Tag: usa-girls-hockey

Part II – USA Hockey Nationals Team Selection & Seedings – Girls U16 Tier I

Post author By Ray Tenenbaum
Post date March 26, 2024

This is Part II about the analysis of USA Hockey 2024 Nationals Girls Tier I Hockey playoffs taking place in Wesley Chapel, Florida. Here is Part I – Girls Tier I 14U

This analysis look at the teams selected for the Girls Tier I U16 playoffs. Given the importance of being seen at Nationals from recruiting perspective, I examined the at-large team selections and the seedings.

As a reminder: If you are heading to the Tier 2 girls playoffs, you can still be scouted by DI coaches. This week I spoke with a DI coach who will be in East Lansing and will be looking for the top players from smaller regions that can’t easily play for a Tier I team.

Girls 16U Selections

Below you can see the ranking of the 16 teams who will be playing at the 16U Tier I Nationals. The 3 highlighted teams (Minnesota Magazine, Massachusetts Spitfires and Minnesota Hardware) are the at-large invitations, then there is the host team (Florida Alliance) and the other 12 are the district champions.

The USA Hockey 2024 National Guidebook provides the following description for how they decide on the at-large teams and seedings:

Unlike the U14 Tier 1 Selections, all of the at-large teams made sense since they were the 3 highest ranked teams on My Hockey Rankings that didn’t win their district. The only thing which is confusing to me is that lack of consistency of Minnesota Elite League teams accepting at-large invitations. It seems that some highly ranked teams do and some don’t attend nationals. I will need to research this further.

As far as the last team to miss the playoffs, the Mid Fairfield CT Stars had a 95.57 which was 0.93 below the last at-large team, Minnesota Hardware. Similar to the U14s, that is a pretty large difference in ratings (in other age groups I’ve seen a rating difference of only 0.01 or 0.02 between bubble teams) and thus there shouldn’t be much concern about the Stars not being selected based on their rating.

Girls 16U Seedings

For the U16 age groups, the seedings are non-controversial. They match identically to the MyHockeyRankings sorting of the 16 qualified teams.

However, if the selection committee looked at the last 10 games for each of the top 10 teams (as they appear to do in other age groups), there is a reasonable argument to be made for a re-arranging of the Top 8 teams. Specifically, two of the at-large teams could have been seeded higher. The same for Belle Tire. Especially since those teams’ full-year ratings were so close to the teams above them in the rankings.

The next posts will discuss the USA Hockey Nationals Girls U19 selections and seedings.

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Tags college-hockey-recruiting, girls-hockey, tag, usa-girls-hockey, usa-hockey, womens-college-hockey

2024 2024 College Hockey Recruiting Girls Hockey USA Hockey Nationals Women's College Hockey Women's Hockey

Part III – USA Hockey Nationals Team Selection & Seedings – Girls U19 Tier I

Post author By Ray Tenenbaum
Post date March 26, 2024

This is Part III about the analysis of USA Hockey 2024 Nationals Girls Tier I Hockey playoffs taking place in Wesley Chapel, Florida. Here is Part I for U14 and Part II for U16

This analysis look at the teams selected for the Girls Tier I U19 playoffs. Given the importance of being seen at Nationals from recruiting perspective, I examined the at-large team selections and the seedings.

Girls 19U Selections

Below you can see the ranking of the 16 teams who will be playing at the 19U Tier I Nationals. The 4 highlighted teams (East Coast Wizards, NAHA, Team Wisconsin and the Connecticut Polar Bears) are the at-large invitations. Unlike other age groups, there is no U19 team from the Northern Plains district – thus the 4th at-large team. Then there is the host team (Florida Alliance) and the other 11 are the district champions.

The USA Hockey 2024 National Guidebook provides the following description for how they decide on the at-large teams and seedings:

Similar to the the U14 Tier 1 at-large Selections, it is unclear why the Minnesota Empowers and Tradition teams are not at-large teams. Maybe they opted out due to the higher priority of the Minnesota High School hockey playoffs. There is a lack of consistency of Minnesota Elite League teams accepting at-large invitations.

As far as the last team to miss the playoffs, the Pittsburgh Pens Elite has a 95.20 rating which is only 0.24 below the last at-large team, the Connecticut Polar Bears. But it seems this is large enough to make the Polar Bears the at-large selection.

Girls 19U Seedings

For the U19 age groups, the seedings do not match the rankings. Shattuck St Mary’s is ranked #1, but seeded #2 behind Bishop Kearney Selects. East Coast Wizards are ranked higher, but seeded lower than the Boston Jr Eagles. And NAHA is ranked higher than the Mid Fairfield Stars, but seeded lower. As described in the USA Hockey Guide above, it is likely a combination of head-to-head and Last 10 Games that were factors in these seedings.

Specifically, BK Selects beat Shattuck in their only game back in October, and but Shattuck still had a much higher rank in their last 10 games (see below). In addition, S-SM has a 0.65 higher rating than BK, which is quite large. So it seems the head-to-head was the primary factor in the flipping of positions. I suspect this will have impact the motivations of both teams should they meet in the playoff round.

The Boston Jr Eagles won the Massachusetts district, so it seems to make sense that they would be higher than the Boston Jr Eagles.

For NAHA and Mid Fairfield, being seeded #8 vs #9 doesn’t really make a material difference, since they will be in the same division. It just impacts the order of games and who is the home team when they play each other. The two teams never played each other during the season, but Mid Fairfield has the higher rating over the last 10 games.

Here are the links to Part I – Tier I Girls 14U and Part II – Tier I Girls 16U

Want to be scouted at Nationals? Use Champs App Messaging to quickly & easily let coaches know your game schedule

Let NCAA coaches know you’ll be at Nationals and your game schedule. The Champs App Messaging tool is the fast, easy way to send error-free messages to coaches before and during the event.

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Tags college-hockey-recruiting, girls-hockey, tag, usa-girls-hockey, usa-hockey, womens-college-hockey

2024 2024 College Hockey Recruiting Girls Hockey USA Hockey Nationals Women's College Hockey

USA Hockey Nationals Team Selection & Seedings – U14 Tier I Girls

Post author By Ray Tenenbaum
Post date March 25, 2024

Being selected to go to Tier I Nationals is a big deal beyond just competing in the national playoffs to win a championship. Almost every NCAA DI women’s hockey program sends at least one coach to scout players and watch the best teams compete against each other. It gives U.S. players another great opportunity to be seen. While there are many elite players that play for teams that don’t end up qualifying for Nationals – it isn’t the end of the world for them, there are still many other opportunities to be seen (e.g. showcases, USA Hockey camps etc.). However, playing at Nationals is an excellent opportunity and timing to get seen. While the process to make Nationals for District winners and the host team is clear, the at-large selection process is a little murkier. This analysis looks at the at-large selections and how the teams were seeded.

I recently wrote about the selections for the NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey playoffs and how the selections and seedings compared to their MyHockeyRankings ratings. Unlike the NCAA, the USA Hockey National Playoffs actually uses MyHockeyRankings to help select the at-large teams for both youth and girls divisions. On the youth side, in addition to the 12 district winners, there are typically 4 at-large teams selected for Tier I (AAA). On the girl’s side, they also have 12 district winners. However, this is the final year where the girls host team gets an automatic spot in addition to that districts winner. So there are two teams from the Southeast district this year. Next year there will also be 4 at-large teams for Tier I girls.

