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The Grass is Greener Here

By Tony Scott, 10/18/16, 11:00AM CDT

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State's best remaining HS players sweep U-17's


Casey Mittelstadt will return for his Senior year for another run at the X

At every level of youth hockey, we see players trying to move up and or move on to greener pastures. It seems everywhere we turn a Squirt is playing PeeWees, a girl is skipping U12s to play high school, or a high school skater is leaving for the USHL or the National Development program. 

This past weekend we saw two groups of Minnesota high school teams beat the United States National Team Development Program ((NTDP) U-17 team. A feat that had never been accomplished prior, happened twice in two days. 

Saturday: NW Blanks NTDP 17's

Sunday: NTDP U-17 Fall to Elite Selects

Many in the local hockey circles waved their flags with pride on Sunday, proclaiming the strength of one model versus another. Where at YHH we like to think there are many paths to a great hockey future. That said, it cannot be ignored what happened and some incredible supporting facts that support the Minnesota development model.

For review, that model includes playing for your local PeeWee AA/A team in the Winter at Squirts, PeeWees and Bantams. Followed by a high school career at a local private or public school. With the ultimate prize of playing in the Minnesota State High School Tournament at the Xcel Energy Center. 

Each year, a non-hockey entity will publish a "The Sky is Falling" article about how major junior hockey is ruining high school hockey and that the shine of the state tourney is fading. Fact: every author of these doom and gloom articles hasn't been in the building of the X the last four years. Ask people who watched Duluth East beat Edina in 2015 or Wayzata knock off Eden Prairie last year if the tournament is dying. Spend 15 minutes in the hallways of section 200's, it is the best party in the state for four straight days.


Grand Rapids celebrated their trip to the X last year in Duluth

Looking at the two rosters of the teams that defeated the NTDP, it is pretty impressive. Division one commits like Gavin Hain (North Dakota), Sammy Walker (Minnesota) and Josh Ess (Wisconsin) were standouts for the Selects. There were a few lines that were really fun to watch like Hain, Blake McLaughlin (Minnesota) and Ryan Sandelin (MSU Mankato). But what really stood out was the fact that there are 20+ players that have played at least one year of MN high school hockey and bypassed the Elite League and a shot at The Tourney to play somewhere else. 

While this does work out for many of these players (see Scott Reedy, Grant Mismash and Dayton Rasmussen) - it still begs the question. Do you think they really needed to go to Shattuck, Colorado or Ann Arbor to get a scholarship from the Gophers, Sioux or Denver?

Read this list and imagine what the HS Elite League would look like if they were living at home, eating mom's hot dish, going to homecoming and high school football games versus the alternative in someone else's house and in someone else's league. 

Player Grad Class College Commitment
Matt Anderson* 2017 Minnesota Duluth
Mikey Anderson 2018 Minnesota Duluth
Ryan Bischel 2017 Clarkson
Brendan Bushy 2017 St. Cloud State
Chase Brand 2017 Uncommitted
Cam Buhl 2017 Uncommitted
Ben Copeland 2017 Colorado College
Brian Hurley 2017 Ohio State
Trevor Janicke 2019 Notre Dame
Isaac Johnson 2017 Uncommitted
Keegan Karki 2018 North Dakota
Nate Knoepke 2017 Minnesota
Benton Maas* 2017 Uncommitted
Connor Mayer 2017 Connecticut
Ben Meyers* 2017 Uncommitted
Micah Miller* 2017 St. Cloud State
K'Andre Miller 2018 Wisconsin
Dylan Mills 2017 Uncommitted
Casey Mittelstadt* 2017 Minnesota
Jaxon Nelson 2018 Minnesota
Scott Perunovich 2017 Minnesota Duluth
Clayton Phillips 2018 Minnesota
Dayton Rasmussen 2017 Denver
Marko Reifenberger 2017 Uncommitted
Jacob Sibell 2018 Uncommitted
Harmon Sorenson 2017 Uncommitted
Baron Thompson 2017 Uncommitted
Ryan Ullan 2019 Uncommitted
Jensen Zerban* 2017 Uncommitted
*Expected to return for 2016-17 HS season

Holy Family's Jared Moe makes this save last year against Stillwater


Wayzata won their first state title last year

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