Junior Festival

[SportsMa]

Any news on the Jr. Fest rosters?

[Thunderbird77]

On a positive note, my daughter has heard from some college coaches that they have the Junior Fest rosters and player information.

Have any players heard any more information?

[joehockey]

So players are to report next Tuesday to Richfield at 11:15 AM to register and attend an 11:45 AM required meeting at that time players will learn what team they are on and specific times they will practice and play over the rest of the week. Tuesday each team practices. On Wednesday & Thursday each team will play two games - on Friday each team will play one game based on their Wednesday & Thursday record.

I see the OS Prospects camp has moved their sessions to Richfield for the week - last year they were at BIG and the coaches and junior players had to scramble back and forth - sounds like great first week roster of coaches for the program - Chris Peterson and Winny Brodt have again done a great job helping to get MN girls exposure! Girls are going to log a lot of ice between the two events on Tuesday, Wed, Thursday!

DATE LOCATION GROUP I GROUP II
Sunday June 7 SSR Figure Skating Room 10:30 AM-1:00PM
Sunday June 7 SSR 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM 2:40 PM - 3:40 PM
Monday June 8 Richfield Ice Arena 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM 1:15 PM - 2:15 PM
Tuesday June 9 Richfield Ice Arena 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM 1:15 PM - 2:15 PM
Wednesday June 10 Richfield Ice Arena 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM 1:15 PM - 2:15 PM
Thursday June 11 Richfield Ice Arena 1:45 PM - 2:45 PM 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Sunday June 14 Richfield Ice Arena 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM 4:45 PM - 5:45 PM
Sunday June 21 Richfield Ice Arena 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM 4:45 PM - 5:45 PM
Sunday June 28 Richfield Ice Arena 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM 4:45 PM - 5:45 PM

Sunday July 12 Richfield Ice Arena 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM 4:45 PM - 5:45 PM
Tuesday July 14 Fogerty Ice Arena 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM 6:40 PM - 7:40 PM
Sunday July 19 Richfield Ice Arena 7:45 PM - 8:45 PM 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Tuesday July 21 Fogerty Ice Arena 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM 6:40 PM - 7:40 PM
Sunday July 26 Richfield Ice Arena 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM 4:45 PM - 5:45 PM

Sunday August 2 Richfield Ice Arena 3:45 PM - 4:45 PM 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Sunday August 9 Richfield Ice Arena 2:15 PM - 3:15 PM 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Sunday August 16 Richfield Ice Arena 2:15 PM - 3:15 PM 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM

[SportsMa]

This weekend during the TNFHL games Junior Festival was discussed a lot by current juniors. It sounds like a lot of schools are still in session the week of Jr Fest......Eagan, Irondale, Stillwater, WBL all are still in schools and taking finals that week - is this a problem across the State?

How did the girls decide to handle this conflict? Other years they have posted the rosters prior to the Jr Fest starting any reason why they are not doing that this year? Just curious.

Good luck to the girls! It sounds like scouts will get some good looks at the girls between the Two Nations play-offs on the weekend, Jr Fest and OS prospects.

[allhoc11]

Other years they have posted the rosters prior to the Jr Fest starting any reason why they are not doing that this year? Just curious.

I know that at least the last 7 years rosters have been given out at the Mandatory meeting for Jr. Fest. Typically that day you can go to the MGHCA website to download them, but that site hasn't been updated as frequently this year as it was last year.

[joehockey]

Everything started today with a good informational meeting. There are 2 pools with 4 teams in each pool one pool has 4 goalies the other 8. All teams have 15 skaters. Games start Wednesday morning.

[bafata88]

And the girls were told that the pools are not equal, with the A pool consisting of players who scored higher in the tryouts and therefore, the college coaches will spend their time watching the A pool games and may not get to the B pool games; if this is truly the case, then perhaps the families with players in the B pool should get some money back. Seems like the B pool families are paying to help support putting this thing on for the A pool players; cheesy.

[joehockey]

Saw a little action this morning the Red vs Grey game was very good - great goaltending on both ends by Banapase-Potvin for Grey and Sobczak for Red, d and forwards were really forced to move the puck unlike a normal HS game - great action won by Red 3-1 Bethany Brausen (2 I think) and Amy Olson for Red and Ellie Gleason for Grey.

Appeared to be lots of D1 (Wisconsin, MN, SCSU, MSU, BSU, UND, Dartmouth, Cornel, Providence, Yale, RPI, BC, BU, UCONN...) & D3 coaches.

