NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

[HockeyEast33]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

I don't disagree that a smaller tournament could be more competitive both directly through selection of teams and indirectly through a more reasonable game schedule, however which of the teams that have been "blown out" should be left at home?

Here's the teams that have lost games by 3+ goals this weekend (didn't differentiate between the two WhiteCaps teams)....

.

I pretty much agree - there were a couple of teams that definitely were out of their league but really only a handful. A couple of observations:

- There were cases where teams who had played 3 games were playing against games who had played 2 games
- Some of these games were not nearly the blowouts they appear (Saw this one - Wizards-Honeybaked was 0-0 with 9 minutes left or so, Honeybaked scored and Wizards pressed giving up a couple of goals and an empty netter in the last minute when it appeared that their coach decided to practice man up for a couple of minutes in a game they had lost at that point)

There were definitely 6-10 teams that were above the level of the rest (Assabet, the Whitecaps team that made the semifinals, Honeybaked, etc.), but even these teams didn't really blow out many teams. All told, a pretty competitive tournament with a lot of parity and the opportunity for the players/teams to shine.

 

[SlewFoot]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

Assabet 19 won the U19 division beating the Minnesota Whitecaps Black. The Minnesota Icecats beat Assabet 16 to take 1st in the U16 division. Congrats to everyone.

 

[joehockey]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

Assabet 19 won the U19 division beating the Minnesota Whitecaps Black. The Minnesota Icecats beat Assabet 16 to take 1st in the U16 division. Congrats to everyone.

Looks like the 6 MN Teams 4 U19 and 2 U16 did pretty well this is from the MN HS Forum from I think a couple of Dads with the Whitecaps.
______________________________________________________________________________

http://www.winter-hawks.org/page/show/600395-labor-day-u19-2012-?subseason=81278

Whitecaps Black U19 were 6-1 and lost 1-0 in the Championship to Assabet.

http://www.winter-hawks.org/schedule/team_instance/222506?subseason=81278

Whitecaps White U19 were 5-1 and also had a single loss to Assabet in their 1st game.

http://www.winter-hawks.org/schedule/team_instance/222528?subseason=81278

Icecats U19 were 2-2 from what is recorded.

http://www.winter-hawks.org/schedule/team_instance/222493?subseason=81278

Icecats U16 team was 5-0-2 and won the championship over Assabet.

http://www.winter-hawks.org/schedule/team_instance/222549?subseason=81289

So it looks like Minnesota teams did 24-10-3. Icecats 19's 3-3-0 and Northern Starzz 2-3-1

Excellent hockey. Whitecap Black team won a semifinal game 2-1 shootout game against a Buffalo Bisons team that beat Assabet. They were trailing 1-0 with 1:50 seconds left, pulled the goalie and scored with about 50 seconds left. Shootout was 1 goal for W/Caps and 3 out of 3 saves.

Whitecaps teams allowed 11 goals in 13 games. 3 of them in the 1st period of the 1st game against Assabet. After that they all played extremely well.

Most of the players for the Whitecaps could of played at the 16U level by age. They were 28-juniors and 4-10th graders for this upcoming season and brought no players that have committed to college teams. 10 players were 95's (9 on Black team) and the rest were 96's or 97's between the two teams.

Assabet team that beat both teams. Had 4 post graduate players, 9 seniors and 5 juniors. Assabet was the Defending Nationals at all levels last season.

Icecat 16's beat Assabet for Championship and tied them in pool play at the 16's level.

Winny Brodt's Whitecaps program goes 11-2 with both losses to Assabet (defending National Champs). Icecats go 8-3-2 with the Championship at the 16 level
______________________________________________________________________________

The ages show the incoming seniors who have committed are not attending from MN - which opens up opportunity for younger players to go.

With MN Hockey rules this is one of the few times where MN Girls can compete with other US & Canadian Girls. The only real exception is the U19 Thoroughbreds in the JWHL (good option for girls in weaker HS programs or in W. WI). The other options for top HS players are the National Camps (US only - U15, U16, U17), The Elite League in the fall (two Tournament weekends with U19 Junior Teams and Shattuck league games) and the Summer Tournaments like International Cup or the two in Boston. MN High School Hockey is great for getting +3500 girls in HS but sometimes wonder why there can not be ways pre & post season to see more games against NAHA or Assabet or Stoney Creek.

 

[HockeyEast33]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

Looks like the 6 MN Teams 4 U19 and 2 U16 did pretty well this is from the MN HS Forum from I think a couple of Dads with the Whitecaps.....

