The Girls HP-15 Camp started last Saturday on St. Cloud State University’s Campus.  As a result of the initial phases of the HP-15 program, the top 102 15-year old players were picked by Minnesota Hockey for further evaluation.  At St. Cloud, the players were formed into six teams.  Each team is named after a color and each team plays the other once in a regular game setting over the week long camp that ended Thursday.  Each game consists of two 24 minute stop time periods.  Each team consists of six defenders, nine forwards, and two goalies.  At the camp, players are evaluated for both on ice and off ice activities.  Won lost records were kept.  The Royal Blue team led by a strong set of forwards was unbeaten going into the final games Thursday.  The Gold team, also unbeaten, but with one more tie game than the Royal Blue, played strong at the camp as a team and were in second going into Thursday's games.  

Sky Blue beats White 3-1

Sky Blue took a 2-0 lead in the first half (24 minutes) of play and played the White evenly in the second behind the goaltending of Alexa Dobchuk (YHH top ranked Eden Prairie’s varsity goalie last season) to win 3-1.  Ten minutes into the first half, Sky Blue’s Blue’s Margaret Crosson/Roseau scored from the weakside right off a nice pass.  Two minutes later, Sky Blue defender Olyvia Opsahl hit Aliyah Lance/Edina on a nice pass from the right point to weak side left.  Lance one-timed the puck into the net to put Sky Blue up 2-0.  Lances goal was the game winner.  Four minutes into the second half, Sky Blue scored again to lead 3-0.  White’s Grace Heiting/East Ridge scored on a breakaway beating the Sky Blue defense in center ice and accelerating to solo in on the Sky Blue net to end the scoring 3-1.

The win put Sky Blue’s record for the camp at 1-2-1; the loss kept White winless with a 0-3-1 record.  Both teams played one more game Thursday before breaking camp.

For the White team, in Wednesday’s game, Victoria Neuman’s line with Heiting and Myka Sutherland/Champlin Park had a good game.  Neuman skates for Anoka.  New Ulm’s Ali Beltz skated aggressively often attacking the Sky Blue net.  Defensively, Sophia Leong/Apple Valley and goalie Stephanie Garvis/Wayzata 14A had good games.

Sky Blue’s defensive duo of Grace Vojta/Blake and Olyvia Opsahl/Duluth tended to control play at times on the ice.  Both made nice breakout passes to start the Sky Blue offense and both played well at the points stymieing the White forwards at the White blue line.  Sky Blue’s goalie Dobchuk faced fierce pressure in the opening minutes of the second, coming up with some tough saves.  

Royal Blue beats Green 6-0

The Royal Blue took a 2-0 lead in the first period and added four more goals in the second half to win 6-0.  Two varsity goalies, Royal Blue’s Kara Schramel/Princeton and Green’s Jordyn Tomaszewski/River Lakes, battled it out in the first half.  Both faced tough pressure, but the Royal Blue forwards were able to operate low around the net and scored twice on Tomaszewski in the first half to put the Blue up 2-0.  Katie Calliguri/New Prague used her size well creating space in from of Tomaszewski and scored one of the first half goals beating Tomaszewski to a third rebound on the lower left side of the net for the score.  Calliguri, skating wing with Jackie Falk/Shakopee, was on a line centered by Mackenzie Rugland/Roseau, had a good game.

The Royal Blue team broke the game open with four second half scores.  Falk would scored a second half goal.  All three Royal Blue lines were dangerous (Rugland’s line, one line centered by Samantha Burke/St. Paul United, and one line centered by Amanda Nylander/Benilde-St. Margaret’s.  Taylor Heise/Red Wing skated wing on Nylander’s line scoring twice in the second period.  Burke scored once.  The Royal Blue was led by Tessa Jorde/Thief River Falls and Taylor Stewart/Rochester.  Jorde started at defensive for the Prowlers at the Xcel last March for the Class A champions.  Stewart played defense for the Rochester Bantam AA team last season.

