Lots of seniors left 4A high schools

[iceguy2]

Should be an interesting year with the losses of seniors, new coaches at some schools. How will section 4A end up?

[deacon]

maybe you could fill in us in on who left, new coaches, ect...

[eastsideguy]

Ben Marshall-Mahtomedi
Adam Wilcox-SSP

Two significant losses, what other seniors?

SSP also lost Young and Pilot, believe they are Juniors

[JohnnyHopkins]

Should be an interesting year with the losses of seniors, new coaches at some schools. How will section 4A end up?

Chisago is returning over ten seniors this year and are looking to make a strong run in sections

[RBKhockey77]

Should be an interesting season. Don't see Mahtomedi as much of a threat with the loss of their senior class last season and Ben Marshall too. St Thomas Academy will be strong again next year, along with Totino, Spring Lake Park, and Chisago Lakes. Biggest concern with those three teams will be goaltending. Totino and Chisago Lakes had very average goaltending last season and Spring Lake Park lost their 4 year starter in Mike Nelson. Like I said earlier, should be interesting to see how things shake out.

[MrBoDangles]

Should be an interesting year with the losses of seniors, new coaches at some schools. How will section 4A end up?

Chisago is returning over ten seniors this year and are looking to make a strong run in sections

Good luck!

[wingman]

Looks like the Elite program is really keeping those kids in school! Many, many more will be leaving in the coming years, as it is imperative the good ones move on-as is necessary and demanded by many college coaches. And if that is the prevailing environment--so in go the other kids with a chance, without college coach direction, that 'want' to make a name for themselves early and try to get noticed. The only thing I think that is keeping better hockey kids in school, is other sports, the 'I don't want to miss my senior year'--or parents/education. MSHSL & the Elite program should realize hockey is different than basketball and football if they want to stay involved, or there are many & 'valid' options besides high school hockey today as opposed to lets say 15 years ago. Perfect example--to play division III hockey 1-2 years of juniors is mandatory. Football and basketball for instance go straight out of high school. Also the Elite program, though founded on great principals, is kind of a quagmire anyways. It provides super oppertunity and forum for the Junior and college coaches to recruit early. Defeats the purpose of 'keeping them in school'. Hate to say it, but it is a trend that keeps growing. Many many options/teams for junior hockey too! Will be interesting to see how that growth effects the next several years. SSP losing 3 kids in one year to juniors is a perfect example. I don't have the answer and the free market always prevails, it is how we react and change to those market demands. I can only and honestly tell you that if the MSHSL believes this means they need to tighten the rules in response, well thats what we need more government regulation of kids playing a sport in high school. (i.e. they will just leave sooner). On a side note very impressed with SSP this year without those kids. That #4 is a complete stud.

[HShockeywatcher]

Looks like the Elite program is really keeping those kids in school! Many, many more will be leaving in the coming years, as it is imperative the good ones move on-as is necessary and demanded by many college coaches. And if that is the prevailing environment--so in go the other kids with a chance, without college coach direction, that 'want' to make a name for themselves early and try to get noticed. The only thing I think that is keeping better hockey kids in school, is other sports, the 'I don't want to miss my senior year'--or parents/education. MSHSL & the Elite program should realize hockey is different than basketball and football if they want to stay involved, or there are many & 'valid' options besides high school hockey today as opposed to lets say 15 years ago. Perfect example--to play division III hockey 1-2 years of juniors is mandatory. Football and basketball for instance go straight out of high school. Also the Elite program, though founded on great principals, is kind of a quagmire anyways. It provides super oppertunity and forum for the Junior and college coaches to recruit early. Defeats the purpose of 'keeping them in school'. Hate to say it, but it is a trend that keeps growing. Many many options/teams for junior hockey too! Will be interesting to see how that growth effects the next several years. SSP losing 3 kids in one year to juniors is a perfect example. I don't have the answer and the free market always prevails, it is how we react and change to those market demands. I can only and honestly tell you that if the MSHSL believes this means they need to tighten the rules in response, well thats what we need more government regulation of kids playing a sport in high school. (i.e. they will just leave sooner). On a side note very impressed with SSP this year without those kids. That #4 is a complete stud.

How often do kids that leave early end up playing DIII? Or are most DI commitments who leave because they are asked to?

