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The Great 8 Hockey Festival is set for Friday, Sat. and Sunday, April 4-6 at Wakota Arena in So. St. Paul. Games start at 6:00 p.m. Friday with Section 4A/4AA vs. Section 5A/5AA. Section 1A/1AA vs. 3A/3AA at 6:30. Section 6A/6AA vs. Section 7A/7AA at 8:30 and Section 2A/2AA vs. Section 8A/8AA at 9:00. Two rinks so you can go back and forth. Second round games are Sat. early afternoon and third round late morn/early afternoon Sunday.

Teams include invited seniors from A and AA sections, typically although I don't know if it is mandatory, not including players who have made D1 commitments. Not the top seniors in the state, but a lot of good players. Should be some interesting games.

gmailer wrote:The Great 8 Hockey Festival is set for Friday, Sat. and Sunday, April 4-6 at Wakota Arena in So. St. Paul. Games start at 6:00 p.m. Friday with Section 4A/4AA vs. Section 5A/5AA. Section 1A/1AA vs. 3A/3AA at 6:30. Section 6A/6AA vs. Section 7A/7AA at 8:30 and Section 2A/2AA vs. Section 8A/8AA at 9:00. Two rinks so you can go back and forth. Second round games are Sat. early afternoon and third round late morn/early afternoon Sunday.

Teams include invited seniors from A and AA sections, typically although I don't know if it is mandatory, not including players who have made D1 commitments. Not the top seniors in the state, but a lot of good players. Should be some interesting games.

Actually, kids who have made D1 commitments can play in the Great 8. It's the Chicago Showcase that they are not eligible for.

There is already a thread on this

http://www.ushsho.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16475

Just another Money maker for someone. "Let's catch all the seniors on there way out now". Although some good player's, most are kids yet decieded on where there going to college or Jr's.. Bottem line. Just another way to pay the mortgage.

There are actually alot of scouts that attend this festival. It's a great chance for kids that want to continue playing to get noticed.

any idea on cost of admission?

Nothing against any of the players, and i wish them all well, but if you haven't been noticed by now. It's probably not happenin'..

I don't toally agree with that. I think a lot of junior teams pick up players to tender or draft even colleges might find that one person. Addison DeBoer a few years back I dont think had much of any offers and after the Great 8 was heading to CC.

powerplay009 wrote:I don't toally agree with that. I think a lot of junior teams pick up players to tender or draft even colleges might find that one person. Addison DeBoer a few years back I dont think had much of any offers and after the Great 8 was heading to CC.

There are a couple of kids every year that land college deals coming out of the Great 8 and several kids that find a home in juniors. There has to be a reason that half the D1 schools in the country had someone in attendance at this event last year. Rook Eye will disagree with that, but I think I'll trust Tim Whitehead and Scott Owens' opinions before his...no offense Rook.

Brochure on line says $8/$5 per day for adult/student under 18, or a three day pass for $20/$10.

Where can we find game summaries?

pistol wrote:Where can we find game summaries?

Here's two final scores from Friday:

Section 7AA/7A - 9
Section 6AA/6A - 3

Section 5AA/5A - 4
Section 4AA/4A - 3

Semi-final scores from Saturday:

Section 1AA/1A defeats Section 5AA/5A by 1 goal (3-2 I believe).

Section 7AA/7A defeats Section 8AA/8A by a score of 5-2.

Goal scorers for Section 7 were Kogler (FL), Jokinen (Cloquet), O'Neill (Anoka), Johnson (Duluth East) and Belisle (Anoka).

Ship game is at 2:30 pm on Sunday

I was impressed with the quality of play during the tournament...a lot of talent in one spot. Also, there was an impressive showing by team reps, scouts, assistant coaches, etc. Evidently not all of next years rosters are set in stone...many of these kids are late bloomers and just starting to develop, others have been on the radar far a while but not standing out at this level. Over all I thought it was a great tournament.