The Green team generated offense, but could not score.  Schramel stopped them in the first half and Alexa Berg/MN Revolution 16U stopped them in the second half.  But Green offense did get pressure, especially with the line centered by Clarissa Wallin/Blake with Allie Cornelius/St. Cloud Icebreakers and Chloe McEnelly/Holy Family-Waconia at wings.  Cornelius proved tireless on the ice still leading the Green’s offensive charge late in the second half.  But the Green defenders started to struggle as the second half wore on.  They held position, but gave up critical opportunities that led to the Royal Blue scores.

Green’s camp record falls to 1-2-1 and Royal Blue remains unbeaten and with the camp’s best record going into to Thursday’s games, 3-0-1.  

Red ties Gold 1-1

The final game of the day started at 8:00PM and proved to be the best game with the most drama.  Gold scored first to take a 1-0 lead only to have Red’s Ramsey Parent/Blaine drive one through the goalie’s pads on and hard shot from the right slot four minutes later to tie the game 1-1.  This game was more about Red goaltending, good Gold offensive play, and Red overall team play in the last 10 minutes of the game.  Sami Miller/Spring Lake Park took the nets in the first period and had to maintain discipline as the Gold team launched a first half assault on the Red goal.  With the Red defensive zone in front of their bench, the Gold team played a very good offensive moving the puck around the Red zone, making bench changes and constantly pressuring Miller in the Red net.  All three Gold lines forced the Red defenders to struggle to clear their own zone.  Though Red struggled, after giving up the early goal, the defense did not break into a scramble.  The defense held their positions eventually dodge a few “bullets” and letting Miller do the rest to keep the 1-1 tie at the end of the first half.

The second half opened with the Gold came out storming.  For the first 10 minutes of play, Gold forwards attacked Nikki Harnett/Armstrong in the net forcing her to come up with big save after big save.  It was like Picket’s Charge at Gettysburg only the Gold offense was not expending soldiers, they were expending energy.  And they couldn’t be blamed for seizing the opportunities.  They were plentiful as the Gold defense would turn the puck well inside the Red blue line.  They set up constant rushes to the Red net only to have Harnett deflect the puck into the corners.  The Red defense scrambled and would eventually force a stoppage but the Gold offensive shifts were intense and long.  Their forwards tired.

With less than 12 minutes left to play, the momentum switched and it was like the Union Army moving on the South.  The play over the next 12 minutes gradually went from in front of the Red net to in front of the Gold net.  The Red forwards were getting their chances and Gold goalie Calla Frank/White Bear Lake had to make some big stops as the second half ended.  The 1-1 ties kept the Gold team unbeaten at the camp posting a 2-0-2 record; Red ended the night with 1-1-2 record.

Gold defenders, Madison Bizal/Elk River and Gracie Ostertag, played well in Wednesday game.  Forwards Kayla Kasel/Forest Lake and Sara McClanahan played an aggressively at center.  McClanahan had some good shifts at the end of the game but couldn’t beat Harnett.  The two Red goalies played well, Miller in the first half and Harnett in the second half.  Harnett continues to develop and improve.  Red defender Madeline Wethington/Blake played well and became strong as the game wore on; forward Madisen Drotts/Greenway had some nice plays; and Joslynn Olson/Warroad was strong in her skates especially in front of the Gold net.

Notes:

There was good depth on the defense and in the nets at this year’s HP-15 Girls camp.  The goalies especially will be tough to pick among the 12 at the camp. 

1. Sky Blue goalie Alexa Dobchuk/Eden Prairie in the nets for the Eden Prairie varsity for most the Eagles season and was in the nets against Edina in their Section 2AA overtime 4-3 loss to the Hornets in the championship game.  Dobchuk posted 14-2-3 record 1.4 goals 93% saves in regular season play, but will be looking at Minnetonka in next season’s post play.  Edina and Minnetonka have swapped sections.  Next season’s playoffs will find Edina playing in Section 6AA at Parade.

2. Royal Blue defender Taylor Stewart/Rochester played defense for the Rochester Peewee AA team in the 2014 Peewee AA State Tourney held in Thief River Falls.  Rochester peewees used a tough defense to get to the state finals but lost to Edina AA when Grant Silanoff when on a scoring spree to beat the Red 6-2.  Stewart was good size then with a nice shot.  Last season, she played on the Rochester Bantam AA team that ended the season ranked 12th in YHH’s NOW rankings.  That Bantam AA team had eight first year players from the 2014 peewee AA runner-ups on the team including  Stewart. 