Candidly, I haven’t taken the time to learn how the Tier II selections are made for Nationals. And I certainly don’t understand how the High School Girls teams are selected – because the last couple of winners have not really played high school hockey teams for their regular schedule, but mostly against other Tier I (AAA) classified teams. So this 3-part analysis will focus solely on the 14U, 16U and 19U Girls Tier I selection and seeds for next week’s USA Hockey 2024 Nationals taking place in Wesley Chapel, Florida.

Note: If you are heading to the Tier 2 girls playoffs, you can still be scouted by DI coaches. This week I spoke with a DI coach who will be in East Lansing and will be looking for the top players from smaller regions that can’t easily play for a Tier I team.

Girls 14U Selections

Below you can see the ranking of the 16 teams who will be playing at the 14U Tier I Nationals. The 3 highlighted teams (Minnestota Walleye, Assabet Valley and Chicago Mission) are the at-large invitations, then there is the host team (Florida Alliance) and the other 12 are the district champions.

The USA Hockey 2024 National Guidebook provides the following description for how they decide on the at-large teams and seedings:

From a selection standpoint, the only team which is not clear is the Minnesota Lakers not being selected for an at-large spot. The two reasons I can think of are a) the first at-large spot already went to a Minnesota district team (Walleye) so maybe the committee didn’t want to take two at-large teams from the same district. The other might be that I have heard Minnesota players care more about their High School playoffs than USA Nationals, therefore getting re-organized (after their High School season ends_ and the cost to play in Florida may not be appealing to some teams. If someone has more information on these decisions, please feel free to provide more information.

As far as the last team to miss the playoffs (excluding the Lakers), the Bay State Breakers were had a 95.48 which was 0.77 below the last at-large team, Chicago Mission. In my experience, that is a pretty large difference in ratings (in other age groups I’ve seen a rating difference of only 0.01 or 0.02 between bubble teams) and thus there shouldn’t be much concern about the Breakers not being selected based on their rating.

Girls 14U Seedings

Pretty much all the seedings make sense with 2 exceptions:

Minnesota Walleye were ranked #1 according to MHR, but Lovell Academy was given the #1 seed. The two teams never played each other during the season, so that could not be a factor. However, when looking at just the last 10 games for each team, it seems Lovell Academy had a higher rating by 0.3 goals – so that may have been the determining factor in giving Lovell Academy the #1 seed.

2. The Minnesota Green Giants and Philadelphia Jr Flyers were ranked #5 and #6 respectively according to MHR. But the Jr Flyers were given the higher seed. But looking closer, both teams had an identical 95.81 rating. And the Jr Flyers had a 0.3 higher rating over their last 10 games – so this could likely be the determining factor for promoting the Jr Flyers.

The next posts will discuss the USA Hockey Nationals Girls U16 and U19 selections and seedings.

Want to be scouted at Nationals? Use Champs App Messaging to quickly & easily let coaches know your game schedule

Let NCAA coaches know you’ll be at Nationals and your game schedule. The Champs App Messaging tool is the fast, easy way to send error-free messages to coaches before and during the event.

Watch the demo (Desktop Version) (Mobile Version) and try it out today!

Tags college-hockey-recruiting, girls-hockey, tag, usa-girls-hockey, usa-hockey, womens-college-hockey

2024 Development Camp Women's Hockey

Why U18 National Teams Shouldn’t Only Have Offensive Defenders on their Roster

Post author By Ray Tenenbaum
Post date January 24, 2024

Last week, I re-watched the Canada vs Czechia IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship semi-final game. Czechia won the game 4-2 after losing to Canada in the Group A game 8-1. I noticed that two of the Czechia goals were a direct result of major mistakes by the Canadian defenders. I then saw that the shots on goal were heavily in favor of the Canadians when the score was 3-2 at about 43-11 (ended up being 47-12 for Canada).

This got me thinking, how could Canada lose a game that they so clearly dominated in terms of offensive opportunities?

Two thoughts came to mind:

Czechia did an amazing job learning from their group game with Canada and played a defensive structure which minimized Canada’s high risk chances. Czechia then capitalized on the few opportunities they had to score.
Similar to my observations about the USA Hockey U18 selection process, Canada probably puts a bigger emphasis on fielding a team with offensive D than well-balanced defenders. As a result, a couple of defensive mistakes cost them the game.

This is just my hypothesis, I could be completely wrong. And let me be clear, any player that makes the Canada or U.S. U18 teams are exceptional players. They can all skate well, pass well and shoot well. There is no doubt each of them deserved to be on the team. But maybe, they are too similar in their skill set?

When it comes to roster construction, sometimes you need to include one or two 200-foot players to complement the more offensive players. Specifically, there are usually tradeoffs between a great puck handling D with a hard shot vs. someone who is technically better at 2-on-1s, clearing players in front of the net, playing the penalty kill or defending 1-on-1 zone entries. An analogy would be having 7 Erik Karlssons playing defense for a single team – at some point in important games against good teams there will be times you need the D to keep the puck out of your own net. Once again, this is not to say that those highly skilled U18 players aren’t good defenders, but when they go up against the top 2 or 3 forwards on a national team, they will also need to be technically strong on defense.

Let’s look at some data to support why I can understand how a coaching staff would put together a roster with so much offensive power at the U18 level.

2023 IIHF U18 World Champsionship Shot Totals

Canada outshot their opponent by a 6:1 ratio throughout the tournament. They also had over 40 shots per game. I would suspect they felt the team could outscore all opponents as long they didn’t have any major defensive hiccups.

Of course, you are probably asking – weren’t they planning to play the U.S.? Like all Canadian teams, they probably expected and planned to play the U.S. at some point – likely in the gold medal game (given the new format of A/B group play this year, they wouldn’t play each other in group games). So Canada would still need to be prepared to play a high-powered offensive USA Hockey team.

Then I looked at the shot total for the 2023 Under-18 Series which took place in Lake Place between the Canada and USA. Team Canada swept all 3 games against the U.S. team by a combined score of 15-3. Here were the shot totals:

uSA Canada u18 Summer Series SHot Totals

A couple of possible reasons for Canada to justify having highly offensive defenders… Either the felt they could still outscore Team USA and defend well enough to beat them. Or, maybe their D were never tested enough in the USA-Canada Series to expose some of the technical weaknesses against world-class scorers.

So what?

During my experience attending and analyzing multiple USA Hockey camps/events, I have felt that the players being selected have had their offensive abilities overly weighted in the evaluation process. Now, I am fully onboard with most of the high-end, offensive D being the ones being picked. However, including one or two defenders who can also keep the puck out of your own net at critical points of an important game can be the difference between winning and losing in the medal rounds. Having a little more balance on the blue line could be the difference between winning and losing in big games.

Tags girls-hockey, hockey canada, tag, usa-girls-hockey, usa-hockey, womens-hockey

2024 College Hockey Recruiting Development Camp Girl's Showcase Girls Hockey

2024 Girls Hockey Event Calendar

Post author By Ray Tenenbaum
Post date November 30, 2023

2024 Girls Hockey Event Calendar

Here is a list of 2024 Girls Hockey Tournaments, Showcases, Development Camps and Summer Camps.