What sort of a game schedule do you think it would take to get more kids to stay? Would a 35-40 game schedule be enough? The biggest issue, which makes MN sports very special and unique from others, is that MN basically has 3 distinct seasons. While I don't think it would be that big of deal, I don't know if it'd happen. That could jolt the same in other sports, which would change the landscape of MN sports. Not sure what others think of that.

[blueblood]

The HS hockey season is roughly 12 weeks long from Thanksgiving to third week in February (start of section playoffs)

@ avg of 2.5 games played per week = 30 games prior to playoffs
@ avg of 3.0 games played per week = 36 games prior to playoffs

Youth hockey seasons began in early October with games starting in mid-October which allows for the 40 to 50 game seasons.

Youth tournaments allow teams to rack up 4 to 5 (6 games in a weekend for Fargo Flyer Squirts!). Multiply that by 4 to 5 weekends in a season and you have 16 to 25 games right there.

Increasing HS game counts, IMO, comes down to three options:

1) Start earlier in November - most fall sports are affected; especially football. No transition time for multi-sport athletes.

2) Move State Tournament later in March - Minimal effect on spring sports since basketball season goes until late March. Could affect arena scheduling due to other state tournaments and WCHA Final Five.

3) Start earlier and end later

Of the three above, option 2 is proabably the easiest to implement and could push the regular season game count to up to 28 to 30 games. Beyond that, would be a big stretch and face an uphill climb at passing.

[mulefarm]

The HS hockey season is roughly 12 weeks long from Thanksgiving to third week in February (start of section playoffs)

@ avg of 2.5 games played per week = 30 games prior to playoffs
@ avg of 3.0 games played per week = 36 games prior to playoffs

Youth hockey seasons began in early October with games starting in mid-October which allows for the 40 to 50 game seasons.

Youth tournaments allow teams to rack up 4 to 5 (6 games in a weekend for Fargo Flyer Squirts!). Multiply that by 4 to 5 weekends in a season and you have 16 to 25 games right there.

Increasing HS game counts, IMO, comes down to three options:

1) Start earlier in November - most fall sports are affected; especially football. No transition time for multi-sport athletes.

2) Move State Tournament later in March - Minimal effect on spring sports since basketball season goes until late March. Could affect arena scheduling due to other state tournaments and WCHA Final Five.

3) Start earlier and end later

Of the three above, option 2 is proabably the easiest to implement and could push the regular season game count to up to 28 to 30 games. Beyond that, would be a big stretch and face an uphill climb at passing.

Makes too much sense. The MSHSL really only cares about the state tournament and the revenue it brings in. I believe a year or so ago they cut the scrimmages and wnated to cut the games back to 20. Really not a lot of hockey people in the MSHSL and it shows!

[drop the puck]

Hockey is already the longest HS sport season at 17 weeks and the number of allowed competitions is only second to baseball.

Football pushes into November. Spring sports start around the last week of March.

Win and the hockey season keeps going. If you want all teams to have a longer season, you can shorten the time allowed in Sections. Right now they allow Sections to run Feb 22 - March 3 and then wait until March 9 - 12 for the State Tournament.

[mulefarm]

Hockey is already the longest HS sport season at 17 weeks and the number of allowed competitions is only second to baseball.

Football pushes into November. Spring sports start around the last week of March.

Win and the hockey season keeps going. If you want all teams to have a longer season, you can shorten the time allowed in Sections. Right now they allow Sections to run Feb 22 - March 3 and then wait until March 9 - 12 for the State Tournament.

I say start football games the 3rd Fri in August and have it over by Nov 1.
Baseball can start later and have the state the week before the 4th. Hockey is the biggest revenue activity and they should do everything to make it better and keep the best kids in state.

[drop the puck]

August too warm ... they need at least two weeks of practice before games - they do not need to start the season any earlier in August.

Losing a few kids to US Development teams, USHL, or Shatt does not impact the state tournament what so ever. In fact maybe in balances them out a little more.

Many players are worn down by the time Sectionals arrive. HS hockey is a physical and demanding game. Shortening the bench as many teams do does not help. Season length, number of games is just fine.


To the few that make the NHL, people on this site rarely care what route they took to get there. They are still counted as Minnesotans in the NHL.