High School Hockey

[eastside38]

Originally Posted by MN55

I don't know, at EP he'll play games that mean more with a lot more pressure and a lot more fans. Sure he'll develop a lot at juniors but he'll play a year in juniors no matter what; playing college hockey a year sooner is not worth giving up a year of HS hockey to me.

I agree with the latter part of your comment (he could even play 2 years of juniors AFTER high school, but the part that I put in bold letters? Not in the least. I think it there would be far more pressure being a 2nd-3rd liner in the USHL than be the hero for a stacked high school team. He would have to deal with the possibility of being scratched or traded if his performance dips. As someone who has attended a USHL game and been involved in junior hockey in general, the style of play in most of those games is far from cordial. Also, I'm sure that Sioux Falls would outdraw more on average than EP, even though the 6AA section finals and the State Tournament would outdraw Sioux Falls games by a lot. There would be no comparison.

Originally Posted by yuppa12

^ More attendance for high school games than the USHL? Sioux falls gets close to 3000 fans a game, not sure any high school arena holds 3000 people

While that may be true for Sioux Falls, there are USHL teams that are real duds as far as ticket sales, and I've been to a Holy Angels vs. Hill-Murray game at Aldrich and, yes, it was confirmed in the Pioneer Press the next morning that there were well over 3,000 people there.

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Blaine got some studs from Coon Rapids and other locations. They will have to play down (JV) for the 2010 2011 season. They pulled an "Elk River" (recruiting). So the following year they should bounce back.

Coon Rapids is done for. Here's two threads on another forum:
HighSchoolHockeyForums.com :: View topic - C Bantam Goalie needed at Coon Rapids
HighSchoolHockeyForums.com :: View topic - cr goalie
I'm sure they'll eventually join the North Metro program with Park Center, Brooklyn Center, Fridley, and Crumbling Heights.

Originally Posted by BillWallace

"I think he'll develop much better at EP anyways than he would have playing for Sioux Falls."

I doubt most knowledgeable college hockey people would agree with this at all. In the USHL he'd play at least 2x as many games against much better competition while being coached by college level coaches. The Gophers struggling for 2+ years doesn't change the facts about every college pushing kids to go this route because they are better prepared to contribute right away.

The Gophers have been struggling for 2+ years because they get kids out of high school early or directly out of high school after their senior seasons. They're physically not ready for the college game. The other reason is that Lucia recruits 18 year old superstars that jump ship after 2 seasons.

Rau should just join Sioux Falls after the HS season ends and play there for the next year or two.

[BillWallace]

I won't argue the Gophers issues - I've been involved in the debates ad nauseum on GopherPuckLive.

The deal with Rau is that he was actually planning on playing next year at Minnesota. If that weren't the case and he was playing in the USHL next year where he plays this year wouldn't have mattered as much.

[knke0204]

Scsu

[BillWallace]

Interesting high school preview here - Minnesota High School Hockey Preview: 10 Teams, 5 Questions - Western College Hockey Blog