Minneapolis Park Storm

Minneapolis Park Storm Discussion of current size and potential addition of Washburn/Richfield

Storm Overview • Minneapolis Park Storm was formed 4 years ago by Minneapolis Southwest and St Louis Park as a way to strengthen the Hockey offering for kids associated with both programs • Overall Vision was to have as many of our players playing at a level where they could be successful and improve • Be able to compete with suburban programs • Increase leverage of better coaches and program volunteers • Increase number of kids playing hockey due to increased success and enjoyment of players (playing at correct level increases player improvement and enjoyment) • At the time of the merger, both Southwest and SLP’s teams were not able to be successful • Too many kids playing at a level that was not appropriate for their ability • Too much difference between the top players and bottom players on a team • Not able to recruit enough young mites • Too many kids dropping out of hockey before upper levels

Storm Overview • The Storm has been very successful • The merged teams have become much more successful in district 3, although even combined we are a small program in district 3 • Recruiting of mites has increased in both programs • Retention has improved as players progress • Teams at all levels are still more diverse than would be preferred • Especially at the A and B1 level, all teams still have players who would be better served playing a level down • By needing to move 3-5 players up to the A level who would be strong B1 players, we weaken all of our teams and effect the development of key players in the long run • From the beginning of the merger, the inclusion of Washburn has been contemplated • Minneapolis Southwest and Washburn play as one high school team • Friends in elementary schools play for different programs • Kids from South high school area play in both districts • Potential to increase Minneapolis recruiting and allow kids to play with their friends • Work with the city park board and parade stadium are overly complicated

Storm continues to grow with larger groups becoming squirts, although Bantam and Pee Wee numbers are still small Small classes moving to Pee Wees and second year Bantams keep numbers lower for Bantam and Pee Wee Teams – Bantams and Squirts should be lower due to attrition of players

Storm is still a small program compared to suburban programs Southwest and SLP would be be non-competitive on our own

Larger programs are able to offer multiple B1 and B2 teams More players are placed at the level that they belong

Potential addition of Washburn/Richfield to the Storm • Washburn and Richfield co-oped their programs for this season • Neither program was competitive on its own • By combining they have improved the depth on their teams, but still are a small program • Overall size and number of still makes it difficult place players correctly at the upper levels (Only 2 bantam teams and 3 Pee Wee teams) • Uniting with the Storm would improve the programs on many levels • Overall program size would allow players to more often be placed at the right level • Increased Bantam and Pee Wee numbers allows for more competitive placement • Unification of players progressing towards Mpls high school hockey • Improvement of offering at mites as internal programs could be offered at various levels • Increases ability to work with Minneapolis Parkboard • Unites recruiting of mites and allows for the potential to increase inner city efforts • Co-op based on current size would make the entire program the size of the mid-sized suburban programs

Current Storm and Washburn/Richfield teams overall are struggling at their level

Storm and Washburn co-oped would allow for better placement of more kids Storm and Washburn/Richfield together would still be a midsize program

While Mite recruiting has improved, working with Washburn/Richfield creates more opportunity • St Louis Park and Southwest have increased Mite classes to about 30 kids each per class from 15-20 in past years • Major suburbs offer in-house mite programs playing other teams of similar age and skill • Requires larger program to have enough teams at different mite levels • Could still have advanced teams to play other D1 teams if needed • Combination with Washburn/Richfield would create a large enough Mite Pool to establish inner-program teams to play each other • Could still run teams out of SLP, Richfield and Parade • Establish consistency across the program for coaching and skill development • Larger program increases flexibility to have appropriate levels of teams for all players • Co-oping of programs will expand the number of kids who have the opportunity to play hockey by allowing further outreach into the city through joint efforts

Minneapolis Park Storm