It's official u14 is now u15 in Minnesota

Discussion of Minnesota Girls Youth Hockey

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zambonidriver
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It's official u14 is now u15 in Minnesota

Post by zambonidriver » Tue Jul 28, 2015 12:41 pm

I was just informed of this.
15&Under Girls Pilot Program
Minnesota Hockey approved a pilot program for the 2015-16 Season to expand the 2-year 14&Under Girls Division to a 3-year 15&Under Division. During this program, all Bylaw, Youth Rules and Region/State tournament requirements specified for 14U will apply to the pilot 15U Division. This will be evaluated after the season to determine a future course of action

Nevertoomuchhockey
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Post by Nevertoomuchhockey » Tue Jul 28, 2015 2:36 pm

Great. It's about time we crowned the best 13 year olds in MN.

observer
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Post by observer » Tue Jul 28, 2015 5:23 pm

Don't fully understand but it must benefit a few out there or no one would have raised the issue and pushed for it's passing. Seems like U14 encompassed almost all 8th and 9th graders and then 10th graders (U15?) play varsity or JV.

Can someone explain which players, associations or high schools this benefits?

greybeard58
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Post by greybeard58 » Tue Jul 28, 2015 9:50 pm

My guess it is for the 14B level player moving up and if not high school then if she still wants to play the only Mn Hockey options are either the rec league or 19B.

jg2112
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Post by jg2112 » Wed Jul 29, 2015 7:00 am

Yeah, this seems like a way for high school coaches to move 10th graders not ready for high school hockey.

If this holds for 2-3 years, I think the net result of this program will be more 7-8 graders playing JV (or varsity), and 10th graders not ready for high school hockey being pushed down to U15.

Mavs
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Post by Mavs » Wed Jul 29, 2015 7:11 am

Nevertoomuchhockey wrote:Great. It's about time we crowned the best 13 year olds in MN.
???

zambonidriver
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u15

Post by zambonidriver » Wed Jul 29, 2015 7:40 am

Being somebody who has been around this for a long time MN hockey and USA hockey screwed this up in 02. Girls used to be. U-9, U-11, U-13, U-15, This Model fit the development of the girls and was unique. The problem was USA hockey wanted uniformity between boys and girls at age levels. As we all know girls mature at an earlier age than boys and physically most are done growing by 10th grade, so the odd numbered age fits girls hockey. If you go that way you cover grades one-4 in u-9, 5-6, u-11, 7-8, u13, 9-10, u15. The key is having a place for eighth graders. If you go u-13 your eighth graders are the 2nd year players. Then it is easier for high school programs to not accept players until they are in 9th grade like most high schools. The three high school coaches I have talked to this summer firmly believe that unless an eight grader is top six at forward or top four at D and goalie will play some Varsity it is better to play 14's which is really a philosophy change from just a few years ago. I can say from my experience this past summer something needs to be done with the system. Because families of 8th graders should not have to face the question, What are we going to do this winter? We have been asked that way to much. If MN hockey adopted an odd number system you would see a lot less 8th grade free agency. I think the system would fix itself.

Mavs
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Re: u15

Post by Mavs » Wed Jul 29, 2015 8:03 am

zambonidriver wrote:Being somebody who has been around this for a long time MN hockey and USA hockey screwed this up in 02. Girls used to be. U-9, U-11, U-13, U-15, This Model fit the development of the girls and was unique. The problem was USA hockey wanted uniformity between boys and girls at age levels. As we all know girls mature at an earlier age than boys and physically most are done growing by 10th grade, so the odd numbered age fits girls hockey. If you go that way you cover grades one-4 in u-9, 5-6, u-11, 7-8, u13, 9-10, u15. The key is having a place for eighth graders. If you go u-13 your eighth graders are the 2nd year players. Then it is easier for high school programs to not accept players until they are in 9th grade like most high schools. The three high school coaches I have talked to this summer firmly believe that unless an eight grader is top six at forward or top four at D and goalie will play some Varsity it is better to play 14's which is really a philosophy change from just a few years ago. I can say from my experience this past summer something needs to be done with the system. Because families of 8th graders should not have to face the question, What are we going to do this winter? We have been asked that way to much. If MN hockey adopted an odd number system you would see a lot less 8th grade free agency. I think the system would fix itself.
Interesting back story and makes a lot of sense. U13 with 7th and 8th graders would be great hockey and then most good players go to HS in 9th grade. Makes it easy on the high school coaches. Once that decision was made, the genie was out of the bottle and no going back unfortunately.

