High School Players/Teams Observations

[MN. Fan]

Felicia Nelson from SSP made 3rd Team and Honorable Mention.

[ARM]

That's funny about Nelson.

Binnyrus, did you get a chance to see future 'Dog Drazen play?

[ARM]

From an article in the Star Tribune entitled "KSTC nears tournament TV rights", which discusses CH 45 getting the rights to broadcast the Minnesota high school tournaments from the MSHSL:

"KSTC plans to increase the coverage of girls' hockey to include the semifinals as well as the championship games."

[brookyone]

This is good news. I would also bet this is an occasion when games being televised would have no corresponding adverse effect on attendance. The more I think about it, the added TV coverage is a fairly significant step for girls hockey, great for the added exposure. I'd like to be optimistic & think this could prove positive for all womens hockey in the state...or eventually lead to more interest in women's collegiate hockey as well. Kudos to Hubbard Broadcasting. Let's hope they get the ratings to keep it going.

[ARM]

I read in today's paper that ex-Gopher Laura Slominski was named girls hockey coach at Bloomington Kennedy. Good for her.

[gopherguy06]

Originally posted by MSUMavsPuckFan
Why go to Harvard when you can go to the Harvard of southern Minnesota?


BTW Minnesota is the Harvard of the Midwest, on the campus tour, one of the building was pointed out as to being the exact replica of the Harvard addmissions office, and when the U of M was envisioned, it was seen as the "Harvard of the Midwest".
Maybe bunker did pick a Harvard, but still she would have fit in good here at the U of M.

[sevenpucks]

Well I am glad she is at Minnesota State, the Gophers cant get everyone in the state!!!!!

[brookyone]

Originally posted by sevenpucks
Well I am glad she is at Minnesota State, the Gophers cant get everyone in the state!!!!!

Right you are. Kristina was courted by both the Crimson & the Gophers & I agree she would have fit in the Minnesota lineup well. I am glad she chose to play in the WCHA, if not for Minnesota then with MSU. At least that way I can watch her play ocassionally. You have to hand it to coach Vizenor & staff. For one young lady to turn down both Minnesota & Harvard, well, they must have made a pretty strong pitch for their program.

[ARM]

I'm not speaking about Bunker specifically, but not everyone who is recruited by a school is given a chance to sign. Sometimes the school backs away, or they may wait to see what other recruits do before making an offer. I think a player "turning down" a school could in some instances means that they took the "bird in hand".

[brookyone]

Originally posted by ARM
I think a player "turning down" a school could in some instances means that they took the "bird in hand".

I'm sure that does occur. I also suspect that student athlete's, and this is also not specific to Kristina Bunker, make that decision for what you might call "selfish" reason's with regards to their athletic aspiration's, in that they see greater possibilities for themselves at one institution vs. another, although choosing a school for this reason may not yet be as prevalent in womens hockey as it has been for other sports. I have a few acquaintences that were heavily recruited for various sports in DI & DIII that ultimately made their decisions based on similar criteria. As good a reason as any IMO.

[brookyone]

Minnesota girls state high school hockey tournament appears to be getting a new venue after all. Hope the link works. Tourney at the X, added TV coverage (I've heard), sounds like girls high school hockey is moving up / gaining stature. Hear's hoping they can fill the joint.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/high_school/9367386.htm

[Cargo]

From the male perspective this is a prestigious premier event. This is a immense development and opportunity for female hockey.

Arm: Will the Shattucks girls make a showing and take dual golds?

Tue, August 17, 2004
Mac's gets girls
By STAFF


Goaltender Shannon Szabados made a big splash when she became the first female to play at the Mac's midget tournament in 2001. This holiday season, hundreds of girls will be suiting up at the prestigious tourney.

Mac's committee chairman Neil Robertson announced yesterday a new female category will be added to the event.

"It's been in the back of our minds for a while," Robertson said. "With the development of elite programs for females at the midget level, adding a female category is a natural step for the tournament."

The new female category will contain three four-team divisions, each hosted by a Calgary squad.

The Mac's committee will select teams through an application process to ensure the highest level of competition is achieved.

"We want to make sure we get the best teams we can."

The tournament will begin Dec. 26, with the majority of the games being held at the Stu Peppard Arena. The championship game will be played Dec. 30 at the Max Bell Centre.

[ARM]

Originally posted by Cargo
Arm: Will the Shattucks girls make a showing and take dual golds?