This is a partial list. Feel free to submit a new event using our Feedback Form

Organization	Event	Dates	Location	City	Ages
College Hockey Showcases	Spring Break Showcase	April 13-15, 2024		Fort Meyers, FL	2004-2010 Birth Years
College Hockey Showcases	Sweden Girls High Performance Camp	July 15-26, 2024	Nyköpings Arenor Rosvalla	Nyköping, Sweden	2004-2011 Birth Years
College Hockey Showcases	CHS Cergy, France	July 7th-11th, 2024		Cergy, France	2008-2013 Birth Years
College Hockey Showcases	Boise Breakaway Showcase	Dec 13th-15th, 2024		Boise, Idaho	2007-2011 Birth Years
Premier Ice Prospects	Hockey Hall of Fame Future Legends	April 25-28, 2024		Toronto, ON	2012 Birth Years
Premier Ice Prospects	PIPs American Dream	May 3-5, 2024	American Dream	East Rutherford, NJ	2010- 2013 Birth Years
Premier Ice Prospects	Premier Prep Prospects	May 9-12, 2024	The Edge Sports Center	Boston, MA	2009-2012 Birth Years
Premier Ice Prospects	Premier Prospects Boston	May 8-10, 2024	The Edge Sports Center	Boston, MA	2009-2010 Birth Years
Premier Ice Prospects	Top Prospects	May 17-19, 2024		Jacksonville, FL	2010 - 2013 Birth Year
Premier Ice Prospects	Western Prospects Camp	June 1-3, 2024	Kraken Community Iceplex	Seattle, WA	2007-2013 Birth Years
Premier Ice Prospects	585 PIP Showcase	June 7-10, 2024	Tim Horton's Iceplex	Rochester, NY	2007-2009 Birth Years
Premier Ice Prospects	GIRLS ELITE PROSPECTS CAMP	June 23-27, 2024	Tim Horton's Iceplex	Rochester, NY	2011-2013 Birth Years
Premier Ice Prospects	14U PROSPECTS CAMP	June 23-27, 2024	Tim Horton's Iceplex	Rochester, NY	2010 Birth Years
Premier Ice Prospects	PROSPECTS GOALIE CAMP	June 23-27, 2024	Tim Horton's Iceplex	Rochester, NY	2008-2013 Birth Years
Premier Ice Prospects	PREMIER PROSPECTS COMBINE	July 11-14, 2024	UPMC Sports Complex	Cranberry, PA	2010 - 2013 Birth Years
Premier Ice Prospects	SOUTHERN PROSPECTS CAMP	July 18-21, 2024	Community First Igloo	Jacksonville, FL	2012 - 2015 Birth Years
Premier Ice Prospects	617 PIP SHOWCASE - BOSTON HARBOR STYLE	July 1-2, 2024	The Edge Sports Center	Bedford, MA	2025, '26. '27 Grad Years
Premier Ice Prospects	NORTHEAST PROSPECTS CAMP	July 1-2, 2024	The Edge Sports Center	Bedford, MA	2012 - 2015 Birth Years
Premier Ice Prospects	480 SHOWCASE - DESERT STYLE	Summer 2024	Mullett Arena	Tempe, AZ	2007 - 2009 Birth Years
Premier Ice Prospects	SOUTHWEST PROSPECTS	Summer 2024	Mullett Arena	Tempe, AZ	2010- 2013 Birth Year
Premier Ice Prospects	615 PIP SHOWCASE - MUSIC CITY STYLE	August 8-11, 2024	Predators' Ford Ice Center	Bellevue, TN	2010 - 2011 Birth Years
Premier Ice Prospects	NIAGARA FALLS PROPSPECTS CAMP	August 16-18, 2024	Gale Centre Arena	Niagara Falls, ON	2007 - 2011 Birth Years
Premier Ice Prospects	Mrs. Hockey® Invite	January 12 - 15, 2024		Ft Lauderdale, FL	12U Girls - Tier 1 & Tier 2
Premier Ice Prospects	Fort Laudy Daudy Showcase	January 12 - 14, 2024		Ft Lauderdale, FL	19U through 14U Tier 1
Premier Ice Prospects	Great Lakes Girls Fest	February 2-4, 2024		Detroit, MI	19U through 10U Tier II
Premier Ice Prospects	Motor City Girls Fest	February 2-4, 2024		Detroit, MI	19U through 10U Tier I
Premier Ice Prospects	PIPs Rochester Tournament	June 21-23, 2024	Tim Horton's Iceplex	Rochester, NY	2010 - 2013 Birth Years Tier I (AAA)
Premier Ice Prospects	Labor Day Girls Fest	Aug 30 - Sept 1, 2024		Pittsburgh, PA	14U, 16U/17U and 19U Tier I (AAA)/Canadian AA
Premier Ice Prospects	Frieda Falcon Girls Fest	September 6-8, 2024	Slater Family Ice Arena	Bowling Green, OH	12U USA Tier I / CAN A
Premier Ice Prospects	Capital Cup Girls Fest	October 12-14, 2024		Northern VA	19U through 10U Tier II
Premier Ice Prospects	Roc City Girls Fest	October 25-27, 2024		Rochester, NY	19U through 10U
Premier Ice Prospects	Roc City Girls Fest	November 1-3, 2024		Rochester, NY	19U through 10U Tier I (AAA), Tier II (AA), Tier III (A)
Premier Ice Prospects	Burgh Thanksgiving Girls Fest	November 22-24, 2024		Pittsburgh, PA	19U through 10U Tier I (AAA), Tier II (AA), Tier III (A)
Premier Ice Prospects	Smashville Girls Fest	November 22-24, 2024		Nashville, TN	19U through 10U Tier I (AAA), Tier II (AA), Tier III (A)
Premier Ice Prospects	Erie White Out Weekend	December 6-8, 2024		Erie, PA	12U and 10U Tier I (AAA), Tier II (AA)
RUSH Hockey	Florida RUSH	January 12-15, 2024	Palm Beach Skate Zone	West Palm Beach, FL	Girls Tier 1/Tier 2/ Tier 3 (12U, 14U, 16U, 19U)
RUSH Hockey	Rush Spring Showcase (Florida)	April 25-28, 2024	Palm Beach Skate Zone	West Palm Beach, FL	2004-2012 Birth Years
RUSH Hockey	FLORIDA BEACHSIDE SPRING CLASSIC	TBD April, 2024	Palm Beach Skate Zone	West Palm Beach, FL	19U through 12 U Tier2 and Tier 3
RUSH Hockey	Connecticut Rush	TBD June, 2024	Northford Ice Pavilion	Northford, CT	2009 - 2011 Birth Years
RUSH Hockey	Rush College Showcase	June 7-10, 2024	CAA Centre Brampton	Brampton, ON	2006 - 2009 Birth Years
RUSH Hockey	RUSH RISING STARS PRE-COLLEGE SHOWCASE	May 30 – June 2, 2024	CAA Centre Brampton	Brampton, ON	2010 and 2011 Birth Years
RUSH Hockey	RUSH ATOMIC CHALLENGE	May 30 – June 2, 2024	CAA Centre Brampton	Brampton, ON	2012 and 2013 Birth Years
RUSH Hockey	RUSH Hockey High Performance	August 4-6, 2024	CAA Centre Brampton	Brampton, ON	U11 - U22 AA
RUSH Hockey	BEANTOWN CLASSIC	July 19-21, 2024	New England Sports Center	Marlborough, MA	2009 (08) - 2014 Birth Years,
RUSH Hockey	BEANTOWN CLASSIC	July 26-28, 2024	New England Sports Center	Marlborough, MA	U19, College / Super Series
RUSH Hockey	BUFFALO RUSH HOCKEY INFERNO	TBD, Nov 2024		Buffalo, NY	Girls Tier 1/Tier 2 (10U, 12U, 14U, 16U, 19U)
RUSH Hockey	TEXAS RUSH	TBD, Nov 2024		Dallas, TX	Girls Tier 1/Tier 2 (12U, 14U, 16U, 19U)
