Breaking News!
Mark this day down on your calendars. My friend Sara, the Girl Who Knits, is no longer unemployed. She became a member of the real world at 9:30 this morning. My only question is whether or not she will be awake for the ten spot tonight when the Real World/Road Rules Battle of the Sexes reconvenes.
Orioles and Hawks Look to Migrate
By Matt Thomas (From 02/11 edition of The Lakeshore Weekly News)
In a move that has seemed almost inevitable for the past several years, St. Louis Park and Robbinsdale Cooper High Schools have let it be known that they are exploring options to leave the Classic Lake Conference after the 2003-2004 school year.
“I think their intentions right now are pretty clear,” Hopkins Athletic Director Dan Johnson said. “They are going to look for membership in a different conference or try to gain independent status for fall 2004.”
Johnson said that he and the other Classic Lake athletic directors have met as a group of seven and as a group of what would be the remaining five to explore what options are available.
“Obviously we want to choose the best option for the long term future,” Johnson said. “We have talked about exploring options to keep St. Louis Park and Cooper in the conference, but everything right now is in an exploratory stage.”
Johnson said that he believes the two schools will be looking for a conference that includes schools with similar demographics and enrollments.
“We would sure like to see them stay because of the proximity of the schools and the relationships that we have built over the years with some great people,” Johnson said. “But obviously they need to do what is best for them, their kids and their programs.”
If you examine the situation more closely, one finds several reasons that warrant some sort of change.
St. Louis Park has a 10th-12th grade enrollment of only 992 students. That is not even half of Wayzata’s enrollment (2,187) and almost 1,000 students shy of the enrollment at Hopkins (1,978).
In fact, the school with the closest enrollment to St. Louis Park is Edina, which still has 595 more students with an enrollment of 1,587.
Cooper has the third lowest enrollment in the conference at 1,644, but like St. Louis Park is hindered in athletic competition by several other factors.
School district demographics play a major role in the situation. A higher average income per household means more money for things like equipment and personal lessons for student athletes.
Also playing a role in Cooper’s situation is the fact that talented athletes in the Robbinsdale district have the possibility of open enrolling at Armstrong High School where the athletic teams are consistently more competitive.
These factors and others contribute to the fact that St. Louis Park and Cooper athletic teams are having a hard time achieving success in the win column.
If you take a glance at the Classic Lake Conference standings you can see where the frustration at the respective schools is rooted.
St. Louis Park won one football game this fall against none other than Cooper.
This winter, St. Louis Park has a total of three conference victories in girls and boys basketball, while Cooper has just one.
The Cooper boys hockey team is currently 0-9 in conference play while the girls team finished a dismal 1-11.
The St. Louis Park hockey programs have seen a good amount of success this season and represent the flip side of the argument that has prevailed in St. Louis Park for years.
Many people within the St. Louis Park athletic program, including coaches, seemed to voice the argument that they felt their teams were better prepared for the Class A section playoffs after playing a rigorous Classic Lake Conference schedule.
The St. Louis Park boys hockey team is currently 5-4 in conference play and ranked seventh in Class A. One could argue that their strength of schedule will aid them come section playoff time.
“We have enjoyed having them as conference members and I think if they do decide to leave that won’t necessarily be the end of the relationship between the schools,” Johnson said. “I would hope that we could continue to play them in non-conference activities.”
What Makes Sense
While a number of options are out there for all seven schools involved in this possible realignment, there seems to be a couple of convenient options available.
St. Louis Park and Cooper would be wise to try to gain membership in the Metro Alliance Conference. Current members of this conference include Benilde St. Margaret’s, Brooklyn Center, Columbia Heights, Fridley, Mound Westonka, Orono and St. Anthony.
With seven teams, the Metro Alliance certainly isn’t too crowded to accept another two members. The schools in this conference are also fairly close in proximity to St. Louis Park and Cooper, thereby limiting travel time and expenses.
Enrollments at the Metro Alliance schools are also much more similar to those at St. Louis Park and Cooper.
This switch would also heighten the inter-city rivalry between St. Louis Park and Benilde St. Margaret’s. The Orioles and Red Knights already schedule each other fairly consistently for non-conference events.
The five remaining teams in the conference probably have a more difficult decision to make.
One possibility that I would like to see would be for the Classic Lake and Lake Conference to join and split into two divisions.
