Once again the Minnesota Showcase comes to an end, which means the end of high school hockey for awhile. While it was a great season in Wisconsin, the Showcase is one event I always like to cover for WiPH. A few things came to my mind during the Showcase coverage.

Does anyone NOT know Dave Witting???

Whenever being around people in the hockey community, it seems like there is always someone who knows him. The TW team's GM is well-known and respected by many and has never disappointed me with a story from the past. You could say the same for Mike Connor, who has been working with Witting for many years. He told me the story about getting Joe Pavelski to play Team Wisconsin. Good sell job, Mike. And for Joe, the rest is history.

Could we see changes at the Showcase?

Well, it's possible. With the Minnesota teams playing one game each day and the others playing two on Saturday, the Minny teams have an advantage over their opponent in a second game on Saturday. You could see the fatigue factor in TW's second game on Saturday night against Minnesota Seniors. Could we see the Showcase start earlier such as Thursday for all teams? Stay tuned...

Could we see a change in teams?

What I would not be surprised at is if Team Massachusetts pulled out. They've had a tough go of it at the Showcase and the travel does not help. So who would replace them if it happens? The Showcase does have options but I don't wanna speculate.

So the TW Girls got to play Minnesota Seniors in a rematch...

Yes, they did. TWG took a two-goal lead with goals by Lydia Cloud and Paige Johnson early but Minnesota Seniors tied it up and forced a sudden death shoot-out. Theresa Knutson  scored in the shoot-out but Minnesota got the win. The TW Girls team is alot of fun to watch and are very talented. I believe good things are coming for these girls...

How did Team Wisconsin's four juniors fare in the Showcase?

Talking to TW Coach Tim Ebner, he felt that the three forwards got better as the Showcase went on. "We put our three junior forwards on a line together on Sunday and they accounted for all our goals."

(Jake Bresser, Michael Wilson and Jake Miller were the three forwards.)

The other junior was goaltender Jake Kupsky. "Jake played well at times but we didn't help him at times on defense," said Ebner.

So do they allow juniors next year?

"The coaching staff will go over things and maybe tweak things a bit next year," said Ebner. "Thats one of the things we will discuss."

Also I wouldn't be surprised if the training camp part of the Showcase is looked at. More familiarity with teammate's styles of play and assignments on special teams were one part TW struggled with in the first game of the Showcase with Michigan.

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