RUSH Hockey	NEW ENGLAND RUSH	TBD		Boston, NA	Girls Tier 1/Tier 2 (12U, 14U, 16U, 19U)
RUSH Hockey	NORTH HALTON RUSH	September 6-8, 2024	CAA Centre Brampton	North Halton, ON	U11-U18 AA/A/BB/B
RUSH Hockey	TWO NATIONS COLLEGE PREP SERIES	TBD, Oct 2024		Brampton, ON	19U through 12U Tier 1; U13-U21 AA
RUSH Hockey	TWO NATIONS COLLEGE PREP SERIES	TBD, Dec 2024		Detroit, MI	19U through 12U Tier 1; U13-U21 AA
RUSH Hockey	NORTH HALTON CHRISTMAS RUSH	TBD Dec, 2024	CAA Centre Brampton	Georgetown, ON	U11-U22 AA/A/BB/B
RUSH Hockey	Toronto Aeros Holiday Classic	Jan 5-7, 2024		Vaughn, ON
RUSH Hockey	ARIZONA RUSH MATT SHOTT MEMORIAL	TBD November, 2024		Phoenix, AZ	19U through 12U Tier 1 and Tier 2
Showcase Hockey	2024 Minnesota Meltdown AAA Tournament	April 19-21, 2024		Minnesota	Girls AAA (10U, 12U, 14U, 16U, 19U)
Showcase Hockey	2024 Independent Classic	May 17-19, 2024		Minnesota	Girls AAA (8U, 10U, 12U, 14U, 16U, 19U)
Showcase Hockey	2024 AAA Summer Showdown	June 7-9, 2024		Minnesota	Girls AAA (10U, 12U, 14U, 16U, 19U)
Showcase Hockey	2024 International Cup	August 2-4, 2024		Minnesota	Girls AAA (10U, 12U, 14U, 16U, 19U)
Showcase Hockey	2024 Easton AAA Cup Tournament	August 16-18, 2024		Minnesota	Girls AAA (10U, 12U, 14U, 16U, 19U)
Showcase Hockey	2024 Summer Finale	August 23-25, 2024		Minnesota	Girls AAA (8U, 10U, 12U, 14U, 16U, 19U)
Showcase Hockey	2024 Warrior Cup AAA	September 6-8, 2024		Minnesota	Girls AAA (10U, 12U, 14U, 16U, 19U)
200x85 Tournaments	CCM MLK Girls	Jan 14-16, 2024		Massachusetts	12U - 19U AAA/AA
200x85 Tournaments	CCM CHI-TOWN SHUFFLE	April 19-21, 2024		Chicago, IL	Girls Tier 1/Tier 2 (12U, 14U, 16U, 19U)
200x85 Tournaments	CCM Selects Beantown Women's Classic	Jul 19-21, 2024		Boston	2008 - 2013
200x85 Tournaments	CCM Selects Training Camp - Notre Dame (Girls)	May 3-5, 2024		South Bend, IN	2010-2016
200x85 Tournaments	CCM Girls 68 (14U)	Aug 07-11, 2024		Chicago, IL	2010 Birth Year
The National Girls Hockey League	NGHL NCAA Exposure Clinic	TBD		Northford, CT	2005 - 2010 Birth Years
The National Girls Hockey League	NGHL NCAA Exposure Camp in Newington, CT	TBD		Newington, CT	2004 - 2010 Birth Years
The National Girls Hockey League	Dawg Days of Summer - Red	TBD		Northford, CT	12U-19U
The National Girls Hockey League	Dawg Days of Summer - Futures	TBD		Newington, CT	12U
The National Girls Hockey League	Labor Day Challenge - Blue	August 30 - September 1, 2024		Cromwell, CT	12U-19U
The National Girls Hockey League	Labor Day Challenge - Futures	August 30 - September 1, 2024		Cromwell, CT	12U
The National Girls Hockey League	Fall Classic - Red	TBD		Syracuse, NY	14U-19U
The National Girls Hockey League	Fall Classic - Futures	TBD		Buffalo, NY	10U & 12U
The National Girls Hockey League	NGHL Michigan	TBD		Ann Arbor, MI	14U - 19U Tier 1
The National Girls Hockey League	Mile High Invitational - Blue	TBD		Denver, CO	12U-19U
The National Girls Hockey League	MLK Winter Classic - Blue	January 13-15, 2024		Haverhill, MA	12U, 14U, 16U, and 19U
The National Girls Hockey League	MLK Winter Classic - Red	January 13-15, 2024		Philadelphia, PA	14-19U Tier 1
The National Girls Hockey League	Red Division Champsionship	February 2-4, 2024		Rockland, MA	14-19U Tier 1
North American Premier Women's Showcase	North American Premier Women's Showcase College Division	JUNE 21-23TH, 2024	Merrimack College Athletics Complex	North Andover, MA	Birth Years 2007-2011 (PG's also Allowed)
JWHL	Challenge Cup 2024	February 17-20, 2024		Rockville/Arlington, VA	14U, 16U, 19U
North American Female Elite Showcase	The Orion Top Prospects	June 13-16, 2024		Blaine, MN	2007 - 2012 Birth Years
Pony Tail Tournament	Pony Tail Tournament	March 15-17, 2024		Baltimore, MD	U10, U12A, U12B, U14A, U14B, U16A, U16B, U19
The Rose Series	Cowgirl Shootout	April 18-21 2024		Nashville, TN	2012 Birth Years
The Rose Series	Low Country Classic	May 9-12, 2024		Charleston, SC	2011 Birth Year
The Rose Series	The Battle at the Beach	May 9-12, 2024		Fort Meyers, FL	2010 Birth Year
The Rose Series	BIOSTEEL WORLD INVITE	June 24-30, 2024		Toronto, ON	2009 Birth Year
The Rose Series	Queens of Vegas	July 9-12, 2024		Las Vegas, NV	2013 Birth Year
The Rose Series	PARK CITY SHOWDOWN	July 11-14, 2024		Park City, Utah	2014 Birth Year
The Rose Series	War for the Roses	July 8-13, 2024		Edmonton, Alberta	2011 Birth Year
USA Hockey	USA Hockey Girls 15's Player Development Camp	July 25-30, 2024	Miami University	Oxford, Ohio	2009 Birth Year
USA Hockey	USA Hockey Girls 16/17's Player Development Camp	July 19-24, 2024	Miami University	Oxford, Ohio	2007 & 2008 Birth Year
USA Hockey	Girls National 2006 Training Camp (2006)	July 19-22, 2024	Miami University	Oxford, Ohio	2006 Birth Year
USA Hockey	USA Hockey Girls Under 18 Player Development Camp	August 4-9, 2024	Miami University	Oxford, Ohio	2007, 2008, 2009 Birth Year
USA Hockey	2024 Women's National Festival	August 2024		TBD
OS Hockey	PROSPECTS/FUTURES WEEKEND 1 Camp	May 31-June 3, 2024	Bloomington Ice Gardens	Minneapolis, MN
OS Hockey	PROSPECTS/FUTURES WEEKEND 2 Camp	July 28-30, 2024	Braemar Arena	MInneapolis, MN
OS Hockey	2024 OS SPRING FESTIVAL	March 16th-19th, 2024	Braemar Arena	MInneapolis, MN
OS Hockey	2024 WHITECAPS CUP (HS)	May 3-5, 2024		MInneapolis, MN	High School
OS Hockey	2024 TRADITION CUP	August 2-4, 2024	Braemar Arena	MInneapolis, MN	College Level
OS Hockey	2024 OS SHOOTOUT	August 10th-13th, 2024	Bloomington Ice Garden and Braemar Ice Arena	MInneapolis, MN	U8-U19
Girls Elite Hockey	2024 TRADITION NIT	October 18-20, 2024		Blaine, MN	U16 and U19
NCD Camps	GIRLS NCDC COLLEGE DEVELOPMENT CAMP	August 5-7, 2024	New England Sports Center	Marlborough, MA	2025, '26, '27, '28 Grad Years
