By Bob Fallen
PHOTOS BY JOSH HOLMBERG

“The vast majority of companies never become great, precisely because the vast majority become quite good — and that is their main problem.”
– Jim Collins, Author, Good To Great

With high school hockey competition that is the envy of many states, we have it pretty good in Minnesota. No other state comes close to the sheer number of teams playing hockey at the prep level and there is no rival in any high school sport for the season-ending tournament that has become a historical and cultural icon for the “State of Hockey.” It is an annual ritual for thousands of Minnesota student athletes to experience the thrill of putting on the sweaters that symbolize pride and honor in their respective communities, large or small, and their schools, public or private. For generations, hockey has been regarded as the supreme interscholastic sport in the state, our pride, our joy.

But all is not well in Puckville. The brand of high school hockey played on the ice surfaces today has changed, fueled by a greater emphasis on performance over participation and a generation of athletes who crave instant gratification over commitment. But talking about the things that are wrong with high school hockey really achieves nothing. Instead, we need a plan to make things more right, to make a good thing great.

What are the obstacles that prevent high school hockey in Minnesota from reaching its full potential? How can we identify the problems and effectively confront them? How can we unify the key stakeholders in a common quest to achieve greatness for a game that embodies the very fabric of Minnesota high school sports?
This is a call to action to the key stakeholders in high school hockey: coaches, officials and administrators. As much as players, fans and the media are impassioned by and involved with the game, they are not truly empowered with the ability to affect change. It is up to the key stakeholders to step up and fix what is broken.

“If the NHL can do it, we can do it at the high school level.”
A decade-long rise in obstruction fouls and escalating fan apathy has high school hockey’s inner-circle pondering ways to revive a once-thrilling brand of prep hockey. If the robust, skill-friendly play of the “new” NHL product is an accurate barometer, perhaps high school hockey can find a cure by showcasing the strongest selling point of their game: skilled players. Coaches met with the Minnesota State High School League this season and the primary emphasis was nurturing the return of a brand of hockey based on speed and skill.

“If the NHL can do it, we can do it at the high school level,” said Bruce Johnson, a 37-year coaching veteran who said the coaching fraternity and officials support a greater emphasis on exposing the skill and speed of players. However, the skill and speed of hockey cannot be increased without a commensurate decrease in the obstruction checking and head-hunting that beleaguers talented players trying to navigate today’s ice surfaces. “Hooking and holding are the norm in our game right now,” says Hal Tearse, the head coach of Providence Academy and the author of an electronic newsletter for amateur hockey coaches in Minnesota. Like many of his peers, Tearse agrees the first step is fairly simple. “All we need to do is read the rule book,” said Tearse. “We can also do a better job of teaching skills and encouraging our kids to play a more skilled brand of hockey.”

The notion of enforcing stricter penalty standards is not new. Prior to last season, the MSHSL published Points of Emphasis to encourage the reduction of the frequent clutching, grabbing, hooking and other larcenous acts that plague the game. “The MSHSL has identified specific target areas for the enforcement of existing rules which are designed to allow all players the right to meet their offensive and defensive responsibilities without being held, hooked, or otherwise obstructed.”

“I see more bad stuff in high school hockey than in the pros.”
Despite written recommendations from the governing powers of high school hockey, why do so many games resemble a strange hybrid of wrestling, rodeo and spear-fishing? Obstruction fouls rarely draw whistles — and if they do they often invite the wrath of coaches. Gratuitous body checking that has more to do with separating an opponent’s head from his shoulders than it does winning possession of the puck often draws nothing more than raucous cheers from the student body section. Why the disconnect between the vision of the key stakeholders and the action on the ice?

It will take more than blowing whistles according to Tom Saterdalen, the retired coaching legend at Bloomington Jefferson who led the Jaguars to five state titles.

Saterdalen and his coaching peers believe the culture of the game has changed. Pressure to win and the incurable need to produce results often overshadows the instinct to abide by the rules. “Nowadays, I see more of the bad stuff in high school hockey than in the pros,” says Saterdalen. “Many teams are implementing game tactics that are outside the rules because it helps them compete against skilled opponents. By nature, if young people can get away with bad behavior, they’ll continue the behavior. Coaches need to play a stronger role in controlling the behavior and conduct of their players.”

Many point to cooperation between coaches and officials at the NHL level to enforce the rule book as the key to the surge in player satisfaction and fan interest. “We need to establish a stronger dialogue between the coaches and officials in high school hockey,” said Bill Kronschnabel, the Head Rules Clinician for high school hockey officials and the Supervisor of Officials for the state tournament. “College hockey took the initial step and the NHL followed with policies that made the officials more accountable for enforcing the rulebook.” But before the arms of referees were extended skyward, it took universal buy-in from the NHL front office, coaches and players.

Getting coaches and officials in sync starts with examining the business relationship between the officials and the schools. Potential biases arise from having three officials’ organizations competing for game assignments in the metro area. Many believe the current system affects the way games are called because the officials do not want to fall into disfavor with the people who ultimately sign their checks. Both sides admit this impacts the assignment of officials for games, and some have offered possible solutions to a politically charged situation.

“We have a good thing going up here with a professional relationship between our officiating association and the section schools,” said Ron Storey, an official in Warroad who also serves as referee clinician. “In our old system coaches contracted with individual referees. If the officials did not perform according to the standards of the coaches, they simply didn’t get invited back. Under our current system, we now evaluate officials with input from coaches and our officiating peers that grade officials on five criteria. Our primary goal is to maintain consistency in the way games are called, and it takes absolute cooperation between coaches and officials for this to work.”

“If officials allow calls to be dictated by the game situation, the officials are only enabling illegal behavior.”
Consistency in officiating is a central theme among all the key stakeholders, but achieving it in high school hockey has been challenging due to the number of games and multiple officiating groups who call the games. The MSHSL website lists 8 different officials’ associations with an estimated 500 registered member officials donning the stripes. By comparison, the WCHA has about a dozen referees and the NHL has about 40.

Most agree that facilitating greater communication between officials and school administrators is essential. “We need to educate officials on what we want out of the game,” said Skip Peltier, a former league office administrator who previously held positions as a high school hockey head coach and athletic director. “The first step is to clearly indicate what we’re looking for in rules enforcement. The second step is to get coaches and officials to agree that these calls have to be made every time, regardless of the game situation. If officials allow calls to be dictated by the game situation, the officials are only enabling illegal behavior. Finally, the coaches must support officials who are simply implementing the plan.”

“We can still have a physical game and emphasize the skill of the players.”
For its part, the MSHSL is supportive of measures to make skill-based hockey the primary focus, but they believe finding a solution is more about adjusting to a changing sports culture than it is finding kids who can play and officials who can blow a whistle. “Kids are bigger, stronger and faster than they were 20 years ago, but the game and the culture of high school hockey has changed,” said Craig Perry, who assumed the role of associate director of the MSHSL after Peltier retired. A former goaltender and assistant coach at the collegiate level and a head coach at the high school level, Perry points to several factors that have contributed to the decline in sportsmanship and increase in gamesmanship. “The coaches and officials have agreed on the foundation of the future — to highlight the skills of the game,” said Perry. “We can still have a physical game and emphasize the skill of the players.”

So all the key stakeholders agree — their needs to be a quantum change in the way the game is played, coached and officiated. What remains to be determined is how this will be accomplished and who will be accountable. For the sake of the game, we hope the key stakeholders can implement and maintain a new culture for high school hockey — one that allows it to achieve the greatness it deserves.

If you have something to share with coaches, officials or the league, email
mhj@tpgsports.com