It isn't unusual to see some posturing when it comes to college hockey recruiting. And with 204 Minnesota-born players playing Division 1 hockey this season, it's easy to see why Minnesota is usually at the epicenter of many of these discussions.
I don't think I would be surprising many, if any, of the long-time Minnesota hockey fans if I told you that the current landscape of Minnesota High School hockey is changing. Strike that, has been changing for some time.
Nowdays more-and-more players are choosing to forgo the end of their high school hockey careers to further their development playing in junior leagues such as the USHL, BCHL, etc... while others are choosing to play at prestigious prep schools such as Shattuck St. Mary's.
Minnesota High School Hockey still has it's place in the Minnesota Hockey world. It is still the best high school hockey league (by miles and miles) in the United States. And it is still one of the few high school hockey leagues in the country that is capable of providing a level of competition strong enough to produce NHL quality players.
That said, Minnesota High School Hockey is transitioning and becoming a younger players league. We're seeing more-and-more high end young players break into the varsity rosters of some of the state's strongest high school hockey programs. Joey and Mike Anderson, who have played for Hill Murray as 8th and 9th graders in the past, and Casey Mittlestadt of Eden Prairie this season are but a few of the many recent examples. The reason they are able to is that more-and-more of the high-end upperclassmen are moving on to other leagues before their high school days are done.
I don't want to delve too deeply into this topic, as it isn't the purpose of this rant, but the point is that Minnesota High School Hockey has been changing for quite some time. Long gone are the days when the vast majority of the state's best hockey players hang around high school hockey long enough to be eligible to win the prestigious Minnesota Mr. Hockey Award, which is given out to the state's best high school hockey senior every year.
That brings me to this article written during last year's Minnesota High School Hockey tournament.
I've reached out to David McCoy on Twitter to have a discussion about this article of his, and I don't want to be too brash about this, but this article was horribly researched.
It's quite clear that David fails to understand the changes that Minnesota High School Hockey has undergone, and continues to undergo.
For instance, David mentions, "The boy’s state hockey tournament starts Wednesday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. Every year, it’s the place to see many of Minnesota’s top players."
That is correct David, but why no mention of the fact that many, many, many more of Minnesota's "top players" at these age groups aren't playing Minnesota High School Hockey, but are playing hockey in junior leagues or elsewhere?
David goes on to ponder later in his article, "How can he [Dean Blais] get so many of these elite players out of Minnesota?"
Well David, let me ask you this. The state of Minnesota produced 204 of this season's current Division 1 hockey players. Considering the state of Minnesota only has 5 Division 1 college hockey programs (Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth, St. Cloud State, Minnesota State, and Bemidji), who have under 30 players on their roster every season, how do you suggest we keep every Minnesota born player who wants to play college hockey inside the state of Minnesota?
Do great football players from Texas and Florida play outside those states?
College hockey programs only have so much room for players, and so many scholarships to hand out. It always drives me nuts when I hear people remark about the players that "got away" from Minnesota. Programs have to pick and choose which players they want to recruit and how much scholarship money they want to offer. It's a balancing act. Not just for the current season, but these decisions impact subsequent seasons down the line.
I'm not saying that the players he mentioned in his article aren't great hockey players. They are all great hockey players. And I am not saying that these players aren't worthy of playing for a school like Minnesota. Minnesota produces MANY great players and MANY of those great players are more than worthy to play for a prestigious program like Minnesota.
If only the Gophers had room for them all, right?
It's the whole sense in the article that Minnesota is losing out on the top recruits in the state who are choosing to go elsewhere mentality of the article that really drives me nuts. Let me put this into perspective for David and for others out there who still don't understand.
Of the 17 current non-goalie recruits that the Gophers have lined up, only 3 of the 17 are playing Minnesota High School hockey this season. In fact, of those 17 recruits, 4 aren't even from the state of Minnesota. Of the three who are currently playing Minnesota High School Hockey, only ONE is eligible to be even nominated for the Minnesota Mr. Hockey Award. ONE.