I don't see this U15 doing much of anything other than maybe allowing a small number of bodies to help round out 15B teams.

I don't see high school coaches doing anything differently but maybe I am wrong.

zambonidriver
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Re: u15

Post by zambonidriver » Wed Jul 29, 2015 8:49 am

Mavs wrote:
zambonidriver wrote:Being somebody who has been around this for a long time MN hockey and USA hockey screwed this up in 02. Girls used to be. U-9, U-11, U-13, U-15, This Model fit the development of the girls and was unique. The problem was USA hockey wanted uniformity between boys and girls at age levels. As we all know girls mature at an earlier age than boys and physically most are done growing by 10th grade, so the odd numbered age fits girls hockey. If you go that way you cover grades one-4 in u-9, 5-6, u-11, 7-8, u13, 9-10, u15. The key is having a place for eighth graders. If you go u-13 your eighth graders are the 2nd year players. Then it is easier for high school programs to not accept players until they are in 9th grade like most high schools. The three high school coaches I have talked to this summer firmly believe that unless an eight grader is top six at forward or top four at D and goalie will play some Varsity it is better to play 14's which is really a philosophy change from just a few years ago. I can say from my experience this past summer something needs to be done with the system. Because families of 8th graders should not have to face the question, What are we going to do this winter? We have been asked that way to much. If MN hockey adopted an odd number system you would see a lot less 8th grade free agency. I think the system would fix itself.
Interesting back story and makes a lot of sense. U13 with 7th and 8th graders would be great hockey and then most good players go to HS in 9th grade. Makes it easy on the high school coaches. Once that decision was made, the genie was out of the bottle and no going back unfortunately.

I don't see this U15 doing much of anything other than maybe allowing a small number of bodies to help round out 15B teams.

I don't see high school coaches doing anything differently but maybe I am wrong.
This could work two different ways.
1. It could allow HS coaches to shrink their JV teams and keep just 2 lines at JV and send the rest of the kids back to 15 so the coaches could keep there top their top 15 forwards and top 10 d and send all of the kids who would be 3rd and 4th liner JV players back to 15's for another year of games and maybe some added confidence. It could also IF all associations went A/B increase the competition for all players and increase b level hockey numbers and encourage more girls to stay in the game.
2. It could allow HS coaches to pack their JV teams with 7th and 8th graders robbing associations of 2nd year 12's which would really wreck girls hockey.

jg2112
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Re: u15

Post by jg2112 » Wed Jul 29, 2015 9:01 am

zambonidriver wrote:
Mavs wrote:
zambonidriver wrote:Being somebody who has been around this for a long time MN hockey and USA hockey screwed this up in 02. Girls used to be. U-9, U-11, U-13, U-15, This Model fit the development of the girls and was unique. The problem was USA hockey wanted uniformity between boys and girls at age levels. As we all know girls mature at an earlier age than boys and physically most are done growing by 10th grade, so the odd numbered age fits girls hockey. If you go that way you cover grades one-4 in u-9, 5-6, u-11, 7-8, u13, 9-10, u15. The key is having a place for eighth graders. If you go u-13 your eighth graders are the 2nd year players. Then it is easier for high school programs to not accept players until they are in 9th grade like most high schools. The three high school coaches I have talked to this summer firmly believe that unless an eight grader is top six at forward or top four at D and goalie will play some Varsity it is better to play 14's which is really a philosophy change from just a few years ago. I can say from my experience this past summer something needs to be done with the system. Because families of 8th graders should not have to face the question, What are we going to do this winter? We have been asked that way to much. If MN hockey adopted an odd number system you would see a lot less 8th grade free agency. I think the system would fix itself.
Interesting back story and makes a lot of sense. U13 with 7th and 8th graders would be great hockey and then most good players go to HS in 9th grade. Makes it easy on the high school coaches. Once that decision was made, the genie was out of the bottle and no going back unfortunately.

I don't see this U15 doing much of anything other than maybe allowing a small number of bodies to help round out 15B teams.

