Back in the mid 1800's there was a gold rush in California. Last Summer we got an up close look at how strong the '03 California Brick team was in Edmonton (they were eliminated in dramatic fashion in the semifinals). Two weeks ago the '04 Brick team won the Stars and Stripes over some nice '04 competition. Last weekend we saw a group of '05 All Stars from the Pacific come in and sweep the Coast to Coast. Nothing better than seeing the game grown on the left coast.

YHH will be announcing a new tournament this Fall for incoming second year PeeWees called the PeeWee Challenge. The event will feature the top 68 players from around Minnesota in a four game Round Robin Format. Kids will be selected by YHH and drafted into 4 even teams. The event will be held Septemeber 19-21 at Bloomington Ice Garden. Full details coming soon.

YHH will be covering a few games in the Independent AAA Classic this weekend. Stay tuned. There are 21 different divisions of Boys ranging from '06 birth year to U18 AAA. Should be a lot of hockey being played all over the Twin Cities this weekend. A couple teams to keep an eye on:

1. Minnesota Maroons coached by former Gopher great Grant Potulny. 

2. Midwest Pride Elite '98 will be a nice collection of talent from all over the state and Midwest.

3. '03 Blades and '00 Blades playing up an age group. Should be interesting how each do in this event.

The discussion around having U16 and U18 Before and After teams is heating up in Minnesota. Wisconsin has Before and After U14, U16, and U18 teams that compete:

Before: for their Team Wisconsin team in Fall tournaments and Tier 1 AAA schedule. They the return to their high school hockey program and compete in the Winter Season.

After: Once the Winter Season is complete, Team WI gears up and competes for a USA Hockey National Championship. This year Team WI won the U16 title in Green Bay.

Stay tuned to YHH as several Before/After Scenarios unfold in the next week, month or years to come.