Minnesota Hockey published an interview recently with Ken Rausch from USA Hockey about the recent influx in talent at the National level. The 1998 birth class has mushroomed out of control popularity-wise in the last six months. Nine Minnesota natives litter the U17 US Development team, nine Minnesotans were selected to the US Olympic team last Winter and the Five Nations team playing in Germany this week looks like a poster for Minnesota Hockey. 

The recent credit/success is primarily given to our community based model...a model that allows for kids to play hockey within their community at a very high level for a relatively low cost. Our Minnesota youth teams, despite a slightly different age class, have been able to compete and often outperform the top Tier I teams in both the US and Canada. Teams filled with kids from the same community, playing for a fraction of the cost at the highest level. Last Winter, the Shattuck St. Mary's team that won the U14 National Championship was lead by six Minnesota kids, including two of their top three players...Scott Reedy and Grant Mismash. Reedy won a state PeeWee championship for with Prior Lake and Mismash won a Bantam title with Edina in successive years.