Minnesota_high_school_boys_hockey

High school boys ice hockey in Minnesota

High school boys ice hockey in Minnesota

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Minnesota boys high school ice hockey is made up of multiple leagues and programs representing different associations. The two organizations associated with high school are the Minnesota State High School League and Minnesota Hockey. The Minnesota State High School League is a voluntary, nonprofit association of public and private schools with a history of service to Minnesota's high school youth since 1916. Minnesota Hockey, an affiliate of USA Hockey, is the governing body of youth and amateur hockey in Minnesota. Minnesota Hockey is governed by a board of directors and consists of approximately 140 community based associations who are formed into 12 districts.

2015 Boys AA Championship game between Lakeville North and Duluth East at the Xcel Energy Center

Minnesota State High School League

Minnesota Class AA and A High School Hockey

Minnesota Class AA and A High School Hockey programs are members of the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL). The league is made up of Varsity programs that are divided into two classes; AA and A. The classification is determined by enrollment, but schools have the option to both opt up or appeal, if they qualify, down in team sports every two years.[1] Each class is further divided into eight sections. There are currently 144 varsity teams (72 AA and 72 A) competing for the state AA and A championships.

Minnesota State High School League History

2009 Boys AA Championship game between Eden Prairie and Moorhead at the Xcel Energy Center

High school hockey players throughout Minnesota participate in a maximum of 25 contests, excluding the section tournaments and the Minnesota State Boys' High School Hockey Tournament. Teams currently play three 17-minute periods to comprise a game. The lengthened periods were adopted by the Minnesota State High School League in 2003.

Boys hockey concludes their season with a four-day tournament in March that features sixteen teams competing for championships in both classes. From 1945 through 1991 the tournament consisted of a single class, eight-team tournament instead of the present-day two-class (AA and A) tournament. Private schools were not allowed to play in the Tournament until the 1974–75 season. In 1992–93, the tournament was composed of Tier I and II teams. This two-year experiment sent the top teams from each of the eight sections to the Tier I portion of the tournament and the remaining teams conducted a playoff to determine who would be included in the Tier II tournament. In 1994, the dual-class system was adopted and teams were placed into a class structure based on school enrollments.

Since 1994, the MSHSL's process to determine section assignments for boys' hockey is based on school enrollments and activity classifications. The basic premise is to place the largest 64 schools into Class AA and the remaining high schools in Class A. Both Classes are then divided into 8 sections each. Teams are placed into their section assignments with geographic location as a primary consideration. High schools initially placed in Class A have the option to play at the Class AA level.

Beginning with the 2007 state tournament, the top four teams in each class are seeded. Coaches of the participating schools vote to determine the seeded teams the Saturday before the state tournament. The four teams are then bracketed so that if the seeded teams advance, the top seed plays the fourth seed while the second and third seeds play each other. The quarterfinal opponents of the seeded teams are determined by a blind draw.

Differences Between Minnesota High School Hockey and USA Hockey-Affiliated High School Hockey

Unlike most US high school hockey programs, Minnesota high school hockey is not affiliated with USA Hockey. Minnesota offers various development programs and camps that further refine players' skills and expose them to a high level of coaching expertise.[citation needed]

Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament

Based on tournament attendance, hockey is the most popular high school sport in the state.[2] Attendance has been strong throughout the years, with 38 tournaments eclipsing the 100,000+ barrier.[3] In 2017 Prep45.com partnered with GrandStadium.TV to stream the state tournament to viewers in 37 countries and all 50 states.[4] The Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament is currently the largest state sports tournament in terms of viewing and attendance, beating Florida's State High School Football Tournament and Indiana's State High School Basketball Tournament.[5]

Minnesota Hockey

Minnesota Junior Gold High School League

Several Minnesota high schools field Junior Gold teams in addition to or as an alternative to high school Junior Varsity. There are currently 61 Junior Gold A and B teams throughout Minnesota. The league is governed by Minnesota Hockey and is affiliated with USA Hockey. Minnesota Junior Gold teams are eligible for the Chipotle-USA Hockey National Championships.

Many Junior Gold players have made their high school team after playing a season or two of Junior Gold, and some Junior Gold players have gone onto play after high school in junior leagues such as the NAHL.

Independent Prep, USA 18U Tier 1 & USA 18U AAA

Minnesota's independent high school ice hockey teams include Shattuck-St. Mary's (MN) Prep and NorthStar Christian Academy Knights Prep (MN) and the state's AAA teams include Shattuck-St. Mary's (MN) 18U AAA team.

Development Programs

Minnesota has development programs available for high school players looking for an elevated level of competition against top talent from across the state.