NAHA	NAHA COLLEGE SHOWCASE	July 12-14 2024	Boston Sports Institute	Wellesley, MA	2025, '26, '27, '28 Grad Years
University of Wisconsin	13 and Under Camp	June 24-28, 2024	LaBahn Arena	Madison, WI	13 and under
University of Wisconsin	High School Elite Camp	August 4-8, 2024	LaBahn Arena	Madison, WI	High School
Princeton University	GIRLS ICE HOCKEY ELITE CAMP	TBD	Baker Rink	Princeton, NJ	Entering grades 10-12
Princeton University	GIRLS ICE HOCKEY EXPOSURE ID CAMP	TBD	Baker Rink	Princeton, NJ	Entering grades 7-9
Merrimack College	Merrimack Womens Ice Hockey Clinics	TBD	Lawler Arena	North Andover, MA	Entering grades 9-12
RinkSport	RinkSport College Development Camp	JUNE 15-20, 2024	Babson College	Boston, MA	2029 High School graduates or earlier
RinkSport	SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA Development Camp	June 4-7, 2024
RinkSport	BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS Development Camp	June 20-22, 2024
RinkSport	WASHINGTON , D. C. Development Camp	June 24-27, 2024
RinkSport	ANCHORAGE, ALASKA Development Camp	June 21-24, 2024
RinkSport	LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA Development Camp	TBD
RinkSport	GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Development Camp	TBD
Pre-Prep Showcase	Pre-Prep Showcase	AUGUST 1st-4th, 2024	New England Sports Center	Marlborough, MA	Birth Years: 2009, 2010 & 2011
Ohio State University	YOUTH CAMP	TBD	OSU Ice Rink	Columbus, OH	U8/U10 and U12 age level
Ohio State University	ELITE DAY CAMP	TBD	OSU Ice Rink	Columbus, OH	Grad Years: 2026-2028
Ohio State University	HIGH SCHOOL ELITE CAMPS	TBD	OSU Ice Rink	Columbus, OH	Grad Years: 2026-2028
University of Maine	U16/19 High School Girls' Hockey Camp	TBD	University of Maine	Orono, ME	Grades 8-12
University of Maine	U8/U10/U12 Girls' Hockey Day Camp	TBD	University of Maine	Orono, ME	U8/U10/U12 Skaters
University of Maine	Women's Prospect Clinic	TBD	University of Maine	Orono, ME	Grades 8-12
Brown University	BROWN WOMEN’S HOCKEY ELITE SUMMER CAMP	August 5-7, 2024	Brown University	Providence, RI	High school students entering grades 9-12. Therefore, 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028 high school graduates.
Mercyhurst University	DIVISION I WOMEN'S HOCKEY ELITE CAMP	TBD	Mercyhurst University	Erie, PA	2006 to 2009 birth year
Colgate University	2024 COLGATE EXPOSURE CAMP \| PRE-CAMP GOALIE'S ONLY	July 7-9, 2024	Colgate University	Hamilton, NY	Goalies Only. All Female players born between 2005-2009
Colgate University	2024 COLGATE EXPOSURE CAMP \| SESSION 1	July 9-11, 2024	Colgate University	Hamilton, NY	All Female players born between 2005-2009
Colgate University	2024 COLGATE EXPOSURE CAMP \| SESSION 2	July 12-14, 2024	Colgate University	Hamilton, NY	All Female players born between 2005-2009
College of the Holy Cross	Holy Cross Women's Ice Hockey Clinics	TBD	Hart Center	Worcester, MA	14-19 Years Old
St Anselm College		TBD	Sullivan Arena	Bedford, NH
Clarkson University	Clarkson Golden Knight Women's Hockey Prospect Camp 2024	TBD	Cheel Campus Center and Arena	Potsdam, NY	2007-2010 Birth Years
St Cloud State University	St. Cloud State Women's Hockey Camps	03/29/2024 - 03/30/2024	Herb Brooks National Hockey Center	St. Cloud, Minnesota	Ages 6-16
Quinnipiac University	Quinnipiac Women's Ice Hockey Girls Camp	July 8 - 12, 2024	M&T Bank Arena	Hamden, Conn	Ages: 6-13
Quinnipiac University	Quinnipiac Women's Ice Hockey Girls Elite Clinic	July 8 - 12, 2024	M&T Bank Arena	Hamden, Conn	Ages: rising 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th grade
University of Minnesota	MINNESOTA GIRLS HOCKEY CAMPS	June 24-26, 2024	Mariucci Arena	Minneapolis, MN	10U &12U Camp
University of Minnesota	MINNESOTA GIRLS HOCKEY CAMPS	June 27-28, 2024	Mariucci Arena	Minneapolis, MN	Exposure Camp (ages 13,14)
University of Minnesota	MINNESOTA GIRLS HOCKEY CAMPS	June 17-19, 2024 + June 19-21, 2024	Mariucci Arena	Minneapolis, MN	High School/ Varsity Camp #1 & #2
University of Minnesota Duluth	Minnesota Duluth High School Elite Camp	August 1-4, 2024	Amsoil Arena	Duluth, MN	Any and all high school girls (grad years 2025-2028) are invited
College Development Showcase	Girls Camp	June 23-25, 2024	Ice Den	Hooksett, NH	Players with birth years 2005-2010
Boston College	Maroon and Gold Women’s Combine	TBD	Conte Forum	Chestnut Hill, MA	2010-2011-2012 players
National Sports Center	All American Girls Hockey Tournament	November 8-10, 2024	NSC-Super Rink (Blaine)	Blaine, MN	Girls U10A,B U12A,B U15A
Youth Hockey Hub	2024 DANGLEFEST	TBD	NSC-Super Rink (Blaine)	Blaine, MN	Girls U10A, U10B, U12A, U12B, U15A, & U15B
Fierce Edge Athletics	FIERCE FEMALE HOCKEY TOURNAMENT 2024	June 14-16, 2024	Canlan Oshawa	Oshawa, ON	U9/ U11 (Tier 1 & Tier 2)/ U13 (Tier 1,Tier 2)
Fierce Edge Athletics	Fierce ID Series - SHOWCASE EVENT	June, 2024	Canlan Oshawa	Oshawa, ON	2010-2011 ; 2009-2007 + 06* (GRADUATION YEAR 2025) DIVISION
RINK Hockey Academy Kelowna	Female University Showcase 2024	April 4-7, 2024	Winfield Arena & RINK Kelowna Training Centre	Kelowna, BC	2005-2009 YOB
Delta Hockey Academy	DHA Female University Showcase	April 9-10, 2024	Planet Ice	Delta, B.C	2006-2011 YOB
RINK Hockey Academy Winnipeg	Female University Showcase 2024	April 19-21, 2024	Rink Training Center	Winnipeg, MB	2005-2009 (2010) YOB
OneHockey	OneHockey Connecticut GIRLS	March 8-10, 2024	DANBURY ICE	Danbury, CT	Girls Tier II (AA) 19U, 16U, 14U, 12U, 10U Girls Tier III (A) 19U, 16U, 14U, 12U, 10U
OneHockey	OneHockey Sacred Heart University	August 30 - September 2, 2024	Sacred Heart University Martire Family Arena	Fairfield, CT	Girls 12U Tier I & II

