Draining the Lake Conference

I am a graduate of Eden Prairie High School, dating back a few years before that palace (or fortress, if you prefer) on Valley View Road opened for business.

I love what the football program has become under coach Mike Grant, who's the son of Vikings legend Bud.  They've won several Minnesota State High School League titles under him, and are currently the top-ranked team in the state once again.

Other sports have prospered since Grant also became the school's athletic director.  Among them, the boys' and girls' hockey teams have won state titles in this decade.

Now Eden Prairie's success has come back to bite them.  The Lake Conference, where the Eagles have dominated for so long, is in for a massive reshuffling beginning with the 2010-11 school year.

Eight schools (Apple Valley, Bloomington Jefferson and Kennedy, Burnsville, Eagan, Eastview, Rosemount and Lakeville North and South) are leaving the Lake to form their own conference.  Chaska and Chanhassen (which just opened this year) are moving to the Missota Conference.

This leaves Eden Prairie to be lumped in with the remains of what was once the Classic Lake Conference:  Wayzata, Edina, Hopkins and Minnetonka.  More members may be determined by the high school league.

The Classic Lake used to be one of the most dominant conferences in Minnesota.  But then schools such as St. Louis Park and Richfield dropped out because of declining enrollment and having limited resources needed to compete against the larger schools.

Eden Prairie's problem is that, in the eyes of their conference rivals, the Eagles have become too big and powerful to compete with.  (Either that, or they're just plain jealous.) They've  benefitted from Minnesota's open enrollment laws, and from state-of-the-art facilities that include a practice bubble and city-owned hockey arenas and baseball fields that are within walking distance of the school.

Their new rivals, besides having the benefit of not traveling so far, have a few powerhouse programs of their own--Wayzata is the defending state 5A football champion, Hopkins' boys basketball team won the state 4A title last year, and Edina's boys hockey teams has a winning tradition, to put it mildly.  Other than that, it's anyone's guess as to who wants to take them on.

This is the price you pay for having an athletic program that is the envy of the entire state.  But the day will come when that no longer is true.  Just ask Edina.