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Sunday, March 10th, the section assignments will be out for the next two years. Does anyone expect any major changes? Is anyone opting up to AA or heading back down to A that will shake things up?

I suspect things will look the same, perhaps a minor change here or there.

We can only hope for greater equity, but my fear is that inertia will rule the day.

Sue's a girls name wrote:Sunday, March 10th, the section assignments will be out for the next two years. Does anyone expect any major changes? Is anyone opting up to AA or heading back down to A that will shake things up?

I suspect things will look the same, perhaps a minor change here or there.

Unless there are new teams being formed or current teams deciding they are no more (or will be changing classes), I suspect you will be right, as the geography will not change.

The new competitive sections for the 2013-2014, 2014-2015 school years have been published: http://mshsl.org/mshsl/competitiveSectionsone3.asp

I didn't go through all sections yet but I did see a few interesting changes for Girls Hockey.

MinnGirlsHockey wrote:The new competitive sections for the 2013-2014, 2014-2015 school years have been published: http://mshsl.org/mshsl/competitiveSectionsone3.asp

I didn't go through all sections yet but I did see a few interesting changes for Girls Hockey.

From the list it appears that Roseau isn't opting up anymore. They are listed in 8A.

Looks like Buffalo escaped section 6AA. Good for them.

Good deal for Buffalo. Tough for SLP to be moved to 6AA. Not much movement anywhere else, it seems. I realize that there are section assignment rules, but this is just an excuse to not improve things and ensure that many high quality teams don't make it to State and we have a lower quality State tournament than we should have, for at least two more years. Interesting about Roseau - anyone know why they would want to go back to competing against Warroad to make it to State? It seems that their path was easier in AA.

Looks like Andover has moved out of 5AA to 7AA while Rogers fills their spot in 5AA.

sinbin wrote:We can only hope for greater equity, but my fear is that inertia will rule the day.

The majority of these class A sections are embarrassing, what's best for the game? Terrible teams at state or back to 4 class A sections?

In AA it looks like Buffalo and Andover greatly increased their odds of going to state and Section 5AA became much more wide open with Andover moving out. St. Louis Park really took it on the chin moving to 6AA but I guess if all we care about is geography it makes sense. They play out of the same rink as BSM.

MinnGirlsHockey wrote:The new competitive sections for the 2013-2014, 2014-2015 school years have been published: http://mshsl.org/mshsl/competitiveSectionsone3.asp

I didn't go through all sections yet but I did see a few interesting changes for Girls Hockey.

I think below are all of the changes for Girls Hockey.

Change of section but same class:
Mound-Westonka from 2A to 5A
Totino-Grace from 4A to 5A
Chisago Lakes from 7A to 4A
Andover from 5AA to 7AA
Buffalo Bison from 6AA to 8AA

Change from AA to A:
Bloomington Kennedy from 2AA to 5A
St. Paul Blades from 4AA to 4A
Roseau from 8AA to 8A

Change from A to AA:
Minnehaha Saints from 4A to 4AA
AHA/Richfield from 5A to 2AA
Rogers from 5A to 5AA
St. Louis Park from 5A to 6AA
Princeton/Big Lake/Becker from 7A to 7AA

Here are some of my observations:
* Enrollment threshold for Class AA appears to be 1200
* St. Louis Park’s enrollment increased by only 22 students from 1178 to 1200 and was moved from A to AA (6AA, no less – lucky them)
* Rogers’ enrollment increased from 1161 to 1251 and was moved from A to AA
* Bloomington Kennedy’s enrollment decreased from 1275 to 1180 and was moved from AA to A
* Roseau apparently is no longer opting up to AA, as mentioned previously
* St. Paul Blades and Minnehaha Saints were swapped between 4AA and 4A. I’m not sure that I understand this one, Blades have a total co-op enrollment of 5778 and Minnehaha has a total co-op enrollment of 1976. Also, if M’haha were to remove the 2 Lutheran schools from their co-op, which according to their 2012-13 team roster on the MSHSL website do not provide them with any players currently, their total enrollment would be 1237 – still above the AA threshold but much lower than the Blades' total enrollment. Possibly the Blades were proactive in getting the MSHSL to move them to A based on their schools' demographics?
* I believe AHA/Richfield, Minnehaha Saints, and Princeton/Big Lake/Becker were previously granted exceptions to remain at Class A when they added school(s) to their co-op’s. Apparently these exception approvals have expired (maybe they can appeal to the MSHSL again?).