What is the quality of Minnesota's recruits, you ask? Here's a brief summary.
Ryan Lindgren-Defensemen (who is playing with the NTDP this season and has put up 1-5-6 in 16 games), Ryan Norman-Forward (who is playing for Shattuck St Mary's Prep team this season and has put up 17-26-43 in 34 games), Scott Reedy-Forward (who is playing with Shattuck St Mary's Prep team and has put up 18-19-37 in 34 games as a Sophomore), and Josh Maniscalco-Defensmen, who is from Pennsylvania (is playing for Shattuck St Mary's prep team this season and has put up 4-10-14 in 34 games as a Sophmore) all made Shattuck St Mary's Prep team as Sophomores.
You don't make Shattuck St. Mary's Prep program (the same program that has produced the likes of Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, and Zach Parise) as a Sophomore if you aren't an elite talent.
Brannon McManus-Forward currently plays for Shattuck St. Mary's U16 team and has put up 29-23-52 in 36 games so far this season. He put up 68-52-120 in 65 games last season.
Tom Novak-Forward (6-21-27 in 27 games), Tyler Sheehy-Forward (11-18-29 in 27 games), Sam Rossini-Defensmen (0-2-2 in 16 games), and Rem Pitlick-Forward (6-4-10 in 27 games) all play for Waterloo in the USHL. Both Sheehy and Novak would have definitely been Mr. Hockey candidates last season had they stayed in Minnesota High School hockey. In fact, I think one of them would have won the award. Rem Pitlick played at Shattuck St. Mary's before heading to the USHL.
Casey Mittlestadt-Forward is currently playing Minnesota High School Hockey with Eden Prairie as a freshman and has put up 16-14-30 in 16 games so far this season. Last season as a bantam he had 91 goals and was named the Bantam of the year in Minnesota. Of those 91 goals, 11 were game winners.
Jack Ramsey-Forward forwent his senior season at Minnetonka and has played the past few seasons in the BCHL with Penticton. He's put up 12-17-29 in 38 games this season.
Ryan Zuhlsdorf-Defensemen didn't finish his high school career at Edina and has instead decided to play for Sioux City in the USHL this season and has put up 2-11-13 in 29 games so far this year.
Then you have Tarek Baker-Forward (4-7-11 in 30 games) who plays with Des Moines and Bloomington in the USHL this season and Brent Gates Jr-Forward (10-18-28 in 30 games) with Green Bay in the USHL. Neither are from Minnesota. Baker is from Wisconsin and Gates is from Michigan.
Neither is William Fallstrom-Forward, who is from Sweden and is playing with Sweden's U17 team this season and has scored 7 goals in 10 games with them so far this year.
The only player of the Gopher's current recruits to be eligible to win (or even be nominated for) the Mr Hockey Award this season is Jack Sadek-Defensemen of Lakeville North, who has put up 2-11-13 in 16 games so far this season.
As for whether the best players Minnesota is producing are leaving the state to play elsewhere....
I don't have the time to go back and look at the stats for all 204 Division 1 college players from MN to see where things stand now, but as of mid December when I wrote This Article on the current demographics of college hockey, 4 of the Top 5 scorers from Minnesota were playing their college hockey inside Minnesota and 3 of those 4 were Gophers.
So, not sure if your article was written to stir the pot David, but if it was then congratulations because the good hockey fans of Minnesota have had this article thrown in our faces by many of the unknowledgeable hockey fans in the UNO fan base for months now. Thanks for that.
If this was an honest attempt to cover the High School Tournament and the Mr. Hockey award, then I hope you will take the time to learn about the history of Minnesota High School Hockey and the changes it is undergoing before writing another article about how all of our top talent is leaving the state.
Because while you are right that an increasing number of our top players are leaving the state to play hockey, for many it is to play junior hockey in preparation to come back to this state to play college hockey.
