There will be several games featuring the top kids born in 1998.  Who will be the next Alec Baer (known) or Toby Sengvongxay (unknown)at this camp?  Will it be Kevin Fellows from Prior Lake (known) or Mitchell Andres from East Gull Lake (unknown)?  The Select 15′s are the first time the best kids from Minnesota get a chance to skate against one another in a USA Hockey Sanctioned event.  Select 15′s is a great chance for kids to showcase their ability in front of high school, college, and pro scouts.  In some cases, kids can really make a name for themselves in the next two months.  On the flip side, several kids won’t make the final list of 20 kids from Minnesota. Those kids can still move onto greatness…just ask Blake Wheeler, who did not make the Select 15 team.  No matter the outcome, the experience is positive for all kids involved.

Some local kids to watch for: Joey Anderson (Roseville), Trey Rooney (Cooper), Brendan Skarda (Minnetonka), Garrett Wait (Edina), and Kevin Fellows (Prior Lake).

Just about every top AAA team in Minnesota takes the ice this weekend…some locally. The Minnesota Meltdown, held in Bloomington will showcase some nice teams in the second half of our Staff Top 5, whereas teams in the top half of our Staff Top 5 will hit the road to Chicago or Detroit.  We will do our best to stay on top of all the action and give our readers an updated Top 5 on Monday.

Teams on the Rise: 99 Minnesota Icemen, 00 EuroAmerican, and 04 Miracle Gold (these three teams will all have a good weekend this weekend).
#1 Jinx: How will the 2000 Machine handle the YHH jinx? Being the #1 AAA team in Minnesota carries an extra burden (haha).

The Spring meetings this weekend will have some interesting agenda items that we will be following.  Here are some questions that may be answered or be given some more clarity on heading into next season.

- AA/A: MNH will likely push forward with another year (at least) of the AA/A split. A recent poll done by MNH showed 85% of the people surveyed, liked the new format.  Our guess is that there will some modifications made to Regional seeding process (about the only hiccup the pilot program faced last year).

- Mite Cross Ice: It looks as though the Mite Cross Ice mandate for 2013/14 will not go into affect for MNH. MNH has been given the okay from USAH to continue playing full ice hockey in a revised format that will be voted on this weekend.

-End of Year Squirt: I’m hearing that MNH is considering an event of some sort for Squirt aged boys and girls next year. Nothing official, YHH is hoping to hear more about these details this weekend.  If there are any details, YHH will be the first to report.