- Did not have pleasure of seeing Whitecaps teams play but heard from several that they played quite well all through the tournament.
- Did see the IceCats U19 and Starzz team play twice each and, while a couple of players on each team stuck out individually, did not think that either team showed well in the games I saw. Icecats struggled even against Nepean and Shamrocks who were definitely a couple of the weaker teams at the tournament. They did beat NSA in the last game, but NSA played below their usual level as well. Starzz similarly struggled against North Bay and Little Caesars and were blown out by Wizards. Just didn't look good fro some reason.
- Assabet and Stoney Creek tournaments are in October and September and would be places where MN teams could play before the HS season, but my understanding is that MN Hockey rules do not allow for this. Many would know this better than me, though.

 

[D2D]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

Update also from the MN High School forum:

So it looks like Minnesota teams did 24-10-3. Icecats 19's 3-3-0 and Northern Starzz 2-3-1

Excellent hockey. Whitecap Black team won a semifinal game 2-1 shootout game against a Buffalo Bisons team that beat Assabet. They were trailing 1-0 with 1:50 seconds left, pulled the goalie and scored with about 50 seconds left. Shootout was 1 goal for W/Caps and 3 out of 3 saves.
Whitecaps teams allowed 11 goals in 13 games. 3 of them in the 1st period of the 1st game against Assabet. After that they all played extremely well.

Most of the players for the Whitecaps could have played at the 16U level by age. They were 28-juniors and 4-10th graders for this upcoming season and brought no players that have committed to college teams. 10 players were 95's (9 on Black team) and the rest were 96's or 97's between the two teams.
Assabet team that beat both teams. Had 4 post graduate players, 9 seniors and 5 juniors. Assabet was the Defending Nationals at all levels last season.

Icecat 16's beat Assabet for Championship and tied them in pool play at the 16's level.

Winny Brodt's Whitecaps program goes 11-2 with both losses to Assabet (defending National Champs). Icecats go 8-3-2 with the Championship at the 16 level.

What got my attention was the fact that the Whitecaps didn't bring any players who had already committed to a D1 team.

 

[DC78-82]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

I pretty much agree - there were a couple of teams that definitely were out of their league but really only a handful. A couple of observations:

- There were cases where teams who had played 3 games were playing against games who had played 2 games
- Some of these games were not nearly the blowouts they appear (Saw this one - Wizards-Honeybaked was 0-0 with 9 minutes left or so, Honeybaked scored and Wizards pressed giving up a couple of goals and an empty netter in the last minute when it appeared that their coach decided to practice man up for a couple of minutes in a game they had lost at that point)

There were definitely 6-10 teams that were above the level of the rest (Assabet, the Whitecaps team that made the semifinals, Honeybaked, etc.), but even these teams didn't really blow out many teams. All told, a pretty competitive tournament with a lot of parity and the opportunity for the players/teams to shine.

Part of the reason for disparate scores could be the amount of time a team spent together prior to the event. Since NEWHL has been singled out as "not belonging", I'll use them as an example. This was a team that was assembled to fill a spot vacated when another team dropped out. Many of the players met each other for the first time before they played their first game. Although their coach had seen some of them play, I do not think he had seen everyone. Should they have played? Maybe, maybe not, but considering this was a showcase, and the idea was to get girls in front of college coaches, from the amount of questions I and others who had ties to the team fielded from college coaches about NEWHL players, it was well worth their being there. (After losing to KW Rangers 9-1 in the round robin, they came back in the consi's and cut the score to 1-0.) The team itself was not at the level of some of the teams they played, but the players individually showed the scouts that they can play tough and determined hockey. They held teams close in the first half, and never gave up, even when the game was out of reach. That means a lot more to the scouts than the score.

The Shamrocks just started skating together mid-week last week. They have quite a few new players to integrate into the system, so were not where anyone would expect them to be in mid-November. By contrast, the defending USA Hockey National Champions, Assabet, have a roster that lost a few to the college ranks over the summer, but was largely the same team that won at Natty's.

As for parity, I could only watch one game at a time, but the first 4 games I watched on Friday ended in ties, and it wasn't until the second round of games for each team that I saw a win, or a multi-goal game.

call it what you want, but I'd say if the objective was to get prospects in front of college coaches, it was successful, and in many cases, good pre-season hockey.

