bay....maybe Duluth Marshall will someday follow in the footsteps of their great boys' program.

Wow - looking at the timing of the first Friday night post - a little early to claim GR would win over B'ville - last 2.5 minutes of regulation were about as good as it gets.

In A boys, you would ordinarily expect northern teams to be in section finals quite often. You have northern teams in 4 sections - only 2 metro sections. Problem is that the two metro sections are loaded with privates.

In AA, an "all north" final can't be duplicated in many years because you need the two northern sections in opposite brackets.

MNHockeyFan wrote:

Sioux Rule wrote:Actually, I think in boys hockey that only once before has it been all North teams in the finals.

This HAS to be the very first time Northern teams have faced off against each other for both the 1A and 2A titles in the same year.

Sioux Rule wrote:I think in A that the north teams will adventually dominate. Not so sure about the north teams in AA though.

You are probably right, if only because there are many more 1A schools in the North than 2A. I heard one of the guys broadcasting the boys' tourney say that Roseau is the last of the small schools that has chosen to play up to 2A - looks like that was a good decision! To the best of my knowledge there are no 1A girls teams playing up at this point...

I guess in order for the Northern schools to really emerge in 2AA girls hockey, schools like Duluth East and Moorhead will need to get more girls in youth hockey to improve their programs. Cloquet and Grand Rapids/Greenway are pretty close already - they were VERY competitive this year but not quite at the dominating level. In 1A you've got Roseau, Warroad, Alexandria, Hibbing, Silver Bay....maybe Duluth Marshall will someday follow in the footsteps of their great boys' program.

I thought the announcers said that this year was only the second time that it's been an all-north final in both classes. I could of misheard. Maybe they said "outstate" instead of "all north."
For girls, AA doesn't have that many "northern" teams, so yea, they might not be able to compete year after year.

SEMetro wrote:Wow - looking at the timing of the first Friday night post - a little early to claim GR would win over B'ville - last 2.5 minutes of regulation were about as good as it gets.

In A boys, you would ordinarily expect northern teams to be in section finals quite often. You have northern teams in 4 sections - only 2 metro sections. Problem is that the two metro sections are loaded with privates.

In AA, an "all north" final can't be duplicated in many years because you need the two northern sections in opposite brackets.

I definately put the cart before the horse in this one! Couldn't believe Burnsville made a run in the last 3 minutes. Glad Rapids pulled it out. Could you imagine if they would of lost this game!

Good article in the StarTribune this morning about Roseau, its great tradition, and how important hockey is to the kids and the whole town (sorry, couldn't find a link).

Just wondering if this feeling is now shared by the girls up there, or if it's still primarily a male (or hockey mom) thing. Same question would apply to other small Northern towns, like Warroad, Thief River Falls, International Falls, etc.

MNHockeyFan wrote:Good article in the StarTribune this morning about Roseau, its great tradition, and how important hockey is to the kids and the whole town (sorry, couldn't find a link).

Just wondering if this feeling is now shared by the girls up there, or if it's still primarily a male (or hockey mom) thing. Same question would apply to other small Northern towns, like Warroad, Thief River Falls, International Falls, etc.

I can't really speak for Roseau or Warroad. I know those two towns do not get the crowds for a girls hockey game, compared to a boys game, especially Warroad. I was disappointed when we played in the Gardens early this year, as we had more fans from out of town than they had there. Although, during the section semi-finals and finals, the Roseau rink was filled to capacity! I don't think girls hockey will ever become as BIG in those two towns as the boys program, just because of the history of boys hockey up there. I do think there's other northern teams where girls hockey will become very very big......those towns without the rich tradition of boys hockey.

Sioux Rule wrote:

MNHockeyFan wrote:Good article in the StarTribune this morning about Roseau, its great tradition, and how important hockey is to the kids and the whole town (sorry, couldn't find a link).

Just wondering if this feeling is now shared by the girls up there, or if it's still primarily a male (or hockey mom) thing. Same question would apply to other small Northern towns, like Warroad, Thief River Falls, International Falls, etc.

I can't really speak for Roseau or Warroad. I know those two towns do not get the crowds for a girls hockey game, compared to a boys game, especially Warroad. I was disappointed when we played in the Gardens early this year, as we had more fans from out of town than they had there. Although, during the section semi-finals and finals, the Roseau rink was filled to capacity! I don't think girls hockey will ever become as BIG in those two towns as the boys program, just because of the history of boys hockey up there. I do think there's other northern teams where girls hockey will become very very big......those towns without the rich tradition of boys hockey.

How much of the popularity is depending on how well the girls team is doing? Our girls pack the place, where our boy's team was struggling and didn't draw the crowds.

I hope your mistaken that girls hockey will never be as BIG as the boys teams in Roseau and Warroad... It was fun to see Butsy being interviewed on TV, but he has four boys - too bad for girls hockey he didn't have any!