I don't see high school coaches doing anything differently but maybe I am wrong.
This could work two different ways.
1. It could allow HS coaches to shrink their JV teams and keep just 2 lines at JV and send the rest of the kids back to 15 so the coaches could keep there top their top 15 forwards and top 10 d and send all of the kids who would be 3rd and 4th liner JV players back to 15's for another year of games and maybe some added confidence. It could also IF all associations went A/B increase the competition for all players and increase b level hockey numbers and encourage more girls to stay in the game.
2. It could allow HS coaches to pack their JV teams with 7th and 8th graders robbing associations of 2nd year 12's which would really wreck girls hockey.
I think #2 is potentially more likely. I think this will cause more and more 7th and 8th grade kids to try out, since there's now a landing spot for 10th graders not ready for HS hockey. The high cost of association hockey will cause more U12 gals (and their families) to try and make the leap.

Nevertoomuchhockey
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Post by Nevertoomuchhockey » Wed Jul 29, 2015 1:12 pm

Mavs wrote:
Nevertoomuchhockey wrote:Great. It's about time we crowned the best 13 year olds in MN.
???
Sorry. I was making a sarcastic comment on the HP expansion to the younger age groups and posted it here instead. Carry on....

Mavs
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Re: u15

Post by Mavs » Wed Jul 29, 2015 1:17 pm

jg2112 wrote:
zambonidriver wrote:
Mavs wrote:
zambonidriver wrote:Being somebody who has been around this for a long time MN hockey and USA hockey screwed this up in 02. Girls used to be. U-9, U-11, U-13, U-15, This Model fit the development of the girls and was unique. The problem was USA hockey wanted uniformity between boys and girls at age levels. As we all know girls mature at an earlier age than boys and physically most are done growing by 10th grade, so the odd numbered age fits girls hockey. If you go that way you cover grades one-4 in u-9, 5-6, u-11, 7-8, u13, 9-10, u15. The key is having a place for eighth graders. If you go u-13 your eighth graders are the 2nd year players. Then it is easier for high school programs to not accept players until they are in 9th grade like most high schools. The three high school coaches I have talked to this summer firmly believe that unless an eight grader is top six at forward or top four at D and goalie will play some Varsity it is better to play 14's which is really a philosophy change from just a few years ago. I can say from my experience this past summer something needs to be done with the system. Because families of 8th graders should not have to face the question, What are we going to do this winter? We have been asked that way to much. If MN hockey adopted an odd number system you would see a lot less 8th grade free agency. I think the system would fix itself.
Interesting back story and makes a lot of sense. U13 with 7th and 8th graders would be great hockey and then most good players go to HS in 9th grade. Makes it easy on the high school coaches. Once that decision was made, the genie was out of the bottle and no going back unfortunately.

I don't see this U15 doing much of anything other than maybe allowing a small number of bodies to help round out 15B teams.

I don't see high school coaches doing anything differently but maybe I am wrong.
This could work two different ways.
1. It could allow HS coaches to shrink their JV teams and keep just 2 lines at JV and send the rest of the kids back to 15 so the coaches could keep there top their top 15 forwards and top 10 d and send all of the kids who would be 3rd and 4th liner JV players back to 15's for another year of games and maybe some added confidence. It could also IF all associations went A/B increase the competition for all players and increase b level hockey numbers and encourage more girls to stay in the game.
2. It could allow HS coaches to pack their JV teams with 7th and 8th graders robbing associations of 2nd year 12's which would really wreck girls hockey.
I think #2 is potentially more likely. I think this will cause more and more 7th and 8th grade kids to try out, since there's now a landing spot for 10th graders not ready for HS hockey. The high cost of association hockey will cause more U12 gals (and their families) to try and make the leap.
It will be interesting to see if the high school coaches do anything in year one. It might gravitate one way or another but it will be interesting to watch.

HockeyDude20
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Post by HockeyDude20 » Wed Jul 29, 2015 3:11 pm

I don't think the HS coaches will do anything differently this year. They were completely blindsided by this experiment. Minnesota Hockey did not consult or even communicate that they were considering doing this. Once the metro HS coaches did find out they were pretty vocal with MN Hockey that they thought it was a bad idea but it was too late. MN Hockey kept it from them purposefully in order for there not to be any time for an objection to gain any momentum, in my opinion.

The logic behind it is incoherent. I, for one, can not come up with a logical rationalization as to the benefit of it. 14U hockey as always been purgatory because girls hockey hasn't scaled up to a point where HS programs don't need to raid the youth program to fill out rosters. All MN hockey has done is transferred the numbers burden from 14u to HS. It has solved nothing. All HS programs go to the 14s for bodies. Edina does it. Minnetonka does it. Eden Prairie does it. Wayzata does it. How are the smaller HS programs going to field full varsity and especially JV rosters if 10th graders are given the option of playing 15U??

