Edina won the Junior Gold A championship

[StayAtHomeD]

How many Varsities out there would they beat? I watched them and I think they could burst a lot of varsity team's bubbles. Obviously no one who made the State Tourney but many others.

[starmvp]

I think they could probably beat 2% of the varsity teams out there

[mulefarm]

I think they could probably beat 2% of the varsity teams out there

Sounds about right!

[StayAtHomeD]

I'll bet more than 2% would avoid a game against them like the plague! Wouldn't want people to find out you got thumped by a Junior Gold team!

Seriously though, I haven't seem a lot of Varsities as good as Burnsvilles Jr Gold A this year. Wayzata had a heck of a team as well, big strong and fast with an excellent goalie.

[dump and chase]

So you are trying to say that a bunch of kids who got cut from a high school team would beat a majority of high shcool teams...

I dont see the logic in that at all...

[slapshot445]

many people would be surprised to find out the actual number, if you count all of minnesota i would actually put serious money on a number of about 60%. the obvious exceptions are of course some rural teams and many metro teams, but not all.

[slapshot445]

by the way edina won state not burnsville

[StayAtHomeD]

by the way edina won state not burnsville

Of course you are right. A friend texted me that Bnsv had won so I didn't check for myself, looks like Edina won 3-2.

I appreciate the comment about kids being cut from HS teams, but if you look at teams like Bnsv, Edina, Wayzata-they have a heck of a lot of players in those associations and sometimes kids just have bad tryouts. So you take the kids who get stronger after tryouts and of course the kids who should have made varsity but were cut to make the boosters happy or whatever politics are in play-and you can come up with a very good team.

Wayzata, Edina, Burnsville-all teams that you could insert right into any AA conference and they would do pretty good.

[DubCHAGuy]

by the way edina won state not burnsville

Of course you are right. A friend texted me that Bnsv had won so I didn't check for myself, looks like Edina won 3-2.

I appreciate the comment about kids being cut from HS teams, but if you look at teams like Bnsv, Edina, Wayzata-they have a heck of a lot of players in those associations and sometimes kids just have bad tryouts. So you take the kids who get stronger after tryouts and of course the kids who should have made varsity but were cut to make the boosters happy or whatever politics are in play-and you can come up with a very good team.

Wayzata, Edina, Burnsville-all teams that you could insert right into any AA conference and they would do pretty good.

No. Even top AA teams have a pretty big gap in talent between their 1st and 4th lines. Jr Gold may have some ok players but for the most part they are there because they couldn't make the 4th line of their varsity

[selloutcrowd99]

No way. I have literally seen the best players on Jr. Gold A play with the Varsity level kids during summer and they look...awful. And then when you watch the games at JGA they dominate. Any Varsity team would beat their JGA team by 10 goals or more.

[DotaDangler]

they would prolly dominate SE Minnesota

[toptitty96]

The Edina JGA team and probably Burnsville could definitely beat many single A teams and could beat a handful of AA teams. Teams like Kennedy and Shakopee would for sure get beaten by the top two or three Junior Gold A teams this year, and I, personally, think that the Edina JGA could compete with the likes of Eastview and similarly talented teams.

[StayAtHomeD]

The Edina JGA team and probably Burnsville could definitely beat many single A teams and could beat a handful of AA teams. Teams like Kennedy and Shakopee would for sure get beaten by the top two or three Junior Gold A teams this year, and I, personally, think that the Edina JGA could compete with the likes of Eastview and similarly talented teams.

I totally agree but I think they could actually compete and beat most AA teams in the metro with the exception of the elite teams. I think people think their Varsities are automatically better but they really haven't taken the time to watch these teams (the best JGA). East Ridge would be destroyed by most JGA teams.

I have a friend in one of the east metro associations who's kid is playing Jr Gold A and one of their kids who got cut by the Varsity got picked up by a Jr A league! He'll probably be playing D1 someday unlike all the kids who played Varsity in that school. Maybe the kid was a discipline problem, I really don't know.

