JuniorFest 2011

[#2 Hockey Mom]

What's the word? When do the kids find out about tryouts?

[flyingV]

Anybody, anything yet?

[NPC]

From the Girls Hockey Hub:

2011 Junior Festival Update
Tryouts have completed, and festival invites will be emailed to families on Friday April 15th. All players who participated in a tryout will receive a letter letting them know if they made the festival, were selected as an alternate, or if they didn't get selected to participate. If you don't receive a letter by Saturday please contact the festival director.


..2011 Junior Festival Dates Announced
The 2011 High School Junior Festival will take place June 14-17, 2011. Tryouts will take place after the 2010-11 High school season is complete. Junior Festival is for eligible high school players who have just completed their junior year. Players are nominated by their high school coaches. For information regarding this event please contact Jaime Grossman at grossman.jaime@gmail.com.

..

[hockey-mom-3]

Thanks, does anyone know if it is true that the top 2010 Pool Group B team beat the top Pool Group A team?

[jcp-18]

Yes, that's true. In the cross-over games last year Red (Pool B) beat Royal (Pool A), and Yellow (Pool A) beat Sky (Pool B) in a shootout after two OTs. 2010 Championship game Team Red (Pool B) beat Team Yellow (Pool A) in a shootout after two OTs.

[hockey-mom-3]

Thank you! So do they intentionally make the two pools even strength? In otherwords, is it incorrect that being placed in Pool A is better?

[donomuch]

To clarify things, the shots and play were by no means close to even last year between pool A and Pool B. Pool A teams outshot Pool B teams by a wide margin. Goalie play was a big determining factor and nothing wrong with that. It happens alot, and a win is a win, but fact is, there was a big difference in the play between not only the two Pools, but even the skill level on the same teams. It was sort of hard hockey to watch.

[hockey-mom-3]

So it sounds like in your opinion there were calibre A players in the B pool & vice versa. Is this worth the time & money or is it a joke?

[hockeya1a]

So it sounds like in your opinion there were calibre A players in the B pool & vice versa. Is this worth the time & money or is it a joke?

Its not bad hockey any time you can play at a higher level it is a good thing, is it worth it? for some it is and for some it is not.
Are you going to learn a lot from it? probably not, its just more games under the belt.
If You want to get better for your Money do the O's or something similar to improve yourself.

[allhoc11]

So it sounds like in your opinion there were calibre A players in the B pool & vice versa. Is this worth the time & money or is it a joke?

I have seen a good number of the games 2 of the past 3 years. In those 2 years I haven't seen much A caliber players in pool B. I think last year was unique as the goaltender play was better than I've seen in many years at the HS level. Re: Worth the time/money - that would depend on what you are hoping to get out of the experience. These are kids who are going to be Sr's in HS, this isn't for skill development. I believe the stated purpose of this event is exposure to college coaches, if that is what you are after, it is definitely worth the time/money. Good Luck

[mnhockey3535]

[/quote] I believe the stated purpose of this event is exposure to college coaches, if that is what you are after, it is definitely worth the time/money. Good Luck

I believe this is true....Jr fest is one of the most highly recruited events in the nation by college coaches. If you are a division 1 type player or division 3 type player there are coaches there to look at you. I believe there have been a lot of "pool B" players who have gone on to college hockey.

[hockeya1a]

I believe the stated purpose of this event is exposure to college coaches, if that is what you are after, it is definitely worth the time/money. Good Luck

I believe this is true....Jr fest is one of the most highly recruited events in the nation by college coaches. If you are a division 1 type player or division 3 type player there are coaches there to look at you. I believe there have been a lot of "pool B" players who have gone on to college hockey.

[/quote]

I suppose it also depends on which scouts watch pool B if that is the pool your in.

[DANCINHOCKEYDAD]

My daughter played in pool b last year and after that she recieved a lot of interest from many division 3 schools and a couple of east coast division 1 schools.

[puckskillz]

[quote="hockeyheaven"]That would be a reason not to do Junior Fest. These girls still have the opportunity to make it to the National camp and then possibly the Under 18 team.


Saw the quote on the Jr. fest above. They were talking about already committed Jr's playing Jr. fest or trying out for Advanced.
I don't know how many of the committed juniors are participating but my understanding is the HS and College coaches were asking the committed recruits to participate to push the level of play and provide benchmarks to assist in evaluating other players. The Jr. Fest is a great recruiting event and they probably believe that having the top players in that class participating maintains its integrity.

[moose jaw]

Not sure why if your already committed and the commitment is solid from both the school and the player why would they participate in this,if the purpose is for exposure to colleges,advanced program completely different as you are playing for a different reason and i would expect already commited players to be involved in that.

[hockeya1a]

Not sure why if your already committed and the commitment is solid from both the school and the player why would they participate in this,if the purpose is for exposure to colleges,advanced program completely different as you are playing for a different reason and i would expect already commited players to be involved in that.