Here's where the successful girls teams - Crookston, Cloquet, Alexandria, etc., can possibly help grow the sport in the smaller surrounding towns; I'd like to see them visit the U10/12 opposing teams, offering their help, inspiration, advice, whatever it would take to help them grow their programs into competitive, successful teams. I think being supportive of each others teams and individual players will benefit everyone in the long run. It's easy to say "Well, my daughter will be done in two or three years so why should I care what the 10 year old girl from Ada is doing?" I believe we can do a lot for the future of girls hockey by caring, and I'm betting our future granddaughter's will love to play to a packed Excel.
(Getting off my soapbox now.)

The girls northern programs are making a strong case on a yearly basis now...to name a few...

Cloquet
Grand Rapids/Greenway
Bemidji
Crookston
Warroad
Hibbing

boblee wrote:The girls northern programs are making a strong case on a yearly basis now...to name a few...

Cloquet
Grand Rapids/Greenway
Bemidji
Crookston
Warroad
Hibbing

Have to add Roseau to this list. They will be very tough for the next 3-4 years.

Sioux Rule wrote:

boblee wrote:The girls northern programs are making a strong case on a yearly basis now...to name a few...

Cloquet
Grand Rapids/Greenway
Bemidji
Crookston
Warroad
Hibbing

Have to add Roseau to this list. They will be very tough for the next 3-4 years.

There's always one that seems to be forgotten about that has "one of the best" programs and is the smallest enrollment school in the state that offers all of the major sport programs - Silver Bay - .

The passion and dedication of the northern teams is truely awe inspiring. My experiences over the years travelling to places like Roseau and Warroad as a coach, player and a fan have all been tremendous and we have been hosted by some wonderful people.

It's a distinctly different experience than the strict ice time clocks and tightly-wound mocha latte environment of the antiseptic suburban metro rinks. I would encourage any team to make a trip north to bask in the tradition of one of the old barns and watch the whole town come out to support their team; those who have experienced it know what I'm talking about.

keepitreal wrote:The passion and dedication of the northern teams is truely awe inspiring. My experiences over the years travelling to places like Roseau and Warroad as a coach, player and a fan have all been tremendous and we have been hosted by some wonderful people.

I'll always remember the U14A tournament in Grand Rapids our team played in. We got to the final against the home team and it seemed like half the town showed up to cheer against us...all this for a U14 game - very impressive.

keepitreal wrote:It's a distinctly different experience than the strict ice time clocks and tightly-wound mocha latte environment of the antiseptic suburban metro rinks.

Of course there are exceptions, like the new "palace" in Thief River Falls vs. certain old suburban "barns" like Osseo, Anoka and the old Wayzata rink, just to name a few. But your point is well taken - most of the suburban arenas are lacking in character and tradition compared to most of the old rinks in the North.

keepitreal wrote:

It's a distinctly different experience than the strict ice time clocks and tightly-wound mocha latte environment of the antiseptic suburban metro rinks.

What the hell are you talking about?????

Seriously though, it used to irritate me that the northern team boosters overrate their teams and were so fired up about (to my eyes) teams that were inferior to our best in the cities. However, this season has convinced me how important it is for the future of the big girls' hockey experiment to have the northern teams be successful. I hope the successes will trickle down to the youth levels in Bemidj, GR, Cloquet, etc.

MNHockeyFan wrote:Of course there are exceptions, like the new "palace" in Thief River Falls vs. certain old suburban "barns" like Osseo, Anoka and the old Wayzata rink, just to name a few. But your point is well taken - most of the suburban arenas are lacking in character and tradition compared to most of the old rinks in the North.

For starters, I will exempt Wakota and Aldrich from my character assassination of the metro rinks. And I'm not just talking about the architecture, it's the "feeling" of tradition (probably combined with the proximity of a VFW nearby).

Bensonmum wrote:keepitreal wrote:

It's a distinctly different experience than the strict ice time clocks and tightly-wound mocha latte environment of the antiseptic suburban metro rinks.

What the hell are you talking about?????

Seriously though, it used to irritate me that the northern team boosters overrate their teams and were so fired up about (to my eyes) teams that were inferior to our best in the cities. However, this season has convinced me how important it is for the future of the big girls' hockey experiment to have the northern teams be successful. I hope the successes will trickle down to the youth levels in Bemidj, GR, Cloquet, etc.

Doesn't bother me in the least that the northern folks get behind their teams; as you've astutely pointed out, the section 1A guys do too

On topic, I believe there might be something to the original post. They're very hockey focused up north and we might be seeing the start of the kind of critical mass that "could" trigger more northern strength. My theory is girls hockey might be starting to approach its peak in the metro, while the outstate areas which may lag behind the metro growth a bit, will start to catch up in a few years. I think it's safe to say that GRG and Cloquet were very much in the same league with the two teams in the AA finals, and the northern teams represented very well in the single A tournament as well.

Great point about how vital northern (as well as southern) success will be to the overall success of girls hockey. If it becomes nothing but a white collar metro sport, we're in trouble.

Someone in another thread said how girls hockey has now evolved from the days of the best team in the state being simply the team who happens to have the best player in the state. How true!!