Girls Prep Hockey

[starsparents]

Cushing had a rough weekend at The Northwood Tournament this past weekend, they got tied by Northwood--they had a lot of trouble with that first line, (Sound Shore kids)--They also lost to NSA. Our Connecticut team, did ok, we knocked off Gunnery, but struggled against NAHA

[Penwhale]

Can someone enlighten me on the ISL situation, especially Lawrence. I am an alum of LA and (unfortunately) the website is not giving off much information.

[stumpy]

In the ISL, Nobles is still the team to beat. They just had a big win over Berkshire. According to the Globe, the other undefeated team in the ISL is Brooks who just beat Lawrence last week. St. Mark's is strong but has a league loss--not sure who. Lawrence is young but still good. I think they had a good Christmas tournament, but lost to Pomfret last week, too. I was at a game Sunday and people said the Brooks goalie was the story in that Lawrence game. The standings are in the Globe on Tuesdays. There is also a prep school website but I can't remember the address. It's eteamz.

[Friar13]

two prep school websites of interest might be www.ushr.com and the NEPSAC website: http://www.eteamz.com/NEPSACSports/index.cfm?subsite=1722348

You need a membership for the boys prep link on ushr but the girls is free. It's not always updated. The nepsac website is a safer bet.

[Wanderer]

Watch out for Taft in the coming years. I hear that Coach Guffrey (sp?) from Brown is taking over the reins this year. He is a good recruiter and will have that team going soon...

[WFR]

ct.prep schools

Pomfret looks to be the cream of the crop. Look for Micaela Long,Nelson, and Murphy to have big years. Defense is questionable? Bellonio is a good goalie and will be tough to beat.

Choate will have to ride the shoulders of Hillary Knight. Big graduation losses in Goalie Nicole Stock (Brown) and Katie Vaughn (Harvard)

Hotchkiss loses Annie Greenwood (Princeton) but still has a good returning group of competitors including their goalie who is excellent.(forgot name)

Loomis could be in for a long year. Key losses include Maggie Kennedy (Dartmouth), Sarah Wilson (Harvard), Kiira Dosdall (Colgate) and Laurel Koller (Boston University)

Taft will have to get a big effort out of Jackie Snikeris (Goalie) to finish above 500.

Westminster returns Gina Valles and Jessie Waters who will look to improve on last years record.


Does anybody know who to look for this year on the different ct. prep school teams. I'd be interested to hear of any players that might bear watching or teams that could surprise or any predictions.

[coolsports]

Taft has lost Snickers for the season (knee). But on the flip side I hear Ashley Waiter is fully recovered from her knee problems. In addition both Shannon Sisk and Wiater have looked really good at the various showcase camps. Plus they have picked up a few skaters to fill in the void. With that said they still look to be a 500 team at best. I would say that Pomfret will be the classs with the return of key players.

[hockeyyfan]

Plus they have picked up a few skaters to fill in the void. .

Keep a close eye on Soph Erin Barley-Maloney...she's the real deal

[scores]

Looking into prep schools for my daughter. What are the rules for the coach contacting players? Are the rules somewhat the same as colleges?

Thanks

[daffee]

[QUOTE=scores]Looking into prep schools for my daughter. What are the rules for the coach contacting players? Are the rules somewhat the same as colleges?

No, the NCAA does not cover secondary education, only higher education. Our experience is that prep school recruiting practices vary. At the most selective prep schools, admissions, the athletic director and the coach emphasize that academic performance is the primary consideration and other special talents, including athletics, are secondary factors. That being said, once our daughter was admitted, then the prep coach and admissions made multiple contacts, arranging for on campus visits with team members, sent letters, made phone calls, etc. The kids and the families work hard to identify hockey players that can make it through admissions. We feel lucky if we can get 2 kids in in a year.

[whfan]

Looking into prep schools for my daughter. What are the rules for the coach contacting players? Are the rules somewhat the same as colleges?

Thanks

I wouldn't put your daughter in prep school if hockey is the primary reason for going, especially if there are good local club teams for your daughter to play on. The hockey is only a small part of the overall prep school experience.
They are on the ice most days of the week during the season, but the season is much shorter than most of the club teams seasons. At most schools, the hockey program is just a small part of the overall prep school experience. The academics are more demanding that most public schools and most schools require that students play a spring and fall sport as well. So while a school may love a kid for her hockey skills, the grades still come first. (which is as it should be).

Keep in mind too that going to a prep school can also make it more difficult to get in an Ivy league school. One of the determining factors Ivys look at is class rank, and many of the better prep schools have excellent students. Many of the strong students at a public school have a much harder time in the prep school environment. If they take a big enough hit in their class rank, that could come back to haunt them when applying for admission to an Ivy.

[scores]

Shehas always done very well in school but they do not have girls hockey and she most of the programs around where I live are split season after u14...

We have three maybe four in our area she can commute too ... well under a hour.

She does like other sports and we are in the beginning of this search.

[whfan]

Scores, I don't know if you know about this website or not, but we found it helpful when we started our own search. It's www.boardingschoolreview.com - good luck with your search. Make sure to start early - we were sending back applications at this time of year for the following years fall semester. It can be a fairly lengthy process for both the kids and parents (essays, teacher recomendations, trying to hammer out a financial package with the school, etc.) Again, good luck!

