thegreatone99 wrote:Boom and bust?
Impressive as the talent level might be, the sport still is fighting its share of issues.
The Hopkins girls’ hockey team, which made deep runs in the state playoffs in 2009 and 2010, didn’t exist this past season — at least not completely. Hopkins formed a co-op with St. Louis Park before the seasons because of shrinking numbers for both schools.
Erickson said this wasn’t exactly a shock. In Hopkins, youth participation fell from 74 players in 2012 to 54 in 2015. Statewide, 8U participation in girls’ hockey fell 5.7 percent between 2011-12 and 2012-13. Hockey is an expensive sport that has struggled to appeal to diverse demographics. Statewide, numbers at the youth level coincided closely with the U.S. economy’s slow recovery from The Great Recession.
“It’s a little frustrating to see programs that were in the state tournament three or four years ago, that brought medals home, and now numbers are so small that they have to co-op,” Sager said.
The 115 teams in the state is down from 121 in 2011-12. Fifty-five of the teams participate in a co-op, but that doesn’t mean the skill level has dropped. In fact, state coaches tend to agree at least some of the participation drop is related to the growth of talent in the game
“It was no longer, ‘This is the state of hockey, people are going to play,’ ” said Glen Andresen, Minnesota Hockey’s executive director. “There was a realization that we need to go out and bring girls into the sport and make the sport accessible.”
Perfect way to promote girls hockey by having B & B play Class A
Hey, I agree and think a large # of people agree that these two privates should opt up. However, you continue to say the same thing over and over and it is getting tiresome. I agree they should opt up, but your continued rants almost have me rooting for the privates now.
If these privates along with SPU eventually move up, the MSHL should just change the classification of the two tournament to what they really are, the Class "A" Championship and the Class "B" Championship.
For me personally, if Warroad, Blake, SPU and I guess even P/H, were not in this tournament, I would certainly be less apt to going down to the X to watch. I have had my fill of subpar hockey, watching the Mississippi 8 teams this year and don't want to spend a day down at the X watching more of the same, especially in a Championship game!
Don't get me wrong, I love watching all levels of hockey, but a Laverne/Northfield state tournament title game, does not really peak my interest. I am sure it would have a lot of interest from the Laverne and Northfield residents, but probably not too many others. I would venture to guess that there would be about the same amount of fans for either a SPU/Blake Championship game or a Laverne/Northfield Championship game - but the SPU/Blake game would be played at a much higher level and more fun to watch. It would certainly draw more interest from the people not affiliated with the programs, just because of the level of hockey being played and some of the names on the back of the jerseys.
Not saying it is right, just saying having quality teams in the tournament, certainly makes it more fun to watch and it certainly does promote girls hockey. Maybe not the way you want or desire, but it does. My daughter knows who most every girl on the Blake, SPU, Warroad and P/H rosters are, but couldn't name one on any of the other 4 and certainly wouldn't have any interest in going down to the X and watching them. But that is just us, not speaking for everyone.
