Since the first time Minnesota high schools dropped a hockey puck in the spirit of competition, the sport was destined to be split into the chosen and the ignored. The haves and the have-nots. The exalted and the abandoned. The Cadillacs and the Corollas. 

First-ring suburbs often fall into the latter category. The former playgrounds of middle-class families fleeing St. Paul and Minneapolis for one reason or another, places like Richfield and Columbia Heights, have been left behind for the shiny office parks and freshly paved cul-de-sacs of what used to be nothing but prairie. 

Some of these original suburbs have survived the migration. Roseville still has its lakes and parks, St. Louis Park still has its quirky charms, and Edina is still…well, Edina. 

However, in the world of high school hockey, these cities are on the outside looking in, and some of them have been compelled to join hands with those they once considered bitter rivals. They've come up with new logos, sampled new color schemes, and have ventured into the wilderness as a co-operative.

Co-op teams are joined together because of a lack of bodies, either on one side or on both. There simply aren't enough kids in one program or another trying out for hockey. In most cases, the programs need each other to survive. Sometimes, one side of the co-op contributes an overwhelming majority of the players. 

As hockey continues to become an exceedingly expensive sport, which limits the player pool (the relationship between hockey, money, and those who have it is a subject for another day), and as Minnesota's superpower programs continue to add to their numbers, more and more co-ops are appearing. Programs that once fielded proud, talented teams on their own are starting to reach across the aisle to those they deemed eternal rivals.  

Too often, co-op programs are unceremoniously shuffled to the back of the room, told to hush, and firmly reminded that the big boys need all of the spotlight. Your time's over, they're told by the powers that be. You're not to be heard, and you're only to be seen as a scheduling nuisance on our march to greatness. Step aside, cannon fodder.

As the product of a high school co-op, I can tell you that this attitude of ordained superiority also applies to parents and fans of the teams counted among hockey royalty, and it trickles down to the players. Young ears pick up on the mild complaints of the adults - the rink's too far out of the way, the restaurants in the area don't have salad forks, and the concession stand doesn't even chill the chardonnay. 

But even with a few higher hills to climb than most, at least two of the metro's co-op programs - Robbinsdale Armstrong/Cooper and Spring Lake Park/Coon Rapids - are embracing their status, damning the torpedoes, and skating full steam ahead. 

Armstrong/Cooper is 8-10 as of this writing, already equaling last year's win total with eight guaranteed games left on the slate. The Wings, coached by Robbinsdale Cooper alum Casey Maikkula, also have two of the state's highest-scoring players in junior forward Niklas Anderson and senior forward Brady Northrup. 

Anderson's 19 goals and 45 points make him the second-most prolific player in Class AA, just one point behind probably Mr. Hockey candidate Cole Braunshausen of St. Thomas Academy, and outproducing household names like Moorhead's Zac Zimmerman and Tyden Bergeson, St. Thomas Academy's Maverick McKinnon, and Edina's Tucker Johnson. Northrup has 18 goals and 43 points this season, which ties him for sixth among all Class AA skaters.  

"Do we play the toughest (Class) AA schedule? No, we don't," Maikkula said, fully aware that the Wings don't have a win against a ranked Class AA program yet this season. "But it's been a long time since you've seen a player form a co-op, let alone Armstrong/Cooper, as the top of that list midway through the season."

For programs like the Wings, players with possible collegiate futures like Anderson and Northrup are critical. According to Maikkula, the wall at the New Hope Ice Arena, which showcases pictures of the Armstrong and Cooper players who have gone on to Division I hockey, has had just one new photo (Ben Anderson, Class of 2020) added in the last 13 years.

"The kids have to see an example," Maikkula said, noting a couple of Armstrong High School products that inspired him and his classmates in years past. "For me growing up, even as a Cooper kid, you see Pat O'Leary playing at the (University of Minnesota), winning a national championship, you see Jordan Leopold win the Hobey Baker, and winning a national championship. It's going to take getting a couple of these (current) kids to Division I hockey for these youth players to realize that they can stay here and still make it." 

For those new to the Minnesota high school environment, staying is the operative word. 

For Robbinsdale kids, whether they attend Catholic elementary and middle schools or not, perennial power Benilde-St. Margaret's in St. Louis Park has been an attractive option for nearly two decades. For Spring Lake Park/Coon Rapids, Totino-Grace has been the alternative. The Catholic school that lies just four miles south on I-694 has reached the Class A State Tournament as recently as 2014, finished as state runner-up in 2005, and won it all in 2002. 

"Retaining talent is one of the most difficult parts of coaching in a program like ours," said SLPCR Head Coach Connor Gagnon, whose interview was conducted via text message. "Year in and year out, we lose freshmen to local private schools or upperclassmen (who) choose to transfer."

Gagnon has also seen talented players leave high school to pursue junior hockey, as defenseman Jacob Rombach did after a standout sophomore season with the Panthers. Rombach totaled 27 points in two seasons with the USHL's Lincoln Stars before joining the University of Minnesota for the 2025-2027 season. The 6-foot-6 defenseman was selected in the second round of last summer's NHL Draft, going 35th overall to the Nashville Predators. 

