Last week, I joked that if ESPN was going to cover Hockey East games, they may as well start covering Minnesota bantams as well. It turns out that I may have been on to something. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune took an interesting look back at the 2002 Wayzata Bantam "A" team that qualified for the national bantam tournament(Nowadays, Shattuck-St. Mary's automatically gets Minnesota's bid to nationals). The roster of that Wayzata team was fairly impressive. Among some of the names:
Current Gophers Blake Wheeler and Tony Lucia were on the team. Both went on to be NHL draft picks as well. Wheeler went 5th overall in 2004 and Lucia was drafted 193rd overall in 2005.
Two defenseman from that team are currently playing in the USHL and have committed to college for next season. Kevin Wehrs has committed to Minnesota, while Kurt Davis has committed to Minnesota State.
Forward Joey Miller is currently in his first year in the USHL, and will likely be playing college hockey next year, or the year after.
Dominique Barber is playing Division 1-AA football at the University of Minnesota, while former teammate Jimmy Sharp plays for their biggest rival, North Dakota State. James Laurinaitis is currently playing professional football.
They ended up not doing so well at the national tournament, which is understandable considering they were playing AAA teams that draw kids from a much larger area. But it is still amazing to look back at that team. It's an incredible collection of talent considering all those kids came from just one suburb.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Nice dig at Minnesota football, dick.
If Laurinitis playing professional football is a joke, I don't get it. But he's pretty doggone good at Ohio St.
Try to not be such a moron anon 1...
But...I played against that team in the Regional championship to go to the state tourney. We were leading heading in to the third and then it appeared as if they started to try. They were so good it was unreal.
Minnesota Div-1AA football ..... love it and will use it against some friends.
Thanks
RE: Lauranaitis
Isn't that what it is called when you get paid to play football?
Thanks Chris,
Pretty cool to see how far Wayzata Hockey has come over the years. It all got started with a group of dads getting together and forming the District 284 Youth Hockey Association.
Those in the Know will remember the the fund drives and CIRB buttons that went a long way toward building our first hockey arena at the old Wayzata High School.
The success of the youth hockey association in Wayzata can directly be traced back to those days in 1967-68. The story truly epitomizes what Minnesota youth hockey is all about.
**Bonus points to anyone that can identify what CIRB stands for.
Gopher football just added Cretin-Derham Hall to it's schedule...
Anon 6:48PM I thought Glen Mason was fired at UMTC. Or did Mason get Cretin DH on this years schedule a few years back.
Cretin is "friend of the program."
C.I.R.B stands for coverd ice rink booster.I still have some buttons.
Mark Dorsey
Post a Comment