Hockey: Resch competes in high performance hockey festival

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Alexandria sophomore Matthew Resch recently participated in the Reebok High Performance Hockey Festival in Plymouth.

Sixteen-year-old players are nominated by coaches to participate in their high school advanced tryout. Approximately 400 players try out across eight sections. Those numbers are then dwindled down to 20 players on each team that were chosen to play in the eight-team tournament this past weekend.

Resch was the only player from a Class A school selected to play on the 6A/6AA team. His teammates consisted of players from high schools in places like Eden Prairie, Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Holy Family, Minnetonka, Hopkins and Wayzata.

Resch and his teammates went on to take second place at the Reebok High Performance tournament, losing in the championship game to Section 4A/4AA.

Resch is now awaiting word on whether or not he impressed enough to move on to the next phase of the program. Scouts and coaches will select a final 54 players to take part in a tryout tournament.

From those final 54, a total of 16-25 athletes will be chosen to play on the National 16 team. That team will play in New York this summer, with the players participating in National Select camps operated by USA hockey. The camps will be coached by some of the top college and junior level coaches from across the country.

Resch got his feet wet at the varsity level as a sophomore defenseman for the Cardinals this past winter. He finished with four assists and eight blocked shots for the Cardinals.

Tags: alexandria sports, sports, hockey, resch