Eden Prairie and Chaska from the Lake Conference could join the five Classic Lake schools to form the Lake West. The remaining eight schools in the Lake Conference could then form the Lake East.
While change seems imminent, Johnson says that nothing is set in stone right now.
“I wouldn’t say we have a definite direction that were leaning toward right now,” Johnson said. “We don’t really have a drop dead date when things will be sorted out as of yet.”
Depleted Royals Top Armstrong
By Matt Thomas (From 02/11 edition of The Lakeshore Weekly News)
With two starters sidelined with injuries, the Hopkins girls basketball team overcame a slow start to top Armstrong 55-40 in Classic Lake Conference play last week.
The victory pushes the Royals conference record to 8-0 and gives them a three game cushion in the conference standings with four games to play.
The Royals were without leading scorer Leslie Knight and starting guard Renee Parker. Knight has turf toe, while Parker suffered a sprained ankle in practice.
“We’ve stated all year long that we’re not a one or two person team,” head coach Brian Cosgriff said. “We just felt we could still come out and take care of business.”
The Falcons weren’t making things easy in the first half as they took advantage of Knight’s absence. Eight of the Falcons ten first quarter points were scored in the paint as they looked to utilize their size advantage.
With the Royals leading 18-13 midway through the second quarter, the Falcons went on a 7-0 run to take their first lead of the game.
The Falcons did their damage by getting to the free throw line 11 times in the second quarter.
The Royals put an end to the run just before halftime and took a 22-20 lead into the break on a bucket by sophomore Michelle Harris.
“I felt that we sent them to the line too many times (in the first half),” Cosgriff said. “I thought that was keeping them in the ball game and that we had to stop fouling.”
The Royals finally got their swarming defense to create some turnovers in the third quarter. Sloppy passing by the Falcons helped the Royals start the second half on an 11-2 run.
Senior Jordan Barnes and freshman Abby Greene keyed the run by combining for all 11 points.
The Royals put the game out of reach early in the fourth quarter as a three pointer by Greene was followed by four straight points from sophomore Kaitlyn Lillemoe.
With Knight out of the line-up the Royals needed a big performance from Barnes and she delivered.
The five foot, nine inch senior guard, who is headed for Division I Winthrop (SC) next year, scored a game high 19 points on 7-16 from the field.
Also instrumental in the victory was Greene, the team’s freshman point guard. She finished with 16 points including 4-7 from three point range.
“Abby is just a special kid. She’s got a great demeanor for the game and a great head,” Cosgriff said. “She’s really stepped up and exceeded any expectations I had for this year and I couldn’t be more pleased with her play.”
Armstrong senior Lisa McAtee led a balanced Falcons attack with seven points.
The Royals shot 42 percent (20-47) from the field, compared to 30 percent (12-40) for the Falcons.
Until the fourth quarter the Falcons held a huge advantage at the free throw line. The Falcons finished the game 15-21 (71%) from the line, while the Royals went 11-19 (61%).
The Royals appear to be a shoe-in to win the conference title and earn the number one seed in section 5AAAA.
The focus now becomes getting Knight and Parker healthy enough to play during the stretch run.
“Leslie (Knight) has turf toe and it just sort of happened, it wasn’t anything major,” Cosgriff said. “It’s kind of a bummer, but better now than three weeks from now. So hopefully we can get her back and healthy in time for sections.”
Cosgriff said that Parker has a twisted ankle, but could be back in the line-up as early as this week.
The Royals have conference games with Cooper, St. Louis Park, Wayzata and Minnetonka before the section five playoffs begin.
The Falcons, meanwhile, appear to be in a battle with Wayzata to see which team will earn the number two seed and a first round bye in section five. Other teams in the section include Minnetonka, Park Center and Cooper.
The Falcons have a good chance to pick up victories at St. Louis Park on Tuesday, Feb. 11 and at home on Feb. 14 against Cooper.
Several Girls Hockey Teams Advance
By Matt Thomas (From 02/11 edition of The Lakeshore Weekly News)
Two hundred and ten girls hockey teams all began last week with the same goal in mind: to advance through their respective section tournaments into the State Tournament which begins on February 20.
Over half of the teams have since been eliminated as the semifinals and finals are scheduled for this week.