[laker9]

If I were a parent this year I would be very upset. Why have they categorized and labeled these girls? Who did this? Everybody should have the same opportunity. The top girls will establish themselves.
I know a very prominent defenseman that was as good as any junior D in the state last year in my opinion and who happened to make it to New York as one of the 6 D at the Advanced 16 level and she was placed in the D3 group. All of a sudden there are 24 D better than her? There aren't 5 D better than her. She has already gone on a D1 visit. Who missed the boat here? I'm sure she is not the only one. Now having been placed in the D3 group, the D1 coaches will not even watch here there. No, I am not her parent or relative. Just someone who knows a little about the game who see's this all as a sham. Shame on you MGHCA.

[joehockey]

...I know a very prominent defenseman that was as good as any junior D in the state last year in my opinion and who happened to make it to New York as one of the 6 D at the Advanced 16 level and she was placed in the D3 group. All of a sudden there are 24 D better than her? There aren't 5 D better than her. She has already gone on a D1 visit. Who missed the boat here? I'm sure she is not the only one. Now having been placed in the D3 group, the D1 coaches will not even watch here there. No, I am not her parent or relative. Just someone who knows a little about the game who see's this all as a sham. Shame on you MGHCA.

Who are you talking about? The 7 U16 D from MN in Rochester NY last year were the following....4 are MN HS JRs eligible for the JR Fest - 3 are at JR Festival all are in the A Pool:

Alleva Rose D Red Wing - A - At JR Festival A Pool Red Team
Pendleton Maggie D Hill Murray - AA - At JR Festival A Pool Red Team
Piche' Francie D East Grand Forks - A - Jr but not at JR Fest
Hanmer Audrey D Forest Lake - AA - only a Sophmore not at JR Fest
Marzario Madison D Shattuck-St. Mary's - not in MN HS not at Jr Fest
Ladner Catie D Chaska - AA - At JR Festival A Pool Red Team
Illikainen Morgan D Grand Rapids/Greenway - AA -only a Sophmore not at JR Fest

Wish the rosters were on line at the MGHCA site.

The games I saw this morning were very good and the games are staggered so D1 & D3 Coaches move between the two rinks:

Scores in the A pool
Red 3 Grey 1
Black 7 Sky 2
Grey 2 Sky 0
Black 8 Red 4

Can someone post the B pool scores?

[rmmaiv123]

B pool scores

white vs. royal- 5-0; white
yellow vs. green- 1-2; green
royal vs. green- 1-2; green
white vs. yellow- 2-1; white

[laker9]

Joe, this girl is a 91 which makes it even a more diffiicult acheivement to make it to the National camp as most girls there were a grade ahead. She was not involved in the Advanced program last year due to her age. I just think its wrong that someone comes in and decides 60 skaters are D1 material and 60 are not based on a 2 hr tryout for many of them. Given the tryout is 2 months after the season ends and many of the girls do not have access to ice for that length of time to prepare for this, there would seem to be a better way to do this.
Worst of all to not tell the participants until they show up the day the event starts is inexcuseable. Many of these girls would probably have chosen not to come. What a disappointment for several of them who were so looking forward to this.
The best choice would be to go with 6 teams like last year and have everyone have the same opportunity.
Life is not always fair. This girl will be fine. If I am a betting man, she will be playing D1 next year somewhere and several of the 24 D chosen here will not.

[rmmaiv123]

laker9, i agree with you on some of these things but i don't think a girl would not come because of her pool. Tomorrow are crossover games and all 4 games will be looked at by both D1 and D3 coaches.

If some girls in B pool really belong in A pool they will have their chance to prove that tomorrow.

[joehockey]

Joe, this girl is a 91 which makes it even a more diffiicult acheivement to make it to the National camp as most girls there were a grade ahead. She was not involved in the Advanced program last year due to her age. I just think its wrong that someone comes in and decides 60 skaters are D1 material and 60 are not based on a 2 hr tryout for many of them. Given the tryout is 2 months after the season ends and many of the girls do not have access to ice for that length of time to prepare for this, there would seem to be a better way to do this.
Worst of all to not tell the participants until they show up the day the event starts is inexcuseable. Many of these girls would probably have chosen not to come. What a disappointment for several of them who were so looking forward to this.
The best choice would be to go with 6 teams like last year and have everyone have the same opportunity.
Life is not always fair. This girl will be fine. If I am a betting man, she will be playing D1 next year somewhere and several of the 24 D chosen here will not.

Got it....she is a good player and I agree she will be fine. It will be interesting to see what happens out of this years format.

[bafata88]

laker9, i agree with you on some of these things but i don't think a girl would not come because of her pool. Tomorrow are crossover games and all 4 games will be looked at by both D1 and D3 coaches.

