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One of the top 5 best classes ever? Best ever? They win two out of three championships at the high school level to make it 5 out of the last 6 going all the way back to Peewees. I certainly can't think of a better one of the top of my head, the Edina "super class" didn't win anything. These guys all stayed around and finished the deal. Congrats to Pat Hellier, Mark Rath, Kyle Rau, Curt Rau, Nick Seeler, Des Shavlik, Joe Kerker, Dan Molenaar, Jack McCartan, Ben Boldenow, David Rath, Luc Gerdes, and Andrew Ford for one hell of a run. You'll never forget it.

HockeyMN1 wrote:One of the top 5 best classes ever? Best ever? They win two out of three championships at the high school level to make it 5 out of the last 6 going all the way back to Peewees. I certainly can't think of a better one of the top of my head, the Edina "super class" didn't win anything. These guys all stayed around and finished the deal. Congrats to Pat Hellier, Mark Rath, Kyle Rau, Curt Rau, Nick Seeler, Des Shavlik, Joe Kerker, Dan Molenaar, Jack McCartan, Ben Boldenow, David Rath, Luc Gerdes, and Andrew Ford for one hell of a run. You'll never forget it.

Anyone who ever plays hockey in Minnesota, dreams of the success these guys had, amazing group of players.

Settle down, they did a nice job but lets not overdue it now, there have been alot of great classes over 67 years of State Tournament history, best ever?? Hardly...top ten, maybe, but who knows.

Happyhockey fan, PeeWee A, 2 Bantam A & 2 High School State Titles. How many others have done that? It's pretty impressive.

hockey83 wrote:Happyhockey fan, PeeWee A, 2 Bantam A & 2 High School State Titles. How many others have done that? It's pretty impressive.

What they accomplished is amazing and I doubt there has ever been a class come close to that. Just to have the chance to play in that many games is amazing and they won them all which is even more amazing.

GordonBombay99 wrote:

hockey83 wrote:Happyhockey fan, PeeWee A, 2 Bantam A & 2 High School State Titles. How many others have done that? It's pretty impressive.

What they accomplished is amazing and I doubt there has ever been a class come close to that. Just to have the chance to play in that many games is amazing and they won them all which is even more amazing.

Well lets crown them the GREATEST TEAM TO EVER PLAY and have a parade, maybe send them to the White House to meet the President...NOT...I am sure over 67 years there have been other teams to have some very impressive accomplishments as well but at this time it probably cant be proven as I dont think Peewee A and Bantam A records are kept year to year, especially 20/30 years ago. They have had a nice run, lets leave it at that.

May want to change your name to bitterhockeyfan

HappyHockeyFan wrote:

GordonBombay99 wrote:

hockey83 wrote:Happyhockey fan, PeeWee A, 2 Bantam A & 2 High School State Titles. How many others have done that? It's pretty impressive.

What they accomplished is amazing and I doubt there has ever been a class come close to that. Just to have the chance to play in that many games is amazing and they won them all which is even more amazing.

Well lets crown them the GREATEST TEAM TO EVER PLAY and have a parade, maybe send them to the White House to meet the President...NOT...I am sure over 67 years there have been other teams to have some very impressive accomplishments as well but at this time it probably cant be proven as I dont think Peewee A and Bantam A records are kept year to year, especially 20/30 years ago. They have had a nice run, lets leave it at that.

LMAO. Wow, I'm just waiting for you to get flamed. It's only a matter of time now. The class is probably one of the best ones to come through, but the EP fans on the forum waxing poetic about these seniors are looking downright sappy at this point.

Thanks for backing me up about the game-winning goal, whether that was by accident or design on your part. Congrats to Eagan on a great season as well. Their future looks bright.

brandy38 wrote:

HappyHockeyFan wrote:

GordonBombay99 wrote: What they accomplished is amazing and I doubt there has ever been a class come close to that. Just to have the chance to play in that many games is amazing and they won them all which is even more amazing.

Well lets crown them the GREATEST TEAM TO EVER PLAY and have a parade, maybe send them to the White House to meet the President...NOT...I am sure over 67 years there have been other teams to have some very impressive accomplishments as well but at this time it probably cant be proven as I dont think Peewee A and Bantam A records are kept year to year, especially 20/30 years ago. They have had a nice run, lets leave it at that.

LMAO. Wow, I'm just waiting for you to get flamed. It's only a matter of time now. The class is probably one of the best ones to come through, but the EP fans on the forum waxing poetic about these seniors are looking downright sappy at this point.

Thanks for backing me up about the game-winning goal, whether that was by accident or design on your part. Congrats to Eagan on a great season as well. Their future looks bright.