I don't know much about Shattuck's girls team, but I don't think that they are the power that the boy's team has been. I believe SKATNMIASOV is more familiar with them.

[OhiohockeyDad]

I would think the timing of this tourny (right against Polar Bear), might be an issue. Also, what are they calling Midgets?? In the US, thats 19U, in Canada, that's 17U. So the HS teams (like Shattuck) could send their JVs, I guess?? I'm thinking they have some work to do to pull all the teams/college coaches away from Conn. ....

[Cargo]

Your right timing could be a issue. Question I have is the Canadian teams that participated in the U19AA were they under 17?

[OhiohockeyDad]

that you mean at Polar Bear?? No, they are usually the Canadian Intermediate teams (20U)- most US tournies let them in at the 19U level. I guess if a 17U team appplied, thats where they would play. This whole age changing (boys and girls) between the two countries is getting stupid- the US changes and Canada changes the same year and they still don't match!! Can no-one in Ottawa and Colorado pick up a phone???
In reality- the main reason for 19U here (should be 18U) is for the districts who argued with age change that not having post-grads could kill teams off, and they won out. Really, 17U makes more sense, at least in Canada, I think Grade 13 is gone now??, so these girls are all seniors. Here in the states, with the split that seems to happen with ages, we have about half with 1 year of 19U and half with 2.

[SKATNMIASOV]

ARM


IMHO the girls program at Shattuck in the past ranks right up ther with the boys. Since I can remember, both the girls and boys have made and done very well at Nationals. It goes to say that the boys have won a couple more games than the girls did however, resullting in 3 National Championships. 7 straight appearances at Nationals for the girls is an awesome accomplishment. More so for the girls, because they had to qualify each year by beating both the thoroughbread teams in order to do so, where the boys got an automatic bid because the Minkota Dist does not send a boys midget team to Nationals.
I received a total list of all the girls that have gone on to play D-1 college hockey the past 7 years, the number was incredible.
A girls division at the Macs should bring together the best teams in the U.S. and Canada, if the same effort is dedicated to the girls side of the tournament.
As to how Shattuck will do there?. IMHO not very well, if they even allow the girls to go. It seems every year there is a budget cut that effects the girls more so than the boys. This year it has finally caught up. Shattuck it seems has only brought in 3 girls to fill spots on this years roster. The talent that Keith Holton was able to bring in to the school these past 7 years will run out this year with the graduation of Alley.
To look into the future of Girls hockey at SSM, one has to only see the record of the JV program last year. I think they won a total of 3 games.

[ARM]

My impression was that the top HS teams in the state could better compete with SSM on the girls side than they could in boys. Also, the D-I players have not been the marquee names that have gone to UND's men's team in recent years. In any case, I defer to your greater knowledge of the program.

[SKATNMIASOV]

IMHO College hockey is for the girls, what the NHL is to the boys. College is the only place that the girls can get compensated(Scholarship). For a girl on a full ride, you are talking upwards of $230,000.00 for 5 years. This is in essentially the girls NHL. When you compare the number of girls from SSM that moved on to D-1 schools, vs to boys from SSM that have gone on to D-1 schools I think you will see that the girls out number the boys almost 3-1.
As far as markee names go, Kelli, Rush, and Ashley (Providence Players, Kind of like the Dakota SSM cionnection on the boys side) have surely made their mark and are regarded as three of the top players in D-1 hockey. All received invites to Festival I believe. I don't think you get that much more markee.
I would agree that the girls H.S. teams in Minnesota are very competitive. However I don't know how a H.S. team would do against Shattuck. The girls did loose to an ALL Star team last september. The boys lost to a Minnesota H.S. team in December of last year. That being said there are boys teams that can compete and beat the boys and girls. ANY GIVEN SUNDAY.

[brookyone]

In light of recent announcements of a few oral commitments to WCHA programs made by members of the current Minnesota high school senior class I'm interested in hearing any thoughts WCHA fans might have regarding any remaining players, as yet uncommitted they feel noteworthy. So far I'm aware of an oral commitment by Warroads Gisele Marvin to the Minnesota Gophers, and of course the earth shattering news of the SSP Young-Fisher-Nelson trio commitment to MSU-M, and it sounds like Elk Rivers Erin Olson may have committed to UMD. :( I only saw Olson in last seasons state tournament in which she was quite impressive. I know there's many more excellent hockey players out there with the large number of girls participating relative to the not so distant past. Who's left ?