 

[Call It]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

Well I thought Minny would have teams in the Finals 6 games in a weekend is a lot, perhaps this is the reason for some of the scores. I heard the age of the girls in the U19 level were all over the board, 1998 to 1993. My friend who was there did say the speed is much faster than a MN HS game.

 

[HockeyEast33]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

Part of the reason for disparate scores could be the amount of time a team spent together prior to the event. Since NEWHL has been singled out as "not belonging", I'll use them as an example. This was a team that was assembled to fill a spot vacated when another team dropped out. Many of the players met each other for the first time before they played their first game. Although their coach had seen some of them play, I do not think he had seen everyone. Should they have played? Maybe, maybe not, but considering this was a showcase, and the idea was to get girls in front of college coaches, from the amount of questions I and others who had ties to the team fielded from college coaches about NEWHL players, it was well worth their being there. (After losing to KW Rangers 9-1 in the round robin, they came back in the consi's and cut the score to 1-0.) The team itself was not at the level of some of the teams they played, but the players individually showed the scouts that they can play tough and determined hockey. They held teams close in the first half, and never gave up, even when the game was out of reach. That means a lot more to the scouts than the score.

In general, NEWHL is always problematic as they are by definition a collection of players from a pretty large pool put together a game/tournament at a time for that specific event and the quality of the team is generally dependent on who is available. Sometimes they shine, sometimes not so much. But it does get their players in front of the coaches (prep school and college depending on the age group) and that is really their ONLY objective - winning is definitely not a major consideration. It's a great service for the kids who often have no other route to the college coaches.

IMHO, other teams that are permanent teams should have showed roughly their skill level. The Shamrocks will undoubtedly get better over the season, but so will all of the teams. Most of the MA teams (Breakers, Spitfires, and Wizards) have new players and practiced/played only sporadically before this tourney and the Beantown/Chowder Cup and they did fine despite that. If the Shamrocks had 2 or 3 days of dedicated practice then they were roughly comparable in preparation to many of the teams in the tourney.

BTW - Assabet U19 team - roster on website had some inaccuracies. 4 of 6 defenseman and 5 of 12 forwards from last year's nat champs were there, so really only half the team. Rest were new to team and/or Assabet. Not much different than Honeybaked, NAHA, and some of the other top teams. Can't use that as an excuse for them winning . They were just good!

 

[EastFan1]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

One day I would love to see a club team hyped by talking about how a bunch of kids off one team all went on to have huge success at the college level.

 

[HockeyEast33]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

One day I would love to see a club team hyped by talking about how a bunch of kids off one team all went on to have huge success at the college level.

I think the club teams do a pretty good job of that on their own, don't they? Assabet and Wizards below as an example. Little Caesars, Honeybaked, Spitfires, Polar Bears have similar lists along with pretty much all of the club teams I'm aware of. You certainly can judge the success of each year/team on your own - different people have different views of success (hockey, academic, etc.). What am I missing?

From Assabet website:

2012 Graduating Seniors - College Commitments

Ferrara Janelle Yale
Parker Mary Harvard
Juron Jordan Boston Univ
Haddad Jamie Yale
Hampton Jordan Northeastern
Piacentini Melissa Syracuse
Taylor Cross Norwich University
Goguen Kathrin Holy Cross
Noone Brighid Manhattanville College

Daniels Sydney Westminster-Harvard 2013
Laing Brianna Nobles-Harvard 2013
Rachlin Natashia Nobles-Harvard 2013
White Robyn Nobles-Harvard 2013
Mastel Briana Choate-Harvard 2013

2011 Graduating Seniors
Ferrara Nicole Syracuse
Field Emily Boston College
Doherty Ann Northeastern
Goll Chelsiea Northeastern
Guarente Lauren Colby
Guarino Gianna Dartmouth College
Simpson Brooke Providence College
Walsh Mariana RPI
Ann DipPastina Cornell
Meaghan Souza Sacred Heart

2010 Graduating Seniors

Kerrin Sperry Boston University
Eliza Butler Middlebury College
Jacqueline Young Harvard University
Denna Laing Princeton University
Marissa Gedman Harvard University
Madeline Joyce Middlebury College
Elizabeth Parker Harvard University
Ashley Salerno Amherst
Kerri Stuart Amherst
Sammy Woodward Brown
Nina Riley Providence College
Corey Konaxis Sacred Heart University
Stephanie Newmark Plymouth State

