After 39 years in existence, the eight team Missota conference, will cease operation in June, 2014.

The conference started to beak-up in December, 2012, with the announcement that Farmington would be joining the South Suburban Conference.  The Tiger’s high school is one of the largest in the Missota Conference.  The move was expected; but the decision of Shakopee to also join the South Suburban was a surprise.  Chaska and Chanhassen, two of the remaining six Missota schools, opted out over last summer.  They joined the new Metro West Conference that will start play in the 2014-2015 school year.

The four remaining schools (Northfield, New Prague, Red Wing and Holy Angels) tried to recruit new schools to the Missota, but couldn’t.  This year, Northfield and Red Wing will join the Big Nine conference expanding the conference to 12 schools.   New Prague becomes the twelfth team in the Wright County Conference; Holy Angels, it seems, will join the Tri-Metro Conference.

Period One

The first period was a shock to everybody.  New Prague dominated the first 10 minutes of play scoring in three goals.  The first goal was a gift scored by the Farmington defense.  One minute into the opening period, Trojan senior Cody Shimota put a shot on Farmington’s junior goalie Brayde Ritzman.  Ritzman stopped the shot and it bounced to the top of the crease where a Tiger defenseman picked up the puck and tried to cut through the crease left to circle the net.  He lost control of the puck and it rolled past Ritzman into the net.  New Prague led 1-0.  Shimots got credit for the goal.

For the next five minutes, New Prague pinned the Tiger’s in the Farmington zone.  They moved the puck well, working it low and getting good shots on the Tiger’s net.  It took a high stick, to break the pressure and bring the puck back to the Trojan’s zone for a face off left.  New Prague carried the puck off the faceoff back into the Tiger’s zone and pressured the right side of the net.  The puck was batted around and ended up sliding right to Trojan senior Austin Isaacson.  Isaacson one-timed the puck past a diving Ritzman.  New Prague led 2-0.  Sophomore Alex Gregor and senior Seth Kriha got the assists.

Halfway through the opening period, New Prague scored again.  The Trojan’s had just killed an interference penalty and caught the Tiger defense out of position.  It resulted in a 2-on-1 rush with Isaacson carrying the puck low into the right faceoff circle.  Isaacson made a 360 move that drew the lone Tiger defender to him and slid the puck to Gregor breaking on the left.  Gregor buried the puck for a 3-0 New Prague lead.  Isaacson got the assist.

New Prague continued to pressure the Tigers, but the overall game pace slowed at the 5 minute mark.  Farmington worked the puck into the Trojan zone and fired the puck to the right end boards.  Famington defenseman sophomore Trevor Schoenecker picked the puck off the end boards and attacked the Trojans net using his body to fend off a Trojan defender and to create space for himself.  He put the puck on Wagner low right.  It popped up over Wagner’s glove save attempt and into the net for the Tiger’s first goal.  New Prague led 3-1.

A minute later, Farmington’s forwards created a 2-on-1 rush coming into the Trojan’s zone.  The lone New Prague defender was drawn right leaving the puck carrier, sophomore John Siebenaler, alone in the slot.  Siebenaler beat the goalie with a hard shot high left to cut Trojan’s lead to 3-2.  Juniors Justin Novak and Austin Martinsen got the assists.

The second period ended with New Prague on the attack.  The period ended with the score 3-2.  The Trojans, reeling slightly from the two Tiger goals, still had the momentum going into the second period.  For all the scoring and up and down action, the two teams could only get 16 shots on goal, each team got 8. 

Period Two

Farmington opened the second period by going on the attack.  Their first rush was stopped by the Trojan’s defense and turned to neutral ice.  The Tigers reformed the attack in neutral ice and carried the puck left into the Trojans’ zone firing a hard shot on Wagner.  Wagner made the big stop with his right leg pad but left a rebunding puck in the right slot sliding to Farmington junior Colin Modjeski coming down the slot.  Modjeski one timed the puck past a diving Wagner to tie the game 3-3.

