Lakeville Hockey

Discussion of Minnesota Girls High School Hockey

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thegreatone99
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Joined: Sun Jan 03, 2016 11:45 am

Lakeville Hockey

Post by thegreatone99 » Sun Nov 27, 2016 5:43 pm

How many years will it be until we are down to one girl's HS team for 1AA? Our numbers at the U8 level are very telling for the future.

(Presser) After many many hours of conversations between the Board, the Hockey Development Committee, and the North and South High School coaches LHA has decided to merge the entire girls hockey program under the Lakeville brand, The Lakeville Ice Cats. The declining number of players in the girls program has made it difficult on an annual basis to determine North, South, Coop, etc. This also has made it difficult for directors to book tournaments, equipment directors to establish uniforms, and ultimately in some occasions created team sizes that increased the cost of hockey.

We want all of you to know this decision was not made easily; it was not made without a lot of research, and input from many people including the North and South High School Coaches. We looked at how other sports for girls are run in Lakeville, we looked at scenarios for this season and past seasons, and we looked at a program that is declining in numbers. A decision needed to be made before the numbers declined even more than they are with the current trend. If the numbers continue to decline the reality would be having only one Lakeville High School team and no North and South.

We realize this decision will effect everyone in our girls program and there will be some hurdles ahead. There comes a time when you have to make a slightly uncomfortable decision that is right for the program and the future of girls hockey in Lakeville. As we move forward we are in process of a new logo to go along with the Lakeville Ice Cats name that our girls program will run under. This new brand and concept will be similar to the Junior Gold boys program that is combined North and South and runs under the Lakeville Prowlers name. The colors for the program will include colors from both the North and South High Schools so we keep that unity with our schools. I understand there will be a lot of questions and we will continue to provide updates and further information as we progress further with this new united Lakeville Girls Hockey program.

We know one of the biggest questions is going to be what the profile for each level will be. We have some rough ideas based on current projected numbers, but ultimately many things cannot be answered until registration is complete and we have real numbers of kids to work with.

Right now at the U10 level it looks like we will have three teams. That would most likely be 1 A, and 2 even B teams. The numbers at this point barely support three teams, so we will have to make that decision when we have real numbers to work with.

The U12 has a lot of variables and with what appears will happen with registration we could have 1 A and 1 B team. We are right on the very edge of being able to have 3 teams, and it appears the numbers may fluctuate down and that would mean 2 teams. We again cannot verify anything until after registration.

The U15 level will have a lot of movement based on variables such as kids who get selected by the high school team, kids that are moved up from U12 based on need for number counts, and a few other variables. Based on input from the high school coaches if there were enough girls to do 2 A teams with enough kids from both North and South it is possible to have a South based A and a North based A. These decisions again cannot and will not be made until after we have real registration numbers to work from. Regardless of how the profile works out the girls will still be part of the all Lakeville Hockey Girls program and go under the Ice Cats name and wear the new branded jerseys. This again will only happen if the numbers were to work and the high school coaches were in agreement to have a North and South based team. This is a decision that would be made after registration and talent level is evaluated.

Tryouts will be run with assistance from the North and South High School coaching staffs and an even representation from both North and South evaluators. Our decision has been made in an effort to provide some stability to a shrinking girls program. Current total numbers at the U8 level are 31 total girls between North and South. This is our smallest group and we know numbers typically go down as the players get older. As an example from the boys side there are 168 boys at the mite level and 98 at the squirt level. So the numbers at that 8 year old level usually drop off some by the time they hit the U10 age group. If we lose numbers and do not do something to change our program, we will not have enough girls to support one. In a hockey community like Lakeville that is very alarming to see such a low number of players and to have a declining program in a growing community. The boys program is growing and last year had a big increase at the mite level. So we are genuinely concerned with this decrease in girls hockey numbers and know we needed to make a change. I know there will be a lot of questions but I ask you all to be patient as we continue to make these changes.

Please make sure your skater selects a number within the level that they will be planning to play next season and attend the jersey fitting either tonight or Saturday! We are working to finalize the jersey design and we will continue to provide updates as we have more information.

sinbin
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Joined: Thu Oct 29, 2009 11:12 pm

Post by sinbin » Tue Nov 29, 2016 10:15 pm

Best of luck to all the girls, families, coaches, etc. Hope it works out and the program (and all programs) can maintain some critical mass and perhaps even grow.

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

Post by zooomx » Wed Dec 07, 2016 7:52 am

Ok, another easy, short term solution to a long term problem and probably driven by someone who wants more wins than the reasons listed in the presser.

With the number of boys playing the associations in question, there is no reason a girls program cannot flourish.

There is hockey passion in the community. The demographics are right.

The problem is a lack of passion on the girls side to do the heavy lifting it takes to build a successful program.

This is the first step of a 5-6 year journey of losing a girls program all together. So sad to see for those have worked hard to build what was there.

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