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I'm wondering if any of you members have lived in other states with high school hockey tournaments & what you thought of them versus ours. (We all know ours is the best!)

I don't think there are any other states where the top kids play HS. Even in MA where the AAA stops in November the best kids play for prep schools in the New Englad prep league which has teams in all NE states

The51 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 8:58 am I don't think there are any other states where the top kids play HS. Even in MA where the AAA stops in November the best kids play for prep schools in the New Englad prep league which has teams in all NE states

Well, they do in ND.
Not that many teams, but still a pretty good tournament.

TTpuckster wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:14 am

The51 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 8:58 am I don't think there are any other states where the top kids play HS. Even in MA where the AAA stops in November the best kids play for prep schools in the New Englad prep league which has teams in all NE states

Well, they do in ND.
Not that many teams, but still a pretty good tournament.

That's true, I forgot about them. But even there I would bet the best kids leave to go play AAA somewhere else

The51 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:35 am

TTpuckster wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:14 am

The51 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 8:58 am I don't think there are any other states where the top kids play HS. Even in MA where the AAA stops in November the best kids play for prep schools in the New Englad prep league which has teams in all NE states

Well, they do in ND.
Not that many teams, but still a pretty good tournament.

That's true, I forgot about them. But even there I would bet the best kids leave to go play AAA somewhere else

The best kids are in the east - Fargo and Grand Forks.
Occasionally they leave to play juniors (Fargo Force) but not a big exodus.
Some leave for MN high school but no great exodus.

I know MI has a tournament. I think Detroit Catholic Central won one of the classes, Birmingham Brother Rice won another, and Flint Powers won the third. Don't know if the best players play high school hockey there.

Mite-dad wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 10:30 am I know MI has a tournament. I think Detroit Catholic Central won one of the classes, Birmingham Brother Rice won another, and Flint Powers won the third. Don't know if the best players play high school hockey there.

They don't, there are 8 AAA teams in the state where the best kids play

North Dakota does have a tournament. Roughly a little less than half of the ND teams get into the state tournament they do a 1 west vs 4 east set up and it is entertaining. The top teams are most of the time very high level then it drops. They play at the REA most years and some years in Fargo. They will fill the Sceels arena I'm Fargo but not the Ralph. Kudos to them for having it though, it is a quality show.
Also Wisconsin has a tournament, I'm not too familiar with it though.

I caught the South Dakota State Tournament on Midco Cable one year.

They played it at Scheels rink (The practice rink for the Sioux Falls Stampede) I think the State only has 8 teams and they seed it 1-8.

Not the greatest hockey as most in the State that re good play Tier One but it was a good turnout crowd wise filled in the double sided rink well it looked like on TV. Seems like Sioux Falls, Pierre and Brookings are the Powers this was a few years ago though.

Illinois has gotten better and better. They play it, girls and boys, the same day at the United Center (where the Blackhawks play). The high schools far outdraw the AAA teams and have been continuing getting better. I can’t believe it won’t be long until Northwestern, Illinois, or UIC has D1 hockey. The talent is there.

goldy313 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 12:15 am Illinois has gotten better and better. They play it, girls and boys, the same day at the United Center (where the Blackhawks play). The high schools far outdraw the AAA teams and have been continuing getting better. I can’t believe it won’t be long until Northwestern, Illinois, or UIC has D1 hockey. The talent is there.

Outdraws in fan support? The high school is nowhere close to the talent of the AAA

goldy313 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 12:15 am Illinois has gotten better and better. They play it, girls and boys, the same day at the United Center (where the Blackhawks play). The high schools far outdraw the AAA teams and have been continuing getting better. I can’t believe it won’t be long until Northwestern, Illinois, or UIC has D1 hockey. The talent is there.

The talent pipelines will remain the same: Canada, Minnesota, Michigan and Massachusetts, with a scattering from the region around the institution.

