Rick Feldhoff wrote: > > I assume there will be 4 teams, but have no idea of how players will be > chosen nor how many games will be played or game times. St Louis is only 4 > hrs > from us which has piqued my interest. It appears current college hockey > players will be participating - is it limited to college-level players? Any > American pro's? Do the coaches pick the teams? Etc. > I'm not real sure on it, myself. It is 4 teams (North, South, East, and West, but they're meaningless designations, as the info below will show -- the East team has the most Minnesotans on it!) I know the coaches of the teams must have some sort of "draft" to pick the teams. Some of the Minnesotans invited are still HS age (entering college) and there don't seem to be any US pros. (I'm surprised Craig Johnson isn't listed- he was a member of the Olympic team who is still undecided about signing with St. Louis or returning to Minnesota.) I'm sure James Bradshaw or some other regular attendee can tell you more, but I think they play a round robin (6 games, total) and use the standings from that to determine seedings for the gold and bronze medal games (or do they actually have semi-finals, then the medal games?) So it's 8 or 10 games in all. I don't think this post (below) got through on the first try. If it did, sorry, here it is again. Rick Feldhoff refers to "several posts" about the Olympic Festival, but I've only gotten Justin's. ------------------ Well, no sooner did I mention that I hadn't heard any more about the Olympic Festival invitees than the St. Paul Pioneer Press had an item in its "Area Update" column today (6/4/94), listing these Minnesotans who were invited. (College info added from my memory, apologies in advance for omissions & errors.) TEAM Hometown College EAST Chris Imes Birchdale Maine Mike Crowley Bloomington Minnesota (94 recruit) Nick Checco Bloomington Minnesota Drew Palmer Wayzata Brad Willner Richfield Lake Superior State Brian Bonin White Bear Lake Minnesota WEST Eric Rud Inver Grove Heights Rick Mrozik Cloquet Minnesota Duluth SOUTH Dan Trebil Bloomington Minnesota Scott Swanson Cottage Grove Chris Kenady Mound Denver Landon Wilson Eden Prairie North Dakota NORTH Brian LaFleur* Bloomington Minnesota Rusty Fitzgerald Duluth Minnesota Duluth * a Minnesotan despite his Francophone name, as Dave H would say :-) All but Team West have a former Bloomington Jefferson HS defenseman (Crowley, Trebil, LaFleur). Team East has Minnesota's 1992, 1993, and 1994 Mr. Hockey winners (Bonin, Checco, Crowley). I don't know anything about Drew Palmer, except that he's supposedly the top-rated Minnesota player by the NHL scouts. Pam Sweeney Go Gophers!!! [log in to unmask] 1993 & 1994 WCHA Playoff Champions!!! 1994 NC$$ PHinal PHour!!! Ski-U-Mah!!!