The top 2000 and 2001 birth years in Minnesota are set to compete this weekend in the Reebok Minnesota Hockey High Performance 14/15 Fall Festival.  The Boys HP 14/15 Fall Festival will take place Friday, September 26th through Sunday, September 28th at Braemar Arena in Edina, with the Girls HP 14/15 Fall Festival occurring at the same time at Anoka Ice Arena.

The HP 14/15 Fall Festival is the conclusion of the HP 14/15 program and will give the players an opportunity to test their skills against the top players in the state at their age level. The HP 14/15 program began earlier this summer with district tryouts for players that competed at the Peewee/12U and Bantam/14U levels during the 2013-14 season. After tryouts, each district formed one or two teams for the training phase which took place throughout September.

“Each district has had these kids training for the past three and a half weeks,” said Boys HP 14/15 Program Director, Pat Westrum. “We wanted to provide them with a better opportunity to learn and develop.  This program does that by offering an increased focused on individual skill training, especially skating, puck skills and body contact.”

The district teams have met multiple times a week throughout September for dry land training and on-ice sessions.  Dick Emahiser, Assistant Program Director for Boys HP 14/15, provided the districts with a series of recommended drills that emphasized the development of certain skills. Then, each district was given the freedom to specialize their training schedule in order to match their players’ needs.

“You really couldn’t draw this program up any better from a long term development perspective,” said Rochester native and Regional ADM Manager for USA Hockey, Guy Gosselin. “The main focus is on skill development through local training sessions.  Then, you give those players a chance to implement those skills in a game setting against high end competition, while maintaining an emphasis on development not immediate results.”

As Gosselin eludes to, there will be no shortage of high end talent at the Fall Festival.  Last year’s Boys HP 14/15 Fall Festival included 11 players that proceeded to make the USA Hockey Select 15 National Player Development camp this summer. By combining elite talent with a development focus and high end coaching, the players in HP 14/15 program receive an experience that few can match.

View 2014 Boys HP 14/15 Schedule and Rosters

View 2014 Girls HP 14/15 Schedule and Rosters

The Reebok Minnesota Hockey High Performance 14/15 Program is the first component in a series of programs that constitute the Minnesota Hockey and USA Hockey Development Process.  It is staffed by the top youth, high school, college and USA Hockey coaches.  For more information on the Reebok Minnesota Hockey High Performance programs, click here.