I disagree with this view of co-ops. They are needed to keep the sport viable while HOPEFULLY much recruiting is done at the youngest levels. The "if you build it" days are over. We have to find ways to creatively maintain the sport in communities that haven't been able to sustain teams.
http://www.startribune.com/526/story/1014761.html
New North Metro co-op skates to sudden success
Five months ago, 36 girls' hockey players from five schools weren't even sure they would have a team. Now they are going to the state tournament.
By Kelsie Smith, Star Tribune
Last update: February 21, 2007 – 7:28 AM

Alecia Anderson
Alecia Anderson, shown trying to make a pass during North Metro’s practice session Tuesday at Osseo Arena, said it took some time to feel comfortable with her new teammates. “It was kind of cliquey at first,” she said.
Jeff Wheeler , Star Tribune

Katie Horner
Katie Horner and her North Metro teammates make their debut in the girls’ hockey state tournament Thursday against Burnsville in the Class 2A quarterfinals.
Jeff Wheeler , Star Tribune
One month before the high school girls' hockey season began, Katie Horner and Alecia Anderson waited for some news. The Park Center seniors were all set to play in college -- Horner at Dartmouth, Anderson at St. Cloud State.
The only thing left to figure out? Where they would play their final high school season. Only three weeks before the season started, they got their answer when the Minnesota State High School League approved the North Metro co-op, made up of Park Center, Osseo and Tri-City (Fridley, Columbia Heights and Brooklyn Center).
That was five months ago. Thursday, North Metro makes its state tournament debut.
The odds of a newly minted team making it so far seem nearly impossible, even to North Metro coach Jack Gravel.
"If you'd have bet me at the beginning of the season that we'd make it to state," Gravel said, "you could have won some money off me."
Gravel had previously coached at Benilde-St. Margaret's, where he led the Red Knights to the Class 1A title in 2004.
Now, he said, all bets are off, even if North Metro (17-7-3) is the underdog in a field of underdogs. That's a label these girls are used to. They come from programs where a good season meant a .500 record, and before this year, none of them had played in the state tournament.
So imagine what they expected in the second game of the year, when they took on perennial power Centennial after losing 4-1 to Coon Rapids in the season opener. And imagine their excitement and, well, surprise when they won 6-2.
Gravel remembers sitting in the locker room with a 4-1 lead after the second period and hearing everyone say the same thing: "We've never been ahead of Centennial before."
Games like that get a team excited and breed hope. And they breed complaints, like all successful co-ops do.
Each year, the MSHSL reevaluates co-ops and disbands them if the program has become too strong. That means North Metro's quick success might actually work against it.
It seems unlikely, though, that the MSHSL would break up this new co-op so soon. If it hadn't formed in October, only Park Center could have scraped together a team. As it is, North Metro drew only 36 girls from the five schools. The playoff roster has 11 girls from Park Center, six from Osseo, two from Brooklyn Center and one from Fridley.
It took some time, Gravel said, for the girls to get comfortable with each other. The Stars went 7-4-2 through December before stringing together a seven-game winning streak in January.
"It was kind of cliquey at first," Anderson said. "But since the halfway point of the season, everyone knows each other really well and those cliques started to break apart. Now, it's fun to play with other people from different high schools."
Thursday, the patchwork team meets Burnsville in the quarterfinals of the Class 2A tournament at Xcel Energy Center.
Horner said no matter how the season ends, she will be sad when it's over.
"It's about the game and playing hockey," she said. "We don't have open enrollments with big-name transfers coming in like other schools. These are just girls going to their designated school who just want to play hockey."
Kelsie Smith •