2023 MN High School Football season

[Ope3]

Waseca and Fairmont play for the #1 Seed in Section 3 3A on Wednesday.
New Ulm and Marshall play to be #2 seed behind Hutch in section 2 4A.
Section 5 4A will not have a team over .500. It's possible the #1 seed has 3 wins.

The new cycle of games this year and next year really has some untraditional games being played.

Examples
5A
Mankato West playing Andover and Rogers
Bloomington Jefferson and Roch. JM
Cooper and Hastings
Waconia and Bemidji
New Prague and St. Cloud Tech

Another 5A example is Northfield playing at Tartan. I can't recall the 2 schools playing each other in any sport, let alone football.

 

[disco]

Champlin makes more sense as part of Osseo/Maple Grove/Park Center. It is odd to have a district cross a major river.

Even more odd, is the Anoka district snakes along the river almost all the way down to 694, on the east side of 252. Those kids attended Anoka high school prior to the opening of CP, when in reality, tiny Brooklyn Center would have made more sense.

There are a number of neighborhoods north of 610 that are basically split between the Anoka and Osseo districts. And those in the Anoka (Champlin Park) have higher property values than Osseo (Park Center).

 

[Some guy]

I think the state champ will be from these 4 schools.

Eden Prairie
Lakeville North
Lakeville South
Minnetonka

A list longer than 1 might be too long.

I agree with that last point especially.
Honestly Minnetonka is probably number 2

There are 10-16 teams that can all make an argument they are the 5th best team right now

 

[Outsider]

Best experiences? Where parents become nothing more than taxi drivers to kids? I know hockey families who don't take family vacations. That budget is used up sitting in hotels on winter weekends in Owatonna, St. Cloud, E.P., etc. I had a friend tell me about his kid playing a youth hockey game at 6pm on a Sunday 3 hours from home with school the next day. I'll quit yelling at clouds now....

My kid plays travel hockey here in northwest Ohio. I can say we have never been home later than 6pm on a Sunday from our weekend travels. If you are doing that, that’s on you. We vote every fall where we are going to go . Furthest so far is Nashville and we’re still home in our own bed Sunday night by 10. We have families on limited budgets, we try to limit hotel stays the best we can. My kid has a smile on his face whenever he’s in his hockey gear. When that stops we stop. We have no visions of a scholarship but the social and fun we have on the road is always a good time. We have visited the Louisville Bat Factory, attended USNDTP games, tubed down ski hills in our off time. You may call it a cult but we call it great family fun.

 

[MNfootballfan]

I don't even think the Gophers watch video replays of the current game on the sidelines??? I don't think I've ever been to a football game where there were large TV screens on the sidelines. That's a new one to me. When you're as rich as Tonka and Wayzata, I guess you spare no expense.

Maybe there are rules against that in the NCAA?

I think for a long time in the NFL you weren't allowed to have video on the sidelines, you just had to print out pictures. Now they all have tablets, but I don't know if those are allowed to show video or it's just digital stills.

I think there are NCAA rules against it. I am not positive but pretty sure.

You'd be surprised. The TV thing isn't nearly as expensive as you think. I taught and coached in a small rural district that wasn't rich by any stretch of the word. Hudl, the company that nearly everyone uses for film exchange, always has pretty good things going on and they are able to mount a camera on the pressbox and it can film the game without the use of a filmer. I don't understand the technology behind it but the camera is smart enough to follow the ball. In the past Hudl has given away free cameras or iPads as promotions

The camera also uploads video immediately to Hudl and could live stream on youtube, this has since switched to fan.hudl.com.

At my small school the film could be watched by coaches on the sideline on an iPad. The only thing stopping us from having a 65" TV was the fact in small schools so many of our players played both ways. As we all know from our own personal lives, you can get TV's pretty cheap.

When it is all said done, I bet the setup for the stuff your seeing on the sidelines is less than 1000, definitely less than 1500.