Farmington upped their game play over the next five minutes and relentless threatened the Trojans’ goal.  Things started to get feisty.  At the 10 minute mark, both teams started to find their groove.  The game developed a nice flow and despite two Trojan power plays (New Prague killed easily), neither team dominated.  It was a battle for the last Missota Hockey Crown and neither team was giving an inch to the other.

Frustrated on their second power play, the Tigers drew a tripping penalty as the second period ended.  The two teams skated 4-on-4 for a minute.  The second period ended with New Prague on the power play.  The Tigers outshot the Trojans 11 to 2 in the period, but could only score that initial goal.

Period Three

Farmington killed the penalty in the opening minute of the third period and the game became a up and down struggle.  Both teams skated the length of the ice trying to establish control in their opponents’ zone and set up a score.  New Prague had the edge at the 10 minute mark, taking the play to the Tiger’s zone, when sophomore defensemen Devin Bernu came up the puck just inside the Tiger's zone.  Bernu made a key pass from the right boards inside the Tigers’ blue line hitting sophomore defenseman Erik Holmstrom in stride along the right boards on the Trojan’s side of the red line.  Holmstrom skated in the Trojan's zone staying along the lefts boards and  hit senior Jack Erickson breaking in the slot.  Erickson went right beating Wagner from the low right crease for the game and (in this corner of YHH) the last ever Missota Conference Title winning goal.

New Prague tried to battle back in the last nine minutes of the game and came close.  Goalie Ritzman made some big stops to keep the Trojans from scoring.  The game ended 4-3.  New Prague outshot Farmington 14 to 8 in the third period. 

What’s Next?

Farmington has a Missota Conference record of 8-0-1 with five conference games remaining against teams they have beaten this year.  The Tigers will be favored in all five.  Their next game will be at home Thursday against Holy Angels.  In Section 1AA, Farmington remains the #2 seed behind a red hot #3 ranked in the state Lakeville North team.

New Prague drops to 7-1-2 in the Missota Conference.  Holy Angels (4-4-0) and Chanhassen (3-4-1) are their nearest competitors for second.  New Prague has four conference games remaining against teams they have beaten.  In Section 1A, Mankato East has emerged as the Trojans’ nearest challenger.  Tuesday night, the Scarlets beat Rochester Lourdes 5-1.  New Prague plays Lourdes this Saturday at New Prague.  

Right after World War II ended a high school basketball team from Lynd, MN made it to the finals of the Minnesota State Basketball tourney.  It was a time when there was only one state tourney and no television.  The team lost to Austin in the championship game 63-31.  From the 40’s to the early 70’s after the war, the one state basketball tourney meant that a team had to win their district (District 9 for Lynd in 1946) and their regional (Region 3 for Lynd).  The one state tourney meant that teams could be geographically organized in districts.

The Lynd players learned their sport in a hayloft and their coach taught himself how to coach from a book.  Small towns like Gilbert, Esko, and Edgerton followed in state tourneys after that, but instead of enjoying the successes of the small town wins and the positive press it brought, the small town high school basketballers wanted their own tourney.  They wanted to win or at least the opportunity to win.

Now Minnesota basketball has more tourneys and the smaller towns do have more opportunities to win, but nobody really notices.  Gone are the districts and regionals (that had to happen with multiple classes).  No longer does a team worry about beating its neighbor to move on in a state tourney.  Their opponent is often bused in from somewhere for a single game.  Only a few big school tourney basketball games get the public to view or attend.

High school hockey is getting that way.  Class A games at the Xcel never sell out, the Class AA games do.

The new Metro West conference has Jefferson, Kennedy, Chaska, Chanhassen, Richfield, Robinsdale Cooper, and St. Louis Park as chartered members.  The Minnesota State High School League assigned perennial hockey power house Benilde-St. Margaret’s to the conference over the objections of the other schools.  Perhaps when a high school becomes “more modern” it loses that community identity.  Winning is all that is left.

So it is sad to see a town oriented conference like the Missota fold up and leave.  With it go the rivalries.  It is a bewildering thing to watch.  And confusing.  How could people overlook what the high school sports can do for their towns?  How could they not understand that a local team’s success still draws a community together even if they only got to a regional tourney?

Is “Hoosiers” dead, the idea an old thing?  Or can it find a place in 2014?