OT: MN High School Hockey Thread

[joelef]

Bloomington Kennedy announces this season will be their last - Lets Play Hockey

Program will merge with Bloomington Jefferson for 2025-26 season A trend that began in the inner cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul has reached communities once considered hockey hotbeds in the 80s and 90s. Bloomington Kennedy announced Aug. 29 that after 60 years it will enter its final season...

letsplayhockey.com

Also Burnsville co opted with apple valley. Why Dosent hockey minnesota try to address this rapid decline of urban and suburban hockey ? Seems like there more interested in rich Edina kids paying 5000 dollar for land dry training.

 

[Minnewildsota]

Bloomington Kennedy announces this season will be their last - Lets Play Hockey

Program will merge with Bloomington Jefferson for 2025-26 season A trend that began in the inner cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul has reached communities once considered hockey hotbeds in the 80s and 90s. Bloomington Kennedy announced Aug. 29 that after 60 years it will enter its final season...

letsplayhockey.com

Also Burnsville co opted with apple valley. Why Dosent hockey minnesota try to address this rapid decline of urban and suburban hockey ? Seems like there more interested in rich Edina kids paying 5000 dollar for land dry training.

You seem to be obsessed with how things were. Times change. Hockey programs come and go. Bloomington may have folded but other programs have grown. It happens.

Why dump money into areas that aren’t interested in hockey? Hey, Arizona used to have a team. Why doesn’t the NHL keep putting money into that? Sometimes it’s time to pull the rip cord.

 

[TaLoN]

The people interested in playing live elsewhere... it happens. Other programs have grown to replace then before the plug was ever pulled. It's a free country, let people do what they want. The sport is still healthy.

 

[GordieGallant]

Bloomington Kennedy announces this season will be their last - Lets Play Hockey

Program will merge with Bloomington Jefferson for 2025-26 season A trend that began in the inner cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul has reached communities once considered hockey hotbeds in the 80s and 90s. Bloomington Kennedy announced Aug. 29 that after 60 years it will enter its final season...

letsplayhockey.com

Also Burnsville co opted with apple valley. Why Dosent hockey minnesota try to address this rapid decline of urban and suburban hockey ? Seems like there more interested in rich Edina kids paying 5000 dollar for land dry training.

Changing demographics is the main reason. High school hockey in St. Paul and Minneapolis has been downsized to Co-ops. Can’t see how how any entity can change the fact that you don’t have kids trying out.

Hockey is expensive. Family’s with the money to play in the city opt to play for private schools.

 

[Northerner]

Bloomington Kennedy announces this season will be their last - Lets Play Hockey

Program will merge with Bloomington Jefferson for 2025-26 season A trend that began in the inner cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul has reached communities once considered hockey hotbeds in the 80s and 90s. Bloomington Kennedy announced Aug. 29 that after 60 years it will enter its final season...

letsplayhockey.com

Also Burnsville co opted with apple valley. Why Dosent hockey minnesota try to address this rapid decline of urban and suburban hockey ? Seems like there more interested in rich Edina kids paying 5000 dollar for land dry training.

It's just another symptom of much greater societal rot.

 

[Minnewildsota]

It's just another symptom of much greater societal rot.

Seems a bit extreme

 

[Northerner]

Seems a bit extreme

It's not extreme in the least. It's completely accurate. And four generations of my family have lived in the Cities so I know exactly what has happened to kill off hockey here.

 

[Saga of the Elk]

Between equipment and ice-time, hockey has a built-in high price point. The culture has always been exclusionary and full of nepotism. Other sports are easier to learn, easier and cheaper to play, and thus can be played more people. It's hardly an indicator of generalized rot when there are cultural shifts away from one sport to other activities.

I can't comment except as a visitor on problems with the Twin Cities but many communities are seeing demographic shifts. Honestly, the lack of outdoor ice might be what "kills" hockey.

 

[57special]

Between equipment and ice-time, hockey has a built-in high price point. The culture has always been exclusionary and full of nepotism. Other sports are easier to learn, easier and cheaper to play, and thus can be played more people. It's hardly an indicator of generalized rot when there are cultural shifts away from one sport to other activities.

I can't comment except as a visitor on problems with the Twin Cities but many communities are seeing demographic shifts. Honestly, the lack of outdoor ice might be what "kills" hockey.

Kids seldom play hockey on outdoor ice. Not saying it doesn't happen, but it's simply not an important factor in the health of hockey. I usually see some old dudes playing pickup, or some informal pond games, but the days of kids going to the outdoor rink all day are long gone.

 

[GordieGallant]

Kids seldom play hockey on outdoor ice. Not saying it doesn't happen, but it's simply not an important factor in the health of hockey. I usually see some old dudes playing pickup, or some informal pond games, but the days of kids going to the outdoor rink all day are long gone.

Yea try getting a kid to shovel.

