Parent
WOMEN-IN-HOCKEY Digest 80
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) Age and Calibre Divisions (Was Brampton Report)
by Louise C Mallory
2) Players Wanted In GB...
by Guildford Lightning
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Date: Sun, 23 Apr 1995 21:17:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: Louise C Mallory
To: email@hidden
Cc: email@hidden
Subject: Age and Calibre Divisions (Was Brampton Report)
Message-ID:
Wendy Istvani reported on the Brampton (Ontario) Tournament
[officially still the Dominion Ladies Hockey Tournament]:
>
> For those of you who haven't heard of the Brampton tournament, it's an
> annual womens/girls tournament now in its 28th year. This year there
> were 302 teams from Cananda and the US.
>
> I play for the Chicago Ice, an adult women's hockey group. I say
> group because we really have two teams, both playing in a newly formed
> league comprised of teams from Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. One
> team plays in the C level league (that's the one I play on) and the
> other plays in the B level league. For Brampton we combined teams to
> get enought skaters and played D competitive. It might seem strange
> that we played at a lower level, but it seems (to us at least) that
> the abilities at the different levels vary greatly depending on where
> you are located.
Perhaps I can shed some light on this. In Ontario, the OWHA (governing body
for all female hockey in the province) ranks teams into divisions by
calibre as well as by age. For adults, Provincial Championships are held
for divisions of D, C, B, A, and AA. (As well, there's a Senior Recreational
division.) The Regional Directors of the OWHA and the other elected officers
work hard every season to make sure teams are in the correct division. (A
team can request re-categorization up or down; its opponents can also request
that a team be assessed for re-categorization.) Hockey organizers in Ontario
have been working for almost 20 years to make this system workable and
fair. There is a good consensus about how to define and distinguish the
different calibres.
As far as I'm aware, there is nothing like this in the USA. Tournament
organizers in the US rely on "self-reporting" or any other evidence they
can get, to place teams fairly in divisions. Sometimes it works, sometimes
it doesn't. In some places, adult teams are roughly classified as A, B, and
C. A team with new skaters on it does not fit anywhere in the Ontario
classification system. When I'm filling out a tournament entry form for
a tournament like the Fraser Friendship Tournament in Michigan, I usually
write something like "Our advanced team is at an Ontario Senior D standard."
As female hockey becomes a more mature sport in the USA, I think it's important
that we begin to use some classification system in order to provide fair
competition, especially when we travel to play teams outside our home regions.
Another pet peeve of mine is the USA Hockey age divisions for girls' hockey.
They are inconsistent with the USA Hockey boys' divisions; they are also
inconsistent with the CHA divisions.
Louise
*Louise C. Mallory Welding Engineering*
*email@hidden The Ohio State University*
* "No-one said it would be easy; no-one thought we'd come this far." *
* -Sheryl Crow *
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Date: Mon, 24 Apr 1995 18:15:02 GMT
From: Guildford Lightning
To: email@hidden
Subject: Players Wanted In GB...
Message-ID:
Guildford Lightning are a womens Premier Division team based in the south of England not far from the capital. Last
season they became Britain's most successful team by winning gold medals in League, Conference, Knockout Cup and
Playoffs (all in their first season). Due to many factors (mainly injuries) the team are finding the 94/95 much more
difficult which has led us to look to recruit some new players.
If anybody is interested would they please contact me at the address below...
--
Pete Dowling - manager
Guildford Lightning Ice Hockey Team
email@hidden
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End of WOMEN-IN-HOCKEY Digest 80
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