The academy issue hovers over Chanhassen boys hockey push

Chanhassen’s Chase: Today’s story is the second in an occasional Star Tribune series that will follow the Chanhassen Storm as they try to reach their first boys hockey state tournament. Tap here for the first story in the series.

Chanhassen boys hockey coach Sean Bloomfield looks out from the bench on game days and marvels to himself how nine of those Storm players standing in reverence for the American flag were just boys not so long ago.

As the “Star-Spangled Banner” plays, Bloomfield keeps his thoughts to himself. In fact, he is likely weeks away from opening that emotional vein. Bloomfield’s primary focus is guiding a Storm team brimming with talent to its first state tournament appearance.

Though uncertain as to when and where this run ends, whether it’s another season-ending playoff loss to Minnetonka or a spot on the Xcel Energy Center’s frozen stage, the starting point was Breakaway Academy.

The private school, opened in 2013, serves 400 children in grades K-8 with locations in Chaska and Eden Prairie and incorporates athletic training into the daily curriculum. Chanhassen’s nine current varsity players are joined by a combined 38 Breakaway Academy alumni on rosters at Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Chaska, Eden Prairie, Holy Family, Minnetonka, Shakopee, Rogers and Wayzata.

Should they continue developing, these players could join the 18 NCAA Division I skaters who attended Breakaway Academy.

All that comes with a measure of controversy in a state where hockey folk are often concerned about anything that seems to favor other hockey folk, where some high school coaches show their concerns by refusing to schedule games against a program they see as advantaged.

Participating in Breakaway Academy doesn’t guarantee even high school hockey success.

”Some of our best players didn’t go to Breakaway Academy,” Bloomfield said. “We don’t necessarily promote it as a hockey school. It’s a school where athletic kids get to play hockey. It was more passionate hockey players in the beginning, and now we have more of the kids who like hockey but aren’t obsessed with it. The kids who really want to pursue hockey can do that. But we’ve grown cognizant of burnout.”

Chanhassen senior forward Caden Lee, who recently signed with Minnesota State Mankato, began attending Breakaway Academy in fifth grade as a means to an end of becoming a top hockey player. By the time he finished as an eighth-grader, he had broadened his perspective.

”I saw a big difference in my development as a person,” Lee said. “That is a life skill. I really didn’t see that as a goal of going into Breakaway Academy; I just saw it as a hockey school.”

Chanhassen’s roster, schedule and statistics

Hockey might not be the lone reason for players to choose Breakaway Academy, but it doesn’t hurt. For annual tuition of $17,500, kids receive a 15:1 student-teacher ratio, in-person instruction and athletic training. Specific to hockey, players can get 75 minutes every day on the ice and another 60 minutes of “performance,” which includes speed and strength training.

”The whole point was to create a fun environment and not sit in a chair for eight hours a day,” said Andy Brink, the school’s director of admissions and athletics.

Bloomfield, a former social studies teacher at Breakaway Academy and now principal at the K-3 primary school, said it’s not just the students who are benefiting.

“Everybody goes into teaching wanting to have an impact on kids,” he said. “You kind of learn it’s like going into politics — it’s not quite as easy as it looks to effect change. The small classes at Breakaway allow me to build relationships with the kids.”

Breakaway Academy is not affiliated with any youth association. Students are encouraged to use it as a supplement to their local youth association’s hockey program. Still, increased interest in the local Chaska Chanhassen Youth Hockey Association was among the reasons for a recent Minnesota Hockey rule modification.

Beginning next season, players throughout the state must decide before their first year of Squirts or 10U level whether to waiver into a Minnesota Hockey association within the boundaries of the school they are attending, if that school is outside the association where they live. The change came because concerns were voiced about players transferring in and displacing other longstanding members of the association.

”That rule makes zero difference to Breakaway Academy,” Brink said. “People don’t attend our school to play for Chaska Chanhassen.”

On Tuesday, Chanhassen welcomed Gentry Academy to town for a game. High school coaches have questioned whether Gentry Academy, a public charter school based in Vadnais Heights, is on equal footing with the rest of the state’s public and private schools when it comes to hockey training.

Some coaches have refused to schedule Gentry Academy, whose students are permitted to play hockey for about one hour per day at the nearby TCO Sports Garden as a physical education option. No formal hockey instruction is provided during the school day.

”I don’t really have a stance either way on them as a high school team,” Bloomfield said. “But it’s easy to say from this part of the metro. I’d probably have a little different perspective on them as a school if they were in our backyard.”