Personally, I think the 15U experiment will not be successful. Partly because I don't think the HS coaches will change their opinion of it between now and the end of the upcoming season.

greybeard58
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Post by greybeard58 » Wed Jul 29, 2015 5:39 pm

For girls there was never a U9,U11 or U13. It started out U12 and U15. U10 was added later and finally U8 was added after a lot of pressure from a number of people. Most associations then and now feel everybody can be mites and when the girls get to the next level then choose.
As far as the high school coaches this has been in discussion for a while and if you think the state high school league cares about youth and girls hockey then why the change in their rules about playing USA Hockey registered teams when both bodies agreed. The coaches have made it quite plain that they will continue to fill their JV's with 7th,8th and 9th graders with then 14 U eligibility.

Also were the coaches reps at the June meeting and the conference call special meeting?

observer
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Post by observer » Wed Jul 29, 2015 9:26 pm

The coaches have made it quite plain that they will continue to fill their JV's with 7th,8th and 9th graders with then 14 U eligibility.
What?! This thing sounds hatched by a needy group of people.

I understand every situation is different, and top players will play varsity but JV is 10th and 11th graders. 8th and 9th grade is U14. Parents and players need to say no to the overtures of high school coaches, boosters, friends, etc. High school hockey comes soon enough. You never get the youth hockey years and experience back. And, 5 years of high school hockey is to much. Play youth hockey!

zambonidriver
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Post by zambonidriver » Thu Jul 30, 2015 6:29 am

observer wrote:
The coaches have made it quite plain that they will continue to fill their JV's with 7th,8th and 9th graders with then 14 U eligibility.
What?! This thing sounds hatched by a needy group of people.

I understand every situation is different, and top players will play varsity but JV is 10th and 11th graders. 8th and 9th grade is U14. Parents and players need to say no to the overtures of high school coaches, boosters, friends, etc. High school hockey comes soon enough. You never get the youth hockey years and experience back. And, 5 years of high school hockey is to much. Play youth hockey!
I can tell you the main reason for HS at a young age is cost. When my older kids moved to high school the 500.oo in fees is a heck of a lot better than 1500.00 in fees. I thank god they both went straight to the varsity. My eighth grader is going to try out if she makes varsity then the choice is made. If not 14's

zambonidriver
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Post by zambonidriver » Thu Jul 30, 2015 6:31 am

greybeard58 wrote:For girls there was never a U9,U11 or U13. It started out U12 and U15. U10 was added later and finally U8 was added after a lot of pressure from a number of people. Most associations then and now feel everybody can be mites and when the girls get to the next level then choose.
As far as the high school coaches this has been in discussion for a while and if you think the state high school league cares about youth and girls hockey then why the change in their rules about playing USA Hockey registered teams when both bodies agreed. The coaches have made it quite plain that they will continue to fill their JV's with 7th,8th and 9th graders with then 14 U eligibility.

Also were the coaches reps at the June meeting and the conference call special meeting?
I had two girls play at the u-11 level My one daughter ended up benefitting from the chang as she played four years at the u-11/12 level.

InigoMontoya
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Post by InigoMontoya » Thu Jul 30, 2015 6:54 am

Not to pick nits, but isn't U11 pretty much the same thing as 10U?

Mavs
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Post by Mavs » Thu Jul 30, 2015 7:13 am

zambonidriver wrote:
observer wrote:
The coaches have made it quite plain that they will continue to fill their JV's with 7th,8th and 9th graders with then 14 U eligibility.
What?! This thing sounds hatched by a needy group of people.

I understand every situation is different, and top players will play varsity but JV is 10th and 11th graders. 8th and 9th grade is U14. Parents and players need to say no to the overtures of high school coaches, boosters, friends, etc. High school hockey comes soon enough. You never get the youth hockey years and experience back. And, 5 years of high school hockey is to much. Play youth hockey!
I can tell you the main reason for HS at a young age is cost. When my older kids moved to high school the 500.oo in fees is a heck of a lot better than 1500.00 in fees. I thank god they both went straight to the varsity. My eighth grader is going to try out if she makes varsity then the choice is made. If not 14's
Cost is a big one that a lot of us forget about. Big difference. Practice right after school and having your nights free is another one I suppose. I talked a lot about playing for the wrong reasons in the other U14 thread but posters make a lot of great points in the other direction too. Every association is different and every family is different so I guess we can't paint with a broad brush. Either way, if your daughters are good players then they will play in 9th if not 8th so its still not a huge rush. Another one I didn't consider is its probably hard to turn down the high school coach if he/she wants her. Some schools encourage 7th and 8th graders and other schools have rules in place that don't allow it.

zambonidriver
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Post by zambonidriver » Thu Jul 30, 2015 7:30 am

Mavs wrote:
zambonidriver wrote:
observer wrote:
The coaches have made it quite plain that they will continue to fill their JV's with 7th,8th and 9th graders with then 14 U eligibility.
What?! This thing sounds hatched by a needy group of people.