 

[MaxyJR1]

I agree with that last point especially.
Honestly Minnetonka is probably number 2

There are 10-16 teams that can all make an argument they are the 5th best team right now

First round match-ups will be interesting.

I think these other teams that can make an impact based on bracket draw.

Rosemount
Edina
Stillwater
Centennial
Maple Grove
Shakopee
Prior Lake

Fringe
Anoka
Woodbury
Forest Lake
STMA
Mounds View

 

[Some guy]

First round match-ups will be interesting.

I think these other teams that can make an impact based on bracket draw.

Rosemount
Edina
Stillwater
Centennial
Maple Grove
Shakopee
Prior Lake

Fringe
Anoka
Woodbury
Forest Lake
STMA
Mounds View

I think with the right draw even Wayzata or farmington could make a run to the final 8 or 4.
Everyone so close.
I haven’t watched Champlin Park but they beat maple Grove early in the year. Maybe they could too with the right draw

 

[Gold Vision]

Best experiences? Where parents become nothing more than taxi drivers to kids? I know hockey families who don't take family vacations. That budget is used up sitting in hotels on winter weekends in Owatonna, St. Cloud, E.P., etc. I had a friend tell me about his kid playing a youth hockey game at 6pm on a Sunday 3 hours from home with school the next day. I'll quit yelling at clouds now....

Ask most kids (and adults) who played youth hockey in Minnesota, and those weekend tournaments in Owatonna, Brainerd, Duluth, Fargo, etc. are 100% some of their favorite childhood memories. No one is “stuck” in a hotel, the tournaments are extremely social for both the kids and the parents. You can call it a cult, but it’s really a really fun community. I paid way more for a 6-day trip to Disney World this past spring than I did to have 2 kids play 4+ months of association hockey.

Like most sports, there are all sorts of levels of commitment you can make. Unlike competitive/travel soccer, where you need to sign up for the entire year, you can sign up for spring/summer hockey separately from the regular association season.

The biggest issue I see with my 8th grade son was the overlap with Hockey and the short Football season. Youth Hockey tryouts were right in the middle of the football season. If they could push tryouts to the end of October, I think a lot more kids would play both sports.

 

[disco]

Spending every weekend on the road for four months with people who I wouldn't associate with if not for youth hockey is not my idea of fun.

 

[Gold Vision]

Spending every weekend on the road for four months with people who I wouldn't associate with if not for youth hockey is not my idea of fun.

Every Weekend? Most teams do 1 (maybe 2) out-of-town tournaments per year and generally in the dead of winter in December or January. Fargo is about as far away from the Metro as they get.

That’s the beauty of Minnesota Hockey, you don’t have to travel far for the best competition in the country. The state is broken up into several Districts by region to limit travel.

Like I said, it’s a community that is extremely social, if that’s not your thing, stay in your hotel room I guess. Seems like your commenting on something you know very little about.

 

[MaxyJR1]

I think with the right draw even Wayzata or farmington could make a run to the final 8 or 4.
Everyone so close.
I haven’t watched Champlin Park but they beat maple Grove early in the year. Maybe they could too with the right draw

Anoka, Blaine, Coon Rapids. STMA and Champlin Park are all really even. I’ve seen all and I don’t see any winning more than 1 game if it’s the right matchup. They all beat each other except Anoka swept them, Blaine by 2, Coon Rapids by 6, Champlin by 13, STMA by 20.

In these common games
Anoka 4-0
Blaine 2-2
STMA 2-2
Champlin 2-2
Coon Rapids 1-3 beating Champlin

 

[disco]

Every Weekend? Most teams do 1 (maybe 2) out-of-town tournaments per year and generally in the dead of winter in December or January. Fargo is about as far away from the Metro as they get.

That’s the beauty of Minnesota Hockey, you don’t have to travel far for the best competition in the country. The state is broken up into several Districts by region to limit travel.

Like I said, it’s a community that is extremely social, if that’s not your thing, stay in your hotel room I guess. Seems like your commenting on something you know very little about.