Wisconsin has gotten worlds better. The state champion used to get beat by mid tier A Minnesota teams. This year’s team beat Gentry by 3 goals and beat Michigan state champions outshooting them 2/1 in the process. In 5 short years they have closed a tremendous gap on Minnesota. (The state tournament does absolutely suck though)

LASERBLUE135 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 10:34 pm Wisconsin has gotten worlds better. The state champion used to get beat by mid tier A Minnesota teams. This year’s team beat Gentry by 3 goals and beat Michigan state champions outshooting them 2/1 in the process. In 5 short years they have closed a tremendous gap on Minnesota. (The state tournament does absolutely suck though)

Yeah I went in 2003 when my high school won state: mostly empty building

Didnt they move it to a smaller venue this season?

Joe2015 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 4:56 am

LASERBLUE135 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 10:34 pm Wisconsin has gotten worlds better. The state champion used to get beat by mid tier A Minnesota teams. This year’s team beat Gentry by 3 goals and beat Michigan state champions outshooting them 2/1 in the process. In 5 short years they have closed a tremendous gap on Minnesota. (The state tournament does absolutely suck though)

Yeah I went in 2003 when my high school won state: mostly empty building

Didnt they move it to a smaller venue this season?

Yep. It’s the Madison Capitals arena. Seats under 3,000 fans at max capacity. They used to play at the Badgers UW arena.

The51 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:30 am

goldy313 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 12:15 am Illinois has gotten better and better. They play it, girls and boys, the same day at the United Center (where the Blackhawks play). The high schools far outdraw the AAA teams and have been continuing getting better. I can’t believe it won’t be long until Northwestern, Illinois, or UIC has D1 hockey. The talent is there.

Outdraws in fan support? The high school is nowhere close to the talent of the AAA

Your reading comprehension is horrible!

I am sure the kids from the Fire really enjoy playing in front of 17 people. 12,000 people go to the high school state championship. High school hockey in Illinois has been getting better year by year.

Is Minnetonka better than Shattuck? That is your point, whether you are making it or not. No one, outside of less than 50 people, care what Shattuck does. 18,000 show up to see Minnetonka play Edina.

Fwiw. Take Chicago out of the equation. Illinois produces far more power conference football, basketball, wrestlers, and baseball players than the entire state of Minnesota does. Hockey will follow.

As a state we need to figure out not to charge a kid $500 - $1000 to play a high school sport. It was $25 a year for me, no matter how many spots I played.

goldy313 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 12:12 am

The51 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:30 am

goldy313 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 12:15 am Illinois has gotten better and better. They play it, girls and boys, the same day at the United Center (where the Blackhawks play). The high schools far outdraw the AAA teams and have been continuing getting better. I can’t believe it won’t be long until Northwestern, Illinois, or UIC has D1 hockey. The talent is there.

Outdraws in fan support? The high school is nowhere close to the talent of the AAA

Your reading comprehension is horrible!

I am sure the kids from the Fire really enjoy playing in front of 17 people. 12,000 people go to the high school state championship. High school hockey in Illinois has been getting better year by year.

Is Minnetonka better than Shattuck? That is your point, whether you are making it or not. No one, outside of less than 50 people, care what Shattuck does. 18,000 show up to see Minnetonka play Edina.

Fwiw. Take Chicago out of the equation. Illinois produces far more power conference football, basketball, wrestlers, and baseball players than the entire state of Minnesota does. Hockey will follow.

As a state we need to figure out not to charge a kid $500 - $1000 to play a high school sport. It was $25 a year for me, no matter how many spots I played.

Couple different topics you touched on there.

1. No Minnetonka is not better than Shattuck, no MN HS team ever will be. Shattuck does in the ballpark of 12-2 every year in the elite league.

2. The state tourney and sections get great fan support, no doubt, but the regular season simply doesn't anymore (sadly). I went to the Edina/Wayzata regular season game in January this year and there were a total of I'd say 16 students and maybe 30 non parent adults.

2b. So if you're whole factor on what is better is based on 2 weekends of attendance then so be it but to me that should be a small part of the equation.

3.The reason hockey is so much more expensive everywhere outside of Minnesota is because in MN the rinks are subsidized by the government and therefore they have laws requiring the rinks to sell a certain percentage of their ice to the local association for a discounted rate. In other states the rinks (for the most part) are privately owned and being run like a business on top of the fact that there are less. It's simply supply and demand and until the demand goes up hockey will never go down to what it is in MN