notable high school takes

Discussion of Minnesota Girls Youth Hockey

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zooomx
Posts: 463
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:34 pm

Post by zooomx » Sat Dec 05, 2015 1:27 am

Nevertoomuchhockey wrote:
massalsa wrote:
jg2112 wrote:
Nevertoomuchhockey wrote:
jg2112 wrote:My initial find online has been confirmed: Madelyn Skelton is listed on the MSHSL as a varsity 8th grader for Cambridge.

As for Roseville, its girls program just doesn't have the numbers anymore. Only 20 U12s, only one U10 team, no U8 team. In the middle school ages there is a girl who will get called up to varsity next year as an 8th grader (the PeeWee captain the past two years), but after that there is not much talent comparable to the solid to good to great players that have been in the program the past 20 years.
Didn't she play varsity last year?
Which teams have both jv and varsity north of here?


Skelton? She played U12A for Andover.
I know that she played at MN Made (Super League 1&2) for at least 2 years prior to last year (not 100% if played there last year or not).

She is a nice kid and a great player. IMO would make 75% or more of the Varsity teams in the state.
Ok a month in, still think that?

This isn't about her specifically, but a general question - approx 7-9 games in, are the 7,8,9th grade association eligible players making a difference? In the right place? Would decisions to stay at 15s or play high school have impacted the individual performance and development of these players and teams? I know it's impossible to generalize, but that's exactly what MN Hockey will attempt to do in analyzing the 15u health and viability going forward.
This U15 pilot decision is a mess. It was specifically targeted for a few large metro associations to have a place for 15 years old high school cuts to land and still play hockey. They should have just started a small U16 metro league for these players rather than make a state wide change in classification which caused some programs to lose their JV team.

The bigger problem, is that we have leadership at the state and district levels that couldn't give a dang about girls hockey and really don't think these things through. I am deeply concerned about the future of girls hockey for the following reasons:

1) Too many districts and associations are primarily focused on boys hockey and only "react" to the girls issues.
2) Not enough associations are growing girls hockey through active recruitment techniques like Girls beginner clinics
3) Short term fixes like co-ops with other girls programs (youth and high school) are pursued rather than long term fixes like growing the girls game.
4) Parents choose to put their girls in boys programs due to the inequities above, which further undermines the stability and quality of the girls program they are running away from.

There is a failure to understand that letting your girls program slowly die, does negatively impact your boys program. I know countless hockey families who's oldest athlete is a girls hockey player. Little brother watches big sister and decides, "I want to play hockey too!"

Until decisions for girls hockey in this state are decided by the true stakeholders of girls hockey, we will be subject to the further erosion of girls hockey as we know it. We peaked a few years ago, and the slide will continue if people dont start to act.

Nevertoomuchhockey
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Post by Nevertoomuchhockey » Sat Dec 05, 2015 4:54 am

=D>

Hard water fan
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Joined: Fri Sep 10, 2010 4:02 pm

Post by Hard water fan » Sun Dec 06, 2015 12:45 pm

Wow Zoo, well said! Up here in the north we still have people who will openly say that girls shouldn't be playing hockey anyway and that it's bad for the sport. Duluth, the 4th largest city in MN can't field anything more than a coop with no JV team. Your points are all valid...

observer
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Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:45 pm

Post by observer » Mon Dec 07, 2015 9:42 am

Good comments Zoo!
specifically targeted for a few large metro associations to have a place for 15 years old high school cuts to land
Unfortunately sounds true since there are probably only a few where "too many girls" is a "problem."

Mavs
Posts: 448
Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2015 10:35 am

Post by Mavs » Mon Dec 07, 2015 11:05 am

observer wrote:Good comments Zoo!
specifically targeted for a few large metro associations to have a place for 15 years old high school cuts to land
Unfortunately sounds true since there are probably only a few where "too many girls" is a "problem."
Minnetonka landed 0, Stillwater 1, Anoka 1 or 2.... so its Edina and Wayzata probably the only beneficiary of the new rule? Maybe OMG? I don't know for sure on Edina and Wayzata, just know they have numbers so speculating. Anyone know?

Would be interesting to see who benefited as most don't.

Will keeping older kids together and skipping JV like Anoka did become a trend in the future? Not a bad idea. NE Metro did the same. Edina doesn't allow 8th and 9th to play JV, right? Only varsity? I think that was somewhere in this or another thread.

I was told Anoka had a kid (10th grader) transfer from TG to Anoka and couldn't play varsity due to transfer rule so chose U15 instead of JV. Second hand info so someone can correct if wrong.

Would love to see U15 become great like AA Bantams as a step before high school.

Lace'emUp
Posts: 359
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:37 am

Post by Lace'emUp » Mon Dec 07, 2015 1:53 pm

Regarding 15U, the questions are:
1. How many 10th graders are still playing association hockey due to 15U?
2. Would have those players quit hockey if 19U was their only option?
3. How many associations would've had to drop their 15U program or co-op if those 10th graders were not playing for them? (roster shortage)

My guess is that the creation of 15U allowed some associations to run their own teams instead of forming co-op. It would be nice if MNH could post data on the 10th grade numbers at 15U. It's really the only question we can get a definitive answer to.

Mavs
Posts: 448
Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2015 10:35 am

Post by Mavs » Mon Dec 07, 2015 2:00 pm

Lace'emUp wrote:Regarding 15U, the questions are:
1. How many 10th graders are still playing association hockey due to 15U?
2. Would have those players quit hockey if 19U was their only option?
3. How many associations would've had to drop their 15U program or co-op if those 10th graders were not playing for them? (roster shortage)

My guess is that the creation of 15U allowed some associations to run their own teams instead of forming co-op. It would be nice if MNH could post data on the 10th grade numbers at 15U. It's really the only question we can get a definitive answer to.
I have heard of many Sophomores that did not make HS teams and quit hockey all together. The U15 didn't change their mind and they didn't want to play U15 or U19. For many, once the HS dream appears dead they want to focus on other sports or activities.

Hearing the real data would be nice.

Lace'emUp
Posts: 359
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:37 am

Post by Lace'emUp » Mon Dec 07, 2015 2:22 pm

Mavs wrote:
Lace'emUp wrote:Regarding 15U, the questions are:
1. How many 10th graders are still playing association hockey due to 15U?
2. Would have those players quit hockey if 19U was their only option?
3. How many associations would've had to drop their 15U program or co-op if those 10th graders were not playing for them? (roster shortage)

My guess is that the creation of 15U allowed some associations to run their own teams instead of forming co-op. It would be nice if MNH could post data on the 10th grade numbers at 15U. It's really the only question we can get a definitive answer to.
I have heard of many Sophomores that did not make HS teams and quit hockey all together. The U15 didn't change their mind and they didn't want to play U15 or U19. For many, once the HS dream appears dead they want to focus on other sports or activities.

Hearing the real data would be nice.
Since this is a pilot (test), one would think they would post data. We will see. As for who continued and who quit, I'm going to guess some of it has to do with friends still playing. I know two northern metro 15U teams that have at least two 10th graders on it. One might have 3. So it's happening, just not everywhere.

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