If some girls in B pool really belong in A pool they will have their chance to prove that tomorrow.

Obviously one will need to wait to see how things work out; however, the A pool teams should be able to dominate these crossover games making it unlikely any stronger B pool player will be able to shine; one player rarely can make things happen without some help from linemates; if lines are overmatched, it will just likely be ugly hockey for one team. Bottom line, the players should have been treated equally across the board. But as we all know, life is not fair and Minnesota Hockey always has a way of annointing players from very early ages as the Advanced or Select in boys and girls and these lists typically do not change; and if a parent does not know how this game is played begining in squirts or u-10, their kid ends up behind and it aint easy to catch up. Once again, this Jr. Fest is just more of the same; cheesy.

[iceage]

laker9, i agree with you on some of these things but i don't think a girl would not come because of her pool. Tomorrow are crossover games and all 4 games will be looked at by both D1 and D3 coaches.

If some girls in B pool really belong in A pool they will have their chance to prove that tomorrow.

Obviously one will need to wait to see how things work out; however, the A pool teams should be able to dominate these crossover games making it unlikely any stronger B pool player will be able to shine; one player rarely can make things happen without some help from linemates; if lines are overmatched, it will just likely be ugly hockey for one team. Bottom line, the players should have been treated equally across the board. But as we all know, life is not fair and Minnesota Hockey always has a way of annointing players from very early ages as the Advanced or Select in boys and girls and these lists typically do not change; and if a parent does not know how this game is played begining in squirts or u-10, their kid ends up behind and it aint easy to catch up.

Well said.

[hockeya1a]

laker9,

however, the A pool teams should be able to dominate these crossover games making it unlikely any stronger B pool player will be able to shine; one player rarely can make things happen without some help from linemates; if lines are overmatched, it will just likely be ugly hockey for one team. Bottom line, .

And you never know what will happen, Remember how the U17’s turned out. the team that won all of their games had one of the least amount of players advance to Phase3. or at least the team that looked good on paper did not do so well on the Ice,

I would also think that a DI coach would want to decide on what talent is not what someone else perceives as talent.

[joehockey]

Watching a little on both rinks I didn't think the big difference was skill but rather speed. The top end players stand out because they are making impact plays the lower end players stand out because they don't have pull away speed or someone is able to blow by them it is not a skill issue but speed issue.

In the registration meeting they tried to say each year MN sends around 30 D1 players out of MN HS hockey and about 100-110 to D3. Jr Fest has about 132 players (120 skaters and 12 goalies on the 8 teams) and looking at the list there is a hand full of top Juniors not at Junior Fest maybe they are still in school or injured?

The cross over games will give all kids a chance to show - the players who have speed and skills to have impact will standout and have a chance to be one of the 1 in 4 who may play D1 if grades and everything else fit (want to play out east our outside of MN). The D1 & D3 programs are very active around the rink they take lots of notes and seem to be very interested in what they are seeing from the MN players.

The players all seem to be having fun, working hard and they really appear to be enjoying the experience playing against and with long time hockey friends.

[girlshockey]

Junior Fest is not a Minnesota Hockey event, it is a Minnesota Girls Hockey Coaches Association program and is run totally by the girls high school coaches. Place the blame on the high school coaches for the selection process, not Minnesota Hockey who is the governing body for amateur hockey.

[joehockey]

Black 6 Grey 3
Red 4 Sky 1

Looks like it will be following ranking for cross over:
Black 1 (went 3-0)
Red 2 (2-1 and beat grey head to head)
Grey 3 (went 2-1 but lost to Red)
Sky 4 (went 0-3)

Someone said Red will play White but I don't know other match ups....this is all comments by parents trying to figure out and players from the Whtie team who said they finished 2nd.......

If both Red and Black win they could have rematch for Championship on Friday.

[allhoc11]

Watching a little on both rinks I didn't think the big difference was skill but rather speed. The top end players stand out because they are making impact plays the lower end players stand out because they don't have pull away speed or someone is able to blow by them it is not a skill issue but speed issue.

In the registration meeting they tried to say each year MN sends around 30 D1 players out of MN HS hockey and about 100-110 to D3. Jr Fest has about 132 players (120 skaters and 12 goalies on the 8 teams) and looking at the list there is a hand full of top Juniors not at Junior Fest maybe they are still in school or injured?

The cross over games will give all kids a chance to show - the players who have speed and skills to have impact will standout and have a chance to be one of the 1 in 4 who may play D1 if grades and everything else fit (want to play out east our outside of MN). The D1 & D3 programs are very active around the rink they take lots of notes and seem to be very interested in what they are seeing from the MN players.