I understand every situation is different, and top players will play varsity but JV is 10th and 11th graders. 8th and 9th grade is U14. Parents and players need to say no to the overtures of high school coaches, boosters, friends, etc. High school hockey comes soon enough. You never get the youth hockey years and experience back. And, 5 years of high school hockey is to much. Play youth hockey!
I can tell you the main reason for HS at a young age is cost. When my older kids moved to high school the 500.oo in fees is a heck of a lot better than 1500.00 in fees. I thank god they both went straight to the varsity. My eighth grader is going to try out if she makes varsity then the choice is made. If not 14's
Cost is a big one that a lot of us forget about. Big difference. Practice right after school and having your nights free is another one I suppose. I talked a lot about playing for the wrong reasons in the other U14 thread but posters make a lot of great points in the other direction too. Every association is different and every family is different so I guess we can't paint with a broad brush. Either way, if your daughters are good players then they will play in 9th if not 8th so its still not a huge rush. Another one I didn't consider is its probably hard to turn down the high school coach if he/she wants her. Some schools encourage 7th and 8th graders and other schools have rules in place that don't allow it.
Here is the other point which even though I have had older girls go through the system. This scenario which is new to us is the fact that I have had 6 people who's opinion's I respect tell me my eighth grader should play varsity or boy's bantam's two are college coaches. When my older girls were at the 12 level college was not even thought about. Our D1 girl didn't hear from a school until after her junior year of HS. She is now coaching and is floored by the fact that there are college coaches at triple A tournaments watching U-14.

Nevertoomuchhockey
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Post by Nevertoomuchhockey » Thu Jul 30, 2015 7:58 am

observer wrote:
The coaches have made it quite plain that they will continue to fill their JV's with 7th,8th and 9th graders with then 14 U eligibility.
What?! This thing sounds hatched by a needy group of people.

I understand every situation is different, and top players will play varsity but JV is 10th and 11th graders. 8th and 9th grade is U14. Parents and players need to say no to the overtures of high school coaches, boosters, friends, etc. High school hockey comes soon enough. You never get the youth hockey years and experience back. And, 5 years of high school hockey is to much. Play youth hockey!
This may be the ideal is the minds of some (associations and coaches losing 14u players, upper class women losing playing time to younger girls) but it is far from reality. The top teams in both classes have been rostering freshman and sophs (even 8th graders) universally on their first lines for at least 2-3 years. (Rule not exception.) And having great success doing that. Most parents (admit it or not) would steer clear of a team that played their junior at jv. Especially if that was status quo. Honestly, you could prob give 5 examples right now of coaches who are out of a job because they either insisted or refused to give juniors and seniors playing time based on seniority rather than talent.

Mavs
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Post by Mavs » Thu Jul 30, 2015 8:06 am

Nevertoomuchhockey wrote:
observer wrote:
The coaches have made it quite plain that they will continue to fill their JV's with 7th,8th and 9th graders with then 14 U eligibility.
What?! This thing sounds hatched by a needy group of people.

I understand every situation is different, and top players will play varsity but JV is 10th and 11th graders. 8th and 9th grade is U14. Parents and players need to say no to the overtures of high school coaches, boosters, friends, etc. High school hockey comes soon enough. You never get the youth hockey years and experience back. And, 5 years of high school hockey is to much. Play youth hockey!
This may be the ideal is the minds of some (associations and coaches losing 14u players, upper class women losing playing time to younger girls) but it is far from reality. The top teams in both classes have been rostering freshman and sophs (even 8th graders) on their first lines for at least 2-3 years. And having great success doing that. Most parents (admit it or not) would steer clear of a team that played their junior at jv. Especially if that was status quo. Honestly, you could prob give 5 examples right now of coaches who are out of a job because they either insisted or refused to give juniors and seniors playing time based on seniority rather than talent.
The Bloomington Jefferson dynasty years were ruthless and constantly took young kids and cut juniors and seniors. They took the BEST players and it wasn't always popular but winning was the goal.

http://www.amazon.com/Blades-Glory-True ... 1402200471

even wrote a book about it

We are a lot more PC now than we were back then and it made waves back then. However, they won and won big so in a way it was hard to argue but for the kids that were cut it wasn't so easy. They felt like they paid their dues but were cut for a player that was just as good (much younger) and soon to be better.

