This is the third year that YHH has covered the Reebok Minnesota Hockey High Performance programs.  At the conclusion every year at the 15, 16 and 17 levels, Minnesota’s top players (by age) are selected to represent Minnesota Hockey at the USA Hockey National Select Festivals. The Select festivals are used by USA Hockey to identify the top performers in each age group for possible opportunities to represent USA Hockey at national and international levels.

There are a number of reasons to tryout for the program.  The most obvious is the opportunity to wear our nation’s flag playing on USA Hockey youth teams in international competition.  There is also the possibility of being offered the opportunity to participate in National Team Develop Programs where players can commit to play for one or two years on a USA Hockey team such as the U17 team.  But at YHH, there is a simple reason-the opportunity for a player to test themselves.

With few spots available in the USA program and with competition for those spots being national, only a few Minnesota players will succeed.  As some learn, success one year (at age 15) does not guarantee success the next year.  The table below speaks to that last point.  It lists the 2014 HP-17 players and tracks how they did in the previous two years as HP-15 and HP-16 players.

The table lists all the players who made a Minnesota Select list in the past three years.  Those players that made the 2013 Selects as 16 year olds are listed as well as those players who made the 2012 HP-15 selects as 15 year olds.

The table reveals some interesting facts.  One that jumps out is that talented players will opt to play for USA Hockey early and not be part of the High Performance program the following years.  Some players will opt to play major junior hockey and end up in Canada’s Western Hockey League.  Mostly what the table reflects is a talented pool of players that develop differently.  Some will compete better one year and be selected, grow and struggle to compete the following year.  Some will compete well each year as they grow and as a result make the select team all three years.

But there is one final note that is important to the players.  The 2014 HP-17 players are 1997 borne.  The upcoming NHL Entry Draft at the end of June will be drafting players age 18-20 this year.  That means Minnesota players borne in 1996 will be eligible for the first time this June.  Part of the 1996 players in this year's NHL Entry Level draft are last year’s HP-17 players and includes those players who played for USA Hockey in the 2013-2014 season.

There were 53 USA borne players taken in the 2013 NHL draft, ten players came from the USA Hockey and NTDP teams.  The bulk of the players drafted played junior hockey the previous year.  Nine players who played USA Hockey were drafted from high schools and seven USA players were taken from colleges.  For most of these players on this list, their hockey choices going forward are junior hockey, college, and then pros.  Even if drafted in the NHL 2015 Entry Draft next year the players most likely will end up playing one year at juniors even if they have commited to play college.  Often college play will not start until one year after the player has graduated from high school.

Reading the Table

The table below is colored key for each team by year (2014 HP-17 final list of players are in light blue, 2013 HP-16 final list of players is in peach, and the 2012 HP-15 list of players are in grey.  Reading across shows how a player finished in all three year of participating in the HP program.  Reading the list of players downward the 1-17 numbers with no X is the current list of HP-17 players headed to New York.  The X1-X9 is a list of players that made the 2013 team and the XX1-XX12 is a list of 2012 players that made the 2012 list.  All the players listed made a Minnesota HP list in the last three years.