Schwarze lifts Wayzata
The Wayzata Trojans took a 4-1 lead early in the third period and hung on for a 4-3 quarterfinal victory over Bloomington Jefferson in section 6AA.
Brit Schwarze scored just six seconds into the third period and then again 24 seconds later. Whit Graft added a goal and two assists for the Trojans.
Trojans goaltender Jill Arendt made 29 saves in the victory including 23 in the first two periods.
The third seeded Trojans are now set to face the second seeded Eden Prairie Eagles on Wednesday, Feb. 12. The puck will drop at 7:30p.m. at Parade Ice Garden in Minneapolis.
Royals Advance
Hopkins junior goaltender Molly Anderson made 24 saves in the Royals 2-0 shutout over Edina in the section 6AA quarterfinals.
Sophomore Micaela Bourgeois scored at the 5:13 mark of the second period on an assist from senior Tami Trenter.
Freshman Kathryn Farni gave the Royals some insurance with a goal at the 8:31 mark of the third period.
The Royals have a large task in front of them as they will now face the number one seeded Chaska Hawks in the semifinals.
The Royals and Hawks will play Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 5:30 p.m. at Parade Ice Garden.
Moos and Johnson propel Blake
Blake seniors Kathryn Moos and Kelsey Johnson were both named as two of then finalists for the Ms. Hockey award.
The talented tandem showed why they might be deserving of such an award by combining for three goals and four assists in the Bears 5-1 quarterfinal victory over Totino Grace.
The Bears erased a 1-0 Eagles lead in the second period and allowed only eight shots on goal the entire game.
The top seeded Bears will now face the fifth seeded Richfield Spartans on Thursday, Feb. 13. The puck will drop at 7:30 p.m. at Parade Ice Garden.
Falcons and Skippers fall
The Armstrong Falcons saw their season come to an end with a 5-2 loss to Champlin Park in the quarterfinals of section 4AA.
The loss also meant an end to the careers of seniors Kelly Crandall and Courtney Horsch, two of the states top scorers. Crandall is one of ten finalists named for Ms. Hockey.
The Minnetonka Skippers were eliminated from section play by the Eden Prairie Eagles 6-0 in the quarterfinals of section 6AA.
Mark this day down on your calendars. My friend Sara, the Girl Who Knits, is no longer unemployed. She became a member of the real world at 9:30 this morning. My only question is whether or not she will be awake for the ten spot tonight when the Real World/Road Rules Battle of the Sexes reconvenes.
Orioles and Hawks Look to Migrate
By Matt Thomas (From 02/11 edition of The Lakeshore Weekly News)
In a move that has seemed almost inevitable for the past several years, St. Louis Park and Robbinsdale Cooper High Schools have let it be known that they are exploring options to leave the Classic Lake Conference after the 2003-2004 school year.
“I think their intentions right now are pretty clear,” Hopkins Athletic Director Dan Johnson said. “They are going to look for membership in a different conference or try to gain independent status for fall 2004.”
Johnson said that he and the other Classic Lake athletic directors have met as a group of seven and as a group of what would be the remaining five to explore what options are available.
“Obviously we want to choose the best option for the long term future,” Johnson said. “We have talked about exploring options to keep St. Louis Park and Cooper in the conference, but everything right now is in an exploratory stage.”
Johnson said that he believes the two schools will be looking for a conference that includes schools with similar demographics and enrollments.
“We would sure like to see them stay because of the proximity of the schools and the relationships that we have built over the years with some great people,” Johnson said. “But obviously they need to do what is best for them, their kids and their programs.”
If you examine the situation more closely, one finds several reasons that warrant some sort of change.
St. Louis Park has a 10th-12th grade enrollment of only 992 students. That is not even half of Wayzata’s enrollment (2,187) and almost 1,000 students shy of the enrollment at Hopkins (1,978).
In fact, the school with the closest enrollment to St. Louis Park is Edina, which still has 595 more students with an enrollment of 1,587.
Cooper has the third lowest enrollment in the conference at 1,644, but like St. Louis Park is hindered in athletic competition by several other factors.
School district demographics play a major role in the situation. A higher average income per household means more money for things like equipment and personal lessons for student athletes.
Also playing a role in Cooper’s situation is the fact that talented athletes in the Robbinsdale district have the possibility of open enrolling at Armstrong High School where the athletic teams are consistently more competitive.
