Moorhead Spuds coach talks about his team's start, changing landcape of high school hockey

Moorhead vs Andover_5675.jpg — Moorhead Head Coach Jon Ammerman talks with player before the start of the first overtime against Andover Thursday, March 10, 2022, in the State Boys Hockey Tournament at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

By Mick Hatten

December 01, 2022 02:12 PM

Jon Ammerman has been the boys head hockey coach for Moorhead High School since 2013. A former Spuds player, Ammerman has guided Moorhead to four straight Class AA state tournament appearances and five of the last six state tournaments.

Ammerman talks about this season's team, which is off to a 2-1 start after beating Bemidji 4-3 on Tuesday. The Spuds play at Andover and at Minnetonka this weekend and Ammerman discusses the team's challenging schedule to open the season.

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He also discusses the reality of three players, who would be seniors on this season's team, not returning to the program because they are staying with their junior hockey teams. Ammerman chimes in on the challenges that high school coaches are facing with the lure of juniors out there for players.

He chats about all this and a lot more with The Rink Live's Mick Hatten on this episode of The Rink Live podcast.

TIME STAMPS

1:00 What Moorhead has learned in first two games against Wayzata and Edina, strong start by goalie Kai Weigel, roster turnover from last season

4:10 Weigel starting to get some recruiting looks

5:30 Previewing this weekend's games at Andover and at Minnetonka, the growing process for many Spuds this season

9:00 The losses of seniors forward Harper Bentz (Fargo), defensemen Joe Schiller (Cedar Rapids) and Joe Gramer (Des Moines) to the USHL; the process of recruiting your own players

12:20 Defensemen Coby Krier, Jack Arnold, Colin Baumgartner, Garrett Lindberg, getting more opportunities with the loss of the two senior defensemen

14:00 The different paths of development for high school age players

15:45 Moorhead's bantam AA team won the state title last season, adding a number of players to the high school team

18:30 Last season's junior varsity had a strong season, how strong the schedule is for the JV

19:20 Some of the other top teams in Section 8AA

21:20 Ammerman's relationship with Andover coach Mark Manney, assistant coach Brett Barta

24:45 The transition of offseason hockey for high school players, teams — particularly June and July, the differences between hockey in Minnesota and other states

By Mick Hatten

Mick Hatten is a reporter and editor for Forum News Service and helps manage TheRinkLive.com, a website dedicated to hockey. He began working for Forum Communications in November 2018 and has covered St. Cloud State University hockey since 2010. A graduate of St. Cloud State, he has more than 30 years of experience as a journalist and has been a youth hockey coach since 2014. mhatten@forumcomm.com

Moorhead Spuds coach talks about his team's start, changing landcape of high school hockey

Jon Ammerman joins The Rink Live podcast to talk about this season's boys hockey team. He also talks about the state of hockey for high school age boys, his relationship with Andover's coaches and more.