MGoBlue wrote:I was impressed with the quality of play during the tournament...a lot of talent in one spot. Also, there was an impressive showing by team reps, scouts, assistant coaches, etc. Evidently not all of next years rosters are set in stone...many of these kids are late bloomers and just starting to develop, others have been on the radar far a while but not standing out at this level. Over all I thought it was a great tournament.

What happened? How did the boys from section 1 fair?

A nice comeback in the ship game by 1AA/1A...trailing 2-1 in the 3rd, they rallied for a 4-2 (EN) win...with the goalie from Lakeville South throwing a shutout (with some cross-bar help)...during the 2nd half of the game. The Section 1 team appeared to be playing with a chip on their shoulder...and it paid off in the end. Congratulations to them!

BTW...the following Section 7 players advanced to the Chicago Showcase:

Cory Belisle - Anoka
Jeff Lesmeister - Anoka
Justin Jokinen - Cloquet
David Brown - Cloquet
Rob Johnson - Duluth East

Have fun in the windy city...congratulations!

Are the Chicago Showcase rosters out?

congratulation to section 1

universaldegreaser wrote:Are the Chicago Showcase rosters out?

congratulation to section 1

Invitation letters were handed out in the (respective) locker rooms following Sunday's games.

hockey59 wrote:A nice comeback in the ship game by 1AA/1A...trailing 2-1 in the 3rd, they rallied for a 4-2 (EN) win...with the goalie from Lakeville South throwing a shutout (with some cross-bar help)...during the 2nd half of the game. The Section 1 team appeared to be playing with a chip on their shoulder...and it paid off in the end. Congratulations to them!

BTW...the following Section 7 players advanced to the Chicago Showcase:

Cory Belisle - Anoka
Jeff Lesmeister - Anoka
Justin Jokinen - Cloquet
David Brown - Cloquet
Rob Johnson - Duluth East

Have fun in the windy city...congratulations!

Thanks for quick update 59. How many kids are going? Anybody have a complete roster? wow, 5 kids from section 7, that's great! Congrats

I believe the Chicago invitations for 6A/6AA were:

Tom McCarthy- D BSM
Nate Jensen- D Minnetonka
Steve Zierke- F BSM

Congrats to my boys from section 1 !!

A little disappointing that only 2 guys from the championship team move on to chicago figuring that leivermann is the only one committed on their roster....thought Anderson-MW and Hakan (sp?) LS would have made good additions

[quote="Where_is_the_bridge?"]A little disappointing that only 2 guys from the championship team move on to chicago figuring that leivermann is the only one committed on their roster....thought Anderson-MW and Hakan (sp?) LS would have made good additions[/quote]

I would assume some of the kids from 1AA declined to go. (anderson, yumusaklar)

2008 Chicago Showcase - Team Minnesota

Joe Becker Forward Moorhead
Cory Belisle Forward Anoka
Ryan Bohrer Forward Cretin Derham Hall
Brandon Binder Defense Lakeville South
David Brown Defense Cloquet
JT Brown Forward Rosemount
Brandon Jaeger Goal Champlin Park
Nate Jensen Defense Minnetonka
Rob Johnson Forward Duluth East
Justin Jokinen Forward Cloquet
Ryan Kesti Forward Red Wing
Matt Leer Forward Edina
Jeff Lesmeister Defense Anoka
Tom McCarthy Defense Benilde-St. Margaret
Dustin Moser Forward Roseau
Nick Nagel Forward Totino Grace
Ben Nelson Forward Roseau
Joe Phillippi Goal Hill-Murray
Dan Sova Defense Hill-Murray
Steve Zierke Forward Benilde-St. Margaret

Staff
David Stigen GM Fergus Falls
Dave Hendrickson Coach Virginia
Elly Froiland Coach Anoka
Phil Housley Coach Lakeland

Wow i sure hope some of the section 1 kids declined, only picking two is weak. I was excited to see how the roster would look thinking they wouldnt have a choice to put all metro and northern kids on it, but i guess the southern boys will have to start making a habit of winning this tournament before they get some credit.