The players all seem to be having fun, working hard and they really appear to be enjoying the experience playing against and with long time hockey friends.

Joe - thanks for keeping us who can't be there in the loop, and to add to you point above these coaches make a living by their ability to recruit, they won't miss kids. If a kid is good enough they will be found. Joe any idea about # of schools who have a representative present?

[Melvin44]

Yes, Players and parents should have been notified about how Fest was going to be played. There is a difference in the speed of the 2 groups. That being said I do feel a B pool team could upset an A pool team. Anything can happen in hockey.

As far as certain players not making the top group. My understanding is there were other things to consider. Getting paper work and payment in on time. Let's remember everyone had to go through the same tryout processes. Yes it sucks when a player has a bad tryout or bad day for that matter. But let us also remember if our daughters are good enough they will be found. Are there girls who are dominating the B pool? Most games seem close.

In my opinion if they would have evened out the teams. Play would have been slower and might change D1 coaches opinions on coming in future years. This format I feel keeps coaches coming.

The other solution would have been to only pick 4-6 teams and a lot of girls would have missed out on a way to get noticed. Nothing is ever perfect.

[hockeya1a]

Yes, Players and parents should have been notified about how Fest was going to be played. There is a difference in the speed of the 2 groups. That being said I do feel a B pool team could upset an A pool team. Anything can happen in hockey.

As far as certain players not making the top group. My understanding is there were other things to consider. Getting paper work and payment in on time. Let's remember everyone had to go through they same tryout processes. Yes it sucks when a player has a bad tryout or bad day for that matter. But let us also remember if our daughters are good enough they will be found.

Are there girls who are dominating the B pool? Most games seem close.

In my opinion if they would have evened out the teams. Play would have been slower and might change D1 coaches opinions on coming in future years. This format I feel keeps coaches coming.

The other solution would have been to only pick 4-6 teams and a lot of girls would have missed out on a way to get noticed. Nothing is ever perfect.

Great post,

It is good that the girls have a place to be seen!
and you never know what might happen as we have all seen before.
Work hard and have fun girls!

[jumpstart]

Yes, Players and parents should have been notified about how Fest was going to be played. There is a difference in the speed of the 2 groups. That being said I do feel a B pool team could upset an A pool team. Anything can happen in hockey.

As far as certain players not making the top group. My understanding is there were other things to consider. Getting paper work and payment in on time. Let's remember everyone had to go through the same tryout processes. Yes it sucks when a player has a bad tryout or bad day for that matter. But let us also remember if our daughters are good enough they will be found. Are there girls who are dominating the B pool? Most games seem close.

In my opinion if they would have evened out the teams. Play would have been slower and might change D1 coaches opinions on coming in future years. This format I feel keeps coaches coming.

The other solution would have been to only pick 4-6 teams and a lot of girls would have missed out on a way to get noticed. Nothing is ever perfect.

First off, I agree with Melvin that no solution is ever perfect. Second, I don't have a Junior involved this year. Here are my observations:

I see the logic behind having two pools in that it allows more girls to be seen. However, and correct me if I am wrong, the girls and parents going in did not know about the two pool system or what pool they fell into until the first day of the festival. I hope this was just an oversight on the part of the organizers, and that will be corrected in future years.

It is also my understanding, and again correct me if I am wrong, that not everyone went through the same tryout process. Girls that made it to Phase 2 of NDP had their tryout process during the NDP process. Girls that did not make it past Phase 1 or were too old to participate in NDP had to go to a separate tryout.

Having said this, I wish all of the girls good luck in Junior Fest, and I hope they have fun!!

[rmmaiv123]

laker9, i agree with you on some of these things but i don't think a girl would not come because of her pool. Tomorrow are crossover games and all 4 games will be looked at by both D1 and D3 coaches.

If some girls in B pool really belong in A pool they will have their chance to prove that tomorrow.

Obviously one will need to wait to see how things work out; however, the A pool teams should be able to dominate these crossover games making it unlikely any stronger B pool player will be able to shine; one player rarely can make things happen without some help from linemates; if lines are overmatched, it will just likely be ugly hockey for one team. Bottom line, the players should have been treated equally across the board. But as we all know, life is not fair and Minnesota Hockey always has a way of annointing players from very early ages as the Advanced or Select in boys and girls and these lists typically do not change; and if a parent does not know how this game is played begining in squirts or u-10, their kid ends up behind and it aint easy to catch up. Once again, this Jr. Fest is just more of the same; cheesy.

The B pool teams were not blown out of the water.

Sky vs. Yellow 3-2 ;sky
Black vs. Green 5-0 ; black (more of a blow out)
Red vs. White 3-4; white- White being a pool B team