These factors and others contribute to the fact that St. Louis Park and Cooper athletic teams are having a hard time achieving success in the win column.
If you take a glance at the Classic Lake Conference standings you can see where the frustration at the respective schools is rooted.
St. Louis Park won one football game this fall against none other than Cooper.
This winter, St. Louis Park has a total of three conference victories in girls and boys basketball, while Cooper has just one.
The Cooper boys hockey team is currently 0-9 in conference play while the girls team finished a dismal 1-11.
The St. Louis Park hockey programs have seen a good amount of success this season and represent the flip side of the argument that has prevailed in St. Louis Park for years.
Many people within the St. Louis Park athletic program, including coaches, seemed to voice the argument that they felt their teams were better prepared for the Class A section playoffs after playing a rigorous Classic Lake Conference schedule.
The St. Louis Park boys hockey team is currently 5-4 in conference play and ranked seventh in Class A. One could argue that their strength of schedule will aid them come section playoff time.
“We have enjoyed having them as conference members and I think if they do decide to leave that won’t necessarily be the end of the relationship between the schools,” Johnson said. “I would hope that we could continue to play them in non-conference activities.”
What Makes Sense
While a number of options are out there for all seven schools involved in this possible realignment, there seems to be a couple of convenient options available.
St. Louis Park and Cooper would be wise to try to gain membership in the Metro Alliance Conference. Current members of this conference include Benilde St. Margaret’s, Brooklyn Center, Columbia Heights, Fridley, Mound Westonka, Orono and St. Anthony.
With seven teams, the Metro Alliance certainly isn’t too crowded to accept another two members. The schools in this conference are also fairly close in proximity to St. Louis Park and Cooper, thereby limiting travel time and expenses.
Enrollments at the Metro Alliance schools are also much more similar to those at St. Louis Park and Cooper.
This switch would also heighten the inter-city rivalry between St. Louis Park and Benilde St. Margaret’s. The Orioles and Red Knights already schedule each other fairly consistently for non-conference events.
The five remaining teams in the conference probably have a more difficult decision to make.
One possibility that I would like to see would be for the Classic Lake and Lake Conference to join and split into two divisions.
Eden Prairie and Chaska from the Lake Conference could join the five Classic Lake schools to form the Lake West. The remaining eight schools in the Lake Conference could then form the Lake East.
While change seems imminent, Johnson says that nothing is set in stone right now.
“I wouldn’t say we have a definite direction that were leaning toward right now,” Johnson said. “We don’t really have a drop dead date when things will be sorted out as of yet.”
Depleted Royals Top Armstrong
By Matt Thomas (From 02/11 edition of The Lakeshore Weekly News)
With two starters sidelined with injuries, the Hopkins girls basketball team overcame a slow start to top Armstrong 55-40 in Classic Lake Conference play last week.
The victory pushes the Royals conference record to 8-0 and gives them a three game cushion in the conference standings with four games to play.
The Royals were without leading scorer Leslie Knight and starting guard Renee Parker. Knight has turf toe, while Parker suffered a sprained ankle in practice.
“We’ve stated all year long that we’re not a one or two person team,” head coach Brian Cosgriff said. “We just felt we could still come out and take care of business.”
The Falcons weren’t making things easy in the first half as they took advantage of Knight’s absence. Eight of the Falcons ten first quarter points were scored in the paint as they looked to utilize their size advantage.
With the Royals leading 18-13 midway through the second quarter, the Falcons went on a 7-0 run to take their first lead of the game.
The Falcons did their damage by getting to the free throw line 11 times in the second quarter.
The Royals put an end to the run just before halftime and took a 22-20 lead into the break on a bucket by sophomore Michelle Harris.
“I felt that we sent them to the line too many times (in the first half),” Cosgriff said. “I thought that was keeping them in the ball game and that we had to stop fouling.”
The Royals finally got their swarming defense to create some turnovers in the third quarter. Sloppy passing by the Falcons helped the Royals start the second half on an 11-2 run.
Senior Jordan Barnes and freshman Abby Greene keyed the run by combining for all 11 points.
The Royals put the game out of reach early in the fourth quarter as a three pointer by Greene was followed by four straight points from sophomore Kaitlyn Lillemoe.
With Knight out of the line-up the Royals needed a big performance from Barnes and she delivered.