[Taft Hockey]

I wouldn't put your daughter in prep school if hockey is the primary reason for going, especially if there are good local club teams for your daughter to play on. The hockey is only a small part of the overall prep school experience.
They are on the ice most days of the week during the season, but the season is much shorter than most of the club teams seasons. At most schools, the hockey program is just a small part of the overall prep school experience. The academics are more demanding that most public schools and most schools require that students play a spring and fall sport as well. So while a school may love a kid for her hockey skills, the grades still come first. (which is as it should be).

Keep in mind too that going to a prep school can also make it more difficult to get in an Ivy league school. One of the determining factors Ivys look at is class rank, and many of the better prep schools have excellent students. Many of the strong students at a public school have a much harder time in the prep school environment. If they take a big enough hit in their class rank, that could come back to haunt them when applying for admission to an Ivy.

whfan:
the only reason I respond to this is that it has a few sweeping generalizations about prep-school - mostly in the academic comments. Please read my posting on the North American Hockey Academy Thread (last post on it was 11/22).

With regard to Ivy admission, you are referring to the Academic Index and many prep schools do not rank in which case the Ivy Academic Index uses their GPA or a special point ranking system that the prep school has worked out for their particular school. You are correct that sometimes a kid who is doing well at public school with say a #1 class rank does well on the AI in that section but that is only one third of the AI equation. Sometimes a kid loses a few points in that area by switching to a prep school but if they are doing that well in public school they will likely do well at a prep school While the demands and curriculum are usually more challenging, the support and class size counter-balance that. The relationships that prep school maintain with these Unviersities also are quite extensive and lend credibility to an applicant's strength.

People could debate the hockey end of things until they are blue in the face so I wont go there. The gist of my posting on the NAHA thread mentioned that rather than debating one is better than the other, finding the right fit was the most important thing in a player's development. To be happy, healthy, challenged, and supported, is so much more important than numbers. One size fits all advice doesn't account for the many vairables we all have.

[Jferg325]

Just another point of view to the previous posted discussion:
I tend to agree as we had our first experience with Prep School this year. My dauther is attending Proctor Academy and she came from public school system.

The right fit is actually very important, specially if your talking about boarding. So far she is adjusting well, academically and athletic. The school and my daughter blended well and the support is great!

Looking forward to an impact season with a good set of freshmen players!

:)

[whfan]

Taft Hockey,
Thanks for the posting. I'm not trying to make sweeping generalities regarding the academics in prep school, but rather share my opinions based on our experience. My daughter comes from a public school system that is ranked no. 1 in her home state, and for the past 10 years of her academic life she was a 4.0 student within this system. In her prep school experience, she has been an A/B student - still good, but not the 4.0 she has always been. She still works just as hard, but the higher standards at her prep school has simply made achieving a 4.0 gpa more difficlt, smaller class size and the corresponding greater level of support notwithstanding. According to the school and many of her peers, this isn't uncommon. In fact, some of her friends with similar public school grades are now A/B/C students.

I realize that gpa and class rank are only a piece of the college admission puzzle, but both of these factors, along with sats and class load, have been very important to the coaches we have had the pleasure of making campus visits with. (the Ivy's in particular). They have indicated to us that in such a competitive environment, all of these factors are very important, and can make or break admission to their schools, regardless of how highly they have you ranked as a player. We haven't visited Brown yet, so perhaps the emphasis will be different there.

Don't get me wrong - prep school has worked out well for our daughter. She loves her school and what it has done for her individual developement as a person has been almost priceless. (I would say priceless, but we have a stack of tuition bills that say otherwise)! When parents are being asked to spent $30,000 - $35,000 on a prep school education, I think they should be aware of all sides of the argument for or against prep school. The schools themselves are obviously going to emphasize the positive, and it has been overwhelmingly positive for us as well. But there are secondary factors that parents maybe haven't thought of, and thats what I'm trying to shed some light on.

Scores,
I know there are people who won't agree with me, but I would again say that I wouldn't send your daughter to prep school just for hockey. Realize though, that my opinion is colored by the fact that my daughter is from an area that has competitive club teams. If the local hockey was dismal, I might feel differently.

Even so, I would look at prep school options in much the same way as looking at college options. We looked at prep school as buying our daughter a great educational experience, while she looked for a school that spoke to her in some way during her campus visits - her "gut feeling", so to speak. Even if you visit a school and your daughter loves the hockey team and the coach, realize that this may change from year to year anyway. A team's personel may change from year to year second to graduation, and coaches come and go as well. Two of my daughters final 5 prep school choices now have different coaches since her campus visits from just 2 years ago, and I personally know of other changes yet to come. The hockey is a moving target, but the reputation of the school's academics, as well as the campus facilities, are there to stay.
In the end, know one is ever going to know your daughter like you and the rest of her family do. Do the research, make the visits, prepare yourself to miss her terribly, and be prepared to be broker than you ever thought possible, and I'm confident you'll make the right decision about sending her to prep school.
:)

[Jferg325]

Yesterday (Nov. 30,2005)

Proctor defeated Holderness 3-1. Proctor's team is made up of two Seniors, 80 Sophmores/Juniors and a influx of good Freshmen talent. New coach for this season is Christine Dotchin!

Anyone else has game results and observations!

:cool:

[coolsports]

Berkshire beats 2-0 (empty net goal) to start the season.

[NHDad]

Andover Beat BB&N 7 to 0

[NHDad]

Yesterday (Nov. 30,2005)

Proctor defeated Holderness 3-1. Proctor's team is made up of two Seniors, 80 Sophmores/Juniors and a influx of good Freshmen talent. New coach for this season is Christine Dotchin!

:cool:
Wow...."80" sophomores....that's a pretty large roster.....how do they all fit on the bench?? ;)