A Season to Remember
What a finish for the boy’s high school tournament this year with the northern teams dominating and winning in class A and AA. There will be many people coming to many conclusions about the results and they may all be right. What I find interesting is that the AA winner, Roseau, with a population of only 2500 residents, can compete with communities and programs that are far bigger. In fact, the population of the largest youth program in the state including parents is larger than the entire city of Roseau.
In the metro are there are many youth programs merging with neighboring programs to keep up with the mega programs. What many people see as a problem could actually be seen as an advantage. The ingredients for success are lots of ice time, good coaching, and athletic players who have a passion for the game. The missing ingredient in the metro area programs is the opportunity to skate in unstructured open hockey with players of all ages.
At this years A Bantam state tournament 5 of the 8 teams are the 5 biggest programs in the state and 4 of them are perennial participants. Ironically their high school teams have not made the state tournament for several years in spite of success at the Bantam level. I am not sure what that means, if anything, but I do know Roseau (very small program) is in the Bantam tournament also. Look for them to be strong the next several years.
The article Where They Are From tells a very interesting story of where Division 1 hockey players call home. Minnesota is out pacing all other states by a large margin including Michigan and Massachusetts which are dominated by AAA hockey. That is good news and continues to validate our local community based programs. The numbers indicate that 35 players from Minnesota joined Division 1 teams this past fall. If that sounds like a lot of players consider that they come from four age classes and a pool of nearly 6,000 former high school players. Many of the college freshman players have been playing junior A hockey for as many as three years after high school. What the numbers tell us ! is that 5 players out of a 1,000 get a chance at Division 1 programs.
Speaking of high school hockey the article “High School Hockey in Canada” relates a new perspective of boys high school hockey way north. It is written by a former AAA player who decided to play high school hockey.
The next article “How to Grow a Super Athlete” tells a very interesting story of how the Russians have developed an extraordinary number of world ranked women tennis players. I think there are some very interesting points in this article that are worth the time to consider. Hockey is more difficult with the skating and the time and space relationships but I still think there are some good thoughts in the article.
On behalf of the Minnesota Youth Hockey Coaches Association with 14 paid members, I want to thank you for all of your hard work, dedication, and commitment to the players on your team. Coaches have a wonderful opportunity to make a positive impact on their players as they move through the system. As players work hard this off season to get better so should all of the coaches.
If you have comments or suggestions for this newsletter please feel free to send them along. The next issue will look at off season activities, training and learning resources.
See you around the rink..
Hal Tearse
Minnesota Hockey Coach in Chief
March 20, 2007
If you wish to join the association please send $5 to Minnesota Hockey.
317 Washington St. St. Paul, MN 55102