2009 Graduating Seniors

Katie Brock University of New Hampshire
Stephanie Ciampa Mercyhurst
Kelly Cooke Princeton University
Jillian Dempsey Harvard University
Katherine DiPastina Cornell
Kelly Horan UConn
Kayla Lessard Bowdoin
Brittney Lyons Quinnipiac
Ashley Motherwell Boston College
Michelle Ng St Lawrence
Rebecca O'Quinn Holy Cross
Casey Pickett Northeastern University
Kaitlin Spurling Harvard University
Meghan Tedoldi Colby

2008 Graduating Seniors - College Commitments
Stephanie Clegg Amherst
Molly Kate Devin Union
Danielle DiCesare Princeton
Bethany Dymarczk Quinnipiac
Kelly Foley Dartmouth
Alexa Hynes Quinnipiac
Heather Landry Princeton
Lauren Whiting Elmira

From Wizards website:

2010 College Commitments

Brittany Dellechiaie - Utica College
Lauren Slebodnick - Cornell University
Danielle Doherty - Boston College
Avery Stone - Amherst College
Katherine Riley - Bowdoin College
Kelly Lavallee - Quinnipiac
Stephanie Ludy - Bowdoin
Lauren Glynn - Trinity


2011 College Commiments

Alex Carpeter - Boston College
Shenae Lundberg - Union College
Kelly McGrath - Union College
Kate Leary - Boston College
Francesca Panerelli - Holy Cross
Amalia Dineen - Conn College
Brittany Pengaroth - Conn College
Justina Germano - Conn College
Lily Gacicia - Trinity
Sabrina Iannetti - St. Anslems
Janice Michaud - St. Anslems
Jacqueline Tavella - Colby College
Victoria Virtue - Quinnipiac

2012 College Commiments
Courtney Turner - Union College
Katie Tang - Colby College
Maeve McMahon - Harvard
Diana Bennett - Boston University
Olivia Agostinelli - Quinnipiac
Lillian Braga - Boston University
Talia Simon - Williams
Danielle Phalon - Salve Regina
Morgan Reed - Utica
Julia Wardwell - Middlebury
Jenny Robinson - Wesleyan

 

[EastFan1]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

Based upon college performance to date, you figure the 2009 Assabet team the top of the list?

 

[joehockey]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

One day I would love to see a club team hyped by talking about how a bunch of kids off one team all went on to have huge success at the college level.

Winny Brodt-Brown and others started the Junior Whitecaps in 2008 to get more exposure for MN girls to play D1. This is from the Minnesota Junior Whitecaps site http://www.minnesotawhitecaps.com/jr-whitecaps - I pieced together the 2012 & 2013 commitments from U19 & U17 Rosters. Although this is only a summer club (MN Hockey does not permit them to play during the HS Season or Fall Elite League) the Mission has been accomplished. This network of Alumni have also remained involved in helping younger players understand the commitment to play D1.

