This is a great site thanks for the coverage and insights. GC2 says people don’t know much about Minnesota Girls hockey “He Called It Hockey’s Iron Curtain” – so here is some overview on girls hockey in the Land of 10,000 Pucks – you guys know we are call MN ”The State of Hockey”. So I am going to share some things on Minnesota but right up front want to ask some questions:
“So what does Girls Hockey look like in Michigan, Mass. or other areas of the country?”
“Would be interested to know how girls are training – in season ratio of hours of practices to games?”
“What does it cost to play in your area – what are you spending a year to develop an NDP player?”
“What do girls do to train in season and out of season – most MN girls are in better shape outside of the HS season?”
“How do you get and develop good women coaches to replace the Hockey Dad’s (who are all good but at some point the girls need or want more?”
“Are most girls at NDP focused only on hockey or are they 2 or 3 sport athletes?”
“What kind of injuries are you seeing in your area and are you doing anything to prevent?”
The girls from Minnesota at NDP mostly all play HS hockey (there is one from Shattuck St. Marys and one from Culver Academy).
We have strong number of girls/women playing about 15,000 which might lead the nation. Minnesota is a community based state which means we have no AAA “in season” only in the summer - during the season girls play at the U8, U10, U12, U14 clubs form A, B team or play youth hockey with the boys and then they play HS.
Girls can play HS hockey (cost of $100-$300/season) beginning in 7th grade and we have great varsity HS hockey with 2-4 practices (practice M-F on none game days) a week and a 26 game schedule (2-3 week) ending with a State Tournament at the “Xcel Center” home of the Minnesota Wild - 29 of the 34 Minnesota girls who signed to play D1 this fall played HS hockey. During the HS season from the end of October to mid February the players are not allowed to play on any other teams or in any other games. We also have U19A teams for girls who choose not to play HS. The other 5 D1 selections played for the states only AAA club team the U19AAA Thoroughbreds (cost about $2500 plus travel) who sent 2 G (Union & Princeton), 1 D (RPI) and 2 F (RPI & Bemidji State) to play at the next level this fall – they play 50-60 games. This fall the Minnesota Crunch will start play as a U19AAA “post HS grad only team” out of Grand Rapids, MN. The state also has Shattuck St. Marys who play an independent AAA schedule and represent Minnesota at U16 and play off against the Thoroughbreds to go to U19 Nationals.
In the spring, summer and fall players are often on the ice playing on AAA teams, doing serious training and practicing their skills. You can play and train 12 months a year and some do.
An NDP girl or top player might play 20-50 AAA games over and above thier HS schedule of 26 with teams like the Saint Croix Saints, Jr. WhiteCaps, Ice Cats, Walser, Schwan, Wild, Shooting Stars, Blades, Starz and many others. Many of the top summer AAA teams play in the Two Nations Female Hockey League which is played against top Canadian Teams from Central Canada in May and June (18 games – about $300/player – this is all at cost no mark up), and in tournaments such as the Stick It to Cancer ($800/team) fund raiser in and Minnesota Meltdown ($1350/team) in April, the International Cup ($1350/team) in early August or the St Cloud College Showcase in late September.
This year the top HS girls will have the opportunity to play in the new Upper Midwest Elite HS League ($125) which is modled after the very successful eight year old Boys HS Elite I & II Leagues – Nike Bauer is a major sponsor. The teams will have have three games each weekend in October (12 total) – there will be two Twin Cities teams East Metro and West Metro, an Outstate Team and Shattuck St. Mary’s U19 team – NDP players were automatically placed on teams and did have to try out. At the end of the season an All Star team will be formed from the players outside of SSM to represent MN in the Nike event in Chicago the first weekend in November.
Skill development and training are available and highly encouraged in the off season. We have Total Hockey, Velocity and Accelaration in the Twin Cities to do dryland and many camps around the state. Many of the High School coaches run STP summer programs in June and July which is the only time they are allowed to work with their players outside of the HS season. There are a couple of top independent programs the Community Olympic Development (CODP, $850) program started by Herb Brooks is now run by Lenny Vannelli and Marci Bedlyn and a new program OS ($650-$850) run by Winny Brodt Brown and Ronda Curtin (former MN Gopher and National Team players) is entering its third strong year – the two programs train nearly 500 girls from May into August training 3 days a week (T, TH, Sun or Mon, Wed, Friday) and they do an excellent job on and off ice to make the girls stronger, faster, quicker, more skilled and smarter.
So what do you do in your area to develop top Girls who can play at the next level?
-joehockey
>>inserted by GC2>> Welcome JoeHockey who has kindly offered to contribute his views and experience on girls/women’s hockey. Hopefully this “view from MN” will be both enjoyable and informative.
