Where is the best high school hockey in the United States?

This has been a very talked about topic of conversation in recent weeks, as the top teams across New England have recently played some of the top teams from outside the East Coast (ie. Holy Angels from MN took a road trip to New England, and Delbarton defeated Fairfield Prep 10-2). What I'd like to know is what state everyone on our site believes has the best hockey in the United States?

I personally have to believe that the nod goes to Minnesota. As I described in my recent article on the site, high school hockey in Minnesota is tantamount to Friday night lights in Texas. I think that the New England states are certainly on their way though towards building a similar culture of a fanatical hockey community. Any ideas on what hockey in New England needs to do to enhance its rank?

I agree that MN has the top hockey as a whole, but I remember there was a time when that wasn't the case. Prep and junior hockey has taken such a large bite out of New England hockey. What I'd be very interested to know is how MN resisted this from happening to them? It's not like their neighbors just north of the border aren't inundated with junior programs that their kids can go to.

forget about asking minnesotans, hockey is growing befoer our eyes in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, etc...! And it's all catching up to us in new england. seriosuly something needs to be done

I think a lot of it has to do with what activities are available to kids. Growing up in Minnesota, hockey is ingrained into you. It is the number one sport for kids to play. In so many other parts of the country, basketball and football are becoming more popular for youth athletes. Much of this has to do with costs, and a lot also has to do with the fact the basketball and football are on tv and seen as more cool. Today, we're seeing a lot of talented junior and college players coming from non-traditional hockey markets like California, Texas and Arizona. These are kids that were influenced by the NHL teams that moved to these markets 10-20 years ago. In my opinion, a big reason why hs talent in New England has been declining (no Mass natives on the US Olympic roster for example) is that the Bruins have not been as popular in recent years, with the Patriots, Celtics and Red Sox winning championships and capturing most of the Boston area sports attention.

Minn. has the best for quality of play, and fan involvement because of the sheer numbers of teams. New Jersey is catching up fast. Rink Guy wants to know why kids from Minn. or NJ aren't jumping to prep or jrs, I can say it's because the rules for HS hockey are more flexable in most other states vs. here in NE. They let the kids start the season earlier, and they play 30 to 35 regular season games a year, plus playoffs, and they play top comp. and prep teams too (18 minute periods when they play prep teams). They are not forced to play div.2 or 3 teams because of league commitments. The old HS rules in NE limit teams to 20 regular season games plus playoffs, and because of old league commitments many teams must play sub-par teams. This is why kids jump to other teams here.