Tags 2024 girls hockey, canada-girls-hockey, girl's hockey, girlsshowcase, hockey-canada-girls, usa-girls-hockey

College Hockey Recruiting Girl's Showcase Girls Hockey hockey USA Hockey Nationals Women's College Hockey

Recruiting Insights from the 2023 Tradition NIT Girls Hockey Tournament: Coaches, Coaches, Coaches!

Post author By Ray Tenenbaum
Post date October 25, 2023

This past weekend I was in Minnesota for the fabulous 2023 Tradition NIT Girls Hockey Tournament organized by Winny Brodt Brown. In total, there were 93 teams participating for the 16U and 19U age groups. Almost every top US club team was in attendance plus many of the top western Canadian girl’s teams.

Over the course of the 3-day event, I had multiple conversations with several DI & DIII coaches and I thought I would share my observations as they relate to the recruiting process:

1. Competition Matters for Getting Seen

As heard many times on the Champs App podcast, coaches want to see players playing at the highest level, against top players to properly evaluate them. With as many as 8 games going on simultaneously across the two rink locations, coaches can’t watch every game. Many times I would see a coach watch 2 overlapping games by switching back and forth during ice cuts. Thus coaches need to be selective in which games they scout. Coaches were mostly watching games with the largest number of talented players. Thus, it appeared as though games with the highest ranking teams got the highest DI coach attendance. However, it did seem that DIII and ACHA coaches were more flexible in watching lower ranked teams. But if you want to play DI hockey, my sense is that you want to put yourself in the best position to be seen. This would imply playing on a team that plays against the other top teams in the country. The reality is that if your team is ranked in 30’s and below on MyHockeyRankings, then you probably won’t get noticed as much, even if you are a DI caliber player.

2. Connections Help

I saw this firsthand this weekend. If you can get a positive reference to a college coach through an advisor, current or former coach, friend or some other trusted hockey-related relationship, it can make a difference in getting scouted. It won’t get you an offer, but it can certainly get a coach from a specific school to come watch you play and start the process.

3. Lines Not Dots

I had a great conversation with a coach from a Top 5 DI school and asked why they scouted at so many events. In reality, given their school’s reputation, they could just focus on the handful of top players at the US or Canadian national camps and simply cherry pick those players. But the coach revealed to me that they watch the elite-of-the-elite players over the course of several years and track their development and progression over an extended period of time. This way they can see what the player’s trajectory looks like and if it continues to trend in a positive direction. The coach and I discussed a specific player and how the coaches have been monitoring how the hockey IQ of that player has been improving over the previous 2 years. Thus coaches at high-end teams look for the trendlines of players – not just the individual play at a single event.

4. Experience Matters in Evaluating Players

It was fun talking to several coaches and hearing their “off-the-record” thoughts about certain players. The folks I talked to ranged from longtime head coaches to junior assistant coaches to a former DI coach. What I gleaned across all the convos was the more experience you had coaching, the less amount of time it took to get a pretty accurate assessment of a player. I was surprised how accurately the seasoned coaches figured out a player’s strengths and weaknesses. While for some of the junior coaches it sounded like they needed to watch more games to get a good sense for a player.

5. Lots of Coaches

For this year, the NCAA approved DI teams to have three assistant coaches (instead of just two). As a result, almost every (non-NEWHA) DI team had a least one coach present for the entire weekend while their school played regular season conference games “back home” on Friday and Saturday. Several coaches clearly also got on planes or in a car right after their games were done on Saturday and headed to Blaine, MN. On Sunday morning, 7 of the 8 head coaches from the WCHA teams were in attendance, with all eight schools having multiple assistant coaches there as well.

Tags college-commits, college-hockey-recruiting, girls-hockey, tag, usa-girls-hockey, womens-college-hockey, womens-hockey

2023 Development Camp Girls Hockey Player Development Women's Hockey

The USA Hockey 2023 Girls 16/17 Camp Feedback Process – Part II

Post author By Ray Tenenbaum
Post date August 17, 2023

My Recommendations

Read Part I Here

Feedback is a gift.

Giving feedback is hard.

Having led performance feedback to dozens (if not hundreds) of people I’ve managed in business, I recognize it is one of the most challenging interactions to conduct in my career. At the same time, I was taught how to take it seriously and learned many of the best practices to ensure a positive outcome from the process for both parties.

It is pretty clear from the parent meeting at the 16/17 Girls camp (and the letter that accompanied the feedback/rating letter) that USA Hockey wants to make no doubt that they are providing a variety of different levels of feedback for each player at the national camps. The details of this feedback were clearly explained in Part I on this topic.

And it is important to recognize that they really do care about giving feedback – because they have dedicated time and resources to the process. I also wanted to also acknowledge that is takes a non-trivial amount of effort to provide detailed feedback to about 400 players across 4 major camps each summer.

At the same time, I’ve spent a ton of time thinking about this topic trying to figure out why almost everyone I have spoken with is disappointed with the USA Hockey Girls National Camp selection and feedback process. And here is what I came up with…

At the end of the day, the current process does not solve the unmet need of the players – which is to have actionable direction on their highest priority development areas. This is because the robustness of the feedback is not commensurate with the level of commitment and investment the players put into making, preparing and attending the camp.

And my reason for this is the following:

The feedback is too generic. For almost all the players, it’s just too simplistic/superficial without personalized examples and not actionable enough.

Here are my recommendations:

Standardize a More Robust Process – The coaches should go through a training session on how the process works and what the expectations are from the coach on the process, content & delivery. All players should receive player-specific information using a common format, but with player-specific examples in the review. While the coaches should have flexibility to adapt the process to their style, each performance review (in addition to the attribute ratings mentioned in Part I) would require the feedback to include each of the following….
Include Player-Specific Key Statistics (e.g. pass completion rates or turnover rates). Nothing is more powerful than data. Being able to show a player how they compared on key attributes compared to their peers makes things much clearer. This became quite evident to me in my analysis of the 16/17 Camp forwards and defenders.
Support with Player-Specific Video Clips – showing a player exactly what they do well and how/when they make mistakes provides “hard-to-argue” credibility to the stats and the coach’s feedback. This would likely use a video analytics system like Instat/Hudl so each player’s shifts could be coded.
Prioritize Key Areas to Focus On – Darryl Belfry consistently talks about High Frequency – Low Success Rate Situations. Video and statistical analysis will surface these situations. Then a coach should be using them to focus on a limited number of these game patterns to prioritize (3-5) situations/skills for a player to work on.

These four recommendations would require a significantly greater amount of time and resources than the current effort being done at the USA Hockey girls camps. There may not be time to aggregate everything during that week. But the feedback session does not need to occur at the camp. It can be done a week or two after the camp via a video-call. What matters most is that the players are getting their needs met as to where to focus and improve as a player. Ideally, there would be someone in leadership who was solely responsible for player development and not directly associated with the selections for the U18 camp or team. I know it can be done, because I have seen first-hand more robust feedback processes on the boys side at both the USA Hockey and junior hockey levels.