I believe that Princeton also moved into section 7AA? Is that a enrollment move, or did Princeton "opt up"?

sinbin wrote:Good deal for Buffalo. Tough for SLP to be moved to 6AA. Not much movement anywhere else, it seems. I realize that there are section assignment rules, but this is just an excuse to not improve things and ensure that many high quality teams don't make it to State and we have a lower quality State tournament than we should have, for at least two more years. Interesting about Roseau - anyone know why they would want to go back to competing against Warroad to make it to State? It seems that their path was easier in AA.

As for Roseau - last Marvin graduated, I suppose Roseau a thinks the playing field will be equal now?

Rocketwrister wrote:I believe that Princeton also moved into section 7AA? Is that a enrollment move, or did Princeton "opt up"?

Enrollment for Princeton/Becker/Big Lake adds up to about 2500. I'm guessing its enrollment.

Im shocked Roseau went down to A. Wow!

My understanding is that Bloomington Kennedy will not field a girl's team next year, but will fold into Jefferson.

Well I guess the theory on why roseau opted up a few years back on the girls side has been answered.nice timing,there must be a few I told you so in warroad after seeing this move.but with that said there doesn't need to be 8 sections in class a hockey.

Andover makes sense in 7AA. That's where the boys play as well.

This Roseau mom is surprised and very disappointed at the move to A. We have a healthy girls youth program - competitive, and good numbers. Yes, our varsity team took an unexpected loss in playoffs but they performed well throughout the season. Not sure what the thinking is behind it.....maybe there are good reasons we don't know about. This seems to have taken the town by surprise. Roseau traditionallly aims HIGH in its hockey program. Very very bummed.

pickme wrote:

sinbin wrote:We can only hope for greater equity, but my fear is that inertia will rule the day.

The majority of these class A sections are embarrassing, what's best for the game? Terrible teams at state or back to 4 class A sections?

Section 5 in A is now the equivalent of section 6 in AA with 4 perennial top 10 teams in that group. A state certainly didn't get more competitive with this change.

I'm fine with Breck and Blake battling it out in the same section, but tough draws for Orono and Mound-Westonka. For either team to advance to State, they'd likely have to beat both Breck and Blake.

Roseau update: the school filed its paperwork to keep our girls in AA. The section assignments putting the girls in A was a surprise to them, too. Hopefully this is just an error by the MSHSL which can be easily remedied. Am not aware of the MSHSL keeping a school in A when it wants to move up.

Interesting. If Roseau moves back to AA, will there be any kind of domino effect to move other teams around to balance things out?

[quote="MinnGirlsHockey"]
* St. Paul Blades and Minnehaha Saints were swapped between 4AA and 4A. I’m not sure that I understand this one, Blades have a total co-op enrollment of 5778 and Minnehaha has a total co-op enrollment of 1976. Also, if M’haha were to remove the 2 Lutheran schools from their co-op, which according to their 2012-13 team roster on the MSHSL website do not provide them with any players currently, their total enrollment would be 1237 – still above the AA threshold but much lower than the Blades' total enrollment. Possibly the Blades were proactive in getting the MSHSL to move them to A based on their schools' demographics?
[/quote]

The Minnehaha move up is kind of a surprise, but the Blades move makes sense based on their program right now. They didn't even have a JV last year, and barely had enough for a JV this season. With the schools in the coop their enrollment numbers are big, but Central High School (1700+ enrollment) had 2 girls that played varsity hockey this year, just as an example. Demographics...

esox101 wrote:

MinnGirlsHockey wrote: * St. Paul Blades and Minnehaha Saints were swapped between 4AA and 4A. I’m not sure that I understand this one, Blades have a total co-op enrollment of 5778 and Minnehaha has a total co-op enrollment of 1976. Also, if M’haha were to remove the 2 Lutheran schools from their co-op, which according to their 2012-13 team roster on the MSHSL website do not provide them with any players currently, their total enrollment would be 1237 – still above the AA threshold but much lower than the Blades' total enrollment. Possibly the Blades were proactive in getting the MSHSL to move them to A based on their schools' demographics?

The Minnehaha move up is kind of a surprise, but the Blades move makes sense based on their program right now. They didn't even have a JV last year, and barely had enough for a JV this season. With the schools in the coop their enrollment numbers are big, but Central High School (1700+ enrollment) had 2 girls that played varsity hockey this year, just as an example. Demographics...

Funny that doesn't work in other places. Enrollment is enrollment regardless how many hockey players you have.