Girls 14U

Eliminate TI and Storm.

The new AD over at Warhawks has AAA dreams, experience and attitude. Was actually surprised by this but only in his second year since joining. Plus their organization is run pretty darn well. I would say up their with Mission speaking from experience. Heads and tails above TI and Storm, also speaking from experience. Second at least for their National teams, the practices, cultural push and expectations of work ethic from the girls is AAA level.

They suffer like TI and Storm with their not being enough Top 5 in USA AAA girls in Chicago to fill out the first and second lines, let alone the third and Fourth, but they would if TI and Storm disappear and birth year is still not allowed in Illinois like on the East Coast.

One of the player’s parents told me that it’s not great at Storm either. With the mass exodus of 2012 players leaving for Lovell, Mission, and Team Illinois, their lineup is depleted. Heard from one of the parents that Larry is never there at games and two Dads are coaching the team.

Apparently, Larry Pedrie is coaching the 12u, 14u, and 16u teams at the same time. It seemed very clear that there is very little communication.

Storm being unorganized and essentially being a one man LP show with dad coaches is par for the course. They need to consolidate the girls teams into two AAA clubs or allow birth year teams which will allow Mission to take over.

Players and probably more so parents get frustrated with the lack of organization. Only so much a family can take, so they leave. That was what we did.

No idea what the ownership does but had they invested in the girls side a few years back, perhaps those girls would have stayed. Yet, everything is ran as if the girls teams are just there to supplement the boys teams. Meanwhile, they were consistently ranked nationally in the top 15. The boys team have no chance in being that competitive.

Somebody mentioned to eliminate one of the three clubs in Chicago. If that were the case it would have to be Storm that would go. TI may not be the greatest but they are a class above Storm and with only two teams, they would be better than they are today

Another weekend of hockey, another weekend that LP is nowhere to be found…works out great for the daughters of the dad coaches filling in at least

Second this. The new coach supposedly picked their players remotely looking at live barn. But didn't notice multiple players with the same practice numbers that might have caused confusion on who was who during the evals. If true, kind of sad.

Storm had a pretty good team 2 years ago (12u). It's too bad they lost a lot of those 2012s.

They will get there. Storm will disappear when LP retires. Thought someone less dedicated will probably be hired to take his spot. They will fail though. TI will probably hang around due to their west side geography, unfortunately.

It's Green or AA. You still play "fake" AAA teams on the higher AA Chicago girls teams. Like MHR 25-75 ranked teams. Probably won't see a top 25 team though. But the upside is you avoid the purple and blue experience. And if you are good enough you can always jump back into the soup later.

That coach was expecting to coach. He did not think that the club would be upset that his daughter bolted for Mission or he was just plain naive. He was told to pack the bags after the team was picked.

But the gong show that is TI is a complete 3 ring circus. At least on the girls side.

incredible

Can’t speak for either because my son skates at Reapers however, Storm is just low ball bush league. I know first hand from parents who have daughters at Storm that the parents on the 12U Girls team were tricked into signing. Storm had the previous coach run through the entire spring and tryouts as if he was going to be the coach. Truth is, he was let go when he told LP his older daughter was going to Mission a few weeks earlier. Nothing of this was mentioned until after tryouts. Parents probably never complained because in fear of retaliation. Unfortunately, these are the things that give the sport a bad name.

Totally agree! If it’s not Green, then save your money and play AA. There are plenty of opportunities to play with AAA girls all summer. If they are good enough, they can make the jump to Green at 15 when it really starts to count anyway.

Does it only count at 15 or is the 14u team make or break for a girl?

I think he was referring to the 16u team. Personally, I don’t think 14u is a make or break, more like a setting the stage. 14u is definitely a big jump from 12u though. However, I always looked at 14u as where players develop more IQ, using systems more or in some cases just starting to use them. Plus adjusting to the pace, the better goaltending, and physicality that is missing in 12u.