Final Thoughts

The best organizations focus relentlessly on their customers. One of the biggest ways to ensure these organizations are meeting the needs of their customers is to ask them for feedback. Specifically their overall satisfaction with a question like “Would you recommend [product/service] to a friend or colleague?” followed by “Why?”. In my few years interacting with USA Hockey both as a coach and a parent, I have never been asked for my feedback on the programs I’ve been been engaged with. In essence, USA Hockey has a monopoly on the national team programs so it is understandable that they may not need to be as customer-centric as an Amazon or an Apple. But, if leadership for USA Hockey female national camps wants to continuously improve their program, just like their players do, it would be great if they solicited their own feedback on areas they can improve as an organization. Who knows…maybe getting the gift of feedback on themselves may translate to improved performance on the ice?

Feel free to send feedback on our posts or Champs App to feedback@champs.app

Tags girls-hockey, hockey-development, tag, usa-girls-hockey, usa-hockey

2023 Coaching Girls Hockey Player Development Women's Hockey

The USA Hockey 2023 Girls 16/17 Camp Feedback Process – Part I

Post author By Ray Tenenbaum
Post date August 9, 2023

I have a lot of passion about feedback when it comes to hockey player development, because I think it is probably the most important factor to improve player performance. Darryl Belfry, who is regarded as one of the best player development coaches in the world, uses actual game analysis as the primary way to provide feedback on improvement areas for players.

As the governing body of hockey in the U.S., USA Hockey understands the importance of player feedback. At the USA Hockey 16/17 Girls Camp which took place in Oxford, OH this past June, feedback was highlighted in the parent meeting as a key component of the camp. In Part I of this post about the USA Hockey Girls Camp feedback, I wanted to focus on understanding the three levels of feedback utilized during and after the camp. Part II of this topic will discuss my thoughts on how effective the feedback process has been.

1. On-Ice Feedback – During Practice and Games

Just like with their regular teams, coaches were quite consistent in talking to players individually and in groups during practices to share their thoughts on specific, tactical ways to improve a drill or situation. Same for a player coming to the bench during one of the games after a shift – coaches would lean over to players and give advice on what adjustments could be made to improve a player effectives. These situations are quite comfortable for all the coaches at an event like this since most were DI coaches or previous DI players. As I mentioned in my previous post about player feedback, in-game comments are the easiest for a coach to communicate.

2. One-on-One Feedback with one of the Team Coaches

All teams had two head coaches. On about the fourth day of week-long camp, each player had a 10-15 minute conversation with one of their coaches. It is my understanding that most players were asked to do a self-review in anticipation of the meeting. From talking to several parents, the coach-player conversation was then highly dependent on the coach. Some coaches were well-prepared and had video clips to show players as a way to communicate their feedback, some coaches had simple basic priorities for players to focus on while others relied on the player’s self-evaluation as the primary source of the feedback conversation. Given the variance in feedback methods, I suspect the feedback meeting process was not highly structured by the camp organizers.

3. Letter Grade and Player Development Performance Criteria

About four weeks after the end of the 16/17 Girls Camp, my daughter received by snail mail a form letter which included an evaluation which is supposed to serve as a benchmark for a player’s performance at the camp. This entails a letter grade and a rubric on the “Player Development Performance Criteria”. Here are the details.

At the top of the player evaluation sheet, the players was provided a rating of A, B or C with the following explanation

“A” grade = Excellent – ranks in the top 1/3 of players at camp

“B” grade = Good – ranks in the middle 1/3 of players at camp

“C” grade = Below average – ranks in the bottom 1/3 of players at camp.

The Player Development Performance Criteria had 5 possible selections (from best to worst):

Excellent
Very Good
Good
Fair
Poor

Each skater then had attributes selected within two categories. General and position-specific attributes with a selection in one of those five boxes (“X” for each attribute). Here are those attributes:

General:

Makes Possession Plays (i.e. keep team on offense; limited turnovers)
Angling: pressure to take away time/space; dictate play with body/stick
Stick Positioning
Deception
Quick Transitions
Off-Puck Habits & Puck Support
Scoring Ability
Physicality
Athleticism
200-Ft Player
Skating Ability (north/south; agility; speed)

Defenders:

DZone Execution First
Puck Retrievals
Good First Pass or Exit
Win Race Back to D-Side of Play/Net
Wine Board Battles
Deter Offensive Opportunities
Scan to Make Exit Play; Fast Transition to Breakout
Work Well with D-Partner
Gap Control: (North/South & East/West)

Forwards:

Puck Retrievals & Ability to Stay Off the Wall
Ability to Leave Perimeter and Gain Inside Ice
Owning Space with Puck
Scanning/Awareness of Teammates & Opponents
Use Teammates to Make Plays
Zone Entry: Ability to create depth/layers/lanes
Create & Maintain Offense

I don’t know the process that was used to aggregate the evaluators feedback, but am assuming they collected a populated rubric from all the evaluators for a position and then aggregated the data to take an average of the selections. (I hope they used some online tool to aggregate this all, because there are lots of ways to simplify collecting this information). Then I suppose this compiled data was used as the rating for each player’s Development Performance Criteria. I would then assume the average across all Development Performance Criteria was calculated and the each player was force ranked into one of the three tiers to give the letter rating of A,B or B based on which third they ranked.

Other than the rating and the rubric box selection – no other personalized information was included in the feedback. No short paragraph summary (like you would see in a student report card) from the coach or evaluators to provide additional context was provided.

It is important to note that the ratings are based on the criteria described above. If different criteria were used (which will be discussed in the next post), then a player’s rating might be different if those criteria were closer or further away from the capabilities of a player.

In Part II on this topic I will share my perspective on the good, the bad and the ugly of this feedback process.

Read Part II Here

Tags girls-hockey, hockey-development, tag, usa-girls-hockey, usa-hockey

2023 Development Camp Girls Hockey Player Development Women's College Hockey Women's Hockey

Analyzing the USA Hockey Girls 16/17 Camp Forward Selections for the U18 Camp

Post author By Ray Tenenbaum
Post date July 24, 2023

The is the second analysis I have done about the selections for the USA Hockey Girls U18 Camp which took place last week. The first was about the defenders picked to go to the U18 Camp. Now that the selections of the forwards from U18 Camp to go to the Women’s Festival were announced a few days ago, it makes this analysis even more interesting because none of the top 3 point-getters from either the Girls 16/17 Camp nor the U18 Camp were selected to advance to the next stage in the process.

WHAT?

Similar to the previous post, rather than engage in a subjective discussion on who was selected, I thought it might be helpful to collect some analytical data and metrics to understand how top players performed at the 16/17 camp and compare them to a couple of the players who weren’t selected.

WHY?

When you don’t select the top 3 point-getters from either Girls 16/17 Camp or the U18 Camp, there are bound to be a lot of folks who wonder what the selection criteria is for making it to the next stage of USA Hockey. I don’t know the answer to that question. But I can analyze the video of each shift for several of the top players picked and not picked to see if there is an obvious difference between the two segments. The purpose of this post is not to say who did or did not deserve to be selected to the U18 Camp. Instead, it is to help provide perspective and context to other players and parents the types of metrics that demonstrate the level of play needed to be selected. And ideally, individual players do their own self-analysis to see how they compare.

HOW?

