Girls Tier 1 12U/14U National Championships

[drop_the_puck]

Why doesn't Minnesota participate in the national championships (to be held this year from April 7 through the 11th in Green Bay) at the 12U and 14U levels? (Minnesota does send a 19U team. This year it's SSM, who defeated the Thoroughbreds in a Minnesota District playoff.)

http://www.usahockey.com/Tournament/Tou ... ionID=1687

Is one reason that the Minnesota age designations are not aligned with the national ones (July 1 vs. January 1)? Or, is there some political aspect to this?

Just curious...

[royals dad]

Age is the least of the issues. Our community based system that feeds into a HS system is unique in the country. Everyone else uses a format closer to our summer AAA, players out east routinely play for teams hundreds of miles away. Teams in the south and west might be on a plane every weekend to get to a tournament. From my perspective it is insanity for a youth sport.

The rest of the country has a mix of hate and envy for us, some say the Minnesota border is like hockey's iron curtain.

Last I heard USA is considering elimination of the U12 national tournament, so maybe that indicates thier are reasonable people there.

[FIRE*ON*ICE]

Minnesota hockey is too liberal in my eyes. They don't let the kids have enough scrimmages and/or games during the season. In their eyes, EVERYONE IS A WINNER! Too many talented kids don't get enough good competition. My nephew moved for the hockey season with his family to ST. Louis, MO because of this reason. He plays WAY more games there and had a chance to play in the biggest Pee Wee tourney in the world in CANADA last year. His name is now on a trophy with Gretzky and LeMieux as the MVP of the Tourney. He would have NEVER had this opportunity if he stayed here in MN. His association would'nt even allow him to move up when he was clearly above the rest of the kids in his age group. His father played on a Championship team in the High School Hockey Tourney in the 80's and he truly feels the level of play is higher in other parts of the country compared to the high school level. I feel if AAA hockey was available for my daughter during the season, she would excel faster. At 12UA, there are STILL kids who can't catch a pass and if you put them on the same team it clearly puts the more talented kids at a disadvantage. Let the kids play, but let them play at the level the belong. Let them try out for AAA and if they don't make it, play elsewhere in a different league.

[royals dad]

Firefighter - Be careful what you wish for.

Your daughter is growing up in a state that produces about half of the US D1 scholarship female players. I believe our success as a state is tied to the fact that hockey in Minnesota is more inclusive than exclusive. In much of the country Hockey is a sport for the rich, imagine shelling out over 20K (per a friend with a top pee wee in New Hampshire) a year per kid for hockey. That is more than the average middle class family pays for a house payment. Your nephew probably only has a few top teams within 500 miles and probably has kids on his team that come from a 100 mile radius. I complain about a 5 mile round trip to a practice and 10 mile round trip to a game in the winter.

New York has almost 20 million people and is passionate enough about the sport to support three NHL teams in the state yet they produce only 45K players (5k girls). Minnesota has 5 million people yet we produce 53K players (13K girls).

*Numbers were from the USA Hockey and US Gov Census web sites.*

[Passthefoil]

FireFighter-

Is it your opinion that your player cannot get the type of development she should be getting in your current association because of the lack of talent at her specific level or that and other reasons?

Possible options to give your player the opportunity to play at a higher level; Thoroughbreds, Crunch, SSM and the like of Culver Academy. Have you looked into theese types of opportunities??

It seems clear by your posting that you would have your player go to St. Louis like your nephew did based on program availability, is your scenario echoed by other parents in your daughters situation or is your post out of frustration for years of watching your daughter inch along rather than be given the opportunity to take leaps and bounds. Just curious.

In general, I wonder if this is the frustration of many parents like Firefighter. Has anyone gone through the process of changing over to a AAA like the above and if so, how was the experience.

[drop_the_puck]

Excellent blog posting on Minnesota Girls Hockey, which expands on what royals dad has been saying: http://www.girlzcheck2.com/blog/hockey/ ... of-hockey/

[FIRE*ON*ICE]

We are familiar w/ SSM. My nephew will probably go there next year. Our daughter IS lucky to play for girls hockey in MN, I agree. Boy's hockey is definately different. Girls hockey has come a long way!

Passthefoil- It just seems odd having our daughter play on summer teams that are extremely talented and Association hockey seems way weaker. I thought it would be the other way around!

Either way, our daughter has a love for the game and enjoys her teammates. She has, in the past, told us she likes playing on the teams where the talent level is greater. With that said, what we WISH FOR our daughter is true happiness where ever she plays. If she ever has a chance to play in college, GREAT! If not, I hope she exercises and keeps doing well in school.

I know for a fact Champlin Park sent a couple of really good players to Blaine At the 12UA as well as another from another association. Seems like a AAA teams may be forming in the winter anyway.

Royals Dad- My brother and nephew don't complain about traveling. My nephew tells me he's having a BLAST! Experience of a lifetime. As for the $, his mother has worked extremely hard and earned her doctorate degree so who cares how they decide to spend their $? (as well as the others who choose to go that route).

[drop_the_puck]

I know for a fact Champlin Park sent a couple of really good players to Blaine At the 12UA as well as another from another association. Seems like a AAA teams may be forming in the winter anyway.

Good thing we have a firefighter here... A vs. B and residency rules flame war starts in 3... 2... 1...

As an outside observer of 12UB hockey and the Champlin Park/Blaine situation with absolutely no knowledge about the facts of this situation: I note that (if true) this did not adversely affect Champlin Park's winning of the 12UB state championship this year. Arguably, it could have been a good thing as it made the CP team more competitive with the other 12UB teams.

[royals dad]

Live video of the tournaments will be broadcast at usahockey.fasthockey.com April 7th to the 11th. See the site for details. I think it will be interesting to compare the level of play with the level we see at the MN state and regional tournaments at different levels. As well as AAA tournaments in the Summer.

[observer]

I think what you'll see is they are stronger top to bottom. They don't have the same drop off a typical Minnesota Association team has.

In some instances the core of the team has played several years together and will show better team play as opposed to relying on a few top players.

Any top Minnesota AAA team would fair very well.