Alternatives to high school hockey

[j4241]

I'm very intrigued to see what Josephin Buoveng looks like for the Gophers this year. Even heavily discounting the rampant thirstiness of this article (https://thehockeywriters.com/minnesota- ... a-rookies/ - "Invisible ceiling"), she should be good. She's coming in with the advantage of being a 21 year old with lots of national team experience and several years of experience playing womens hockey (versus the Minnesota kids playing high school). Same with the Finn, Laitinen (20). The article made a comparison to Stalder, who finished her UMD career scoring at almost a 1.7ppg pace. Stalder played in the same league as Buoveng last year in Sweden, scoring almost 3ppg to Buoveng's 1.6. Buoveng also scored slightly behind Sidney Brodt and Katerina Mrazova, both of whom also played at UMD, and finished their careers scoring a bit under 0.6ppg. I think that's probably a more realistic comp. I wouldn't be shocked to see her score at that level if she gets top 2 or 3 line minutes, which would translate into scoring totals near or slightly behind Peyton Hemp's 19 year old first year (versus Buoveng's 22). If, like Hemp last year, she ends up playing meaningful minutes with Heise, I could see her pushing 1ppg (like Hemp did). That would be a very good first year, but one that might be closer to her peak than a 19 year old with more room for improvement. And I'm not sure it warrants the fervor implied in that article.

Separately, Princeton recently had three verbal commitments hit the wire - the Digirolamo sisters (Selects Academy, F, June '05 birthdays) and Rosie Klein (Chicago Mission, D, Feb '05). All three are '23s, and all three committed as '24s. I assume they will either get jobs/take classes while playing for a club team like the Mission, or PG at a place like Shattuck or an east coast boarding school. That is a phenomenon that we've seen very little of in girls hockey so far - will it be a growing trend? Could a B+ prospect turn themself into an A by reclassing? The COVID logjam continues a bit, and it may be more kids will consider that route (especially when the competitive set includes 21 year old Europeans). And upcoming MN prospects ('24s and beyond) should be aware of it as they navigate/approach the recruiting process.

[Iceburg]

Not sure if this is a coming trend or coincidence. Pretty sure Covid pushed back the two Europeans. I believe in a normal world Bouveng would be entering her junior year at Princeton and Laitinen might be entering her sophomore year at Minnesota. The Bouveng announcement came up pretty quickly, but the Laitinen commitment seemed to be a done deal behind the scenes since before the breakup of the previous Gopher staff. Also possible she wanted to wait until after the Olympics to come over.

Interesting to see if the Princeton girls you mentioned actually wait until ‘24 to start their college careers or if the website got things wrong. Like you say, we haven’t seen too much of this in the past. There have been a few French Canadian girls that have taken PG years at their prep school’s over the years. Always wondered if that might have been to improve their English? Pure speculation on my part.

The Gophers have a commitment from a Hungarian girl (Emma Kreisz) who is taking a PG year at Stanstead College (a prep school in Quebec). Not sure exactly what the story is there.

[j4241]

Not sure if this is a coming trend or coincidence. Pretty sure Covid pushed back the two Europeans. I believe in a normal world Bouveng would be entering her junior year at Princeton and Laitinen might be entering her sophomore year at Minnesota.

Interesting to see if the Princeton girls you mentioned actually wait until ‘24 to start their college careers or if the website got things wrong. Like you say, we haven’t seen too much of this in the past.

The introduction of reclassing to the girls game is entirely a COVID phenomenon. I don't think we're heading for something like the boys game, where almost every kid plays two years of juniors and delays the start of adulthood. But it began in boys because kids couldn't find opportunities, took a year or two in juniors and then were more competitive with younger peers. COVID has created that same opportunity on the girls side where it wasn't necessary in the past. And in Buoveng's case, she should have been a college frosh in the fall of '19 based on her age (she's a May '01), so I'm not sure her story is entirely a COVID one.

The three Princeton commits, if they are committing as '23s, are committing pretty late. These three look solid as '23s, but not spectacular. I think Princeton viewed their roster as full for '23s for some time, but as '24s, they look more compelling. The '24 start date seems pretty plausible to me.

[InThePipes]

Not sure if this is a coming trend or coincidence. Pretty sure Covid pushed back the two Europeans. I believe in a normal world Bouveng would be entering her junior year at Princeton and Laitinen might be entering her sophomore year at Minnesota.

Interesting to see if the Princeton girls you mentioned actually wait until ‘24 to start their college careers or if the website got things wrong. Like you say, we haven’t seen too much of this in the past.

The introduction of reclassing to the girls game is entirely a COVID phenomenon. I don't think we're heading for something like the boys game, where almost every kid plays two years of juniors and delays the start of adulthood. But it began in boys because kids couldn't find opportunities, took a year or two in juniors and then were more competitive with younger peers. COVID has created that same opportunity on the girls side where it wasn't necessary in the past. And in Buoveng's case, she should have been a college frosh in the fall of '19 based on her age (she's a May '01), so I'm not sure her story is entirely a COVID one.

The three Princeton commits, if they are committing as '23s, are committing pretty late. These three look solid as '23s, but not spectacular. I think Princeton viewed their roster as full for '23s for some time, but as '24s, they look more compelling. The '24 start date seems pretty plausible to me.

I hope you are correct and if so, thank goodness