This is off of the MGHCA
The purpose of this showcase tournament is to give the best senior players in the state an opportunity to compete with the state’s other best players and also to give many players a final chance to be scouted by some of the top D1 and D3 colleges in the area. Many past participants have gone on to play college hockey as a result in their participation in this event. We hope you enjoy this year’s tournament and that you help us to celebrate the outstanding young women who are representing their schools and sections.

There were many girls listed in this tournament that already are committed to a college that played in this. So basically they do promote the fact that it is to be seen by the scouts.

[moose jaw]

Ok, how about juniorfest?

[hockeya1a]

Ok, how about juniorfest?

They are Basically the same, but for different grades same principal
I just pulled the info from this site because it was right there and I did not have to search too much.

[OntheEdge]

Not sure why if your already committed and the commitment is solid from both the school and the player why would they participate in this,if the purpose is for exposure to colleges,advanced program completely different as you are playing for a different reason and i would expect already commited players to be involved in that.

Last year at Juniorfest a significant number of the committed players did not participate. As a result, it was pretty much a consensus that Minnesota wasn't showcasing its best talent. I was told that the scouts were disappointed in the level of play because it was hard to judge the talents of some girls since they weren't playing against the best. I think its important that the best juniors play in this event whether or not they have committed. Otherwise scouts might not come to this event if they don't think its a good chance to see the best play the best. There are plenty of other events that they can spend their time on if this event doesn't measure up.

[flatbottomv]

Committed players should participate for sure!!!! The Directors should also allow Thoroughbred and NAHA players who are juniors in Minnesota to skate. Invite and encourage every quality junior to compete. After all it is a showcase.

[moose jaw]

Once again not sure why already committed players would take part in this when the purpose is college exposure seems to me the commited already have it.Why would high school coaches open this up to naha players or tbreds seems to me they left mn high school hockey for better exposure elsewhere.

[x-out]

Committed players should participate for sure!!!! The Directors should also allow Thoroughbred and NAHA players who are juniors in Minnesota to skate. Invite and encourage every quality junior to compete. After all it is a showcase.

After all....it is a showcase for players who stayed with their high school teams and played for Minnesota Girls High School Hockey teams, not for people who made a decision that Minnesota High School hockey wasn't good enough for them until they want the perks of what this association promotes. So....go back to NAHA or Thoroughbreds and play in their junior fest showcase.

[OntheEdge]

Once again not sure why already committed players would take part in this when the purpose is college exposure seems to me the commited already have it.Why would high school coaches open this up to naha players or tbreds seems to me they left mn high school hockey for better exposure elsewhere.

I can see your point from the perspective of the committed player but from the girls that are trying to get noticed it is better if the committed players participate. Scouts want to see how players play against the best competition. If the level of play is not good enough then I predict you will see the attendance by the scouts dwindle. The scouts have limited resources and if the level of play is not good enough they will spend their dollars elsewhere.

In regards to committed players, even though they are not looking to impress scouts I would think that they would like to play against fellow Juniors. If nothing else, its another tournament and its benefiting HS hockey, there fellow athletes and not just another for profit venture.

As far as NAHA? (NAHA is in Vermont and I doubt that we have many NAHA players trying to get in) and Tbreds, part of me agrees that this is an event to help HS girls so I would not include them but part of me wants the best of the best Minnesota girls and if some of them happen to be Tbreds or Shattuck or NAHA maybe we should invite them.

[observer]

Maybe a couple of different discussions.

The MN High Performance process for 1996s, 1995s and 1994s is part of USA Hockey and they want all the top players in the US to participate where it makes sense. Nobody is, or should be, excluded from that process.

If Junior Fest is not part of the USA High Performance process but a tourney sponsored by the MGHCA then I would think the players schools membership in the MGHCA would be a requirement for participation.

The obvious rub on having committed players participate is it excludes some players that haven't received a college offer. That's a tough one. I like the idea of having the best players there but that is at the expense of some players that need the exposure more than the ones that already have received a college offer.

If the goal is to have the best tournament possible then include them but if the goal is to get exposure for as many girls as possible then don't.

I'll add that 4 lines of forwards sucks and frankly, most of the time, not worth the money. More exposure for more girls, keeps the cost down or a money grab?

[Just4Fun]

Committed players should participate for sure!!!! The Directors should also allow Thoroughbred and NAHA players who are juniors in Minnesota to skate. Invite and encourage every quality junior to compete. After all it is a showcase.

My daughter participated last year. Overall a positive experience. She did have a couple D1 committed players on her team. One committed player wanted everyone to see her. Never passed, never talked, didn't work at the defensive end, but had no issues going to the goal. Even their team coach commented to the players about her. No one wanted to be on her line. Tough to get noticed with a teammate like that. She did make the other defensive players work. Thats a positive!