Bantam AA & Peewee AA

[blueblood]

The same 4 assocations have won their QF games to reach semi's.

St. Michael
Duluth East
Wayzata
Edina

I wonder when the first STMA players start moving off to the privates

[willygetup]

Funny I wonder when more will be looking at joining STMA to beat the privates? Looking at the peewees and bantams they looks to be close to making a name of their own name.

[SaucySauce]

Not to mention. . .

High School AA final 4:

Edina
Duluth East
Wayzata


Hill Murray

[mulefarm]

Is Tony Sarsland the coach of STMA?

[skiumah]

Edina won the HS AA tournament.

Here's what Edina has going in youth championship games tomorrow:
Jr Gold A
Jr Gold B
Bantam AA
Bantam A
Peewee AA
Peewee B

Championship games Edina is not participating in:
Jr Gold 16
Bantam B
Peewee A

That's impressive. Nice to see a city team in the Peewee A championship game. Go Minneapolis!

[Cdale]

Congrats to Edina- peewee and bantam AA champs!

[old goalie85]

Very impressive Edina !! Congrats to all the kids !!

[crw]

Bantam AA 3rd Place Game

Wayzata 1
STMA 0

Double Overtime

[karl(east)]

Well, I guess East is good at losing to Edina by a goal this year...happened at HS State (semifinal), Bantam AA (final) and PeeWee AA (semifinal).

Still, an impressive showing by DE at all levels, especially for this Bantam squad...a few weeks ago they weren't favored to get out of regions, and they just took a star-studded Edina team to the brink with this double-OT loss in the championship.

Nice rebound by the PeeWees also, as they won the 3rd place game 7-1. That group should be fun to watch over the next few years.

[MrBoDangles]

Well, I guess East is good at losing to Edina by a goal this year...happened at HS State (semifinal), Bantam AA (final) and PeeWee AA (semifinal).

Still, an impressive showing by DE at all levels, especially for this Bantam squad...a few weeks ago they weren't favored to get out of regions, and they just took a star-studded Edina team to the brink with this double-OT loss in the championship.

Nice rebound by the PeeWees also, as they won the 3rd place game 7-1. That group should be fun to watch over the next few years.

Pretty amazing when you consider DE only has three teams at each level..

What is Edina doing wrong, having ten teams at a level and only beating DE by one?

[C-dad]

Well, I guess East is good at losing to Edina by a goal this year...happened at HS State (semifinal), Bantam AA (final) and PeeWee AA (semifinal).

Still, an impressive showing by DE at all levels, especially for this Bantam squad...a few weeks ago they weren't favored to get out of regions, and they just took a star-studded Edina team to the brink with this double-OT loss in the championship.

Nice rebound by the PeeWees also, as they won the 3rd place game 7-1. That group should be fun to watch over the next few years.

Pretty amazing when you consider DE only has three teams at each level..

What is Edina doing wrong, having ten teams at a level and only beating DE by one?

Clearly too many of the kids spending time at the Made.

[karl(east)]

Pretty amazing when you consider DE only has three teams at each level..

What is Edina doing wrong, having ten teams at a level and only beating DE by one?

I think they have 4 PW teams, but I don't think that changes the point--that's not bad for a team with 1/3 the numbers of Edina. (Though I certainly wouldn't say a PeeWee team that just won every single game it played against MN competition is doing anything "wrong.")

That said, here are a few possible reasons for these games being fairly even, in spite of the mismatch in size. First, things Edina cannot control:

-First and foremost: simple rules of top-end talent distribution along a bell curve (a subject for another, longer post someday). Basically, the relationship between program size and star talent produced is not linear. That's also an important part of why it might seem to some that Minnesota doesn't "put out enough star players," in spite of its numbers advantage over the rest of the country.
-East has a relatively easy path to state out of the North region (at least compared to what some Metro teams have to go through)
-Duluth's history of hockey success, which feeds on itself. (Yes, Edina has a great history, too, but suburbs don't always command as much loyalty as a stand-alone city.)

Things Edina can control:

-Coaching (I don't know nearly enough about Edina youth coaches to judge them, but East's staff--at Bantams in particular--seems to consistently get more than expected out of the team.)
-In an interview a couple of years ago, I recall Mike Randolph saying that he says a big "thank you" to Metro teams who overload their top one or two Squirt teams--the argument being that the Duluth model (a lot of more-or-less even, neighborhood-based Squirt teams) lets the program develop a lot more depth than one might expect, given their numbers. That's his opinion, and I don't know enough to say whether he's right, but on a certain level, it makes sense.

[MrBoDangles]

Well, I guess East is good at losing to Edina by a goal this year...happened at HS State (semifinal), Bantam AA (final) and PeeWee AA (semifinal).

Still, an impressive showing by DE at all levels, especially for this Bantam squad...a few weeks ago they weren't favored to get out of regions, and they just took a star-studded Edina team to the brink with this double-OT loss in the championship.

Nice rebound by the PeeWees also, as they won the 3rd place game 7-1. That group should be fun to watch over the next few years.

Pretty amazing when you consider DE only has three teams at each level..

What is Edina doing wrong, having ten teams at a level and only beating DE by one?

Clearly too many of the kids spending time at the Made.

Imagine the DE formula with enough kids for ten teams......

[hockey59]

Well, I guess East is good at losing to Edina by a goal this year...happened at HS State (semifinal), Bantam AA (final) and PeeWee AA (semifinal).

Still, an impressive showing by DE at all levels, especially for this Bantam squad...a few weeks ago they weren't favored to get out of regions, and they just took a star-studded Edina team to the brink with this double-OT loss in the championship.

Nice rebound by the PeeWees also, as they won the 3rd place game 7-1. That group should be fun to watch over the next few years.

I attended the game...great game...DE led 3-2 with 3:02 remaining in the 3rd period. Edina pulled their goalie with just over a minute remaining. There was a face-off in the DE zone with less than 1 minute to go...Edina scored with about 35 seconds remaining in the 3rd to tie it 3-3. Final shots were like Edina 56 DE 29. DE goalie played extremely well and entire DE team played very well. DE had a couple good scoring chances in OT...Edina had about 10 good scoring chances in OT before winning.

Penalty called on DE player during 2nd OT was called for hooking an Edina player rushing through the neutral zone into the DE zone...a tough call against DE (as it was not like the hooked player was on a clean breakaway). Not saying a hook didn't occur, but refs often let that call go in double OT. Obviously a heat-breaking loss for the Hounds.

Still, for a team not even ranked as a LPH top 20 team 3 weeks ago...a team not expected to advance to State by many people (myself included) 3 weeks ago..what a dramatic late season run...Coach Pitosia, his assistant caoches and the DE players should be congratulated!!! They earned 2nd place in Bantam AA State...quite an accomplishment.

CONGRATUATIONS also to Edina...they refused to lose...and found a way to pull it out...and win ANOTHER State Title.