MN Sports Shot

Jawa's Poll

What do the Twins need the most now?

	A sure fire eighth inning specialist
	A legit power threat at 3rd
	Punto out of the 2 hole
	Gomez to learn the art of bunting
	Cuddy back from injury
	Guys to quit sliding head-first
	A new hand specialist
	To switch back to soft bags
	Just to keep getting their young guys more playing time

Another year of Minnesota High School Hockey is coming to a close. The draw and appeal for thousands of Minnesotans is still quite evident. For me t enthisasm and reverence I once had for it has dampened these last few years. Save for the year Cretin Derham-Hall(my alma mater) won the AA championship, I have hardly watched at all. When I was younger I held the tournament up to such a high standard. At the time there was no professional hockey team in Minnesota. Being able to watch these seemingly giants of the game playing just a couple miles from my house amazed me.

Watching schools such as Grand Rapids, Rouseau, and Lake of the Woods play was so cool to me. They seem so far away to me. These schools seemed so remote and foreign to me. Rouseau was probably the most common of these schools in the tourney. They are in far northwestern of Minnesota. It is about as far away as they can get from me and still be here in Minnesota. Then you would see schools such as Minnetonka, Edina, and Anoka in the tourney. I have never been a fan of suburbs. Automatically it was in my nature to root against them. Why? These guys never did anything to me.

Now that I am older than all of the players I look back and see that the reason I loved it so much was that they seemed so good to me. Having watched hundreds of professional and college games since graduating from high school I see that the level of play is so much higher. The mystique and wonder that I held these high school guys is completely lost. It makes me somewhat sad to say that. It truly means the lost of youth and innocence for me has truly come to pass. To get back that feeling would be one of my wishes I would want granted. To watch the players of today the same way I watched Dave Spehar, Mark Parrish, and Ryan Kraft play in the high schooly tourney would be a return to that. Sadly those days have come and gone. The only true enjoyment I get now is watching the winner's excitement and joy. I am much more aware of that now then I used to be.

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