I call it like I see it, and I happen to agree with your assessment of the goal, I saw a dozen replays of it at the excel tonight and it clearly went off the defenseman's skate. As for getting flamed soon, I am used to it, I tend to be a little controversial at times, hehe, much of the time its just people who cant take a joke or are way too serious about themselves and their teams (Eden Prairie)...but like I said I call it like I see it and let them say what they want, its only an opinion, occaisionally fact and really never personal.

In the "Modern" era of HS Hockey this EP class is hands down one of the best classes to ever play in high school hockey.

mghockey18 wrote:In the "Modern" era of HS Hockey this EP class is hands down one of the best classes to ever play in high school hockey.

That might be true, but you cant tell me with all the great teams that Edina, Jefferson, St Paul Johnson, Roseau and other teams not mentioned have had that they werent winning everything in sight as peewee's and bantam's too. I just dont think its EP fans case to make, that should be reserved from outsiders, its more credible that way.

For Eden Prairie’s seniors, players such as Molenaar and Gerdes, the victory on the final day of the regular season was especially sweet as it marked the first time they had defeated Edina at the varsity level in three seasons. Most of the Eagles seniors were part of the state Class 2A championship squad two seasons ago as sophomores.

“We last beat them in Bantam A,” Gerdes said. “It was huge to get them tonight. Tonight was a big night. Now we’ve got a lot of momentum going into the playoffs.”

No doubt these guys were good, but they couldn't ever beat one of their arch rivals.

Also, they missed a state tournament, not very good for consistency. I would rank them ahead of Edina of the last 3 years...but all time, no way, I'm pretty sure the Spehar Duluth East teams or the Crowley Jefferson teams never missed a State tourney their junior year.

hockey83 wrote:Happyhockey fan, PeeWee A, 2 Bantam A & 2 High School State Titles. How many others have done that? It's pretty impressive.

The original post said that the Edina class of Budish-Everson-Gaarder-Lee-others didn't win anything.

Now we're counting PW and Bantam titles?

I think you'll see they won some of those too, in addition to hardware at state a few times. Just not the big one.

Seems to me the kids from Jefferson that went years without losing are the gold standard. Eden Prairie - yes - had a great run. But they were taken to overtime in the Section final as I recall. Let's not forget all the other teams that have won the tournament. And some great teams that never did.

AdamBanks wrote:For Eden Prairie’s seniors, players such as Molenaar and Gerdes, the victory on the final day of the regular season was especially sweet as it marked the first time they had defeated Edina at the varsity level in three seasons. Most of the Eagles seniors were part of the state Class 2A championship squad two seasons ago as sophomores.

“We last beat them in Bantam A,” Gerdes said. “It was huge to get them tonight. Tonight was a big night. Now we’ve got a lot of momentum going into the playoffs.”

No doubt these guys were good, but they couldn't ever beat one of their arch rivals.

Also, they missed a state tournament, not very good for consistency. I would rank them ahead of Edina of the last 3 years...but all time, no way,
I'm pretty sure the Spehar Duluth East teams or the Crowley Jefferson teams never missed a State tourney their junior year.

But those teams also didn't have to face such tough competition in sections as the eagles did.

So if they were winning 3 region and 3 state tournament games in Peewees and Bantams to go along with their 14-1 high school playoff record that would make them 32-1 in playoffs over their last 6 years. Their one loss was as jrs to a Minnetonka team who was ranked #1 at the time. Not bad.
Section 6 is one where the #1 team in the state can get matched with a top ten team in the semis and play a top 5 team in the finals. Good for them for coming out of it and only giving up 3 goals the entire 3 games and overtime's at the excel.

I may have to double check, but I believe that this EP class is only the 2nd class to win a Pee Wee A, Bantam A, AND high school state championship when it was their 2nd year in youth or their senior year. The other being '93 Jefferson. Some had won a Pee Wee A title or a Bantam A title, or both of those but not the high school title.

I'd put them just behind that Jefferson class simply because Jefferson destroyed everything in their path. You'd have to see how many losses Jefferson Pee Wee A's had in 1987-1988, but I know that they only had 1 loss in Bantam A's in 1989-1990 (the national championship game final to a team 2 years older than them) and undefeated in 1992-1993 with only one game being a one goal game against Park Center.

Being just behind that crew is quite an honor. Congrats EP seniors on being a part of MN High School hockey history.

Eveleth had a fairly Decent team with Mayasich

blindref wrote:Eveleth had a fairly Decent team with Mayasich

They also played in a day when shin pads were rolled up copies of Sid Hartman's Minneapolis Tribune articles and half the opposing players couldn't do crossovers.

I agree that it would be between this class and the class from Jefferson. Remember the topic was discussing...where do you rate the class? Not the team...Sure many teams in the past have done some pretty special things. Not many have done what these two classes have accomplished.

