Transcripts

SPEAKER 1: The Class AA quarterfinals are underway at the St. Paul Civic Center. This, at the state high school hockey tournament. The big schools are playing now. South St. Paul and Rochester Mayo play the first game of the day at 12:05. Also, this afternoon, Moorhead against white Bear Lake. Then tonight, Bloomington Jefferson plays Oswego. And Duluth East will play Minnetonka.

For years, of course, the state high school hockey tournament and Minnesota high school hockey, in general, was hailed as the best in the nation, but critics say the tournament and the quality of hockey in Minnesota has slipped a bit in recent years. Former player, Coach and Northstars general manager, Lou Nanne, has been broadcasting the tournament for years.

He's an expert on what happens at the state high school hockey tournament. He joins us now. Good morning.

LOU NANNE: Hi. How are you?

SPEAKER 1: Just fine. Glad you could join us. Has the quality of Minnesota hockey slipped a bit in recent years?

LOU NANNE: Well, actually it has, and you can tell that very easily just by looking at the number of people out of Minnesota that have been playing recently on the world championship teams, both in junior and in the World Championships, as well as the Olympic teams, where Minnesota used to be the dominant supplier of people to those clubs.

Right now, we're in a position, where we're not only in a minority compared to a couple of other states, but on two or three occasions we've had a couple teams go over with as few as none or one or two players.

SPEAKER 1: What happened?

LOU NANNE: Well, I think a lot of things happened. One, we got to give more credit to some of the other states that have really started to develop a program and have more hockey players themselves and are coming out with some real good players. We, of course, at the same time, might not have-- things go through cycles. We might not have the same quality athlete playing hockey at that stage.

But right now, we do have a couple of youngsters in the state again that look like they're going to be fine hockey players, and I'm certain if they stuck around long enough, if they didn't change the way the Olympics were competed for in hockey, that you'd have some of these players would be members of that team.

SPEAKER 1: Has the change at the high school hockey tournament made a difference moving to the two-tier arrangement instead of the one big tournament we used to have?

LOU NANNE: Well, I don't think it's made a difference in the caliber at all. I don't think that's affected the caliber because it's been a very recent thing that's happened. Where the changes come is before, you'd have all the teams in the state competing for eight spots. Now, essentially, you're divided up.

And if you had 160 schools and, say, you had 90 inches a larger category and 70 inches the smaller one, your competition changes, and then the quality of the tournament, obviously, is going to be diluted a little bit because you're letting in eight teams that obviously wouldn't have been there before If you look at it as a single tournament. And this has been reflected, I think, somewhat in the attendance of the games. If you look at the games, even though the tickets are sold, you don't see all the seats filled as much as you did before.

SPEAKER 1: There's been some criticism, I think specifically, the coach down at Shattuck, the private school in Faribault, suggesting that the Minnesota State High School League over-regulates hockey, and that hockey players ought to be allowed to play year-round and not restricted so much. Do you think that there's any validity to that criticism in terms of the development of Minnesota hockey?

LOU NANNE: Well, obviously, if you're able to play more games and practice more often, you're going to be a better player. So there's validity in that aspect of it. I think that you have to also remember that many players in other states, that's why they've been able to perform as well as they have, are able to play longer seasons and play in different leagues.

They'll play maybe with a junior team. They might also be able to be going to high school at the same time. And they might play in a high school team, but they certainly will play longer periods of time, and they will be able to go to a lot more hockey schools, and training camps, and things of that sort. And whenever you get to practice a lot more and play a lot more, you're going to hone your skills much quicker.

SPEAKER 1: Kids who are held back when they're in high school, do they have a chance to catch up later on in college and in the minor leagues of hockey if they want to be a pro hockey player, or once you fall behind, you're always going to be behind?

LOU NANNE: No, I think you've seen kids catch up. And besides that, just because they're precluded, say, from playing more games, that doesn't stop them from having the ability to go and skate as much as they want and finding ice time or renting ice on your own. And during the winter months, playing even more. If your season, say, you were in a state high school league today, ended this weekend, you could still go out and rent the ice with your buddies and play, and winter conditions still prevail around here.

So there's ways to find ice for a long time, and you've got to do it on your own. But it does set you back early on, but a dedicated athlete can catch up. And eventually, if you're going to go to college, you're going to be playing as much as anybody else. You're going to be skating every day and playing.

Or if you're in the juniors, you still have a longer season, so you do have time to catch up. But it does regulate your-- or prevent you from maybe reaching the level you're going to reach as quickly as you can if you don't practice as much as you would be able to.