U14 Girls Coop Teams

[SEhockeyDAD]

Last weekend, I noticed a couple of coop teams that made me wonder. In Let's Play Hockey, there was an article about the Brooklyn Park/Armstrong U14 girls coop team. I also noticed that their team and another coop team (Moundsview/Stillwater) cracked the top 10 in the rankings with Moundsview/Stillwater ranked pretty high. Then, my daughter's team played at the Minnetonka tournament, and when I looked at the program I noticed that not only was Moundsview/Stillwater at the tournament, but they were listed as Moundsview/Irondale/Forest Lake/Stillwater. Now the questions really started popping up in my mind.<br><br>At first, my suspicious nature immediately arose and I wondered, can someone really combine 4 communities and come up with a powerful A team? After talking with one of the moms from Stillwater who I knew already, I understood circumstances a little better. If I understand correctly, they pooled all their girls and created an A team and a B team. But...I still have reservations. <br><br>First, the good; if there are only a few girls in a hockey association who want to play on a girls U14 team, then a coop is the only solution. Also if an association has only enough girls for one team, but they have some good players and some lesser skilled players, then cooping with another nearby association with the same situation in order to create an A and a B team is a good deal. It's especially nice if associations like Irondale or Forest Lake don't have a girls team than can compete and learn at the A level, but has one or two girls who can and want to be A-level players. Conversely, it's also nice not to force the less skilled players to play at the A level (or even sit on the bench) because it's the only team available. <br><br>On the other hand, there are some possible negatives, which I'm sure have been mentioned before in discussions about coop teams. What if a girl wants to play for her town's A team, only to be cut to B's when players from elsewhere fill the roster she wanted to be on? What if one team loses their two best players to the A team largely made up of players from their nearby rival, while at the same time becoming the B team? Then, while this may be a little too extreme to actually happen, I wouldn't be shocked if it did occur; 3 or 4 associations pool their players in order to build an A team with the state championship in mind. BTW, I'm not suggesting that Moundsview/Stillwater/etc. did exactly this. I may have been suspicious before talking with that team mom, but I don't really think that its an engineered A team. Besides, being from Rochester, I've heard the accusations that we stack teams here, and while I won't always disagree with that, I know how hard it can be to get enough girls to play or stay at the older youth hockey level. Then again, it also occured to me that my daughter's team could be a darn good team if they brought in the best player from Owatonna, Faribault, Winona...it's tempting to think about.<br><br>Call me old fashioned, but I think girls who grow up in the same community are best served to play on their home teams. But when circumstances require another solution, a coop team can be the best way to go. Provided it's created for the right reasons. <p></p><i></i>

[hockeycat58]

Not sure that this is applicable, but living in NC, we have to combine players from all over to get enough talent to be somewhat competitive at higher levels. <br><br>We don't have any restrictions in NC about playing by District, which means that programs struggle from year to year and compete for players. I tend to side with you that it may be necessary in some places to put together a "Regional Team," but it can hurt local organizations and players when opportunities are decreased by these Regional Teams. <br><br>Of course, my son is part of "Tournament Team" that plays after his House Season ends in March that combines players from 3 different areas, because he wouldn't have enough players in any of the areas. In that way, these combined teams can give an opportunity for someone, like my son, to play with kids from out of his area and play a higher level of hockey. <br><br>Now, when we play those teams during the season, he knows a lot of the kids and they look like old men standing around drinking gatorade and talking about how things are going. It's kind of funny to watch. He also likes having friends on all these teams, "just like the pros."<br><br>How's that for straddling an issue? There is a balance. I am not sure that I mind regional "Select" teams, but I don't know how I feel about it for a whole season unless there is no other way for these kids to play at a higher level.<br><br>Cheers,<br><br>Steve<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.hockeycat.com">www.hockeycat.com</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p074.ezboard.com/bmnhs.showUserP ... eycat58</A> at: 1/13/05 9:00 am<br></i>

[Sticklicker]

Coop's are good when the kids have no place else to play but in this case they have made an A and a B out of the four communities. With this example in mind, any 2 (or more) communities with only enough players for one team each could combine together and form a "best of" A team and send the rest to B and/or C levels. Now correct me if I'm wrong but that does not sound fair at all. This is community based youth hockey designed for learning skills and applying them. Super star teams are for the off season. <p></p><i></i>

[mnhckyfan]

I'm not sure how fair it is, but it sure is nice to have a competitive team to play against. Last night Centennial played Stillwater/MoundsView/... team and won 3-0. It was a great game for all in attendance, and the players were tested, which is what you want at this level. However, I have to agree that it doesn't seem fair. I would say if you have enough kids to form an A and B team from your own association, go with what you have. If you don't have enough for both, then I can understand it. On another note, once these kids go to high school, they will all be going their own way. Will this hurt them since they have not been playing together over the youth years? Who knows, it can't help. We also played the Elk River/Anoka team earlier this season. They are also a combined team. Don't know if the reason is lack of #s or what. <p></p><i></i>

[hockeyma2]

For the BP/Armstrong merger, it was a question of having only enough girls for one team in each association. BP didn't have a U14 team last year, and lost quite a few girls to H.S. this year. There were girls who competed in the U12A state tourney two years in a row and did well. How do you take girls from that team and combine them with girls coming from the U12B team that may have just started hockey last year? There's a huge difference in ability, and the combining of the teams is what kept even more girls from going off to play on the H.S. jv teams. <br>Neither BP or Armstrong would have fielded an A team without the merger - so instead of taking that opportunity away "from those who want to play A" they made it possible for some. Even with the merger, there's barely enough to make 2 teams at this level. Keep more girls from going to High School and we may not have to do this. <p></p><i></i>

[SEhockeyDAD]

Now that the Moundsview/Stillwater/Irondale/Forest Lake coop team has made it to the state tournament, is anyone's opinion about a 4-way coop different? Will MAHA take notice and might they scrutinize future coops? <br><br>This year's Rochester U14's had only 1 team (U14A's), had only 11 skaters and some of the girls weren't A caliber players. They were only a 3OT loss away from regionals, so if they had cooped with Austin, Owatonna and Faribault, they also may have gone to state. How many other 4-town coops could be out there? <p></p><i></i>