[keepyourheadup]

I agree, there are some talented kids playing JGA, for a variety of reasons, but the real difference is the depth. I just can't believe that other than maybe a few of the biggest associations that JGA would have a chance, accept against the bottom teams. Edina and wayzata and the like have the luxury/misfortune of cutting kids every year who have spent their youth years playing on A teams.

[nickmon3]

We really need a hibbing/chisholm junior gold team. I know alot of guys who got cut but are still decent hockey players. As someone already mentioned, there is alot of politics that go on in high school hockey, and sometimes kids that have no business being on the team make it and some decent players that can easily skate with varsity get cut. Also a kid might have a bad tryout or whatever, and when your cut, your done. Junior gold is a great opportunity for those kids to have another chance at playing hockey.

[StayAtHomeD]

We really need a hibbing/chisholm junior gold team. I know alot of guys who got cut but are still decent hockey players. As someone already mentioned, there is alot of politics that go on in high school hockey, and sometimes kids that have no business being on the team make it and some decent players that can easily skate with varsity get cut. Also a kid might have a bad tryout or whatever, and when your cut, your done. Junior gold is a great opportunity for those kids to have another chance at playing hockey.

I wonder how much it would cost other than icetime to provide a charter bus to get the kids to the games because they would be doing a lot of travel. I would think that would be your major roadblock. I'm assuming there aren't enough teams within reasonable driving distance in your area.

Maybe a retired hockey dad could drive the bus as a volunteer?

[O-townClown]

Good question. The number is way, way north of the 2% thrown out by someone. Is it 60%? Probably closer to the real number.

This assumes the best Junior Gold teams - Edina, Wayzata, Burnsville.

I'll throw out my guess at 40% of all Minnesota HSs. Maybe 25% of the Class AA teams and a little over half of the A.

[StayAtHomeD]

Good question. The number is way, way north of the 2% thrown out by someone. Is it 60%? Probably closer to the real number.

This assumes the best Junior Gold teams - Edina, Wayzata, Burnsville.

I'll throw out my guess at 40% of all Minnesota HSs. Maybe 25% of the Class AA teams and a little over half of the A.

My brother in law's son played U16 this year so I probably made it to about 5 of their games this year. I tell you what, they have some talent in that league. There are some weak skaters but their top players make you scratch your head as to how they are not at least skating JV? I'm talking about forwards doing perfect drop passes and top shelfing goals. Dmen who are onetiming slap shots from the blue line. I saw some pretty awesome plays when I expected it to be kind of a joke.

Brother in law says some of these kids don't even try out, they just don't want to deal with it.

[brandy38]

Good question. The number is way, way north of the 2% thrown out by someone. Is it 60%? Probably closer to the real number.

This assumes the best Junior Gold teams - Edina, Wayzata, Burnsville.

I'll throw out my guess at 40% of all Minnesota HSs. Maybe 25% of the Class AA teams and a little over half of the A.

My brother in law's son played U16 this year so I probably made it to about 5 of their games this year. I tell you what, they have some talent in that league. There are some weak skaters but their top players make you scratch your head as to how they are not at least skating JV? I'm talking about forwards doing perfect drop passes and top shelfing goals. Dmen who are onetiming slap shots from the blue line. I saw some pretty awesome plays when I expected it to be kind of a joke.

Brother in law says some of these kids don't even try out, they just don't want to deal with it.

At the U16 level, you have to take context into account. I'd love to see how those defensemen with booming shots skate and stickhandle in the defensive zone. The forwards doing drop passes and getting nice shots aren't going up against HS-level defensemen, so they'll get more looks at the net and their teammates when passing.

On the other hand, there is a fair number of talented kids at the Jr gold A level. On the rare occasion, there are actually JV or varsity-worthy kids on the Jr gold A teams because they have chosen to intensely focus on another sport while doing hockey on the side. Wayzata had a kid like that last year I think.