I watched and coded specific attributes for every shift in all 4 games for every player in this analysis using the USA Hockey TV footage. I collected more metrics than are listed below, but I feel that the attributes shown, provide the right amount and level of data to gain an understanding of the level of play for this position. Note: Sometimes the live stream footage didn’t always focus on the area of the ice where the play was taking place, so it is very likely the odd play may have not been accounted for.

WHO?

Here is the list of the 13 players selected to go to the 18’s camp

Since I only had the time to watch 5 players – I watched 3 selected forwards plus 2 top players who weren’t selected. Those 3 forwards represented a mix of the forward selections. I am not identifying the names of any players because singling out any individual player is not my objective. For full transparency, in this analysis I do know the parents of one of the players.

SO WHAT?

Do I think the 5 selected were in the Top 10 forwards at the camp, almost certainly. Do I think there are 3-5 other players that could easily have been selected instead – also, almost certainly. There is no algorithm to calculate and rank the top players. I don’t know the selection criteria, so whatever they may be (whether well-structured or not) at the end of the day what matters is results. As stated in the parents meeting, the results of the last two U18 World Championships was not the result USA Hockey wanted – so we will see if the current process yields better results.

THE ANALYSIS

2023 USA Hockey Girls 16-17 Camp Analytics for Forwards Selected to Advance to the U18 Girls Camp

Note: Players 1-3 were selected to go to the U18 Girls Camp – Players 4 & 5 were not selected

Some notes on the tracked attributes:

Takeaways = a one-on-one situation where the player gains control of the puck from directly challenging the other player
Giveaways = full change of possession to the other team (e.g. a missed pass, dump in/out, rim or redirected puck)
OZone entries = skating across the blue line with full possession of the puck
Team Shots For/Against do not include shot attempts that did not reach the net. Only SOGs were included.
I am not including the point stats or PIMs for any player since they can already be found on the USA Hockey website
There were additional attributes I tracked like “faceoffs won” but they indirectly show up in other higher-order key metrics. Since not all the forwards played center, I didn’t include the faceoff attribute. But I did want to note, that one player was very good at faceoffs while another was not. The one that won most of their faceoffs did see that reflected in other measurement areas since many faceoff wins led to greater possession time.

OTHER THOUGHTS

From all the players and games I’ve watched, it seems (and it’s only natural) that really good plays are rewarded disproportionately more than their equivalent poor plays are punished (e.g. creating a “wow” scoring chance vs. causing a “wow” scoring chance for the other team). Forwards tend not to surrender many negative scoring chances unless they are somewhat negligent defensively. So, it seems likely that creating offense is highly disproportionately weighted in player evaluation.
Not all players gave the same defensive effort throughout a game, whether it is being tired or laziness. But over the course of four games, it was pretty clear who consistently tried to play a 200-foot game (vs. cheating a little defensively or taking some shortcuts).
Scouting and evaluating is not an exact science. In my humble opinion, most of the scouts/coaches don’t watch any player enough to really get the full picture. It is sampling data – and while it is directionally correct, when there are many players within a close band it is hard to discern who is absolutely the “best” player. And who you pick may vary when you are building a team for a short tournament and need different types of players.
After watching over 20 hours of individual game footage, this process is somewhat exhausting. It takes a lot of work to watch and tag each type of play. I can’t imagine being a scout and trying to watch 10 skaters live on the ice throughout an entire game. At the same time, the insights are quite valuable. I hope that college scouts leverage Instat to watch players individual shifts (if a club/prep team uses Instat) to evaluate the full body of their work rather than just sampling one or two periods of a game during a tournament or showcase weekend. To me, it is hard to watch multiple players in a game rather than on just one player at a time.
Note: We are still waiting to on the written feedback and letter rating that we were told all players would receive. If you are a player or parent from 16/17 Camp who has a received this feedback, please reach out and let me know. Update: We did receive the USA Hockey Feedback on July 27th – I will be writing up my thoughts on the feedback process in a upcoming post.

Tags college-hockey-recruiting, girls-hockey, hockey-development, tag, usa-girls-hockey, usa-hockey, womens-college-hockey, womens-hockey

2023 Girls Hockey Player Development Women's College Hockey

More Thoughts on the 2023 USA Hockey 16/17 Girls Development Camp

Post author By Ray Tenenbaum
Post date July 12, 2023

This is the second post about the 2023 USA Hockey Girls 16/17 Development Camp

You can read the first post here

I wanted to get this our right after the camp, but didn’t have time before taking a week-long vacation. But here are some additional thoughts that I compiled during my time in Oxford:

The operational excellence of the camp was consistent the entire week – kudos to the organizers for such a well-run event. Especially when compared to many other camps, showcases and tryouts I have seen on both the girls and boys side of hockey

Unlike the previous camp I attended, I now appreciate all the different paths to hockey excellence there are in the U.S. I could now see where all players came from that I learned about over the last couple of years – hockey academy, top clubs, prep and Minnesota
The last two days of games brought a whole slew of additional DI and DIII coaches to Oxford. I personally saw coaches from just about every school (over 30 DI teams) – however there were some top programs where I didn’t see a representative (e.g. Wisconsin, UMD, Colgate, Northeastern) and several NEWHA schools (note: they may have been there, but I just didn’t see them).

One DI coach did tell me that some of the players looked tired for the fourth game – while another thought there was better team play the last two games compared to the first two games.

7 players who were at 16/17 camp this year were at 18s camp last year. 1G , 2D & 4Fs. Two of them were players who were selected from the 2022 16/17’s Camp to go the 2022 18’s Camp – the other 5 went direct to 18s last year.
Here is the list of the 13 players selected to go to the 18’s camp
5 of those 7 2022 18’s Camp players were selected to return to the 18’s camp this year from the 16/17s Camp
In general, I noticed a big difference between the average 2006 and average 2007 player. seemed to be weaker. That one extra year of development is noticeable not just size, but hockey IQ
Interesting stat – the Girls 16/17 Camp averaged 4.1 goals per game (combined both teams) while the Boys 17 Camp averaged 10.0 goals/gm and the Boys 16 Camp averaged 8.6 goals per game. Significantly less scoring on the girls side.
Unofficially, I estimated that about 80% of point shots were blocked/never reached the net – surprisingly low for this level of play
It seems that just watching games isn’t sufficient to judge players – while important – there really are a lot of nuances you can get from practices that you can’t see from a live stream that likely factored into players selected for the 18s camp
Depending on position and length of shifts, most players only had between 40 and 50 shifts to demonstrate their abilities over the course of 4 games. Which isn’t a lot, all things considered.

Based on talking with multiple parents and players there was certainly a mix of perspectives on the selections for 18’s camp. I will hold off judgment on skaters until I spend more time reviewing video of the players selected in comparison to other top players who were not selected. I do not feel qualified to analyze goalies, especially based on past conversations with expert goalie coaches – but I do know that you can’t just rely on game performance in goalie evaluations.
I can’t include everything I want to discuss in this post, so I am going to publish additional posts sourced from the camp including:
- A candid conversation with a DI coach on their detailed recruiting process for their 2025 recruiting class
- Applying some analytics to the players selected from the 16/17 camp for the 18’s Girls Camp
- My thoughts on the 16/17 Camp feedback process – which is dependent on receiving the official player feedback report via snail mail expected sometime this week.

Analyzing the USA Hockey Girls 16/17 Camp Defense Selections for the U18 Camp

Tags girls-hockey, hockey-development, tag, usa-girls-hockey, usa-hockey, womens-college-hockey