Upper Midwest High School Elite League Hockey

The Upper Midwest High School Elite League Hockey provides players with development and high-level exposure in the months leading up to the high school season. The league consists of seven Minnesota elite teams, including Minnesota Elite (TDS) 18U AAA, Minnesota Elite (Sanford) 18U AAA, Minnesota Elite (MapSouth) 18U AAA, Minnesota Elite (TCOrtho) 18U AAA, Minnesota Elite (SIT) 18U AAA, Minnesota Elite (Kowalskis) 18U AAA, Minnesota Elite (Magazine) 18U AAA, Shattuck-St. Mary's (MN) Prep, Team Wisconsin 18U AAA, and Team North Dakota 18U AAA. These teams participate in a highly competitive schedule, facing off against each other in showcase tournaments and regular-season games. The league provides an excellent platform for players to sharpen their skills, compete against top talent, and gain exposure to college and professional scouts.

2023 - 24 National High School Hockey Rankings

According to MYHockey Rankings, Minnetonka High School is the number one ranked high school hockey team in the United States. The site ranked 2,125 high school teams for the 2023-24 season and 17 of the top 20 high school hockey teams are from Minnesota. Nine of the top 10 high school hockey teams are located in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area [6]

More information Rank, School ...

MyHockey Rankings also ranked Shattuck-St. Mary's (MN) Prep team as the top Prep / Independent team in the United States. Northstar Christian Academy (MN) was ranked #4.[7]

MaxPreps also releases high school ice hockey rankings. However, MaxPreps rankings are very inaccurate and unreliable. This has led to many within the sports community to question the company's algorithm and overall legitimacy. Information for several hundred ice hockey teams is either incomplete, inaccurate, or missing. A number of teams have had incorrect game results and schedules listed, which has led to the algorithm not being able to properly track a team's strength of schedule and quality wins against highly ranked opponents. The fact that the site relies on coaches' participation has only compounded the issue. If coaches from the country's top programs are not correcting or reporting these errors, it leads to further inaccuracies in the rankings. The lack of transparency from MaxPreps regarding their ranking formula has only confirmed the concerns about there being many flaws in their system.[8] [9]

Historical timeline

2020 Boys' AA Championship game between Eden Prairie and Hill Murray at the Xcel Energy Center
  • 1905 – Saint Paul Academy fields what is believed to be the oldest varsity team in the state[10]
  • 1930s – High school hockey played at approximately 25 schools in Minnesota
  • 1945 – First MSHSL Boys State High School Hockey Tournament held at St. Paul Auditorium
  • 1949–1964 – Prep. School Hockey Tournament (for Private Schools)
  • 1965–1970 – Catholic School Hockey Tournament
  • 1969 – The tournament moves to Met Center in Bloomington, home of the Minnesota North Stars NHL team
  • 1970–1974 – Independent School Hockey Tournament
  • 1974–Present public schools and private schools can play in the same tournament
  • 1976 – The tournament moves to the St. Paul Civic Center.
  • 1992 – Tier I and Tier II structure adopted; the Target Center in Minneapolis hosted the Tier II tournament
  • 1994 – Class AA and A structure adopted.
  • 1999 – The tournament moved to the Target Center in Minneapolis
  • 2001 – The tournament moved to the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, home of the new Minnesota Wild NHL team
  • 2003 – Period length changed from 15 to 17 minutes
  • 2007 – Coaches seed top four teams in each class[11]
  • 2008 – 19,559 fans attended the 2008 State Boys' Hockey Tournament Class AA semifinals at Xcel Energy Center, March 7, setting a new record for the largest crowd to ever attend a hockey game in the state of Minnesota[12]
  • 2015 – 21,609 fans attended the 2015 State Boys' Hockey Tournament Class AA semifinals at Xcel Energy Center, March 6, setting a new record for the largest crowd to ever attend a hockey game in the state of Minnesota[13]
  • 2016 – 22,244 fans attended the 2016 State Boys' Hockey Tournament Class AA semifinals at Xcel Energy Center, March 4, setting a new record for the largest crowd to ever attend a hockey game in the state of Minnesota[14]

Current high school varsity programs and conferences

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Defunct Teams

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Championship games

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More information Year, Record ...
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List of state champions

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Notable alumni

List of notable alumni:[74]