 

[joelef]

Kids seldom play hockey on outdoor ice. Not saying it doesn't happen, but it's simply not an important factor in the health of hockey. I usually see some old dudes playing pickup, or some informal pond games, but the days of kids going to the outdoor rink all day are long gone.

But but but all the hockey day in Minnesota propaganda told me that pond hockey is alive and well.

 

[BagHead]

But but but all the hockey day in Minnesota propaganda told me that pond hockey is alive and well.

It's pretty good in White Bear, but not so 10 minutes down McKnight. I live 10 minutes down McKnight, and the demographics here are not "hockey demographics". Of course, with income equality legislation they could be, but they're not right now.

 

[Minnewildsota]

It's not extreme in the least. It's completely accurate. And four generations of my family have lived in the Cities so I know exactly what has happened to kill off hockey here.

OHHHHHH ok. Because YOUR family grew up in the cities everybody else's experiences are invalid. Got it.

Weird. This article seems to claim more players are participating in hockey every year:

Why Minnesota's youth hockey model keeps numbers rising and growing the gap with other states

State had nearly 50,000 18-and-under registered players in 2022-23, which was 8,812 more than Massachusetts

www.therinklive.com

Or you could take the numbers from USA Hockey:

Membership Statistics

www.usahockey.com

 

[Northerner]

OHHHHHH ok. Because YOUR family grew up in the cities everybody else's experiences are invalid. Got it.

Weird. This article seems to claim more players are participating in hockey every year:

Why Minnesota's youth hockey model keeps numbers rising and growing the gap with other states

State had nearly 50,000 18-and-under registered players in 2022-23, which was 8,812 more than Massachusetts

www.therinklive.com

Or you could take the numbers from USA Hockey:

Membership Statistics

www.usahockey.com

Wut R U talking about? lol

I didn't say anyone opinions are invalid, I said I have roots and to this day live in the Cities and know exactly why hockey has been eliminated from the culture here.

Why do you think when my dad grew up in St. Paul in the '50s it was completely high trust, safe, clean, decent, such that you didn't even have to lock your door at night? Hell it was probably safer than modern day Edina, since there are now car-jackings out there.

Anyway, I don't think hockey itself is dying. When I was a kid there were two D1 programs in MN; today there are 6, with another in South Dakota of all places. I believe today there are more MN-born players in D1 than every before.

But what we're all responding to here is the post above where the poster thinks it's sad that AV and Burnsville and Bloomington are now co-ops, and why.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

But what we're all responding to here is the post above where the poster thinks it's sad that AV and Burnsville and Bloomington are now co-ops, and why.

How about you go ahead and explicitly explain the "why".

 

[BagHead]

How about you go ahead and explicitly explain the "why".

You want to get into the history and legacy of redlining? Here?

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

You want to get into the history and legacy of redlining? Here?

I just want to see if he'll stop dancing around what he's really trying to say.

 

[57special]

Hey, I can do the "back in my day" with the best of them, but I'd have to agree with the poster with the weird headgear. Life is change. Phones don't have cords anymore, we don't use slide rules for mathematical calculations, wooden sticks or tube skates for hockey, and Apple Valley is not the farthest south suburb.

 

[GordieGallant]

Hey, I can do the "back in my day" with the best of them, but I'd have to agree with the poster with the weird headgear. Life is change. Phones don't have cords anymore, we don't use slide rules for mathematical calculations, wooden sticks or tube skates for hockey, and Apple Valley is not the farthest south suburb.

What is a tube skate?

 

[BagHead]

What is a tube skate?

An article with an image of them.

 

[BagHead]

I just want to see if he'll stop dancing around what he's really trying to say.

Fair, I just think that discussing it here the chance for harm is higher than the chance for good. This is the kind of thing we should be emailing our representatives about.

 

[Minnewildsota]

I just want to see if he'll stop dancing around what he's really trying to say.

I think we all know what he's trying to say, without saying it but I give props to you.

 

[57special]

An article with an image of them.

Ha, I remember the Lange skates! They were a big ski boot manufacturer, and made these plastic monstrosities based on them for skating. Skates were leather till about the early 70's i think, then they came out with the "Ballistic Nylon" Tacks. there was a reason that you didn't block shots as much then, or certainly not while exposing your feet/ankles. Shots tended top travel lower due to the wooden sticks, and even the top of the line Super Tacks and Bauers didn't protect you much. Some wore ankle guards, but most felt they made you slower, and even then, speed was important.

 

[Northerner]

I just want to see if he'll stop dancing around what he's really trying to say.

Turns out if you give control of safe, clean, high-trust, Edina-like communities like 1950s Twin Cities proper to crazy people, they can pretty much destroy said communities in a generation or two.

 

[Minnewildsota]

Turns out if you give control of safe, clean, high-trust, Edina-like communities like 1950s Twin Cities proper to crazy people, they can pretty much destroy said communities in a generation or two.

There’s just so much to unpack here.