GPA 2017: First Look
The Great Plains Alliance is one of the most important events of the year for players looking to earn scholarships as the Northern Sun descends upon St. Cloud in big numbers.
17U. The 40 event team is highlighted by some of the best teams in the Midwest. Minnesota top ten teams Minnesota Select Ohnstad, Powerhouse Minnesota, Comets Lewis, Grassroots Minnesota, WOTN Ewing, Minnesota Eagles, Comets Servaty, and others. Add in the Dakota Schoolers, Wisconsin Shooters, and ECI Prospects, and this will be an outstanding event that could be won by anyone.
Minnesota Select Ohnstad’s season resume has made them the best non-shoe sponsored team in Minnesota this year but Comets Lewis and Powerhouse Minnesota are good enough to challenge for that claim this weekend. Also, Grassroots Minnesota has played in three Under Armour events and one two day event they hosted. That’s it. This is there chance to show Minnesota how good they are.
This will be the perfect chance for players like Ethan Youso, Josiah Strong, JaVonni Bickham, Luke Martens, Nathan Rund, Michael Schaefer, Aaron Gill, Beijan Newbern, and others to build options.
There are several recruitable teams in Minnesota that may not be at the top but are worth a quality mention. Teams like Wear Out The Net, the Southwest Minnesota Stars, the Eagles, D1 Minnesota Rise, and others. Guys like Tyler Lewko, Dalton Kubista, Kyle Boerhave, Damani Hayes, Nathan Macho, and others will have schools looking on.
From the Dakotas some of the best 17U teams in the area will be in St. Cloud. The Dakota Schoolers now have had three of their players be offered D1 scholarships in the past year (Aaron Fiegen added two offers in June while AJ Plitzuweit recently added one plus Trevor Hanson was offered last year) and they are contenders to win this event.
North Dakota will have five different teams in St. Cloud led by the PHD second ranked ECI Prospects, the North Dakota Phenom who is coming off a 3-1 weekend in Ames, the North Dakota Cougars, ECI Select, Bismarck Sabers, and North Dakota Phenom Regional. Also from South Dakota will be a team from Brandon Valley High School and the South Dakota Attack.
The top ranked player in North Dakota is Josh Sipes and he will lead ECI along with Joe Pistorius. This weekend will potentially give coaches their first chance to see Jordan Polynice who has been playing down a level at 16u for Howard Pulley so few coaches have seen him. He was with the Phenom last weekend. Also on the Phenom is Trae Steckler, big Josh Kihle, and Camren Steckler (and maybe recently committed football prospect Bartholmew Ogbu).
The Cougars have Wyatt Hanson and Kaedyn Hanson who memorably beat ECI last year in this event. Wyatt has been fantastic in recent college camps in North Dakota. The Attack has some strong players from Iowa (Tyus Arends, Jaden Kleinhesselink and Will Pottebaum) as well as Connor Crane, Jaron Zwagerman, and Jackson Reiff from South Dakota.
16U. This level is a 36 team event headlined by Comets Stumpf, South Dakota Attack, Select Jaryan, WOTN Swedburg, Crossfire Bell, and others. This is another wide open tournament as we are all familiar with how wide open this level has been since tournament one. Just like the 17u event this event will also include several teams from the Dakota including the Schoolers, ECI, and North Dakota Phenom.
15U. Twenty-seven teams make up the 15u level of play and they are separated into nine pools. Who are the favorites? The Iowa Barnstormers and South Dakota Attack are clearly separated above the pack at 15u. The other favorites would be WOTN Davis and Fury Kline who are top ten teams in Minnesota.