At what level? AA? AAA?

 

[Gold Vision]

At what level? AA? AAA?

All levels. There is no AAA in association hockey, AA is the highest. Your AA teams may travel a little further because there are far fewer teams, but nothing like everywhere else in the country. Most smaller associations don’t even have a AA team. They’ll have an A and multiple B and C level teams.

For example District 6 Bantam AA plays a district schedule of:
Osseo Maple Grove
Edina
Minnetonka
Chaska Chanhassen
Shakopee
Wayzata
Prior Lake Savage
Eden Prairie
Jefferson

Most teams (AA-C) will play in about 3 tournaments a year in addition to the district schedule. 2 local (metro) and 1 “out-of-town” (2-4 hours away).

AAA is spring/summer hockey and is more like your AAU model of off-season Basketball and Volleyball.

 

[disco]

All levels. There is no AAA in association hockey, AA is the highest. Your AA teams may travel a little further because there are far fewer teams, but nothing like everywhere else in the country. Most smaller associations don’t even have a AA team. They’ll have an A and multiple B and C level teams.

For example District 6 Bantam AA plays a district schedule of:
Osseo Maple Grove
Edina
Minnetonka
Chaska Chanhassen
Shakopee
Wayzata
Prior Lake Savage
Eden Prairie
Jefferson

Most teams (AA-C) will play in about 3 tournaments a year in addition to the district schedule. 2 local (metro) and 1 “out-of-town” (2-4 hours away).

AAA is spring/summer hockey and is more like your AAU model of off-season Basketball and Volleyball.

Got it. Thank you.

 

[swede2]

Waseca and Fairmont play for the #1 Seed in Section 3 3A on Wednesday.
New Ulm and Marshall play to be #2 seed behind Hutch in section 2 4A.
Section 5 4A will not have a team over .500. It's possible the #1 seed has 3 wins.

The new cycle of games this year and next year really has some untraditional games being played.

Examples
5A
Mankato West playing Andover and Rogers
Bloomington Jefferson and Roch. JM
Cooper and Hastings
Waconia and Bemidji
New Prague and St. Cloud Tech

4A
Willmar plays Chisago Lake and Totino Grace
Kasson Mantorville playing Providence Academy and Breck
Winona playing Mound Westonka
Faribault playing St. Anthony Village, Concordia Academy, and Glencoe SL.

New Ulm has 5 wins (albeit against a number of 3A schools). None of its players were alive the last time that happened. They've had a carousel of coaches over the years and too many kids buying into specializing and the idea that New Ulm is a baseball ( never mind that the annual trips to big school state under legendary Coach Senske are nearly two decades removed) and hockey town (never mind that New Ulm beats up on small Southwestern schools who have no business playing hockey and promptly get pasted 9-0 in playoffs when they travel to a suburban school). It's a crazy badge of honor for New Ulmers my age to brag about what year they quit FB. Present coach is keeping kids out and has them believing.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

a couple of sections to watch in the smaller classes:

1A, Sect 3 - three teams at 6-1 going into Wednesday with Tracy-Milroy-Balaton, Sleepy Eye United and Springfield.

2A, Sect 4 - Norwood-Young America and St. Agnes at 7-0 and Cannon Falls at 6-1.

2A, Sect 7 has Barnum at 7-0 with Moose Lake-Willow River and Mesabi East at 6-1.

3A, Sect 2 has Litchfield, Dassel-Cokato and Rockford all at 6-1.

 

[Schnauzer]

At what level? AA? AAA?

Every level of travel association hockey (squirts, pee wee, and Bantam). The response to you earlier was spot on. It can vary a bit from one association to the next but there isn’t that much travel/hotels in MN association hockey.

However, it is those tourneys where the memories are made and it is rare to find a parent or kid that doesn’t feel those tournies aren’t the big highlight of the season. Getting scolded for playing knee hockey in the hallways, cannon balls into the pool… it doesn’t get much better.