[NipeShow8]

haha yep wayzata did have a kid last year like that, anyone can say that im blowing it out of proportion, but he was easily the best kid in JGA and could skate on any varsity team in the state. There are some kids in JGA that could play varsity and are decent, but that kid was unreal...

[2good4u]

Good question. The number is way, way north of the 2% thrown out by someone. Is it 60%? Probably closer to the real number.

This assumes the best Junior Gold teams - Edina, Wayzata, Burnsville.

I'll throw out my guess at 40% of all Minnesota HSs. Maybe 25% of the Class AA teams and a little over half of the A.

WOW you guys really need to get over yourselfs, im being nice about this too, but i left my high school team in my junior year and went to state for JGA that year, the following year i went back and played for my high school team that won state, and to be horribly honest you guys are kidding yourselves by saying that these teams could beat over half the teams in the state, there is a major talent difference. I can honestly say that too because i have witness the change in talent, shots are a heck of a lot harder in high school, the speed is a lot faster, the passes are better and faster, and just the overall game play is all around better than junior gold hockey. Now don't get me wrong I'm sure these teams can beat some of the weaker high school teams but if they played a middle of the road team say like I falls or Grand Rapids this year, they would be slaughtered by the high school team. Not that I wouldn't be pulling for them it just isn't logical. So sorry but reality is there is a reason they aren't playing high school hockey.

Sincerely,

former junior gold play

[StayAtHomeD]

Good question. The number is way, way north of the 2% thrown out by someone. Is it 60%? Probably closer to the real number.

This assumes the best Junior Gold teams - Edina, Wayzata, Burnsville.

I'll throw out my guess at 40% of all Minnesota HSs. Maybe 25% of the Class AA teams and a little over half of the A.

WOW you guys really need to get over yourselfs, im being nice about this too, but i left my high school team in my junior year and went to state for JGA that year, the following year i went back and played for my high school team that won state, and to be horribly honest you guys are kidding yourselves by saying that these teams could beat over half the teams in the state, there is a major talent difference. I can honestly say that too because i have witness the change in talent, shots are a heck of a lot harder in high school, the speed is a lot faster, the passes are better and faster, and just the overall game play is all around better than junior gold hockey. Now don't get me wrong I'm sure these teams can beat some of the weaker high school teams but if they played a middle of the road team say like I falls or Grand Rapids this year, they would be slaughtered by the high school team. Not that I wouldn't be pulling for them it just isn't logical. So sorry but reality is there is a reason they aren't playing high school hockey.

Sincerely,

former junior gold play

Good points, but I think we are mostly talking about Edina, Wayzata and Burnsville, maybe Minnetonka. The point is they have so many good hockey players IN THOSE AREAS that their Jr Gold A teams could fit into any HS conference and not be embarrassed at all and maybe actually win quite a bit.

[BodyShots]

WBL had a player that played Elite one year, and JGA the next. It's called breaking team rules and a lot of talented high school players end up playing JGA because of it. It doesn't mean they would beat the high school team though.

[StayAtHomeD]

WBL had a player that played Elite one year, and JGA the next. It's called breaking team rules and a lot of talented high school players end up playing JGA because of it. It doesn't mean they would beat the high school team though.

It must be that strong showing you had against HM in the sectionals where you get all this confidence. Edina, Wayzata, Burnsville, Minnetonka JGA against WBL's Varsity? I would bet on 3 out of those 4 teams.

[BodyShots]

WBL had a player that played Elite one year, and JGA the next. It's called breaking team rules and a lot of talented high school players end up playing JGA because of it. It doesn't mean they would beat the high school team though.

It must be that strong showing you had against HM in the sectionals where you get all this confidence. Edina, Wayzata, Burnsville, Minnetonka JGA against WBL's Varsity? I would bet on 3 out of those 4 teams.

I guess we should have a FORUM set up stricktly for JGA then. Ifs and buts where candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry christmas. Now go back to eating your cherrios.