"I think our staff does a good job maintaining relationships with the youth associations and our youth players and coaches," Gagnon said. "Between helping out with pre-skates, jumping on the ice for practices, watching games, and staying in touch with youth coaches as much as we can, we try to make our presence known to the youth players and coaches as much as we can."

Maikkula has coached at both public and private schools before returning home to helm the Wings. Previous stops included St. Michael-Albertville, Rogers, Maple Grove, and Benilde-St. Margaret's. Considering his experience on both sides of the fence, Maikkula acknowledges that some players are headed to a faith-based secondary school, regardless of the athletic component. 

"The first thing is identifying at the youth level, are the parents trying to make a hockey decision, or a religious decision?" Maikkula explained. "If they're making a hockey decision, I want a seat at the table, and also use my relationships with them that I'm building in the rink to hopefully keep them in the (Robbinsdale) schools."

Once the rosters for each program are set, the real work can begin. Getting players from previously separate youth programs can be more than a little challenging, though Maikkula's Wings have had 20 years as a combined youth association to get to know each other, and the high schools have skated under one banner for a decade. Maikkula also said that most of his players have played other sports together or attended the same elementary or middle school at some point. 

Gagnon's high school co-op is barely more than a year old, now midway through its second season. 

"Last year, there were a number of talented players that had established themselves in their respective programs over the past couple of seasons, so it was a challenge getting everyone on the same page with our new normal," Gagnon said. "This year, I think that has come a little bit easier now that the kids are familiar with each other and we have one season under our belt."

SLPCR is a combined 15-28-1 through one-and-a-half campaigns together, including a 4-13-1 mark this season, but reinforcements are on the way. 

The two programs have combined forces for the first time this season at the boys' youth level, and the payoff has been massive, both in terms of numbers and in wins and losses. The Bantam AA team is currently 26-6-7, ranked No. 5 in Minnesota according to Youth Hockey Hub's computerized NOW Rankings, and is coming off a 5-4 upset of Shattuck-St. Mary's 14U team on Jan. 20. The Sabres' lineup includes some of North America's best players in the age group.

"It's a group of kids that brings a lot of talent and expects a lot of themselves," Gagnon said of the incoming crop of players, most of whom are expected to play for the co-op at the high school level. "We are excited to see how it translates to the high school level over the next few years."

In addition to writing practice plans, creating line combinations, and surviving the yearly exodus of players, Maikkula and Gagnon are tasked with forging an identity for programs that lack extensive postseason tradition to fall back on. 

Coon Rapids never advanced out of section play. Robbinsdale appeared in the 1959 state tournament as Robbinsdale High School. Spring Lake Park went to the Class A dance in 2015. 

What do you do when you don't have a trophy case to point at as a piece of who you are as a program? How do you make players feel like they're a part of something, to use an oft-repeated phrase, bigger than themselves? 

"Our main focus is pushing the group to play the 'right way' and controlling what we can control," says Gagnon. "We feel that identity comes with consistency in our details day in and day out." 

The Wings are relying on a system designed to light up the scoreboard - sometimes on both sides.  

"We lean on offense," Maikkula said. "Kids want to score goals. I want defensemen in the rush. I want players to know how to fill lanes and really know how to play without the puck. If you talk to our team, they would say the things we're doing in practice (are supposed) to be fun. They should enjoy coming to the rink."

Maikkula also referred to an earlier loss to Blake, saying his team would rather go down 9-6, as they did against the Bears, than 3-0. Same margin of defeat, different game experience.

"It sucks being on the losing end, but at least the people that are buying a ticket to come and watch, whether it's their kid, or their buddies coming to watch or whatever, at least they're getting to see a good hockey game," Maikkula chuckled. 

In all likelihood, neither Spring Lake Park/Coon Rapids nor Armstrong/Cooper will advance past the opening round of section play. 

The Wings compete in Section 6AA, which includes Edina, Wayzata, Rogers, and Holy Angels. The Wings put a scare into Edina in last year's quarterfinals, but none of the players who scored in the game for Armstrong/Cooper are on the roster this season. 

Spring Lake Park/Coon Rapids is slotted in Section 5AA, along with Maple Grove, Andover, and Blaine. 

There's always a chance, but the odds don't favor it. 

Thankfully for all involved, Maikkula and Gagnon find that their co-op callings go beyond rankings or standings. 

"At those big public schools (at previous coaching) stops, the second I would get introduced to the parent group and they would find out I went to Cooper, there'd be five or six parents that were like 'I went to Armstrong, I went to Cooper' or 'we grew up here or there,'" Maikkula said. Hopefully I can build something here that will attract the families, alumni that are my age, that are now having kids, to potentially move back."

Gagnon feels the same way and said that the combined program has brought people together who may not have become friends otherwise. 

"Our co-op has afforded players and families the opportunity to meet and develop relationships with an entirely new community," Gagnon said. 

"We knew the first year our two would be challenging, but I'm really proud of our group and how well they get along with each other at and away from the rink."