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I was going through the most recent LPH rag I have and saw that Minnesota Made put an ad in congratulating the Edina Squirt A's on their winning season and specifically mentioning the 15 kids that played in the Choice League.

Another great example of how MM really knows how to develop those younger kids. Or maybe it's just a huge coincidence.

HockeyDad41 wrote:I was going through the most recent LPH rag I have and saw that Minnesota Made put an ad in congratulating the Edina Squirt A's on their winning season and specifically mentioning the 15 kids that played in the Choice League.

Another great example of how MM really knows how to develop those younger kids. Or maybe it's just a huge coincidence.

When was the last time any Edina "A" team DIDN'T have a winning season?

ha! Both fair points!

HockeyDad41 wrote:Another great example of how MM really knows how to develop those younger kids. Or maybe it's just a huge coincidence.

This is newsworthy?

A very large association, that historically is the strongest of all in Minnesota at the youngest age level, is good - again - because they have a ton of kids that have played a ton of hockey. (Seriously, all together they have over 2,000 pounds of kids that have played a lot of hockey.)

There really isn't a lot of mystery about how to form the best team of 10-year-olds in any sport. Start 'em young and train the heck out of 'em.

Well done, Made. Well done.

Sure it's newsworthy. Have you seen what makes the news these days?

The irony is that if only 2 kids on that team were from Choice, Hewitt would have taken out the ad.

Maybe all the other teams that have winning seasons that didn't have MM kid should take out an ad--is that newsworthy?

How many of the original MM 88s are in D1 hockey?

The early MM Machine players. How many are D1 players or recruits?

Is Edina going to dismantle its pre-Squirt program? Everyone goes to MM choice. If you do not send your kids there for 2-3 years, your kids will not be on the A team, or a long shot of 2 out 17!

My guess is that if there were no choice league,many of those 15/17 would have made the team.

It is a fact, but no conclusion can be drawn from it other than if your best players get a lot of good quality ice time, they will most likely stay the best players.

Edina dominated at the squirt level before Choice, so take it for what it is worth.

Toomuchtoosoon wrote:My guess is that if there were no choice league,many of those 15/17 would have made the team.

It is a fact, but no conclusion can be drawn from it other than if your best players get a lot of good quality ice time, they will most likely stay the best players.

Edina dominated at the squirt level before Choice, so take it for what it is worth.

Surely they did. Now with this ad, the path in Edina is that you got to play in MM choice instead of Edina house league. If you do play in the house league, you will play the B/C teams since kids from the MM will come back to play on the A team. Sounds like a great plan for Edina.

What also was not stated is that the Squirt A coach is closely tied with MM. Sounds like a conflict of interest. Be apart of MM if you want a chance at making the SQA team. It would be interesting to know what the affiliation of the last cuts were.

Never thought about it until now. Guess MM loves publicity, whether good or bad.

If Made gets to be proud because Edina has the best Squirt team, shouldn't they be embarrassed that Farmington has the best Pee Wee team?

I'm not sure they even had a youth hockey program when I played. Maybe their kids were Made and that's why their good now, but I'll let someone closer to the situation weigh in.

It would be interesting to know how many years these kids spent at MM Choice. I know of a lot of families that started early, played 3-4 years of Association, then played their last year at MM because they felt they were too good for Mites but not yet eligible for Squirts.

The EHA has at times ignored the Mite program but that is turning around. This year was much better and I hear good things are in store for next year too. I would never rule out the MM option all together but I've been happy with the development opportunites the Association offers at 1/3 - 1/4 of the cost.

Looked at the ad. It is a good ad. Kind of a "way to go guys" to the Squirt A team. The players that I know on the squirt A team, all but one was in the Choice league for two year and a few for the last three years.

Given that they get a 100 to a 140 hours at Choice per-season and the Mites in Edina only get about 40. They have spent four to five times more hours at Minn Made than in the asscciation.

It is kind of a wait and see on early Machine play going D1. There are no Machine players that are really old enough to be D1 players. Bernie started with the 96s. They are just now getting to Select 15 age. There was a 95 team after a couple seasons but that was run by Dave Snuggerud and Mark Austin.

O-townClown wrote:If Made gets to be proud because Edina has the best Squirt team, shouldn't they be embarrassed that Farmington has the best Pee Wee team?

I'm not sure they even had a youth hockey program when I played. Maybe their kids were Made and that's why their good now, but I'll let someone closer to the situation weigh in.

Good question. I can't speak specifically about that team, but there are kids from Farmington playing in the Choice league.

O-townClown wrote:If Made gets to be proud because Edina has the best Squirt team, shouldn't they be embarrassed that Farmington has the best Pee Wee team?

I'm not sure they even had a youth hockey program when I played. Maybe their kids were Made and that's why their good now, but I'll let someone closer to the situation weigh in.

Most came up through the Farmington Association, been watching this group since mini-mites!

Edina is always very good. Give it a rest Bernie.

Centennial Squirt A had a fabulous season and none of those kids are from the choice league. I wish we could have played edina, it would have been a good game....especially at the end of season, centennial was playing top of their game.

Their roots in MM aside, look at the Edina Squirt A practice schedule Nov-Jan. Very few (maybe 3 or 4) days off each month, many practices well over one hour in length, dryland added onto practice, many instances of multiple events in one day. These kids are all hockey all the time. Deep pockets and 2, 3, and even 4 times the pool of kids to pick from compared to their rivals make it hard for other associations to compete.