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http://www.citypages.com/news/20-boys-t ... ry-8051115

This is written by the same guy who did the bashing of the gophers, but it is a considerably better piece. There was a few things I didn't like that he included, like giving us the idea that Johnson players were dirty, and I think he has the wrong year that Chorske won Mr. Hockey, but overall it is a nice story.
My favorite part had to be when he talked to Jake Hale and his father, I found that very interesting. Hopefully this program can keep building.

Johnson is a chippy team. I saw them play Greenway and their after the whistle cheap shots never ended. A dirty hit put one Greenway player out for the rest of the season. They started a fight at the end of the game where two Johnson players (no Greenway players) were ejected. A Johnson player jumped on a Greenway player who was already flat on the ice and pummeled him with punches. The Greenway player was in no position to even defend himself. My guess is that is not atypical of how Johnson plays.

greenwayraider wrote:Johnson is a chippy team. I saw them play Greenway and their after the whistle cheap shots never ended. A dirty hit put one Greenway player out for the rest of the season. They started a fight at the end of the game where two Johnson players (no Greenway players) were ejected. A Johnson player jumped on a Greenway player who was already flat on the ice and pummeled him with punches. The Greenway player was in no position to even defend himself. My guess is that is not atypical of how Johnson plays.

Not really the point of the article or what I was getting at. 95% of us have not seen Johnson play so to make them appear as a cheap team to have us sympathize for minneapolis was lame writing, to me at least (regardless if Johnson plays on the edge or not). That is why I disliked that part. If you want to continue to talk about Johnson go ahead, preferably in a new thread, but I would prefer to keep this about the Minneapols team.

You brought Johnson up, not me.

greenwayraider wrote:Johnson is a chippy team. I saw them play Greenway and their after the whistle cheap shots never ended. A dirty hit put one Greenway player out for the rest of the season. They started a fight at the end of the game where two Johnson players (no Greenway players) were ejected. A Johnson player jumped on a Greenway player who was already flat on the ice and pummeled him with punches. The Greenway player was in no position to even defend himself. My guess is that is not atypical of how Johnson plays.

No dog in the race and I know this isn't the point of the post. However, I don't think anyone from Greenway should be commenting about a team being chippy. Greenway leads the state in PIM

Difference in being dirty and taking dumb penalties. Greenway was definitely a chippy team last year, not this year. How many players have been ejected for fighting? Ask any teams if Greenway gets involved in after the whistle antics. Have you seen Greenway play? I'm not saying Greenway is a model team but Johnson is in a class by themselves.

BACK ON SUBJECT: Thanks for Sharing Green4. Great article and as you mentioned I enjoyed the quote from Todd Hale who has seen the recruiting of his older son to leave MPLS and now seeing the other side with his younger son staying---for the right reasons (playing with his buds who he has played with for many years). I admire Joe for taking on the challenge and I hope the team in two/three years can make it to a section final if not farther. GB

"Do you guys realize you represent the richest hockey tradition in the whole state?"

Some may take issue with this statement.

But it is that kind of statement that needs to be made.

In Minneapolis and places all over the state struggling with low numbers in youth programs.

A good article that hopefully stimulates people into action to get kids to play. You get enough kids you will get a good enough team. Not to win state, not to win the section, but good enough to have fun, be competitive and maintain a program.

And, yes, Roseau has the richest tradition.

Great article...love that Hale is staying home. That kid could have picked any school in the state. He is probably top 5 '01 in the state, including SSM players.

Minneapolis is finally starting to keep some of that talent. There historically have been so many departures to privates but the five (six, really) kids Jake Hale speaks of that grew up playing together won a state championship a few years ago in pee wee A. Three very good sophomore D and three good forwards, two that amassed 175 points between them that season. Their JV has a very strong sophomore class and with some of the kids coming up they are actually able to use the JV to develop varsity talent - a luxury that Minneapolis hasn't seen in a long time.

I know many of the kids in the Storm have always been private school kids and they will likely stay private but the school system in Minneapolis has done a great job of turning around in recent years. The good education excuse for going private is disappearing.

A high % of the youth system are already in private schools. One mpls rep told me as high as 60-70% of the youth system are in private schools. Mpls program getting better but with high numbers leaving (and will continue) cant expect to much although Hale will help for next few years. To bad Todd Hale had to take a shot at the private schools. Its funny, when your kid peaks and stops developing its always the schools fault not your own kid. Its about continuing to work hard on and off the ice and when you dont do that its your own fault.

Excuse me, "kid peaks and stops developing...." The kid is playing college hockey! He hasn't peaked yet and is still developing! What a shameless and completely inaccurate comment about Todd's oldest son. Not sure what ZH did to you but are you kidding all of us with that comment? Instead of taking a shot at a kid who helped Benilde win a State Championship why don't you praise the fact that he is playing college hockey at a very very good academic institution. GB

It happens sometimes the best bantam players dont turn out to be the best players as they move on in their hockey careers. Colby is a great school and strong program and he should be very proud and so should his family thats exactly why the private school comment was not nessasary. Instead you take the high road and say my other son went to private school and that was a great option, he is now playing at a great school out east.

Also regarding ZH - You would have a tough time finding a harder working, nicer kid. I don't know if he peaked early or not but he certainly never stopped working hard and being a leader and I don't believe he has stopped now.

Also, with over 700 kids in the Storm system there seems to be plenty of kids to go around. The fact is with this sophomore group (+JH) the best three D in my opinion and the top two scorers at every level they have been at since squirts are now playing for Joe D. That hasn't happened in the past and the stats don't lie. The players this group has lost are very good and would add a lot to the depth if they stayed which is important. They are certainly helping their private school teams. But at least with this class the top half stayed, statistically speaking. It's true that five of them have always been public so it made sense to stay from that point of view but more than one of them had very good opportunities to go elsewhere and still elected to stay.

I agree regarding ZH. The best hockey article written his senior year was about ZH being the true Mr Hockey. That article says all you need to know about ZH as a person.

Todd, may have taken the high road in his comments. He could have said, "Pauly promised us power play, first two lines and financial aid as a sophomore if our son went there. However, he promised the same things to the next group of Edina kids the following year...even offered to help convert them to Catholicism if they would like. We were duped. I won't fall for that line again with my youngest. GB

He didnt say that because he knows that is not true.

I don't even think that qualifies as "a shot" on private schools. If the worst thing he had to say is they want to win at all cost, that is really nothing. I think we all know successful teams do things like that, even the public schools. Him saying he didn't like that side of things and that being a reason to stay in public Minneapolis schools is not a shot to me.

Jake Hale is great young player and super fun to watch play. Hope he can stay healthy going forward.