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Minnesota Hockey Extends Girls 15U Pilot Program

By Minnesota Hockey, 05/11/16, 2:00PM CDT

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The Minnesota Hockey Board of Directors has approved a one-year extension to the pilot program for changing the Girls’ 14U classification to 15U for the upcoming season. The decision was voted on and approved at Minnesota Hockey’s Spring Meeting on April 17, 2016.

“The 15U Girls Pilot Program was implemented after discussions with the District Girls Coordinators centering on how to improve the numbers and competitiveness at this level,” said USA hockey Girls/Women’s Minnesota District Section Representative, Doug Foster. “It was decided to extend the 15U Pilot program into the 2016-2017 to gather more information to study.”

The push for the pilot program was originally made due to two factors:

  1. There are 15 year olds in the Metro area who quit hockey due to not making the Varsity or Junior Varsity high school program, or they opt not to play High School or 19U due to the age spread. This allows them an extra year of playing, with the hope of growing 19U programs in the process.
  2. To provide an extra year to this age in areas without Junior Varsity teams, often in Greater Minnesota.

The extension to the pilot program is intended to collect additional data and feedback so the Board of Directors has more information to study.  With this pilot program, the Board of Directors has been and will continue to be sensitive to how this may impact High School programs, with players deciding to play girl’s hockey instead of High School. The pilot program will be reviewed following the 2016-17 season prior to any decision being made for future seasons. 

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The Minnesota Hockey Board of Directors has approved a one-year extension to the pilot program for changing the Girls’ 14U classification to 15U for the upcoming season. The decision was voted on and approved at Minnesota Hockey’s Spring Meeting on April 17, 2016.

“The 15U Girls Pilot Program was implemented after discussions with the District Girls Coordinators centering on how to improve the numbers and competitiveness at this level,” said USA hockey Girls/Women’s Minnesota District Section Representative, Doug Foster. “It was decided to extend the 15U Pilot program into the 2016-2017 to gather more information to study.”

The push for the pilot program was originally made due to two factors:

  1. There are 15 year olds in the Metro area who quit hockey due to not making the Varsity or Junior Varsity high school program, or they opt not to play High School or 19U due to the age spread. This allows them an extra year of playing, with the hope of growing 19U programs in the process.
  2. To provide an extra year to this age in areas without Junior Varsity teams, often in Greater Minnesota.

The extension to the pilot program is intended to collect additional data and feedback so the Board of Directors has more information to study.  With this pilot program, the Board of Directors has been and will continue to be sensitive to how this may impact High School programs, with players deciding to play girl’s hockey instead of High School. The pilot program will be reviewed following the 2016-17 season prior to any decision being made for future seasons. 

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