Lace'emUp
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Post by Lace'emUp » Thu Jul 30, 2015 12:47 pm

15U is a good idea. If there were twice as many girls playing hockey, this would be a great idea. Same with keeping the 7th and 8th graders together at 13U. But girls hockey does not have twice as many playing. That's why some schools take whoever wants to come up to JV. Even if there were twice as many girls playing hockey, the best 10th graders would still be long gone to varsity. Just like the best 8th and 9th graders right now.

One thing that 15U does is that it closes the age gap at the 19U level. 19U will now be 11th grade through 1st year college gals who want to play rec hockey. 15U will also give 10th graders, who are low-A or B, a landing spot if they cannot make JV, but still want to develop. There are 10th graders who would normally quit hockey this year if they don't make the high school team. They don’t want to play 19U. Some do, but most don’t. This new option will keep some, but not all, of those girls playing hockey if they don’t make JV.

I highly doubt this will create any significantly higher numbers at 15UA or 15UB hockey, but there will be more playing just from the simple fact that they won’t be going to 19U yet. As mentioned above, for 10th graders who do not make JV, 15U will give them another year of possibly meaningful hockey. One last chance to develop further in a 50-game season. Once they get to 19U, there’s no more development (1 game a week with 1 or 2 practices). That's rec hockey.

In the end, who does 15U hurt? No one. It will not force high school coaches to do anything different than they already are doing. Every coach is different, every school is different, but what we do know is that the best 8th graders will still go to high school, no matter what. But, no high school coach should pull an 8th grader up unless they're ready to play varsity. Only exception is for the communities that are so small, and so out-state, that there’s no other options for hockey. A slightly above average 8th grader is not going to develop playing 9-12 shifts per game in a 25-game season (JV or varsity). They will develop playing and dominating at 15U in a 50-game season.

zambonidriver
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Post by zambonidriver » Thu Jul 30, 2015 1:01 pm

Lace'emUp wrote:15U is a good idea. If there were twice as many girls playing hockey, this would be a great idea. Same with keeping the 7th and 8th graders together at 13U. But girls hockey does not have twice as many playing. That's why some schools take whoever wants to come up to JV. Even if there were twice as many girls playing hockey, the best 10th graders would still be long gone to varsity. Just like the best 8th and 9th graders right now.

One thing that 15U does is that it closes the age gap at the 19U level. 19U will now be 11th grade through 1st year college gals who want to play rec hockey. 15U will also give 10th graders, who are low-A or B, a landing spot if they cannot make JV, but still want to develop. There are 10th graders who would normally quit hockey this year if they don't make the high school team. They don’t want to play 19U. Some do, but most don’t. This new option will keep some, but not all, of those girls playing hockey if they don’t make JV.

I highly doubt this will create any significantly higher numbers at 15UA or 15UB hockey, but there will be more playing just from the simple fact that they won’t be going to 19U yet. As mentioned above, for 10th graders who do not make JV, 15U will give them another year of possibly meaningful hockey. One last chance to develop further in a 50-game season. Once they get to 19U, there’s no more development (1 game a week with 1 or 2 practices). That's rec hockey.

In the end, who does 15U hurt? No one. It will not force high school coaches to do anything different than they already are doing. Every coach is different, every school is different, but what we do know is that the best 8th graders will still go to high school, no matter what. But, no high school coach should pull an 8th grader up unless they're ready to play varsity. Only exception is for the communities that are so small, and so out-state, that there’s no other options for hockey. A slightly above average 8th grader is not going to develop playing 9-12 shifts per game in a 25-game season (JV or varsity). They will develop playing and dominating at 15U in a 50-game season.
Agreed confidence can make all the difference.

zambonidriver
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Joined: Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:31 am

Post by zambonidriver » Thu Jul 30, 2015 1:06 pm

This will really help this years crop of 9th graders who metro wide have big numbers. I can think of 5 or six of the girls I coached at 10's who good players that would be 3rd 4th line JV players that they can now go to 15 and maybe gain that confidence skating a regular shift. The most important part of this would not to allow play ups. Play ups is one of the reason's WBL girls is such a mess.

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