[log in to unmask] wrote:
<snip>
 
What decline?
 
Regarding the Gophers: the loss of Goph top recruits contributed to this
year's down season! If you live here, you've got to know that hockey people
have been complaining about the scant high school schedule and poor
competition. Yes, we have numbers and we're going to produce players, but the
caliber of player we're producing has deteriorated in comparison to other
areas.
 
If you talk to scouts, and recruiters most players do time in the USHL before
they can make the leap to Division 1. Very few make it right from high school
and some leave high school early for the USHL to excelerate their development.
Let's Play Hockey had an article this month, I think by Jack Blatherwick, on
player development in our state. According to him, the state is paying for an
accelerated program for girls but not for guys. This would include more
training during the off season. I also noticed that there is another new elite
summer development program offered to the top athletes. These obviously are an
answer to more concentrated player development at home.
 
There has been a decline sate wide because our guys are not getting: off-ice
training or year round training and they play way too few games with diluted
competition. It's why all these new programs have been added. Yes, state wide
we probably have more youth players, more ice, and because of that when you
compare this to other states we're still putting out numbers.
 
Take the top high school team in the state right now, Benilde. They hired
Blatherwick as a trainer and Paul Ostby as a Goalie coach. Of course, Benilde
is a private school so maybe they have the funds. They'll probably win state
this year with an excelerated in house training program that is not the MN
norm!
 
Look at all the D1 rosters, these guys don't come right out of high school,
the Gophers being the exception. Even D2, D3 players do stints in the USHL!
Ask any Minnesota hockey maven, the state is competing to keep its talent at
home and yet stay within the structure of the Minnesota State High School
system!
 
The numbers you gave concerning NHLers, most trained here when Minnesota was
the SHIT! I don't think if you polled experts today that they would say we're
the SHIT, and that Minnesota players coming right out of high school were the
BEST (collectively) in the nation or world! And, that's not to demean in
anyway guys like Parrish, Cullen, who are really products of the high school
system. If we were to break things down and look at someone like Jamie
Langenbrunner, he left high school for major junior. So part of his
accelerated development was not in Minnesota! So, you can't just look at
numbers. They don't tell the whole story!
 
 
Vicki Price
violentcontact.net
Concussion Free Zone
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.