The five foot, nine inch senior guard, who is headed for Division I Winthrop (SC) next year, scored a game high 19 points on 7-16 from the field.
Also instrumental in the victory was Greene, the team’s freshman point guard. She finished with 16 points including 4-7 from three point range.
“Abby is just a special kid. She’s got a great demeanor for the game and a great head,” Cosgriff said. “She’s really stepped up and exceeded any expectations I had for this year and I couldn’t be more pleased with her play.”
Armstrong senior Lisa McAtee led a balanced Falcons attack with seven points.
The Royals shot 42 percent (20-47) from the field, compared to 30 percent (12-40) for the Falcons.
Until the fourth quarter the Falcons held a huge advantage at the free throw line. The Falcons finished the game 15-21 (71%) from the line, while the Royals went 11-19 (61%).
The Royals appear to be a shoe-in to win the conference title and earn the number one seed in section 5AAAA.
The focus now becomes getting Knight and Parker healthy enough to play during the stretch run.
“Leslie (Knight) has turf toe and it just sort of happened, it wasn’t anything major,” Cosgriff said. “It’s kind of a bummer, but better now than three weeks from now. So hopefully we can get her back and healthy in time for sections.”
Cosgriff said that Parker has a twisted ankle, but could be back in the line-up as early as this week.
The Royals have conference games with Cooper, St. Louis Park, Wayzata and Minnetonka before the section five playoffs begin.
The Falcons, meanwhile, appear to be in a battle with Wayzata to see which team will earn the number two seed and a first round bye in section five. Other teams in the section include Minnetonka, Park Center and Cooper.
The Falcons have a good chance to pick up victories at St. Louis Park on Tuesday, Feb. 11 and at home on Feb. 14 against Cooper.
Several Girls Hockey Teams Advance
By Matt Thomas (From 02/11 edition of The Lakeshore Weekly News)
Two hundred and ten girls hockey teams all began last week with the same goal in mind: to advance through their respective section tournaments into the State Tournament which begins on February 20.
Over half of the teams have since been eliminated as the semifinals and finals are scheduled for this week.
Schwarze lifts Wayzata
The Wayzata Trojans took a 4-1 lead early in the third period and hung on for a 4-3 quarterfinal victory over Bloomington Jefferson in section 6AA.
Brit Schwarze scored just six seconds into the third period and then again 24 seconds later. Whit Graft added a goal and two assists for the Trojans.
Trojans goaltender Jill Arendt made 29 saves in the victory including 23 in the first two periods.
The third seeded Trojans are now set to face the second seeded Eden Prairie Eagles on Wednesday, Feb. 12. The puck will drop at 7:30p.m. at Parade Ice Garden in Minneapolis.
Royals Advance
Hopkins junior goaltender Molly Anderson made 24 saves in the Royals 2-0 shutout over Edina in the section 6AA quarterfinals.
Sophomore Micaela Bourgeois scored at the 5:13 mark of the second period on an assist from senior Tami Trenter.
Freshman Kathryn Farni gave the Royals some insurance with a goal at the 8:31 mark of the third period.
The Royals have a large task in front of them as they will now face the number one seeded Chaska Hawks in the semifinals.
The Royals and Hawks will play Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 5:30 p.m. at Parade Ice Garden.
Moos and Johnson propel Blake
Blake seniors Kathryn Moos and Kelsey Johnson were both named as two of then finalists for the Ms. Hockey award.
The talented tandem showed why they might be deserving of such an award by combining for three goals and four assists in the Bears 5-1 quarterfinal victory over Totino Grace.
The Bears erased a 1-0 Eagles lead in the second period and allowed only eight shots on goal the entire game.
The top seeded Bears will now face the fifth seeded Richfield Spartans on Thursday, Feb. 13. The puck will drop at 7:30 p.m. at Parade Ice Garden.
Falcons and Skippers fall
The Armstrong Falcons saw their season come to an end with a 5-2 loss to Champlin Park in the quarterfinals of section 4AA.
The loss also meant an end to the careers of seniors Kelly Crandall and Courtney Horsch, two of the states top scorers. Crandall is one of ten finalists named for Ms. Hockey.
The Minnetonka Skippers were eliminated from section play by the Eden Prairie Eagles 6-0 in the quarterfinals of section 6AA.
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