YEAR NAME POS HIGH SCHOOL COLLEGE
2008 - 15 to D1
KACY AMBROZ F NEW PRAGUE UMD
ERIN BABINEAU F ROSEVILLE BEMIDJI STATE
BRITTANY CARLSON D CRETIN OHIO STATE
JACLYN DAGGIT D PARK ST. CLOUD STATE
SARAH ERICKSON F BEMIDJI MINNESOTA
MELISSA FESTE F EDEN PRAIRIE OHIO STATE
ANDREA GREEN F EDEN PRAIRIE BOSTON COLLEGE
ALYSSA GROGAN G EAGAN MINNESOTA
KELSEY KETCHER F EDEN PRAIRIE NORTH DAKOTA
LIZ ORKE F WAYZATA 2008-09…..DNP 2009-2010
KELLY SEELER D EDEN PRAIRIE MINNESOTA
LAUREN SMITH F HOLY ANGELS MANKATO
DANIELLE WELCH F HASTINGS BOSTON COLLEGE
MARLEE WHEELHOUSE D CROOKSTON BEMIDJI STATE
ABBY WILLIAMS F ALEXANDRIA BEMIDJI STATE
2009 - 5 to D1
JESSICA CHRISTOFFERSON F BEMIDJI MERCYHURST
JESSICA HARREN F HILL MURRAY NORTH DAKOTA
CASEY KNAJDEK F HILL MURRAY UCONN
KELSEY ROMATOSKI D HOLY ANGELS HARVARD
ERIKA WHEELHOUSE D CROOKSTON BEMIDJI STATE
2010 - 23 to D1 (2 Teams Silver 20 & Blue 3)
DANIELLE SCHOLZEN F BLAINE MANKATO Silver
AMANDA COLIN F BURNSVILLE QUINNIPIAC Silver
JOCIE SLATTERY F CENTENNIAL UCONN Silver
CORINNE BUIE F EDINA PROVIDENCE Silver
ELLIE GLEASON D EDINA DARTMOUTH Silver
CHRISTINA LACOMBE D EDEN PRAIRIE SYRACUSE Silver
DANA GALLOP F GRAND RAPIDS UMD Silver
MAGGIE PENDLETON F HILL MURRAY PROVIDENCE Silver
KALLIE BILLADEAU G HOPKINS SYRACUSE Silver
CARA JOHNSON F HOPKINS SYRACUSE Silver
MISSY MANKEY F HOPKINS RPI Silver
GINA McDONALD F IRONDALE HARVARD Silver
MICHELLE BONAPACE-POTVIN G ROCHESTER NORTH DAKOTA Silver
BETHANY BRAUSEN F ROSEVILLE MINNESOTA Silver
ALLIE DUELLMAN D ROSEVILLE BEMIDJI STATE Silver
MADDIE MARCOTTE D WHITE BEAR LAKE OHIO STATE Silver
KAYLA CAPISTRANT F ROSEVILLE ST. CLOUD STATE Silver
ASHLEY STENERSON F MOORHEAD MINNESOTA Silver
CHELSEA WITWICKE D ROSEVILLE NIAGARA Silver
ALEXIUS SCHUTT G MN THOROUGHBREDS SACRED HEART Silver
DANI WILLIAMS D MN THOROUGHBREDS BEMIDJI STATE Blue
KARI LUNDBERG F MN THOROUGHBREDS MANKATO Blue
CORINNE HENNING F CULVER ACADEMY NORTHEASTERN Blue
2011 no info
2012 - 17 to D1
Paige Jahnke D Roseville HS Penn State
Milica McMillen D Breck HS Minnesota
Jonna Curtis F Elk River HS New Hampshire
Sara Carlson F Hutchinson HS New Hampshire
Lee Stecklein D Roseville HS Minnesota
Alli Rolandelli D Hopkins HS Brown
Hanna Brodt F Roseville HS St Cloud
Hannah Brandt F Hill Murray HS Minnesota
Megan Armstrong D Edina HS New Hampshire
Lexi Slattery D Roseville HS Providence
Sam Hanson F/D White Bear Lake HS North Dakota
Brittany Thunstrom F Blaine HS Providence
Courtney Kukowski F Eastview HS Providence
Molly Illikainen F Grand Rapids HS Providence
Allie Morse G Park HS Providence
Megan Lushanko F Chisago Lakes HS Bemidji State
Mari Mankey F Hopkins HS RPI
2013
Amy Peterson F Minnetonka HS Penn State
Laura Bowman F Minnetonka HS Penn State
Dani Camarenesi F Blake HS Minnesota

 

[EastFan1]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

It's close between 2008 WhiteCaps and 2009 Assabet.

 

[joehockey]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

It's close between 2008 WhiteCaps and 2009 Assabet.

Actually the 2010 Whitecaps placed 20 of 20 (100%) from the Silver Team. There was a second Blue Team which had a few 2010 (3 0f 3 went D1) but mostly 2011/2012 players.

 

[EastFan1]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

I think you are missing my point. Getting 20 college placements can be a great thing to hype. But how did it play out in college? All have great success? Too many placed over their head?

 

[ARM]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

I think you are missing my point. Getting 20 college placements can be a great thing to hype. But how did it play out in college? All have great success? Too many placed over their head?

I think that's a negative way to look at a positive thing. Not every kid on a team is going to be a star. Some will put up stats that look underwhelming, and their performance can be easily dismissed. Some of the hardest roles to fill on a team are those where a player may not get a lot of ice time until an injury or other absences move her into the rotation. I have a ton of respect for those athletes that prepare each week and do their best to be ready for an opportunity that may not arise. And I've heard many a star that noted the contributions of such people to the success of the team, in some cases by just working hard in practice and pushing those above them. Don't be too quick to write off players and conclude that they were over their head.

 

[DC78-82]

I think that's a negative way to look at a positive thing. Not every kid on a team is going to be a star. Some will put up stats that look underwhelming, and their performance can be easily dismissed. Some of the hardest roles to fill on a team are those where a player may not get a lot of ice time until an injury or other absences move her into the rotation. I have a ton of respect for those athletes that prepare each week and do their best to be ready for an opportunity that may not arise. And I've heard many a star that noted the contributions of such people to the success of the team, in some cases by just working hard in practice and pushing those above them. Don't be too quick to write off players and conclude that they were over their head.