I know travel can be a grind for hockey families outside of MN and I’m sure it’s costly. But I am amazed how non-hockey folk in MN hear stories about the costs and commitment somewhere and then make assumptions about everywhere.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

New Ulm has 5 wins (albeit against a number of 3A schools). None of its players were alive the last time that happened. They've had a carousel of coaches over the years and too many kids buying into specializing and the idea that New Ulm is a baseball ( never mind that the annual trips to big school state under legendary Coach Senske are nearly two decades removed) and hockey town (never mind that New Ulm beats up on small Southwestern schools who have no business playing hockey and promptly get pasted 9-0 in playoffs when they travel to a suburban school). It's a crazy badge of honor for New Ulmers my age to brag about what year they quit FB. Present coach is keeping kids out and has them believing.

Do you think the new facilities have played a role? for people who don't know, New Ulm HS opened up a new athletic complex a few years ago with a nice turf field and facilities for softball and other sports. for a long time, there used to be three schools sharing Johnson Field with New Ulm Public, New Ulm Cathedral and MN Valley Lutheran. that field would just get chewed up by the end of the season. (and climbing the ladder into that press box is a trick when carrying radio equipment....)

FWIW, Johnson Park (next to Johnson Field) is one of the better baseball facilities in the region. and great food at the concession stand.

 

[xyz1]

There remains a perception about hockey from folks outside the hockey community that I don't think is entirely fair, based on the fact that hockey was an early adopter in having traveling teams, year-round play, etc. Nowadays I really don't think hockey is a lot different than sports like soccer, basketball, and baseball in terms of the commitment and travel required (although I will grant it is more expensive than most sports due to the costs of equipment and ice time). Take baseball - at any bigger metro high school, unless your kid is a freakish athlete he is a long shot to play varsity baseball if he's not on the traveling club circuit by 13 or 14.

 

[State of Football]

Every Weekend? Most teams do 1 (maybe 2) out-of-town tournaments per year and generally in the dead of winter in December or January. Fargo is about as far away from the Metro as they get.

That’s the beauty of Minnesota Hockey, you don’t have to travel far for the best competition in the country. The state is broken up into several Districts by region to limit travel.

Like I said, it’s a community that is extremely social, if that’s not your thing, stay in your hotel room I guess. Seems like your commenting on something you know very little about.

It’s about the parents and alcohol not the kids.

 

[swede2]

Do you think the new facilities have played a role? for people who don't know, New Ulm HS opened up a new athletic complex a few years ago with a nice turf field and facilities for softball and other sports. for a long time, there used to be three schools sharing Johnson Field with New Ulm Public, New Ulm Cathedral and MN Valley Lutheran. that field would just get chewed up by the end of the season. (and climbing the ladder into that press box is a trick when carrying radio equipment....)

FWIW, Johnson Park (next to Johnson Field) is one of the better baseball facilities in the region. and great food at the concession stand.

The facilities probably didn't hurt but I think it is mostly stability at head coach, one who happens to develop great relationships with the kids, encourages them to come out and stay out. I think there's also a good group of kids out right now, too. But participation is crucial in small towns (New Ulm isn't small town small town but has strong catholic and lutheran school systems in addition to the public school) and Coach Lieser gets kids out.

Johnson (Baseball) Park is beautiful receiving a little over $2 million in renovations prior to Covid. Somewhat ironically, when the new high school was built, the highschool team moved out of Johnson and on campus (except for one or two games under the lights). The school district claimed the city wanted too much rent. The catholic and lutheran high schools still play at Johnson for both football and baseball. While the ballpark recieved a bunch of upgrades as a result of the local option sales tax, Johnson Football Park was left out entirely. It's a kind of neat place to watch a football game, overlooking the river valley and Goosetown, but is a dump.

The highschool has stirred not a little controversy with its new facilities. Advertised during the referendum campaign as a community asset available to the community, the district instead is waiving a wear and tear flag and refusing use of facilities to basketball associations, etc. for tourneys. Heck, the C squad football team doesn't even get to play on the new turf.