Sounds like some bitterness out of a certain person on here

Doc Holliday wrote:I may have to double check, but I believe that this EP class is only the 2nd class to win a Pee Wee A, Bantam A, AND high school state championship when it was their 2nd year in youth or their senior year. The other being '93 Jefferson. Some had won a Pee Wee A title or a Bantam A title, or both of those but not the high school title.

I'd put them just behind that Jefferson class simply because Jefferson destroyed everything in their path. You'd have to see how many losses Jefferson Pee Wee A's had in 1987-1988, but I know that they only had 1 loss in Bantam A's in 1989-1990 (the national championship game final to a team 2 years older than them) and undefeated in 1992-1993 with only one game being a one goal game against Park Center.

Being just behind that crew is quite an honor. Congrats EP seniors on being a part of MN High School hockey history.

Agree with your assessment. I cannot remember the exact count. But, there were at least 3 NHL players that came out of that Jefferson class.

HappyHockeyFan wrote:

GordonBombay99 wrote:

hockey83 wrote:Happyhockey fan, PeeWee A, 2 Bantam A & 2 High School State Titles. How many others have done that? It's pretty impressive.

What they accomplished is amazing and I doubt there has ever been a class come close to that. Just to have the chance to play in that many games is amazing and they won them all which is even more amazing.

Well lets crown them the GREATEST TEAM TO EVER PLAY and have a parade, maybe send them to the White House to meet the President...NOT...I am sure over 67 years there have been other teams to have some very impressive accomplishments as well but at this time it probably cant be proven as I dont think Peewee A and Bantam A records are kept year to year, especially 20/30 years ago. They have had a nice run, lets leave it at that.

it's a bit more than a 'nice run' just a little bit more than that...

PoNd HocKey ChAmP67 wrote:

HappyHockeyFan wrote:

GordonBombay99 wrote: What they accomplished is amazing and I doubt there has ever been a class come close to that. Just to have the chance to play in that many games is amazing and they won them all which is even more amazing.

Well lets crown them the GREATEST TEAM TO EVER PLAY and have a parade, maybe send them to the White House to meet the President...NOT...I am sure over 67 years there have been other teams to have some very impressive accomplishments as well but at this time it probably cant be proven as I dont think Peewee A and Bantam A records are kept year to year, especially 20/30 years ago. They have had a nice run, lets leave it at that.

.

it's a bit more than a 'nice run' just a little bit more than that...

Ok fine, a "very nice run", that better? I hope that helps you sleep better tonight.

HappyHockeyFan wrote:

PoNd HocKey ChAmP67 wrote:

HappyHockeyFan wrote:Well lets crown them the GREATEST TEAM TO EVER PLAY and have a parade, maybe send them to the White House to meet the President...NOT...I am sure over 67 years there have been other teams to have some very impressive accomplishments as well but at this time it probably cant be proven as I dont think Peewee A and Bantam A records are kept year to year, especially 20/30 years ago. They have had a nice run, lets leave it at that.

.

it's a bit more than a 'nice run' just a little bit more than that...

Ok fine, a "very nice run", that better? I hope that helps you sleep better tonight.

Why do you insist on taking away from what this class has accomplished? For their age, they won FIVE OUT OF SIX State Championships in Minnesota. This isn't just a run, this is historic. It's unfortunate that bitter opposing fans feel the need to take away from it.

HockeyMN1 wrote:

HappyHockeyFan wrote:

PoNd HocKey ChAmP67 wrote:.

it's a bit more than a 'nice run' just a little bit more than that...

Ok fine, a "very nice run", that better? I hope that helps you sleep better tonight.

Why do you insist on taking away from what this class has accomplished? For their age, they won FIVE OUT OF SIX State Championships in Minnesota. This isn't just a run, this is historic. It's unfortunate that bitter opposing fans feel the need to take away from it.

Well I am sure if it was Eagan in EP's position right now you would find a way to diminish it, I mean you havent been able to admit Eagan's relavance this past season as it is, even when they beat you twice in the past two seasons. I also think it is better to be humble in your accomplishments and let others brag you up.

HappyHockeyFan wrote:

HockeyMN1 wrote:

HappyHockeyFan wrote:Ok fine, a "very nice run", that better? I hope that helps you sleep better tonight.

Why do you insist on taking away from what this class has accomplished? For their age, they won FIVE OUT OF SIX State Championships in Minnesota. This isn't just a run, this is historic. It's unfortunate that bitter opposing fans feel the need to take away from it.

Well I am sure if it was Eagan in EP's position right now you would find a way to diminish it, I mean you havent been able to admit Eagan's relavance this past season as it is, even when they beat you twice in the past two seasons. I also think it is better to be humble in your accomplishments and let others brag you up.

When any other team finds a way to accomplish what these kids have, I'll be the first to recognize it. You beat us twice by 1 and 2. We beat you twice by 5 and 4, not to mention TWO AA STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS. Tough argument for you based on that.