3.  Red goalie Nicky Harnett’s Armstrong Association’s Bantam A team failed to win a District 3 game (did tie five games) in regular season play.  But Armstrong’s bantam A’s almost made the regionals (losing to Delano in the D3 playoff game with the winner getting a ticket to the West Regionals).  Harnett and seven of her Bantam A teammates played in the 2014 peewee A state tourney.  Look for Armstrong to make a strong run for the 2016 bantam A state title next season.

4. Royal Blue goalie Kara Schramel/Princeton played 1237 minutes in the net for Princeton posting a 17-6-1 record giving up 2.5 goals a game while stopping 91% of the shots on net.  Her best game was a playoff loss to Mound/Westonka 3-0.  Schramel stopped 35 of 38 White Hawk shots.

5. Red goalie Samantha Miller/Spring Lake Park Bantam A made the state tourney last March.  She led the Panthers to #1 in regular season and #1 seed in post season play.

6. Royal Blue defender Tessa Jorde/Thief River Falls started at defense for the Prowlers in the Class A tourney at the Xcel last February.  She was paired at defense with Briana Jorde at the Xcel.  Thief River Falls, ranked #1 by YHH as the best team in the state in our last poll (posted before the playoffs started) has a good chance to repeat last season and win their second straight Class A title.

7. Royal Blue forward, Jackie Falk/Shakopee is a good player, but her strength is a hard quick shot that can freeze a goalie.  Only 15, she will be lighting up the scoreboard in the South Suburban Conference. 

8. The surprise on Wednesday was the play of New Prague’s Katie Calliguri.  Calliguri knows how to use her size to set up play around the opponent’s net.  YHH has watched her skate on New Prague’s Association teams over the past few years and she has improved.  Normally her play would mean another season long battle with Red Wing for the Section 1A title.  But there will be no Red Wing/Nerw Prague battle this fall.  New Prague has moved out of Section 1A to Section 2A.  Now the two southern hockey powers will have to meet at state.  Red Wing, next year, will be led by Calliguri’s Royal Blue teammate Taylor Heise.

9. Gold defender, Gracie Ostertag/Shakopee, skated 58 games for the Shattuck U16 team posting 30 points/13 goals for the national champs.  She played very good defense on Wednesday especially on the breakout plays.

10.  The Gold coaches, (head coach Michelle MacAteer and assistants Andrea Nichols, Molly Arola, and Anna Westmark) managed to get the nine Gold forwards from nine different programs on the same page, moving the puck as a team, and making the right decisions in the offensive zone.  Not an easy task to achieve after four days of camp.  They worked the bench changes well until the first minutes of the second half when the Gold forwards had too many opportunities.

11. Samantha Burke/St. Paul United was the #2 scorer for United with 50 points/21 goals in 25 games; Jackie Falk/Shakopee was their #2 scorer with 18 points/5 goals; and Taylor Heise/Red Wing was the #2 goal scorer in the state last year with 42 goals and #9 in the state with 67 points.  All skated for the Royal Blue at the camp.

12. Gold forward Sara McClanahan/Blake really showed improvement over her play as a winger on Blake varsity’s #2 line last season.  With Blake’s first line center, Carly Bullock, wings graduating (Jordan Chancellor and Karlie Lund) from last season’s top Blake line, McClanahan will really add depth to what will be a strong Bear’s team.  The Red’s defender Madeline Wethington started at defense at the Xcel last March for Blake, Sky Blue defender Grace Vojta was on the second pair of defenders on the ice for the Bears at the Xcel.  Chancellor will play hockey for Yale next fall; Lund will play for Princeton.  In the fall of 2016, Lund will be joined by Bullock at Princeton.

13. Green goalie Jordyn Tomaszewski/River Lakes posted a 12-4-1 record for River Lakes Varsity last season giving up 1.8 goals a game while stopping 93% shots on goal.  She played well in the first half of Wednesday game against Royal Blue giving up to tough goals.