References

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    Co-op between Austin High School and Austin Pacelli High School.
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    Co-op between Bethlehem Academy, Faribault High School, Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf, and Discovery Public School of Faribault
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    Co-op between Mankato East High School, Mankato Loyola High School, and Nicollet High School.
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    Co-op between Rochester Century High School and John Marshall High School.
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    Co-op between Winona High School and Cotter High School.
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    Co-op between Blue Earth Area High School, Fairmont High School, Martin Luther High School, Truman High School, Granada-Huntley-East Chain, and Martin County West High School.
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    Co-op between Adrian High School and Luverne High School.
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    Co-op between Lakeview High School and Marshall High School.
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    Co-op between Minnesota Valley Lutheran, New Ulm High School, New Ulm Cathedral High School, Sleepy Eye High School, Sleepy Eye, and Saint Mary's High School.
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    Co-op between B.O.L.D. High School, Cedar Mountain High School, Redwood Valley High School and Springfield High School.
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    Co-op between St. Cloud Apollo High School and St. Cloud Tech High School
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    Co-op between West Lutheran High School, Heritage Christian Academy, and Providence Academy.
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    Co-op between Little Falls High School and Pierz High School.
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    Co-op between Blooming Prairie High School, Byron High School, Hayfield High School, Kasson-Mantorville High School, Pine Island High School, Triton High School, and Zumbrota-Mazeppa High School.
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    Co-op between Northeast Range High School and Ely Memorial High School.
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    Co-op between St. Paul Como Park H.S., St. Paul Johnson High School, and Open World Learning.
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    Co-op between Barnum High School, Cromwell-Wright High School, Moose Lake High School, Willow River High School, and East Central High School.
  41. [41]
    Co-op between Greenway High School and Nashwauk-Keewatin High School.
  42. [42]
    Co-op between Cook County High School, Silver Bay (William Kelley) High School, and Two Harbors High School
  43. [43]
    Co-op between Virginia High School, Mountain Iron Buhl High School, Eveleth-Gilbert High School, Mesabi East High School, Cherry High School
  44. [44]
    Played as Edina-East from 1973-1981.
  45. [45]
    Co-op between Carlton High School, Cloquet High School, and Esko High School
  46. [46]
    Played as Duluth Cathedral until 1987.
  47. [47]
    Co-op between South Ridge High School and Proctor High School.
  48. [48]
    Co-op between Chisholm High School and Hibbing High School.
  49. [49]
    Co-op between Crookston High School and Fisher High School.
  50. [50]
    Formerly played as Henry Sibley High School until 2021.
  51. [51]
    Co-op between Detroit Lakes High School and Perham High School.
  52. [52]
    Co-op between Aitkin High School, Crosby-Ironton High School, Pequot Lakes High School, and Pine River-Backus High School.
  53. [53]
    Co-op between Menahga High School, Nevis High School, Park Rapids Area High School, and Walker-Hackensack-Akeley H.S.
  54. [54]
    Co-op between Browerville High School, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle H.S., Melrose Area High School, and Sauk Centre High School.
  55. [55]
    Co-op between Henning High School, New York Mills High School, Parkers Prairie High School, Sebeka High School, Staples Motley High School, Verndale High School, and Wadena-Deer Creek High School.
  56. [56]
    Co-op between Maple Lake High School and Monticello High School.
  57. [57]
    Co-op between Hinckley-Finlayson High School, Pine City High School, and Rush City High School.
  58. [58]
    Co-op between Bagley High School, Clearbrook-Gonvick High School, and Fosston High School.
  59. [59]
    Co-op between Kittson Central High School, Lancaster High School, and Tri-County High School.
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    Co-op between Red Lake County Central and Red Lake Falls High School.
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    Co-op between Robbinsdale Armstrong High School and Robbinsdale Cooper High School.
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    Co-op between Elk River High School and Zimmerman High School.
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    Co-op between Apple Valley High School and Burnsville High School.
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    Co-op between Minneapolis Edison High School, Minneapolis Patrick Henry H. S., Minneapolis Roosevelt High School, Minneapolis South High School, Minneapolis Southwest High School, and Minneapolis Washburn High School.
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    Co-op between St. Paul Central High School, St. Paul Highland Park.
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    Co-op between Fridley High School, Irondale High School, St. and Anthony Village High School,.
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    Co-op between Mound Westonka High School, Watertown-Mayer High School, and Minnesota Online High School.
  69. [69]
    Co-op between Richfield High School and Southwest Christian High School.
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    Co-op between Cherry High School, Eveleth-Gilbert High School, and Mesabi East High School.
  72. [72]
    Co-op between Mountain Iron-Buhl High School and Virginia High School.
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    Consolation and third place games were not contested in the 2021 tournament due to Minnesota and MSHSL protocols to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. These teams were the defeated semifinalists.
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