THIS for sure. It takes a team.

 

[HockeyEast33]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

I think that's a negative way to look at a positive thing. Not every kid on a team is going to be a star. Some will put up stats that look underwhelming, and their performance can be easily dismissed. Some of the hardest roles to fill on a team are those where a player may not get a lot of ice time until an injury or other absences move her into the rotation. I have a ton of respect for those athletes that prepare each week and do their best to be ready for an opportunity that may not arise. And I've heard many a star that noted the contributions of such people to the success of the team, in some cases by just working hard in practice and pushing those above them. Don't be too quick to write off players and conclude that they were over their head.

Yup. Success can be measured in a lot of ways and everyone has a different one. In fact, given that there is no professional women's hockey of any $ significance, you could really make a case that college commitments, not college hockey stats, are the ultimate measure of a club program's success because they are the opportunity to use hockey to be successful in life which is what women's hockey (and most intercollgiate sports - football, basketball, and men's hockey aside) is primarily about.

 

[Call It]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

Yup. Success can be measured in a lot of ways and everyone has a different one. In fact, given that there is no professional women's hockey of any $ significance, you could really make a case that college commitments, not college hockey stats, are the ultimate measure of a club program's success because they are the opportunity to use hockey to be successful in life which is what women's hockey (and most intercollgiate sports - football, basketball, and men's hockey aside) is primarily about.

Well Ivy Schools give no money, but I get your point. There will always be kids that go D1 and transfer to D3 perhaps because they were over their head. I had this debate with my son, would you like to be on a D1 roster and probably never dress OR would you rather play at a D3 school? It almost killed him but D3 won because he wanted to play. As far as judging the success of a club based upon D1.......? Don't some players get more help from D3 schools than D1? help being $$$ of some sort. If the answer is yes than the question is: "would you rather pay to not play (or limited play time) on a D1 team OR play on a D3 team for cheap or free? If the student/ athlete goes D3, is her club/ high school team a failure? I Don't think so. I think going D1 for free and not playing is a totally different question.

 

[joehockey]

Re: NAHA Labor Day Weekend Tournament

I think you are missing my point. Getting 20 college placements can be a great thing to hype. But how did it play out in college? All have great success? Too many placed over their head?

Sorry if I offended you this was not meant as hype in any way. So lots of kids and or their parents put a lot into getting to D1. I have tracked the class of 2010 in MN on the MN HS Forum through two seasons. These are great friends my daughter grew up with, competed with and enjoyed having fun with. Here is the results heading into year 3.

2010 Class - Baseline 37 Minnesota Girls out of 176 class HUX reported to D1, 8 D1 schools had no MN Recruits in 2010
Class of 2010-2011 Results Year 1 & Year 2 - Results from USHOC after Year 2 going into year 3 - 29 of 37 still in D1 Hockey
Player by player here (many played at NAHA) http://www.ushsho.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=592584#592584

Most have had productive contributions, you can see injuries have stolen games and in some cases ended their hockey, some have left D1 for D3 and some have left the game to pursue school or it was no longer their priority - a D1 player has a very demanding year round commitment. I don't think any of these kids were "over their head" but all recieved roles to play in college - that is such a leg up as you leave college and enter the world.

I have always encouraged boys and girls and their parents to embrace hockey - "not for hype" but I believe it is game changing. Winny Brodt Brown is passionate to help girls in MN Hockey through her summer camps, the Elite League and the top ones who play the MN JR Whitecaps she helps find good D1 or D3 fits. And it has nothing to do with "hype" and everything about creating life time success. At every level the game teaches success, failure (how to deal with both), how to be a teammate, how to lead and how to follow, how to manage time, how to get better, physcial success and mental toughness, how to perform under pressure and deal with the outcome. It teaches you so many life lessons, on the ice, on the bench, in the lockerroom and dryland training - like life it is a game some forget how to play/have fun - winners realize and learn from each step and use to make the world better. The best thing about hockey is many stay involved helping young kids and their parents repeat the cycle. As an old coach now it is fun to hear the players retell what they remember growing up - some is specific games but often it is the Team experience and the lessons they learned - funny how a kid when they become a junior think you are smarter than when you were their Dad or Coach.