SSM Prep Tourney This weekend

HOCKEYFREAK · Post by **HOCKEYFREAK** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 7:32 am

SHATTUCK is hosting a prep tourney this weekend. Tier I & II. Teams from WI, IL, SSM & some local talent, O/S, CODP,High Performance,walsher. Looks to be a great hockey weekend for some of our HS girls.

ghshockeyfan · Post by **ghshockeyfan** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 10:36 am

HOCKEYFREAK wrote:SHATTUCK is hosting a prep tourney this weekend. Tier I & II. Teams from WI, IL, SSM & some local talent, O/S, CODP,High Performance,walsher. Looks to be a great hockey weekend for some of our HS girls.

Nice step in the right direction. Now, if we could get all these MN groups on the same page (i.e. SSM & TB) along with a true MN B&A Elite league, this is exactly what we need...

girlshockey · Post by **girlshockey** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 12:28 pm

Nice step in the right direction. Now, if we could get all these MN groups on the same page (i.e. SSM & TB) along with a true MN B&A Elite league, this is exactly what we need...

You are right, just getting the teams to play against each other in Minnesota is a step in the right direction. All the teams in this event are USA Hockey registered programs. This should be an excellent tournament to watch. Some of the teams will disband at the beginning of the high school season and some teams will continue on with their USA Hockey winter season. It reminds me of how soccer runs their programs with elite teams of players from all over together in the summer and then they return to their high school team in the fall. For hockey each program appears to offer the players a choice of what they think is best for themselves, either a chance to play with one team all year or a chance to play with friends on a team and then play with their high school program. In a perfect world, everyone probably would like to do both and return to a top-notch high school program with 3 or 4 lines of excellent players. But that still doesn't appear to be the "norm" for the girls hockey teams in every high school in Minnesota. Yes, there are more skaters with experience, but not every high school program has depth. The number of girls playing hockey in the amateur girls programs in Minnesota has continually grown and Minnesota Hockey continues to grow at the 8 Under and 10 Under classifications, which should give the domino effect of having more 12 Under and 14 Under teams. It would be terrific to retain all of the players in those younger age levels and create a real "tryout" atmosphere where our Varsity teams are made up of juniors and seniors, much like the boys high school program. Minnesota Hockey continues to be a leader in placing the highest number of female players on the ice. Keep up the good work and tournaments like this will become a more common event. Shattuck St. Mary's has been the USA Hockey National Champion the past two years and represented the Minnkota District well. Can they three-peat?!

ghshockeyfan · Post by **ghshockeyfan** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 10:11 am

There are still some growing pains I believe in Girls' Hockey. There has been great growth (even as of late in the U8 as cited), but we're still filling in underneath the HS programs, and this will continue to take some time. I think people knew that a boys equivalent girls youth program couldn't be built overnight as the HS teams were in the "if you build it, they will come" mentality. In the interim, we're going to continue to see younger HS teams, less quality at the HS level, etc., etc. My understanding was that 10 years into boys HS you saw many of the HS V teams comprised of sub 11th grade players in all but the very best schools. I guess that's what we're still seing now - which makes sense, as the 1950's boys' teams/game are the equivalent (sport development wise) of the 2000's girls' teams/game. Some programs have some hard decisions to make about continuing to field young/less experienced HS programs until which time youth recruiting/development pays off long term. Some would prefer that we keep all U14 eligible kid in U14's and only have 10th/11th & up @ HS but this may not be realistic YET if we want to keep opportunities for future players when, in theory, the numbers of youth players from U8/U10 etc. these past few years will need teams to play on. I guess it would be a shame to get rid of half the V teams (& their funding...) in the state and co-op and not have a place for the kids to play 3-5-7 years in the future just because we're so hell-bent on a high-quality non-U14 eligible product at the HS level now. This is still a work in progress even though a heck of a lot has been accomplished to get the game to the point it's at now. Thank goodness the big battles were fought years ago by those with vision for what today and the future could be like.

GoBigRed · Post by **GoBigRed** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 6:50 am

My daughter played in the tournament at Shattuck. It was amazing hockey and a great collection of top players. Very fast paced, great goaltending.

U16 Bracket - SSM, Walser U16, Wisconsin Wild, Walser U19 Blue, HP Tier II (OS), Team Wisconsin

U19 Bracket - MN Thoroughbreds, CODP, Hockey Limited (OS?), Wisconsin Wild, SSM, Walser U19

These were pretty much the same teams that met and played in Stevens Point a few weeks ago with the Madison Capitals playing there.

I come away from this thinking we really need an Elite Before and After league concept - the hockey this weekend was far superior to the Wakota League which I think is superior to most of the other HS leagues. If an Elite League does not happen these teams that played there - CODP, Walser, OS/High Performer, Shattuck, Thoroughbreds will continue to develop and there will be this increasing desire to play top hockey.

spr air 210 · Post by **spr air 210** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:53 am

anyone know the scores, and who won u19 & u16?

hshockeyfan91 · Post by **hshockeyfan91** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:51 am

U19 - I believe Shattuck dominated everyone. I might have read the postings wrong, but I think they won every game by at least 3-4 goals.

U19 - Walser U19 Blue won 4-1 over SSM in the final game. (The U19 Walser Blue team is comprised of U16 eligible players, but the team was set up to play in U19 brackets in most cases)

There were a couple of blowout games / mismatches, but I agree in that the majority of the games were fast and fun to watch (and apparently play!). I also agree in that we don't need to travel vast distances to play competative hockey at a high level - there are tons of excellent players right here in Minnesota and Wisconsin. I too wish that we could come up with a balanced before & after program that would build skills through challenging practices and have a few games / tournaments. We don't need to be traveling all over the country to play!

GoBigRed · Post by **GoBigRed** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 1:00 pm

U16 was won by Walser U19 Blue 4-1 over Shattuck U16. They beat the OS U16 and the Team Wisconsin both by +6 goals. They beat the Walser U16 5-3. Not sure what happened in the 3rd place Walser versus OS game.

GoBigRed · Post by **GoBigRed** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 1:01 pm

On the U16 Side

Walser Blue U19 beat the SSM U16 4-1. They won their bracket over the OS U16 team and

HOCKEYFREAK · Post by **HOCKEYFREAK** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 1:46 pm

OS U-16 lost to Walsher Blue U-19 5-1. For the 3rd place game OS U-16 beat Walsher U-16 3-2.

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