Hoffmann

to play in

Chicago

Showcase

NEW ULM -- Last weekend, in the Great Eight high school hockey tournament, New Ulm High's Jamie Hoffmann scored two goals and added two assists to help his Section 2A-AA team finish second.

Now, Hoffmann and his hockey skills will be heading east. Hoffmann is one of 20 Minnesota high school hockey players selected to play in the elite Chicago Showcase High School Hockey Spectacular from April 17-22.

Hoffmann is the first Eagle to be selected to participate in this prestigious tournament.

"I am pretty excited," said Hoffmann, who got the word on his being chosen in a phone call Thursday night. "I haven't gotten any information about it yet -- that will be coming in the mail sometime this week.

"I know that there are not just teams from the United States playing in it. There are also teams from Canada and Europe. This will give (me) some national exposure."

Hoffmann, as has been written before, had his season cut short because of mononucleosis just before playoffs. But now, with his appearance in the Great Eight and now the Chicago Showcase, he is getting to do something that he really cares about. "It is nice to get some more hockey time in. I really didn't want to let go of hockey. So it is nice to keep going," he said.

Hoffmann said he will be getting in better shape for the upcoming Chicago tournament. "I was not in the best shape for the Great Eight, but I will be in a lot better shape for this one. I think that we play between seven or eight games," he said.

"This is just great for Jamie -- this is really rewarding for him because he did not get to play in the playoffs," said New Ulm High coach Tom Macho. "To see that his season is not coming to an end, it is a real nice thing for our program to see someone make it that far. It is nice to see that with all of Jamie's hard work that he is getting a little extra reward."

Macho said the Chicago Showcase "is really set up nice.The people from Minnesota -- the college scouts and everything, have seen him already. Now, he gets to go there and there will be a lot of hockey people from the east -- the eastern junior leagues and universities and so on -- looking for players out of Minnesota. These are players who have not committed yet. If Jamie thinks that he was bombarded last week with lots of scouts, it will probably be double that in Chicago."

CAN PLAY AT DIVISION I LEVEL: But can Hoffmann become only the second player from New Ulm High (Aaron Allen was the first at Harvard, Scott Macho played at St. Olaf) to play Division I hockey?

Macho was pretty positive about that. "From what I am hearing right now, there seems to be some people -- and he is a young player for his age (17) -- to play one year of junior hockey and then go on to a college," Macho said. "The D-I schools here in Minnesota have already contacted him about doing that.

"But I definitely feel that there will be one or two D-I colleges that will take a chance on him. He has that special something that, when you talk to the scouts, they are drooling. He is 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds. He is extremely strong and he can fly on the ice."

Macho said this is a special honor for all of New Ulm hockey.

"It tells people around here that New Ulm can produce a top-line college hockey player," Macho said. "It shows that New Ulm's program can produce. There are a lot of opportunities that have and will open up for Jamie now, and later on for other New Ulm hockey players who work as hard as Jamie does.

"He did work hard and good things do happen to kids who do."

ESSIG BASEBALL MEETING: Players who are interested in playing baseball or softball in Essig this year should sign up from 1-3 p.m. Saturday at Carl's Corner. If you cannot register on April 6 but want to play, you can call Scott Hogen at (507) 354-4198 or Gary Kuelbs at (507) 359-7552.