HP 16 & 17 this weekend

greybeard58 · Post by **greybeard58** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 8:49 am

A solution but not a perfect fix would be to:
1. Mn Hockey take total control and no HS Coach involved in organizing or evaluating.

2. 8 neutral GM's to receive the coaches recommendations for each level will be picked by each host District.

3. Mn Districts run try outs and take coaches application. Example if an Edina coach can coach for any district team except District 6.

4. Evaluators; no person who operates development programs or their employees should be evaluators there is the perception of favoritism. I would suggest former players who are employed in jobs outside of hockey with no connections to the schools in that district.

5. All age eligible players should have a chance to attend the first tryout no matter what team USA Hockey or HS varsity/jv.

Bulldog3489 · Post by **Bulldog3489** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 12:23 pm

greybeard58 wrote:
The HP program is supposed to be self supporting with fees and a gate admission, when players are given a free ride as at least 7 were that means the other participants not only paid their way but also for the ones who were given a free pass. What you did last year is to be applauded but this is a new year and lets see if you have improved enough to actually earn a spot.

Is your big complaint that these girls should have also paid for games and practices that they couldn't participate in? Or should they all have been cut no matter what? And who do you want to evaluate these kids that you think will be fair and will volunteer?

greybeard58 · Post by **greybeard58** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 3:09 pm

Nobody should have a free ride if you can not make the first part then you do not advance. The dates are known by August of each year,plan accordingly.

Your question on evaluators is answered above #4.
The process needs to be open and fair based on what you actually do on the ice that day or weekend and have the people choosing have absolutely no agenda towards any player good or bad.
If the process continues as is and the Mn players get rated lower, then Mn will loose spots for players to advance to the national camp.

royals dad · Post by **royals dad** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 3:59 pm

greybeard58 wrote:Nobody should have a free ride if you can not make the first part then you do not advance. The dates are known by August of each year,plan accordingly.

Your question on evaluators is answered above #4.
The process needs to be open and fair based on what you actually do on the ice that day or weekend and have the people choosing have absolutely no agenda towards any player good or bad.
If the process continues as is and the Mn players get rated lower, then Mn will loose spots for players to advance to the national camp.

I can agree with much of what you say above but if #5 is to be taken at face value then the MN process can not start until after the USA Hockey National Tournament, and in an Olympic year not until after the U18 worlds. Otherwise you will have to give some kids a "free pass" (that was hard earned). To say a player that got through the grind of MN selection, then USA selection, then lake placid, then Blaine in December, to make the roster for Worlds is given a free pass because they were at worlds during section tryouts, well it is just not that smart.

Coachk · Post by **Coachk** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 4:13 pm

That is not accurate, Nationals took place during the Spring festival and sectional tryouts took place weeks before Nationals.

greybeard58 · Post by **greybeard58** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 4:21 pm

That the tryouts were scheduled during the National tournament was a classic goof up and should not have happened.

The other option for players participating in IIHF tournaments they can be added by USA Hockey using the at large appointments.

Until the High school coaches took over there were no free passes, if you did not attend the first part you were done. If you were injured and not healed the message was to heal and get healthy and try again next year. If you are not 100% you should not be playing. Again there was an at large spot available through USA Hockey. This is a position that has been taken by other USA Hockey districts in the past.

I remember hearing a story how the Central District refused a free pass to a Wisconsin player who had made the national team the year before. USA Hockey also stood behind the Central District tryout process and refused to place the player unless she participated in all of the tryout process. The players name Amanda Kessel. It did not do her any harm to have to follow all procedures.

Pens4 · Post by **Pens4** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 6:26 pm

greybeard58 wrote:That the tryouts were scheduled during the National tournament was a classic goof up and should not have happened.

The other option for players participating in IIHF tournaments they can be added by USA Hockey using the at large appointments.

Until the High school coaches took over there were no free passes, if you did not attend the first part you were done. If you were injured and not healed the message was to heal and get healthy and try again next year. If you are not 100% you should not be playing. Again there was an at large spot available through USA Hockey. This is a position that has been taken by other USA Hockey districts in the past.

I remember hearing a story how the Central District refused a free pass to a Wisconsin player who had made the national team the year before. USA Hockey also stood behind the Central District tryout process and refused to place the player unless she participated in all of the tryout process. The players name Amanda Kessel. I did not do her any harm to have to follow all procedures.

Interesting point that you would think the badge of honor was that USA hockey self proclaimed hockey wisdom kept one of the best players off the roster. And then your decision actually helped create the player she has become.

greybeard58 · Post by **greybeard58** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 8:38 pm

Pens,
Had a sticky key and I edited the post, had the change the from I did not to It did not.

royals dad · Post by **royals dad** » Thu Apr 24, 2014 12:41 pm

greybeard58 wrote: This is a position that has been taken by other USA Hockey districts in the past.

K- SSM players should not be expected to do tryouts prior to the completion of the national tourney. To my knowledge no other district requires them to (although most district tryouts are completed in a single weekend).

GB58 - We are not like other districts that often have a process that includes only a handfull of players that compete for spots over a single weekend. Maybe you are right about no free passes but I can say that I think the 54s are better with the players that were added then they would be without them. The process should be about finding the best players and not set up to exclude what are (in terms of the process from last December) the best in the country. Even if it didnt hurt Kessel to be excluded you could argue that the process that excluded her in fact did not include the very best (and that is its goal). I would see it as more of a badge of shame for Wisconsin Hockey then a badge of honor, they used the process to exclude the best player they have ever produced, Yea Wisco.

Coachk · Post by **Coachk** » Thu Apr 24, 2014 12:48 pm

Not sure about the SSM girls, but the Thoroughbred Girls had to tryout in their respective sections. Kind a messed up situation as normally Nationals don't interfere.

pepperpot · Post by **pepperpot** » Thu Apr 24, 2014 2:31 pm

The program is a joke, especially at the local levels. Mo money, mo money! Look at who runs the programs, how the evaluations work, how many evaluators they have and so on. They know who they want long before tryouts are over. It's all about the mooola.

Bulldog3489 · Post by **Bulldog3489** » Thu Apr 24, 2014 2:55 pm

Amanda Kessel played on two U18 gold medal world teams back-to-back.

I would not have been in favor of cutting her and taking silver if she was sick in April.