Minnesota boys high school ice hockey is made up of multiple leagues and programs representing different associations. The two organizations associated with high school are the Minnesota State High School League and Minnesota Hockey.
The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) is a voluntary, nonprofit association of public and private schools with a history of service to Minnesota's high school youth since 1916. The league consists of 141 varsity teams (64 AA and 77 A) competing for the state AA and A championships. The MSHSL is governed independently and is not an affiliate of USA Hockey.
Minnesota Hockey, an affiliate of USA Hockey, is the governing body of youth and amateur hockey in Minnesota. Minnesota Hockey is governed by a board of directors and consists of approximately 140 community based associations who are formed into 12 districts. Minnesota Hockey oversees the Junior Gold High School League consisting Junior Gold A, Gold B, and Gold 16 teams.
Minnesota Class AA and A High School Hockey programs are members of the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL). The league is made up of Varsity programs that are divided into two classes; AA and A. The classification is determined by enrollment, but schools have the option to both opt up or appeal, if they qualify, down in team sports every two years. Each class is further divided into eight sections.
High school hockey players throughout Minnesota participate in a maximum of 26 contests, excluding the section tournaments and the Minnesota State Boys' High School Hockey Tournament. Teams currently play three 17-minute periods to comprise a game. The lengthened periods were adopted by the Minnesota State High School League in 2003.
Boys' hockey concludes their season with a four-day tournament in March that features sixteen teams competing for championships in both classes. From 1945 through 1991 the tournament consisted of a single class, eight-team tournament instead of the present-day two-class (AA and A) tournament. Private schools were not allowed to play in the Tournament until the 1974âÂÂ75 season. In 1992âÂÂ93, the tournament was composed of Tier I and II teams. This two-year experiment sent the top teams from each of the eight sections to the Tier I portion of the tournament and the remaining teams conducted a playoff to determine who would be included in the Tier II tournament. In 1994, the dual-class system was adopted and teams were placed into a class structure based on school enrollments.
Since 1994, the MSHSL's process to determine section assignments for boys' hockey is based on school enrollments and activity classifications. The basic premise is to place the largest 64 schools into Class AA and the remaining high schools in Class A. Both Classes are then divided into 8 sections each. Teams are placed into their section assignments with geographic location as a primary consideration. High schools initially placed in Class A have the option to play at the Class AA level.
Beginning with the 2007 state tournament, the top four teams in each class are seeded. Coaches of the participating schools vote to determine the seeded teams the Saturday before the state tournament. The four teams are then bracketed so that if the seeded teams advance, the top seed plays the fourth seed while the second and third seeds play each other. The quarterfinal opponents of the seeded teams are determined by a blind draw.
Based on tournament attendance, hockey is the most popular high school sport in the state. Attendance has been strong throughout the years, with 38 tournaments eclipsing the 100,000+ barrier. In 2017 Prep45.com partnered with GrandStadium.TV to stream the state tournament to viewers in 37 countries and all 50 states. The Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament is currently the largest state sports tournament in terms of viewing and attendance, beating Florida's State High School Football Tournament and Indiana's State High School Basketball Tournament.
Shattuck-St. Mary's 18U AAA team plays in numerous high-level AAA teams from across North America in exhibition games and tournaments. They also compete the Upper Midwest High School Elite League, playing high-level independent AAA teams from Minnesota and neighboring states.
Shattuck-St. Mary's 18U Prep team competes in the Prep Hockey Conference as well as the Upper Midwest High School Elite Hockey League with tournament play throughout the United States and Canada.
NorthStar Christian Academy Knights 18U Prep team competes in high-level youth hockey, primarily in the North American Prospects Hockey League (NAPHL) at the 18U AAA level, often playing within the Tier I Conference for top competition, and also participates in elite showcases and tournaments like the Tier 1 Elite League events.
The Upper Midwest High School Elite League Hockey provides players with development and high-level exposure in the months leading up to the high school season. The league consists of seven Minnesota elite teams, including Minnesota Elite (TDS) 18U AAA, Minnesota Elite (Sanford) 18U AAA, Minnesota Elite (MapSouth) 18U AAA, Minnesota Elite (TCOrtho) 18U AAA, Minnesota Elite (SIT) 18U AAA, Minnesota Elite (Kowalskis) 18U AAA, Minnesota Elite (Magazine) 18U AAA, Shattuck-St. Mary's (MN) Prep, Team Wisconsin 18U AAA, and Team North Dakota 18U AAA. These teams participate in a highly competitive schedule, facing off against each other in showcase tournaments and regular-season games. The league provides an excellent platform for players to sharpen their skills, compete against top talent, and gain exposure to college and professional scouts.
The CCM High Performance Spring programs provide players the opportunity to advance to national tournaments/camps which are used by USA Hockey to identify the top performers in each age group for possible opportunities to represent the U.S.A. at advanced levels of national and international hockey competition.
The CCM High Performance Tier I and Prospects Leagues offer players with a fall development league, featuring an emphasis on local training and a minimum of 15 games against the top competition in Minnesota and across the country. Teams also have the opportunity to compete for a chance to represent Minnesota at USA Hockey's Tier I and Tier II National Championships.
Several Minnesota high schools field Junior Gold teams in addition to or as an alternative to high school Junior Varsity. There are currently 61 Junior Gold A and B teams throughout Minnesota. The league is governed by Minnesota Hockey and is affiliated with USA Hockey. Minnesota Junior Gold teams are eligible for the Chipotle-USA Hockey National Championships.
Many Junior Gold players have made their high school team after playing a season or two of Junior Gold, and some Junior Gold players have gone onto play after high school in junior leagues such as the NAHL.
According to MYHockey Rankings, Hill Murray High School is the number one ranked high school hockey team in the United States. The site ranked 2,169 high school teams for the 2024-25 season and 19 of the top 20 high school hockey teams are from Minnesota with 16 of the top 20 high school hockey teams being located in the MinneapolisâÂÂSaint Paul metropolitan area
MyHockey Rankings also ranked Shattuck-St. Mary's (MN) Prep team as the top Prep / Independent team in the United States. Northstar Christian Academy (MN) was ranked #5.
MaxPreps also publishes its own version of high school ice hockey rankings. However, these rankings are often criticized for being inaccurate and unreliable, leading many in the sports community to question the company's algorithm and overall credibility. Information for several hundred ice hockey teams has either been incomplete, inaccurate, or entirely missing. Numerous teams have had incorrect game results and schedules listed, which prevents the algorithm from accurately evaluating a team's strength of schedule and quality wins against highly ranked opponents. The reliance on coaches' participation further exacerbates this issue. When coaches from the nation's top programs fail to correct or report errors, the inaccuracies in the rankings grow. Moreover, the lack of transparency in MaxPreps' ranking formula has intensified concerns about the flaws in their system.
List of notable alumni: