At YHH, we are always looking for something different on the Minnesota Hockey scene. This fall there appears to be more high school fall hockey being played than in the past seasons. Perhaps the return of junior hockey with the Magicians franchise has increased player interest in fall hockey. One thing is certain, players are now aware that a lot of scouting is done by colleges and pro scouts during September and October in the Twin Cities area.
Still the objective of most bantam through senior hockey players in the fall is to find suitable competition before trying out for their high school team. Players are looking for fall teams to play with, especially teams that are organized around Minnesota High School hockey where grade level matters more than birth year.
The Upper Midwest High School Elite League and the Elite Player Development Leagues are part of that and they usually get the stronger players trying out. They will usually roster 250 or so players for an 8-10 week season. But with a 150+ high school teams and another 100 bantam teams, these two leagues only tap into the potential pool of talented hockey players.
That leaves 4000 thousand or so players searching for spots to play in those two months before high school tryouts.
Some of the Minnesota AAA organizations have stepped in by fielding one or two teams during those two months, but the bulk of players simply can’t find places to play to develop their skills until the November high school tryouts.
The Ice Edge AAA organization did something different this fall. Recognizing the need, the AAA organization took a chance and started their own league focusing on “bubble players”, players under the radar of the Minnesota hockey. The called the league the Ice Edge Prospects League or IEPL. Since the IEPL was their own league, they could modify the playing rules. They did by patterning their games like tryouts that their players would be facing as their high school careers ended. Then they went further and eliminated the hard checks along the board or in center ice. No hard checks, only “rub outs”.
Their initial goal was to eliminate injuries just prior to high school tryouts, but with “rub outs” only, but it has resulted in league play that emphasizes stick handling, puck movement and puck possession.
The result is most players in the IEPL’s two month season are getting more time handling the puck on the ice in game situations then they get in a 25 game high school season. And they all get chances to score.
That was done deliberately to build a player’s own stick handling skills and their team play.
In their initial season, the IEPL has four teams all named after the color of their jerseys. No confusion on who plays where. Seventy two forwards and eight goalies in the league come mostly from the Twin Cities area. Some of the players joined the league because their high school coaches recommended the league to their players based on the reduced risk of injuries prior to the start of high school hockey. This season each team plays a 20 game schedule with games played mostly out of Inver Grove Heights Arena. And there are playoffs.