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After spending much of the fall making unfunny snark comments about this year’s installment of the Elite League like “They’re still doing that?” and “Ballsy choice not changing the name” and not making the effort to get out of bed on the weekend to go watch, I decided I probably should at least make it for the end of the season playoffs since it’s one of the only opportunities to see most of these players against semi-decent competition. The event was certainly light on high-level talent. With Mario Lucia filling in at the NTDP, there were no ‘A’ rated NHL Draft prospects for this year, which is the first time in my memory that has happened in the Elite League, though a couple may earn that distinction in future years. I also only counted five players that already have college commitments, though again, certainly more will make them in the future. I was a little surprised at how few college coaches were there, especially on Sunday. St. Cloud’s Steve Johnson was there, though his son was actually playing. Ohio State’s Mark Osiecki was there too, though his kids, Team Wisconsin, were also playing. There were probably a few more that I missed or didn’t recognize, but still pretty sparse. I suppose if teams are going to make the trip out, they may as well wait until next weekend.

Still, the quality of hockey was pretty good, and there were some fun games to watch, which I suppose is a testament to Minnesota’s depth after the way high school hockey got ravaged over the off-season by junior hockey.

North ended up finishing with the league’s best record, while Great Plains won the playoff title. I maybe shouldn’t say this without any hard evidence to back it up, but at least in my memory, those are generally two of the weaker teams in the league, so it’s nice to see them have some success.

It’s a stereotype, but one often proven true, that the northern teams tend to move the puck and play as a team better, while the players from the Cities tend to play as individuals a little too much. That’s why the out-state team tends to have a little more success in the NIT where talent is essentially equal. The Twin Cities area teams tend to do a little better in the Elite League and definitely in the high school season where they’ve got such an advantage in depth that they can overcome some of that, but this year in the Elite League, when teams didn’t have as much depth, the northern teams were able to find some success.

I suppose one of the upsides to lots of players leaving for juniors is that it opens up a lot of opportunities for new players to step up, and there were definitely a lot of players that I got a better look at this weekend. Thoughts on some individual players after the jump.

EDIT: I should also add, here is the Minnesota Red and Minnesota White rosters for next weekend’s NIT. Some real head-scratching choices there.

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