HighSchoolHockeyForums.com

I'm curious how many community based hockey associations in Minnesota have representation on their local hockey boards. Rochester has over 100 girls in the program but the girls rep is just a member of the traveling committee. My niece plays in Edina and my sister says that they have co presidents (boys and girls)...great concept. Edina has lots more girls then we do. How many associations in Minnesota have a girls Rep on their boards? How big does a girls program need to be to justify this?

Our board supports the girls program now more than it ever has in the past. There are no dual positions however and I am not certain that is necessary to have as long as the association board members represent the entire membership. There is a girls coordinator however that represents the girls program. Any association that does not support girls hockey is crazy as the girls represent the fastest growing membership nation wide. So ignoring the girls program is a deterrant financially to any association. I know in Duluth DAHA has nothing to do with girls hockey the girls have their own association. Cities like Hermantown and Virginia do not even have a girls program....why?

In Bemidji, each girls age group is represented on the Board. 10U, 12U, and 14U. We also have a Girl's Coordinator on our Development committee as well as the Head High School Girls coach. It is definitely growing that is for certain.

punchinbag wrote:In Bemidji, each girls age group is represented on the Board. 10U, 12U, and 14U. We also have a Girl's Coordinator on our Development committee as well as the Head High School Girls coach. It is definitely growing that is for certain.

And that has been since inception in 1994 despite the arguments of some members of the board. They were told get with the girls program or resign.
The president at that time was kind of a dictator-hard*ss.

Rumor has it, he still is

Eliott & Punchinbag,
I have heard the Bemidji's girls teams are tough (taking this at face value-we never get to play northern teams). Do you think it is because their interests are represented on the board or for some other reason. Our girls still get stiffed a little bit. We aren't fully rostered (15 skaters n 2 goalies) like the youth teams are so something has to give. Either the price will go up, or something has to be cut like ice hours or tournaments. Since we have multiple youth teams at each level they tend to have back2boack practice and they keep the Zamboni off and combine 2 teams for 2+ hours of ice. Since the girls are spread ou in ability even at the same age level they don't combine as much. The youth teams at least at the A level seem to get a lot of 1.5 hr ice slots so they can get good metro teams to play them and my daughters team never gets that. The new ice guy was far better than last years so it got better but is still not equal. I suppose you need to be in the ice guys ear at board meetings or in the stands.

Rocket78 wrote:Eliott & Punchinbag,
I have heard the Bemidji's girls teams are tough (taking this at face value-we never get to play northern teams). Do you think it is because their interests are represented on the board or for some other reason. Our girls still get stiffed a little bit. We aren't fully rostered (15 skaters n 2 goalies) like the youth teams are so something has to give. Either the price will go up, or something has to be cut like ice hours or tournaments. Since we have multiple youth teams at each level they tend to have back2boack practice and they keep the Zamboni off and combine 2 teams for 2+ hours of ice. Since the girls are spread ou in ability even at the same age level they don't combine as much. The youth teams at least at the A level seem to get a lot of 1.5 hr ice slots so they can get good metro teams to play them and my daughters team never gets that. The new ice guy was far better than last years so it got better but is still not equal. I suppose you need to be in the ice guys ear at board meetings or in the stands.

District 16 as a whole have strong girls teams.
They have been supported strongly at the district level and the local level since inception.

Rocket, I don't think you have your facts straight. The only level that get's 1.5 are bantams and thats for games per district rules.

The girls program gets it's fair share in Roch! U12A's which play in the SQB2 league play their games on the boys ice correct? They have almost zero shared practices?

Hockey is Hockey, the girls should not have a specail only person. the WHOLE board should work cooperativley with all to promote all levels of hockey ,

Marty McSorely wrote:Rocket, I don't think you have your facts straight. The only level that get's 1.5 are bantams and thats for games per district rules.

The girls program gets it's fair share in Roch! U12A's which play in the SQB2 league play their games on the boys ice correct? They have almost zero shared practices?

Well one of us has most of the facts straight. Go the the district's website and click on rules. Then cruise down to section 2.4. You'll see that league games for BA,BB,JrG,U16 and girls U14&U19 are 1.25 hours long and not 1.5 hours. The RYHA bantam teams chose to put their league games on the 90 minute blocks and thereby wasting 15 minutes of their ice time.

The 12UA and 12UB teams play in the league and do not play against squirts. The 10UA does play against squirts and most of the time it is on Anney's 10U ice time and not the squirt ice time.

As far as sharing ice time...the 14UA and 12uB teams shared almost every Monday. The 12UA and 10UA teams also shared every Monday. 12UA and 10UA also combined alot of their back to back practices.

The girls were given their average ice allotments. Trust me, a lot of us parents looked it up on the RYHA website. Commisioner Nelson (who falls under the traveling committee) explained that because the girls don't generally have 15 skaters and 2 goalies like the typical traveling "youth" team does they don't get the same benefit as the youth team does. Expenses are based on a "per team" structure because most expenses are fixed ($$ per ice hour, referee $$ per game, team fees to MAHA etc). If there are fewer players then they either have to pay more per player or else reduce expenses by cutting something. I'd rather go to fewer tourneys and get more practice hours. In any case I think Nelson needs to be on the board to directly represent the girls rather than have things filtered through the traveling director. We have one of the larger girls programs in the state and its time to be represented on the RYHA board.

Just to clarify: My point was supposed to be about board representation.

I totally agree that the girls got what they paid for by the letter of the rules. I think sometimes the spirit of the rules is a bit questionable though. Some things can and should be adjusted but they need representation on the board to effectively present their case. The point was made that all board member should be looking at the best interests of everyone. That's a very idealistic thought and it is somewhat the case for most programs but there is and should be areas of special interest on the local boards.

I looked at the websites of the dominant girls teams that we have played over the past couple of years. A common thread that they share is board representation. Coincidence?

[edit] Looked at the poll and saw 10-2. Besides Rochester what other program said no.

I was in the rink this last week and another parent told me that RYHA will add a girls hockey position. Nelson is out but nobody knew why. His daughters were only first year 14's so I assume they are still playing. So who's it gonna be? I heard Zmolik has a daughter now so maybe that's why the change in the tide. I looked at the current board structure and I see that 3-4 board members have daughters in hockey. To my knowledge only 1 of them is directly involved with the girls but it gains the girls program some visibility.

Good news for girls hockey!!

Rocket,

Well you got what you were asking for. RYHA now has a girls board position. I know that you don't always like the things that I do but I will promise that the girls come first.

I am looking to fill my commissioner committee positions. Batter up?