 

[disco]

Take baseball - at any bigger metro high school, unless your kid is a freakish athlete he is a long shot to play varsity baseball if he's not on the traveling club circuit by 13 or 14.

And getting back to the original criticism, this is the line of thought that is hurting football.

 

[fatgopher]

At the end of the day, football is not a "skill" sport like many of the others.

Take an 8th grader who is an above-average athlete but hasn't participated in the world of travel sports. They can find a home and role on a football team far easier than they can in other sports given they have had minimal exposure to ball-handling/shooting, hitting a baseball, or puck-handling/skating.

Parents know this. Hell, I coached a youth football team this year and we had other coaches on my team who opted out of football practices during the week because their kids had ice time scheduled leading up to tryouts.

 

[swede2]

At the end of the day, football is not a "skill" sport like many of the others.

Take an 8th grader who is an above-average athlete but hasn't participated in the world of travel sports. They can find a home and role on a football team far easier than they can in other sports given they have had minimal exposure to ball-handling/shooting, hitting a baseball, or puck-handling/skating.

Parents know this. Hell, I coached a youth football team this year and we had other coaches on my team who opted out of football practices during the week because their kids had ice time scheduled leading up to tryouts.

Do all parents know this? Or the kids? I hear too many kids that say "X isn't my sport" because they haven't played it. I agree that FB, more than any sport save cross country or track, can be picked up at nearly any stage by a decent athlete. Maybe that kid won't be a skill position but there'll be a spot for an athlete. But the kids themselves might not realize that it's a possibility if mom and dad didn't choose FB for them at a young age like they did hockey or soccer or basketball.

 

[MplsGopher]

^^ this is why football is religion in the south. You can be (and more often down there, are) dirt, country poor, couldn’t ever afford to play any “fancy” sports and it doesn’t matter. Just go be a freak on the field and create chaos and mash/maul people. Easier on the defense, but regardless.

You don’t need year round play. In fact, can’t really do that, unlike the other sports. Too hard on your body.

Really not many other sports can compare to that, with a strong exception I think for Rugby. But that has such low participation/interest here that I know very little about how kids come up in that sport. Is it year-round too? Is year-round youth sports a thing outside the US?? Canadian hockey obviously, but Europe? I could see getting thrown into national Olympic development programs perhaps.

 

[MplsGopher]

Talking about travel (costs) for hockey at bantam levels … think about kids in Alaska! Gotta be invested as a family to support your kid in that, from an early age!

 

[disco]

Talking about travel (costs) for hockey at bantam levels … think about kids in Alaska! Gotta be invested as a family to support your kid in that, from an early age!

The family I referenced that spent over $40,000 in a year on their two kids to play hockey lived in Tucson. They were originally from Moorhead, and were moving back. Most of that money was on airfare and to a lesser extent, tournament fees. We just happened to meet them when we were on vacation.

 

[disco]

Hell, I coached a youth football team this year and we had other coaches on my team who opted out of football practices during the week because their kids had ice time scheduled leading up to tryouts.

Same here, and it's incredibly frustrating as a coach.

 

[MaxyJR1]

New Ulm has 5 wins (albeit against a number of 3A schools). None of its players were alive the last time that happened. They've had a carousel of coaches over the years and too many kids buying into specializing and the idea that New Ulm is a baseball ( never mind that the annual trips to big school state under legendary Coach Senske are nearly two decades removed) and hockey town (never mind that New Ulm beats up on small Southwestern schools who have no business playing hockey and promptly get pasted 9-0 in playoffs when they travel to a suburban school). It's a crazy badge of honor for New Ulmers my age to brag about what year they quit FB. Present coach is keeping kids out and has them believing.

That local sales tax and quality facilities had to pay off at some point. I'll always pull for the teams from the old South Central Conference.

 

[State of Football]

Same here, and it's incredibly frustrating as a coach.

This is a sad reality for hockey and is not healthy in the long run for kids..