We are excited to announce our intention to create a Girls program co-op between the St. Paul and West St.  Paul to begin with the 2024-25 season. For the past year, members of the St. Paul and West St. Paul boards  have been working collaboratively to explore what a long-term co-op of our Girls hockey programs could look  like. Both programs are well-established and share similar size and values. Our communities are close in  proximity, culturally similar, and share a public high school Girls hockey program together. Perhaps most  importantly, each association values the development of our athletes and gives them the opportunities to  realize their goals in the game of hockey and in life. Both have been challenged by numbers in their Girls  programs and through this co-op, we believe our combined numbers position us extremely well to be able to  deliver age- and skill-appropriate player development, teamwork, appropriate competitiveness, and continue to  deliver a positive and engaged Girls hockey environment.  

Before making this announcement, we did due diligence to confirm compatibility and alignment with both  boards, District 2 & District 8 and Minnesota Hockey. On Sunday, we kicked off an expanded organizing team to  move this co-op forward. This organizing team includes an equal number of representatives from each  association. We took care to include different viewpoints, including managers, coaches, parents, and board  members with a variety of different tenures within their organizations. This group will be working through how  this co-op should come together focusing on things like: 

• co-op mission and culture 

• player development philosophy 

• naming and identity 

• ice time scheduling 

• policies & procedures (e.g., player evals, coach selection) 

• etc. 

Together we are focused on building and cultivating an environment built on shared values and philosophies.  We will keep you updated as things progress. 

Thank you on behalf of St. Paul and West St. Paul Hockey Associations, 

Julie Bustos, Kevin Dolan, Ben Young, and Ted Kronschnabel